Might as Well

As Sam began to climb one of the giant legs of the titan, he glanced behind him, his hands gripping Moonlight as it penetrated deep into the stone flesh of the monster, enhanced by his wind magic, while a small shield covered him from any stray detritus and attacks.

Behind him, the main force of the guild had separated itself into several groups under the direction of Adam and began to bombard the titan with enough magic to erase a small town from existence. Every element from fire to earth, interspersed with some exotic ones, like shadow, acid, and such, flew through the air only to chip away at the stone exoskeleton of the humongous monster.

And in the middle of that storm of magic, both visually and as seen through his Mana Sense, it looked like a kaleidoscope of a storm that changed every second as barely controlled mana streamed through the air in all shapes and forms.

Sam made sure to record it for later, as he was certain it would be excellent for studying how a person’s mana interacted with others in situations like this. Maybe he could glean something new and integrate it into his own skills…

And it wasn’t like the mages were the only ones trying to damage the gigantic monsters. All manner of archers, from people wielding longbows to people lugging around giant arbalests, were peppering the monster and the smaller minions with arrows.

He even used a few bigger arrows stuck in the exoskeleton of the titan as climbing posts as he headed higher and higher.

‘This kinda feels like a mini-game…’ he mused as he swung from one arbalest projectile that found purchase in the stone-like flesh of the titan to another with a small boost of his own wind magic, grabbing the next arrow and then moving even further upward.

Naturally, melee fighters joined the fight too. Assassin-types were flittering around the battlefield, Sam only able to spot them thanks to his enhanced sensing capabilities, as they took down monsters that tried to sneak around while warriors of all types stood steadfastly between the mages, healers, and other ‘classes’, using their shields and weapons to break the tide of stone spiders threatening to overwhelm them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the people Adam brought with him started building up facilities and fortifications. He spotted tents going up with the healers standing around and waiting for victims who could enjoy their tender care. There were also several crude barriers, made by the earth mages that arrived around with a select few people facing away from the fight and keeping an eye on the surroundings.

They would be paid extra as they couldn’t really participate in the fight for experience points and loot.

As he was approaching the halfway point of his journey through the cracks of the exoskeleton, he felt the mana shift around. Taking a quick glance back at the battlefield, he saw that the people, looking much smaller than before, started grouping up and the so-far haphazard attack types seemed to be starting to get more organized.

Arrows hit the same general area, creating great pits and craters on the exoskeleton of the titan, while magical attacks hit the very same spots one after another, making sure not to cancel each other’s effects.

Ice was followed by searing hot flames, which were then cooled down again by sizzling acid, which in turn was used to allow lightning to find purchase on the stone-like material, digging deeper and deeper into the flesh of the monster.

Sadly, the titanic monster came with truly thick armor that was also extremely resistant to both physical and magical attacks.

Naturally, while this was going on, the monster wasn’t idle. The legs that weren’t held by strenuous earth magic were doing their best to crush everything under them, with gigantic steps that shook everything around them. However, it seemingly wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere.

In addition to this, as dust and rock seemed to be falling off the titan, several other crystalline structures revealed themselves shining with the same malevolent red light as the eyes and horns of the titan. The monster made use of them to shower the guild with red lightning.

Not to mention the sharp dust and whatever the monster breathed out.

The entire area around and under the titan was a hazard zone that took careless lives by the dozens. Thankfully, guilds had access to altars issued by the temples that would allow guild members to respawn where the altar was placed.

Unfortunately, it came at a hefty price.

While the respawn time was very short, the punishment for death was increased and if the altar was destroyed, either by the monster or monsters the group was fighting or enemy action, then it was impossible to plant one again for twelve hours. All in the name of preventing camping monsters.

A group of healers and buffers were also standing next to the tent covering the altar, showering whoever came out with buffs and other enhancements so that they could return to the fight that much faster.

Seeing the entire guild move around, following the plan that Adam came up with – probably with the help of Tim and Lucy – was rather gratifying. There was nothing like a fight against a humongous stone spider that brought people closer…

He jumped forward, using his stone carving skill to instantly carve a foothold into the exoskeleton then held on for dear life as a pulse of red lightning washed over him, neutralizing a big barrage of arrows and vaporizing a small group of some kind of bat-like summons.

The moment the attacks were over, he continued climbing using arrows, projectiles, and carved footholds, as well as the cracks and folds formed on the exoskeleton of the titan spider. Until he finally reached the final threshold and with a brief exertion of muscles and magic, he flung himself upwards, landing a little awkwardly on the constantly moving back of the titan.

The back was like a mountain, carved away by the constant bombardment of his guild, shaken off by the movement, or flung by invisible forces at the attacking parties as primitive bombardment.

For a moment everything stood still as Sam first stepped foot on the monster’s back, then a roar shook the world and the heavens.

ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR

Sam stumbled as the body of the gigantic monster began to shake in anger as he felt the eight eyes trained on him through his mana sense despite being out of the sight of the physical eyes. It was extremely creepy…

As the monster shook, either in impotent rage or for something else, Sam was distracted by a chime of his system.

Accepting the call, he kept an eye on the surroundings as he hid behind a big pile of rocks.

“Yeah?”

“Saw you reaching the top,” came from Adam. “Anything interesting?”

“It got angrier…” he replied bemusedly.

“Good. Maybe it will make mistakes. Dan is ready,” came from the guild leader.

“How are the losses?” he asked as he took a look at the chaotic mana around him.

Adam grimaced. “Pretty big with the melee groups. They can’t always dodge as small mountain’s worth of stones fall on them.”

“Reward them with some contribution points,” he said while coming out of his hiding places and started heading for the head of the monster. “What about the enemies?”

Adam just chuckled a little. “It’s pretty hard to hide an explosion like that. Tim is occupying them but the bigger guilds are preparing.”

“As expected…”

“Indeed. Should I ask Tim for more time?” Adam asked, and Sam saw the worry in his eyes as he glanced at the video chat for a moment.

Sam shook his head. “No. Tell him to keep some of his ammunition back. Instead…Instead, have Tim make sure that every guild knows about this.”

“E-every?” Adam asked, a little taken aback.

“Hopefully, they will fight amongst themselves as they travel here,” he tried to reassure his friend. Then he had a mischievous thought. “Have Tim also leak that we know the monster will drop guild-level blueprints.”

Adam stared back at him while Sam grinned. “Now, I’m going to murderize this stupid walking arachnophobia generator, so I have to hang up. Good luck!” And as he said, he turned off the call refocusing entirely on the task ahead of himself.

Back in the command tent, Adam blinked in confusion as the call was disconnected. Since he started working for Sam he somehow got used to the sheer mystery of his boss and the constant bullshit he did, but this one threw him for a loop.

“What the hell is a guild-level blueprint?”

However, a second later, he shook his head. Sam knew what he was doing – or at least Adam hoped it was so – thus he would hold his questions for later and simply forwarded the instructions to the most devious Tim.

It didn’t really surprise him that the only reply he got back was a short: ‘Got it.’

Sam really did manage to find the craziest and most competent people he had ever worked with.

Then he was broken out of his musings when one of the officials ran up to him. He executed a crisp salute – something he found very silly, but he knew how useful it was for group cohesion – and began to speak.

“Sir, we’re ready for the first try!”

Adam grinned, cracked his knuckles, picked up his shield and weapon, and began walking toward the exit.

He always loved when a plan came together.

And of course, big booms.

Everybody loved big booms…

As Sam forged ahead, intent on delivering some aggressive diplomatic arguments to the brainstem of the titan, the crowd under and around the monster began to move according to a predetermined plan.

The monster raised one of its gigantic legs, wreathed in red lightning with greater speed than previously, no doubt the result of its anger, but that didn’t stop the players.

Before it could reach a few feet from the ground, the earth under it surged as ominous chanting began to echo around. The earth, shaped like crude tentacles, rose into the air and wound itself around the stone-like appendage. It constricted as the titan struggled to raise said appendage back up in the air.

Then it stopped and slowly began to lower as the tentacles began to pull it back.

The moment the leg touched the ground, one simple spell went flying straight at the middle joint. A simple paint spell that created a patch of very visible green color on the dust-gray flash. Then there was an incoherent yell and a barrage of projectiles were let loose, both physical and mystical, all of them aimed at the same spot.

The projectiles on their own weren’t strong, but while the first one didn’t leave a mark, the following ones, impacting the same spot, over and over, slowly began to crack the exoskeleton. Then came the next barrage from the mages, keeping the destruction of the exoskeleton up and widening the wound they were making.

Meanwhile, several groups of mages were standing in circles, chanting and aiming their multitude of focuses – everything from traditional staffs to mana-conducting fans and one very weird guy with a tuba etched with glowing runes – at the hole.

Then, upon an invisible signal, the first group let loose their magic, and a high-pressure beam of water was made up of a dozen smaller ones joined together by the simple ritual performed, straight at the wound, impacting with an enormous sound.

CRACK

Confidence visibly rising among the people, another group followed the first one. This time a small storm of lightning impacted the exoskeleton, digging even deeper and charring some of the deeper layers while the monster tried to wrench its legs from the hold of earth mages.

And so it went. Acid. Metal. Ice. Poison. Shadows. Light. Wind. Fire.

All of them flew from the players, all of them aimed at the exact same spot. Until finally, the observers finally spotted something different from the uniform gray exoskeleton.

A deep-red crystalline structure, right where the marrow would be.

As if just waiting for this, another group started firing, including Dan, who looked rather out of place within the group of skinny mages with his muscled form and a mana-conducting club. Nobody dared to mention Lara as she stood behind at a healthy distance and kept cheering for them. Mostly for Dan, but nobody minded a pretty girl yelling encouragements at them.

This time, all mages fired individually, but all of them used spells that surpassed the previous ones.

Great lances of cursed lightning, ice that froze the very air it went through, causing snowflakes to form all around it, a vacuum bomb that was barely contained and an enormous lance of plasma struck the exposed crystalline marrow almost at the same time.

BAAAAAAAAMMMMM

The resulting explosion was big enough to erase the tentacles made from the earth holding the leg but also to erase the lower part of the leg, leaving just a chunk of gray flesh with a small piece of red crystalline material hanging out.

Instantly, the monster was destabilized a little, but sadly, it still had nine more legs.

Nonetheless, the players began to cheer as the warriors continued to clash with the endless tide of monsters and the mages and archers began to reposition for the next leg.

Sam felt the monster tilt a little, but as it regained its balance soon, he didn’t care much. He just continued to move forward, sword in hand and magic ready to be unleashed.

Then, as part of the remaining mountain crumbled in front of him, he was met with a hole in the ground, from where he could already sense the tide of spider-like monsters rushing toward him.

Not wanting to waste much time, he sprung forward, unleashing his mana.

A giant wall of stone rose up from the ground – albeit at the cost of much more mana than usual as the titan fought for control over it – that covered the hole, and then a small hole opened onto it.

He stuck his hand in and simply threw a small ball of fire inside. Before the ball could be extinguished, he unleashed a metric ton of air on it, creating a sizzling hurricane of deadly fire. Then, as if nothing happened, he closed up the hole and walked away.

As he walked away, he could feel through his mana sense that the monsters began dying one by one as the firestorm consumed them. Despite being made of stone, they were still proper monsters, so they had some physical needs.

Like air to breathe.