The Angel of Protection and the Witch's Power (4)
The moment the giant's massive hand reached for Cloud like a helpless microbe, Sylvia sprinted over like the wind and swung her sword with ferocious momentum straight at the giant's thick wrist.
“Taaat!”
Fwoosh!
The blade sliced into the giant's skin, yet the wound was only shallow. No critical hit. The giant felt a prickling sting and quickly raised his wrist to inspect it, his eyes watering slightly.
“Ai... it’s bleeding...?”
Sylvia cried out urgently.
“Cloud! I’ll handle this guy! Get somewhere safe nearby!”
“Oh, got it!”
Cloud immediately dodged, inwardly sighing in admiration. Sylvia was already unleashing bluish sword energy from the hilt of her sword. Even wielding a plain, unadorned blade, she could wield such skills. Sylvia was truly incredible. The knight within him felt proud.
But even that thought lasted only a moment. The Cloud who had been dashing with all his strength tilted his head.
“Huh? This scene... I’ve felt like I’ve seen it somewhere before. What’s going on?”
Suddenly, memories of meeting the cyclops flashed back. Back then, too, Sylvia had appeared like lightning to save him just like now.
“Uuuung? Did you come to be eaten first?”
The cyclops rubbed his throbbing wrist and flashed a sticky smile at Sylvia.
“Then I’ll eat you first. Human girls taste like makeup—kinda gross—but the flesh is so soft and chewy, it’s got a nice flavor, you know~”
Forgetting the pain from moments ago, the cyclops’s mouth watered instantly at the sight of Sylvia, and he reached out again.
“Now’s my chance!”
Sylvia thought, slapping the cyclops’s open palm hard with the flat of her sword.
“Ouch! That stings!”
The cyclops flinched and yanked his hand back. Seeing blood flow from his palm, his face twisted in anger.
“How dare you hit me! You’re dead, girl! Grr... gnash gnash...”
He clenched his two fists until his eyes turned bloodshot, then gnashed his teeth noisily. He raised both arms and slammed them down with earth-shaking force toward where Sylvia stood.
A massive earthquake struck. Fortunately, Sylvia had already dodged earlier and stood far enough away. She kept throwing rocks to provoke the cyclops, who kept chasing her while trying to crush buildings in his path.
“Come here, you fat giant!”
“You! Over there! If I catch you, I’ll chew you up with a crunch!”
The ground shook violently. The cyclops smashed through buildings like a rabbit and chased after Sylvia, who darted away desperately.
“You can’t run forever!”
The cyclops closed in with his long strides and raised his leg high to stomp on her.
The shadow of his foot completely engulfed Sylvia. She instinctively leaped sideways. The moment the massive foot slammed into the ground, violent vibrations rocked the earth and she felt herself floating for a split second before crashing back down with a heavy impact.
“Grr...”
It was a dream to even imagine fighting the cyclops. Running was probably impossible too. He was fast for his size, and Sylvia lacked proper equipment. Just a normal sword and her outdoor clothes, she had been accumulating damage from every attack—clothing torn, skin scraped by rubble, bruises from flying debris. Without sturdy armor, she was psychologically strained. She kept dodging frantically instead of counterattacking confidently.
And then...
“Ugh!”
A small wooden splinter from the building the cyclops had thrown earlier struck her forehead and fell away. The skin split open, blood flowing down in a steady stream.
“If you keep running, you won’t get away!”
The cyclops had chased her relentlessly and raised his leg again. Just then, blood from her forehead poured into her left eye, blocking her vision. Suddenly blinded, her body jerked, balance lost, and she collapsed forward.
She had been a fool to think she could take on the giant alone from the start. A fear of death—her first time feeling it after graduating from the knight academy and facing Cloud—overwhelmed her.
“Tch!”
At the sudden sight of Cloud, rage surged. She poured her strength anew. Closing her left eye tightly to block the blood, she held her breath. Just as she was about to rise, a scream pierced the air.
“Kyaaak! Kyueeek!”
The cyclops screamed first. He had been about to stomp on Sylvia when an arrow suddenly struck, blinding both his eyes. He covered the bleeding eyes with both hands and howled.
“It hurts! It hurts so much!”
Sylvia, who had been saved by someone’s help, looked up frantically and scanned her surroundings. In the distance, the same elf from earlier was firing an arrow at the cyclops from the rooftop.
“He’s helping me...?”
The thought of gratitude flashed, but Sylvia bit her lip. She was grateful, yet she didn’t want to owe anyone. Ever since first seeing that elf, an uneasy feeling had grown instead of relief. She was human, he was elf. And human men preferred elven women. Their pure, radiant beauty made them a target of envy for human men. She had heard the stories countless times from her male classmates at the knight academy and knew it well. But the problem was she suspected Cloud was one of those men.
“I can’t lose!”
She clenched her fists and gathered fresh energy. In the chaos, the blinded cyclops swung his arms wildly.
“Little things really piss me off! You’re annoying! Annoying! So annoying!”
Every punch shattered buildings. Debris rained down from the sky.
“Don’t make me angry! Uwaaaah!”
The monster roared. The shockwave shattered nearby glass with cracking sounds.
Sylvia saw her opening and charged at the cyclops’s right ankle, spraying sword energy.
“Hoo.”
She poured out even fiercer sword energy than before, intending one decisive strike. Focusing her mind while the cyclops roared and let his guard down, she raised the glowing blue sword high with both hands. ‘If I strike like this, the ankle will be severed.’ No fear in her eyes—only unyielding will. Her final blow would tear the giant’s skin!
“Haaaaap!”
The sharp slash sliced through the air and hammered down on the giant’s unprotected ankle.
“Thud!”
Instead of the expected shattering sound, an empty ‘thud’ echoed. Sylvia let out a sound herself. It wasn’t a clean slice—it was a flat ‘thud’? She was the first to notice. Her full-powered strike had bounced back like a wooden rod hitting solid rock. In that moment of despair, a cold realization hit: ‘I’m going to die now.’
And then, like salt on the wound, when the blade touched the cyclops’s skin, instead of slicing cleanly, the terrifying impact sent her wrist throbbing. In short, the cyclops’s skin—already furious—had grown even harder. A normal sword couldn’t possibly cut it.
“It doesn’t hurt at all! You keep picking on me! Since I’m angry, you better be ready! You...!”
The words dripped with rage. Sylvia looked up blankly. The cyclops loomed over her, blood streaming from his eyes, revealing razor-sharp fangs.
“Uwaaaah!”
He unleashed a roar that froze the heart, then raised his fist. Sylvia’s body went limp with despair. It was already too late to run. She stood frozen, trembling at the sight of the giant towering above.
It was terrifying. Up close, the giant looked like the Grim Reaper himself. The teeth in his wide-open maw were as sharp as executioner’s blades, and his roar that could split ears drained her soul.
Her body froze at the roar, unable to move a finger. But she was not alone.
“Sylvia!”
Just as the cyclops’s fist was about to fall, Cloud rushed in and shoved her body aside with all his strength. Because her body was drained of strength, Sylvia was knocked flying and rolled across the ground. The impact jolted her awake. She looked up in panic—Cloud lay collapsed at the spot she had just stood.
And in that instant, the shadow of death fell over his head. The giant’s massive fist was coming down.
“No!”
A pained voice escaped her. She grimaced and shouted desperately even though escape was already impossible.
“Run! Get out of the way, Cloud!”
He didn’t look afraid of death. Instead, he grinned.
“See? This time I didn’t run away. I tried to help you. No matter what...”
BOOM!
The cyclops’s fiery fist slammed down onto the spot where Cloud had been sitting.
“Cloud! Hic... hic...”
Sylvia lowered her head and wiped her tears. His smiling face as he faced death with such lightness tore at her heart.
“You were a person too...”
She sobbed, thinking of Cloud. He had feelings for others. Why had such a person done such horrible things in the past?
“You lived a poor, pathetic life, but rest in peace...”
“Sylvia!”
An all-too-familiar voice suddenly reached her ears. It was Cloud’s voice, as if he were dead. What? How was Cloud’s voice coming from somewhere?
The cyclops was dead, right? Sylvia wiped her tears with the back of her hand and looked toward the sound.
He was smiling perfectly.
“Since you’re still alive, stop treating me like a ghost!”
“Wh-what?!”
Sylvia jumped in surprise, stunned. Cloud had safely escaped to a corner, still in one piece, smiling and waving at her.
“How did you avoid the giant’s fist at that life-or-death moment?”
“How did I end up alive?”
Cloud laughed with a grin.