The Shapeshifter

The rain continued to fall on the battlefield.

The dark skies that loomed over turned even darker as it spanned in the large region. Only the flashes of light coming from the rumblings of thunder serves as the light for the poor sighted insects and humans.

"Ooooooooonngggg!"

The Golden Beetle wailed all the anger and grievances that was once locked within itself. The wail even sounded stronger than the claps of thunder.

Its aura was constantly getting stronger as time passes by.

The tribesmen could clearly feel the foul aura pressuring them. Their faces darkened and put more strength in swinging their weapons in fear.

While on the other side, the insects were going mad from the mutation of the Golden Beetle. The fear that was slowly reducing their prowess was swept away.

"This can't continue." the Big Baldie gritted his teeth.

He then threw an axe towards the Golden Beetle.

The axe swooshed towards the Golden Beetle. It was rotating incredibly fast and kept on emitting tounges of fire at first, then it grew to become a flaming wheel aiming at the golden mountain.

The Golden Beetle was unfazed by the flame wheel and it stood still waiting for the fiery axe to come.

'Thwack!'

One side of the Beetle's mandibles were cut off, yet the Golden Beetle was unperturbed about such an injury. It wasn't even enough for it to flinch in pain.

An injury like this would've made it go ham and maybe even runcbefore mutation. But now, it even has the audacity to smirk!

The Big Baldie even felt proud of himself to inflict such an injury to a mutated Dire Beast. He was feeling happy and was about to rush the Golden Beetle when he heard the creature snort.

"No, no!"

Despair was written all-over the Big Baldie and the tribesmen's faces. While Alex could barely see a thing due to the blood that was on his face and mainly due to pure exhaustion.

"Huuuuum. Calm down. It's just another obstacle that should be overcomed. Either I make this battle a stalemate or I lose and everybody dies."

The Big Baldie took a deep breath and assessed the battlefield.

The Big Baldie took a hit mentally on the regeneration made by the Golden Beetle. He couldn't help but tremble when he learned that no matter the injury, the creature could definitely heal itself.

The only thing that he could do was to stall for time and wait for reinforcements to come, as the mutation was definitely an event that the warriors in the city saw.

"Oooooonngg!"

The Golden Stag Beetle roared once more and looked ready to fight. It charged at the Big Baldie using its newly regenerated wings. It arrived at its target after a breath's worth of time.

The Big Baldie was shocked awake by the speed that the Golden Beetle showed. Its shadow already loomed before him and it took a swing aiming to destroy the inner organs of the Big Baldie.

Unfortunately, it was a mediocre defensive stance as it was hastily put up. The Big Baldie took a hit and his axe was sent flying. He was continuously gurgling and spitting out blood when he tried standing up.

"Cough! I severely underestimated this beast. Cough!"

He knew that this beast would pack quite a punch, yet he never thought that this beast would have such an incredible speed. Its speed could even rival those of the Void Beasts that he knew of.

He once again saw the Golden Beetle flying towards him and dodged to the side. Knowing that he won't be able to harm the beast with only his b.a.r.e fist, he immediately ran towards the axe the flew out of his grasp during the collision.

When he picked up the axe, the beast was already near him and he chopped at the beast.

The Golden Beetle's mandibles and the flaming axe collided, yet both of them were only forced a step back! The scene was witnessed by the whole tribesmen and it brought them hope.

They were naturally observing the battle between the two biggies. So they could act depending on the performance of the two.

"Let's go! For glory!"

The Big Baldie roared at the Golden Beetle's face with all that he has got. He knew that his kinsmen were watching his fight, and as a leader, he naturally has to rally his troops and increase their morale for battle.

"For glory!" the Tribesmen followed suit and also bellowed.

When Alex heard this, he felt that he even had the energy to stand up and fight the creepy creatures. His blood was also boiling, eager to fight his way back. Sadly, he was really out of it. Even the insects were ignoring him as his heartbeat was growing slow, contrary to what he was feeling in his mind.

The Big Baldie was never the brute that only knows how to swing his axes. Alex felt ashamed, yet he was eager to learn to change his views of people.

With their newfound strength and increase in morale, the tribesmen were reaping the lives of the insects that only grew to a meter and half. They were just beasts that served as a fodder.

The threats only came from those fierce beasts that was holding down he stronger ones from the tribe.

The slaughtering of the beasts were beginning to die down. No matter the morale and their strength, they were still unable to reduce the size of the swarm of insects.

Due to this, the insects was slowly gaining their ground once more.

The fight between the Big Baldie and the Golden Stag Beetle continued to be on a stand still. Every collision resulted to a few sparks, white marks and loud thuds.

...

On one of the final Bastions of Humanity.

A muscular middle aged man with white hair were giving out orders towards a couple of people. The scar that runs from his eyebrows towards his cheekbones was fear inducing.

"Send the 13th infantry division! Listen to the Archmage Micah! His words are mine! Now go, quickly."

After barking out his orders, the Knights left, leaving the muscled man and another man inside the room. He turned towards the handsome man after the doors have been closed.

The man looks to be in his early thirthies or late twenties. He has dark blue eyes with the same color as his hair that was reaching his shoulders.

"Assess the situation first, then act accordingly. Is that what you wanted to say, Geoffrey?", the handsome man said.

"Ha! You finally learned, Micah!", Geoffrey said.

"Mages aren't dumb you know? I shall leave first and deal with this mutant. Let's hope that this one isn't a mutant Void Beast or we'll need more than you and me."

"Let's hope so. You be careful out there."

"Yeah yeah. I'm off."