As we struck the ground, my Kinru was already ready to engage. It charged into the Griffin’s throat and with its two large claws, tore the bird beast to pieces in a matter of seconds.
I staggered to my feet and tried to take another shot at the Shadow Titan, but the leg was already coming down on us. Dodge! Josiah’s Storm warned, filling me with a burst of extra dexterity, giving me the reaction time and speed to kick off, dashing out of the way. I tried to order my Kinru to run as well, but the stupid creature had started eating its prey in the middle of the fight, completely forgetting about anything else. It died instantly upon impact as the Shadow Titan crushed both the Kinru and the Griffin into a pulp.
“Aww, come on,” I groaned, shooting more shots at the back of the Titan’s leg, looking for any spots that did more damage. The beast was roaring and groaning now, wildly swiping at the other Griffin, perhaps thinking that I was now controlling all of the monsters in the area. This Griffin, however, had the intelligence or self-preservation to get the hell out of here, shrieking defiantly as it swooped off into the woods.
Only the Fitzon remained, but it had become too enamored with the squashed remains of the two dead monsters to pay any attention to me. Another slam attack came my way, this time from the right hand of the Titan, palm open to try and swallow me up. Instead of just dodging, I figured I’d try something new, taking aim at the open mouth and firing a shot directly into it.
As the arrow whistled through the air, striking the interior of the Titan, it let out a hideous shriek and staggered backwards a few steps, taking down a few more trees and sending even more shockwaves through the ground. I guess my Fell the Mighty Oak ability must have finally kicked in, for the beast was unable to catch itself, despite the stability of having four legs, and it barreled over onto its back.
This shockwave was strong enough to break apart the earth while I ran forward, leaping and dodging as the ground opened wide enough to swallow just about anything in it. Metal chunks of debris came flying towards me, ancient steel freed by the earth-shattering blow to the ground. I dodged left, right and left, practically sailing through the air, avoiding each piece of metal inch by inch. A small beam struck me in the side of my head, but my damage reduction mixed with my anti-weakness charm made the hit more or less negligible.
Heart racing as I strained to reach the fallen Titan, I readied my True Arrow. This was it, time to take it down for good. The great beast was on its back, legs in the air, unmoving, stunned from my attack. Apparently, a shot to the arm-throat was enough to take the thing down for the count. With the additional minute long stun from The Harder They Fall, I had time to line up the shot on the hind right leg, standing right next to it for additional damage.
The True Arrow flashed brightly as I fired the shot, piercing through the leg of the Titan, pushing all the way through the skin and into the core itself, striking perfectly. Without hesitation, I fired once more, taking full use of my opportunist abilities. Two shots was all it took, for I could see a brilliant red light emerge from all of the holes I had put into the beast. The Shadow Titan shuddered, shrieked and then burst into a black mist that dissipated almost instantly upon making contact with the sun.
All that remained was the small husk of the shattered core and a large, gleaming chunk of blue stone that shimmered in the light. I dropped to my knees as the words appeared. Titan Slain! 15,000 Bloodpoints gained. It was finally over.
Chapter 45
The chapter in the Shadewood was almost complete, but there was still one major order of business left to take care of. Trig had managed to successfully lead the people to the mountains, the task more than easy enough now that light was everywhere. Safe and sound in Brimley’s company, the villagers agreed to stay put while Trig returned, half a day later to find me at the Shadow Titan’s lair.
“There’s two of them?” Trig asked as he approached us, pointing at the two Masara standing next to each other. They were identical now, with the Overseer having shifted the other vessel to look exactly like itself.
“Yeah. Sort of,” I said, waving to him as I sat beside the collection of monster corpses I had collected. The Kinru had been smashed beyond repair, but I was able to harvest the Griffin for another aspect point, so that was a big plus. “Basically, Titans seem to be able to grow Masara somehow. And with the memory shard inside of it, the Masara the Shadow Titan grew was much smarter and somewhat symbiotic with the creature. The Shadow Masara could more or less think and give out orders, giving the Shadow Titan the appearance of intelligence. Hence why it brought the Titan’s core back here, to repair it from the damage done.”
Trig rubbed his chin. “Interesting…so why can Titans create Masara?”
That is the number one question, isn’t it? The Vessel asked. We both looked at it in surprise.
“You can understand us?”
Your language is rudimentary and easy to parse. You speak long enough
