“Garn you fool!” I shouted.
I clenched my fists faster increasing the speed of the mana threads. They sped up and moved faster than Garn’s body. They narrowly avoided him and sliced through the Mantis like a hot knife through butter. Purple blood exploded into the air. I watched the circular blood drops. I saw them wobble under their weight, the friction caused by the air massaged their shape as they fell. The shouting and clashing of steel seemed so far away yet ever-present. Was this my life now? My ordinary life seemed so far away. It felt as if it never existed in the first place, as if it was a dream or something that I’d heard many times but never actually experienced or witnessed. The purple droplets rained down on me covering the area.
Garn looked in shock at the destroyed mantis. He looked at his sword his eyes widening. He raised his sword and roared in victory.
“See that!” He shouted triumphantly. “Keep on attacking and victory will be ours,”
He pointed his sword at me his arm still shaking.
“Otherworlder!” He shouted his voice nearly raw from the effort. “This is what real skill looks like! When one works hard and doesn’t rely on God-given gifts!”
I scoffed at his completely serious expression.
He continued unfazed by my reaction. “You somehow managed to be a disappointment and fail despite all the power you were freely given!”
It took all I had to not clobber him over the side of the head.
“I didn’t ask to be here, I didn’t ask to be your hero!” I shouted back. “I was forcefully taken from my world and brainwashed into a slave, you think that makes me lucky!”
I don’t need to prove myself to anyone, I don’t need anyone’s approval either. His recklessness had nearly killed him. If it hadn’t been for my quick thinking he would be no better of than the praying mantis.
“Garn, don’t slow down!” shouted Gilgamesh. “There is more fighting to be done,”
“Yes, sir!” he replied.
With a final sneer in my direction, Garn followed by his cronies consisting of a pair of burly blonde twins and a raven-haired person with a perpetually startled face went into the midst of the monsters.
I crossed my arms. Fine! If they didn’t want me to help then why would I help them. I don’t want innocent people to die but if those people don’t want to be saved then help be damned!
I looked ahead towards the back of the horde. Gilgamesh was slicing through monsters left and right with his giant blade that was nearly as big as he was. He was really on fire. He was so covered in guts that he might have been mistaken for a monster himself. With reference to Olivere it was impressive how strong Gilgamesh was.
A rhino with purple markings charged at Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh plunged his sword into the body of a nearby monster and put his hands in front of him. The rhino charged right into Gilgamesh. He was grabbing onto its main horn. While he was being pushed back it wasn’t by much. It’s no wonder he was such a good leader. With strength as reliable as his, people could look towards him for stability. That combined with his charisma and confidence in his strength made him a natural leader. Gilgamesh and the rhino came to a complete stop. To my surprise, he then proceeded to grit his teeth and lift up the rhino by its head. He sprung his arms back and suplexed the rhino. Its eyes were open but it couldn’t move its body, it no doubt had its spinal nerves damaged. I raised my gaze into the sky, In terms of pure physical might he might give me a run for my money.
What was that, I thought to myself. I scanned my surroundings for it. I sensed a fast-approaching monster. I couldn’t track where it was coming from. To my puzzlement, it seemed to be in multiple places at the same time.
An object forced me back. My feet dug into the ground and through monster corpses. I felt a familiar furiness in my hand. The monster darted back from my reach. My hand stung slightly. I had managed to dampen the impact by using my hand to block the blow in the nick of time. A hare larger than a human, was standing in front of me. It likened the rabbit monsters that I first tried to fight in what felt like forever ago. The hare zoomed around never staying still for too long. It dashed at me, I jabbed at it but it darted backward several paces before my fist could touch it. I shot fire blasts at it although it simply dodged them with blinding speed. Its blurred figure zoomed around me. The hare snickered. I sighed and cracked my neck. This wouldn’t be a battle of strength. It doesn’t matter how powerful my attacks were as long as I couldn’t hit it. I crouched down, bending low to the ground. I held my arms loosely by my sides. The hare scurried around in a mesmerising fashion. It darted forward. My finger twitched in anticipation but I remained still. I wouldn’t fall for the bait this time. It stopped once more just out of reach of my grasp and darted back throwing up debris in its wake. It darted forward once more. I readied myself. It changed directions once it was just out of reach. That’s when I pounced. I dashed forward even faster than it. My hand wrapped around one of its powerful legs. It shrieked at the touch.
“Got you,” I grinned viciously. I let blue flames envelop my hand and over the hare. It faded into ashes that wafted away in the wind.
I lunged backward and raised my arms. I focused on controlling my fast shallow breathing. What the hell is that??
A dark shadow loomed in the horizon shrouded in mist.
It made my blood turn cold. I couldn’t believe what I was sensing. It sounded like the ringing of a thousand bells, the rattling and clanking of thousands of chains, and the creaking of a thousand oars.
“What is that?” asked the soldiers amongst themselves. The mist parted giving rise to the outline of a large structure. It was an ancient stone castle. Its spindly spires loomed above its base. Its ominous figure was made of a dark brick material. The few windows were small and revealed nothing but darkness. The castle hovered above the ground and moved soundlessly ever closer. The dark aura radiating out from within its depths made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Hey, are those monsters?” Shouted one of the soldiers.
The shapes of monsters were seen. Spears and helmets made clear outlines on their bodies. They were armed as well. They were no ordinary monsters either.
“You gotta be kidding me,” said a soldier. Ripples of despair and uneasiness rippled through them.
“We can’t win, we’re going out die.” said another falling to their knees. Gilgamesh looked around at the faltering moral of his comrades. He spat out a mix of blood and saliva.
“Remain strong men, there is no chance of winning if we give up now!” he shouted.
Thunder reverberated through the air. A terrible feeling overwhelmed me. I wrenched my head to the top of the castle. I opened my mouth. “Gilgamesh look ou-”
Gilgamesh spewed blood from his lips.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” said a voice. The sound made me want to run away. The same way a rabbit would in the maws of a lion.
Garn’s mouth was agape but no sound came out. His eyes were fixated on the taloned hand sticking out of Gilgamesh’s chest.
A murky figure stood behind Gilgamesh’s large body.
“I came here hearing about some commotion it appears that it was nothing,” It said flashing a hideous smile that revealed sharp black fangs.
“Dispose of the rest,” it commanded casually to its armoured monsters. With those final words, it disappeared in a shimmering mass of vibrating darkness that headed back toward the castle.
Thunder rumbled through the air as if to signify the hopelessness of our fate. I felt a water droplet on my head. I looked up at the dark clouds that had formed. A smattering of raindrops fell to my right. Heavy raindrops fell beating against my body. The intensity became overbearing and drowned out everything else. It seemed misfortune had always rained down on my life. Back in my world as well, by losing my parents and not even being able to be in my house which was the only thing left I had to remember them by. It seemed my misery had followed me all the way here as well.
