Chapter 13: Five of titans

Outside the cave-like structure, a peaceful treeline rested in the unmoving atmosphere. This calm aura was taken over by two youths hurriedly burst out of the door, their effort hinted from their heavy breathing.

They halted outside the building and they dropped on their knees in exhaustion.

"What now?" Lu asked.

"I was hoping you'd know because you were the one who got us in this mess!" Autumn yelled.

"I'm awake again? Huh? Did you need me?" Esther said, who had appeared, rubbing one of her half-closed eyes.

Five titans forcefully crushed their way outside the building one by one, and the three of them could only stare at the scene in shock.

Esther smiled. "Hehe...I think I'm still dreaming, Lu. Maybe I'll come back when I'm not lacking sleep anymore" she said and yawned, then vanished.

"No, Esther wait!" Lu tried to say, but she had already disappeared and the titans are already approaching.

The two resumed their dash and decided to follow the path instead of straying from it. While it was easier to lose pursuers in the forest thickness, they weren't very confident they wouldn't trip on a root or whatever the forest floor has because of their remaining strength to run, and that would heighten their chances of death exponentially.

"Esther? Really? Did you just name one of the robots? Is that more important than our lives right now!?" Autumn furiously exclaimed.

"No!" Lu said, trying to explain himself. However, he knew he couldn't afford to lose any more of his stamina given the situation.

They made it out of the forest safely, but they both knew that they would not lose the titans this way. They have a way of tracking energy and human souls are thought to be made of energy itself.

"Should we keep running?" Autumn asked. Both of them were thinking of discussing their strategy.

A fireball flew towards them that interrupted their rest and their meeting. They dodged it easily and it left a small crater and a fire where it landed.

"You think we can try to outrun them?" Lu asked.

A massive rock made of ice suddenly flung their direction. They again had to step back a few meters, and the blue boulder unexpectedly erupted into sharp pieces. They stepped back in time but both of them sustained a few scratches on their arms which they used to cover their face, and some also scraped by their legs.

"I think we should run first", Autumn said and started jogging away normally as if she wasn't covered in little drips od her own blood. Lu followed her suggestion as well, with the same demeanor.

The only reason that stops the titans from using unmaker was that none of them can take a clear shot because they would hit each other. Even if the one at the foremost would start charging, by the time it was done, at least one of its allies would be in the way. Eitherway, the party didn't want to wait until it happens on an off chance.

"You think you can make it to Elle before they catch up?" Lu asked.

Autumn shook her head in response. "Either they'll catch up or I'll tire myself out midway".

"Then how much more I?" Lu asked rhetorically. Autumn had already proven to last much more in a sprint, so if she couldn't do it, it was a given for him.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Autumn smiled anxiously. They both knew the only option they have left was to fight.

"Alright, they will decide who to follow. One who gets less will aim to kill, and the other who gets more will aim to survive" Lu proposed.

Autumn drifted off to the right and Lu to the left. "Sounds like a plan" she said.

The titans who were slowly stomping their way to catch up had split up into two groups smoothly as if they had communicated about it beforehand. Two of them headed towards Lu and the rest followed Autumn.

Following their plan, Lu would now have to defeat the two titans as fast as he can while Autumn would try to do as much damage as she can while staying alive. Two against five was not very ideal as a fight to take. In a gamer's mind, it would be about ratios, where 2:5 is lower than 1:2 and 1:3.

The next step for Lu would be to isolate the battle into two separate one-on-one scenarios.

He identified that one of the titans following him was the one who threw the fireball. Coupling it with the fact that titans do not like dwelling in fire pits, it was clear what Lu's objectice was.

The titans do not get hurt when they come into contact with fire, but minature explosions happen when the gold energy inside of them combines with the flames when they touch, and what is burned of the gold, never comes back. In short they don't get hurt but their life span decreases in it, which is almost always an enemy of all life.

Lu needs the titan to use its flame animus again so he can separate them somehow. How he will do that, he is yet to know. Luckily, there is a gathering of dry wood and leaves from a nearby grove. The branches of the small trees intertwined with each other, and dried leaves almost covered the floor. It was an ideal place to spread a fire if one was to start.

All that was left is for Lu to dodge a bullet and let it hit a tree, because the fire would disappear quickly if it were to burn only a few leaves on the floor.

He faced the two titans who were still a little distant. Lu leaned on the widest tree set up his position ahead of time and rest up as much as he can.

Lu mentally prepared himself to face the titans and at the same time rest up as much as he can before their clash. He waited for a few moments, and a little too long if he were to say so himself. The titans kept walking and there was no sign of them using an animus anytime soon.

After contemplating what could be wrong, he then realized that they have seen through his plan and intends to do close combat with him instead.

Lu took a few steps away from the tree and immediately to gain distance and reevaluate his strategy, but a fireball arced into his position before he could move much.

He couldn't dodge it on time and he sustained a burn on right shoulder. The path was also blocked by the blazing wall from the searing dry leaves.

Lu was confused. The titan also knew that the fire on the ground would be put out quickly, so it can fire at the boy when he steps out of the area of trees, but the duration of the flames would be enough for it to get close to him.

It was only after he was burned that he understood that the titans are different from what he used to know, and it wasn't just the first one that was difficult to deal with. For some reason, the tactics of these titans are a lot more clever than those in Monitum.

Lu then tried to get out the other way, but another fireball cuts him in his path. This time he dodges away, but he was effectively locked inside two walls of flames in a cone, with the only way out being through the mecha giants.

Despite seeming trapped, and with the fact that the titans were approximately 10 meters away, Lu smiled.

He threw a feather to cut off a nearby branch and it fell into the fire. Then he used his feathers to guide the branch to spread the flames, toward and between the two titans.

He made a section enclosed with flames, and the fire titan inside with him. He had limited time before the other titan tries to force its way into the fire to aid its ally, but a minute was all Lu needed.

Having been in the moment a thousand times before, the titan had little to zero chance with him. Between a giant who does not know the first thing in a fight and a dwarf who has plowed its axe through a thousand wars, the victor was unmistakable.

Lu easily forced the titan on its knees with a non-random storm of quills. Each of them landed on a gap between the titan's unbreakable armor and it was forced to hold up a hand to cover its eye and protect its core.

Without second thoughts, Lu redirected some of his feathers to wound the hand and soon the pure energy that escaped through the holes were gushing out, and it went to the point that it lost so much that the hand could no longer be held up any longer.

"I'm sure you were only doing it for your survival" Lu said. "That's why I know you can't complain because I'm only doing this for my own" Lu bid the robot as he punched a feather through its eye, ultimately ending its life by eviscerating its core.

He then looked at his other opponent patiently waiting outside the blazing barrier with an indifferent look. The two eyed each other as the tall dancing streaks of light between them reduced both in size and luminosity.

Lu found it rather strange that it did nothing all the way while he destroyed its companion. Then again, titans aren't known for holding grudges like wolves. Nonetheless, he was pretty sure that he would at least use his animus if he was in the titan's position.

Instantly after the flames reached the ground, it smashed a hole into the ground and vines quickly slithered theough the ground toward him. He dashed away in an attempt to avoid the tangled waves of roots, but his escape turned futile as his muscles failed him in the crucial moment.

The grass ropes circled his wrists and ankles, then proceded to immobilize him by stretching to the moveable sections of his limbs. Soon he was incapacitated in a narrow prison of vines and can only wriggle but a few inches. Lu wondered why it would not do that before its companion was killed.

He struggled hard while the titan threw six homing missles. Lu was forced to use his manablade as his last option, but his actions were so limited that he could only cover a part of his body, and his right leg was caught in the explosion, getting himself a burned, but free leg.

Left with making the best of he situation, his hand was forced to use the ace up his sleeve. Utilizing the wide area, he sent a feather earlier to curve and return on his command. It was on its way for a few seconds now, and would come any moment.

He made sure to make it go through as much branches and leaves before coming to the titan so that it would turn toward the plume and expose its core to its path, because there can only be one returning feather from one person at any given time, so if he missed it, it would have caused death. The foolish titan turned around to inspect the commotion behind it, and even if Lu couldn't see it, he felt his projectile crash into its mark true when the titan's massive body tremble for a split second from the collision.

Lu took a deep breath and closed his eyes to proclaim his victory, waiting for the sound of the titan's body to drop like a gong to announce his triumph.

After a few seconds, worry crept up his chest, as the sound he was waiting for did not ensue the way he anticipated. Instead of a large thump, what came a moment later was a smaller, continuous battering.

His worry compelled him to open his eyes, and in his vision was a terrifying sight. The titan was still standing, walking, vines covering enough of its one big eye to block the feather but still let it see a vague view of the outside.

Lu stared in despair as the golden feather stuck between the roots dissipate into the air without any result for its journey. Much worse, the titan started charging the feared unmaker, rendering Lu a sitting duck.