Book 9. Chapter 33: Miracles and Scrap Metal
A deafening, metallic crashing sound echoed through the chamber as Ophelia met the Tetra-Forged Titan head-on. The towering, four-armed clockwork gladiator swung its colossal, elementally charged hammer in devastating, gravity-warping arcs, but Ophelia was a golden blur of Valkyrie perfection.
Her Hearth Sentinel–her summoned valkyrie clone–caught the massive weapon at the exact angle of leverage with its shield, redirecting the kinetic force straight into the brass-colored floor while Ophelia darted through the gladiator's guard to deliver piercing Vajrafire strikes.
The Titan gladiator was a true engine of destruction. Its blows actually hit harder than the draconid and savage plant they faced and had the elemental pulses that struck nearby allies through its domain to boot. Without Ophelia’s intense focus to guard and parry its attacks, as well as the large tanks to deflect and cause the automaton to stumble, it would turn most tanks to paste.
When a localized gravity pulse inevitably sent the Valkyrie skidding fifty feet backward, the center was ready to fill in the gap. Bloodberri brought her axe down onto the monster’s back, an explosion of light and dark blasting and shredding the monster’s metal. Her Covenant-enhanced Twilight Divide was even more devastating, drawing a significant amount of healing from the Aegis Monolith’s beam from above as it reknit the metallic structure of the ruined Titan’s body.
Before the Titan could counter with its gravity-infused maul, Avalara struck powerfully with her tree maul, knocking it to the side. Then, her chest blasted a golden ray of flame that peeled away the armor as the fixture above healed and replaced it. The two large, monstrous fighters redirected the gladiator's sweeping cleaves and bought Ophelia the crucial seconds she needed to charge back into the fray.
Because they lacked the explosive mobility of the beastkin skirmishers, Avalara and the treants stayed locked in the center, grinding the boss's internal health down to push the phase thresholds. Plus, Avalara needed to largely stay still to anchor her protective jungle and swamp.
The maelstrom of stone circled them, deadly sharp rocks impaling them as gravity weighed down on their spirits. Healing spells engulfed the tanking front line, keeping them steady within the storm.
As the Titan’s suffocating Earth Domain pressed down on the center area, Jasmina’s voice rose above the grinding gears. Empowered by her Abyssal Pearl, the Naga Siren wove a haunting, multi-layered song. The resonant frequency acted as a sonic buffer, physically fracturing the Titan's oppressive gravity and allowing the mobile strikers, who still had to wade through the storm of stone, to breathe.
Before, she had been limited to enhancing auril and the Serthunian Voiuvre’s gems. Now, her magical song protection was all-encompassing and affected all, a wonderful addition to her powers. When combined with Jake and Bloodberri’s protective auras, the defense provided was substantial.