“Survive!” Jack’s inner consciousness screamed at him, and his danger sense had such an intense reaction that he felt like he was being suffocated. Rolling sideways, he used his right arm to push himself back up to a standing position.

Jack thought that he was a survivor. Jack thought he now knew fear. He now understood that he had thought wrong. True terror was not something explained so easily. He stood there frozen, his legs feeling heavier than lead. Abject fear enveloped him from all directions, and he felt his hands shaking from the horror. He had no weapon upon his person left, but Jack had no thoughts of resistance at that moment. This was not an entity a man could beat, but a primal, ancient force of nature that had existed long before him, and would continue to exist long after. The atmosphere around him felt dense, heavy, bringing a pressure from all directions that Jack felt would crush him to paste any second. His danger sense had gone crazy, and he felt as if taking a single step in any direction would result in a fatal attack that could not be resisted.

You have been inflicted with the passive debuff: Titan Fear.

He found himself staring down a true behemoth- the humanoid creature was nine feet tall, its dark green, leathered skin in perfect harmony with the grassy forest they were standing upon. Its arms were double the thickness of its already muscular legs, green veins popping out from how exaggerated its physiology was- Jack had no doubt the creature could rip him in half without even trying. Its wide, barrel chest was equally impressive, the earth seeming to resonate with its every breath. The creature's face was as ugly as it was horrific- two small fangs protruded from its lower jaw, causing its mouth to remain in a semi-open state, with drool dripping outward. It’s blood red, predatory eyes, sharp, pointed ears and angled nose sent chills down his spine, especially when those eyes seemed to be staring down at him from a distance.

The creature held a massive wooden, spiked club that had had a handle almost half the thickness of the Orc’s biceps, easily two foot long in itself, made out of white timber of unknown origin. The remaining seven feet was a cylindrical wooden body made out of blackish brown timber, which was littered with lethally sharp spikes across its surface area. An nine foot orc titan holding a weapon as long as itself with merely a single hand brought about a kind of despair Jack had never felt before in his life.

“Shak Krai’nal Mukris!” The Orc roared mightily, and it felt as if the Earth itself roared alongside him. Jack watched in horror as the grass, soil and dirt rose from the ground, floating in the air for a second before rushing towards the orc. Moments later, an earthen armor in the contrasting hues of green and brown was born- complete with a helmet, chestplate, leg greaves, boots and gloves.

Earth Orc Titan has used Tier 1 Innate Talent: Earth Resonance.

Jack was still rooted to the spot, his hands shivering in fear. ‘Move!’ Jack mentally screamed to himself but he remained rooted to the spot, his arms and legs feeling far heavier than lead. This wasn’t natural fear, but it felt as if something had been done to his body, reminding him of the time when his sponsor cut off his vocal cords temporarily.

‘Remember the objective,’ Jack chanted in his mind, and it provided him with a burst of clarify in a fog of terror. He quickly glanced around his surroundings, even though he could barely budge his face. The Titan still separated him by a few dozen meters, so he had a few seconds to think. Jack was surprised, as open, clear areas of land were pretty odd to see in the forest. He was even more surprised when he saw an entire, small dull-gray jagged mountain behind the Orc Titan, too busy focusing on the monster to scope out the surroundings. That, Jack was damn sure, was an addition made by the system. Malanike National Park had many attractions, but random mountains was not one of them.

The Orc Titan took its first step, and the Earth rippled in resonance, as if it was announcing the entrance of its chosen champion. The soil was trampled beneath its Earthen armor, leaving behind a small depression in the ground.

“Move. Move, god damn it…. fucking move!” Jack mentally pleaded himself, but it was to no avail. His fingers started twitching, but his body refused to accept his mind's commands. The growing sense of impending doom only increased, which ended up making his situation worse.

The orc took a second, wide step, closing the distance.

Jack saw the orc approach, and it caused his anxiety to further increase.

He tried everything in the playbook- he tried to bite his tongue, but his jaw wouldn’t budge. He tried to tip over, but his body wouldn’t budge.

A third step echoed out, and the orc was closer than ever before.

Jack realized that the fear was making him irrational, making him unable to see the obvious solution in front of him.

So he gave up. The fear flowed through him stronger than ever, making him want to kneel for mercy, to cry out from the abject terror, but Jack didn’t budge. He let it flow through himself, letting all the negative thoughts of death roam free.

Accept the fear.

Own the fear.

Channel the fear.

“I will survive,” Jack said, regaining an eerie composure. “I am afraid. I am weaponless. I am weak. You are strong. You are Powerful. You are Fierce. I have all the reasons to be afraid, but you have none. That is precisely why I will survive.”

Passive Debuff Titan Fear has been broken.

Confusion. Shock. Rage. Jack was not an expert upon Orc Titans, but those were the emotions it saw on its misshapen face.

Jack was positioned near the center of the circular clearing, so he could either take his chances in a random direction, or try to scale the mountain faster than the Orc could. He’d already taken off in a random direction, but the Orc’s reaction was not slow.

The Orc did not chase after Jack, but let out a roar so loud that it could be heard kilometers away.

Jack screamed in agony as he collapsed to the ground, blocking his ears with both his arms in order to make the noise stop.He could still hear the loud roar even despite his efforts to mitigate the sound, and the next second he felt a loud pop in his left ear followed by silence. He felt a liquid flow down his left hand just as the roar stopped, only to realize that it was his blood. His left ear drum had just burst, and Jack’s balance was off.

You have been affected by Titan’s Roar. The Titan’s vocal cords have been damaged, and it cannot perform it again for one day.

He hurriedly popped a healing pill, but that didn’t help with the dizziness. Jack got back to his feet, just in time to see the Titan charging at him. One wide footstep followed another, but it's posture seemed off- Jack’s eyes widened in surprise as the Titan took a third footstep before leaping in the sky, with its spiked club held up high.

Jack’s danger sense rocketed off the charts, as he broke away bearing left in a mad dash for his life.

A loud crashing sound echoed out from behind him, followed by a shockwave emanating from the sound of impact that sent an already off balance Jack tumbling to the ground. He barely managed to transition into a roll at the last second, getting back away on his feet. But the time lost was crucial, and Jack felt the Titan getting back up for round two. He did not understand how such a large being could be so athletic and quick at the same time, but there was no point debating that now.

He changed his direction, the Titan seemed hell bent on stopping him from escaping, first using an immobilization skill and then going berserk when he broke out of it, so he decided to bait it by going towards the mountain.

Another cataclysmic boom echoed out behind him, merely half a minute later. Jack quickened his pace, ready to switch directions the moment he felt movement behind him.

This time though, a minute passed and there were no loud footsteps echoing out behind him. His gut tightened, because he knew something was wrong. The Orc would not give up on him now, when it was so close to its prey.

He slid forward, turning around in the process in order to get a better view.

“Shit,” Jack thought, having forgotten to take into account the power the Titan had used in the beginning. In its pulled back right hand was a circular mound composed of soil, dirt and grass packed together, with sharp pieces of stone jutting out from all directions- a natural mace without a handle. The moment it saw Jack, it threw the earthen mace head with such terrible speed that Jack knew it would hit him before he took a step.

‘Qi Shield! Qi Shield! Come the fuck on, Qi Shield!” At the very last second, Jack managed to double cast Qi shield, but he felt both his arms burn from the forced casting. The shields slowed the mound down for a second, before crashing into Jack and blasting him dozens of meters back, until he crashed straight against the base of the mountain with a loud bang.

“Must… survive,” A delirious Jack whispered to himself in between bloody coughs. He felt his heavy eyelids drooping, and there was nothing he’d like more than to take a short nap.

“No… cannot sleep… remember, recov…recovery pill,” He thought to himself, reaching for it with his right arm. A sharp burst of pain caused him to scream aloud, but the adrenaline also killed all notions of sleep with it.

He used his left arm this time, which thankfully didn’t come with a searing pain. He pulled out all the remaining recovery pills in his pocket, and popped them all in his mouth at the same time.

A strong burst of rejuvenating energy flowed into him, but Jack felt like something vital was being robbed from him in exchange. He looked down to see the full extent of his wounds, to see the ground littered in his blood. His right thigh had a jagged rock embedded deep within, gushing out blood every few seconds. The moment he looked at it, he felt the excruciating pain that he’d somehow managed to ignore until now. Maybe it was the adrenaline. His right arm was definitely fractured, probably in multiple places from how bad it hurt. Also, his ribs were probably fractured.

He sighed, knowing that there was no way he could level up and heal his wounds, and the recovery pills would take too long. It was funny, how quickly he oscillated between pure hope and absolute despair. But he would keep fighting, keep struggling, keep trying to find a way to survive until the end.

The connection between him and his bond reignited at that moment, causing Jack’s eyes to light up in anger.

“No! Luna, no! Go back, please. Please, please go back. You don’t have to die,” Jack pleaded her through their bond, this wasn’t like her stunt before. What could she possibly do against a nine foot Titan?

Grief was the emotion she channeled back, such strong, empathetic grief that tears rolled down Jack’s eyes.

But then it was followed by a burst of Joy, confusing him. The small feline blazed towards him at a rapid speed, and soon Jack could sense her approach. Tilting his sprained neck to gaze at her, Jack felt a burst of emotions that were excited, happy and energetic, as she lifted up her right paw and pointed towards Jack’s left, as if something there could save him.

The footsteps of a titan echoed out in the background, followed by another. Jack expected death the next second, but it never came. Then he realized that the Titan could kill him at any time when he was under the effects of Titan fear- but it didn’t. It liked to play with its prey, immobilizing them first before killing.

‘If I can’t walk, then I’ll crawl,” thought Jack, as pulled out the jagged rock from his right leg in one swift motion, before clawing at the ground with his remaining working hand, and using his functional left leg to kick forward.

Two minutes passed, as Jack could feel the Titan’s approach growing closer and closer. Perhaps it enjoyed the sight of its prey crawling on the ground to survive, because it could have ended his life at any moment.

Finally, he saw it- a small, secluded cave nestled behind a protruding edge of the mountain. The energy he was saving for this very moment burst out in an explosion of moment, as Jack got up in one fluent motion, sprinting for his goal in such wide strides that it would put the titan to shame. He’d put the time the titan had given him to recover to good use, leading to this very moment.

A dozen meters was all that separated him from his destination, and Jack ran without caring for the condition of his body.

“Shari-Dhar! Kalruk!” The Orc Titan angrily grumbled in surprise, before taking off to prevent him. Jack was merely separated by a meter from salvation, but his right angle twisted badly at the last moment. His instincts took over as angled his fall towards the downward sloping dark cave, falling face first into unknown territory.

Luna waited for Jack before jumping inside at the same time.

“Yeah fuck you too, condescending prick,” was the last thing Jack said in protest before the adrenaline left him and everything went black.