Suho was a man with an athletic build, and although he looked to be in his mid to late twenties, he had the physique of a human in their prime. His thick dark-blue hair fell down his back in wild waves, and when he stood in front of the three youths, his broad shoulder swallowed their view of the giant whole.
Maximilian had never been happier to see someone's back.
Suho grinned, gazing past the charging rock, straight at the gigantic creature staring at him from the distance. The air changed as their eyes met, and a faint oceanic smell permeated the surrounding.
Swoosh~ Swoosh~ Swish~
No one noticed when Suho's spear got to his hand, the tuning fork end abruptly danced through the air with brut-ish might, ripping through the solid chunk of rock.
Maximilian and Midori raised shielded their heads as a rain of debris descended. The threat that granted them despair was gone with a few casual swings.
"Take this as a lesson. In battle, plans are useless. You create a plan, follow the plan, and when things go awry, you ditch the plan." Suho stretched lightly, his gaze still locked on the stone giant a few hundred meters away, who has picked up its club.
"If you are weak, you run. If you are strong…" Suho looked back, flashing Maximilian a carefree grin, "You dominate."
Roar!!!
The stone giant let out a bone cuddling roar, its remaining eyes glinted with measured madness and it charged forward, limping straight for the hill the three of them stood on.
Suho crouched, his thigh muscles bulged like a pair of compressed springs, and his grip on the spear tightened. A primal presence descended upon the battlefield, covering about a hundred meters radius. Steam seemed to be oozing out of his body.
"Watch and learn."
Fwip~ Boom!
Suho shot out like a release cannon, soaring towards the limping giant in a blue streak. The giant reacted immediately, swinging its club to meet the incoming projectile.
The primal presence suddenly changed, gaining an eerie quality to it. In an impossible movement, Suho's body twisted, coiling around the club yet not reducing his speed in the slightest. Instead, the air pressure from the swing pushed his faster.
Thud!
Suho landed on the stone giant, his body slammed into its chest, and the monster staggered backwards, almost falling on its back.
It took hold of the surrounding ruined buildings, using them as support.
It leg go of its club, and slammed its hand into its chest, but Suho was no longer there. His body dispersed the force of slamming into the stone giant, and with spider-like movements, he climbed the body of the giant, heading towards the head.
"Sometimes, you just need to dirty yourself a bit." He chuckled. He arrived swiftly on the creature's face, against the creatures struggles, and stopped before the single remaining eye.
"Hey there. Sucks to be you huh." Suho waved at his reflection within the giants dull pupils.
The giant sauntered around, swinging its head wildly in an attempt to shake Suho off but the man had an unnatural grip on it.
The atmosphere changed once again, losing the eerie quality and returning to the primal one. Panic flashed within the giant's eyes. Even with inferior intelligence, it knew it was too late.
Suho tightened his grip, digging his fingers into the stone giants hardened skin. With a yank, he pulled himself, his muscles recoiling from the explosive movement.
His body vanished into the creature's eyes, blood sputtering out in his wave.
The giant roared and stumbled about. It slammed its head against the surrounding buildings, repeatedly, and even picked up rocks and slammed them into its face. Nothing seemed to ease up the feeling of a something digging around inside its skull.
Maximilian watched on in half horror, half relief as the creature stumbled about, quaking the ruins in an attempt to escape death, then his eyes caught movements on the ground.
Murphy and Rhashan!
The giant's death dance was dangerously close to trampling on the two youths who were struggling to escape the area. Maximilian hesitated.
They need help… what do I do?
"Max, they won't make it! Rhashan is unconscious." Midori's voice echoes in Maximilian's head. Even as he struggled inwardly, his body had began to move.
By the time he could process what Midori whispered in his head, he was running down the hill as fast as his legs could carry him, which was faster than he thought.
The wind whistled past, the surrounding almost blurring as Maximilian ran towards Murphy and Rhashan. He kept accelerating down the slope, running faster and faster, caressed by the wind.
Shit, I won't be able to stop in time. Maximilian cursed inwardly. He had neared the bottom of the hill slope when he realised he shouldn't be running that fast. He immediately considered ways to survive the crash, the moment the thought occured, unfamiliar instincts took over and his body moved.
Maximilian pushed hard against the steep ground, leaping diagonally forwards. He landed, buckled his knees and rolled to disperse the impact. Mid roll, he pushed against the ground with his hand, and lifted his body up in a somersault.
He landed hard on his feet, and immediately took a step, forward. Then another, and another, once again running at full speed towards his cohorts.
This is amazing!! Maximilian gasped, a wide grin plastered across his face. Even though he was practically drowned in fear at the sight of danger ahead, his body felt so light and attuned, it listened to his every action.
He felt like a puppeteer puppeteering his own body.
"This guy is crazy!" Murphy chuckled gladly, and pushed harder towards Maximilian and the hill. The stone giant's attack not only injured them both, surviving it had drained Murphy of most of his strength.
Still, he carried Rhashan's unconscious body behind him and moved as fast as he could. His gaze never left Maximilian, but the running boy still arrived sooner than he calculated, skidding to a stop beside him.
"What's going on?" Murphy asked.
"Suho is in that thing's head. Literally." Maximilian took Rhashan from Murphy, and carried him. "We need to leave before we get trampled to death." Murphy nodded, running ahead.
With the weight of Rhashan's unconscious body taken away, Murphy could run just fast enough to get out of the trample range. Maximilian following closely behind him.
The stone giant's struggle intensified. It rampaged and stomped around even harder, unconsciously heading towards the hill. Murphy and Maximilian turned around to take a look at the giant, and just then, it abruptly came to a stop.
The creature stood still, slightly hunched. Then its entire body began to tilt.
"It's falling! It's falling toward us. RUN!" Murphy yelled, already giving himself a headstart.
Maximilian was stunned, but after a second, he came to his sense and began bolting for the hill. He ran as fast as he could, catching up with Murphy after a few moments.
"Shit, we won't make it in time!" Murphy yelled. He glanced back as he ran, peeking at the falling tower of flesh. "If we are anywhere near that thing..." a shiver ran down Maximilian's spine.
Even dead, this bastard is still trying to kill us!
Wooo~
Just then, a chill abruptly pervaded the surroundings, and a blurry apparition rushed towards them. The ghost stopped just before the boys, with lifeless, bony fingers pointed in a direction.
Murphy looked in the direction, he sighted a small chasm less than a hundred meters away.
"This way!" he yelled.
Was that Kazuya? Maximilian thought as he followed the less chubby teen without hesitation. The three of them— one unconscious —bolted for the chasm and dove right in. The giant landed just a second later.
Boom!
Dust and debris surged past the chasm, covering the ruin for hundreds of meters. The force of impact was so powerful, it impaired the hearing of those within the radius.
Maximilian pulled himself off of Rhashan's, dusting his body. "That was crazy. I can't believe I survived that." He groaned.
Beside him, Murphy got up, coughing a bit. Both of looked at each other and nodded, then they climbed out of the chasm.
"Guys?" Footsteps sounded before the voice, a feminine figure walked out from within the cloud of dust. The boy's eyes widened in surprised recognition.
"And someone thought it was a miracle we survived." Murphy glanced at Maximilian. Willow stepped out from the dust, a small smile on her face. She looked battered and pale.
"Suho made a move?" Willow asked. She looked behind them where a massive shadow loomed, no doubt the carcass of the stone giant. Murphy nodded.
"The dust is settling, let's head for the hill." She urged.
"What about Suho?" Maximilian asked while they headed for the hill. Murphy and Willow exchanged knowing looks, the former smirking in reply,
"You'll see when we get to the hill. He's probably waiting for us to get there."
Midori and Kazuya were waiting for them on the hill, their gaze trained towards the ruin. Willow and Murphy followed suit.
"It's ridiculous, but I have to admit, it's pretty cool." Willow muttered.
Maximilian furrowed his brows. He placed Rhashan down and followed their line of sight, gasping at the sight before him.
The dead stone giant lay at the center of a crater the shape of its body, surrounded by a cloud of dust, and seated on its head was a young man with wild blue hair dancing in the wind and a carefree smile on his face.
He blue blood dripped down his muscle, and steam oozed out of his body. Beside him, a tuning-fork spear was stood erected.
Suho...
[You've been invited to a party]
[Your party has slain a stone giant]
[Exp will be shared accordingly]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]