The impossibly huge humanoid monster made of odd dark energy continues to crack the ground as it walks toward me in silence. An unnerving hum of intense mana fills my senses as the air around me gets denser and denser with a tingling magic sensation.
A Titan. This is the creature that Tripp and Sophie warned me about, the monster I’ve been looking for this whole time.
“Finally, I’ll get to go all out.”
Readying my sword and dagger, I activate all of my stat-boosting skills to glow with a golden-red light. The slow-moving Titan doesn’t even seem to register my presence… Or, at least, I can’t tell if it does.
The emotionless mass of energy the size of a 10-story building trudges forward in my general direction. I begin running full speed ahead toward it. Every step I take makes the humming tone of mana grow louder and the density of magic in the air begins to make my joints tingle.
I erupt into flames, covering myself in a barrier of thick fire and wind magic allowing me to continue my charge forward. After less than half a minute, I get within range to release an attack.
Swinging both my sword and dagger, I let out a dual attack containing two crescents of white and red magic. They soar through the air, as the ominous figure In the distance stays true to its march.
My jaw drops as my attack hits the anomaly before my eyes…
Both of my attacks collide with the monster’s mid-section but disappear on impact. The creature doesn’t even flinch, it continues slowly moving forward without a moment’s hesitation.
I grit my teeth and let out another high-powered attack with both my blades.
My high-powered energy attacks that previously sliced mutants in half like butter collide with this menace and vanish into thin air.
My heart skips a beat. I can’t tell if it’s fear or excitement. All I know is, this is not going to be easy.
With a smirk, I dart off to the right side. Some new positioning will give me a clear look at all of its angles, maybe there’s an obvious weakness somewhere. Using my wind magic to increase my travel speed, I make my way around the Titan as it draws even nearer. I’m less than 50m away from the beast, and the ground shakes with every step it takes.
I assume, It still hasn’t noticed me. The humming in my ears is giving me a minor headache, and the energy in the air feels like a full-blown dungeon break. Letting out a yell, I release another dual attack at the monster’s legs.
Yet again, all the magic I throw at it immediately disappears into nothingness on impact.
It cracks the hard ground while continuing in a steady straight line forward. I run in even closer. If magic won’t work, maybe physical attacks will be the only option.
The long black leg of the creature is less than 15m away now. With one long step, it could crush me under its foot from where it stands. Still, even up close there are no distinguishable features, looking at any part of its body is like staring into an endless abyss of darkness.
I clench my jaw and lunge in for any attack. The Titan steps forward, and I launch another full power strike. With both blades swinging bright with magic, I take a long slice at the monster’s open leg.
My eyes widen as I feel my blades cut through the air. That’s right, the air…. My red and white glowing weapons just slip through the Titan’s dark flesh without making a sound or even drawing a drop of blood. I would even call it flesh, it’s more like an illusion of flesh. This beast is a walking black hole.
I react by bursting into flames and shooting advanced fire magic all the way up its leg, but it’s futile. All of my attacks just go right through this mysterious black blob of matter and disappear into the void.
The hum of mana is so intense up close, I can barely hear myself think. I try one last move.
“Plunderer.”
I let out a surprised gasp as the sweet sensation of newly plundered mana enters my body. Finally, I found its weakness. If this creature runs out of MP, I’m sure this ability’s defensive effects will wear off eventually. I’ll get to see its true form.
The Titan’s leg begins to move as it takes another long stride. I air-step backward and begin positioning myself for another opportunity to plunder its mana. The giant takes a step and I lunge in to plunder more MP.
The sensation of its mana entering my body continues without a hitch. I activate my All-Seeing Eye, wondering if I’ll be able to track its exact remaining mana stores. I’ve never tried to suck a monster dry of MP before, so this will be a first.
I let out an audible gulp as my perception ability activates. I whisper under my breath while decreasing my plunderer skill’s intensity, losing motivation…
“There’s…. no end….”
The dense swirling pit of mana before my eyes is like nothing I’ve ever seen or even thought of before. The outer layer of its body acts as a buffer to keep reality out of the mini pocket dimension of pure mana inside of it. Swirling clouds of pure white and pink mana look similar to the borders of my own spacial magic skill. A pocket dimension of seemingly endless mana.
The absurdity of how deep its MP stores go is baffling, I deactivate my All-Seeing Eye completely. Staring into the abyss might make someone crazy, but trying to absorb all of its energy would make them absolutely insane.
I’m not too sure which one I’ll become by the end of this battle…
I jump backward as the monster takes another step. My heart is racing and the hum of mana in the air mixed with the nightmare I just laid eyes upon makes my headache even worse. I swallow hard, take a deep breath, and create some distance between myself and the Titan mindlessly walking forward.
“What… is this thing….?”
As I air-step further away, its dense aura fades and the humming dies down. I let out a sigh of relief and try to refocus my thoughts.
The Titan takes another step. I watch its massive foot crack the hard ground throwing dirt and rock in all directions.
This gives me an idea…. With a smirk, I ready myself for round two.
I Dungeon Walk in front of the marching behemoth. Lucky for me, it’s walking in a direction I’ve already traveled so my teleportation skills work like a charm.
I place my sword into item storage while separating my dagger into its original twin blades form. I need pure wind energy for this attack. Charging up the two blades with every last drop of my available MP, I release an enormous crest of silver and white shimmering light at the monster’s feet as it takes its next step forward.
The surge of energy I unleash warps the surrounding air as it hurtles toward the ground. It collides with the titan's foot, connecting with the solid earth in perfect synchronicity. A white flash blinds me as the wind magic expands and releases its energy on impact. Rocks and dirt fly everywhere and a massive crater is formed beneath the approaching Titan’s step.
I brace myself for what’s coming while grinning ear to ear. The monster’s long black leg continues to step down into the hole my wind magic has created. It mindlessly falls into my trap as I closely watch the events before me unfold.
The 30m tall Titan’s featureless face falls forward. I grab a mana crystal from my storage, plunder its MP, and Dungeon Walk back another 50m or so to watch the enormous monster fall to the ground.
I let out a laugh raising my daggers in the air. The battle isn’t over yet, but actually landing some kind of physical damage on this thing feels great!
It almost looks like it’s falling in slow motion. The titan’s arms slowly move up to brace itself for impact, and its legs slightly bend to lessen the fall.
I’m eagerly waiting to see what happens.
The hum of mana begins to get louder. I gulp, realizing from almost 100m away the magic’s intensity feels like I’m standing right in front of it again…
Maybe it wasn’t the greatest Idea to piss off an ominous black mass of unexplainably near-infinite energy.
I twirl my blades in my hands, getting ready for whatever it throws at me. Its featureless face is still on a crash course for the hard ground and I can’t miss the show. If something goes wrong here, I have plenty of time to teleport away.
The closer the monster gets to the ground the more the humming sound of dense mana around me increases… It’s becoming a metallic-sounding buzz at this point. The hair on my neck and arms stands straight up. The only thing I can hear is the vibration of distorted mana in the air, and the anticipation is killing me. My heart pounds harder the closer it gets…
Finally, it hits the ground with an earth-shaking thud.
My eyes open wide as I watch a shockwave of black energy erupt from its body. The humming mass is moving toward me at speeds too fast to comprehend. It ruptures the ground, throwing mountain-sized chunks of rocks bigger than the Titan in all directions.
For hundreds of meters, the ground is covered in a veil of black energy.
I hardly let out a yell before it fully engulfs me. Gripping my blades and yelling into a silent void of darkness, the sensation of falling comes over me…
I try to use Dungeon Walker, but every pathway is blocked in my mind’s eye. I’m in an isolated void of darkness with no way out. All it took was fractions of a second to trap me when I thought I’d trapped it. I’m way out of my league here and there is nothing I can do. My stomach churns as it slowly gets used to the feeling of weightlessness.
I yell, but I can’t hear a thing. My breathing is heavy, but it slows down as I calm down and assess the situation. Twisting my body around in mid-air as I fall, there’s nothing but darkness. The overwhelming smell here is metallic, like high-voltage electricity.
Activating my All-Seeing Eye, a few things start to become a bit more clear.
I’m surrounded by the same energy the Titan is made of. I was so far away from the monster, yet it still trapped me. How is this possible? Did I fall into a random dungeon anomaly? Is this all just a hallucination? No….
The most likely scenario is that I’ve fallen into its Hidden Ability. The Titan’s Domain.
A small white light appears below me as I continue to fall.