The Author's Draft

Chapter 106 - 25: The First Blood

More goblins were landing now, dozens of them hitting the street and immediately attacking anything that moved. Aiden’s qi perception mapped their positions automatically as his combat instincts took over and he positioned himself between the monsters and his family.

"Cal, get Mum to the shelter! Go!"

Callum grabbed their mother’s arm and pulled her toward the Safe Zone entrance, still visible two hundred meters ahead through the chaos. Number One materialized in a flash of blue light, its shield raised to protect them as they ran.

Aiden turned to face the goblin horde that was spreading through the street like a plague, his Slaughter Intent pulsing outward in controlled waves that made the nearest monsters hesitate.

A group of hunters appeared from a side alley, maybe six of them, wearing the mixed armor of freelance awakeners with no guild affiliation. C-rank based on the spiritual pressure Aiden could sense, experienced enough to know what they were doing but clearly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

Their leader was a woman in her late twenties, wielding dual short swords with fire mana coating the blades. She saw the goblins spreading through the street and raised her weapons.

"Form up! Protect the civilians! Don’t let them—"

An ogre dropped from the portal above.

BOOM!

It hit the street like a meteor, the impact cratering the asphalt and sending chunks of concrete exploding outward in a shockwave that knocked people off their feet. The creature stood, three meters of muscle and bone covered in thick hide that looked like natural armor, and the club it pulled from its back was a tree trunk wrapped in iron bands.

The hunter leader’s eyes went wide. "Scatter! Fall back to—"

The ogre moved with horrifying speed for something its size. Its club came down in a vertical strike that covered the distance between them in less than a second, and one of the hunters raised his shield on pure survival instinct.

The club hit the shield and the hunter’s arm shattered instantly, bone breaking with an audible crack that made Aiden’s stomach turn. The impact drove the man into the ground with enough force to crater the pavement beneath him, his body crumpling as blood exploded from his mouth.

He didn’t get up.

The other hunters tried to engage but the ogre was already moving again, its club sweeping horizontally and catching another hunter across the chest. The woman’s armor crumpled like tin foil, her ribs shattering as the impact sent her flying fifteen meters before she hit a parked car hard enough to leave a dent in the metal.

She slid to the ground and didn’t move, blood pooling beneath her broken body.

The remaining four hunters backed away, their faces gone pale with terror as they realized they were hopelessly outmatched. The ogre roared, a sound like grinding stone mixed with bestial hunger, and charged at them while more goblins continued pouring through the portal behind it.

Civilians were dying now. Aiden could hear the screams, could see the goblins dragging people down and stabbing with poisoned blades while ordinary citizens who’d never faced a monster tried desperately to run. An elderly man went down under three goblins, his throat opened in a spray of crimson. A young woman trying to shield her child was caught from behind, a goblin’s rusted sword punching through her spine.

The street was becoming a slaughterhouse.

Aiden’s qi perception tracked his family’s position automatically. His mother and Callum were a hundred meters away now, Number One’s shield protecting them as they pushed through the panicking crowd toward the Safe Zone entrance. They’d make it if he could keep the monsters occupied for just a few more seconds.

The four surviving hunters were trying to regroup, their leader shouting orders while they backed away from the ogre. Two of them had ranged abilities and were firing mana-enhanced projectiles at the monster, but the attacks barely scratched its thick hide.

The ogre roared and charged, its club sweeping in a wide arc that forced the hunters to scatter. One of them wasn’t fast enough and the club caught him across the side, shattering ribs and sending him tumbling across the pavement to land in a broken heap that didn’t move.

Three hunters left now, and more goblins were spreading through the street in search of easy prey.

Aiden’s Slaughter Intent pulsed outward, washing over the nearest goblins in a wave of bloodlust and death that made them freeze mid-attack. Their primitive survival instincts recognized something far more dangerous than themselves standing in their path, and for a moment the chittering, shrieking horde went silent.

Then Callum was beside him.

Not a hundred meters away with their mother. Not running toward the Safe Zone like Aiden had ordered.

Right beside him, short sword drawn, light armor secured, and Number One materializing in a flash of blue light with its hard-light blade already extended and shield raised.

"Mum’s at the shelter entrance," Callum said, his voice steadier than it had any right to be. "Association guards have her. She’s safe."

Aiden didn’t look at his brother, his eyes still fixed on the ogre that was turning toward them now, drawn by the spiritual pressure of two awakened signatures standing their ground while everyone else fled.

"I told you to go with her."

"I know what you told me." Callum’s grip tightened on his short sword, and Aiden could sense his brother’s mana core flaring as his Summoner abilities activated fully. "I’m not leaving you to face this alone."

Number One shifted into combat stance, positioning itself between the brothers and the approaching monsters.

Aiden finally looked at Callum, saw the determination burning in his brother’s eyes, the fierce protectiveness that mirrored what Aiden himself felt, and realized with sudden clarity that arguing would waste time they didn’t have.

"Fine," Aiden said quietly. "Number One guards you. I’ll handle the ogre."

"What about the goblins?"

Aiden’s Sword Aura flared brighter, white lightning crackling with enough intensity to make the air itself hiss.

"We kill them all."

More goblins were pouring through the portals now, dozens of them hitting the street and spreading outward in search of victims. The three surviving hunters were being overwhelmed, dragged down by sheer numbers as poisoned blades stabbed again and again. Their screams cut off one by one until only silence remained.

The ogre locked eyes with Aiden across the blood-soaked pavement, recognized him as a threat worth engaging, and charged with a roar that made nearby windows shatter.

Aiden moved.

Phantom Step carried him across thirty meters in the span of a heartbeat, moving so fast he blurred across the distance. His longsword came up in a guard position as the ogre’s club descended, and at the last second he sidestepped and let the massive weapon crash into the pavement where he’d been standing.

BOOM!

The impact cratered the asphalt and sent chunks of concrete exploding outward, but Aiden was already pivoting toward the ogre’s exposed flank. His Sword Aura ignited along his blade’s edge as he struck, white lightning crackling as steel met the monster’s thick hide.

The blade bit deep, cutting through the natural armor and opening a gash across the ogre’s ribs that sprayed dark blood across the street.

The ogre roared in pain and rage, spinning faster than something its size should be able to move, and its club came around in a horizontal sweep aimed at Aiden’s chest.

Aiden dropped low, felt the club pass over his head close enough to ruffle his hair, then drove his longsword upward in a thrust that punched through the ogre’s abdomen.

Behind him, Number One’s Gatling arm deployed with a mechanical whirr and opened fire on the goblin horde.

BRRRRRRRRRRT!

Hard-light rounds tore through the green-skinned monsters in sweeping arcs, bodies exploding in sprays of blood and viscera as Callum’s voice rang out clear and steady.

"Number One, suppressing fire! Keep them off the civilians!"