Chapter 53: The Titan Awakens
The stone floor under the hot pool cracked open with a huge five-meter hole.
All the black pool water rushed down into the deep dark hole with a loud roar.
From the dark bottom of the hole, two giant stone claws slammed down onto the broken floor.
It was the Under-Crypt Behemoth: an ancient, chained Titan monster made ten thousand years ago to lock the earth in place.
Because dark poison from the ancient Void God had leaked into it for centuries, the stone monster had turned into an unstoppable killing machine.
Its head was made of solid black stone and heavy iron scales, with six red eyes burning with cold anger.
Heavy rusted iron chains dragged behind its big shoulders, with links as thick as a man’s body.
The metal links scraped against the broken stone floor with a harsh, screeching noise.
Every time the beast moved, the ground shook like a small earthquake.
The ceiling of the room began to fall apart under the monster’s heavy weight and shaking steps.
Big granite blocks fell from high above, smashing into the floor and filling the air with white stone dust.
"Leo, the whole room is falling down!" Seraphina shouted through the dust, holding up her golden light shield.
"If this giant monster breaks through the ceiling, the holy church above will fall!"
Her silver prayer beads shook in her hands, her white dress sticking to her skin from the dirty water.
She looked up at the giant monster with wide, fearful eyes, but she stayed close to Leo’s side.
Leo understood the deadly danger better than anyone in this world.
Ten thousand years ago, ancient mages sealed the Void God deep in the earth.
To make sure the ground would never crack open and let the Void God out, they created twelve giant stone Titans and chained them underground across the empire.
These twelve Titans acted like anchors and heavy locks that held the earth’s plates together.
Over thousands of years, dark void poison had leaked into this stone guardian, rotting its mind and turning it into an angry monster.
If it died by normal magic, its magic core would explode like a huge bomb, destroying three city districts and killing thousands of people.
The only way to kill it safely was to crush its magic core from inside its chest before the bomb could go off.
Leo knew that Hero Noel had failed this exact battle in the novel story.
In that old timeline, Noel had panicked and run away, leaving his party to die under the falling rocks.
The giant Titan swung its huge stone fist across the room with the power of a battering ram.
The stone fist was as large as a horse carriage, crushing the air in front of it with a loud whistling roar.
Any normal knight would have been smashed to pieces by that hit.
Leo jumped off the broken floor, grabbing Seraphina by the waist and leaping backward.
The heavy fist smashed into the stone stairs where they had stood, pulverizing five tons of solid marble into white powder.
The shockwave blew across the room, cracking the remaining stone pillars into pieces.
The air rushed past Leo’s ears like a violent storm wind.
He planted his boots firmly on the slick stone, refusing to give an inch of ground to the monster.
Leo set Seraphina down on a safe ledge, his eyes narrowed as he watched the monster.
The beast’s stone armor was too thick.
Its body was reinforced by the earth veins of the continent itself.
Even with his 4th Ascension physical strength, Leo could not break through three meters of solid basalt armor while protecting Seraphina at the same time.
He had to dodge, block, and strike all at once while keeping the Saintess safe from falling rocks.
The giant monster swung its heavy tail, smashing through two stone benches with a loud crash.
Water and broken rocks flew everywhere, making the dark room even more dangerous.
Leo stood tall, his dark coat soaked in black blood, his eyes locked onto the monster’s next move.
"Its armor is too dense for a single fighter," Leo said in a low voice.
He watched the dark energy flow through the monster’s stone veins.
The beast swung its second claw across the room, smashing another marble arch to dust.
Leo stepped in front of Seraphina, deflecting a heavy shower of stone shards with a hard wave of dark gravity.
The rocks shattered into fine powder against his barrier, protecting the Saintess from harm.
The Behemoth let out a deafening roar that shook the foundations of the entire cathedral above.
Its six red eyes glowed with violent red light, gathering heavy void poison in its chest.
Dark steam poured out of the cracks in its black stone skin, hissing against the cold air.
The smell of burning sulphur and rotten void poison made the air hard to breathe.
Seraphina coughed behind her hand, her holy mana struggling to keep the poison away.
The giant beast raised its right foot high, preparing to stomp the ground and collapse the entire underground cavern.
If that foot came down, the whole room would cave in, burying them under fifty tons of rock.
Leo tightened his fists, preparing to take the full force of the stomp with his own body.
He lowered his stance and gathered all his dark mana into his arms, ready to clash head-on with the Titan.
Suddenly, a sharp blast of freezing air tore through the dust of the collapsed doorway.
The temperature in the underground room dropped by thirty degrees in a single second.
Ice crystals formed on the wet stones, spreading across the floor like blue spiderwebs.
At the exact same time, a bright purple magic circle lit up the dark ceiling above the monster’s head.
The air hummed with heavy arcane pressure as three rotating rings of purple light appeared in the dark.
Two powerful voices echoed through the falling dust, bringing hope to the crumbling room.
The battle for the underground crypt had just entered its second phase.
Leo looked toward the dark doorway, his lips curling into a sharp, confident smile.
The reinforcements he needed to crack the Titan’s shell had finally arrived.
He had planned this battle from the start, knowing that true power came from bringing the heroines together.
Now, the real hunt was about to begin.