The Author's Draft

Chapter 108 - 27: First Blood II

Callum tried to dodge but wasn’t fast enough.

The blade caught his light armor and cut through, opening a gash across his ribs. Callum gasped and stumbled backward, blood running down his side.

"Cal!" Aiden’s qi surged as he prepared to intervene.

But Number One was already moving. The robot appeared between Callum and the Red Goblin in a blur of motion, its shield interposi

ng to block the follow-up strike. Then Number One’s blade lashed out and took the goblin’s head off in a single clean stroke.

**THUD.**

The veteran’s body hit the ground. Number One immediately turned to scan for more threats, standing protectively over Callum while his Summoner caught his breath.

"Thanks," Callum muttered, one hand pressed against his bleeding side.

The remaining Government hunters were being systematically slaughtered. The team leader’s shield had a dozen dents in it, his sword arm trembling from exhaustion. The ice mage was completely out of mana, reduced to swinging a backup dagger at goblins that got too close.

"Martin’s down!" one hunter screamed.

"Fall back! Fall back!" the team leader roared.

Two hunters left. Both wounded, both backing toward where Aiden and Callum stood.

Then the ground shook.

**BOOM!**

Another ogre dropped from a portal above, this one even larger than the first. It wore crude bone armor across its massive chest and wielded a double-headed axe that hummed with power Aiden’s cultivation senses immediately recognized as dangerous.

The creature landed with an impact that cratered the pavement and sent abandoned cars sliding sideways. It stood slowly, yellow eyes sweeping across the battlefield, and locked onto Aiden.

The senior Government hunter, a woman in her thirties with fire-scorched armor and empty mana reserves, looked at Aiden. She saw his Sword Aura crackling with white lightning, saw the dead ogre at his feet and the goblin corpses scattered around him.

Her eyes met his and she made a decision.

"We’ll handle the goblins!" she shouted over the chaos. "You take the big bastard!"

Aiden gave a sharp nod. No time for discussion.

The armored ogre charged.

This one was smarter than the first. It didn’t just rush blindly forward. Instead, it used its axe defensively, forcing Aiden to commit before counterattacking. The bone armor deflected his first slash, Sword Aura scarring the surface but not penetrating.

Aiden’s qi perception tracked the ogre’s movements as they circled each other. The creature was learning, adapting, reading his patterns. Every feint Aiden made, the ogre didn’t fall for. Every opening he tried to create, the ogre shut down.

Behind him, the battle continued. Number One’s Gatling arm spun up again.

**BRRRRRRRRRRT!**

A wave of goblins trying to flank got cut down, hard-light rounds tearing through their bodies. But Callum’s HUD flashed another update: [AMMUNITION: 54%]

The two surviving hunters fought back-to-back, one with sword and shield, the other casting weak fire spells with her last dregs of mana. They were holding, barely, but more goblins kept coming.

A cluster of monsters broke through toward civilians still trapped near a collapsed building. Mothers shielding children, an elderly man who’d fallen and couldn’t get up, ordinary people with nowhere left to run.

"Number One!" Callum’s voice rang out clear despite the blood running down his side. "Defensive formation! Protect the civilians!"

The robot’s shield expanded, creating a barrier between the trapped civilians and the goblin horde. Its blade lashed out at any monster that got close, hard-light cutting through flesh and bone with mechanical precision.

Aiden’s attention snapped back to the armored ogre as the creature’s axe came down in a vertical chop aimed at splitting him in half. He sidestepped, the massive weapon embedding itself in the pavement with a crater-forming impact, and saw his opening.

Third-stage Sword Aura blazed along his longsword’s edge as Aiden thrust forward, the blade punching through the gap between bone plates. Steel pierced the ogre’s throat, cutting through cartilage and vertebrae.

Aiden drove the blade deeper, twisting, feeling the resistance as tissue separated. Blood poured from the ogre’s mouth in thick gouts, hot and dark.

The creature’s eyes went wide with shock and pain. It tried to pull away but Aiden held firm, channeling more Sword Aura into the embedded blade. The cutting force shredded what was left of the ogre’s throat from the inside.

Then the massive body collapsed forward.

**THUD!**

Aiden pulled his longsword free and stepped back, breathing hard. His qi reserves were at seventy percent, still manageable but dropping with every technique he used.

Suddenly, every goblin stopped attacking.

The change was instant and absolute. Mid-strike, mid-shriek, every single green-skinned monster froze in place. Then, as one, they turned and dropped to one knee.

Facing toward the largest portal overhead.

The two Government hunters stumbled to a halt, their weapons still raised, confusion written across their faces. Even Callum and Number One paused, the robot’s combat protocols unable to process the sudden shift in enemy behavior.

Aiden’s qi perception flared as something massive moved through the portal above. Not dropping through like the goblins and ogres. Walking through, taking its time, radiating pressure that made even the wounded hunters whimper.

All Aiden could see was a silhouette through the dimensional tear. Huge. Armored. Power that made his cultivation senses scream danger.

Then the figure stepped into view at the portal’s edge.

A Red Orc, but not like the ones visible in the distant formations. This one was elite. Seven feet of muscle and bone covered in blackened plate armor etched with runes that pulsed with spiritual energy. It carried a war axe that hummed with power, the weapon’s edge glowing faintly with condensed qi.

The Red Orc’s yellow eyes swept across the street below. Taking in the dead ogres, the goblin corpses, the two brothers standing in blood-soaked pavement refusing to run.

Then those eyes locked onto Aiden.

The pressure intensified. Not killing intent, but acknowledgment. Recognition of a worthy opponent.

The Red Orc raised its war axe in a salute. Not mocking, not threatening. Just acknowledging. *I see you. You’re worth killing properly.*

Then it stepped back from the portal’s edge and disappeared.

The moment broke. The kneeling goblins rose and resumed attacking, the spell shattered.

But Aiden’s mind was racing. That Red Orc was elite, A-rank minimum based on the spiritual pressure it radiated. And it had chosen not to engage yet.

Which meant it was waiting. For what, Aiden didn’t know.

Number One’s display flashed another update: [AMMUNITION: 41% / POWER RESERVES: 58%]

Callum was bleeding from his side, breathing hard, his face pale from blood loss. The two Government hunters were barely standing, the woman with empty mana reserves and the man with a shield so battered it was cracked in three places.

All around them, London was burning. Hundreds of portals, thousands of monsters, civilians dying in the streets. The invasion had barely started and already it was overwhelming.

One of the Government hunters, the fire mage with empty reserves, suddenly collapsed. Her legs just gave out, exhaustion and blood loss catching up all at once.

Her partner tried to drag her toward the Safe Zone entrance two blocks away, but more goblins were coming. Too many. They weren’t going to make it alone.

Aiden looked at Callum. His brother looked back, blood still running down his side but his eyes fierce and determined.

No words needed.

They both moved to cover the hunters’ retreat, weapons raised, ready to hold the line for as long as they could.

More portals tore open across the sky. More monsters poured through in organized waves. And somewhere in the distance, Aiden heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

Drums.

War drums. Deep, rhythmic, echoing across the dimensional divide. Not random beats but coordinated, synchronized, the sound of an army marching in formation.

The vanguard was just the beginning.

Aiden’s grip tightened on his longsword as white lightning danced along the blade. His Slaughter Intent pulsed outward in controlled waves, making the nearest goblins hesitate.

"Cal," he said quietly. "How much longer can Number One fight?"

Callum checked his HUD. "Four hours, forty-two minutes. But ammunition’s at forty-one percent."

"Make it count."

The war drums grew louder. Closer. And through the portals above, Aiden could see massive shapes moving. Not goblins or ogres.

Something bigger. Something organized.

The real invasion was coming.

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A/N

Sorry for the no upload. I’ve been sick.