The day after the event, the Association and the newly formed world Government had gathered to discuss how best to deal with the Titan. Everyone agreed they needed to take it out before it recovered. Yet, nothing they'd tried had even managed to scratch the thing so far, even as immobile as it was. Even a full-scale carpet bombing had does nothing but leave a few scorch marks on its scales.

If the Gamemaster hadn't "confiscated" some of their bigger toys at the start of "The Game," Gwen would have been all for just dropping a **** nuke on the thing and be done with it.

After nearly two months of pointless struggle, unable to do anything to hurt the Titan, Níðhöggr started to recover from whatever had stunned it in the first place.

And people began to lose hope.

It was only by a stroke a luck that the "strongest man in the world" (even if he was only the second strongest Contestant, Gwen couldn't help but point out), the UK's "Sir Reginald," managed to finish a Sponsor Quest that rewarded him a powerful A-Ranked skill.

There wasn't much confidence that the skill could actually kill the Titan, but the hope was it would be enough to scare it back into hiding at least. Give them a bit more time to prepare, to gain the strength they needed.

And so, just yesterday, as Níðhöggr was finally beginning to stir, the largest army of Elite Contestants the Association could gather, 35,000 strong, marched to War.

So far, the battle had been going well. They weren't without casualties, but Níðhöggr was still visibly disoriented and sluggish from whatever had previously affected it. Unfortunately, the Titan could shift and move through the ground like water, and predicting when and where it would move was difficult. But then, all they needed was to distract it long enough to create an opening for Reginald. Or Reggy, as she liked to call him. Mostly because she knew it annoyed him to no end.

That's where she came in.

She might not have the skills necessary to hurt the beast, no one but Reggy did, but she COULD track it. So, here she was, watching the fight from the building acting as their command center, while her friends and comrades died. Not able to do anything other than feed data to those on the front lines.

The concrete ledge she leaned on cracked and groaned under her grip as she stared stone-faced at the fight.

Before she could act on the stupid plan forming in her brain, however, a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned around to see a large, muscular man, standing beside her. He spoke to her in a stern, cold voice, though Gwen could see a fire in his eyes, burning brighter than her own, as he looked out towards the battle; 

[???]: "I know what you're thinking, Girly. Don't. You're more valuable here than out there. Besides, what would the Association do if we lost our 'Goddess'? You'll have your chance in the light, I promise. But not now."

Billy Hilannd. *Cough*, sorry, CAPTAIN Billy Hilannd.

She never understood why he insisted on being called Captain when his official rank was Fleet Admiral. Then again, a man as powerful as Mr. Hilannd could call himself anything he wanted.

Fleet Admiral of the United World Navy, High Commander of the Association, and 5th ranked Contestant in the world. Most importantly, he was her teacher and friend. If anyone else had called her "girly," she would have fed them to the Snake. As it was, all she could do was fold her arms and frown.

[Gwen]: "... Fine. I'll wait, Captain. But I still don't think this is going to work. This thing ... it's not something we should be fighting. Not yet."

[Billy]: "I agree. But we don't have much of a choice. If the Titan is allowed to roam freely, we can't begin to predict the kind of destruction it'll cause. If we can scare it though, make it wary of showing its head, then maybe, just maybe, we'll buy the time we need."

[Gwen]: "... tsk."

At that moment, dozens of large tree roots erupted from the ground, surrounding the head of the gargantuan snake and pinning it to the ground. Gwen could feel Billy's grip on her shoulder tighten painfully, as they watched the dozens of Druid-Class Contestants physically wilt as they entered Soul Shock in their attempt to restrain Níðhöggr.

It was now or never.

[Gwen]: "Do it."

Gwen gave the command over comms, and a blinding light sprang into existence near the restrained Titan. This was the manifestation of Reggy's A-ranked skill [Descent of the Starborn Hero]. Under normal circumstances, it would allow him to channel a unique form of mana that drastically increased his overall power for a short while. The stronger the foe he faced, the more significant the boost would be.

Against a Titan? It was like a tiny Star had been born in the middle of the City.

A long, thin strand of light extended from the glowing ball that marked Reggy's position, stretching hundreds of meters into the air. Then, with the crack of lightning, the strand of light slammed down on to the head of the pinned Níðhöggr.

The Titan roared in pain as jagged, shattered scales and chunks of flesh and blood exploded along the light whip's path. The lashes arched and curved like a dragon as it moved down the length of the snake's body, seeking to cause as much damage as possible. The resulting wound was jagged and twisted, like a bolt of lightning had stuck its head, then carved itself down the length of its body for several hundred meters (though Gwen guessed that wasn't too far from the truth).

Unfortunately, she could tell that for as horrific as the wound appeared, it was superficial. Painful? Maybe, but not much more than a flesh wound. Then again, that's all they really needed; proof that they COULD even hurt the thing.

That seemed to be all the convincing Níðhöggr needed as well.

As it thrashed about in pain, it's bindings snapped, and the Titan slowly sank into the ground, soon disappearing from the range of her [Radar].

It worked. Níðhöggr was retreating.

She turned to see Billy grinning ear to ear as he patted her on the shoulder. They'd done it.

Soon, the Contestant army began to retreat, gathering their wounded and deceased. In particular, the Druids had been hit hard, with some of their weaker members already showing signs of Soul Collapse. The Politicians would argue they knew what they were signing up for. That they were Heroes for sacrificing themselves for the greater good.

But those pencil pushers didn't know what real sacrifice was. They weren't the ones bleeding and dying out here.

Gwen knew that Billy would make sure their families never wanted for anything again, but she still couldn't help feel like she could have done more. Like she could have prevented these kinds of needless deaths.

Movement brought Gwen out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Reggy land on the roof with a thud. A grin split his face from ear to ear, and he strutted forward, arms held open wide,

[Reggy]: "Well, what did you think? Am I good, or am I good?"

[Billy]: "Hahahahha! Yes, very impressive, Reginald. We saved a lot of lives today, you should be proud. Head back down and rest up. We still have things to plan f..."

Suddenly, Gwen's eyes bulged, and she screamed

[Gwen]: "BRACE!!!"

She threw up her hands and a massive barrier covered building. That instant, the ground near the building rippled like water, and the gigantic head of Níðhöggr shot out, eye's blazing in hatred as it aimed directly at Reggy. The Titan move faster than they'd ever seen it move before, the barrier barely blinking into existence before the snake's massive jaws wrapped around the top of the building.

Gwen's barrier cracked and groaned, but held firm, as Níðhöggr slowly pushed more and more into its fanged maw.

[Billy/Reggy]: ""Gwen!!""

[Gwen]: "I've got this! Hurry and evacuate the building! The bastard's trying to swallow everything!"

Billy hesitated for a moment, before steeling his face and nodding, before heading towards the roof door. Gwen gave a sigh of relief, then looking over at Reggy; 

[Gwen]: "You too, stupid, It's after you, if you don't take this chance to get away, you might not get another."

[Reggy]: "All the more reason to stay then. If I try running, it'll just follow me anyway. If I say here, that'll give more people a chance to escape. Besides, if it wants a second round, I still have some fuel in the tank".

[Gwen]: "... Heh"

Gwen could only shake her head. The idiot might be self-absorbed, entitled, stubborn and spiteful, yet he took his job as a "Hero" seriously if nothing else. Didn't mean anything if they couldn't get out of this alive, though. 

Gwen could feel her mana slowly draining away, even with all of her optimizations and buffs, she'd not last must longer. Thankfully, the next moment, her [Radar] began picking up the signals of people escaping the building.

By the time the last person, Captain Billy, had left the building, the Titan has already swallowed more than half of it. Hundreds of Contestants stood by the side, throwing whatever skills they could at it, but even those that aimed for its wounds seemed to have little effect.

Billy stood at the edge, deep in thought, but as he hardened his resolve and moved to climb the building once more, Níðhöggr gave a quick, sudden twist. The building's foundation snapped like plastic, and the whole thing was lifted high into the air. 

Then, in one motion, the entire building, shield and all, slid into the Titan's upturned maw.

After swallowing its meal, the Titan turned towards the army and stared at Billy in particular. It gave him a glare that seemed to mock and dismiss all at once, then turned away and plunged into the solid ground, quickly disappearing into the depths.

Billy could only stare, mouth agape, before falling to his knees.

Just like that, the two greatest hopes for mankind were gone.

---

Present time

Gwen brushed off the dust and rubble covering her as she pulled herself out of the hole. Thankfully she had spare sets of clothes in her spatial bag, but that didn't make their present situation any less... uncomfortable. She frowned at the deep darkness that surrounded them before activating a skill. A glob of light condensed itself in her palm, illuminating the area, before shooting up and sticking itself to the meaty ceiling.

Surveying the situation, Gwen was glad she chose not to eat this morning. The sight of being surrounding by pulsating, squirming flesh was bad enough, but what really turned her stomach was the smell. How the hell could anything smell THIS bad? She didn't doubt if it wasn't for several of the environmental adaptation or similar skills she'd acquired, she'd not last long here. If not from the smell, then from the dozens of stupidly toxic gases, her other skills were picking up on.

She was glad they were able to evacuate everyone in time; Reggy's cultivation would protect him for the most part, but even the stronger contestants would find themselves hard-pressed to last very long in this place.

With that thought on her mind, Gwen's eyes drifted towards the figure crumpled at Reggy's feet, his whip still posed to strike if it made any sudden movements. 

No, not 'it,' 'Him.' At least, that's what her [Radar] was telling her. Even if her eyes found that hard to believe.

The man sat up on bone-thin arms, his skin pale as death and slightly loose, like he'd stayed too long in a sauna. His chest, long hair, and crudely trimmed beard were matted with all sorts of foulness. His chest and limbs were covered in dozens of scars, some looking like jagged cuts, while others appeared to be freshly healed burns. The sickly brown leather cape and skirt he wore didn't lean well to the appearance either.

Even his weapons were strange. The shield appeared to be some kind of a mix between bone and metal, but it was a deep, midnight blue. The 'Spear'(?) was just a jagged metal stick topped with a wicked-looking claw that was obviously organic in nature, given the skin still attached to it.

The thing that shocked her the most, however, was watching the gaping wound Reggy had caused. The thing visibly knit itself back together, the flesh squirming and healing as she watched. What the hell?!

Healing abilities were one of the first things she's trained, and she knew full well something like that shouldn't be possible. At least not without huge mana expenditures and intricate spell work.

Not even her own abilities could do something like that. Granted, she had her own... restrictions, but she learned months ago that those were only temporary setbacks.

Who the hell was this? And how did he get in the belly of a Titan? He sure as hell wasn't in the building when they were swallowed. She'd scanned it over and over. And besides, she was pretty sure she'd had remembered someone like THIS in the Army.

Putting on her best PR smile, Gwen slowly approached and spoke in a voice she'd practiced often in the past few months;

[Gwen]: *cough cough* Greetings, Citizen! I am Gwendolyn Rockheart, Ranked Contestant, and Captain of the United Association. I apologize for my companion's rude behavior. Do you require assistance?"

The man only cocked an eyebrow and spoke in a voice that was deep and gravely from under-use, but not unpleasant to the ear (despite his appearance).

[Jonah]: "Who?"