Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Challenge
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Heading toward the massive tree at the center, it wasn't long before they encountered the rest of the group.
Everyone's armor plates were dented here and there, covered in dirt from the fierce battles they'd fought.
Helena spoke.
"As expected. The sounds of fighting are coming from the outskirts instead, while the center is quiet. It's safe to assume all the monsters from the core have rushed out."
Loen muttered.
"What in the world is going on? It's like this forest is controlling the monsters...."
"It's common outside the district. So, Sir Kang Geohan Yellow? What's the plan? Are we going after the core like we talked about?"
But Kang Geohan wasn't looking at Helena.
The Pectoralis's sensory processing unit—130% more efficient than his squadmates' Giants—had detected suspicious movement.
"We don't have time to deliberate. If we're not careful, we'll get surrounded from both sides."
He could sense it clearly.
A horde of trees deep in the forest uprooting themselves, branches drooping as they began to move.
From behind, the presence of monsters forming an encirclement rustled faintly.
'What should we do?'
Press forward? Or retreat?
Kang Geohan gritted his teeth.
"They're hoping we'll fall back. That's exactly why we need to push ahead instead."
Rather than escaping the encircled forest, they would plunge deeper inside. It was terrifying. But Kang Geohan was used to challenges. Building muscle or cultivating demonic essence was a constant battle against his own limits.
"Fortunately, the trees are slow. We'll punch through them at maximum output as fast as possible. I'll take the lead... Let's destroy the core and end this."
Overclock.
As Kang Geohan murmured the command, steam began spewing from the fully heated Pectoralis.
Wooong—!
With a thunderous mana drive hum echoing out, the Pectoralis charged straight ahead.
* * *
Kwaduduk!
The deeper they went, the wilder the forest raged. Branches and roots coiled like spiderwebs, blocking the path ahead and trying to drag the Giants backward.
The group smashed through obstructing trees with their flails, batting them aside as they surged forward, forward.
When Helena crushed a troll-like tree with her flail, red blood spurted out along with chunks of wood.
Helena gritted her teeth.
"It's not just shaped like a troll. There's an actual troll inside...!"
Loen startled.
"The forest ate the monster?"
"Yeah. And now it's trying to eat us!"
Hearing that, Kang Geohan ramped up his output again. This wasn't the time to hold back.
"If our speed drops, we'll end up the same way... Push forward as fast as we can!"
Hukung—! Hukung—!
The Pectoralis blasted ahead, pulverizing the ground like it was nothing.
A dizzying speed. But any trees in the way were precisely smashed aside by the flail.
Helena, Loen, and Hakruks quickly followed the path Kang Geohan was carving.
After about five minutes of full sprint, suddenly yellow eyes rained down from the sky.
"Eyes...? No, it's pollen."
Helena looked up overhead as she said it.
Massive branches arched over them like a cathedral ceiling. In between, five moon-like flowers bloomed fully, scattering pollen like falling snow.
They had arrived at the giant tree in the forest's heart—the one harboring the core.
A trunk so thick four Giants holding hands couldn't encircle it. Branches rising as high as a twelve-story apartment.
Even among the tall trees, this one alone dominated, blotting out the sky and looming over everything.
Helena scanned the surroundings.
"The amount of pollen piled on the ground is low. It hasn't been falling long. Maybe that pollen is what's controlling the monsters and making them move."
Loen jumped in surprise.
"Controlling them? Eek! Then are we okay?"
"The Giant protection systems are absolute. Something like this pollen won't penetrate. The real issue is..."
Helena looked up at the massive tree.
"...where the core is hidden in that big tree...."
Destroying the whole tree was impossible anyway, and pointless.
They had to find and smash the core it held somewhere inside to end this.
At that moment, Kang Geohan spotted something unusual.
"Isn't that it?"
Near the tree's roots.
At a glance, it looked like just a knot protruding from the trunk.
But focusing his senses revealed it formed the shape of a person.
More precisely, a boy who looked about fifteen. Wings wrapped around his body, one hand gripping a sword jammed into the roots, fully entwined by branches and fused into the tree itself.
Helena examined the shape, then muttered in surprise.
"Celestial...?"
"Celestial?"
It was a term he'd seen a few times in books.
He only knew they were a superior race far beyond humans.
"You mean Celestial? That thing? How do you know?"
Loen asked in astonishment. Even for Loen, raised with elite freefolk education, it seemed like unknown info.
"I've seen one before."
"You've seen a Celestial? For real?"
"Yeah. That distinctive wing-shaped gear. The sword... It's definitely a Celestial. Ah, now it makes sense. Until now, this area's core must have been badly wounded by that Celestial boy's sword, limiting its activity. The training grounds staff didn't realize and mistook it for a relatively safe zone."
"So now the wound's healed, and it's active again?"
"Yeah. That's probably why the forest lured in and devoured monsters too. To recover from the injury. And... now it's using those monsters to hunt us."
Helena's insight was unmatched by anyone, allowing her to grasp the situation quickly.
And she decided on their course of action just as fast.
"The core's probably where the Celestial boy stabbed his sword. Target that spot. No need to overthink it. Celestial weapons hold terrifying power, so just shoving that exposed hilt in deep should be enough to destroy the core."
Helena turned to Kang Geohan.
"You're the one among us who can unleash the most explosive mana burst, Sir Kang Geohan Yellow. We'll clear the path, so finish off the core. Land one solid strike! We go now, no delays."
Like a commander, she instantly sorted the situation and stepped toward the giant tree.
Kudududud—!
The tree, sensing the intruders, began to move.
A twelve-story tree stretching roots and branches—it approached with unreal terror.
Could they really beat something like that?
But such worries were meaningless now.
"We support Sir Kang Geohan Yellow. Rampage as much as possible to secure space!"
"Got it!"
"I'll stake my life on it."
Hiding Kang Geohan like a dagger, Helena, Loen, and Hakruks surged forward.
* * *
It was like a green waterfall cascading down.
Green leaves glittering as branches swooped from the sky, thick roots rising from the ground.
The three Giants accelerated straight into it.
Hukung—! Hukung! Hukung!
"Opportunities won't come twice! We'll somehow open the path, so Sir Kang Geohan Yellow, you must complete the mission."
Even in the chaos, Helena—insisting on full names—led from the front.
She drew not her flail, but a 4.5-meter longsword for Giant use.
"With a sword? Slicing might be tough...."
Loen worried, but Helena replied with a faint smile.
"I've held a sword since I could walk. It's enough."
Hukung!
She leaped forward, slashing through the pouring branches and roots.
Kwajik!
Seruk!
Her swordsmanship from atop the Giant was fluid and sharp.
Branches and roots twisted wildly—hard to slice cleanly without the blade bouncing off—yet hers never lost its way.
Each swing sent massive branches crashing to the ground with thuds.
"Whoa... insane. Eek! Hakruks! More to the left! Swing wide! Watch your feet!"
Loen, who had glanced at Helena, swung his flail and charged ahead.
With her wide field of view, she corrected their twisting formation moment by moment, issuing warnings at every dangerous instant.
"Kuugh...! Uwaaaah!"
Hakruks had the weakest skills in the group. Starting late as a serf, there was no helping it. But he was tenacious and talented.
He swung his flail desperately. Never ignoring or brushing off Loen's warnings, he reacted somehow and pulled his weight.
Kwak!
Kwajik!
Kang Geohan was a bit surprised.
'Wow... is she that good?'
It was his first time seeing Helena use a sword.
Kang Geohan didn't know much about swords, but he could tell her technique was profoundly masterful.
Loen spotted gaps amid the onslaught of branches and roots, offering timely advice and bold moves to steadily clear the way.
Despite low demonic essence, Hakruks showed grit, ripping off clinging branches and roots to secure space for Kang Geohan.
Who would think these were temporary cadets?
Like salmon swimming upstream, they steadily advanced toward the core-bearing tree.
But limits arrived eventually.
The closer they got, the fiercer the tree's resistance.
Guoooo—!
With a roar like from a deep cave, the core tree uprooted stems and roots even more violently.
Chiiik—!
Steam billowed thickly from the leaves like they were on fire.
The blazing hell-tree unleashed faster, stronger attacks.
Hakruks fell first.
A thick branch coiled around his Giant and slammed it to the ground.
Hakruks tore it off and rose, but following branches and roots wrapped him tight, immobilizing him.
Kik! Kigigik!
Even as mechanical failure noises leaked from his Giant, Hakruks shouted.
"I-I'm fine! Keep going ahead!"
Next was Loen.
Entangled by the deluge of trees, merging into one with a trunk, he sent a transmission.
"Forward! Not much farther!"
Helena held out till the end. Slicing ever-multiplying branches relentlessly.
"Kraaaah!"
Teetering on collapse, she squeezed out all her strength for a massive vertical slash. Branches tore like a curtain, opening a path.
But beyond lay even more branches.
"Dieee!"
Helena wrung out her last strength, yanking her flail and hurling it ahead.
Kwajijik!
But the flail couldn't fully pierce the blocking stems and roots, caught dangling in midair.
Now Helena, Loen, and Hakruks—who had opened the path—were all stopped.
The way forward remained blocked.
Kang Geohan had to break through.
"Kang Geohan! Leap off me!"
Helena forgot even full names in her shout.
Kang Geohan didn't hesitate, stepping on Helena's Giant to leap ahead.
"Overclock."
During the path-clearing by his three squadmates, he unleashed all saved mana in one burst.
Immense mana and heat from the Giant heart. Coolant rushing to vent it.
Chiiik—!
Coolant turning to steam cooled the heart, which then surged with even greater mana and heat.
Branches and roots engulfed Kang Geohan like a vast sea. Suffocating pressure.
But like a diver swimming toward a shining surface, he swung his flail toward the target.
After losing the flail, he tore stems and roots barehanded and pressed on.
Finally, he cleared all branches.
In Kang Geohan's sight: the Celestial boy's corpse, the sword gripped tight in the boy's hand, and beyond it, a pulsing red gem-like core.
Kang Geohan squeezed every drop of mana and punched toward the core.
Kung....
Pectoralis's fist touched the Celestial boy's sword hilt.
Pushing it in fully would destroy the core. But...
'Ah....'
The barely touching fist recoiled instead. Pectoralis drifted farther from the core and sword.
'Caught.'
Fresh branches and roots had coiled around Pectoralis, pulling it away from the core.
"Failed...?"
Helena transmitted in disbelief.
Kang Geohan shook his head.
"Not yet... It hasn't ended. The Giant got caught, not me."
Kang Geohan cut synchronization and placed a hand on the cockpit hatch.
"No way... You're going out there barehanded? Celestial weapons are too much for humans to—!"
"Have to anyway!"
Kang Geohan opened the hatch.
Gooooh!
Outside was chaos.
The core tree roared like celebrating victory.
And sauna-thick steam. A steaming tree— what a ridiculous world.
"Fuck this shit!"
Trusting his 49-point strength, Kang Geohan leaped high.
Covering over ten meters in one bound, he landed beside the Celestial corpse and gripped the hilt two-handed.
The instant he grasped it, chills ran through his body.
Like first lifting the demonic essence stone, heat surged everywhere, muscles twisting.
'If only I had mana....'
Mana was down to not even 1 point.
But back as a serf in Burjoji Baron's lands, hadn't he lifted the demonic essence stone with zero mana?
Beyond mana, humanity's miracle: strength. Pure muscle power and willpower!
Kang Geohan forced his trembling body and shoved the hilt deeper.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Kwaduduk!
The tree trunk, loosened by Pectoralis's strike, fully tore open, the hilt inching inward bit by bit.
Every 0.5m the blade advanced, sweat poured like rain, vision blacking out on the verge of fainting.
Kang Geohan endured thanks to 49-point strength and 117-point willpower.
Each blackout, he puffed his belly full, bit his lips till blood flowed, and held on.
The blade crept in until finally snagging on something.
Crack! A splitting sensation reached his fingertips.
Guooooh—!
The core tree screamed.
Then, like the sky collapsing.
Kugugung!
Writhing green branches slammed into the ground in unison. Branches and roots holding the Giants went limp like dead snakes.
"Wh-what? What's happening?"
"The monsters are suddenly panicking!?"
"The moving trees are falling!"
"What? Comms are working?"
Transmissions flooded noisily from trainees fighting across the forest.
In the monster forest, all anomalies vanished.
At the same time,
"Huh? Flowers are blooming...."
"Wait, this is...?"
Illuminating the dark woods, glowing flowers began blooming one by one on every branch.
Conquered zones transformed beautifully and abundantly, as if rewarding the efforts.
The monster forest bloomed with sweet-scented flowers.
The mark of conquest.