Benedict watched the giant approach, his grapple ready. The plan was simple. All he needed to do was wrap the legs up, which would trip it, then they could remove the animus core and be done with it. Entangling prey was a millennia-old tradition in human society. He needn’t be nervous.

  “You’re shaking,” Kirion said.

  “I am not,” Benedict replied.

  The giant passed by, its footsteps rumbling through the concrete and cobbles beneath Benedict’s feet. His chance came as the giant was midstride, one titanic leg in midair. He dashed into the street and fired the grapple at the foot. Contact was perfect. A good enough pull would throw the giant off balance. It couldn’t do anything lying on its face. He pulled back hard as it continued forward.

  And Benedict had completely underestimated its strength. The force with which the giant casually stepped forward pulled Benedict off his feet, and his face slammed into the road. The cobbles continued beating him as the giant pulled him across them with the next step. Benedict withdrew the grapple and picked himself up. It turned out all he received from the attempt was a face so bruised he was barely able to down a healing potion.

  “What’s the next bright idea?” Kirion asked.

  Benedict winced as he spoke. “Not mine.”

  “I have one. Get back to the alley.”

  After his face had fully healed, Benedict spoke again. “I hope this will work.”

  “We haven’t tried it yet. I’ll try to stop it with a trap. You grapple to the core. It won’t be perfect, but at least it can’t move forward.”

  “Fine. Let’s do it.”

  The giant came back, a load of white stone in its conjured net. Kirion moved in a flash, hand lowing. In the briefest of moments, a magical trap flashed and faded into the ground. The giant continued lumbering forward. Benedict readied his grapple again, just in time for the giant to walk right over the trap, missing by a good three feet.

  “How are we so bad at this?” Benedict shouted into the sky.

  “We can always try again,” Kirion said. “My aim was just slightly off.”

  Before they could run back to the giant, a woman screamed. Kirion’s trap had ensnared her instead, wrapping conjured ropes around her body. Her screams continued while Kirion knelt near the trap and held a hand to it.

  “Shouldn’t you be able to unmake a trap as easily as you placed it?” Benedict asked.

  “Shut up,” Kirion retorted.

  After an endless minute—which probably felt worse for the unwitting victim—the trap dissipated. The poor woman composed herself long enough for Kirion to apologize multiple times, then she slapped him across the face and walked off. He stared at her for a moment before regaining his composure. Maybe Ordra was going to do better.

  They broke into a run together, trying to catch up to the lumbering giant. When they did, it had just knocked over a statue, breaking it into several pieces all over the ground. The giant stumbled as it stepped on one of the pieces but kept its footing.

  Further down the road, Ordra stood in the middle of the road, ready to block the giant with his shields ready. One foot slammed down near him, and he launched himself forward, rearing one shield back. With a single great strike, he knocked the rising foot backward, throwing the giant off balance again. This time, however, it tumbled forward, splayed arms wrecking even more buildings while the materials it had already gathered scattered in all directions.

  Ordra laughed as he climbed onto the giant’s torso. He had barely touched the handle when the giant stirred. Just like with Benedict earlier, it thrashed about to get Ordra off. Also just like with Benedict earlier, it succeeded, and Ordra flew over a nearby home.

  Benedict drew a healing potion and ran to the home’s back garden, where Ordra lay in a heap of bushes and dirt. Two children stood beside him laughing as he tried standing. Their mother stood with them, a look of abject horror all over her face. Belatedly, Benedict realized the bush used to be a well-groomed topiary.

  Ordra took a healing potion and downed it in one gulp. “Well, that didn’t work.”

  Benedict helped him to his feet. “Maybe we’re just a lot better when something needs to die .”

  They walked together out of the garden after giving the woman some money to replace the plants. Benedict groaned as he realized there was something he needed to tell Rodwin exactly what he didn’t want to hear.

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  Rodwin stared at Benedict like he’d just suggested murdering his firstborn. “Absolutely not!”

  “Face it, Rodwin, this thing is just going to keep causing destruction until we manage to stop it,” Ordra said.

  “Do you know how long it took just to get it built and working?”

  “It’s not working,” Kirion said.

  “And probably a lot less time than these people have been building their lives,” Benedict added.

  Godwik tapped his brother on the shoulder. “Maybe if they can just save the animus core.”

  Rodwin stared at the ground, silent. In the distance, more building broke as the giant harvested them. Or just walked past.

  “I guess the plans for the body still exist,” he finally murmured.

  “Seeing prototypes fail is a part of testing,” Benedict said. “The animus core is the big part of this test. Maybe you should put it into something smaller for the next test.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “So, we save the animus core, the rest is fair game?” Kirion asked.

  Ordra nodded and drew his shields. “That sounds fair to me.”

  “This was inevitable,” Godwik said.

  Rodwin looked like he was going to puke. “I shouldn’t even be in the guild.”

  “Godwik, knock some sense into your brother while we finish this,” Benedict said.

  The giant approached once again with a load of looted bricks. Benedict watched the head, where he could see openings like a helm. Within, there was a dull glow.

  “You said it’s controlled by a conjured beast within the head?” Benedict asked Rodwin.

  “Yes,” Rodwin replied.

  Benedict drew his rifle and looked to the others. “I’m going to get close enough to get the beast within the head. I might be able to save something of the body doing that.”

  “I think we can slow it down for you,” Ordra said.

  Kirion moved first, throwing down trap after trap right in front of the giant. Once again, it stepped right over them, but Ordra was ready. A great slam with both his shields at once pushed the giant back. One stumbling foot hit a trap. Tendrils shot up from the ground, wrapping around the appendage and anchoring it to the ground. A moment later, the other foot hit a different trap for the same effect.

  Benedict leveled his rifle and waited. The giant flailed its torso as it tried to free its legs, head moving just as much with clear blue sky behind it. Deep in Benedict’s mind, the image of a bullet flying right past the head and arcing over the city to land on a child’s head played and replayed. He lowered his rifle and drew his grapple. The torso was still a hard target, so he squeezed the trigger and hoped.

  The tool gripped onto the torso at its right shoulder, and Benedict flew on the end of the tether, slamming into the torso feet-first. His position wasn’t ideal, but close enough that any missed shot would bury itself into wood. He aimed again, rifle far less steady without his off hand gripping it. Still, he squeezed the trigger.

  Splinters flew as bullets struck the wooden head. No matter. Benedict kept firing until one shot passed through the slit. The giant flailed again, and Benedict lost his footing. Motion slammed him into the torso multiple times, no matter how much he tried breaking the motion, and that wasn’t counting the bricks thrown free.

  Kirion shouted something Benedict couldn’t hear, but he got the gist when wind whipped around him, and the ground got smaller. He screamed curses as he continued skyward. Feet scrambled for purchase in the constant wind. At least the giant wasn’t trying to throw him off anymore, though. With his clothes blowing around him and hair whipping in his face, he set himself as close as he could to the head.

  The head was right there, close enough to use his sword if he had the confidence to draw it. Instead, he jabbed the rifle forward, aiming for the slit. The muzzle bounced off once, then twice. On his third try, he succeeded in wedging the muzzle into the slit, and then he squeezed the trigger rapidly. He didn’t count how many shots it took, but the wind finally stopped, and he realized he’d made a mistake as the body began to plummet out of the sky.

  A string of curses flowed from his lips as he entered freefall. Instinctively, he unlocked the grapple from the giant’s body and turned his aim to the bathhouse wall. Arm muscles screamed as the grapple locked onto the wall and arrested his fall, then his body bounced off the brick exterior. He managed to stop himself from hitting again with his feet.

  On the ground below, the giant lay in a crumpled heap, every individual part separated from the others over a wide area. Rodwin ran up to the torso, shouting prayers that everything was all right. Ordra, Kirion, and Godwik helped him overturn the torso, then he removed the animus core.

  Benedict unreeled himself to the ground and collapsed to the ground. “Is the core intact, at least?”

  Rodwin cradled a long cylinder in his arms. “It doesn’t look damaged. The body took months to make…”

  “Go smaller, and the next one won’t take as long.” Benedict looked toward the town. “Much less destructive if something goes wrong.”

  “What next?” Ordra asked.

  Another building crumbled in the background.

  “I think we have to fix this now. Or at least help them get started.”

  “The Artificers’ Guild will take care of that!” someone shouted from the back.

  Godwik and Rodwin turned around, bolt upright with their arms stiff at their sides. Baden approached them, arms crossed and glaring daggers a them. A large work crew came behind him full of the burliest men Benedict had ever seen.

  Multiple hours later, after spending the rest of the day assisting the good people in rebuilding what Rodwin had broken, Benedict’s entire body screamed at him to stop. Even a good, hot bath didn’t fully refresh him, and he flopped onto the bed the moment he reached it.

  Shiyo lay in the neighboring bed, humming while she brushed her hair.

  Benedict looked at her, eyes wide, and a chill ran down his spine. “What’s got you so happy?”

  “Amalyn took us to an incredible resort,” Shiyo replied. “I’ve never been treated so well in my life. They put this oil in my hair that makes it glisten. Look!” She moved it in and out of the light, and it did indeed glisten. “I didn’t know I could feel this good. Even the best bath never had this effect.”

  “It’s unnerving. I don’t like it.”

  “And what did you do today?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Just… if Rodwin ever offers you a job, turn it down.”

  “What?” The look of puzzlement was almost cute.

  “Trust me, it’s not worth it.”