Surdi was passing buildings one after another. Every time he took his eyes off of the road ahead of him, even for a moment, he saw how quickly was Elkif coming to life. Those capable of fighting were arming themselves with the sharpest and most dangerous tools they could find. Neighbors were lending knives, shovels, or hoes to anyone empty-handed. Those who couldn't fight and who had children to protect would then run in the opposite direction, closer to the massive mountain. There, on the road leading high up into the district of the Odimai, a priest clad in white climbed onto a lookout tower. He judged the entire situation before a final verdict left his lips: "Seal the gate." None would be allowed higher. Should the monster desire to feast on the unwanted, then so it shall. That was the way the church responded. For the Unodes; however, nothing changed. They knew better than to expect help from those who detested them.

The spikes running along the Granitar's body shook and shivered. Its excitement was immeasurable, but the minuscule creatures running around the delicious-looking rocks seemed like too much trouble. If it wanted to feast, it would first have to show them that its territory is from this point on right here. The spikes shot out. Each of them was bigger than an average javelin. Their speed and size were enough to riddle regular houses with holes. A direct hit would surely mean death to the unfortunate victim. As the projectiles departed and headed down toward the streets beneath the hill, screams of panic quickly reached a volume that would put even the alarm horn to shame.

"Take cover!" one of the elves shouted. Just in time, the citizens, armed and bare-handed alike, managed to dive behind the nearest buildings. The spikes shook the earth as they landed. Many of them remained stuck in the ground, but the damaged buildings were still standing. Though cracked and visibly weakened, the rock the houses were made of just about managed to withstand the impact.

"Well, would you look at that, the old chap really wasn't kidding. It is durable as fuck," the leader of the militia muttered to himself before his attention returned back to the situation at hand. "Alright! Form up! Everyone get ready!" The makeshift soldiers gather behind him. Their armor and weapons could be easily labeled at first glance as "made at home".

It didn't take long before the creature prepared itself for its next attack. The spikes regrew and started immediately twitching, ready to fly off and this time decimate the nearby structures.

"Steady..." the captain ordered and the soldiers braced themselves for a potential impact.

Without a single sound, the projectiles took off. They briefly flew through the air before curving and heading right toward the district in front of the Granitar.

"Steady..." the captain continued, carefully watching the approaching doom. "Now!" he yelled out and the army finally moved.

"Glavie?!" Glint called out to his son the moment he saw him fall to his knees. Glavas' breathing could have been heard from miles away if it wasn't for the widespread panic. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" His father asked, crouching down beside him.

"I... I can't do it..."

"Can't do what?"

"SHIT! It's still no good!" Glavas punched the ground, his face burning with anger.

"What's going on? I don't understand?" his father demanded answers.

"It's the magic. I still can't use it. It's no good. No matter how hard I try. It's like... Like my head is gonna split in two. I can't fucking force myself to stand up! Why is it still like this?!"

"Glavie... Listen, take a deep breath. It's okay. We've dealt with worse threats than this one. It's alright if you sit this one out. You can't push yourself if it's simply impossible."

One of Glintwood's neighbors ran past them. In the past few minutes, he managed to scavenge a helmet in the form of a metal bowl, and an old spear he kept outside in the storage area. His intention was to go and help with the main confrontation, but when he saw the two on the ground, his heart immediately forced him to make a stop.

"Are you two okay? Did you get hurt?" he asked and placed his hand on Glavas' shoulder.

"No. It's... I'm fine," Glavas assured him.

"Then join us! With a hunter like you, the creature is screwed."

"I can't!"

"What? Why not?"

"It's my magic. I... I can't bring myself to use it."

"Overused?"

"Yeah..."

"What did you use it for? It's just been a few minutes."

"No, I didn't use it now. It was a long time ago. I just... It's really hard now."

"So you're fine? Fuck, man, what the hell are you doing then? Get off your ass and help us!"

"Savi! Leave him alone!" Glint yelled at the visibly irritated soldier.

"Why should I? My friends are there risking their own bloody lives! I don't even know who will come back and who won't, and our strongest fucking fighter can't lift his ass to help us?!"

"You know far too well what magic can do to us! Stop pushing him!"

"So what?! You're a hunter no? Look at those fancy tattoos and that schmancy gun! Screw the magic, but use at least those! Even that is way better than what most of us have! Or are you so much of a fraud that you can't do shit without shadows holding your hand?" he yelled and ran off, not willing to stay with them any longer. He was needed elsewhere, and he would need more than words to survive and protect his kin.

"Don't listen to him, Glavie."

"No... He's right. What the fuck am I doing?" He braced himself against his own knee, slowly standing up. "Can't use dark magic? Will use something else. Terrified? Good. At least I'll be more careful. Hands shaking? Fuck that, I'm not a surgeon, I don't need to be precise." He picked up his gun and let out a long, heavy breath. "Dad, go get those builders of yours. I think I have an idea."

"ALMA!" Surdi shouted at the top of his lungs the moment his eyes landed on his friend, who was helping Sina direct the evacuating citizens toward the most durable and protected structures of the inner city.

"Surdi! Where's Glavas?"

[Glavas sent me for you. He wants to seal that thing away but you will need to hold the scroll shut.]

"He wants you to go near that thing?!" Sina's eyes widened and she grabbed Alma by her arm. "Absolutely not! That thing is dangerous! It will kill you!"

"I know. But nobody else can do this. The creature will escape the moment Glavas tries to seal it. It's too big for his scroll. The only other solution would be to kill it, but that would take time, and there would certainly be casualties," Alma argued and began marching toward the edge of the city, dragging Sina along.

"Hey! Whoa whoa, wait a minute!" she stumbled as the girl simply walked away, unphased by the fact that Sina was gripping her arm as strongly as she could without hurting her.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything... too dangerous," Surdi yelled her way as the two ran off toward the battlefield. Sina took a few steps back. Her heart was beating like crazy just from the idea of what could be happening at the front lines. The thought of actually going there and joining the militia made her knees tremble and a drop of cold sweat slid down from her forehead.

"Now!" the captain of the militia yelled and the standby mages sprung to action. Just as the massive spikes approached their new targets, barriers of practically every element that was present among the elves quickly stopped them in their tracks. "Everyone run!" the man commanded and waved at the hiding citizens, signaling that until the next attack would come, they had a brief chance at escaping. The moment he said that the people cowering behind the stone walls jumped up on their feet and ran out of there as fast as they could, accompanied by a few screams and the wailing of frightened children.

"Alright, here it comes again..." the captain called out as soon as he saw new spikes quickly grow out of the Granitar's body. "Get ready! We still have time before it gets here! Keep the people safe!" The crowd behind him yelled out in unison. Their voices were enough to let the leader know they were standing with him, even when facing death. "Here it comes! Steady..." he prepared himself to give the call, when several gunshots echoed through the streets, followed by bright, burning projectiles that flew far and high, right toward the creature's eye. The mouth, situated at the very bottom of its body, like that of an octopus, let out a deep screech. The eye retracted into the body and very quickly popped out at a different place. It was now staring down and toward the right, where a single elf dressed in all-black clothing was aiming at the creature with a strange metal weapon.

"Hey there you bastard. Mind fucking off and going back home?" Glavas yelled at the animal. Judging by the metallic gurgles it let out as a response, he figured that it wasn't willing to leave. "No? Hmm, thought as much." He smiled. Despite his stomach being filled with a whole meadow's worth of butterflies, he grinned at the creature and ran directly toward it.

The Granitar turned its attention away from the city. Seeing this dangerous man approaching, waving around a metal stick that made burning lights, was far more important for the creature than a city that was solely on the defensive. As Glavas got closer, he fired off another barrage of bullets directly at the eye, hoping to at least temporarily blind the Granitar. Unfortunately, it seemed that the animal wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. The eye retreated into the body and the sharp spikes began shivering once again.

"Ah shit, you're a real prick," Glavas muttered and picked up speed. It didn't take long before the massive projectiles began landing all around him. Blinded, the creature couldn't aim as well as before, but even a haphazard volley of the spikes posed a serious threat. Glavas dodged from left to right, trying his best to keep his eyes on all the shots that seemed to be heading his way. As they landed, the ground itself shook, almost making him lose his balance, should he be caught off guard by it.

By the time the rain of bones had stopped, the eye of the Granitar once again peeked out from inside the body to judge whether or not was Glavas defeated. It carefully scanned one spike after another with its perfect sight, looking for any signs of blood or in a better case, a whole corpse. Unfortunately for the animal, the only sign of the hunter it managed to catch was a flap of his black coat as he disappeared somewhere under the Granitar's body. The eye quickly slid back and emerged just a few meters away from the mouth, situated between the five legs. It darted around the place a bit until it finally landed on the hunter, who was standing there without moving, holding a scroll in his bloodied hands. The pupil of the creature narrowed and it let out another scream. This time, it was so loud that Glavas scrunched up his face, unable to cover his ears without letting the artifact go. Despite that; however, Glavas smiled. Big creatures were dangerous, but also slow and easy to capture. This would be child's play for him. Or at least so he thought until he saw a tiny ring of golden light shining from deep inside the Granitar's iris. He quickly hid the scroll and his smirk disappeared.

"Oh no... you've got to be kidding. Please tell me I'm wrong." The knees of the creature began bending and the whole body slowly descended right on top of the hunter's head. "Shit! Why must it always get so complicated?!" he muttered and with a few gunshots set up to maximum output, he blasted himself out of harm's way before the Granitar would sit down and crush him.

"KEEP IT BUSY!!!" Glavas' voice reached the nearby streets of Elkif as he shouted at the top of his lungs. The dust lifted by the creature's descent filled his throat and caused him to cough. Before the Granitar would decide to follow him, he used the smokescreen and ran off into the woods, leaving the city to fend for itself.

Alma and Surdi exchanged concerned expressions as words of doubt began spreading through the crowd like wildfire.

"He abandoned us! One heck of a hunter he is! Fraud! Coward!"