War God for Hire- Gladiator by David Burke (books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

and sent it stumbling backwards. A grin crossed his face as he relished the improvised use of his helm.

He was starting to find joy in battle. Winning was the goal, but the simple act of fighting was becoming its own excitement. He laughed and then grabbed the wounded creature’s arms. He intended to wrench its sword free for his own use but was shocked at its strength. He had to watch where he grabbed it because of the jagged edges to its scales, but it was under no such limitation.

Hilde’s voice said, “Remember, they are monsters, they can have tier two stats.”

Kyle didn’t respond but took note of what she said. The creature moved with Kyle, and after the initial shock it became obvious that it wasn’t as strong as he was, even if it was far stronger than a human. He slammed the ball of his foot up and into its gut. The scales on its stomach rippled and he saw what looked like foot-wide mouth open up in the middle of its body.

The force from his kick sent it flying. Kyle grabbed the sword when it flew free. A quick shift of his grip and he stepped forward to chop the tentacle the rest of the way off. This caused it to collapse, seemingly dead. This life form was so different from what he knew, without a head and apparently having a mouth where its stomach was. Then he realized something. He could tell that it was dead. The essence in it was dissipating out into the surrounding atmosphere.

Kyle turned to see Lash and the other two engaged in a sword battle. She was chopping them up a slice at a time, but they seemed exceptionally durable. Behind her, the one she had cut the arm off was watching as if it could see through that eye on the end of its tentacle. The tentacle weaved back and forth, and it was clearly preparing to fire again.

Kyle was too far to intervene but suddenly everything fell into place. He knew what he needed to do. The knowledge locked into place in his head. His arm reared back, and he threw the sword. It spun through the air. The sawtooth sword wasn’t made for that, but he managed to make it work. With enough strength behind it, he still made the throw. The blade cut the tentacle off just as a flash of green appeared.

Lash looked back at him as she brought the second of her opponents down.

“Look, we need to work together if we are going to take them down. Yes, I want to kill these things, but I am more concerned about making sure the people I know here get away safely. That includes you, Marie.”

She scowled at him. “How do you know that name?”

“This is a battle, not a time to talk.”

“Very well, but you will owe me an explanation afterwards. Judging from how you fight, I have far more experience at this than you do, so follow my lead,” Marie ordered.

After that they rushed at the nearest group of the glytharen. Kyle noticed that the large creature in the center had been delayed by a circle of robed magi but each of the tentacles on the top of its head were shooting out different colored beams and one by one the wizards were falling.

He let that go though. An important lesson in life, whether it be baseball or combat, was to focus on your part. He had to win his fight and couldn’t worry about the others. As he and Marie hit the next group, they rescued a small group of viewers who had been caught in the stands. Fighting on the stone bleachers made for an unstable surface, but the more he fought, the more Kyle felt an urge to slay them all.

What shocked him the most was how he fell into a rhythm with Marie. He began to be able to anticipate her movements. When she went low with a whip to tangle up a foot, he would go high and sever a tentacle. As their unity grew greater, he felt like these monsters were easy prey. Each time that he landed a killing blow, he could feel a small amount of essence seep into him, but it wasn’t enough for him to worry about at this time.

For now, he was lost in the joy of battle. He found himself singing songs as he fought. At one point he was even shouting out, “We will, we will, rock you, rock you!”

Marie seemed to notice the unity of their movements too, because she had lost that perpetual scowl and seemed to be relaxing. There was most definitely something wrong with loving to fight this much and maybe she was a psycho, but then again, he was the one singing.

When they finished their fourth group of glytharen warriors, the area around them was clear. Kyle paused for a second and scanned the broader area. The stadium appeared empty of non-combatants now. There were a couple clusters of guards left but they were falling too quickly. Only a third of the original invaders appeared to be alive, and another force was fighting near one of the tunnels.

It looked like Saber had already rallied his training staff and the other gladiators. It was a large group of over forty who were fighting to keep most of the rest of the glytharen from entering one of the tunnels. Kyle assumed Saber was acting to protect the flesh mages and the slaves who would have been working in the bowels of the coliseum.

A prolonged scream reached his ear and turned to see the last mage being pierced through by one of the thirty-foot-long legs of the monstrosity. Whatever the mages had been doing to hold it at bay had failed and there were more than a dozen robed figures lying unmoving on the bloody sand.

Kyle knew he should flee or if not that he should join Saber’s group. The