The only question was whether I wanted to use my True Arrow to break open the point, or if I wanted to soften the leg up first, then shoot. My arrows were dealing some damage to the beast, but as I fired shot after shot into arm, torso and leg, I could see that for the most part, I wasn’t dealing a high amount of damage.
As I strung for more shots, watching as the Titan finally freed its arm from the ground, there came an ear-piercing shriek from behind. My danger senses had been warning of something, but I had so many things running through my head at once that I failed to properly process it.
Four claws struck me from behind, slashing up and down in a wild fury as a Griffin flew past me, its fly-by attack hitting me quite hard. Thankfully, my armor was able to keep the claws from piercing my flesh, but the force of the strike knocked me out of the tree.
“Ahhhh!” I cried in surprise, flipping in midair to catch myself. But that did little good, because the slam attack of the Titan came down on me hard while I was in the air. I felt the full weight of the Titan come down. Thankfully, my unbreakable ability kicked in, making the slam attack appropriate to my size. I couldn’t help but laugh as my health dropped down by 1%, the damage reduction working in full swing.
The fist had embedded me into the ground and was trying to open itself up, so the mouth could consume me. I wasn’t about to let that happen, and I wriggled upwards, squeezing myself around, contorting hard to clamber atop the limb.
What I found above the ground was rather unnerving, even for me. A Fitzon, a Kinru and two Griffins were present, the land beasts directly in front of me, the Griffins flying in circles, waiting to attack. It looked like the Shadow Titan still had control over them…or perhaps my delicious scent had attracted them. Either way, this fight was about to get really, really ugly.
Chapter 44
The swarm of monsters before me seemed less disciplined and controlled than before. They snarled and hissed, at me and at each other. The two Griffins did not seem to get along well at all, swooping at one another in false charges, attempting to bait the other into fleeing the area. It was clear that they were not here because of any special control of the Shadow Titan. They were here for dinner only.
The Kinru was the first to charge, leaping at me with incredible speeds. This particular breed was larger, pale white with a long black diamond on its head. It snarled and hissed, murder in its eyes as it barreled towards me.
Instinct took over and I focused on the creature with all my might, activating my Queen of the Kinru ability. Our eyes met and a brief psychic battle took place as my mind asserted dominance over the monster. What had started as a charge, ended in submission as it ran up to me and knelt down.
“Perfect!” I said, leaping on the Kinru’s back, bow in hand. Looks like I just got a fast moving mount to get me around the battlefield! The temptation arose for me to begin focusing on picking off the monsters, shooting the Griffins down and killing the Fitzon, but I got the feeling that the longer the Shadow Titan was in its new form, the more adept it would become.
Sensing my desires, my Kinru steed took off towards the massive right leg of the Titan, leaping left and right, dodging as the Griffins came swooping down, raking their feet to attack me. The Kinru was fast and agile, moving at speeds that would honestly make shooting mobile targets quite hard. Fortunately, the long, black legs weren’t particularly fast.
I could see the red outline of the back hind leg of the Titan, perfectly in the center. The legs shifted, trying to stomp at me as we ran underneath the Titan, but unable to catch the Kinru’s immense speed.
“Hold steady!” I shouted, raising Josiah’s Storm, four arrows strung together. I decided to soften up the leg first, saving the True Arrow for last. Shot after shot crashed into the wide rubbery leg, causing more rumblings as the great Titan shifted its weight to free up the leg I was shooting at.
“Go!” I ordered, getting my steed to rush forward, narrowly avoiding the slam attack from the great leg as it crashed into the earth. This caused such a shockwave in the earth that my Kinru was thrown loose from the earth, flipping upside down.
I acted quickly, jumping off the Kinru and firing my grappling hook into one of the front legs, saving myself from the fall. My Kinru servant hit the ground with a sickening crunch, but much to my surprise, it leapt right back up and began to hiss and shriek at nothing in particular. I sent a mental command for the creature to return to me, then released my grip on the ropes, falling 30 feet towards the ground.
In midair, I managed to snap off a few more shots, striking the leg more and more. My shots were dealing damage and I could see the flesh on the leg beginning to open up, blood pouring like a waterfall.
As I fell, one of the Griffins swooped to intercept me, flying beneath the massive trunk of the Shadow Titan, shrieking as it charged. I dropped my bow and caught the razor sharp talons coming my way with ease—my enhanced strength and dexterity made grabbing and holding it rather easy. The Griffin was not prepared for this maneuver and let out a shriek once more, pecking its beak at my face as I wrestled with it, forcing it to spin in midair.
I felt a sharp jab in my forehead, followed by an
