Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: White Giant (3)
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[———!!]
The roar, brimming with the giant's fury and murderous intent, spread out heavily, shaking the world around it.
Rumble—! Crunch! Boom—!
And it didn't stop there—the ground cracked and crumbled from its ceaseless thrashing, triggering earthquakes.
“Krahat! This bastard's still got plenty of fight left in him!”
Harley let out a refreshing burst of laughter as he sat atop the giant's head with his ten-ton frame.
Still using Jewel Eye: Coercion at full power to keep the thing pinned down.
Of course, completely suppressing this behemoth—hundreds of tons and the size of a ten-story building—was impossible even for him.
But since its body was humanoid, the process it needed to stand up was obvious, wasn't it?
'I'm pretty well-versed in human anatomy myself.'
Having remodeled his own body firsthand, he'd gained an extensive knowledge of human anatomy whether he wanted to or not.
For him, zeroing in on and disrupting just the motions required to rise was child's play.
'Still, it'll consume a ton of energy, so I doubt it'll hold for long. But I've bought enough time for the people to evacuate.'
On top of that, using vital force infused with 'madness' to activate Jewel Eye: Coercion was proving far more efficient against the giant, just as he'd predicted.
Otherwise, pinning it down would've drained even more strength.
Ruuuuumble—
But it looked like even that was finally reaching its limit.
“Whoa there! This guy's got a short fuse! Coulda stayed down a bit longer, y'know!”
The giant finally planted both hands on the ground and began raising its upper body bit by bit.
Harley, who had been pressing down on the back of its head with his overwhelming mass, casually stood up.
And sure enough.
Whoosh—!
A massive white hand—roughly the same size as Harley's fully transformed body—came flying at him with a vicious whoosh of displaced air.
“Nyah!”
Of course, there was no way Harley would let such a straightforward attack land. He lightly dodged the swipe and dropped to the ground.
Still, thanks to the time he'd bought, Isea had personally evacuated the people. Now, the only ones left nearby were Harley himself and...
“Hmph. I figured as much to some degree. Destroying the internals has barely any effect. But who would've thought it'd shrug off a crushed heart like that.”
“Kuh... I can't even tell if my attacks are getting through.”
...Heinrich and Geos, who had been zealously carving up the giant's torso during that brief interval.
“Kahat! Guess we gotta go for the head after all? I tried smashing it nonstop while riding up there earlier, but it's way too tough—and crammed full of madness. Couldn't make a dent right away. If it's guarded that heavily, it has to be the weak spot, right?”
Harley lumbered over to stand beside his comrades, casually laying it out as he went.
Heinrich and Geos were fairly tall themselves, but next to him, the height difference was so extreme they looked like an adult and a child.
...Not that it made much difference in front of that giant.
Before them loomed the white giant, now fully upright, glaring down with a face twisted in rage.
Staring up at it from point-blank range blotted out the sky entirely, shadows spilling across everything.
[——?! ——!]
'Hmm. Yeah, it looks pretty damn pissed.'
Its vast muscles swollen to the max, fierce vibrations rumbling nonstop from its writhing throat.
And it had completely ignored the orphanage group it'd chased at first—its gaze was locked solely on the hero party... or more precisely, Heinrich and Harley.
Just like that sentiment.
Swipe—! Boom!
A hand reared high came crashing down like a bolt of lightning, pulverizing the area around where they'd been standing.
Of course, the group wasn't about to eat such a predictable attack. The battle resumed in much the same pattern as before.
'This giant's definitely sharp... but not rational enough to use it effectively. Well, makes sense—it's a monster that crawled up from the abyss.'
It had somehow understood human speech, sifted info from their conversations, and zeroed in on targets that could serve as their weaknesses.
Hell, it'd even turned that around on them, showing real cunning to gain combat advantages.
'Rushing straight to the actual village was still an irrational call, though.'
Hostages only have value while they're alive.
Once you kill them, all you do is stoke the enemy's rage—nothing left behind...
'Wait. Really nothing?'
The thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
This was a monster from the abyss.
Was it right to judge its actions by ordinary standards?
'If not, then what it stands to gain is...'
When a specific target meets their end, whoever witnesses it will rage.
Others will grieve, despair, grow cynical toward the world—maybe even snap and go mad, refusing to accept reality.
'Negative emotions, every last one.'
And for beings of the abyss, those minus emotions weren't just some power boost.
'They elevate the entity's very existence... a means to absorb evil karma and grow stronger.'
He knew that better than anyone.
Because—
'...Hans is the same way.'
Immortal King Hannibal Strauss—Hans for short.
Past Immortal Kings had been consumed by their mission to drown the world in death, invading the continent time and again.
Hans could block that impulse thanks to Mind Hub, but he knew full well how strong that coercive force was.
He'd felt it indirectly multiple times through the fragments, and he'd even accessed the info left by the previous Immortal King's lingering thoughts.
'And that previous one's evil karma lives on in Hans right now.'
When an Immortal King passes on their mantle, the successor inherits a portion of the predecessor's accumulated evil karma, growing even stronger.
Granted, as crystallized essences of death dredged from the abyss, they were mighty from the start too.
The first gen—the greatest mage of his era—had burned half the continent to ash, even ambushing them at their most defenseless.
The second gen, a third-rate black mage who'd stumbled into the heart by sheer luck, had annihilated the continent's western half after preparations were complete.
'Not that this giant seems capable of passing on evil karma...'
But the key point was that this white giant right in front of him could grow stronger under conditions much like the Immortal King's.
'...They planning to manufacture a second Immortal King?'
Heinrich scowled without realizing it as he swung his sword.
He was dead certain that what was happening here wasn't some natural occurrence.
This wasn't some entity drifting on the border—it was a monster that belonged at the abyss's depths, yet it'd torn through a scar and burst out.
And it was laden with a massive dose of madness to boot.
The identity of whoever orchestrated this was plain as day.
'Oath of Reverse Heaven. The one holding the abyss-extracted vessel of madness. They must've pulled some scheme.'
That line of thinking made the giant's appearance here—right now—seem far from coincidental.
Sure, the Lesk Kingdom was ground zero for the final clash with the second Immortal King, scarred heavily by the abyss as a result. But the timing was still too perfect.
'...Targeting me, the saint Heinrich? Or maybe drawn by the madness inside Harley.'
It could've been pure chance, but at this point, the reason didn't matter.
'...I'll just end it right here, decisively, before it can grow any further.'
Heinrich's eyes gleamed as he swung his holy sword, while Harley's sharpened as he tore into the giant's flesh with his claws.
[“I'll provide support now too! I've gathered not just the orphanage folks but the villagers as well, set up a temporary barrier in a safe spot—they shouldn't get swept up anymore.”]
[“Perfect. No more worries. Shall we finish this thing off for good?”]
Just then, word came that Isea—who'd stepped away—had returned.
They'd fully grasped the giant's abilities, and there was nothing left worth fretting over.
Whoosh— Thud!
The giant's massive right foot came stomping down at Harley once more.
But by the time it hit the ground, he'd already circled behind it.
He'd moved so fast that the dust cloud trailing his path hadn't even settled yet.
Crouched low like a beast on the ground, Harley curled his lips, baring his vicious fangs.
Crunch! Screech—!
Metallic shrieks leaked from muscles compressed to their absolute limit as the Mad Dragon’s Heart pulsed without cease, whipping high-density energy through his entire body.
“Kruhahat! First off...!”
His engravings and bio-aura—along with 'madness'—casually ignored his body’s limits, reinforcing it even as they began breaking it down.
Super Regeneration was the only thing keeping his necrotizing cells intact.
“Let's get on eye level first, pal!”
The thigh muscles laced with genes from a mutant minotaur he'd once acquired ballooned massively.
And with both hands dug into the ground, he yanked hard.
Boom—!
Harley's body rocketed forward like a missile.
Straight at the giant's right ankle.
Thud—!
A heavy impact rang out. The giant's leg buckled, its body swaying.
No matter that it weighed hundreds of tons—Harley was no lightweight either.
When a body like his slammed into a humanoid weak point like a missile, the outcome was a given.
The giant tried to brace on its left leg for a moment...
“Hup!”
Slash—
But the spot was already gashed up, and Heinrich's perfectly timed sword stroke turned that effort to dust.
[———?!]
In the end, the giant began toppling toward the side Harley had struck.
The instant it instinctively thrust out a hand to catch itself—
“Huuuh—.”
Geos took a deep breath and raised his spear—
Then, in a flash, unleashed over a dozen thrusts into the air.
His attacks up till now had healed in mere seconds, doing little to the giant.
But—
Boom—!
—it was more than enough time to shatter the wrist reaching for the ground and send the hand tumbling away.
[———!!]
The earth screamed. A massive shockwave swept the surroundings as the giant let out a screech, body twisting.
As it propped itself with its intact left hand and strained to push off the barely regenerating right one, raising its upper body—
Wooong—
Mana resonated with a hum, and Isea's gravity magic activated once more, bearing down on it.
A flawless combo attack, synced through cultivated teamwork and their shared telepathy magic.
[“The giant's magic resistance is high—it won't hold long!”]
[“Kahat! This is plenty! Right into the next one!”]
[“...Huh? You've gotta be more specific if you want me to match you!”]
But the rest? Harley just charged ahead to demonstrate with his body.
He bolted toward the giant's head, then leaped upward with everything he had.
“Hyah—!”
[“Ah? W-wait a sec! If you go into that range now, even you'll get—”]
“Uhahat! That's exactly what I'm after!”
Hands clenched tight behind his back, spine arched like a drawn bow.
In that posture, he plummeted from the sky, accelerated by gravity.
And drove both hands down with his full weight behind them.
Rooooomble!
Just like before, the massive head smashed into the ground again.
It was the equivalent of a hammer weighing tens of tons smashing straight into it—of course that happened.
[“Are you okay?! Even for someone as tough as you, that's too reckless!”]
[“Mm... feeling a bit sore.”]
Harley, who'd led the body-slam charge, couldn't ignore the impact entirely either.
But he just shook out his hands a few times before peering down at the head pinned beneath him once more.
“Familiar setup. Real nostalgic sight! Alright, now to smash this thing.”
As if it were old hat the second time around, he activated Jewel Eye: Coercion to hinder the giant's movements and tapped the ground.
Its skull was so damn tough that even a direct hit from his 'ultimate gravity hammer' had only dented it slightly.
[“...How about we try severing the neck first?”]
[“Oh? Not bad, chief!”]
[“Then allow me.”]
But as expected of a vital spot, slicing the neck wasn't easy either.
Not that it changed much—it just took a little longer.
The giant did break free midway and rampage once more, but it couldn't hold out and soon collapsed again, neck parted from body.
And at long last.
'Oh? Jackpot.'
Harley grinned in satisfaction, the reward for all their efforts now in hand.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Azerion Empire's western border region.
“Gaaah!”
“What the hell is this monster?! How are we supposed to take down something like that?!”
A veritable massacre was unfolding at one of the garrisons there.
Hundreds of elite soldiers lay dead already—including a Master-class knight who had been the unit's commander.
“Retreat! Fall back! Informing the legion comes first!”
“No way! If that thing breaks loose and hits a city, it's total annihilation!”
“But there's nothing we can do! Prioritize sending out warnings!”
In the end, the officers pushed a reckless retreat at heavy cost—but they achieved their goal of spreading the word.
Not without the tragedy of over ninety percent of the troops dying in the process, though.
And the architect of that slaughter... the colossal white giant standing amid a sea of blood and corpses.
Drip— Plop!
It reveled in solitary ecstasy, feeling the stifling seal that had bound it finally loosen.
Of course, not all restraints were gone.
Only the seal plugging one nostril had opened.
[Huuuup—]
But even that was immense joy for it.
At the very least, it could breathe properly now.
As the giant drew a deep breath, the surrounding air was sucked in at tremendous speed, filling its lungs to the brim.
And then...
[Huuuu—]
From that one nostril.
Fwoosh—
A virulent poison capable of corroding anything spread in all directions.