Sam screamed as he flew, the weight of this battle crashing down on him like the weight of a world. This fight was not for levels, or for power. It was for the very existence of his faction. Even the Legion and Hugo Mar had not been as an insurmountable force as the Corpse Titan was. It was an entire Tier above Sam and his allies, a gap, according to Gordanus, that was unassailable.However, Sam would have to close it, with the help of his allies, or else the city was lost.
Seeing the hole in the Titan’s leg already closing over, Sam made a snap decision. Ignoring his broken bones and pulverized flesh, he teleported towards the monster, alighting on the knee joint. The creature was already getting up, but Sam had enough time. With a deep breath, he coated himself in his Dao energy, and dove in. He landed on the spongy substrate of the Corpse Titan’s marrow a moment later, and started to whale on it with his hammer. Now that he was actually inside the leg, it was a lot easier to do damage. The marrow was not much more durable than an F Ranker’s flesh, as most of the durability was in the bony layer outside. There were many benefits to extreme size, but many downsides as well. Sam could feel the Dao of the Corpse Titan pulsing with rage as it detected the intruder, and a moment later, a wave of power crashed down on him. However, it was not the full force of the Titan’s will, as most of it was being reserved to move.
With a grin, Sam pushed back, breaking the Dao with his own two Fragments. Although he was not powerful enough to combat a Seed, he was strong enough to beat back this fraction of one. For a brief moment, his surroundings dipped in durability, turning into normal bone. A lot of the functions of the Corpse Titan were supplemented by its Dao, as even at E Rank, it did not have enough stat points to power such a large body. As soon as this opportunity arose, Sam struck.
A single strike of his hammer, imbued to its utmost, tore apart the marrow for hundreds of feet in every direction, completely reversing the healing factor of the Titan. Despite this massive damage, it was almost nothing compared to the size of the creature. Most monsters would have been utterly atomized if the same amount of their body had been vaporized, but the Corpse Titan barely noticed it. With a snarl, Sam drew upon even more of his power, causing his hammer to blaze with the light of a star. Bringing it down, he was sent flying backwards by the backlash. A shockwave ran through the area, tearing apart marrow and washing against the bone.
The entire interior area of the monster’s knee was hollowed out, and for the first time, the Corpse Titan sagged. The knee began to bend and tear, and Sam realized that he was about to be crushed. He quickly teleported to the edge, but then saw that the monster had already regrown the bone. With a panicked grimace, he started to hammer away at the side of its knee, desperately trying to get out. The bone fractured under the force, helped by the weakness of the Titan, and Sam eventually broke free, teleporting out just as the knee fully buckled. The massive weight of the monster tore its own leg off at the knee joint, causing it to fall, crushing fields of crops underneath its form. For the first time, it had suffered damage that would not be so easily healed.
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“You are a greater nuisance than your puny stature would indicate.” A booming voice erupted from the mouth of the Titan, somehow both blaring and sibilant at the same time. “Perhaps it is time to take you out of the equation.”
The full force of the Titan’s aura slammed down on Sam, crushing him into the ground. All of the Titan’s Dao, for the briefest of moments, was taken from its body and used on Sam. Blood spurted out of his mouth and bones shattered under the pressure. However, he had tricks of his own. Summoning his own Daos, which were conceptually aligned with resistance, he empowered his own actions with the nature of his Daos. He gained greater power than normal from the mental image of resisting an unjust tyrant, and slowly, he started to stand. He could do little more than that, but he knew something that the Titan did not. Jeffrey had informed him of a special weapon that the city had forged in preparation for this.
A plane flew overhead, before dropping a massive orb onto the Titan’s face. It seemed to be a repurposed nuclear bomb, likely gleaned from the ruins of the Legion’s ships. It was about fifty feet across, but to the Titan, it looked like a speck of dust. As expected, it ignored it in favor of Sam, letting the orb fall into its mouth. Sam grinned through the intense pain, watching as the Titan suddenly froze. A massive explosion erupted within the monster’s mouth, tearing through its weakened form. Normally it would have done as little damage as the superior mana cannon had dealt earlier to the monster’s highly durable form, but with its Dao being used for something else, it was vulnerable. Bone shattered under the onslaught, and the monster’s entire head came apart. However, it was far from dead.
A nexus of energy rested at the top of its spinal column, the source of power for the undead. Sam teleported towards it, pushing past his agony. He was the only one with a skill powerful enough to destroy the nexus. He flitted across the Titan’s body, taking advantage of its dazed state to move unmolested. Behind him, monsters rampaged through the fields, fighting against the city’s defenders. However, all of that faded into oblivion. Sam had one focus that superseded everything else. Even as he moved, he could see an aegis of calcified bone forming around the vulnerable Titan. If it fully healed, his task would be impossible.
As he neared his target, he started to pour his purified mana into his hammer, mixing it with his Dao energy. As his weapon began to light up with the power of an uncontrolled chain reaction, he reached his target. He brought it down without hesitation, releasing the power of Sky Splitting Vengeance upon his foe. However, he had misjudged his reserves. For the briefest of moments, he was completely without Dao energy. That was all it took.
A nova of searing light carried him away, tearing his body apart. He could feel a titanic surge of essence pouring into him as he flew, and he desperately started to slam it into his nodes, trying to heal some of the damage. It was ultimately useless however, and he fell unconscious halfway through his flight.