My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 80: Heaven and Earth

Phillip grimaced as he watched Kace and his group escape safely into the jungle. Yul's large head barely spared them a glance. Instead, he chose to focus on the larger force that was still approaching. A cruel grin distorted his rocky features.

Erik stepped forward to take point on the assault when it would begin. 'I have to buy time for the others to follow suit.' He looked around at his fellow heroes as analysed the best course of action according to their fighting strength.

"Phillip, Tyler and Sarah." He said with a tone that demanded their attention. "When we reach the shore I'll engage the giant. You three will lead the troops on the other ships to give chase to quarry."

"Sir! Let us fight with you!" Tyler eagerly replied. He was no fool. He could tell that if they defeated Yul, the rewards would be greater than defeating fleeing monsters.

"No!" Erik growled, his tone made it clear that he would accept no arguments from them. "If you can't follow orders then you can wait on the ship!"

Tyler grumbled with dissatisfaction. Phillip could not repress a smile as he watched his rival get rebuked from their master. 'What a fool! He knows Erik's temper even better than I do. Yet he still shot himself in the foot.' He snorted as he thought this.

Sarah instead watched the crew at work. Noticing that even though they had heard what Erik had said not a single one of them seemed to be afraid to face Yul. Instead, a creepy smile of anticipation appeared to be infecting them one by one.

Sarah liked the look on their faces. To her eyes, it meant they had full confidence in the abilities of their commander. 'I guess I can assume that we can count on backup arriving if we need it.

My sister always said not to piss Erik off.' A charming smile spread on her face as she considered options for the future. Seeing Sarah smiling like that caused Phillip to gag. Sure she looked pretty like that, but just like a rose it only served to distract from the thorns.

Yup came to a halt in his destructive march. The ships were almost withing his striking distance, and he was standing on the fringes of the beach. 'This should be good for a warmup.' His ancient mind thought as he began to cast his first spell.

"Incoming!" Erik roared as soon as he sensed the large mass of mana building within Yul's body. The crew quickly reacted and began to brace themselves. Even though Erik had not given them any information on what to expect, they knew better than to question him.

The ship rocked violently as spears of earth erupted from the sea bed. They split through the vessel and emerged from the top deck. They killed several heroes in mere seconds.

Yul had effectively neutralised the ship. It was no longer capable of moving forward as the spell had skewered it. The men cried out in shock at the sudden turn of events. Not one of them had thought they would be caught in a spell at this range.

"Make your own way to shore! You all know what to do!" Erik roared as he paced forward. The mana in the surrounding area became electrically charged. Small flashes of lighting began to emit from Erik's eyes.

As he drew the spear from his back, the only thing that anyone on board the vessel would ever recall seeing was a bolt of lightning suddenly launching from the deck. Yul's eyes went wide as he watched the rapidly approaching lightning.

He raised one of his large hands to block it. However, he was surprised as a large hole suddenly burst open straight through his palm. The lightning bolt suddenly took the form of a man; a blood-crazed expression was lighting up his face as he lunged at Yul's eye with his spear.

Yup was an ancient creature though. He had an untold wealth of experience at his disposal. Unfortunately for Erik, amongst his most profound memories was a similar scenario.

Erik coughed blood as a baby-sized fist at the end of a rocky tentacle struck him in his ribs mid-air. The blow was powerful enough to send him flying down towards the ground. Erik inwardly cursed the straightforward trajectory of his attack.

Yul let out a deep laugh, mocking the hero and his brave attempt to land a critical blow so early. Erik was forced to find his feet and dodge a hail of blows quickly.

Every time he thought that the onslaught would end another tentacle that made up Yul's beard would strike where he was standing. Sand and dirt flew up in the air as each strike missed its target.

Erik was forced to retreat to give himself more time to react to the counter-attack. He let go of the rage that had been building up within himself since he had spotted Yul from the ship. His demeanour rapidly changed, quickly becoming one of a cold, calculating, battle-hardened veteran.

Yul only gave chase with his beard. He was refusing to move even a single step from where he was standing. In his opinion, the young mortal was too arrogant. He lacked the power to pose any kind of threat to him. In fact, he was only still alive because Yul wished him to be.

Erik refused to stay on the back foot, though. He knew that he had to make a drastic move to change the current pace of the battle. If he kept allowing his opponent to decide the pace, then it would only be a matter of time before he fell.

Erik began to flood his left arm with mana, drawing a curious gaze from Yul. As the mana flowing through his arm reached critical levels, sparks of electricity began to dance across his armour.

"Let's see you deal with this!" Eric snarled, as he released the built-up charge into the sky. A flash of triumph danced in his eyes.