“So, the Shadow Titan can’t seem to affect water,” I said. “In fact, when underwater, I could see plain as day, as if there were no shadows above us, blocking out the sun.”
“Is there anything we can do with that information?” Trig asked. “Maybe lure it to fight us by the water?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think it’ll move its core around if it can be lured anywhere. Since the beast covers everything…damn…” I trailed off, crossing my arms and leaning against the table with a huff. “Is it just me or does this seem impossible? I mean, fighting and killing a shadow?”
“Come on, don’t second guess yourself,” Trig replied. “You have the core located, yeah? So we don’t need to fight a shadow. We just need to fight the core. And that’s not hard. Right?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure. This thing is smart enough to stage ambushes, move monsters in tactical positions and even sacrifice its own to lure me into dangerous situations. It has to sense that we know where the core is. And that means we’ll be meeting heavy resistance if we get there.”
Trig tapped on the table in thought, prompting Little Hig to awaken from its napping spot in his hair. The monkey began tapping on its master’s head, smiling at me all the while. “Yeah that’s a bit of a puzzle, isn’t it? But what about the green fire? Even though we don’t really know how to make it, the braziers here are still burning. We could figure out how to carry the green fire, which will hide us from the Shadow Titan’s eyes.”
That was a good thought. I hadn’t much considered the idea of actual stealth here. I glanced at him while I rubbed my chin. “And we know for sure the green fire hides us?”
“The village has never been found before. At least, not until we arrived with our regular fire, which apparently draws the Shadow Titan like flies to honey. So the green fire works. And with the people hiding underground and Blue to protect them, I think taking the fire is a good strategy.”
“Okay…so this isn’t a hunt. It’s an assassination,” I said after a few minutes of thought. “We move as quietly as we can, get to the core and then attack it as quickly as possible, ignoring everything else. Forget about monsters, forget about weakening the beast, just a straight up assault on the core.”
“And if the attack fails, we fall back,” Trig said. “A hit and run. The green fire will keep us hidden, so we can easily just escape. No reason to waste our valuable resources and health on fighting it. Even if we have to do this a few times, eventually the beast will crack.”
“Using stealth against a shadow beast,” I chuckled. “That’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so. Now the question is, how do we get to the core? You said you saw it within the shadows, right? Meaning the beast has some kind of…I don’t know, shell? Protection?” Trig asked.
“No clue. My regular attacks went right through the Titan’s arms without much of an issue. So I’m not sure what the shadows actually are…but let’s assume they can protect the core. Light always has an adverse effect on the shadows. So, if you can create a cluster of light bombs, we could illuminate the area where the core is, pushing the shadows away. Maybe that would open up the core to attack?”
Trig nodded. “I suspected we’d need the light bombs, so I put a lot of points into making them better. They last longer now, 10 minutes per bomb. And each one has a 60 foot radius. And now, we can trigger them remotely; I just need to focus on them to cause them to explode. No need to prime them.”
That was great news. “Fantastic! How many can you make?”
“Four.”
“Four?” I repeated. That news wasn’t so great.
Trig shrugged. “The more buffed they became, the more Firnin and Estoan they required. But 10 minutes and 60 feet is a crazy amount. And the light stays fixed wherever the detonation takes place, so if I chuck one at the core, or where you say the core is…”
“It should recede enough of the shadows to make an opening,” I finished. I opened up my Hunter’s Profile to look at the Titan Hunter skills that were available to me.
Titan Hunter Tier One:
- Territorial Awareness: You automatically become aware of a Titan’s presence and location when entering its territory.
- Tempting Recipe: Brewing Bloodpoints, Firnin and animal blood creates a Titan Lure. Depending on the amount of Bloodpoints and Firnin spent, this Lure will attract a Titan to the location over a number of days, weeks or months. The Titan will seek the lure and consume it once it is found.
- Titan Blind: You gain the ability to construct a Titan Blind out of monster bone and foliage. These small buildings render occupants invisible to Titans. Even a Titan actively searching for the occupants is fooled by the Blind and will not engage unless directly attacked from within the building.
The Titan Blind would let us easily retreat to a place where we could rest and ready our next attack. Constructing one near the enemy would let us easily hide in case things went south. Best of all, we could build the blind around the Stabwagon, giving us access to additional supplies in case we needed them.
“So here’s what I’m thinking then,” I said, purchasing Titan Blind for the painful sum of 5,000 Bloodpoints. “I can create one True Arrow at a time. They always hit the core. And I have some abilities that let me follow up with another critical strike. Cores don’t take much because they can’t regenerate damage, right?”
“Right,” Trig said, grinning as he began to sense where I was going. I could see a gleam in his eye, a mischievousness that made me feel a little better about this plan.
“So, we don’t fight this Titan on equal terms. Four light bombs, four True Arrows. We move in, throw a bomb, shoot as much as we can at it, then leave as soon as our attacks are finished. Hide in a little building I can craft, ready up for the next hit,” I said. “The Titan might have some kind of intelligence, but that doesn’t mean it’s omniscient. Hit and run tactics should really confuse it.”
“Best of all, we’re not risking our lives by hanging around, waiting for a siege of monsters to swarm us,” Trig agreed. “I made a few heavy hitter bombs as well. Like, last ditch effort type explosives.”
“Save those for the last strike then,” I said. “In case the beast can somehow adapt to our attacks.”
“Keep it guessing,” Trig murmured. He grinned. “I like it.”
“And hey, who knows? Maybe it’ll die on the first attack,” I said. “Saving us lots of time.”
“Isn’t that the dream? So, let’s get to it!” Trig said, hopping up and clapping his hands together. “I’ll talk to the wife and see if she can help us figure out how to get green fire onto torches. If we’re going to do this stealthily, we can’t do anything without the green fire. Got it?” He paused for a moment to realize that he had just barked an order at me and turned bright red. “Erm, I mean, I think that’s the best idea.”
I raised my hand to stop him from explaining himself. “Don’t worry, Trig, we’re equals here.”
“Really?” he asked.
I nodded. “You followed me into the darkness and have stayed strong, resolute and willing to do whatever it takes to save these people. As far as I’m concerned, you have as much say in this operation as I do. You’ve always had my trust, but you’ve earned a great deal of respect in this adventure. I will see that you are promoted in some capacity when we get home.”
“Just get me off of guard duty, please!” he said, clasping his fingers together and pleading with me. “It’s just so boring.”
“Oh, that’s a shame. I was thinking of promoting you to captain of the guard,” I said. “Too bad.”
Trig laughed at that joke, perhaps a little too hard. I could see that he was trying to suppress his nervousness, to hide just how afraid he was of this Shadow Titan. I wouldn’t scold him for such fear, of course. Sometimes, fear was all we had to keep us alive. Maybe we needed all the fear we could get for what was to come.
Chapter 38
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br /> The pale green flame cast no shadows as it danced upon the end of my torch. No heat came from it, only a cold sensation, like a bitter wind blowing by. It barely illuminated the world around me, but visibility was not the purpose. The purpose was to be completely hidden from my enemy. From the Shadow Titan that was watching us at all times. Thankfully, the green flame was easy to move around, for it turned out that the flame was connected to single pieces of wood that never burned up. Creating a torch was just as easy as picking up a wood block out of one of the braziers and tying it to a stick. However, it was unfortunate that separating the wood caused the other flames in the brazier to immediately dissipate.
Still you fight, the Vessel said as I laid out the various monster bones I had collected over the year. Most of the bones were Kinru, not particularly useful for much, but something I kept within my enchanted bag just in case I ever needed them. And now, it would seem that they would help to create a Titan Blind—a little hunting shack where no Titan could see within. How the blind would work, I had no idea, but I simply did as my instincts told me, tying bones together with string and using large palm fronds to make walls. A blind big enough to hold two people would take me half a day at the least and I had spent most of that day tinkering with those bones. Despite there being no reward for you.
The Overseer had kept hidden underground with the rest of the villagers, but had no trouble sending messages to me, inquiring into my choices.
There are many rewards, I replied. Most of them intangible, but rewards, nonetheless.
There was a wave of curiosity from the creature as I continued working on the hut, slowly but surely turning it into a building that could house the Stabwagon and two hunters. But that is not why you act. You act because you wish to save them. And you are so afraid of casualties that you would rather die in the field, than risk transporting them to safety right now.
I paused at those words. He wasn’t wrong. The idea of losing anyone on my watch sickened me. These people have been through a lot. They all deserve to have a new life.
That is what you believe. And you would rather try and slay a great beast than simply give an inch up. Yet I cannot understand why.
Do you not have empathy? I asked, pulling on the rope that caused the walls to slowly rise up, tightly holding together. They clicked into place almost as if by magic, creating a perfect shelter. All that was missing was a roof. I had to gather more leaves for that.
The Overseer was quiet for a moment. I could sense his confusion at the word. Empathy seems to be at odds with survival. To care about others is to perhaps give up your own advantage. Sacrifice may be necessary to protect your pod…but that is still not empathy. That is merely duty to protect one’s own.
Mr. Blue seemed to be quite puzzled at this. I pressed a little. Suppose that another pod was in danger, and you could aid them. Would you? I asked.
If they were willing to adapt and become subservient to my pod, yes. Otherwise, their destruction would mean nothing to us. They would merely come back in a few centuries, having learned a valuable lesson in their own failings.
Ah, and there it was. Masara regenerated, meaning that they weren’t truly dead. Why have empathy for a creature that was going to come back to life? I mean…if humans just popped back up a few centuries later, no worse for wear, I can’t really imagine being so concerned with their fates.
We don’t come back, I said. Which is why I care about their fates more than anything.
If you do not return to life, then the act of sacrificing your own for theirs is even more puzzling. I must contemplate your actions, Avery.
The Vessel fell silent after that. I didn’t pay much mind to his questions any longer and simply continued my work, focusing as best I could on getting the blind in working condition. The Masara were just as fascinating to me as I was to them. The only difference was that I quite cared about the fate of these people. Blue didn’t seem particularly attached, one way or another. Perhaps in time, he could learn to care about things beyond his own pod.
I finished up the work on the blind, stepping back to admire my work. The blind itself was a large square hut with a triangular roof, covered entirely in foliage. How this simple building had the power to hide us from the Titans was beyond me. But then again, most if not all of the abilities provided by Bloodpoints were supernatural. I just had to trust that this would work.
Inside the blind, I began to ready my first True Arrow. Fifty mana and a minute created a powerful arrow, capable of striking the core from just about any range. Combined with my Follow Up ability, I could dish out two punishing hits to the core before the Titan had a chance to react.
The arrow hummed as I raised it high, focusing with all of my might on it, watching as blue wisps of mana slowly trailed to the head. It’s a shame I couldn’t make more of these at a time. But alas, there was almost always a trade-off with such kinds of power.
“This is the blind?” Trig said as he entered. His leather vest was adorned with many grenades, all hanging from little clamps that could easily be torn off in the heat of battle. I recognized the large, round light grenades easily enough, but the rest of his arsenal was unfamiliar to me. “Looks like…and I mean no disrespect, but looks obvious as hell to me.”
“Hey, I’m just doing what my instincts tell me,” I said.
“Well, the villagers are all safe and sound downstairs. They aren’t happy about the food restrictions you implemented and 41 can’t seem to get them to understand the dangers you talked about,” he said. “I mean, to be honest, I don’t understand either. But medicine was never something I did well with in school. That or any other subject.”
I shrugged. I didn’t have time to be giving health lectures to everyone. They’d just have to endure eating only a small portion of food each day, even though we had plenty to go around. “You ready?” I asked.
Trig paused at those words and sighed. I could see the weariness in his eyes mixed with a hesitancy I hadn’t seen before. “As I’ll ever be.”
“What’s the hold up?” I asked.
“Nah it’s just…I thought it’d be fun to marry because I didn’t figure I’d be long for this world, you know?” Trig confessed. “But I didn’t realize how…how badly it made leaving the village feel. Like, if I had to choose between fighting a horror and just staying home with the wife…I’d rather stay here.” He hung his head low. “Does that make me a coward?”
“No, it just makes you attached,” I said. “I feel the same way about Hig.” This prompted Little Hig to poke his head out of his master’s satchel. “No, not you. Look, taking on attachments makes leaving harder, but…sometimes when I’m about to break, or give up and just let something eat me alive, I realize how much it would hurt Higgins. And that gives me something to fight a little harder for.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?” he asked.
“No, it’s true. The people who stop you from wanting to leave give you a strong reason to come back alive. Try to lean into that. It keeps me sane, at the very least.”
“Well…I’m armed and ready. The hut is good to go, from the looks of it. Anything else we need before we go out there and beat the hell out of a shadow?”
“Just common sense, something we both seem to lack,” I said, raising my bow. “Other than that, I’m good to go. Let’s go kill a Titan.”
With those words, we both silently raised our green torches and set out into the darkness, moving towards the location of the arrows that had landed by the Shadow Titan’s core. A mere half mile away from our hut. Close enough for multiple hit and runs. If we could get away the first time, that is…
Chapter 39
The silence of that dark forest had never been greater than now. Trig and I made our way through the darkness, green torches raised, barely able to see ten feet ahead of us. But the green flame masked our presence; not a single monster found us on the way towards the core. A mere half mile, with each 100
yards marked by an arrow in the ground, making a trail for Trig to get back to the blind, should we be separated. Of course, I did not know if the trail would stay, but hopefully the Shadow Titan wouldn’t have an influence on the path.
The landscape slowly changed as we continued towards the core. The ground sloped upwards, more and more, forming a great hill—and a steep one at that. At one point, I looked over to see Trig forced to use his hands to climb up for a while. My own steps weren’t so difficult. Thankfully, I had a high enough dexterity to adeptly step without losing balance. My hands were free to hold Josiah’s Storm tightly in place.
I reached the top of the hill first and quickly raised a hand to indicate I had found something. Above us was what could only be described as an eternal storm, a whirlwind of shadow constantly swirling and twisting. A vortex that seemed endless. The green lights danced across the shadows, giving them enough definition to show that these shadows were moving. Were they made of something more than mere absence of light? What were they?
Trig climbed up beside me, keeping his head low. His eyes widened, but he made no sound. He knew better than to speak. There was still no sign of trouble. We were entirely outside of the Shadow Titan’s vision. Whatever secrets the green flames held, they were the key to avoiding detection. Though that would probably change once we struck.
I scanned the torrential nexus of shadow, searching for the core. A dim light in the center of the swirling chaos presented itself to me as I gazed, almost as if summoned by my mere intent. It was the core! Though it was high in the air, well above the hill, I would have no trouble striking it. But could Trig throw that far?
I motioned for him and he moved close to me. With a wave of my hand, I showed him the spot where I needed the bomb to go off, then made a shrug at him, asking if he could do it.
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