Nigh physical invulnerability, near instant regeneration fueled by the space core in its chest and its capability of manipulating the environment so that each of its blows hits like a meteor. The whole package makes the Titan a dreadful opponent. Even considering its level limitation… evacuation may be the wiser path.

Merlin looks at me as I translate the Goblin’s words.

“It can’t march any faster?” Merlin asks.

Ahjrahh shakes his head.

“Well, still if it keeps moving like this, I think we have a chance. At least I got an idea of how to blow up its core.” He runs us through his plan as the lumbering enemy advances, a pace that looks to be a slow walk, but each of its steps is much larger, and the nearly one kilometer will only take some 5 minutes.

I follow his instructions, growing something of a magical focus like the primitive magical staffs we can craft. This one has a single purpose, be a container for something that makes most of my ideas absolutely tame in comparison.

Each step forward sends a shockwave rattling my bones.

The first turret starts shooting as it gets in range.

A few more, dozens and finally hundreds of turrets stream fireballs, each as focused as possible, scorching his rough leather and exposed skin. But all those attacks seem so inconsequential, as my perception field can see its scorched but intact skin.

I can feel Ahjahh’s uneasiness, but he stands still grasping for all he is worth on Merlin’s plan.

When the Titan crosses the hundred meter mark and the enemy army still hasn’t taken a step forward, a sliver of hope blooms in my heart. Do they hope to avoid casualties by sending the Titan to soften us up? That is their mistake.

Ahjrahh creates that tiny sphere, a dot that can redirect lightning as the base of the attack. Surrounding his creation sits a four-meter tridimensional runic formation through which I push my Qi in a hollow sphere to contain the result of Merlin’s step. We hold for a few moments, with the two dozen other people each following their own script, Melin arrives last, both driving the ignition point and guiding all our efforts into a cohesive whole. The hand of the maestro of magic, the Meta Mage melding his work with over 2 dozen people simultaneously.

He can’t split his mind, but his mind just looks at the disparate shapes as if it’s all part of a single and continues whole.

Nearly five hundred runes in total from each of us, which he tweaks on the fly, while he alone adds some 500 by his lonesome. Mana manipulation, the simple skill is driven past what any human has ever done before.

Merlin makes the world stop, his extended hand out holding a blazing sun, surrounded by Aether and feed with a stream of mana to make any mage proud of being able to handle let alone with his superhuman precision. Every smidge of mana in his domain is HIS to do with as he pleases.

Even inside my soul the external magic poll holding potential to become either mana or Qi trembles at his absolute control. The other mages start dropping, bleeding from their noses into unconsciousness and simply unable to handle the strain, but Merlin just reaches deeper within himself and takes up their slack.

The work grows and grows, until he alone holds a thousand runes, in a script that no one without at least 100 in perception could even parse out. So small they, so… focused, so… fitting for him.

Repetition of the larger work inside, in a fractal pattern. Just a single layer that triples the number of runes in the entire work.

I squint my eyes at the blazing sun scorching my skin and making me temporarily blind.

A dot in space intent on destruction and creation. I send another thread of Qi through my connection to Merlin and his seed and push my creation field to its limits.

My perception field makes sense of the small spot, before him. My Qi sphere can’t contain even the leftover heat radiating out, nor the mana flying faster than I could push it, let alone the Aether. As much Aether as I have at my disposal even after what I got from meeting the Judge. While most of it just fuels his desire to learn and grow with his skill, he also does something anathema to my former understanding of Aether.

He burns it like kindling. Like it is worth less than rotten wood that even thermites leave for there is nothing left behind worth consuming. He sucks in knowledge from my creation field and for a brief instant, there is a connection, almost like I establish to Aspen. We are just inches apart and his mind tells me what I need to do.

I don’t try to imitate the thousand runes making space smaller and larger. I just twist reality in the way he wants, in the precise timing and shape his work needs.

Then he pokes a tiny pinprick on the Qi containing the power of the blazing sun. The attack shoots it out faster than an arrow, maybe even faster than a bullet.

It moves fast enough I can’t track its movement with the perception field, but the trail of white hot flames is a dead giveaway.

It hits the Titan in the chest like a bomb. A sharp crack bursts my eardrums even through the thin shield constantly surrounding my root armor.

I ignore all my merely physical senses and watch the enemy with the perception field. A giant hole in its chest, nearly half a meter wide, but relatively small compared to the Titan’s body size, though at least it took most of its heart and the portal.

“Is it over?” I ask the Arch Shaman as I kneel in exhaustion.

“The enemy is recovering.” He sends back.

Ahh, shite.

How long do we have?

It will stand still for about a minute. Maybe less.

I look at Merlin unconscious on the ground having followed most other mages. Even the meta mage is only human. I look to the other side and see Alex and Greg preparing to head in, but from how tough the Titan is, their efforts won’t be enough.

I only have one shot at this, while the enemy is standing still.

From the inner world, I nearly teleport my flying machine and fly back to the central square.

Halfway there, I reach underground finding a suitable rock. After grating my will by opening a giant portal, some ten meters wide, I push the rock into the inner world with the roots around it.

Flying straight up at maximum speed I nearly lose control but steam keeps shooting out at shoulder height and I try to guide it as best as I can for this chance is our last.

Even if Alex had an even better spear… his skills were not geared towards overwhelming a single powerful and massive enemy in a single blow. Greg also couldn’t take even half a blow from a being like the Titan, so his developing defensive style would be useless.

They may be able to survive by moving fast enough and slowly whittle down the Titan, but in practical terms, I doubt the enemy would give us enough space and time to work with.

I try to count as slowly as I can, with my heart pounding I assume every three heartbeats to be one second.

When I reach 25 seconds, with nary a look at the altitude, I turn around and trust downward straight to the village. A small dot in the rushing wind as I gain momentum downward. Focus arrives and the time warps way past the calm in the middle of the storm and my heartbeats become slow and purposeful actions. Only enough blood pumping to cover the mild physical exertion of balancing the flying machine.

Faster and faster, as I subtly tweak my thrust vectors aiming for that spot, the single being that was trying to recover without the benefit of whatever used to be in its chest. Well over 200 perception gives me a high definition view of its twitching form.

All the enemies stop their slow and deliberate march to rush headlong into our defenses, including the shamans still standing after the backlash of the core that blew up.

Reality comes into focus and there is nothing else but the single entity that is an existential threat to us. Barely a second before I open the portal and let loose the gigantic rock, the Titan roll from its back to its belly preparing to get up, I try to turn in time and barely succeed in adjusting the aim again.

I open the portal and push out the rock, just some 200 meters above at the same time I turn to break my fall with everything at my disposal even pushing the runes inside my body to the limit so they will provide the minimum levels of levitation the few moments before impact.

A second later I hit the ground missing a wooden spike only by the forethought of one of my more attentive seeds. My blood is all on my feet after a second or two over 100 G’s of deceleration. My head is foggy and the brusque stop as my feet hit the ground took me right to the edge of my capabilities.

Just about anyone else, would have broken bones if they were even alive, but I have plenty in the constitution stat.

Gathering enough of my wits, I reactivate the flying runes spread through my body floating a few meters off with the help of similar runes underground and aim for safety.

I don’t even have the awareness to check the results of my attempt. Not even as stone dust is all that I breathe.

**********

Alex’s POV – A minute before

“Should we…” Greg asks me as I watch Nash taking off in fligth.

“No, not yet,” I say pointing at Nash’s form hurtling through the sky. “Nash has a plan, let us trust that he is going to make it through.”

“But, what could he do?”

“Not sure, but you saw what Merlin and the others pulled. I don’t think he is planning anything less ambitious. Better to not interfere in his plans in trade for a few spear pokes.”

“Ok, so we let him get his shot in and rush afterward.”

We stare forward, as the turret operators continue shooting fireballs most aimed at the hole ints chest before the enemy starts slowly advancing. Not that the attacks seemed to make much difference. This Titan is not an enemy so easily injured. Even as the hole in its chest slowly closes, Nash descends like a meteor hurtling through the sky until I start fearing he is going to impact the ground at full speed. Instead, a massive rock, larger than even the Titan pops in the sky. The very instant that it pushes off the ground and gets to its feet, a cracking noise splits the air.

Pieces of rock fly off and a slight hope blooms in my heart, but a few seconds later, the enemy pushes himself to its feet once again.

Caved in ribs, a limp left leg and a dislocated shoulder are the more eye catching injuries but its entire body is malled. But even though the Titan stands, and each of his steps means doom.

“Ahh shit.” Greg curses echoing my thoughts.

I look him in the eye and we are in total agreement over our course of action. We both scream out:

“Advance!!”

Jumping off the walls, a couple of hundred other people follow behind dropping the ten meters like they might have jumped from 10 feet back on earth. Mana shields and changes in the structure of the wooden defenses start to form around to surround the Titan and not expose us to even more danger as the enemy rushes our positions.

If the big flashy attacks couldn't finish it, a thousand bee stings would have to do.