Chapter 132: Winged Giants
The Gate opened like a dark chasm in reality—wrong, profane, and absolutely terrifying.
The hundreds of Humungousaur minions moved first, forming a defensive line of three rows.
They were adorned in beautiful crystal armor and wielded terrifying crystal weapons, courtesy of Hugo, of course.
Hugo stood beside his shadow and Zed, his arms crossed as he waited to see what kind of abominations they were dealing with.
Knowing the race, nature, and affinities of the Nightmare Creatures he was Fighting against helps with deciding how to kill them in the fastest and simplest way.
Their world was not one built on systems, not really. Any creature could exist in this world and Hugo himself was a testament to that.
The creatures that emerged were... Troublesome, to say the least.
What came out of that Gate was a horde of gargantuan abominations, with thick white fur covering their strong frames. They were big and humanoid, with the smallest of them being easily the size of a house.
Their horns gave them the look of devils, but what unsettled him the most was the things on their backs.
Every single one of them possessed terrifying wings, each capable of granting them the ability to soar through the sky.
The numbers of wings differed between each creature, with the stronger abominations having more wings than the weaker ones. From what he could see, Beasts had two wings, Monsters had four, and Demons had six.
There were no Devils, thankfully, but Hugo assumed that they would have eight.
The size of their bodies, on the other hand, seemed largely dependent on their rank.
'From what I can sense, they're mostly Fallen, with a few Awakened mixed in...'
That was not a good thing but it was to be expected with a category gate 3.
He would've been alright if that was the end of the first wave, but unfortunately, it was not.
Two towering colossals stepped out of the Gate. They were far larger than the other giants, dwarfing them in size completely. The most terrifying feature, however, was their face. Instead of horns and a terrifying visage, they had an eerily human-like face. Their beauty was present and… terrifying.
They exuded a cold and expressionless look, as if they were in a trance. Each of the giants had six large wings, each one as black as night—two from the shoulder, two from the hip, and two from the middle ribs. The sixth pair of wings were folded across their stomach, clearly protecting it. It no longer had skin and flesh like the others; instead it had terrifying and clean black feathers covering it. A strangely long tail could be seen at the end, giving them a devilish look.
Hugo frowned deeply.
'Two Corrupted Demons...'
He sighed, regaining his composure. He should be able to deal with them with some difficulty, as long as he didn't get overconfident.
Looking down below, he gazed upon the shadow army of Vaxasaurians, each and every one of them clad in beautiful crystal armor and ready for battle.
The first wave was imposing and horrifying, enough to wipe out an entire siege capital without the protection of a strong saint. At first glance, the Vaxasaurian army didn't seem to stand any chance of victory.
But that was not the case, not at all.
The Vaxasaurian army had three important things the abominations didn't have. Firstly, they were free of the madness of corruption, making them able to think, move, and act rationally in combat.
Secondly, they had the authority of their Terror on their side, who could channel its power and influence through them. In this case, his shadow could influence the physical strength of the giants and the Vaxasaurians. Making the powerful wings of the enemy fail to raise them to the skies, while empowering the Vaxasaurians.
Thirdly, and most importantly, the army had a Titan, a Terror, and a powerful Devil on their side. Each of those three creatures were capable of changing forms whenever they wanted, being supremely adaptable.
So, despite the fact they were outnumbered, the Vaxasaurians were still superior.
Raising his hands, Hugo shot a mass of crystals to the side—not to blast the enemy, but instead to create a myriad of siege engines.
He created seven of them, each varying in shape. From catapults, trebuchets, and ballistas.
Before the enemy could even advance, Hugo loaded the weapons with crystals and used his control over said crystals to shoot them, unleashing a rain of projectiles over the horde of Nightmare Creatures right after they came out of the Gate.
Many of the Crystalline projectiles hit their marks, impaling the terrifying giants and easily taking out the Awakened among them
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: allured warrior.]
[You have slain a...]
The first wave seemed to be mostly of the Fallen rank, however there were few Awakened in-between, and all of them were annihilated by Hugo.
The difference between Awakened and Fallen was evident now, as the projectiles were not capable of easily killing Fallen creatures, even if they wounded them.
Moreover, the winged giants seemed to be incredibly tenacious and durable, resisting the pain and damage inflicted by the projectiles.
The two Corrupted Demons, seeing this, ordered the abominations to advance forward, unbothered by the losses in their ranks.
Hugo frowned at the sight.
He had expected them to savagely rush towards them, or even use their hideous wings to fly here. But instead of doing that, the winged giants moved as if they were a single body, forming a circle and folding their wings on their bodies, completely protecting them from the projectiles.
Unlike most aerial abominations, those giants had powerful wings that were seemingly made for both protection and flight.
One of the two demons flew upward and grabbed one of the crystal projectiles, crushing it in its fist, while staring directly at Hugo, malice and hatred dancing between its eyes.
Seeing this, Hugo simply loaded the siege engines once again and shot more crystal projectiles into the sky, targeting the first wave rather than the Demons themselves.
The army of Vaxasaurians used their arrows to fire a myriad of crystal arrows constructed by Hugo as well, while at the same time, they were poisoning the giants with the influence of the shadow Humungousaur, slowly stealing the strength of the giants.
The results were clear as day, with many creatures already falling to the ground, completely drained of strength and bleeding from their wounds.
Hugo was planning on taking out the first wave using as little essence as possible, while also making sure to save the shadow Vaxasaurians for the much stronger second wave. That way, both he and the army would remain at top shape when the second wave and the Tyrant emerged. To do this, he needed to put distance between the two armies.
But it seemed he wouldn't be able to go through with his plan—both because the horde was advancing in that protective formation and because of the Corrupted Demons.
His shadow avatar ordered the Vaxasaurians to engage the siege engines, using them instead of Hugo.
Zed transformed into a massive predator alien—a giant four-legged spider with the body of a silverfish, that possessed a silver-colored exoskeleton. Four pincers extended from her front, each ending in a single sharp claw. The lower half of her legs and the back of her head were covered in light brown hair. Her eyes burned red, and her reptile-like head was fixed in an open-mouthed grin.
With the Shadow avatar leading them, and Zed serving as a siege engine of her own, the army of shadow Vaxasaurians engaged the foul giants in Melee.
As for Hugo, he turned his sight towards the two Corrupted Demons.
They had ignored their army and even the shadow Vaxasaurians, focusing their malice entirely on him instead.
'Bring it on, you oversized trolls.'
Hugo saturated his legs with soul essence and shot forward like a missile, shifting his arms into a drill made of crystal as he twisted in the sky, aiming to impale one of the demons.
The first Demon dodged without effort, it had the distance to do so after all. But that was exactly what Hugo had counted on. He stopped spinning like a drill, aimed his hands at the first demon, and fired a burst of crystals.
The winged giants wrapped itself in its wings, enduring the assault of the crystals.
However that was only a distraction. Instead of being his true attack, Hugo has used The recoil from the blast to send himself rocketing toward the second Demon, who hadn't seen this mad move coming.
Hugo's arm shifted into a sharp blade, and then...
CRACK!
His crystal blade shattered falling to the ground as tiny shards and sending a wave of agony through his body. That crystal was his arm, after all.
'Tough bastards...'
He had noticed, from their size and appearance, that their powers seemed to revolve around extreme physical abilities. But perhaps that wasn't entirely true—maybe their main strength lays mainly in durability and endurance.
Before he could test that theory, the giant's fist came down like a mountain upon him, slamming into Hugo with enough force to shatter steel. His body folded around the impact, with his crystal body shattering, before he was launched downward like a meteor. He hit the earth with a loud crack, as the shockwave spread through his body.
Before he could even recover, the first giant came down like a meteor, slamming its legs into Hugo's shattered frame with enough force to drive him deeper into the crater. The impact caved his chest in, his crystal body splintering as he was crushed into the frozen earth.
His crystal body shattered, but it wasn't enough to compeletly crumble as [Omni-Kik] armor granted him a large protection against physical attacks.
His crystals, on the other hand, could regenerate as long he possessed enough soul essence... However, he currently didn't have the time to regenerate.
Groaning, Hugo raised his arm and shot a crystal shard directly into the eye of the first giant.
The shard reached its mark in a moment, piercing its eye and making the giant take a step backward in pain.
As it did, Hugo forced himself to get up and slipped between the giant's legs. Just then, he touched both legs and created a gargantuan shackle out of his crystals, chaining the giant's legs together. Not only that, he made sure to shackle its wings alongside them.
The big bastard finally took the shard out of its eye and attempted to walk, but couldn't, and ended up falling directly on the ground, deepening the crater even further.
Seeing this, the second giant angrily roared and descended upon Hugo, aiming to crush him entirely.
In response, Hugo positioned himself right on top of the chained first giant, who was desperately trying to break his chains.
Just as the giant was inches away from him, Hugo slammed his Omnitrix and transformed into Ghostfreak, becoming fully intangible.
The giant crashed into its twin Demon ferociously, its immense weight snapping the creature's spine like a twig. The Demon's body convulsed in pain and its limbs twitching as a wetgasp escaped its throat. For a moment, it tried to rise—then, just as it did, the demon collapsed entirely.
The giant's life drained away as it suffocated and shocked on its own blood.
Its body thrashed weakly before finally going still...
Just like that, the demon was dead.
The second giant immediately realized something was wrong. It had just killed one of its own kin, and from the looks of it, that giant seemed to hold a form of twisted affection for its twin.
'Even Nightmare Creatures have feelings...'
It made sense, after all, once upon a time, those two giants were likely either noble creatures following the path of ascension or humans...
That realization made Hugo feel profound sadness for the two creatures, for all nightmare creatures in existence...
The only thing he could do for them now was offer them the mercy of death.
He slammed his Omnitrix, changing his form into that of Heatblast.
Before the abomination could even turn to smash him, Hugo gathered as much fire as he could in his palms.
He gathered even more fire, creating more and more of it and condensing further. His flames grew like pyres, reaching unseen heights.
His [Flame of Divinity] empowered the terrifying flames, and his authority as a Titan made them even more formidable.
Then...
BOOM!
An explosion spread from his arms, directed entirely towards the giant.
Hugo could briefly see the visage of the Demon engulfed in flames. Its skin held strong at first however, the flames spread through every part of its body, entering its eyes, ears, and nose, melting its insides and causing it to explode inwardly.
[You have slain a Corrupted Demon: The Unfurled giant]
'A unique name... How Intriguing...'
Stopping the flame and reabsorbing it, Hugo looked at the two scorched corpses briefly before glancing away at the battlefield.
The weakened army of giants had clashed with shadow warriors. And currently, the land was covered by the corpses of the giants, impaled by crystals and drained of strength.
The minions had suffered some losses, unfortunately, but the other legion was completely wiped out.
His shadow and Zed had taken care of the stronger champions and were currently retreating, preparing for the second wave.
Hugo quickly summoned [Nothing] and used it to pierce the cooked flesh of the Corrupted Demons, taking their Transcendent soul shards for himself.
He used the flames of Heatblast to propel himself into the sky, reaching the area where the siege engines were.
Sighing deeply, hugo detransformed and stood near his shadow, waiting for the second wave.
"Great job, you two." He tapped the large frame of the shadow Humungousaur and the spider-like body of Zed with a smile.
At least he had those two while fighting hellish monsters.
Soon enough, the second wave began entering the waking world, leaving him no time to enjoy the moment.
***
Author's note:
Shout-out to Andrej for helping me in making this chapter.
Shout-out to my beta reader, Gio.
If you are interested in other shadow slave fanfics, please go check out their works (:
Love you all!