313
Chapter 313
Consecutive explosions erupted inside the cave.
Zeke had ordered the ghost soldiers to detonate the magical bombs he had installed everywhere.
Zeke gave an order to the Cayman unit waiting outside.
“Cayman, kill the monsters while drawing their attention.”
“Understood. Master.”
While diverting the hunting dogs' attention, he planned to uncover the identity of this place.
At that moment, a bursting sound came from behind.
The head of the hunting dog with the mage had exploded.
The Abyss mage ground his teeth while looking at the dead hunting dog.
"Damn! It's a mage! A mage has entered and cast a spirit spell!"
Zeke seemed to have misunderstood the bloodshot eyes as a spirit spell.
The Abyss mage bit his thumb nail and made an anxious expression.
"A spirit spell? Could the Scorpion guys have betrayed? Or did the ones secretly raised in the magic tower come in? Or did the Nirvana guys intervene..."
The Abyss mage seemed to be engulfed in extreme anxiety, muttering and scratching the back of his hand.
Zeke noticed that the mage was showing symptoms of Soma addiction.
'Soma temporarily boosts magical power, but when addicted, it shows strong anxiety symptoms.'
The mage bit his nails while looking at the massive ice chunk.
"Damn, just a bit more and I could excavate that. Damn, damn!"
Zeke, who had been concealing his presence with the will of silver, felt strain on his body as time passed.
He released his Soul technique and immediately approached the Abyss mage from behind.
As soon as Zeke released the will of silver, the Abyss mage turned around and shouted.
"There!"
His ability to sense presence was as keen as his sensitive personality.
BOOM!
The space where Zeke was located became distorted with a loud roar.
'Incredible power. Is this an ability enhanced by Soma?'
Even while surprised, Zeke immediately tried to spread chains to capture the mage.
WHOOSH!
But before the chains could wrap around the mage, his body transformed into smoke and disappeared. Then he appeared in the air and cast a spell toward Zeke.
CRACKLE!
The space where Zeke was located became distorted again.
He quickly twisted his body using Shadowless step to dodge the spell.
'This is a tricky opponent to deal with.'
Not only was the power strong, but the reaction speed was fast, and with no preparatory movements, the attacks were difficult to predict.
The mage, transformed into a horse, pointed his staff at Zeke.
"Die!"
CRACKLE!
The entire space where Zeke was located began to warp.
He quickly used the spirit skill of his sword sheath.
Disappearing through a dimensional crack, Zeke vanished completely without leaving a trace.
The startled mage looked around thoroughly in horse form.
"Damn! Where are you?!"
At that moment, Zeke emerged from the dimensional crack behind the mage.
SLICE!
Zeke attacked the mage using dragon claws.
"ARGH!"
Black smoke rose from the mage's body where the dragon claws hit.
Zeke immediately sealed the mage's soul.
WHOOSH!
The mage bound by chains was stuck near the stairs.
As Zeke pressed his foot on the mage's neck, the mage glared and said,
"You... you are Zeke Draker..."
Seeing that the Abyss mage knew his identity, his expression hardened.
As he continued to clash with the Abyss group, information seemed to have leaked despite his caution.
Just as Zeke was about to explore the mage's memories using the power of shadow domination...
[Target designated for elimination detects dragon energy from the user.]
[Target in dormant state begins reactivation.]
'What?'
RUMBLE!
The entire cave shook.
When Zeke turned back in surprise, cracks were forming in the ice chunk embedded in the wall.
CRACK!
A giant being's hand burst out from within the cracked ice chunk.
CRASH!
The ice completely shattered, and the being inside awakened.
The Abyss mage, still bound by chains, burst into mad laughter.
"It's awakened! It really awakened! Success! Kuhahahaha! The resurrection of that being is not far now!"
Zeke tried to grab him, but the Abyss mage had already turned into a drop of blood and vanished without a trace.
'Terrible bastards.'
Zeke retrieved his chains and observed the awakened giant being.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The giant being rose and swung its limbs.
ROAAAAR!
With a ground-shaking roar, one side of the wall completely collapsed.
Simultaneously, a space leading outside the canyon was revealed.
'Crazy...'
The giant being rose and charged toward Zeke.
Then it swung its massive fist.
BOOM!
CRASH!
The place where Zeke was located completely collapsed.
He summoned Bucephalus mid-air and immediately flew outside.
‘What on earth is that?’
Looking from atop Bucephalus, one side of the canyon's cliff had completely collapsed.
And from that hole, the giant being walked out.
Only now could Zeke accurately see the being's appearance.
It wore a black mask on its face and its entire body was covered with bizarre patterns.
With long arms hanging down, it walked slowly, giving the impression of a golem in human form.
'But its movements are too natural to be a golem... What is it really ?'
It was so large, it seemed like an entire mountain was moving.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
He felt that bizarre creature approaching him.
At that moment, the Barbarians on the canyon above called out to Zeke.
"Brother Zeke!"
Zeke turned and approached them.
Then the Barbarians pointed at the bizarre creature and said.
"Brother Zeke, that's a giant!"
Zeke made a bewildered expression.
"Weren't giants gone a long time ago?"
The Barbarians nodded.
"Right. Giants disappeared long ago and don't exist now."
"So what is that?"
The Barbarians shook their heads.
"We don't know. That's why it's strange."
What the Imperial guys were excavating was none other than an ancient giant that had disappeared.
'Are these crazy bastards trying to use giants in war?'
Giants were originally sacred beings who protected forests and mountains, almost half-spirit in nature.
Originally peaceful, the giants became enraged when humans destroyed forests and harmed forest tribes, cursing humans. Eventually, they began mercilessly killing humans who entered the forest.
Hero King Kaisir directly challenged the Giant King and won, obtaining the right for humans to cultivate the forest.
Although the Hero King bet against the giants for human benefit, he also tried to ensure coexistence. However, the Giant King, not wanting to encounter humans anymore, moved the giants deep into the Giant Mountain range.
During this time, the Demon King revived and invaded the current realm, and demons from the demon world wanted to use giants as their subordinates.
The giants tried to prevent this, but eventually, some giants were possessed by demons and forced to participate in war.
After the war between the Chronos Allied Forces and the Demon King's army ended, giants could no longer be found in the current realm.
As he was organizing his known knowledge, the giant charged toward Zeke.
ROOOOOAR!
"Brother Zeke!"
Zeke shouted for the Barbarians to step back, rode Bucephalus into the air, and spread a wind barrier toward the giant.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
A massive storm rose toward the giant.
BOOM CRASH!
The giant staggered and stepped back, hit by Zeke's storm sword.
But soon regained balance and extended its long arm to strike Zeke.
WHOOOOSH!
Zeke retreated and drove a light mace down toward the giant.
BOOM BOOM CRASH!
The giant staggered and stepped back from the light mace, but didn't seem significantly damaged.
Then the Barbarians shouted to Zeke.
"Brother Zeke! Giants can't be defeated by ordinary attacks!"
Zeke asked them,
"What do you mean by ordinary attacks not working?"
"We heard giants are sacred beings and can only be defeated by heroes' power!"
Few heroes in legends had fought and defeated giants.
'Hero King Kaisir and also...'
Something flashed through Zeke's mind.
'Divine Tyr!'
Tyr's legend definitely included content about defeating giants.
Zeke drew out the Giant Hunter.
He remembered that when fighting Tyr, a sacred light similar to Rubern's light magic had burst from the Giant Hunter.
Zeke checked the Giant Hunter's information through the system.
―Giant Hunter Information―
Description: A dedicated weapon created by a great sage for Divine Tyr
Unique Ability: Indestructible / Spirit Power Increase
Special Note: Deals double damage when used against giant-type enemies.
Since it wasn't originally his main weapon, he hadn't paid attention to the Giant Hunter's abilities, but it had unique abilities of indestructibility and spirit power increase.
'It has additional damage against giant-type enemies. Seemed convenient for fighting large monsters.
'Now I understand why it's called the Giant Hunter.'
Zeke flew toward the giant, gripping the Giant Hunter.
As he concentrated his spirit power, the Giant Hunter flashed brightly, just like when Tyr used it.
WHOOOOSH!
Zeke swung the Giant Hunter at the giant in that state.
CRASH!
Unlike before, the giant staggered from Zeke's attack.
'The attack is effective. Must be the spirit power enhancement. It'll be advantageous when using Soul techniques.'
Zeke gripped the Giant Hunter and charged toward the giant again.
"HAAAA!"
Invoking the river's will, Zeke transformed and swung the Giant Hunter.
The Giant Hunter, imbued with Soul technique, struck the giant's body.
BOOM BOOM CRASH!
Hit directly, the giant staggered much more significantly than before and stepped back.
Just as Zeke was about to charge again with the Giant Hunter….
THUD!
The staggering giant suddenly stood upright and faced Zeke head-on.
Instantly, the massive crystal on its chest began to glow.
GRRRRRR!
Simultaneously, the crystal flashed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A massive light erupted from the giant's chest, similar to a dragon's roar.
CRASH! CRASH!
Everything the giant's light touched was destroyed.
Trees turned to ash, the ground split, and cliffs collapsed.
KRAAAAAAAH!
The giant screamed while destroying the canyon surroundings.
As the light gradually subsided, Zeke appeared in the air.
Driving Bucephalus in circles around the giant, he drew the green sword from his inventory.
'Arataso, what exactly is the identity of this giant? It's so different from what I've read in books.'
Observing the giant, Arataso swallowed and responded.
[I didn't expect one to still remain in the current realm.]
'Do you know what it is?'
Arataso hesitated before answering.
[Yes, that's a war weapon called a Colossus warrior.]
'Colossus warrior? Different from a giant?'
Arataso spoke in a serious tone.
[The demon race transformed the giants you're talking about into weapons.]
'What? They transformed giants into weapons? Not using Soma like now, so how?'
GRRRRRR!
Light flashed again from the giant's chest.
It shot light toward Zeke flying in the air, and Zeke rode Bucephalus, dodging the giant's light and searching for an opening.
After pondering, Arataso continued.
[Giants were originally guardians created by the Earth God. Being sacred, they lose their essence the moment they become corrupted.]
'By Earth God, do you mean the god the elves believe in?'
[Yes, the Earth God who was tasked with protecting and guarding this land since the current realm's creation first molded giants from soil.]
'So I should think of them like golems created directly by the Earth God?'
[You need to view them from a completely different perspective than human-made artifacts. They're closer to Nephilim created by constellations through sacred blood.]
It meant the Colossus warrior before his eyes was a war weapon the demon race had transformed from the sacred giants directly molded by the Earth God.
It seemed distorted information had been passed down to the Barbarians regarding this.
'Tyr participated in the demon race war. This weapon might have been a specialized weapon created to deal with Colossus warriors modified from giants.'
Now he understood why the weapon was called the Giant Hunter.
Zeke bit down hard, watching the Colossus warrior continuously shooting light.
'Those Imperial bastards... they actually thought of excavating such a weapon.'
Watching the Colossus warrior continuously shooting light at him, Zeke gripped Bahamut.
'I want to learn more, but the situation isn't good, so I'll eliminate it first.'
Zeke drew upon the Soul technique's power again.
Since the Soul technique wasn't perfectly inherited from his master, it strained his body more than other skills.
'I'll end this in one strike.'
WHOOOOSH!
Jumping from Bucephalus's back, Zeke flew toward the Colossus warrior.
Holding the Giant Hunter, he unleashed the Soul technique.
"HAAAAAAH!"
Soul Technique
Double Spell
Will of Penetration
The will of penetration was imbued into the Giant Hunter.