Ebba talked about titans like they were inevitable machines of death. Seeing this one in person made Max believe she was right. It shouldered past the towering kapok tree and knocked down a rubber tree to enter the clearing. The abomination was big, at least three stories high.

It was ashy gray with four legs. Thick corded muscles stretched across every limb. Each leg was oddly jointed, with its rear legs bigger than its forelegs. Its head had two long horns, black with red cracks throughout. Six tentacles surrounded its beak. It was like a hairless cthulhu rabbit.

Max didn’t bother shooting it with the rifle. The thing was too big. Even if he hit it in its enormous black eyes, that would just piss it off.

Yang didn’t feel the same way and immediately sent a trace of bullets across its face. A few bullets deflected off its cheeks and others opened tiny wounds in its face-tentacles. Drops of green blood welled up. The titan opened its mouth and let out a piercing roar. It was like a train whistle mixed with an angle grinder. Max clapped his hands on his ears and fell to the ground in pain.

“What is it?” Gus said, panic in his voice as he rubbed his eyes.

“It’s a titan,” Max replied, not looking at him.

“Dammit, I can’t see. Get my rifle, it’s got a grenade launcher underslung,” Gus said.

Max looked around and quickly found Gus’s gun. He grabbed it while Yang continued to piss the titan off.

“How do I use it?” Max frantically said.

“Give it here,” Gus said with his arms out. Max handed it over and Gus flipped a switch on the side of the gun. Then he pointed to a trigger and said, “Safety's off now. Pull this trigger. You only got one shot, make it count.”

Max carefully took the gun back, keeping his fingers off the triggers. He wanted to ask more questions, but it was too late.

The titan leapt forward. It moved just like a rabbit, its hind legs propelling it forward. It crossed the clearing in a single bound, the ground shaking as it landed. It was only twenty feet away from the people now. With a swift swipe of its forepaw, it knocked away the logs and bags on that side of their wall. It was like a car crash, dirt and debris flying far.

Yang and Lily had backed up before it landed and were safe. James jumped out of the way just in time. He tripped as he landed, splaying out flat and landing just below the swipe. Two other people weren’t so lucky. They got pulped by the titan’s swipe, spreading out across the clearing in a spray of blood.

Max swore and started running. He had to lead the titan away from the group. Most of them were still blinded. As he ran, he pulled the trigger to the rifle portion. A trio of bullet holes popped up along the monster’s ashy gray skin.

It didn’t notice.

The cthulhu rabbit leaned forward, bringing its face tentacles into play. It sent all six swiping through the air. Lily and Yang ducked, each of them pulling someone out of the way. Max skidded to a stop and took careful aim. He fired the rifle, shot after shot, until he got it right.

The titan finally took notice when he hit its eye. He stood stock still and continued firing into the huge black orb. It clicked its beak a few times and turned to Max. He continued firing until it ran dry. He swapped grips down to the separate trigger for the grenade launcher. He had thoroughly angered the monster by now and it roared its displeasure.

Shattering violins and grinding gears assaulted his ears. It was all he could do to keep his hands on the gun and not close his eyes. He sighted down the barrel and fired the grenade. The deep thwomp of the grenade was accompanied by a kick against his shoulder.

The grenade exploded and Max flinched back. When he opened his eyes again he surveyed the damage. He had hit the monster’s left shoulder and three tentacles. Green blood poured from the wounds. Instead of dying, the cthulhu rabbit got angry. It jumped at him, both front paws slamming down.

Max was already moving. He ran straight towards the titan, dropping the rifle as he ran. He was cursing himself as he sprinted underneath the monster, but he felt like he didn’t have any other choice. This huge monster could get anywhere faster than him. The only way he could stay alive was to get out of its field of vision.

Max looked back as he ran, seeing the titan peek under its paws. When its ashy gray skin was unmarred by Max’s blood, it clacked its beak in frustration. More of its own green blood dripped from the wound on its tentacles and shoulder. That gave Max a faint hope that it would bleed out. He just needed to distract it from the others for long enough.

First he needed to figure out how. The rifle was empty, the grenade spent. His other weapons were strewn across the countryside. The only things he had on him were his long knife and a transmuted hammer tucked into his belt. Neither of which sounded like they could take out one of the smaller monsters, let alone this three story high behemoth. Still, his panicked mind couldn’t come up with a better solution.

Without further thought, he pulled out his knife and stabbed it into the ankle of the rear leg he was standing by. He had a good grip and put his whole weight into it. The knife went in four inches. The monster above him didn’t notice the little pinprick. It was still looking around and trying to decide if its prey had run back to the other little morsels.

Max silently swore as he yanked out the knife. What was he even trying to do here? He didn’t really want to get the titan’s attention, that was suicide. His best bet was to somehow cripple it. He could consider leading it away from the others if he slowed it down.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The monster’s hind legs looked strange and unnatural, like a hairless cat. That lack of fur made it easier for Max to get at its tendon. He stabbed the knife into the connecting tissue. Only three inches in this time. It was time to put his construction experience to use. He slipped the hammer out of his belt and brought it down precisely on the knife’s handle.

What happened next was entirely unexpected. A flash of blue exploded out of the hammer. A ringing sounded, like he had hit a huge tuning fork. An instant later, the knife shot forward. It accelerated until it disintegrated into shards of metal. The monster’s heel exploded and it buckled without that tendon.

Max’s ill thought out plan of disabling the titan had actually worked. Hammer magic made it possible. He decided to congratulate himself later. Right now, the titan was screaming in pain and leaning to the right. If he didn’t get out of there, he would get squished before the titan even found him. He sprang into action and started sprinting away.

The phase whale corpse wasn’t far so he headed that way. He had vague plans of leading the crippled cthulhu rabbit in a chase around the body while it bled out. He ran straight for the tail. There was something odd under the tail, a glinting black and yellow. Max made sure to leap all the way over the strange ground. The whale’s skin was soft like jelly, making it hard to stay upright.

He turned around to see if the titan was following. It was right behind him, and it looked angry. The bleeding from its face had already slowed down. It was visibly healing from his grenade. It clacked its beak at him and carefully hobbled forward. The wound must be incredibly painful to make it move that slowly.

Max realized that wouldn’t last. The monster’s healing was well beyond anything he expected. He had been planning on the cthulhu bunny bleeding out, but that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t going to die from its wounds, it was going to heal and get faster and madder than ever.

The whale corpse jiggled underfoot as he kept backing up. His only chance of surviving now was to cut and run. The titan lost sight of him, it might go after the others, but he didn’t really have a lot of other options.

The monster took the choice out of his hands. It lunged forward, pushing its head forward and swiping at him with its remaining tentacles. Max dropped, bouncing slightly on the whale’s slimy skin. As he did, the titan’s forepaws burst through the rotting flesh of the phase whale. They sunk down. And down. And down.

The monster’s forearms sunk well past ground level. It struggled, but kept sinking. Realizing its lack of leverage, the cthulhu rabbit rolled off to the side.

Its forelegs were gone. The black and yellow substance Max had jumped over earlier was eating into the monster, dissolving and absorbing everything it touched. It looked like a night sky full of stars. Hungry stars.

A piercing wail started up, the titan crying out in pain. It continued to roll around, flailing with its one working leg. Max winced at the sound, putting his hands to his ears and trying not to throw up.

The sound suddenly cut off. He looked up to see that the black substance had eaten through the monster’s chest. The head was only connected by its spine. A golden orb appeared above the cthulhu rabbit to mark its death. A glowing silver card accompanied it.

Max stared at the remains of the titan. What the hell was that? Was that phase whale shit? He shivered and hurried away from the two corpses. A glance around showed there were no more monsters around. The danger was past.

Major amount of essence gathered

Level Up Available

After killing a titan, he better be able to level up. He tried to mentally trigger a level up, but nothing happened. A few more tries were unsuccessful. Nothing was ever easy in this damn world.

A sudden weariness washed over him. Now each step seemed leaden and he could feel every pound of his exolegs. He turned them back on and plodded over to the rest of the group. He grabbed Gus’ rifle on the way.

Everyone had regained their vision by now and most were salvaging intact packs, orbs and card fragments. Max collected the pieces from his broken crossbow and stuffed them in his pack. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

There were only nine people left, including himself. They had started with twenty-four. So many had died. Kristina and her group might still be alive, but that meant that ten people had died on their first day. He felt the weight of their deaths heavily on his shoulders. He had been their leader and got so many of them killed.

Lily and Yang walked up to him.

Lily said, “Glad to see you alive.”

Yang looked him up and down and said, “That was stupid. Brave, but stupid.”

“I know,” Max said with a sigh. He was about to continue, but James interrupted with a tackle.

“Max! I can’t believe you survived! You’re a hero!” James said as he gave him a big hug. “And you stink so bad!” he continued with a cheery voice.

Max pushed him back. “I’m not a hero. I’m just an idiot that got lucky. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He sniffed himself. “Ug. I reek of whale guts.”

“It’s fine. We’ll find a river or whatever to wash off in,” James said.

“That’s not... whatever,” Max said and sat down.

James seemed to realize he needed some space. He found Max’s pack and dragged it over to him. There was a rip along the top of the pack, but it was mostly intact. Max stared at it listlessly.

Some time later, Max wasn’t sure how long, everyone was gathered together. The bodies of the dead had been laid together on top of the logs that failed to protect them. He guessed that they planned on lighting a fire when it was time to leave. No one was looking at the funeral pyre though.

They were focused on the cards and orbs together in the center of the group. There was a tense feeling, everyone staring at each other. It took him a moment to realize they needed to have a discussion about loot distribution.

Ebba suddenly appeared outside the group. Two of her hands were holding her right side and there was a line of dried blood beneath it. She calmly said, “Whatever you do. Don’t waste the orbs on leveling up now. They are much more valuable at higher levels.”

Max stood up and pointed his finger at her. “You’ve been keeping a lot of important things from us. It’s your fault that half of us died just now. You are going to sit down and tell us everything we need to know. Right the hell now.”

She stood there motionless for a long moment. “I suppose I can’t argue with that. I will answer all of your questions as penance.”

“Giving us answers won’t be enough to wipe the stain off your soul, but it’s the least of what you owe us,” Max spat.