A stark realization hit Noble. The creature hadn't been sitting idly by as it corkscrewed to the sky. It had been biding its time to let its prey come to it.
As more and more of the minions were destroyed, the bulk of the human army drew close to the Guardian to attack it with their full force.
Willy was making small dents in the legs while the Captain and his forces were trying to penetrate the underbelly. With so many underneath the behemoth, the guardian was finally in a position to deal a devastating attack.
And the creature knew it.
"Get out!" Noble screamed as she flew downward. "It's a trap!"
Just then the mechanical clicking ceased. the legs extended into a flat line as the full weight of the monster crashed against the earth. The asphalt underneath was pulverized into fine dust while the Awakened warriors and mundane humans fled from the creature's hulking form.
And not a moment too soon. The corkscrew body began to descend, only this time it was the head and arms that remained still. The legs began to spin.
Like blades of a windmill, the four pipes whirred to life and dug into the dirt below. The earth crumbled under the force, creating a hole that pulled everything toward it like a magnet.
The ground shook, and the buildings around them collapsed into the chasm.
Noble watched in horror. Frantically, she lifted many of the human soldiers from the falling debris.
After rescuing people on the train and trying to attack the guardian's mind, her reserve of essence was becoming strained, but as long as she had any left, she would continue to rescue people and move them to safety.
The destruction of the city continued until the head, arms, and base had no space between them. By then the creature was so deep in the ground that it was hard to see.
The strike force neared the hole and began shooting their ammunition into it. If the thing burrowed sideways, it would be virtually undetectable until it surfaced again.
"Captain, tell them to aim for the eye if they can. It's the only weak spot I found."
Noble came close to the soldiers.
"You heard Queen Bee! Aim for the eye." Styss pulled out an enchanted bow and began raining fiery arrows into the hole. One exploded close to the broken netting, irritating the guardian and widening the hole around its face.
'What a powerful Memory!' Noble resisted her urge to guess its rank and class.
"It's coming back!" Someone screamed.
Rising back up on its legs. The monster began to scale the wall in an effortless vertical climb.
Before long it would be out of the hole and back in the city.
They only had a moment to act.
"Give it all you have got!" Styss continued to shoot arrows with blinding speed.
Dismissing the estoc, Noble summoned a small single-use Memory. The [Heat of Battle] had been something she purchased for a research paper to compare to the [Forbidden Fruit].
"Can you hit this with your arrow?" Noble asked the Captain.
Styss gave a short nod as he nocked another arrow.
While the trinket was still manifesting, Noble tossed it at the creature's head.
The Memory wasn't incredibly powerful, but it had the insidious ability to continue to burn despite any effort to put it out.
And Styss's arrow was the perfect match to light the candle.
The [Heat of Battle] collided with the netting on the monster's head right when the arrow pierced it. A burst of fire fizzled into smoldering embers, eating away at the netting, and exposing the single crystal eye.
Noble's heart leapt when she saw what the singed edges revealed.
The eye had a scratch! In front of the verdant burning flame, an almost imperceptible scuff had formed along the crystal surface.
"Fall back!" Styss called as the creature neared the surface.
But Noble ignored him.
Grabbing the hammer from her side, she dove into the hole.
'Just a little closer...' The professor pressed into her speed.
The hammer collided with the eye, releasing an ear-splitting roll of thunder. The surface of the eye shuddered, but Noble was too close to notice the tremor. All she could see was the small crack forming across the surface of the eye.
'Yes!'
A blast of green fire shot through the crack. Noble barely had time to pull her gauntlet away from the mystical blaze. Her hammer was not so lucky.
[Your Memory has been destroyed.]
'Oh no!' she lamented silently. Her eyes widened. "OH NO!"
In the mayhem, the monster had not ceased its upward climb. To avoid another hit by the Awakened, it had turned its head.
Which sent the molten net right at Bee!
Bee fled, her sabaton brushing up against the burning cord. She exited the hole just before the monster breached the surface once more.
The large hands stopped smoking, curving to take out Noble with a large swipe.
Thankfully, she was already out of reach.
Rather than chase after the humans, the guardian selected a new spot, froze, and began its upward climb once more. It would destroy the world one hole at a time until nothing was left.
"There's a crack on the eye," Noble told the captain. "Right in the center."
"That's good news," Styss nodded. "Aim all firepower toward the middle of the eye!"
The strike team adjusted their aim, but as soon as they did, the creature turned its face away from them and held it there.
The man clutched his bow. "That blasted thing can turn completely around. We can never keep pace with it."
"Put this around your ear," Noble handed Styss half of [The Other's Voice].
'I'll get him looking your way. Just be ready.'
The Captain's eyes opened slightly at the voice in his mind. 'Understood.'
Queen Bee took off towards the creature. Already it was beginning to tower as high as the office next to it.
Noble tried to think. Without the [Rolling Thunder], the professor did not think that she had a Memory strong enough to attack the monster head-on. And she was wary of doing so. Another centimeter last time and she would have ended up just like the heroic hammer.
"Those arms can move more than I thought. I have to watch out for them too..."
The two spheres had proven that they could do more than just spin. They could twist and turn at will to pummel her.
"I need a distraction...Something big enough to force that creature to pay attention."
Looking around, most everything was in ruins or still attached to the ground. She thought about lifting an overturned PTV, but as soon as she tried, it cracked into two.
"It wasn't big enough anyway," she consoled herself.
What she needed had to be large enough for the guardian to turn to block it. Not even the missiles being shot at its legs were drawing any kind of notice.
Noble continued to scan. At last, she spotted something that would work. A strange smile formed on her face as a sigh escaped her lips.
"Looks like I have a train to catch..."