My words provoked Humbaba. He swung at me with a roar of hatred. He was nearly as fast as the dragon. That said, I was expecting his attack. I side stepped a fist the size of my head. It slammed into the ice and cracked though it like a tectonic plate splitting. I took the chance to use my counter attack and tried to stab Grond.

Grond sadly wasn't interested in cooperating with my goals. He blocked my attack with Humbaba's thick wooden club. The knife barely bit into the oversized stick. Grond could block me but somehow he was knocked back from our weapons connecting.

Was I stronger than him?

Brand and Aiko demonstrated the better part of valor, by running away. That was helpful because I was preoccupied with Humbaba. The biggest bigfoot had grabbed me. His massive mitt encased my whole head. Then, Humbaba wound up to throw me.

Destruction Check… Successful

That is when I destroyed the ice under the feel of the massive mob. So rather than fling me a huge distance he spiked me into the ice. I bounced once and rolled to my feet. I triggered Tenebrous Form.

That was a smart move. Humbaba kicked me in the face. The impact wouldn't have taken my head off, but it would have knocked me into next week, if I hadn't phased through the attack.

Grond was bearing down on Aiko and Brand. Brand just managed to dodge a crushing blow from Grond's club. He peppred the god with his assault rifle. Trouble was that hurt Grond about as bad as harsh language. Grond ignored Brand and grabbed at Aiko.

His hand bounced off the shield of a spectral dwarf. Grond just barely ducked a fiery wheel thrown by Sunit. That put him right in the line of Angelica's charge. That glowing spear punched through the god's armor. Grond roared in pain and rage. He swung his club and almost clocked Angelica. She ducked the club but stumbled off footed. In a flowing swing Grond brought the club up and started to bring it down on Angelica. Before Grond could bash her head in, Brand, having switched to his shotgun, unloaded a slug into Grond's face. Grond still clipped Angelica shoulder, but a metallic chime preceded Brunhilda's healing magic undoing the damage.

The Bigfeet charged basically everyone.

As I dodged another massive hit from Humbaba I realized I wasn't doing my job. Brand was doing his job, protecting Aiko. Aiko was doing her job, being bait. Brunhilda was protecting the others. Angelica and Sunit were killing Grond. They knew their business too.

I was the tank.

You have stopped ignoring Gore Soaked Condition

You are Now Gore Soaked.

Effects of Vitae of Tumult resume.

You are now causing the Blood Frenzy Condition.

… They are coming.

Every bigfoot turned and glared at me. For a split second all of them were quiet. Then one roared. It was deep bellow of hatred and rage. Soon after, others joined in and all of them charged me. I had pulled the aggro of an entire army. I had a brief moment of satisfaction as tens of thousands of bigfeet swarmed me. Ah, shit I pulled the aggro of an entire army.

For the most part, since I came into this world, I have been living day to day. That is not an ideal situation. While there is something zen that could be said about being present in the moment, what I was doing was surviving with no real plans. It was dangerously close to a rudderless existence. It is also harder in general with nothing to look forward to, living day to day can become a grind that wears you down.

Now though as I was surrounded by monsters screaming for my death I was living second to second.

I manifested a layer of Ablative Shell. I also willed the ice around me back into water. The first wave of mobs fell into the newly made pool. They were immediately trampled by the Bigfeet behind them. That gave me enough time to turn on Claws of Darkness as well.

The first bigfoot came at me with a massive club. I side stepped the blow and stuck the knife into it's ribs. Dark magic surged up the blade and ravaged its insides killing it. A second tried to punch me. A quick block with a follow up hammer fist ended him. A third managed to clip me across the shoulders with a club. A knife to the neck was her reward. Dozens of others attacked me and met similar fates.

Humbaba wasn't among the casualties. He seemed only partially affected by the Vitae. His eyes burned with frenzy but he wasn't compelled to mindlessly attack me. Instead the boss mob hung back and picked his moment.

Attack from Humbaba Successful x2!

Ablative Shell takes 41 damage!

Humbaba's Seven Auras of Terror triggered!

You are now Poisoned.

You are immune to the effects of the Poisoned Condition.

You are Asphyxiated.

You are immune to Asphyxiated Condition.

You are now Stunned.

You are immune to the effects of the Stunned Condition.

You are now Deafened.

You are immune to the Deafened Condition.

You are now Blind.

You are immune to the Blind Condition.

You are now Frightened

Mental Resistance blocks Frightened Condition.

You are now Suffering.

Suffering Condition will last for 30 seconds.

Mental Resistance blocks Suffering Condition.

Titanic Regeneration suppress by Tenebrous Form and Claws or Darkness

HP 600/600

Ow. Humbaba is no joke. He cold cocked me with a left and then nearly knocked me off my feet with a right hook. Energy flowed from the impacts and were doing terrible things to my body. I was suddenly certain that our fight with the Mother of All Snow Lions would have been much worse if Rebecca hadn't crippled it with constant dungeon breaking.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Physically Humbaba was at least a match for me, buthose auras were a problem as well. While the Frightened Condition was crushed by Mental Resistance like a soup can in a pneumatic press, the others lingered in unpleasant ways. Poisoned felt like irritating grit in my veins. Asphyxiated pulled the wind out of me. Stunned caused my nerves to sting and prickle. Deafened didn't actually silence the world but there was a ringing in my ears now. Blind was odd. In absence of normal sight I saw a photo negative version of everything. The Suffering condition was hardest to shrug off. It manifested as a combination of dental pain, sore joints and stubbed toes.

That was all the first second of tanking.

Today was going to be a very long day.

It was time to do something different.

Construction Check… Successful!

Ice tunnel created.

A half dozen Bigfeet and I rolled down the steep incline into the ice tunnel I willed into existence. They were easy enough to dispatch. Humbaba stood at the mouth of the tunnel glaring at me.He was too big to fit in hole. More Bigfeet charged down after me squeezing around their mountainous leader as he stepped out of sight.

Limiting the direction they could attack me from allowed me some relative breathing room. I meet the crush of mobs with profound violence. Even with my back to a wall of ice I slashed, kicked, and punched dozens of Bigfeet to death. A few got crushed against the wall. The growing pile of corpses hindered the next wave of mobs from piling on immediately.

Two seconds into tanking and already I was stacking bodies.

Humbaba's hand burst through the ceiling of the tunnel. It made a blind grab at me and caught an unfortunate bigfoot before crushing their head. That was too close.

I willed the tunnel longer and retreated down it. The ceiling was starting to crack and chunks of ice were falling down. This was also not a winning strategy, not in the long term. Maybe I just needed to do more tunneling faster.

Expend Free action? Yes/No

Note: you must select the total number of seconds spent before activating.

I selected one second and hit yes. The telltale thrum of time stopping didn't give me any comfort. The others were fighting a god. Grond as a divine scale could flex through the time stop. There always seemed to be a slight lag when I used it and someone breaking free, but that meant I couldn't stall. Two construction checks later and I had a much longer tunnel. I sprinted to the end of the tunnel.

Humbaba punched through the tunnel's ceiling again and this time crashed through. Instead of landing on top of me like he clearly planned. He crushed a few more of his own bigfeet mooks. He hit the floor roughly sixty feet from me. He glared at the floor and then looked up confused.

I pulled the bow and an arrow out of my inventory, "Yoo hoo. Get shot!"

Attack Successful! Humbaba takes 57 damage.

That was the fourth of the three seconds I spent tanking. My life was weird. Time is a construct.

Another effort of will cause the tunnel to expand into an open cavern. I found myself eye to eight eyes with a horde of giant spiders. Rachel's message about the dungeon seeming empty seemed a lot more pressing as light glinted off of venom encrusted fangs. I wasn't pulling the aggro of one army. I was pulling two armies. That wouldn't be the worst, but I had trapped myself between them, underground, and set all the mobs off with Blood Frenzy. Also the spiders were really scary.

Expend Free action? Yes/No

Note: you must select the total number of seconds spent before activating.

I hit one and yes again. Best to remove myself from this situation. A Destruction check turned the ice above me into water. They, both the water and the hapless mobs above me, stayed suspended in the frozen moment of time.

Jump Check… Successful

Time to hop onto the nope-nope train to Fuck-that-ville

I launched myself up into the air. The water rained down around me. The bigfoot roared in confused rage and he did elbow me pretty good as it fell past me. I kept rising. All said and done at the apex of my jump I was about 30 feet in the air. Below me, I was surrounded by a mosh pit of angry mobs.

Grond had transformed into a tremendous bear. Brand pulled Aiko out of the way of as his paw swiped at her. Sunit struck the massive creature with a mace twice but the attacks didn't have much effect. Another chime from Brunhilda's gauntlets caused the massive gashes along Sunits left arm to seal instantly. Sunit and Angelica both stabbed the bear with spears. Sunit's attack bit deep into the Grond's stomach, and Angelica's strike knocked the bear off its feet.

From my high vantage point I saw one last problem. Still more mobs. The big feet had come from the west. The Spiders while under ground had more or less been coming from the same direction. But to the east was a collection of dogs, bears, and of course snow lions.

I hate snow lions.

I still think Adora was the worst, but Grond was just plain evil as well. He planned to inflict this horde of monsters on people. Hell he was spitefully hurling them at us now.

In the air worrying about how I had lead people into a trap was how the sixth of four seconds ended.

You have activated Voice of the Titan

"They are coming from the East!" My voice thundered. That was immediately followed by the sound of gunfire. I do respect that as goofy as goblins tend to be, they never fuck around on self preservation.

I hit the ground the same moment Humbaba burst out of the ice. A flood of nightmarish giant spiders covered in black armored plates. Their articulated legs ending wicked barbed hooks. Even as dozens of them were trampled as scatters as more Bigfeet charged me, dozens more launched gobs of webbing than unfurled in the air forming clouds of nets.

Jump Check… Successful.

Sprint Skill is now at Trained level.

If there ever was a que to haul ass out of the situation it is giant spiders coordinating with Bigfeet. I mean the snow lions were coming too. Honestly, this worked so well that I was immediately embarrassed. I had been traveling with Angelica and Celeste my entire life. They had demonstrated that rapid movement was both a dominant tool for attacks and a fundamental aspect of defense.

The bigfeet were heavy brawlers. Speed was not their strong suit. They simply could not keep up with me. The spiders weren't any faster. Yes, the Bigfoot Warpreists and the Spiders had some ranged capacities but these were limited. The webbing from the giant spiders was further hampering the Bigfeets attempts to chase me.

That was the seventh of five second being the tank.

It all clicked.

I needed to head north, back into the destroyed remains of the abandoned town. Back in the dungeon I believed being a good tank meant being between an enemy and my friends. That was a functional idea of tanking. It was even true in most cases. But that was closer to what Brunhilda was doing. She seemed to be a defender/healer. She was putting in the work against Grond.

But I needed to tank. My job was to make Brunhilda's job easier.

Any attacks that cannot connect automatically fail. Back in the dungeon I asked Denise if there was a skill that could position me correctly. Dodge barely moves you out of an attack's path, and keeps you in harm's way. That is more dramatic. The system wants the fight to keep going. Denise couldn't answer my question, beyond the skill Parade Rest, because she didn't really understand what I was asking.

I wanted to be better at being a tank. Better at pulling aggro and mitigating damage. The question was just as much a philosophical question as it was a systematic one.

I understood now. The real ethos of a tank. I didn't need to stand between an enemy and my friend. I needed to position myself between my enemies and their goals. That would always force them to deal with me rather than attack my friends.

I trusted my friends.

As I kept moving into the crater I taunted, "Hey Grond, What's the matter? I thought you were a god? Why are you wasting time with mortals? Are you too scared to fight me? I can kill your mobs all day… Bitch!" Voice of the Titan made the insult thunder over the noise of battle.

Taunt Check… Critically Successful!

The god turned on me instantly. Grond was coming to kill me. The giant bear sent mobs scattering, even knocking Humbaba out of the way.

I knew I was doing the right thing. I also knew Tanking ain't easy, and today was going to be a very long day.

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