Are you so determined to kill yourself? The gembeast shrieked as the ground began to shake violently. Before I could respond by shooting another arrow at the Titan core, there came a breaking sound from above, so loud that even my own muffled hearing could detect it. It was the sound of the ceiling of the cave being torn off in one fell swoop. And then? Pure darkness came barreling down, swallowing us all up.
Chapter 42
For what it was worth, I did consider my actions both reckless and foolish. But at the same time, it was an established fact that some kind of intelligence was guiding the Shadow Titan. Acting in a logical, rational manner when facing an opponent who expected such behavior put me at a disadvantage. However, striking the core out of impulse, without alerting my companion or showing any sign that I would do so, seemed to be the best way to put more damage into it. Whatever came next, well, we’d have to deal with it how we always did.
The nexus of shadow came crashing down on us, but Trig had already primed the light grenade the second I had fired my bow. One moment, a massive shadowy arm was coming towards us, the next a ball of light forced it to stop its advance, acting as a force field, keeping the Titan at bay.
No! You fools! The Masara shrieked as it aimed its arms towards me. A bolt of lightning came sailing my way, but for some reason, my Opportunist ability counted this attack as an ambush. I deftly dodged the bolt of lightning, sliding past the gembeast and firing another shot at the core. Though I was not shooting a True Arrow, it didn’t much matter. The core was exposed and my abilities were more than capable of puncturing a stationary core with no means of defense.
The shot struck the orb, spraying more blood out, causing the ground to shake even harder as the beast let out a deep scream. Everything around us, cavern wall, ceiling and even flooring that wasn’t covered by the light was torn upwards, sucked into the nexus as the Shadow Titan tried in vain to rescue its core. But the burning light of the grenade kept its power at bay.
More lightning came my way, one bolt striking me square in the back as I tried to roll out of the way. The Masara was more than capable of shooting rapid bursts, hitting me once more as I fell to the ground, gasping from the first shock.
I became acutely aware of my own heart stopping when the second bolt struck me, causing me to gasp for air. I fell flat, nerves burning on all ends as the electricity surged through me. The metal armor and the water-soaked clothes I was wearing didn’t much help in this situation.
Thankfully, the Masara was more focused on escaping than simply killing me. It blasted a few times at Trig, forcing him to duck and dodge, avoiding each shot expertly. I realized that he was holding two more light grenades in his hands, the last two we had. No doubt he knew the cost of darkness at this point. We had ten minutes on this grenade charge and then, darkness would fall.
As I tried to recover from the lightning strike, slamming my hand against my chest a few times, trying to get my heart to start back up (or was I simply in shock and convinced my heart had stopped?), the Masara ran to the Titan core and shoved its body against the large ball, forcing it to roll forward, all the while firing shot after shot at Trig.
The core rolled forward, towards the edge of the light.
“Trig,” I gasped, “don’t let the core leave the area!”
“I don’t have much to fight with here,” he said back, expertly dodging another barrage of lightning. The enemy Masara had no cooldown time with its electrical attacks, nor did it seem to slow down between shots. It had turned and pressed its back against the core, walking backwards as to allow it to keep shooting with both arms.
I climbed up for a moment, but my arms gave out once more, my nervous center screaming for relief. Damage reduction didn’t seem to apply much to the stunning effect of electrical shots.
“Uhhhh, I’ve got one option but it’s not great,” Trig said. He was referring, of course, to his latch ditch effort bombs. Explosives that packed a serious punch. “Not great for us, I mean.”
I rolled over onto my back, trying to get up. The stun effects began to wear off, but not quickly enough. I could do little other than move my head and my mouth…but maybe that’s all I needed! After all, I had the Lurbia charm on now!
“Hold that thought,” I said as I switched the Lurbia charm’s effect from damage reduction to the Frostbreath ability. At once, I felt a frigidness overtake my lungs, as if I had just inhaled freezing air after a long run. My lungs burned from it, but I wasn’t necessarily in pain. Hard to explain really. But I could feel a powerful frost building up in my chest, ready to burst out at a moment’s notice.
Inhaling deeply, I turned my head towards the escaping Masara, who was still struggling to roll the massive, wounded core, and let out a heavy exhale, blowing as hard as I could. A stream of frozen air blasted out of my mouth, nearly freezing my own tongue as it streamed straight towards the Masara. The gembeast was taken by surprise from this attack and had no time to react, its entire body getting encased in a layer of ice.
Yet in spite of my attack, it continued to move,
