-Chapter 2: Meeting the Locals-

Somewhere along the Paradis Countryside

The marked man continued to follow the stream as it stretched for miles on end. He didn't seem too exhausted by the long trek though as he had grown quite used to long distance traveling. That and the freshwater river was an excellent source of refreshment. As he saw a few fish swim by the stream a rather childish thought came to his mind and he jumped into the water, deciding to continue his journey by floating down the river. He found that the water was deep enough to support him, and so he held onto his morning star tightly and let the rivers current carry him across the countryside, his own personal lazy river ride.

He relaxed his body and allowed his ears to be submerged into the water, the only sounds he wanted to hear being the ripples of the river. As he floated he couldn't help but wonder about the new situation he found himself in this new reality.

'Wonder what kind of world I've waken up to now. Have I woken up in the countryside of a kingdom or empire in dire straits? Another advanced society that's using this part of the world as a nature preserve? Or maybe...maybe, man has not evolved yet? Heh...dinosaurs, wouldn't mind running into them again.'

His thoughts were interrupted as his head hit the edge of the riverbed. Deciding that his lazy river fun was over he got up and turned around, only to lay eyes upon the sight of a forest just up ahead. As he got closer, he noticed that the trees themselves were starting to grow in size until finally reaching the entrance of a great forest.

A forest of giant trees

He had seen his fair share of giant trees, some were the last of their kind, others held the world together in their roots, hell one even talked to him! So seeing a large forest of larger than usual trees wasn't something new, still it was an impressive sight. Not wasting any more time he shook his head to get the remaining bits of water out of his ear and stepped into the great forest.

-oOo-

Inside the Forest of Giant Trees

How long have these tress stood for? How far did they grow? These were the questions the marked man asked himself as he wandered the dense forest. He couldn't help but look up, seeing the tress grow so high that they practically blocked out the sun. Marveling at the sheer awesome power of nature when left on its own, he couldn't help but get the sudden urge to climb one of the trees, just to see what it was like.

He set his weapon down onto the soil and started his trek up the closest tree he could get his grip on. Noticing other trees close by he decided to perform some extreme tree parkour, jumping from one tree to the next, swinging from branch to branch. He stopped as he reached roughly halfway up an 80-meter oak to take in the view. As he looked across the forest, now at a higher perspective, he couldn't help but remember a certain nature loving companion of his long ago.

'*Sigh*…Ol' Oakblade would have loved it here.'

He was brought out of his musings by the sound of rustling bushes and pitter-patters across the forest floor. He looked below him and saw a group of deer make their way across the forest rather quickly, as if they were fleeing from something. The marked man quickly began his trek down the large tree, using its branches as stopgaps towards his decent. He landed next to Skullsmite to retrieve it and made his way across the forest, towards the source of whatever frightened the deer.

'They looked rather spooked, maybe some hunters are nearby...' He thought to himself.

The thought of finally making contact with the local population was enough for him to increase his speed. As he made his way through, a series of loud thumping's began to echo across the forest. Heading towards the source of the thumping, he slowed down as he caught sight of just what exactly was making the noise.

What was standing a few feet away from him was most certainly not a human, humanoid sure, but not entirely human.

It stood at roughly 12 meters give or take...

It stumbled its way across the forest like it was completely plastered...

It was completely nude, lacking any sort of clothing...

It was a giant. A great, drunken, naked giant.

'Looks like this one hit the bottle a little too much.' He couldn't help but chuckle loudly at the sight before him, even as the giant turned its head around to show its rather disturbing and goofy-looking grin the marked man continued to chuckle. He walked towards the lumbering giant to greet the humanoid in a more proper manner. As the giant slowly made its way towards him, he spoke louder to make sure he was being heard.

"How's it going bud! You know English? If you do then I would really appreciate it if-" He was interrupted as the giant, with sudden quick movements, ran the rest of the distance between them and leapt down with its hand stretched out, in an effort to grab him. The marked man dodged the incoming giant mass of flesh, leading it to crash into a nearby tree.

"Oi! The hell's your problem huh?!" He shouted at it, only for the giant to pick itself back up and attempt to grab the man once more. The game of cat-and-mouse continued for a few minutes until the smaller of the two beings was growing further irritated.

"Knock it off!" He shouted as he raised his morning star in the air, preparing to counter an incoming hand. As the weapon made contact with the giants hand it was completely obliterated, blood and bone fragments flying in separate directions, covering both the marked man and a few trees nearby. The giant screamed in anguish as it knelt down nursing the now handless stump, while the man began to panic as the burning sensation.

"Augh! Fucking hell, acid blood!" He shouted as the blood began to boil upon his naked skin. His worries disappeared soon however as he saw the red substance quickly evaporate into thin air.

"Oh, alright..." He said to himself.

As he wiped away the remaining steaming blood, he suddenly heard the sound of multiple loud footsteps making their way towards his location. He turned around to see that more giants of varying sizes and proportions were slowly popping out of the forest, most likely due to the noises made by both him and his attacker. One thing that was common among them however were the looks they were giving him. He'd recognized that look if the saliva drooling from their mouths was anything to go by.

It was the look of hunger...

A hunger for flesh...

A hunger for him...

He heard the sudden sound of groaning and flesh churning. Turning back he saw the giant whose hand he had turned to mush minutes before slowly pick itself back up, the stub on its arm steaming all the while. His eyes widened as he saw that the hand was slowly growing back, its bones reforming, muscles and flesh reattaching itself again. Despite his current circumstance he couldn't help but let out a somewhat amused sigh.

"Regeneration. Giant man-eaters…that can regenerate…alright then."

Placing both hands onto his spikey mace of doom he went into a battle stance. The markings on his body glowed brighter, as if anticipating the slaughter that was to come. The pale blue glow flowed through the morning star as well, its inscribed runes and enchantments activating. As he was slowly being surrounded, the smile on his face formed into a vicious grin.

"Guess I'll have to aim for something more vital!"

He jumped forward, straight into the horde of gaping maws and outstretched hands.

AN: And now our hero has encountered the titular enemies of this story. Will they offer the marked man a challenge? Probably not. Next chapter we are heading towards the beginning events of the manga/anime, with a few minor changes of course.

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