Roar...!
Samuel narrowed his eyebrows.
The atmosphere was thick with a staunch smell of rot, mixed with blood. The swampy Soil beneath their feet squished with every move. Samuel turned his gaze, left to right, and he noticed bones scattered across the swampy terrain. Not just any bones. These were the true blood giants' bones. Some were dry and snapped in half. Others still had chunks of meat hanging off them, algae.
Roar...!
It roared again, louder this time, echoing off the ponds of water around. Then, suddenly, it stopped.
Samuel knew something was coming, he could feel it
He turned around to speak to Lira.
Before he could say a word, blood exploded into the atmosphere.
With confusion, Samuel looked downwards.
His hands are gone.
Just his arteries dangling.
Then pain shot up, searing pain.
Something invisible, something he couldn't see, had bitten them clean off.
Before he could react, a tail, also invisible, swung with full force and smacked Samuel, across the landscape. He flew backward, crashing through a pile of rocks like a rag doll, blood flying in every direction.
Lira screamed in disbelief. Her eyes widened with shock. She turned just in time to see a massive gust of wind rushing toward her way. It hit her like a truck, sending her flying across the muddy soil. She rolled several times before slamming into a nearby tree.
Samuel groaned in excessive pain and anger, steam pouring out from his mouth. His body twitched. He forced himself up to his knees, then to his feet.
He stood still, Breathing inconsistently.
Roar...!
The unknown monsters let out another scream.
The environment around them flickered, a glitch in the environment around them. For a second, the world distorted like a broken screen.
To Samuel's surprise.
They weren't alone.
Thousands of reptilian creatures were now visible. Each one of them stood on all fours. Black scales covered their bodies like armor. Their eyes were light green, glowing brightly. Their claws dug into the ground.
"Samuel! Be careful!" Lira screamed while holding her stomach. "They're called the Thalindra!"
He didn't look at her. He murmurs internally.
"So that's why the giants stopped chasing us."
Taking a step forward, blood still dripping from his arms. His hands were already beginning to grow back. Muscles knit themselves together. Bone stretched out. He Skins wrapped over them. His healing factor working at maximum speed.
"Lira," Samuel called out. "Can you still make constructs? Like your shield?"
Lira was on one knee, breathing hard, staring at the monsters. She bit her bottom lip, hard.
"Yes," she murmured with dead eyes.
"Good. From now on, I want you to protect yourself. Do not leave that shield. Do you hear me?"
She slowly nodded.
"Find somewhere safe. Rest. And Leave the rest to me."
Before she could respond, two Thalindra lunged toward her.
Samuel acted on instinct.
He kicked his blade from the muddy soil where it had fallen, the blade spinning midair, and it shot through both creatures' heads cleanly, dropping them instantly.
Samuel calls back his blade, yellow blood dripping down from the tip.
"I'm your lunch," he uttered, stepping forward. "So eyes on me, you damn lizards."
His tone was calm. But his eyes were full of emptiness, cold. Without fear.
The rest of the Thalindra charged.
Samuel jumped high into the air. He spun his body and kicked his blade again, this time launching it deep into the oncoming wave of reptiles.
It stabbed straight through three skulls before vanishing into the horde.
He landed called the blade back to his hand, and began cutting.
Slash.
Spin.
Stab.
Necks, skulls, limbs.
He moved like a machine.
Lira watched from behind her shield. She was dumbfounded, and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Samuel wasn't just fighting.
He was dominating.
A fellow monster.
Every swing of the blade took down a Thalindra. With every step he took forward, a body fell.
Something changed.
His right arm began to glow.
An Abnormal sense of power.
A dark red energy started flowing from it. Heavy lines pulsed through his veins. His entire forearm lit up, engulfed with power.
But Samuel didn't notice.
He was too deep in the fight. Too focused. Too consumed.
That red energy wasn't his normal dark green essence.
This was new.
He had entered a flow state.
"The Hand of War."
"One of the powers of, Arithmos, The God of War."
Samuel lifted his right arm, and with a simple gesture, crushed the skull of a Thalindra without touching it. The creature's head exploded under the invisible pressure.
Another one charged at him. He swung his blade backward without looking. The head separated cleanly from its neck.
Sweat runs down from his face. Blood covered his entire body. Dozens of Thalindra surrounded him.
Five of them rushed in together.
Samuel turned, but not fast enough.
One of the reptiles bites into his neck, tearing through skin and artery. Blood sprayed like a fountain.
Samuel dropped to one knee, hands clutching the open wound.
He was still human. He could regenerate, yes. But he wasn't immortal. The pain was real. It burned him.
Another Thalindra slapped him across the landscape. Mud and water splashed as he rolled, his face hitting the rocks.
He pushed himself up, on one knee, coughing blood.
Another came for him, mouth wide open.
Samuel met it head-on.
His hands grabbed its jaws.
With a shout-out, he forced its mouth wider.
The reptile's bones cracked open.
Then, snap.
He tore the jaws apart, splitting its head down the middle.
The body dropped. Lifeless.
His breathing was harsher now. His body was healing, but a lot slower.
Roar....!
Samuel turned his gaze forward.
Roar.....!
This time, it was different.
Deeper.
Louder.
Powerful.
All the Thalindra stopped.
They backed away slightly, opening a path.
From the dark part of the swamp, something emerged.
A figure.
Bigger.
Taller.
Stronger.
Thicker black scales. Golden markings on her body. Eyes like crimson red. Longer tail swishing behind her. Four horns on her head, curved like blades.
The Queen of the Thalindra.
She opened her mouth and let out another roar that shook the trees nearby.
Samuel glanced with a mix of fear and rage.
Blood on his face, he bites his lips.
The dark Green and Red energy still pulsing.
His blade in his hands.
Samuel uttered intensely, "For every pain your minions caused me, I'll make you bleed.
"I will rip that roar from your throat."