The skeletons didn't hesitate. They rushed forward, throwing themselves at the Colossi's feet. It looked like suicide. To Jake, it probably looked like a waste of mana.

The Hive Colossi did what they were used to doing: they stomped, crushing the skeletal warriors into dust.

Light exploded from beneath the Colossi's legs.

[Shatter retort] was one of the skills of the Dread-Shield of the Undying Legion, one that returned 30% of the damage sustained to the attacker.

That additional damage injured the colossi more, but there was a difference in health that was not short.

Then the skeletons died, but of course, Reidar had many perks and skills, including from his baton, that made the summons explode upon death.

Every skeleton that died exploded, dealing a lot of its maximum health as various kinds of damage to everything within a certain radius.

The first few explosions did little. The Colossi were tough, built to withstand punishment, and a single skeleton's death wasn't enough to cause serious harm.

But Reidar didn't send one skeleton. He sent hundreds.

The Colossi were physically resistant. They were biologically tough. But this kind of damage bypassed armor, which had already been severely weakened. They mostly ignored the thickness of the chitin and attacked the structure of the creature itself.

The battlefield became a storm of detonations.

The explosions tore through their lower legs. Chitin shattered from the inside out. Green blood sprayed across the clearing as the shockwaves blew the legs of three Colossi clean off their knee equivalents.

Each explosion dealt damage that stacked with the others, gradually breaking down the creatures' defenses.

The monsters toppled, crashing to the forest floor like felled trees. The impact shook the ground enough to make Reidar stumble, but he kept his eyes on the fight.

"It's working!" Jake said. He looked at the fallen monsters. "Do we go in?"

"Lena," Reidar said without replying to Jake. "How many can we take at once?"

She studied the field, her eyes tracking the movements of the wounded Colossi. Her trait fed her information, reading the creatures' aggression levels, their pain responses, and their territorial instincts.

She filtered it through her understanding of monsters and her battle experience, then gave him the answer.

"Four," she said. "Maybe five if we're lucky. But we need something big to draw their attention away from the Sky-Hunters."

Reidar nodded. He'd been thinking the same thing.

He opened his skill list, found the newest addition, and smiled.

"Then let's give them something big."

The skill activated with a surge of mana that made his vision blur.

The headache that usually signaled mana exhaustion was starting to throb behind his eyes, but Mana-Forged Will was keeping his mana levels acceptable.

The passive regeneration from the title was kicking in, refilling his tank just enough to keep him from collapsing.

Twelve thousand five hundred points drained from his reserves in an instant, followed by the steady bleed of the upkeep cost. It was expensive, more expensive than anything else he could summon, but when the spell was completed, he understood why.

The Mana-Forged Dreadmaw materialized in the center of the battlefield.

It was half the size of the original, the Level 320 monstrosity he'd killed weeks ago, but that still made it enormous.

Six massive legs sank into the ground with enough force to crack stone. The construct's body was made of condensed mana that had been shaped into a simulacrum of the Hexapod Dreadmaw's physiology, complete with the same armored plating, the same powerful tail, and the same crushing mandibles.

It was a weapon given form, a siege engine designed to break defensive lines and crush anything that stood in its path.

The Hive Colossi reacted. The defensive circle reformed, this time focused entirely on the Dreadmaw.

The Lead Colossus, the Level 355 beast, roared. It wasn't the confident sound it had made earlier. It was enraged, yes, but there was fear in it now. It tried to rally the remaining pack members, turning its massive head toward Reidar. It knew who the threat was.

The lead Colossus issued a command. Reidar was sure of it because they charged again using their skills.

"You think you're big?" Reidar said.

The Lead Colossus screeched, but the sound was cut short as the Dreadmaw lunged.

The Dreadmaw crashed into the Colossus with explosive force. Its massive tail swept through the air, striking three Colossi and hurling them across the clearing.

The mandibles clamped down on a fourth Colossus. The crushing force tore through the weakened armor and bit deep into the creature's torso. The chitin, already softened by the acid, crumbled under the pressure.

The other Colossi swarmed the construct, their own mandibles tearing into the mana-forged plating, trying to kill the threat. They hammered at the Dreadmaw's legs, seeking to bring it down.

It was working. The construct's health began to drop as the Colossi focused their assault, but that was the point. Every second they spent attacking the Dreadmaw was a second they weren't defending against the other fighters.

Reidar looked at Lena and Jake.

"Jake," he said. "You're up in thirty seconds. Target the joints that are already damaged. Lena, mark the ones we can kill quickly."

He paused. "The goal is to kill them all."

Jake didn't need to be told twice. He activated Augmentation again. The mana flared around him, hardening his skin and swelling his muscles. He charged the nearest fallen Colossus as soon as the 30 seconds were up.

The creature was trying to stand, its remaining legs scrambling for purchase in the dirt, but it was missing two limbs from the skeletal explosions. The Vorathid Sky-Hunters joined the fray and made it impossible for the creature to get back on its weird legs.

Jake leaped. He landed on the creature's thorax. He reversed his grip on his dagger and drove it down into the acid-burned gap in the armor.

The blade sank to the hilt. Lightning arced from the Storm-Edge Kris, frying the creature's nervous system. The Colossus spasmed and went still.

Lena was already moving too. She was using the chaos to her advantage. She targeted the Colossi that were distracted by the Sky-Hunters. She would appear from stealth, hamstring a leg or drive a dagger into a sensory organ, and vanish before the monster could retaliate.

Reidar stayed back, orchestrating the slaughter.

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