The Emperor Class

Colet calmed himself as he put aside the beastman’s comments. Studying how the beastman walked, he assumed he was facing the leader of the band of beastmen. The only puzzling thing about the beastman was his sheathed weapons in his belt. He had expected the beastman to be rearing for a good fight.

“Will you be my opponent?” Colet said. “If so, you better draw your weapon.”

“We won’t be fighting one another,” replied the beastman. “We will all take down that abomination over there.”

Colet followed the beastman’s finger and found himself staring at the giant beastman. The giant, having realized who was being referred to as an abomination, roared out.

“Zulgar! I shall tear your limbs off slowly and watch you squirm! You dare to side with an outsider!”

Ignoring the giant, Zulgar turned to the centaur chieftain.

“That abomination was born of a dark god we despise. Our past attempts to kill it have failed. There won’t be a better opportunity than this. If you assist us in killing it, we will not bar your path home. You have my word!”

Colet had heard many terrible things about the beastmen but one thing he knew for a fact was that, if the beastmen gave their word, they kept it. Beastmen had an honor that one wouldn't expect from their lot. Given that he and the centaurs didn’t have much of a choice, he nodded his head.

“All centaurs, grab any spear you can find and use those as javelins!” Colet gestured to Zulgar. “He and I will deal with the abomination in close quarters.”

The centaur chieftain spoke of close quarters because he noticed the weapons of choice for the beastman leader were daggers. Ordinary beastmen picked between crude spears and clubs. Higher status beastmen had a wide selection of weapons to pick from once they went out on enough raids. Daggers were the last weapons Colet expected the beastmen to pick unless they had the last pick of the spoils. When Zulgar expertly drew two of his four daggers, the chieftain knew he shouldn’t be doubting the beastman leader. Instead, he should be focusing on himself. Despite all the fatigue, the promise of killing the giant beastman rejuvenated him somewhat.

After marching out from the centaur capital of Orisa, he had yet to take part in any combat until they were encircled by the beastmen. Even then, his participation was the fissure that almost killed the giant beastman. Otherwise, his ax had yet to harm or kill any of his enemies. The lack of blood on the blade was evidence for his weapon’s idleness on the campaign so far. While the centaurs carried out his orders, Colet walked alongside Zulgar towards the giant beastman who watched them with hatred in its eyes.

“Any useful information I should know before we fight this thing?” asked Colet.

“I’d suggest targeting his wounds. There should be a limit as to how long the dark powers can keep the abomination alive.”

“Should be a limit?”

“Like I said,” said Zulgar with a grin. “There won’t be a better opportunity than this.”

Without needing to communicate, the two broke off to attack the giant beastman from opposite directions. During his charge, Colet gave orders to the centaurs very quickly.

“Throw your spears now!”

While there were very few spear wielders left, the chieftain trusted in the throws of the other centaurs. Once a year, the centaurs had a javelin competition that was only meant to be a sporting event. All centaurs, young and old, would participate for a chance to be crowned the javelin champion. With the creation of the spear wielders, the sporting event became a convenient tryout for the group and a chance to scout out talents. Due to how old the javelin competition was, all centaurs had some degree of mastery over spear throws and it showed during the volley. A hail of spears rained down on the giant beastman.

“Argh,” screamed the giant as it became a porcupine with all the spears sticking out.

Since the Purificator light struck the giant beastman, the abomination had yet to stand on its two feet. It was supporting its body up with its two arms and, during the volley of spears, it could only bring up one arm to shield its head. The massive arm protected the creature’s head but many spears found their mark throughout its body. Colet could see black ooze trying to remove the spears from the giant’s body but the number of black ooze paled to the spears in the giant. The sight emboldened him as he charged straight at the arm still supporting the beastman. He hacked at it with a fury he held within him since losing so many of his fellow centaurs. The giant tried to squash him with its now wounded arm but Colet easily avoided the slow moving hand. In the meantime, Zulgar had an exposed body to slice and dice with his daggers. The centaur chieftain was getting into the rhythm of hacking at the giant when he heard Zulgar shout out.

“Back away! He’s using his dark powers now!”

Colet sidestepped the attack from the giant and backed up a few steps. Once out of range of the giant’s hand, he spun to gallop away to create some distance from the giant beastman. When he stopped, he shouted to the nearby centaurs.

“Fire a second volley! Keep up the pressure!”

The centaurs did as they were ordered and let loose the spears they gathered following the first volley. The newly summoned black ooze rushed to intercept the spears but most of the spears still hit their mark. With more spears embedded into the giant, it roared in pain at the centaurs but the abomination refused to fall to its death. The black ooze tried to keep up with the new wounds and Colet made his way to Zulgar.

“Is that thing killable?” the centaur chieftain asked.

“I’m beginning to wonder about that myself.”

Zulgar’s response didn’t give Colet any confidence. He searched around until he found a solution to their problem. Zulgar listened to his suggestion and nodded his head. The other beastmen were about to take part in the fight.