The Dawn of the New World

At first, there were only 6-7 of these things fighting against each of the Barbarians but in the time Hao Xuan had started watching them, that number had gone up to 10.

There was a 15-meter wide hole on the side of the Pyramid from where more and more of these creatures were spilling out.

Hao Xuan glanced towards Burak who was leering at their increasing numbers. His hands that were bigger than Hao Xuan's face moved ever so slightly every time one of the barbarians attacked.

Just one look even from someone as inexperienced as Hao Xuan was enough for him to know that Burak was playing out the scenes in his own mind where he was fighting those creatures himself. He was practicing his own moves even when sitting next to Hao Xuan.

One had to applaud his dedication but...why didn't he just go down and fight himself? The other barbarians would surely welcome the extra set of hands.

"CAREFUL! Don't let them get close!" someone shouted from the entrance of the valley, prompting Hao Xuan to look down once again.

His gaze fell on the speaker. It was a handsome looking Barbarian, the one named "Isak". (CH 645)

Even though he had barely said a single word throughout the journey when Hao Xuan was being brought back to their camp, he seemed quite chatty now.

He was standing at the very back of the two barbarians group, in the center on an elevated position that allowed him to have a better view of the field.

In his hands were two curved longswords that shone with a red and brown metallic luster under the white light. They were pointed down, half embedded in the ground.

The bottom half of his face was covered by some type of a back silk cloth that looked like it was alive. That along with the flowing black hair and muscular physique reminded Hao Xuan of a character from a famous videogame back from earth, the Prince of Persia!

A strange comparison to draw in such a situation but what can you do once your mind starts to wander.

Isak was overseeing the battlefield, relaying his orders in a stern voice whenever needed.

"Keep your distance. Keep your noses and mouths covered and if you have any open wounds, fall back at once!" he shouted loudly.

"YES!" they responded in much the same manner.

The barbarians would cut off pieces of the threadworms but that did very little to slow their advance. As soon as the severed worms fell to the ground they would run to the nearest human corpse and assimilate themselves with the worms within.

Thankfully though they did not seem to have high intelligence. Instead of focusing their efforts towards one target they often switched in the middle of the fighting, getting distracted by the smallest of things.

And when Isak spoke up, several of them put him in their line of sights. Half a dozen threadworm-controlled corpses started running towards him at full speed, ignoring everyone else in their path.

Two of these corpses were the same size as the barbarians, host to tens of thousands of worms while one of them even belonged to a four-legged beast. Hao Xuan could not tell what type of beast it was when it was alive since only bones and some rotten flesh was left hanging in between the threadworms but it was BIG!

About 13 meters to be exact. It ran on all fours while the threadworms protruded out of its back, swinging back forth creating revolting, wriggling white tentacles.

Hao Xuan watched on with interest as they neared Isak. All the other barbarians were using some type of energy to increase their offensive power but it was nothing special. It 'felt' a little different from the Qi that he was used to and much less...'functional', but that was it.

But like Princess Na'im, Burak and Onra, Isak gave off a different aura as compared to the others. It felt more suppressed as if he was holding himself back intentionally.

Within seconds the corpses were on him, being led by the four-legged beast one. It was only when they were less than eight meters away that Isak made his move.

He jerked both his hands, extracting the swords in one smooth motion and swinging them in an arc in front of him. With a loud clang they impacted with one another, setting themselves alight with a roaring black flame.

Hao Xuan couldn't help but widen his eyes from the shock. Maybe it was just his heightened senses but he could feel the temperature rise even from more than 200 meters away.

But instead of swinging towards the creatures he once again thrust the swords back into the ground. The entire valley trembled for an instant.

The four-legged creature that was less than two meters away suddenly slowed down and tried to change its direction but it was far too late.. The ground in front it burst open and a pillar of black flame erupted from within.