the dagger shone with a blue, glowing sheen, Emma pulled her arm back, and took aim. She sent her dagger flying into the cyclops’ eye.
When the dagger plunged into the eyeball of the cyclops, it let out a screech, and all of Emma’s magic went rushing outward at once. It caused the cyclops’ head to cave in, and the magic burst out the back of its head, putting a giant hole in its skull.
We unleashed our magic ropes, and the cyclops went down. The earth shook as it fell, emitting a stinking smell from its destroyed brain. The surrounding crowd cheered as the first monster died. Applause rang out, though it was scattered amongst the chaos still going on in the streets.
I turned back to the crowd. “Everyone return to your homes!” I shouted. “My team and I will handle this! Stick together— the more of you there are, the less of a target you become!”
The crowd rushed to follow my orders. We left the body of the cyclops behind, searching for the next monster, though it didn’t take us but a minute to find. The giant was swinging its massive club through buildings. The force of the giant’s blow toppled over apartment complexes and shops, and the giant beat them to rubble with no more than a swing of his club.
Around the giant lay the smashed remains of any shifter or sorceress that had tried to kill it. Fae darted out of the way as the buildings crashed downward, though not everyone was so lucky not to be crushed. If fae weren’t killed by the club as the giant swung it back, they were buried beneath the toppling of the surrounding buildings.
I flung out a hand. “Stay back!” I ordered my team. “If we get anywhere near that giant, it’ll use its club to smash us to bits. We need to fight it from afar!”
The giant must’ve heard me, because it paused from smashing the buildings to turn our way. A sneer crept across its wrinkled, wizened face, and its grip tightened on the club.
Shit. This one wasn’t as dumb as the cyclops. The giant put its head down. Pointing its twisted antlers at us, it began to charge. The ground rumbled, and most of us ran out of the way, though Theo and Odette attempted to put up a shield.
“Get out of the way!” I shouted, but my words came too late. The shield took most of the blow, but the giant’s antlers shattered it, and the blast that came as it broke the shield sent Theo and Odette flying backward. They slammed into a nearby cart, and struggled to get back up.
The giant drew its club back and began smashing the earth. Theo grabbed Odette and pulled her out of the way just before she could be crushed by the club. Stefan and Delmare began firing battle orbs at it from the back.
“Take this, you ugly old bastard!” Delmare cried. She welled a red battle orb in her hand that was bigger than she was, and fired it at the giant. It sank into his back and sizzled, creating a large burn but not killing it.
The giant roared out in pain. It abandoned Theo and Odette, and began chasing after Delmare and Stefan. Its club smashed against the ground, and even pinned Delmare’s cloak once. She cried out, clutching at her throat before the giant raised his club again. Stefan yanked her aside, and the giant nearly missed smacking them both before they ran in the other direction.
Emma used her illusion magic to spread a large sheet of ice across the street, and the wolven necklace flared blue again. The giant slipped and fell forward, giving Delmare and Stefan a chance to scamper away.
“I’m going to rip the throat out of this thing! This would be a hell of a lot easier if I was a hundred times bigger!” Stefan cried out as he and his mate hid behind a pile of rubble.
“Don’t change!” I roared. None of us could become shifters— it would risk giving our identities away, and that would have major repercussions. Eli and Gabby might know who we were, but the Arcanea Alliance did not, and with my criminal record of vigilantism we couldn’t afford to be caught— even if we were helping to save lives tonight. Our identities being revealed would prevent us from aiding Dolinska in the future… though with monsters like this roaming the streets, we might not have a