Cutting Down the Titan

John waited behind a tree as the Knight rounded one of the roots on its patrol.

‘Aeolia should attack in a minute or two,’ John thought, eyes locked on the Commander. ‘Once it starts to move, run out and keep its focus on me. Aeolia can beat that Knight, then we tag team the big guy.’

He reviewed his current status, pulling up his character sheet for a moment to get exact numbers.

‘Forty-five mana and forty-seven hitpoints,’ he read, closing the sheet to fully return his attention on the Commander. ‘Still only have one shot with the Goggles and can’t really use anything else. And I have no idea how to disarm it.’

The allure of the bonus was a hard one to ignore, especially the experience boost. And John couldn’t say he wasn’t extremely curious what the ‘Reference Relic’ was.

‘Between that name, and the info from the Observes of the Woads, it seems like all this is a re-creation of something real. Or at least, inspired by it.’

His musings were cut off as sounds began to emanate from behind the tree, chiefly among them was the hollow cry of a wounded Woad. Aeolia had begun her attack, and if their first attempt was anything to go on, the Commander would shortly…

‘There it goes,’ John thought as the towering Woad began to turn its imposing bulk towards the opening behind him. John rushed into the clearing before it could make a quarter of its turn, glowing eyes clearly seeing him as he ran.

The Commander stopped its rotation and instead began to march out to meet John, hand moving to its sword once it was clear of its cavernous posting. John stopped about halfway into the clearing, body tense as he waited for the Woad to attack. With his mind less panicked, John noted that the wooden golem stood somewhere between two and three meters tall, with its blade nearly as long as he was tall.

‘Really don’t what to get hit by that,’ John thought as the Commander neared. Unlike last time, the Woad didn’t stop and ready a fast charge, but instead slowly increased its speed as it brought its sword into a horizontal position. While not as fast as its rushing attack, it still covered the remaining distance between them in a few steps, swinging its sword in a wide sweep.

Anticipating the attack, John dipped under the strike, years of bully-honed reflexes allowing him to evade the wide swing. Safely on the other side of the Woad, John raced to its back and quickly made a few slashes with Senka, the blade chipping away at the armor-shaped wood.

2 DMG

The small amount of damage wasn’t an issue as John dashed away before the Commander could perform a counter-attack. All he needed to do was keep the towering Woad occupied until Aeolia could defeat the Knight and join him. He could hear that fight happening on the far side of the tree but resisted the urge to look, keeping his attention on the enemy before him.

The Commander turned to face John, seemingly unbothered by the minor damage to its leg and steadily approached again, this time its sword held diagonally across its body, tip aligned with its shoulder. Then, without stopping like before, it accelerated towards him and swung its blade downward. John dived to the right, barely evading the edge of the wooden sword, the displaced air blowing back his hair and coat.

As John tried to scurry away, the Commander displayed another new move as a heavy foot impacted the off-balanced Gamer.

-25 HP

212 Exp. Gained

John let out a pained gasp as he skidded over the grass towards the tree, lungs burning as they tried to draw air back into them. Thanks to Gamer’s Body, the pain quickly faded and regular breathing was restored, but the imposing wooden warrior wasn’t content to just use John like a football and was nearing the still recovering Gamer.

“No you don’t!” Aeolia shouted, her voice coming from above as she fired a wind blast into the golem’s face as she descended.

3 DMG

The green-colored crescent of air slammed into the Woad’s helmeted face, knocking its head back and slowing its advance. With the golem’s momentum broken, John scrambled to his feet and moved as fast as he could away, Aeolia waving him over to a spot near one of the massive roots.

“You okay?” she asked, eyes darting about his dirt and grass-covered form. “That hit took a lot out of you.”

“I’m fine,” John said, the pain of the attack almost completely gone. “Wasn’t expecting it to kick me.”

Playing it safe, John opened his inventory and withdrew one of the two remaining health potions and drank it down, pushing his health bar back from under half to over three-quarters full.

“So the Knight’s done?” John asked Aeolia. “I didn’t get any damage notifications, but I think I got the experience when I was being kicked.”

“Yeah, it’s dead. Stabbed it through the back,” Aeolia replied, eyes trained on the Commander as it righted itself and began to march towards them. “You do any damage to this guy?”

“I’ve done a grand total of two,” John reported, a dry humor to his words. “You just did three with that wind attack.”

“Great,” Aeolia huffed. “Five down, who knows how much to go.”

“Could be up to fifteen,” John corrected, “if it still has the damage you did earlier to it.”

“Still a long way to go,” Aeolia added as the Commander neared. “I’ll chip away at it, you get ready to bust out your laser.”

The plan set, Aeolia launched herself at the Woad, employing her advantage in speed and mobility to quickly rush into the golem’s space and begin delivering rapid slashes with her glaive. The attacks did little, every two or three registering to John as a point of damage, but they did lock the titan’s attention on Aeolia, and the wooden foe tried to swat her away like a fly as she lured him away from the Sentinel Tree.

With the Woad’s focus away from John, the Gamer took the shortest path to the treeline, then used the forest to cover his circuitous path to where Aeolia was leading their final enemy.

‘I’m pretty sure that it's got a **** piece in its center,’ John thought as he watched Aeolia deliver a wind enhanced slice to the Commander’s chest, an attack that dealt another four damage to the golem, before she flew over to the tree John had just reached.

“Ready?” she asked, a slightly manic grin on her face.

“I’d say this is a dumb idea,” John replied, worry creeping into his voice, “but it was my plan in the first place. I think we might need to do a little more damage to its torso before we go in for the heavy strike. Think you can crack it open a bit?”

“Shouldn't be a problem,” Aeolia said confidently. “But let’s get you set up first.”

Before John could respond, Aeolia grabbed his left arm and dragged him into the air, dropping him off on an overhanging branch before she darted back to the Commander, glaive alight as green wind gathered around the blade. The Woad wasn’t making it easy for her, its sword weaving through the air, the tip trained on Aeolia.

She evaded the attempted attack gracefully, though John watched as each mid-air twist and roll ate away at her mana. Between the evasive manoeuvres and the sustained wind, her mana bar had dropped to around the thirty percent mark by the time she had flown past the Commander’s latest swing, hefted her weapon above her head and let loose a cutting swing straight down the center of its chest.

24 DMG

The Woad let out a hollow cry, the first sound it had made in the fight, and tried to deliver an open palmed strike to Aeolia. She flew backwards from the attack, spreading her wings out to catch the wave of displaced air to further the distance between her and the golem.

She continued her retreat, drawing the Commander to John’s position. For his part, John slipped the Goggles over his eyes, ready to fire the Evocation once the Woad was in range. The golem had recovered its composure and moved to strike Aeolia as she reached the treeline, hoisting its weapon overhead to deliver a downward slice, exposing the fresh crack upon its chestplate.

With a smirk, Aeolia reverted to her true size and dashed to the side, giving John a clear shot for Photonic Blast.

35 DMG Super Effective

The clearing was illuminated with a flash and the Woad let out a piercing, hollow cry as the scent of burned wood filled the air. The Commander staggered back a step, greatsword still held aloft, but then it savagely brought down the weapon, its attack only delayed by John’s Evocation.

John jumped from the low hanging limb, landing hard enough to make his knees ache despite the lack of damage, and bolted into the woods as the tree he had been on was cleaved by the golem’s sword.

“John!” Aeolia shouted through heavy breaths as she flew up to him, landing on his shoulder with a plop. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I avoided taking a hit,” he replied. Any further comments died in John’s throat as the sound of crunching wood **** his and Aoelia’s attention to the clearing.

“I don’t think we’re going to get a chance to rest,” Aeolia remarked as the sound of breaking trees grew louder. “How much did your attack do?”

“Thirty-five,” John answered, “less than what I did to the Scout, but I guess that makes sense. Higher level, more armor and all that. You did twenty-four with that big slash and a couple more with the other ones, so we’ve done around sixty or so.”

“And it’s still up and running,” Aeolia cursed. “And we’re not really in the best position to keep fighting.”

John nodded, seeing Aeolia’s mana bar at around a quarter full, while his was reduced to around a tenth.

“I’ve still got that Mana Crystal,” John mentioned. “I figured we’d need to save it for me to use with Observe, but we won’t really need that if we can’t get out of here. And since hits to their center seem to be their weak point, I think another shot could do some critical damage.”

“It’s not like we really have choice,” Aeolia said. “Pull it out. I’ll keep the big guy occupied ‘till you can fire off another shot.”

Aeolia flew off John’s shoulder as he pulled out the Mana Retaining Crystal. A quick use of Observe showed it still had a charge of twenty-nine and fifty-three durability left.

‘I’ll have to drain most of this to power another Photonic Blast,’ John thought as he regarded the crystal. ‘Maybe I’ll get some of the money drops from these guys and can buy a new one off the Auction.’

The Woad’s hollow cry drew John’s attention and he saw Aeolia, still in her natural state, harassing the Commander with fast and light strikes. The golem had pushed aside or knocked down the trees around it, artificially extending the clearing. John focused his attention on the charred scar as he neared, ready to fire once Aeolia gave him an opening.

That opportunity presented itself when Aeolia dodged a downward diagonal swing, the greatsword’s momentum dragging the Woad down with it slightly. Before it could recover, John tapped the Mana Crystal and funnelled all his mana plus what he needed into the Goggles to cast its Evocation.

Incompatible mana. Evocation unable to be cast with dark mana in excess of 50% total mana composition.

John blinked away the notification as the Commander righted itself, thrusting its sword at the nearby Gamer. John backpedalled from the attack, barely getting out of the range of the massive sword. Then, his heel caught on an exposed root, and he fell to the ground.

Before the Commander could follow through, Aeolia dove down from above, grown to her full size, glaive alight with mana. With a defiant shout, she flipped out of her dive, slamming her blade right into the chest of the Woad, carving another trench into its chest, this one crossing the first at a steep angle, forming an off-center ‘X’ shape.

25 DMG

A gruesome **** averted, John scrambled to his feet, mind racing to come up with a plan as he backed away into the forest. His eyes darted to Aeolia who had resumed her harrying of the Commander, her mana bar now down below a quarter. After a minute of distracting flight, she broke away and flew after John.

“What happened?” she asked him between haggard breaths as she landed.

“I can’t use dark mana with the Googles,” John replied, eyes not leaving the Woad as it began to approach, steps undeterred by the wounds it had received.

“So what are we going to do?” Aeolia questioned, her tone strained but unpanicked. “I don’t have that much mana left to work with.”

John nodded, his mouth drawn into a tense line as he tried to form a plan.

‘Can’t use Photonic Blast, going in close with Senka is a dumb idea, none of my other Evocations are damage dealing even if I had the mana to use them, Shadow Snare would just buy time, Hex is pointless, Amplify...’

John’s eyes widened as an idea formed.

“Just how far can you extend that wind you summon on your blade?” John asked Aeolia, his voice deadly serious. “And how long do you think you could hold it?”

“I can make them about a meter long,” Aeolia answered. “But with how drained I am, I could only do it for about five, maybe six seconds. Wait, are you thinking…”

“I am,” John cut her off. “I’ve got a skill I haven’t really used that can boost up other effects and stuff. Do you think your attack could pierce to its core?”

“Maybe,” Aeolia said with an uncertain ring in her voice. “I think I hit the Knight’s core, but this guy’s thicker. Even if your power can let me stretch it out a bit, there’s no way to know if we’ll hit the core.”

“Unless you want to run around for another hour until I have enough mana to fire off another Photonic Blast, it’s our best shot,” John asserted.

“Damn it,” Aeolia cursed, grasping the haft of her glaive tighter. “Time to step up. I’m getting kind of sick of this forest. Let’s end this.”

John nodded and the pair dashed towards the Woad as it muscled its way after them.

“I don’t know if there is a range limit with Amplify,” John said through quick breaths. “So I think it’s best if I stick close.”

“Well, that’s good,” Aeolia retorted. “This is your plan, so you should face it head-on. I’ll be sure to shout when I cast.”

“Got it,” came John’s affirmation. As they neared the Commander, it pushed aside a pair of trees that impeded its path, exposing its charred and cut chest. Aeolia let out a shout and pulled ahead of John as she attacked, funnelling the last of her mana into her glaive, green wind flaring to life along the blade, extending to its maximum length. At the same instant, John cast Amplify, his mind focused on increasing the reach of Aeolia’s attack.

John could feel his mana flow into Aeolia’s, bolstering the length of her attack. Less than a second into their combined attack, Aeolia drove the enhanced wind blade right at the intersection point of her two previous attacks, letting out a cry of defiant frustration as she did.

40 DMG. Critical Hit

The strike caused the Commander to lurch backwards, its body beginning to spasm as its core was presumably hit. It let out a hollow cry as it tried to counterattack, arms jerking about ineffectively, sword slipping from its grasp.

Aeolia pushed forward, drowning out the Woad’s dying scream with her own, John joining in as she drove her weapon deeper, a cracking sound cutting off the golem’s cry just as both their mana ran out.

10 DMG

478 Exp Gained

Level Up!
5 Skill Points Gained

The now silent Woad began to fall backwards as John and Aeolia pulled away, the latter rapidly returning to her default size. Before the dead titan could fully collapse, its body burst into light and faded away, leaving in its wake two piles of items and money.

The rush of adrenaline fading, John and Aeolia let themselves slip to the ground, grateful the battle was over.