“Have you ever seen anything like that?” Dallion flew further up.

The creature was miles tall, rising like a small mountain in the middle of the wilderness. If it were any closer to a settlement, the Order, the Academy, and the emperor himself would have sent troops to stop it.

It’s just a matter of size, Dallion thought. The bigger they are, the louder they fall.

He was confident that he had what it took to fight the creature, and yet his mind still rebelled against its mere existence. There was no way the Azures were responsible for this. If they could create such creatures, they would have already done so many times.

The cone of void mater wiggled on the colossus’ head, like a single hair on a bald scalp. While there was little doubt the chainling had caused the mountain to emerge, it wasn’t certain that destroying it would kill the being as well.

The colossus took a step forward, moving away from the giant hole in the ground. Looking at it, Dallion couldn’t help but think of Ogre’s Gorge near Dherma. According to the local legend, the place had been the battlefield of giants. Apparently, the legend was more literal than anyone could imagine.

No, the harpsisword replied. I’ve only read about them.

Even that was a lot more than Dallion could say.

“How do you kill it?”

The same way you kill anything—by attacking.

Dallion allowed himself a smile. The guardian could have told him to flee. There was no way the mountain could reach him. Even if it threw boulders, there were more than a few ways to avoid the attacks. Doing so, though, would make it someone else’s problem. What was more, Dallion wanted to test himself against something this size.

Taking a deep breath, he did a series of double point attacks aimed at the colossus’ head. Of all the attacks he had, this was the only one that had a chance of succeeding.

Reacting faster than its size made possible, the mountain blocked the attacks with its hands. Chunks of rocks the size of a castle chipped off at every hit, crumbling to the ground below. And yet, the attacks didn’t manage to pierce through, let alone deal any damage to the being’s head.

Use the Moonstone, Vihrogon suggested from Dallion’s domain. The ray should be able to melt through.

“Not yet.” The Moonstone was a single-use item. Even if it could destroy what it was supposed to, using it now would be a pointless waste. There was no telling how many other colossuses could emerge. In contrast, there were only a few enemy battle mages. “I’ll find an alternative.”

I know you’ll try. Keep in mind that you don’t have to. You’ve proven you can take on chainlings. That should be enough.

“Not good enough. Besides, I know its weakness.” Dallion cast a duplication spell, creating dozens of copies of himself. “I’ll go for the ears.”

A swarm of Dallions split up, flying towards the massive creature along different paths. Flying among the rest, the real Dallion split into instances, heading straight forward.

Before he could halve the distance, the colossus swung his arms as if chasing a fly. A strong torrent of wind pushed all of Dallion’s copies back.

So much for that distraction, he thought. His enemy wasn’t only large and fast, but smart. Using simple tricks wasn’t going to work. Remembering back to Dallion’s previous fights, he had used every skill bonus to his advantage. His current magic abilities were far superior to a lot of those bonuses, except for one: time freeze.

Even in the real world guard skills would provide a huge advantage against this type of opponent. The only issue was how to get close enough to actually avoid its attacks.

Striking with his harpsisword, Dallion performed a spark infused music attack. It was unlikely that the spark would do anything to the colossus, but at least this way, the music threads would be visible. Dozens of them attached themselves to the rocky fingers of the creature. Upon doing so, the entire arm froze. It didn’t last long—one or two seconds at most—but it presented a weakness Dallion could exploit.

Another wave of wind crashed upon him, as the colossus swung with its other hand.

Using his aura sword, Dallion cast an aether sphere around him, as well as several spells to diminish the force of the wind. A few months ago, he had learned that, in case he had to face furies. Now he was even more thankful for it. A tunnel of calmness formed within the wind wave, allowing him to get within several hundred feet of the creature’s hand. At that precise point, he did a music attack again, followed immediately by a line slash with the aura sword.

The hand froze still, same as before, only this time the line of destruction sliced through three of the fingers, sending the sections falling to the ground.

That’ll make a nice souvenir, Vihrogon said.

Dallion ignored him, continuing with the same attack pattern. Before the colossus could even pull the rest of his hand back, another music attack froze it in place. This time, ten line attacks followed, severing all but the thumb. An attempt to cut off the entire wrist was also made, but the rock proved too thick to allow such a success.

I can take him, Nox purred from Dallion’s domain.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“That’ll be a bit tricky, buddy. I don’t think I can get close enough to use you yet.”

Then don’t, the crackling said with an air of feline superiority. Just do a line strike with me.

“That’s not how it—” Dallion stopped. Everything he had learned in this world insisted that crackling weapons needed contact to shatter their target. Yet, he had never confirmed it himself. If a music, spark infused, line attack was possible, couldn’t there be other line attacks as well? It was an unorthodox thought, but one that definitely tickled the imagination. “Get ready.”

Swinging his aura sword, Dallion cast a levitation spell with it, then summoned his Nox dagger. The weapon emerged in the spot of the spell circle, ready for use. Without wasting a moment, Dallion let go of the sword, grabbing the dagger and doing a multi point attack aimed at the town-sized hand of rock.

Initially, nothing was visible. For a split second, Dallion wondered whether he had made the correct decision. Then it happened. Cracks became visible on the rock. Minuscule at first, they quickly grew, spreading outwards. Before the Colossus could react, they had covered a quarter of the hand.

Now, Harp said.

Dallion didn’t need telling twice, slashing the air with his harpsisword.

A thin line split the hand in two. Unable to withstand the force, the cracked parts of the rock burst, shooting pebbles in all directions. At their present size and speed, there were a dozen spells that Dallion could do to avoid any damage. However, he chose to take a different approach.

From a logical perspective, the pebbles remained part of the colossus. As such, they could be considered an attack by an enemy. It was a bit of a stretch, but if proven true, that would provide Dallion with the advantage he needed to finish the fight.

“Why can’t you see me now, old man?” he twisted in the air, combining guard, acrobatics, and athletics, as well as a touch of magic. Instinct told him how to move to complete a sequence.

It was a long shot, but fortunately it worked. Time slowed down by a quarter. This only made the job of avoiding the rest a lot easier. A second guard sequence followed, then a third, and a fourth. Before Dallion knew it, time had completely stopped. Remaining still in mid-air, even without the air of his flight spell, he was able to take a good look at the colossus’ head. It was a lot bigger than he remembered. Several mid-sized towns could easily fit inside. From here, one quick flight boost and he’d make it right to the ear from where to perform his fatal attack. Should he, though?

Relying on magic had made him neglect, even outright forget, a lot of the skills he had achieved in the past. That included his empathy abilities. During the last few months, Dallion had questioned a lot of buildings and items, but it had been a while since he’d given an enemy the opportunity to surrender.

Don’t, Harp said in his realm. We aren’t in the realms. There is no benefit for him to accept.

Are you sure?

The creature was awakened by a chainling. If there was even a spark of reason, it is now gone. The best thing you could do is free it from its prison.

If I do, will it go to the banished realms?

The guardian didn’t reply.

Harp? Dallion asked mentally.

I don’t know. Their age ended long before ours started. It might return there, or it might not. Only the Moons know.

That was likely true, but at the moment Dallion’s conversations with the Moons were rather one-sided.

Do you think there’ll be more? He asked.

Maybe. I’m not sure. The Moons allowed it to happen, so it must have occurred before.

So it might occur again, Dallion added. That doesn’t sound good.

Don’t worry too much. If it was easy, the chainlings would have attacked you with it to start with.

That was true, but Dallion didn’t like the notion of banished creatures appearing in the real world. The colossus itself was more scary than difficult. Sure, it could easily destroy a town or city, but not the awakened inside. In some ways, it was similar to a dragon. Like all purely magic creatures, they were terrifying, and still Katka had defeated one without issue.

Let’s get this over with, Dallion thought.

Casting a flight spell boost with the index finger of his right hand, Dallion crossed the distance separating him from the monster’s ear. When time resumed, he was no more than ten feet away.

A massive opening, the size of a large cave, continued into the colossus’ head. A feeling of void emanated from within, merging with the darkness. Dallion didn’t hesitate, doing five point strikes with his harpsisword. The spark within the attack briefly illuminated the inside of the opening, as it continued further in.

Expecting the unexpected, Dallion burst into instances.

The dull rumble of a bang came from within. The entire colossus froze still. Unwilling to leave it all to chance, Dallion followed up the attack with a series of Nox dagger strikes, then continuing with the harpsisword again.

Screeches of agony filled the air, causing all the instances to immediately pull back. There could be no doubt that he had hit the chainling within the mountain’s head. The question was whether he had killed it or just wounded it.

Why can’t I have three hands? Dallion cast an aether sphere round the Nox dagger, then grabbed the aura sword that had been faithfully floating with him. Jugging with three mutually exclusive powers was getting a bit too much.

Magic threads ran through the blade once more. Spinning in place, Dallion cast dozens of spells. Each spell sent a rain of aether blades flying towards the still motionless head. Individually, a blade was less significant than a splinter. But with hundreds of them, or even thousands, they were enough to destroy something already weakened.

Purple light filled the colossus’ ear canal. Within moments they faded away, followed by an explosion that took out fifty of Dallion’s instances. A mere seven had remained, though even they weren’t unscathed. Chunks of rock had torn through parts of the protective mesh of magic threads, dealing minor injuries.

Dallion quickly extended more magic from his body, filling the breaches, while also casting a healing spell. Five hundred feet from him, the head of the colossus crumbled into itself like a hollow egg.

That was a bit close, he thought, adrenalin pumping into his bloodstream.

So cool, old man! Onda cheered from within his realm.

He could have simply entered the ear and avoided a lot of that, Vihrogon said in a slightly critical tone. The colossus wouldn’t have been able to attack him while inside its head.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Dallion asked. “What matters is that—”

COMBAT INITIATED

A purple rectangle appeared.