The boy stared fixedly at the enormous beast charging toward him amid the shaking earth. His slight frame looked all the more frail and insignificant.
"Chunya! Fall back to another squad! You can't hold this position alone!"
Suddenly, a hoarse, desperate roar rang out. Just ahead of the boy, a figure drenched in blood rose to his feet.
A large chunk of his upper body on the right side was gone. He was the deputy captain of the frail boy's squad.
Even as he roared at the boy, he lunged forward. The Wind Elephant Beast, startled by the figure suddenly rising before it, slowed for an instant.
In that brief instant, the deputy captain swept forward like a raging whirlwind, trailing blood through the air as he threw himself at the Wind Elephant Beast. His remaining left hand was like an iron clamp.
With a bang, he seized the shaft of the spear embedded in the Wind Elephant Beast's eye.
"Damn you! Die, you bastard!"
With another roar, he unleashed every last ounce of strength and drove his body forward.
Squelch!
The spear plunged straight through its brain, but the Wind Elephant Beast's momentum remained unchecked. Its body, weighing thousands of pounds, continued charging forward with tremendous force.
The squad's deputy captain could no longer hold it back.
Shhk!
The long spear shaft instantly pierced his right chest. He threw back his head and spat a great jet of blood, then his head slumped heavily...
The frail boy shuddered at his deputy captain's sharp shout. His lips pressed tightly together, and tears welled in his eyes, but he no longer hesitated. He darted around the boulder and sprinted off to one side!
Other squads surrounded them a hundred yards away. Battle cries shook the heavens. As long as someone kept