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Chapter 190: At least we'll be together
🕑 Added 2024-02-05 15:00:11 +0000 UTCThings were getting, in a word, ridiculous.
The giant and his minions seemed pretty much unkillable. One of the smaller elementals had actually managed to catch Mason and knock him slightly dazed, at which point Mason had run off and entirely regenerated. Now they were back to running around uselessly again, and Mason was getting pretty ready to change things up.
On one of his many passes, he altered his trajectory, ran right up to the old druid, and gave a screaming Predator's Strike with his longer blade on the silver chain. He created a slightly green spark, but not a dent, earning a somewhat lazy and entirely too slow swipe from the giant, which he easily dodged.
"Any bloody ideas?" he yelled as he ran by the old druid.
"I'm sorry..." the old man wiped at his eyes, kneeling now by the giant's foot. "There's nothing...I shouldn't have asked...there's nothing..."
Mason was starting to think he needed back up like the nymphs once told him, though he wasn't sure who had the firepower to actually hurt this thing. Maybe it was a matter of speed—enough damage incoming he couldn't put himself back together. The only other option seemed to be to dig down and get that glowing little heart. But how the hell...
The giant growled and stomped, sending another crack fracturing through the earth. If that meant more bloody elementals Mason was getting pretty close to just turning around and...
Fire erupted from the opening chasms. And lava. Lovely, Mason thought, as he realized the cracks weren't entirely random. They seemed to be forming something of a triangle trying to trap him in.
"Streak," he called, then ran for one of the smaller cracks and leapt over it to escape. The wolf got the idea and jumped over rather lazily behind. Lava expanded out of the crevasse but at least didn't get far.
For someone who couldn't move so fast and jump so far, it would have been a decidedly bad situation, but didn't much frighten Mason.
Still, he was getting nowhere. He supposed he could try and dump the giant into one of the cracks in the earth, but the druid chained to his leg wouldn't exactly be 'saved'.
A terrible thought entered his mind that maybe ‘saving’ the druid meant just killing him, saving him from the terrible punishment. But Mason refused to do that, unless the old man asked. Better not to plant the idea in his head.
He decided it was worth one Hail Mary attempt at cutting into the giant's torso. The huge creature was big and slow and probably couldn't reach its back, so if Mason could hang on maybe he could just dig his damn way through. If not, he told himself he'd leave, and come back with more help. And maybe after more power.
"OK," he looked around to make sure there wasn't any charging elementals, then knelt for Streak. "I'm going to do something a little crazy. Just stay back...and if something goes wrong...go back to Nassau. Understood?"
The wolf whined and Mason gave him a scratch. "Oh I'll be fine. I'm just saying. Here we go."
He rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath, plotting his path around the giant. It wasn’t like it turned particularly well, so he suspected he just needed to run a circle, line up, and leap with Aspect of the Cheetah. Which is exactly what he started to do.
The little elementals were still chasing him. They could charge fairly quickly, but they turned about as well as a zamboni, so Mason mostly ignored them. The giant sort of stomped and gestured and looked vaguely ready to start walking away, probably deciding this was pointless, too.
Well let's just see how you like a sword in the back, Mason thought.
He vanished into the trees, then turned and got ready for his approach. Nothing to it, he thought, just climb up the back of an earthquake commanding, elemental summoning giant, and dig a tunnel through solid rock. No problem.
It seemed vaguely crazy, but less crazy than leaping into the Devourer. He ran full ahead until the creature's back came into sight, then activated Aspect of the Cheetah. He sprinted at a good, comfortable speed to make his leap, and jumped.
He ran chest first into the giant's ass. His breath knocked out as he clung on for dear life, and if the creature even noticed him, it wasn't at all obvious. Mason hoped for good luck and looked for hand holds as he pulled himself up. There were quite a lot, actually, including some arrows lodged in the thing, and Mason soon scaled the giant's back with a grin.
Then he summoned his shorter Claw, wishing suddenly it was a pickaxe, and started hacking.
It didn't go particularly well. But it did cut the stone, which at least included bits and pieces that were more like clay, or at least softer stone. He started using his hands as much as anything, cutting into chunks and then pulling them away. He'd gone in a good two feet before the giant growled and seemed to notice him.
"That's...right," Mason said as he pulled off another piece. "And what...the hell..." He smashed a few more times. "...are you going to do about it, you big. Fat. Bastard?"
The giant turned and reached with its arms almost comically, coming nowhere near far enough to get at Mason. He just kept on breaking and pulling, breaking and pulling, expecting some kind of magic at least before it was over. But magic rarely frightened him.
The giant sort of...rumbled, like he was having a personal earthquake, and for a moment Mason couldn't do anything but hang on. It finally ended, and he pulled himself back up to strike at the hole he was making, and discovered...it was gone.
He looked up and realized he was looking into the face of the giant.
Apparently, it had re-arranged, and reversed itself. Mason felt the danger before he saw the arms coming. He unsummoned his swords and tried to drop, but the huge stone hands caught him first, one seizing his arm.
In a panic he summoned his Claw and tried to cut his way out, but the giant's fingers were too thick and too strong. They held him fast.
[Duality of Strength activated]
"Work faster," Mason groaned as the giant tried to grab his other arm, then gave up and smashed him with its fist. It was like being hit by a truck. Mason's vision darkened and he tasted blood, still pulling as he felt his arms gaining strength. He watched the giant's fist pull back and ram towards him again.
He roared and lifted his legs, bracing to catch the thing. And succeeded. Sort of.
His own knee smashed into his face before the force stopped, the world exploding again with something like stars as pain took over Mason's head. But he knew he couldn't delay, couldn't stop pulling. He roared in trapped rage, yanking with all his increasingly inhuman might.
But still the giant was stronger. The world spun as Mason was lifted and swung at the earth. He felt his arm dislocate as he smashed into the dirt, agony and unconsciousness warring before he saw the giant lifting a foot.
"I'm sorry," he heard the druid weeping as he watched from his knees. "I'm sorry. But at least we'll be together. I'm sorry."
Mason scrambled to get under the giant’s fist before the foot landed, but his arm just wouldn’t move, and his body felt slow, and sluggish. Mason pulled and twisted to break free, feeling like he was trapped in an hourglass as the sand covered him from above. He heard the air whistling above him like a bomb dropped in some cartoon.
Then the giant's foot struck.
Mason didn’t feel much pain. He clung to consciousness as he yanked and clawed at the dirt, only a tiny circle of green and brown remaining in the pool of darkness that was his vision.
He focused on it with all his attention, and still he pulled and fought, nothing left in his mind but the endless will to live, to fight, to win.
A metallic ringing jangled near his ears, a swinging chain like a swaying snake moving past his eyes. It was the last thing he heard.
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William Clark
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