The creature roared after noticing that the small one had repealed his sword. The soldier on the ground fled, and the monster struck again now with his other sword. Edmund blocked the strike, but instead of flying because of the strength of the blow, he used its force against it as he did daily while fighting against Ariadne. Still, his counter strike was blocked by the giant monster that was pushed back, even getting some inches off the ground as Edmund looked at him with a smile.

  ‘A catapult, that was the name of your kind, different weapons for a different age, or you are not complete, just like the one I saw in the last fortress.’ Edmund stroked his chin.

  The catapult looked at him with rage and pressed his swords against one another with such speed and force that sparks came out. Another roar came from the creature as he ran towards Edmund, who had prepared himself for the fight.

  The strikes the creature made against him were blocked one after the other, and the mortar squad's force was redirected back to the creature, which responded with more ferocious blows. The mortar squad was still there packing things up, but they stopped momentarily because of the sound of the blows.

  Their attention was drawn to the fight, and they saw Edmund dancing while fighting against the mighty beast. The swings of their strikes destroyed the surrounding forest, and parts of trees flew in all directions.

  ‘Let’s go!!!’ The squad leader shouted as he ran, holding a part of the mortar.

  The soldiers ran in the field's direction hospital, holding the weapon's different parts, hearing the blades crashing in the background and trees shattering. One last time, the squad leader looked behind, and he saw the giant beast flying across his team while they were running, his body hitting the larger trees and the ground with such brute force he couldn't believe the creature was still alive.

  As they continued forward, Edmund stood between them and the beast. He held the handle of the sword, the point of which touched the ground, as the young man walked towards the creature, which was now getting up.

  The last man of his squad passed him, and with him, he turned his back to the scene. He sensed that Edmund was not fighting ?because he had seen the duchess and his fight, which was ?different.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  ‘You are so weak that even a rail cannon shot could take you down.’ Edmund smiled as he ran towards the catapult.

  The beast was confused as it was getting up; he couldn’t understand how every strike the tiny creature that was fighting against him was heavier and heavier to the point it launched him this far, but he had no time to think straight because the tiny creature was already on top of him. I struck it with another heavy blow that was blocked again, but this time, it was already heavy; it didn’t need to be an exchange of blows between the two.

  This again confused the beast; no one in his home could match this. For the first time in his short life, his body felt fear; he knew that because it was the same as those thin ones at home.

  ‘And it goes an arm.’ Edmund swung his sword, severing the catapult's right arm.

  The beast roared as his arm flew to the side, but there was no time to think as he couldn’t feel his other arm. Only his eyes could follow it to the other side. Then, the tiny creature was out of sight momentarily, and the world began to spin. The last thing he saw was a massive body on the ground, with the tiny creature to its side scratching his face before darkness swallowed his world.

  ‘You were not made to close combat, too slow but fast enough against normal soldiers, so I understand why you give used swords.’ Edmund was looking at the fallen body of the beast.

  Edmund looked at the body for a while, with the sounds of the battle in the distance. Thinking more about the differences between this beast and the original catapult from the demon lord's army, he remembered a crystal inside it. He pulled a knife, opened the beast's chest, and pulled a shining object the size of his first. With a broad smile, he looked at the blue object.

  ‘Maybe there are more of those inside the fortress, maybe even inside of the small ones.’ Edmund cleaned the crystal on his pants before putting it in a small bag attached to his thigh.

  On the frontlines, the explosions inside the fortress helped the soldiers in the trees because most of the monsters returned to the fortress and stopped trying to swarm their positions. However, they were not even in a position to advance into the structure because the wounded soldiers were going back and forth from and to the field hospital.

  Sometimes, their medics had to stop fighting to carry or assist the soldiers to the hospital, which was terrible. It even went as far as a complete squad wipes in the Angel-5 position, as multiple mages aimed fireballs at their position. They were only saved by their protective gear. All those situations were being passed on the radio, making the situation chaotic for Alon alone.

  That was enough time for the mortar squad to arrive at Alon’s location and start to position the weapon again, but now, with the help of the rest of the soldiers Alon had at his disposal, he had cleared the path so that it could be used effectively. Again, they loaded and launched the rounds at the fortress.

  ‘Angel-6 to all platoons; use all your explosive cannon rounds against the fortification. Over.’ Alon’s voice was heard on Bartel’s radio.

  ‘This is Angel-3. What about the possible prisoners? Over.’ Bartel protected his eyes from dirt that flew in his direction.

  ‘They are not a concern anymore; this is too dangerous. Angel-6 out.’ Alon’s calm and cold voice came in all platoon leaders' radios.