Chapter 57: 57. Fighting a Mountain

Fighting a mountain on top of a mountain, Dallion thought, shooting bolts at the head of the giant colossus as quickly as the dartbow would let him. There had been a time, back on Earth, when he had wondered what it would be like playing the main character in Shadow of the Colossus. Now, he had his wish, and regretted it.

Size really wasn’t considered a factor in the awakened state. Dallion had fought large creatures, enormous creatures, large creatures that could become enormous upon merging in a group, and now—gigantic creatures. The challenge limitation made so much more sense now. Without a ranged weapon there would be no way to defeat the guardian, although maybe Gloria might have a chance with her acrobatics skills.

“If I don’t get any new skills at the end of this combat, there’s no justice in this world!” Dallion shouted, in the hopes that the shrine would take note. That was a problem for another day, though. At present, he still had to actually defeat the colossus.

Bolt after bolt hit the giant head only to bounce off, or sink in the stone of the guardian’s face like a fashionable piercing.

According to the large white rectangle above the guardian’s head, the weak point was supposed to be ears, but so far Dallion had received no indication that to be the case. Maybe the goal was to shoot in the ears? That made sense, even if it complicated the task to the extreme.

Suddenly the guardian raised its upper left arm. A massive green cone surrounded Dallion, along with part of the mountain behind him. Immediately, he reacted by sprinting towards the ledge path that connected this part of the mountain to another peak. It was this complete lack of hesitation that saved Dallion from certain defeat.

With one strike, the giant hand sliced the mountain in two. Just because a creature was large didn’t mean it was slow.

“D-a-a-a-a-mn i-i-i-t!” Dallion shouted, running along the ledge. He had no idea how he was keeping his balance, and he didn’t care.

Red markers appeared as he ran, indicating the angle at which he had to hold the dartbow to hit his enemy. Dallion didn’t even aim, matching the markers as best he could and squeezing the trigger. He was even tempted to throw his buckler, if he believed it would be of any use.

Think! He glanced at the Colossus.

The recent attack had removed most of the clouds, revealing the creature’s upper torso, as well as several peaks in the area.

Dallion knew that there was a way to defeat the colossus, otherwise the awakening shrine wouldn’t have allowed the trial. The answer wasn’t brute strength, so had to be agility and precision.

From what Dallion could see, the peaks were connected along an arc. More than likely they formed a ring round the guardian. Another interesting fact was that despite the colossus speed, he remained in exactly the same position, still facing the peak that he had just destroyed. The answer was to run to the side of the head and shoot a bolt inside the ear. The only problem was that in order to do that, Dallion had to avoid the guardian’s four arms.

Maybe if I can whirl the dartbow while I shoot I’ll get the bolt to curve?

It was an absurd concept, but considering the logic of this place, it might well turn out possible. One attempt later, it became obvious that some things remained impossible even in a realm of magic.

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As he reached the second peak, Dallion expected the guardian to react. To his surprise, there was no immediate attack. The massive face had shifted slightly, looking at Dallion with a faint smile.

Of course, Dallion though, annoyed at himself. He was facing a sentient entity, not a robot that repeated a set of instructions. All the guardians he had faced so far had been sentient. Why should this one be any different?

Mental images of the realm formed in Dallion’s mind as he continued to search for possible solutions. He could try to evade the next attack, then try to leap onto the colossus’ hand. If he had acrobatic skills, he might even succeed to run to the guardian’s head. Another option was to keep shooting at a distance in the hopes that the bolts would wear the creature down, or possibly provoke it to move closer. What it—

Two green cones surrounded Dallion. Quite sneaky on the part of the guardian, and it would have ended up fatal, if Dallion didn’t expect it. Rushing forward as fast as his legs would take him, he managed to escape to the next ledge path. The sound of shattering rock filled the air, as a second peak crumbled to rubble beneath the clouds.

There was no way to defeat something like this! There wasn’t even a way to reach a stalemate. Eventually Dallion would be left out of strength—or out of mountain peaks to run to—and then the guardian would squish him like a bug. And to think that the sand dragon was considered a challenging threat.

“How can I defeat a giant as tall as a mountain?” Dallion asked out loud while running.

Surprisingly the answer came to him moments later. There was no guarantee that it was the right answer, or even a particularly good answer, but something told Dallion it was worth the risk. All he had to do was reach the next peak.

“You’re not fighting fair, you know!” Dallion shouted. “How about some fair play? Take a handicap or something!”

Maybe it was the adrenalin rushing through his veins, or maybe it was his imagination, but Dallion could have sworn that he saw the colossus shrug.

“Overpowered, cheating jerk!” he grumbled as he kept on running.

It didn’t take him long to reach the next peak. The guardian had politely allowed Dallion to get there safely… or maybe he was just toying with the boy. Either way, things were going to be different this time.

Personal awakening, Dallion thought, and put his left hand over his mouth.

A doorway emerged in the mountain’s face just ahead. This was what Dallion was waiting for. Linking awakening states might be bad, but when in an awakening shrine there was nothing to worry about.

“How about this, you lump of rock?” Dallion shouted as he jumped into his awakening room.

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