With an 'Urk' and a loss of breath, Damien slammed Into the side of a mountain, boring a human-shaped hole deep into the mountain. Reorienting himself, he looked up to see a giant fist coming down on the mountain. Luckily for him, Keilan came to his rescue when a giant gust of wind slammed into the ankle of the colossal giant, shaking it out of balance.
"ROAAAAAR!!!"
The entire mountain shook from the sound of the giant's displeasure.
'Colosso', the Calamity giant, was a monster so tall Damien was sure it had far surpassed a thousand feet. It was one of the rare monsters Damien and Keilan had ever come across that could actually challenge them.
Advancing through the different domains of this proto-realm, they'd come across plenty of monsters, some big, some small. Some had lasted a few hours, and some hadn't even lasted minutes, except Colosso. It was one of the rare monsters that they hadn't completely defeated after months of trying. Not that they couldn't kill it, it was just that finding a monster like Colosso who was capable of keeping them on their toes was hard to find, they couldn't afford to kill such rare specimen.
But today, they weren't looking to wet themselves against a mid-tier calamity beast; it was time to step up their game.
Damien dived, narrowly dodging a fist that would have slammed him into the ground. He weaved around the monster's arm, using his spear to draw a large gash.
Keilan came up, a giant fist made of wind following behind. With a punch, he sent the monster staggering backward.
Not one to be outshined, Damien darted downwards, weaving like a fly around the monster. He moved behind the knee, stabbing his spear deep Into its fragile part.
"ROAAAAAR!!"
The monster came down on one knee, sandy substance dripping from the injured area.
Damien floated beside Keilan, watching the monster as it looked up towards them with anger and bloodlust.
Keilan sighed, "Soo long Colosso."
He raised his hands, summoning a giant green spear that whipped the air into a frenzy. With a motion, the spear flashed down, aiming for the middle of the chest.
"ROAAAR!!"
Apparently, the monster wasn't keen on going out like this, because bronze-colored essence began snaking out of its essence reserves. Hundreds of tendrils snaking out to intertwine, drawing ground-down-earth alongside. What came out was a giant staff of almost equal size that warped the air around it. The power the staff released was enough to drastically heighten Damien's estimation of the creature's strength.
Colosso hadn't done this before.
[Now, do you want my help?]
"No. Don't you get it? If I continue needing your help for every challenge that I come across, I'll never grow. Besides, this monster is too weak for me to need your help."
Gray had been wanting to help ever since the fight began with Colosso, but Damien had been refusing any assistance. He didn't want to be over-reliant on the little guy. He knew that having something like Gray was a boon no cultivator would ever reject. But in his opinion, a boon could just as much become a crutch, and that could become crippling in the future. He wanted to be able to do things without outside assistance.
[Suit yourself, your funeral.]
With shocking speed, the titanic giant attacked.
Damien swerved right, narrowly dodging the staff that swung for them. He waved his hands, summoning hundreds of tiny miniature stars that rained down on the monster, exploding in contact.
Colosso roared, staggering backwards. Keilan came in with multiple fists constructed out of wind energy, delivering multiple combos on the giant, forcing it to use its staff to stabilize itself. This opened it to an attack from Damien that finally made it roar in pain.
Like that, they went at it.
Damien danced around the creature, using Starfalls to pester the giant. Starfall was a powerful attack, but for a creature as titanic as this, the attacks only created small cracks on the earthen body. At one point, Keilan took things up a level, enclosing himself inside a titanic construct made of wind, matching the creature size for size. Because of this, Damien was relegated to mosquito duty, where he continued to pester the creature with dozens of Starfalls, thereby distracting it and leaving it open for Keilan who exchanged and dealt equally titanic blows.
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Pissed off and filled with dozens of craters all over its body, the creature predictably increased the gravity in the vicinity, releasing a pressure so heavy it could crush a fly. Damien weathered it, covering himself in a thin layer of destruction energy that fended off the unnatural gravity.
Keilan, though, continued fighting as if the increased gravity didn't affect him at all, slamming a giant wind spear on the creature's body so hard that the creature staggered several feet backward before coming down on one knee.
Damien followed up, summoning a curtain of flame to drown th–.
[Heads up, you've got incoming.]
He looked up, sighing as a dozen black dots in the sky aimed down towards them, their forms revealing them to be bird creatures.
Now, these kinds of creatures were very tricky to deal with. Individually, they were weak, that was why they always hunted in groups. And they were always smart enough to deliver coordinated attacks.
Damien looked toward Colosso who was still on its knees, seeing that his attacks were practically contributing nothing much to the creature, and he wouldn't be able to deliver any worthwhile attacks unless he summoned at least a partial image, and he'd be damned if he summoned an image just to deal with a creature like this.
He turned towards Keilan, informing him about his decision. Keilan's attention never left the monster, but he gave a nod.
Done with that, Damien ascended, moving to intercept the bird monsters.
He rose, his energy snaking out of him to form dozens of spikes that trailed behind.
The bird creatures, seeing this, immediately swerved, sending tiny wind crescents at him. With a wave of his spear, Damien summoned a grey curtain of destruction that wiped half the incoming attacks away, the others missing. He dived into their group, dodging their attempts to bar him in and trap him. He shaped dozens of spikes and miniature Starfalls, tearing into their ranks. A bird came at him with claws bared; he cut off its feet and a wing in one swift move. Another one did a dive-by past him with sharp wind energy coating its wing. Damien cut it open from top to middle.
Their battle took a little while as he crippled and outright killed them in one or two moves, leaving some to either die immediately or let gravity take care of it.
Soon enough, they were all dealt with, the last of them falling down to the earth with a loud squawk and caw. Done with all that, he turned his attention to see Keilan still at it with Colosso, both their forms battered with cracks all over them. Colosso body looked wrecked, but Keilan's was much worse. Since he wasn't as solid as the giant, his titanic avatar was cracked and leaking air so thick it came out as green.
Damien dived back down to assist.
"Kei, we have to wrap this up soon, or we'll have more monsters to deal with. So I'm going to have be unwise."
Vast reserves of energy began flowing out of his body as he dived, trailing behind him like a river. It began to condense, slowly taking the shape of a five-pointed star. A heavy pressure descended and the air warped as the star went into completion, so powerful that the giant immediately took its attention from Keilan, turning up to look at Damien. Its senses must have warned of the impending threat of this attack because it immediately went into defensive mode.
"ROOOOAAAAAR!!"
The earth for miles rose up in waves to encircle the monster, forming a vast dome that covered the monster, the unnatural gravity in the area reinforcing it.
[Hmm, that's surprising.]
"What?"
[Finding a monster with a modicum of sentience in this place.]
"What do you mean?"
[A monster of this level isn't meant to be this self-preserving. Most monsters are typically all hunger and predation, with no advanced planning or such to acquire their prey. They see, they attack, regardless of the strength of their opponent, uncaring of their own defenses beyond the natural ones they were born with. This monster here is part of the few ones who have begun to gain a semblance of sentience. It can't talk, but It can understand and plan ahead, that's why it's using attacks that it hasn't used in your previous battles. As the both of you were using it to challenge yourselves, so was it doing the same.]
"Uhhh... Wow. I never knew monsters could do that."
Gray snorted, [How do you think Spirit King monsters come to be? Unlike the majority of monsters who don't have the potential to advance further beyond the Spirit lord, this one is one of the few who will.]
"Why's that?"
[Look there. How often do you see a monster capable of constructing weapons out of their essence? Aside from the birth-given weapons a lot of monsters are born with, very few of them have the mental capability to create one outside of itself. Look at the birds you just fought, beyond the wind blades, which are instinctually formed as soon as they learn how to fight; their mind can't go beyond that. All monsters are granted intelligence at one point, but for them to advance beyond the lord realm, a trace of true intelligence has to be present.]
Damien looked at the monster, his star construct fully formed. Even though it had enacted its ultimate defense, it still slowly edged backward like it was about to flee. Damien wasn't the only one to notice this.
Keilan, who had begun edging out of the blast radius of Damien's attack, also took notice.
A colossal amount of wind energy was drawn from the environment and his soul reserve, going on the encircle Colosso, trapping it in.
Taking the opportunity, Damien attacked.
He sent down the gigantic star which warped the air, leaving a trail of grey mist and haze. In an instant, it landed.
BOOM!
Damien was probably close to two thousand feet in the air, and a mile or two away from the blast radius. Yet the results of his attack had him dedicating a not-so-small amount of willpower to keeping himself stable.
Keilan–in his titanic construct–was blasted off his feet, the shockwaves carrying him to crash a mile away.
When the dust finally settled, they saw the outcome.
"ROAAAR!!"
The monster released a sound of both defiance and agony–more agony. Its entire arms were completely destroyed–melted down to the shoulder. The torso wasn't so different, only held together by a small part that had managed to somehow survive the attack.
The monster–on its knees–looked up at Damien, pure rage in its eyes. It slowly began getting up, drawing earth energy from the surrounding to fix its makeup.
CRACK!
Cracks suddenly appeared over its body, its entire form leaking sands as it immediately began breaking down, turning into chunks of large rocks that crashed to the ground.
Damien breathed out, tired, "Phew, I need a nap."