A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

 193  The Shadows - Part 18

Again, Beam brushed the first strike aside. But his strength was not sufficient enough to do so without wasting precious movement. For the other strikes that came his way, he was forced to dodge – and yet, the creature was still faster than it, and so these dodges cost him position, putting him more and more off balance, until the final strike came and he was forced to take it head-on.

He raised his sword to block it, just in time. The claws raked against his steel, and the force sent him flying backwards. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This time, though, Beam did not lose his footing. He brought himself to a skidding halt, using his sword on the ground to help keep his balance.

He forced a smile. Even in his hyper-aware state, he could just barely keep up with it. But to land a counterattack, he needed something more, something stronger. He needed to get stronger.

Of course, just when he was teetering on the balance, just when he was about to break through, more enemies approached. Of course they would. Such was the nature of Beam's fate. The Gods pushed him evermore towards struggle.

Just as it had for the entire night, the scent of monster flesh attracted more beasts into the fray.

Goblins.

They entered cautiously, perhaps sensing the two battling auras of superior creatures. The eyes of the Titan flickered towards them for a moment, before flickering away, apparently uninterested. It returned its gaze to Beam.

The goblins noticed Beam as well, but seeing that he was locked in battle with another monster, they seemed to think themselves safe. One of them cast aside its spear and left the party that was otherwise grouped together. It ran towards the nearest chunk of meat and gripped it in its hand.

A vicious smile crossed Beam's face, as the anger boiled up in him once more. Daring to turn his back on the Titan – surprising even it – he faced the goblins, darkness pouring out of him.

With his aura being so intensified, even the food-motivated goblin with meat in its hand froze. Six lesser goblins, all together, were held in place merely by gaze alone.

"Obey," Beam demanded, the darkness pouring out of him like a pointed spear. The goblin stiffened for a second, as though something had stabbed it through the side. But then it dropped its meat, and it straightened up, an obedient look in his eye.

Beam cast his gaze to the other goblins, his order still hanging in the air. They stiffened up too, as their souls were overrun by his will. Just as Beam had noted earlier, the goblins had such weakness in their souls, which was evidenced by their erraticness.

As Beam's heart cried out for him to subjugate the Titan that stood against him, it was overwhelmed by contempt when faced with goblins.

Power welled up in Beam as he saw the goblins obey his command. He pointed with a finger, and the goblins moved as a group to the spot he was pointing at. A smile played on his lips. Claudia was lending might to his sword, as he sought progress in his strength. But Ingolsol, he wanted to dominate. Beam could feel the Dark God's delight as he overwhelmed the lesser goblin's wills, and bound them to his own.

Both Gods had been appeased. Beam's aura soared further, until it nearly matched the Titan's own.

He returned its gaze to it, with goblins at his back. He did not know how long his command over them would last. He had played around with his power for a while now, and he still did not understand much about its conditions for activating or remaining, other than the fact that fear was often involved.

Faced with such a hardened look, the Titan trembled. Beam saw the weakness in it even more than before. Yet it was not so weak as the goblins, that he could overwhelm its soul with a mere look. He needed to do a little more than that. He needed to demonstrate the difference between them.

He prepared his sword once more, ready to charge in himself. But before he did that, he gave an order.

"Attack," he said coldly, knowing full well that the goblins would not even last half a second against such a beast. But he did not need them to last. He nearly needed them to create an opportunity.

The goblins began to run at his command, their spears in their hands. It felt odd seeing goblins run so quietly, so robotically. They usually screamed at the top of their lungs in madness.

The Titan watched them charging forward, apparently feeling the wrongness in the air. Beam could see in its eyes just how unsettled it was. Animals – and by extension monsters – were able to tell the difference between themselves and an opponent merely on instinct.

Never would a goblin dare to confront a Konbreaker, even as a party. And this here was a creature that eclipsed Konbreakers to such a degree that it was almost unfair. Yet, the goblins charged anyway.

It no doubt inspired some thread of unease in the Titan's mind. It likely planted a seed that made it doubt its own strength. Monsters only knew their strength by comparison, after all. If a whole party of goblins deemed it to be a target weak enough to hunt, then maybe it was.

The goblins moved far too slowly for Beam's liking, but they closed the distance between themselves and the enemy all the same. They spread out in a fan, moving to attack the Titan from all different angles, their spears held low, their movements more reminiscent of that of a horned goblin, now that they were completely subjugated to Beam's will.

The Titan was still stood frozen in place as it watched them approach, as though its sense of identity was crashing down inside of it, and its already weakened soul grew weaker. It was fighting the idea of whether to flee or whether to attack – it didn't know anymore. Just how strong was it?

The goblin spears neared it. It made a decision. It swung out with those dagger-claws that it had… and in an instant, it killed three of them.

It was such an underwhelming display, that it even unsettled the creature itself. It took a moment to process just what had happened. These measly creatures that he had even begun to fear, they offered so little resistance; it was like punching a hole through a paper wall.