Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 50

Every time Aaron struck the seemingly invincible titan, his entire body rang, like powerful vibrations were shaking every ounce of his being. If it weren’t for his above-average healing, he might have quit then and there.

“Hitting you is not fun!”

Despite the declaration, he kept swinging, even as he felt himself going dizzy, and delirious as his knuckles were covered in blood, and his bones ached.

But after a minute of fighting, the Rockus, the stone titan, looked completely unfazed.

“Okay, looks like it’s time for plan B…”

Aaron cracked his knuckles as he tried to come up with a plan B.

“Baha! Ready to surrender yet, mortal?”

The ground shook as Rockus took a step toward him, and finally, his little friends decided to show their faces. A barrage of Skills and spells came flying out from the surrounding cover, exploding into a deadly mist of destruction that obfuscated the titan for several seconds.

“That actually tickled! Bahah!” Ruckus roared with laughter, stepping out of the smoke and crackling air undamaged.

That seemed to be all the confirmation his little pals needed to back off, and they disappeared into the surroundings.

“You lot are done already? A lot of help you’ve been.”

He was a little disappointed in the tiny people, but hadn’t actually expected much help anyway.

Aaron looked for soft spots as he weaved through the titan’s attacks, occasionally phasing when necessary. But even with his [ Pinpoint Accuracy] and [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], he saw no signs of weakness. It didn’t matter where he hit; the result was always the same.

He was the one who got hurt.

Every attack was equally harmless. It didn’t matter, haymaker, or exploding fist. Even [ Soul Shattering Strike ] didn’t do a damn thing when he landed it.

Nonetheless, he kept trying. Throwing everything he had at the titan, then retreating to recover.

He had speed on his side, and the titan wasn’t even getting close to hitting him. But he felt for the first time that the longer the fight went on, the more it favored the titan.

Aaron was beyond skilled when it came to drawing on additional energy sources. He always had something to fall back upon. But he still did tire. His reserves were not endless, and so if he didn’t find a means of damaging this construct of stone soon, he would be in a bad place.

Increasingly desperate, he cycled through different techniques, even drawing on a little unrestrained power from his core. But even that didn’t achieve anything, and feeling the strain on his soul, Aaron quickly stopped.

He needed a better solution.

First, he tried to throw himself recklessly against the titan. Surrendering defense, and funneling all of his power into strength, hoping that if he put everything into power, perhaps he could crack the titan.

It failed.

Aaron was turned to paste. And a burst of aether brought him back just in time to dodge a rock-hard fist pummeling down on his gory remains.

“Okay, that didn’t work.”

It was beyond obvious that raw power wasn’t the solution, regardless of how much he could bring to bear.

He then tried dancing around it for a while. Going back to his original plan of looking for a weakness to exploit. He found none, but slowing the fight down for a bit and moving around the perimeter of the titan allowed him some time to rebuild his reserves and his aether.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more food reserves he would exhaust, and Aaron didn’t want to sit around cooking. Not when he knew Mo’han was likely out there smashing quest objectives.

“Dammit! How the fuck am I meant to hurt you?”

They clashed again, and again in a desperate search for answers. And it wasn’t until Aaron threw several [ Soul Shattering Strikes ] in a row. The first few had just been more fairly mindless attempts at breaking through the titan. But then he felt something.

It was the titan’s energy. There was something different about it. When his strike landed, instead of disrupting its energy as it would usually, it rippled back and sent the vibrations of power back at Aaron.

But thanks to [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], he had picked up on something. It wasn’t the titan’s core, nor energy organs, that were fighting back. In fact, Aaron didn’t even think it was the stone skin of the giant that made it so tough.

No, there was something else. Something was weaving its way through the titan’s body and merging with it as he struck at it.

He couldn’t hit it or stop whatever it was from doing whatever it was doing. But if he could better understand what it even was that he felt…

That’s it!

Aaron kept swinging. Every chance he got, he laid out another soul-shattering attack against Rockus. He even closed his eyes and tried to delve into his senses as he felt the ripples passing through the giant's energy.

He used his fate reading to predict incoming attacks, eyes closed, and otherwise completely focused on that titan’s energy.

Luckily, the big guy was very slow, and Aaron really didn’t need anything more than some fate reading to see through his attacks. If not for his invulnerability, Aaron wouldn’t have taken a scratch.

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It was like energy sonar, the splashes of mana rippling through a dark cave, and Aaron intently focused on how they reverberated and echoed off the walls and ceiling.

He followed this. Trying to decipher what he was listening to. How the energy echoed differently depending on how he struck, and how much mana he threw into his strikes.

Even the anchors he used and tuned changed the outcome, and he had to focus on the minutest of details as he tweaked his understanding of mana and energy.

Every [ Soul Shattering Strike ] he threw was a little different. And with each strike, the picture he was painting in his mind’s eye grew a little more detailed.

And gradually, he came to a realization that it was indeed the creature’s blood. The celestial blood of a god pumped through the titan, and it made it exceptionally robust.

Although even that wasn’t the complete answer to the puzzle. Simply being a god’s child didn’t make one invincible. This creature had gone beyond that. It had done something. Changed itself. Bound itself with the divine, whilst being so very far from divine.

That’s it. That’s what it did to earn the ire of the System.

Aaron had no idea what exactly Rockus had done. But it was clear that it had cheated the System. It had taken on some minor divine aspects while in D-grade, or perhaps even earlier. And its punishment was imprisonment in a dungeon.

As interesting as that insight was, he still had a job to do, and he kept throwing [ Soul Shattering Strike ] as he attuned himself to the titan’s celestial blood.

There, that’s it!

The moment Aaron had the celestial blood tuned in, he started swinging to a very specific rhythm. Drawing on all of his energy as he threw on [ Soul Shattering Strike ] strike after another.

To an onlooker, it would have appeared as if he was draining an enormous amount of mana and achieving nothing.

But Aaron’s honed senses had picked up on something few could see, and he could feel himself getting closer and closer.

Ruckus began to shake, rocking back and forth as he tried to take a step forward.

“What are you doing, insolent mortal?!”

The vibrations got louder and more violent. Soon, they were passing through the giant titan, into the ground, and shaking the earth itself. And Aaron just kept swinging.

Hit after hit.

The vibrations traveled down to a molecular level, and the celestial blood itself began to shake and separate from the titan. Turned into trembling particles no longer infusing the giant with power.

And then, he struck.

Everything he had left. Every ounce of mana and aether. Aaron sucked himself dry, leaving behind only skin and bones as his fist ballooned up and expelled a magnificent torrent of energy in the form of the most horrendously powerful haymaker.

Ruckus didn’t even realize the danger he was in. He was shaking violently as the vibrations had traveled through everything, and was just struggling to remain upright.

When the strike landed, it did so with cataclysmic effect, sending apocalyptic ripples of energy that could be felt throughout the entire dungeon floor and shattering the invincible titan into a million pieces of rocky rubble.

Aaron fell to his knees. He had thrown everything into the attack and was completely spent. But Rockus was dead.

You killed: Stone Titan [ Level 170 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing an enemy of a higher level than yourself!

[ Precise Bombardier Pugilist ] has LEVELED UP!

117 → 123

Purchasable Skill Available!

Suddenly, before he could even savor his win, a glyph beneath him lit up with light, and chains of ethereal power shot out and wrapped around his wrists, locking him in place.

“Hahah! Now I’ve got you!” Laughed Lord Draxas as they appeared from nearby. “While you were busy, I was formulating the perfect trap–”

A heavy ding echoed out, and Lord Draxas fell to the ground. Behind the three kobolds was one of the gnomes brandishing a rather large club.

“For tallest!” The gnome declared, and several others wandered out from the surroundings, cheering his name.

Okay, well, I guess those ones aren’t too bad.

The chains of shining light broke as the glyph dissipated, and his wrists were freed. Though as weak as he was, Aaron toppled forward.

“Healing potion!” A gnome cried.

“Food!” Aaron corrected.

“Food?”

“Yes. Feed me.”

“You heard him! Feed the tallest!”

Aaron’s vision was dizzy, fading in and out as the little people fed him. And as he regained his strength, he saw another System message waiting for him.

You have gained insight into a possible upgrade path for Mana Anchors. Currently discovered upgrade paths:

Streamlined Mana Anchors (5%)

Partitioned Mana Anchors (10%)

Reverse Mana Anchors (5%)

“More energy control?” He groaned between hastily consumed mouthfuls.

“Something wrong?”

“No, I’m good.”

His thoughts had been entirely trained on winning the seemingly impossible fight, and so he had barely considered unlocking new breakthroughs. And he was delighted to see that he had made further progress toward upgrading his mana anchors.

And the little people seemed equally delighted to see Aaron filling out before their eyes. He had shrivelled up as he drew on energy, and it was clear that they preferred him big and bulky.

When he was finally able to stand again, Aaron took a look around. The vibrations had turned the factory into rubble, but the console for claiming the resources was still standing as if it were undamaged. The barrier was also still standing.

“This doesn’t look good.”

“You should take control, tallest!” A gnome said, pointing to the console.

It seemed pointless now, but Aaron meandered over anyway as he continued to recover.

There was no harm in trying, and he slammed his hand down on the console. A burst of energy flooded out, and within seconds, the factory around him was rebuilt, as rich System energy flooded out and into the structures.

“Oookay. Would you look at that? Not too shabby, huh?”

“System is powerful,” the gnome at his side nodded. “From what I’ve gathered in missives, at higher levels, entire dungeons can be destroyed during a fight.”

“Makes sense.” Aaron nodded, still amazed at the lightning-fast reconstruction as the final touches were put on the factory, and the quest objective was claimed for his team.

“And I got six full levels. Not exactly how I would have chosen to go about it. But if it works,” he shrugged.

Getting multiple levels from a single kill wasn’t too common anymore. And so six was quite a big deal. Not to mention, he still had a free active Skill slot for his Class, and he was really hoping he might get something useful to fill it out.

Although it was a reminder that he hadn’t been focusing on his travel Skills as much as he had planned to. After all, as a great man once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

And Aaron had been punched in the face too many times to count.

Oh well, it is what it is. At least I get to pick another Skill.

Aaron smiled. Although despite his achievement, he knew that he had no time to slack off. He may have accomplished something great, but he wasn’t the only one who could do that. If there was one man he could see besting an invincible foe like Rockus the Stone Titan, it was Mo’han Khan.