Titan (2)
Titan (2)
As Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon went to help the people, only Linnea and I, who had nothing to do, remained in our spots.
Linnea asked with an expression that seemed somewhat restless.
"Is it alright if I do not assist them?"
"Why? Do you want to fight too?"
"Well, they are Giants, after all."
"Right. They are Giants."
Before the Nine Worlds began their walk down the path of destruction, if one were to ask who clashed the most with the Giants of Jotunheim, the answer would undoubtedly be those bastards from Asgard.
The conflicts between the residents of those two worlds were so frequent that even I, living in Niflheim, would hear the news and go to watch.
And Linnea is a Valkyrie who belonged to Asgard.
It was perhaps natural for her hands to itch at the sight of a Giant.
However, I had no intention of deploying Linnea into that fight immediately.
"Let's see how much those two have grown over the past few weeks. For now, stay still."
"I understand..."
Linnea, who had been fidgeting with the desire to fight, gave up at my firm decision and sat down beside me.
I turned my gaze to watch the two of them fight.
Shin Su-ah, who stepped forward first, donned her Valkyrie armor and blocked the Giant's attack.
Perhaps annoyed by the human who kept dodging here and there, the Giant swung its fist in a fit of rage, but Shin Su-ah parried it to the side with a single sword stroke.
To think she could parry the fist of a Giant whose size differed by dozens of times.
Next, it was Shin Su-ah's turn after blocking the attack.
Drawing out dense Magic Power from her sword and wrapping it sharply around the blade, she aimed for the Giant's wrist.
The foolish Giant, perhaps thinking Shin Su-ah's attack was similar to that of other humans, didn't even think to dodge properly and took it head-on, causing a fountain of blood to spray from its wrist.
"Gwaaaah-! It- hurts-!"
The Giant clutched its mangled arm and cried out in pain.
However, a wound of that level was not enough to be considered a fatal injury for a Giant.
The blood that had been pouring out like a fountain from the wrist gradually slowed down, and soon the wound began to heal.
"Hmph. That endless vitality is one of the most annoying things about Giants."
Just as Linnea said, a Giant's monstrous vitality is so exceptional that ordinary wounds heal in an instant.
Therefore, to kill a Giant, one must aim for a proper vital spot, not just a wrist.
Although the wound was recovering, the fact that a proper attack had landed for the first time prompted the Expedition Team to follow up, firing magic or attacks made of crudely condensed Magic Power from a distance.
The Expedition Team's attacks were only enough to obscure the Giant's vision and cause slight burns on its skin, but that was sufficient.
And while the others were buying time, Baek Yeon lowered her stance and gathered a massive amount of Magic Power at the tip of her spear.
The purple Magic Power gathered at the tip of her spear rotated in a spiral.
"Die. Monster."
Baek Yeon muttered coldly and threw the spear as if snapping it forward.
Leaving an afterimage of purple Magic Power, the spear transformed into a single line and flew high into the sky.
The spear that flew high into the sky aimed for the Giant's right eye, which was revealed through the mist.
The spear embedded itself deep within the eye.
"Gueeeeeeeek!!"
As the spear pierced its eye, the Giant cried out in agony and brought its fingers to its eye to pull out the embedded weapon, but Baek Yeon's attack did not end there.
Kwaaaaang!!
A Magic Power explosion occurred from the embedded spear, blowing away part of the Giant's head.
The explosion that occurred inside the eye was fatal even for a Giant, and the Giant, with part of its head gone, lost focus in its eyes and collapsed.
When Baek Yeon reached out her hand, the spear that was stuck in the Giant's eye returned to her hand.
It was the function of the retrieval magic Linnea had placed on her spear.
When the Giant finally fell, Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon turned back toward us with confident expressions.
The way they puffed out their chests as if seeking praise was quite cute.
However, it was too early to praise the two of them, as the fight was not yet over.
Other Giants, having heard the first one, began to slowly reveal themselves.
Some were of a similar size to the one they just killed, and some were even larger.
Three Giants appeared in that manner.
The Expedition Team, having already fired several wide-area attacks while dealing with the previous Giant, did not have enough Magic Power left to handle three more, so the only effective combatants remaining were Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon.
If the fight continued like this, casualties were guaranteed.
It's about time I stepped in.
I stood up from my seat, stepped forward, and said.
"Everyone, step back."
The faces of the Expedition Team, which had been filled with despair at the appearance of the new Giants, brightened at my appearance.
Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon moved the others back and stood in front of them as if protecting the Expedition Team.
Since there was nothing to hold me back now, I released the power I had been suppressing, flaunting it in all directions as I soared into the sky.
Even though it's an avatar, releasing my power without worrying about my surroundings for the first time in a while feels quite refreshing, both physically and mentally.
The Giants' gazes gathered on me as I flew into the sky.
"Dra- Dragon!"
"It's a Dragon! Run!"
The Giants, gripped by fear at the sudden appearance of a Dragon, began to back away.
But that was only for a moment; one Giant shouted.
"It is okay! It is a weak Dragon!"
"It is true! It is a small and weak Dragon!"
Realizing that my size was even smaller compared to the humans, they regained their fighting spirit.
What? Small and weak?
For mere half-baked Giants to evaluate me.
I'll make you regret it.
—Kwoooooooooo!!
Letting out a massive roar that was hard to believe came from such a small body, I first increased my size.
My body, which had been growing, stopped after becoming large enough to reach about their waists, though still small compared to the Giants.
This much is enough.
In the first place, the reason I grew my body was just to match the weight class; I could have killed those half-baked fools even in my tiny state.
"The Dragon got bigger! Amazing!"
"It is okay! It is still smaller than us!"
Toward the Giants who were still ignoring me, I swung my sharp claws and grabbed one of their heads.
"Ah-ah! It hurts!"
As my claws dug into its scalp, the Giant struggled to pull me off in agony.
However, the Giant's strength was not enough to destroy my scales, so I ignored it and applied more strength to my legs, and Pung!—the Giant's head exploded.
"D-Dead!"
The scream of another Giant who was approaching to help the one whose head was grabbed.
I trampled over the body of the dead Giant whose head was gone and grabbed another Giant by the neck.
Then, I opened my mouth toward the remaining Giant and breathed out poison, taking care not to affect the Expedition Team.
Kwaaaaaaa!!
The Giant hit by the poison couldn't even scream as everything above its neck melted away and disappeared.
As expected of my poison.
It's a bit weaker because this is an avatar, but that actually made it easier to control so it wouldn't affect the Expedition Team.
Now, only one Giant remained, the one I held by the neck.
The last remaining Giant, perhaps terrified after seeing the other two die so miserably, couldn't even resist properly, so I grabbed its head and upper body and pulled in opposite directions.
"To think a Giant would be consumed by fear."
Even calling them half-baked is a waste of words.
Ppudeudeuk!
Under my immense strength, the neck and body were separated, and I crushed the Giant, whose spine had been pulled out, like clay.
In less than a minute, I had killed all three Giants and reduced my body size again.
When I returned to where the Expedition Team was in my smaller form, the Expedition Team, horrified by the sight of me killing the Giants, stood with their mouths agape, unable to close them.
"Good work-nim."
"It was nothing."
Passing by Baek Yeon, who was looking at me with sparkling eyes, I spoke to the stunned Expedition Team.
"The rest of you, go back now."
"Ye-Yes?"
"I said go back. As you can see, this is not a level you can handle. Go back and wait outside the Gate."
"B-But the exploration..."
"We will take over. We will share the internal exploration information after the investigation, so go out and wait."
Even if we continued the investigation with the Expedition Team, their skills would only lead to casualties.
Therefore, for the sake of preventing casualties and to move around the Gate comfortably, it was better for them to return.
The Expedition Team also seemed to realize that it wouldn't be strange for someone to die if they continued like this, so they nodded at my words and prepared to retreat.
Since it would be a disaster if they encountered a Giant on their way back while hurriedly organizing themselves, I accompanied them to the Gate exit.
"Then, we leave the Gate investigation to you."
"Don't worry, just go back and rest."
With the Expedition Team gone, finally, only the four of us, including myself, remained.
"Now, let's start the hunt properly."
"Let's go back and take the Cores out of the dead Giants' corpses first!"
"I will do my absolute best."
"Is it alright if I fight this time as well?"
"Yes, yes. You fight too, go ahead."
The four of us retraced our steps to where the Giants' corpses were, and I pulled out the round Cores from inside the Giants' hearts.
The Cores, which looked like large pearls, held a massive amount of power within themselves.
Since they were half-baked Giants, I was worried there might be some defect, but they looked fine on the outside. As planned, let's ask Ratatoskr later before eating them.
After recovering the Giant's Cores, we thoroughly searched the inside of the Gate to find the Iron Blood Herbs.
In the process, we encountered other Giants, and the three of them took care of all of them.
As the battles repeated, both Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon became increasingly proficient at killing Giants.
Not to mention Linnea, who is a Valkyrie.
Fighting and walking, fighting and walking, we continued to repeat this as we went deep into the Gate.
"There are the Iron Blood Herbs!"
"Oh, finally."
After taking down more than ten Giants, we finally discovered the Iron Blood Herbs.
The blood-red flowers didn't have as much power as a Giant's Core, but I could still feel a certain energy from them.
"I think we've done enough exploration, so let's just take the Iron Blood Herbs and head back."
"Yes!"
Shin Su-ah approached the Iron Blood Herbs and collected all seven flowers blooming there, roots and all.
Exploration, hunting, collection.
Since we had done everything we could inside this Gate, all that was left was to return.
Since there was no rush, we walked slowly toward the Gate exit, hunting any Giants we encountered along the way.
By the time the number of Giants we had hunted reached about twenty.
Kugugugugung!!
The inside of the Gate shook violently.
Jjeojeok!
Watching the ground crack and the sky tremble, Shin Su-ah muttered.
"A Gate Mutation...?"
"What?"
A Gate that had already undergone a mutation could change again?
If so, what on earth would pop out if a mutation occurred in a Gate that had already received an SS-rank?
But before I could even ask about it, an aura incomparable to the Giants we had faced until now was detected from the direction of the Gate exit.
"Just what has appeared...?"
That's exactly what I want to ask.