The first approach is the most important. Many fights end before the contenders even move.

I have to avoid getting crushed, pierced, and eaten. Furthermore, the lashes of its mustache are fearsome.

I only have one chance.

A single blow landed right in its eyes.

Sely is on a downed log assessing the situation. The creature is fighting with the spiders and is prevailing. All around is a clearing of severed trees and soil disturbed by the weight of the creature.

Like plows, its countless legs break up the soil as it passes. A humid and muddy terrain, in which the being seems to get more and more bogged down.

Sure! If I can get it to bog down, I can aim calmly afterward.

Or I could try a shot from here. It's a big target, if it stops I'm sure I can hit it.

Thinking, Sely draws her gun and aims.

She knows her .50 caliber and firepower won't fail her. It's a revolver that Toslevi and Tossyllia, the people she trusts most, got their hands on.

Too bad I don't have a shot for the double barrel. I would have liked to pay homage to Dad.

The being continues to writhe, curl in on itself, and roll on the ground to get rid of the spiders on its back.

The spiders' plan is as simple as it is ineffective: try to submerge it in the web and try to bite in search of a hole in the armor.

Useless, but they have no alternatives. Where is their king?

The puddles of sap, the broken webs, and the ground form an increasingly homogeneous pool and the creature slows in its movements.

But it's not good anyway; from this distance, it has sudden jerks and I could hit non-fatal body parts.

I have to get closer.

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Climbing off the log, Sely begins running forward through the slime. She can't run and aiming is difficult, but the disadvantage is also for the titanic creature.

Unlike Sely and spiders, the beast has part of its body submerged.

It could brace itself on its thousands of legs and walk out, which it tries to do. But the continuous jets of spider web make the operation difficult.

Under the jaws of the curled-up being, Sely finally aims.

There is, I just need to slow down my breathing and calm down to land a perfect headshot.

AND…

She throws herself to the side, the creature crashing head-first into the spot where she had been just moments before.

Its paws cut through the air around her and Sely steps back, pushing herself with its hands. She can't pull herself up and a paw is coming to stab her.

I'm stuck at this rate...!

Dong!

The paw gets stuck in the ground.

Blonde hair flows in the air and the cloak flutters.

“Caught on the fly, eh eh!”

“Filo! Are you alive!!!"

The boy smiles and parries a second blow with his shovel. His clothing is full of cobwebs as if he had freed himself from a cocoon.

“But that!?”

“Yes, it's my emergency military shovel. It's an ancient find that we pass down in the family! If necessary, the handle can be shortened and stored in backpacks.”

In the meantime, the being has pulled its head out of the mud. It looks in their direction, completely ignoring the remaining spiders.

“Sely, if you have a plan now is the time. I'll try to cover for you!”

“Yes.”

Sely doesn't get up from the ground, she points the weapon and looks at the creature. The titan lunges forward, opening its jaws wide.

Who cares about the heartbeat?

Who cares about aiming?

This is a clean shot.

…

BOOM!

Sely ends up on her back due to the kick. A burst of flame came out of the upper barrel.

As soon as she raises her head she sees the inside of the monstrous mouth explode. The pieces splash everywhere and a sea of pink sap invades the area until it reaches Sely itself.

What the heck did Dad make?

The being falls into the mud splashing everywhere.

A great silence.

Suspension.

Disbelief.

Tension.

It's as if everyone is afraid of something. Sely feels this way; that she can't be finished.

Instead, the rain begins.

First a few drops and then the flood. That's when the riot breaks out. The spiders scream, celebrate, and surround Sely and Filo. They prostrate themselves and shout compliments of all kinds.

Sely is perplexed.

She finds it hard to believe.

Look at the still-smoking gun. The barrel has blackened at the exit hole.

Zero hits.

Now she has zero shots.

But it does not matter.

It doesn't matter because she won. She succeeded and this time help arrived. Not Endya's, but Filo's help.

“Hehe, we did it! You were great! But then, it's as amazing as that weapon of yours! I don't believe it, I don't believe it!”

Filo reaches out to help Sely up.

But she feels weak and her vision begins to blur. She wants to reach out but she can't.

“Thank you, Filo.”

While the chaos continues all around, this is what Sely says as she faints from the drop in adrenaline.