The colossal presence stepped forward.
The ground didn't just crack this time—it sank, as though the earth itself was being forced to kneel.
Demos didn't move.
Not because he wasn't reacting.
Because he was reading.
The giants around it shifted first, tensing and reacting to it, not him. That was the difference. These weren't mindless beasts anymore. They were coordinated under something that actually thought.
"Formation," Demos muttered under his breath.
The goblins didn't wait.
They surged again, not in panic this time, but in waves meant to stall him. Spears first. Then bodies. Then sheer weight. They weren't trying to kill him cleanly—they were trying to bury him.
Demos clicked his tongue.
"Too many."
He swung once.
The axe carved a deadly half-circle.
Three goblins lost their heads mid-step. Two more lost their arms. But the rest kept coming, piling over the bodies.
A spear slipped through his guard.
It stabbed into his thigh.
Demos hissed sharply in pain and kicked the attacker in the chest so hard the goblin folded backward, its ribs snapping like dry wood.
Another goblin jumped onto his back.
He didn't see it.
A blade scraped across his neck.
Blood.
Warm. Immediate.
Demos grabbed the goblin by the wrist, yanked it off his back, and slammed it into the ground. Green blood spewed from its mouth as the impact cracked the stone-hard earth beneath it and shattered its spine.
But the distraction was enough.
A smaller giant—still towering over everything else—charged toward Demos, far faster than the others. It closed in from the left and swung its massive club.
Demos barely twisted his body to the right.
The club missed him by inches and smashed through five goblins, turning them into clouds of blood and shattered flesh.
A shiver ran down Demos' spine.
The next instant, he leaped onto the giant's arm and buried his axe deep into its flesh to hold himself in place.
His arms and legs began to glow blue.
"Bezzzz."
"Bezzzz."
Blue lightning surged from the axe into the giant's arm, rapidly spreading across its entire body.
"ROARRRRR!"
The giant released a blood-curdling scream so loud that everyone on the outskirts instinctively covered their ears.
And it fell to the ground
Demos didn't hesitate.
He swung his axe at the back of its neck again.
And again.
And again.
Until the small giant's head was chopped clean off.
Blood erupted from its neck, drenching Demos from head to toe.
Suddenly—
Another giant attacked from the left.
"BOOM!"
"BANG!"
"CRASH!"
Demos never saw it coming.
Pain exploded throughout his body the instant the club slammed into him.
His ribs cracked—not shattered, but damaged enough to steal his breath.
He was launched sideways, crashing through goblins before slamming into a tree trunk. A mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
The axe nearly slipped from his grip.
For the first time—
He exhaled sharply.
"Alright," he muttered, wiping the blood from his mouth.
All the remaining giants charged him.
Demos didn't wait.
He charged straight back at them.
One giant swung downward.
Demos slid beneath its arm and drove his axe into its calf. Not a killing blow—not yet. Just deep enough to destabilize it.
The giant roared and kicked him away.
Demos hit the ground hard.
Goblin blades immediately buried themselves into his back.
One.
Two.
Three.
Without even turning, he grabbed one goblin by the ankle, ripped it off balance, and smashed it into the others like a living hammer, then he yank the blade free.
He rolled back to his feet, bleeding heavily, his breathing growing heavier.
One giant limped forward now, no longer cautious.
Only angry.
Demos smiled.
That's what he needed.
Instead of charging head-on, Demos moved sideways.
The giant overcommitted, swinging too wide.
Demos stepped inside the arc of the attack and buried his axe into the joint behind its knee.
This time he twisted.
The joint didn't simply break.
It collapsed inward.
Bone ground against bone until the entire leg folded beneath the giant.
The giant crashed to one knee with a deafening roar.
Demos didn't hesitate.
He climbed it.
Not gracefully.
Using a goblin's broken arm, its shattered bone protruding outward, he jammed it into the giant's torn flesh as a foothold and climbed higher.
The giant clawed wildly at him, shaking violently.
One massive hand slammed into Demos' shoulder, nearly knocking him free.
But he kept climbing.
He reached the neck.
The giant tried to grab him.
Too slow.
Demos drove the axe into its throat.
Once.
Twice.
The blade didn't slice cleanly—it tore through muscle and cartilage, forcing its way deeper.
Blood flooded upward, choking the giant's roar into a wet gurgle.
Demos twisted the axe free and jumped off the giant's back as its body collapsed, still twitching.
He landed badly.
A goblin spear pierced his side.
This time deeper.
He froze for half a second.
Looked down.
Pulled the spear out slowly.
Then snapped the shaft in half, grabbed the goblin by the head, and bit its nose clean off.
Demos immediately spat it onto the ground.
"Never doing that again," he said with obvious disgust.
He hurled the broken spear back into the crowd, impaling two goblins in a single line.
His breathing grew heavier.
Not weak.
Just real.
Behind the fallen giant—
The others finally advanced.
Not all at once.
That was worse.
Controlled steps.
Slowly surrounding him.
And behind them—
The colossal giant still hadn't moved.
It didn't need to.
Every step carried unbearable pressure.
Every breath from its presence made the battlefield feel smaller.
Demos rolled his shoulder.
Blood streamed down his arm.
He spat to the side.
"That blood was really bad," he muttered.
The goblins attacked again.
But slower.
Watching him.
Waiting for openings instead of rushing blindly.
They had learned.
That was new.
Demos tightened his grip on the axe.
"So... you're not stupid," he muttered.
Then he moved first.
Straight into the next cluster.
Not overpowering.
Not clean.
He took hits.
An elbow to the ribs.
A claw across the face.
But he forced space where it mattered, using goblins as shields and throwing their bodies into the giants' legs to break their rhythm.
He wasn't winning.
He was surviving.
And every step brought him closer to the real fight.
The colossal giant finally spoke.
Its voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
"You bleed like the rest. But it is futile. You're going to die... and your people will become slaves or food."
Demos didn't answer immediately.
He pulled his axe free from a goblin's skull first.
Then he laughed.
"Ahahaha... my people? Slaves? My people becoming food? Ahahaha... my death? Ahahaha..."
Only then did he raise his eyes.
Eighteen giants remained.
The colossal giant stood at the very back.
"DEATH CAN HAVE ME... WHEN IT EARNS ME!"
Golden-yellow lightning exploded from his body.
"BEZZZZ!"
"BEZZZZ!"
The lightning surged across the battlefield.
Every remaining goblin was vaporized.
Not a single scream escaped them.
The golden-yellow lightning continued onward, killing two weaker giants instantly.
"BANG!"
"THUD!"
"THUD!"
"THUD!"
The remaining giants dropped to their knees as the golden-yellow lightning coursed throughout their bodies.
The colossal giant stared at him.
"You speak boldly for an ant," it said. "What did you say your people were? It is pointless to think about them now."
Demos ground his teeth.
The golden-yellow lightning was doing more damage to his own body the moment he released it.