Within the brief respite that they had painfully managed to grasp thanks to Eldruis, the group began impacting their next objective:
How to defeat Mechmagos Gears
After his disastrous defeat in their first battle, Eldruis was stumped, for traps and tools were not his forte, as this type of stuff was always left to Durmast. Speaking of Durmast, where was he anyway?
"Hey, where is Durmast? I swear, if he knew about the Technopriests, he would've danced in joy..."
Speaking fondly about his short friend, Eldruis's eyes wandered far off, reminiscing about their many adventures. But he didn't know that the eyes of two of them began shifting downwards, one barely choking her sobbing. Hearing the faintest cries, Eldruis and the others turned their head towards Goblina, who was quietly sobbing in the corner, head tucked in. "Goblina, tell me, what happened to my uncle?"
His heart sinking, Simon asked Goblina what was going on. His uncle can't die, can he?
Duncan steadied his breath, now laborious. "Simon, it's hard to say this, but your uncle had put up a valiant fight..."
Realising the gravity of his words, Simon fell on his knees. "I...I see..."
Unable to even shed a few drops of tears, all he could do was mourn in silence. Lewis attempted to comfort him by hugging his shoulders, but it did little to soothe the poor Dwarf's heart. Witnessing the scene, even someone who knew nothing like Celine could not help but begin quietly crying. Everything was falling apart.
When all hope was lost, an unexpected person woke them up.
"Kid, learn to deal with it. This is war."
Enraged, Simon stood up, his face burning red. "What do you know about losing your beloved! I saw my-"
"I saw my brothers-in-arms get shredded into minced meat. I witnessed innocent civilians get bombed into smithereens. I...I even killed my brothers and sisters..."
Hearing these cold words come from Titus, everyone stopped in their tracks, shocked at his admissions. "W-why...?"
Wetting her dry lips, Celine asked tremblingly, her feet shivering in fear.
Stopping in his tracks, Titus turned around. Gone was his stoic facade, his eyes now revealing his true emotions:
Deep, deep, sadness
"For the sake of all mankind..."
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Duncan was the first to break through, followed by Goblina and then, surprisingly, Celine. Simon did not break through, for he had already broken through to tier-3 during his battle with the Urks in the Hymalas Mountains during his trip to fetch Titus. All it did was shoot his experience bar halfway, making him closer to tier-4.
Lewis, on the other hand, was still stuck in tier-1, despite him being capped. Why on earth am I still stuck at tier-1!? I'm bloody filled to the brim!?
Although very angry, he reigned in his temper and asked the Ork why he can't advance to tier-2. "Simple, really: You need a 'push' of sorts, a bout of enlightenment. Sometimes, when ascending towards a higher tier, people get stuck for ages. This is because the Occupation and/or Skill are very high in rank, and if they don't have the prerequisite knowledge or foundation, it becomes, let's say, very difficult to advance. So they would need an enlightenment of sorts to give them the extra boost to ascend..."
Understanding what he meant, Lewis nevertheless got mad at the reason. Damn it! We're near the final boss, and I'm still weak as fuck!
Ignoring the downtrodden Lewis, the group began their final journey towards Mechmagos Gears, intending to vanquish him for the sake of Mithrador.