Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Chapter 71 Weakness
'The timing worked out just right.'
[Time remaining until the next floor opens: 0 hours 2 minutes]
If I had been just a little later, I would have had to wait for the next opportunity, but I managed to match the timing by a hair's breadth.
I asked Eve, who was jumping around excitedly.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it so much! With this, I think I could go even higher!"
It seems she's instinctively feeling the power of the Divine Art. The might that will lead her to even higher realms.
"That's good then. Now that this is the final trial of the Testing Floors, you'll have many opportunities to be active going forward. I'm looking forward to it."
Once the Testing Floors are over, there will be no reason not to use her power anymore.
I've raised her diligently, so I should utilize her more actively.
"Yes!"
After sending her to the subspace, I also threw my body toward the red portal that appeared in front.
The place I arrived at after crossing the portal was a massive temple filled with brilliant light.
'What are they going to make me do here?'
Since the temple is the setting this time, they probably won't make me play a Demon King or anything.
[Testing Floor Hell Difficulty 10th Floor Trial.]
[Choose three from among the Constellations showing interest in you and complete the missions given by the Constellations.]
[During the Testing Floor progression, the use of Limit-Breaking stats, Authority, and Manifestation is restricted.]
[Due to the penalty, the trial's rewards are further enhanced.]
[You can obtain additional rewards depending on the chosen Constellation and mission difficulty.]
A trial to choose three from among the Constellations showing interest and complete the missions they give.
Just reading the text, it seems quite straightforward, but it definitely didn't seem like it would be easy.
'I wonder what kind of missions these folks will give me.'
Considering the tendencies of the Constellations I've seen so far, most Constellations will definitely raise the difficulty to the maximum allowed by the Tower like crazy and give missions.
But since better additional rewards can be received with higher difficulty, it seemed better to choose Constellations that would likely give high-difficulty missions.
For the sake of growth, I'm Han Yeong-min who can do anything.
After waiting for a moment, a message appeared before my eyes.
[Analyzing Constellations showing interest in you.]
[Constellation List]
Baal, Zeus, Agares, Indra, Odin, Earth God, Vasago, Shakyamuni, Yahweh, Agni, Athena, Thor, Paimon, God of Murim, Andromalius, Poseidon...
A truly countless number of Constellations appeared before my eyes, so many that counting them was meaningless.
Just reading them was enough to make my eyes hurt.
I had roughly expected this when I saw the message about all those from Pantheon and Pandemonium, but there were way too many even for that.
'Still, the people I'm going to choose are already decided.'
Even if I don't know about others, Zeus and Odin are fixed choices for now.
Based on the first round, they were the gods most active in the massacre of Earth's people.
Also, the calculation that such guys would give missions with higher difficulty than others helped with the selection.
[Do you want to select Zeus as the target for the first mission?]
[Yes / No.]
When I pressed Yes without hesitation, a portal appeared before my eyes.
[One of the gods from Pantheon brags, telling others to look at this.]
[Some among those from Pantheon and Pandemonium become dejected.]
'What? Did you guys make bets on who I'd choose or something?'
The Constellations' reactions were unusual.
But I had already decided on my answer, and their reactions weren't reason enough to change my choice.
If Mom lost money, that's unfortunate. Well.
I might get scolded when I go up, but that's a matter for later.
When I threw my body into the new portal, it was a rocky mountain with large rocks scattered about, and there was something of tremendous size.
A monster of overwhelming size where I had to crane my neck to the maximum and look up just to barely see the outline of its face.
It was truly worthy of being called a giant.
[Zeus's Mission.]
[Defeat the Gigas.]
"You want me to fight that thing?"
The largest among those I'd seen was the Dragon, one of my best friends.
But the giant called Gigas was more than twice as large as that Dragon.
Even by simple comparison, there was a difference of dozens of times in weight class between us.
And it didn't wait for me to analyze it. Immediately, a massive foot struck at me with tremendous speed.
"KUGH!"
A kick that flew with tremendous power and matching speed, as if that heavy body was filled entirely with muscle.
I raised my guard belatedly, but my arm bones and ribs broke simultaneously through the guard, and my body flew like lightning and was embedded somewhere in the rocky mountain.
BANG!
The broken bones began to mend immediately with the power of Immortality, but the damage accumulated in my body didn't disappear all at once.
'Hey, if you're that big and fast too, isn't that cheating?'
Some people think that if something has a large build, it should be slow, but that's a misconception.
To support and move such a tremendously large body, you need an equally tremendous amount of muscle and strength.
Since strength is speed, the giant's movements were fast enough to be difficult to dodge.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Gigas approaching me embedded in the rocky mountain at high speed.
But now I had no intention of just taking it.
I laid traps on the way with Spirit Arts and Black Magic and simultaneously stacked dozens of debuffs on it.
But perhaps its resistance was good too, as its speed and strength were reduced only by an extremely small amount, and every trap it stepped on broke without hindering the opponent at all.
No matter how much the bones and blood controlled by Black Magic tried to grab its ankles, it wasn't enough to bind Gigas's feet.
Even the spirits' magic had difficulty inflicting even scratches.
The power was such that resistance couldn't even develop.
This time it stomped down with its sole toward the rock where I was embedded, and perhaps because it was slightly affected by the debuffs, I was able to dodge my body before the sole touched.
CRASH!
A large rock was shattered to pieces with a single kick.
If I had stayed in that spot, wouldn't my body have been crushed flat?
For now, a frontal confrontation was impossible.
If I fought that thing with strength against strength like with Gromdain, I'd be booking a ticket to the afterlife right away.
While it was looking around to find me, I immediately threw a full-power punch from its heel toward the Achilles.
CLANG!
I definitely hit its body, but a sound like hitting a metal lump came back along with tremendous recoil.
Still, it wasn't invincible, as it was slightly wounded, and I injected as much Demonic Energy and poison as possible into it while searing the outside with Hellfire to prevent easy regeneration.
The Demonic Energy, poison, and Hellfire that burrowed into its body began to torment Gigas.
But it didn't even make a light groan as if this much was nothing and struck me behind with its heel strongly.
Since it wasn't a posture where it could kick with full force, it was much weaker than the earlier kick, but even deflecting it as much as possible with the Mysteries of Flow, I couldn't prevent my arm from breaking.
I put as much strength into my feet as possible, so I avoided being sent flying, but I was still pushed back dozens of meters.
'This is why they keep saying Transcendent Species, Transcendent Species, really.'
Estelle wasn't calling Transcendent Species overpowered for no reason. Unreasonable beings guaranteed to have such overwhelming specs from birth.
I was grinding my teeth at that irrationality, but it was actually more interesting.
The stronger the opponent, the more my fighting spirit blazes.
"Hey, Baldy! Try again!"
I enhanced my voice with Internal Energy so it could reach those ears and shouted as loudly as possible.
Then it turned around and reached me in one bound, striking down at my head with its fist.
'It's actually better to take this one?'
If it was a kick, my body might explode in one hit, so I tried to avoid it at all costs, but a fist was manageable.
BANG! CRACK!
I blocked the fist with all my might, but my arm bones broke once again and my body was embedded deep in the ground.
'Gnome, let's go.'
This was why I took its attack. If I moved underground like this, it wouldn't notice.
Guided by the Earth Spirits, I moved to its heel again.
I attacked the area I had seared earlier once more with full power, making an even deeper wound and injecting plenty of Demonic Energy and poison.
Certainly, since it was the second time, it seemed to feel pain as I could see its face contorting in agony.
This was my strategy.
To hit the same spot over and over to accumulate damage on it. There was no better method to defeat such an insanely tough opponent.
As Demonic Energy and poison accumulated steadily in its body, the pain grew greater and its body became sluggish.
When its body became sluggish, the power of its attacks would weaken accordingly, making it much easier to deal with.
Two attacks weren't enough to weaken it significantly, but it was much more manageable than at first.
Back then, it was hard to even react to its movements.
When I hid myself again during its attack, it seemed it wasn't stupid either, as I could see it focusing its gaze on the heel area to find me.
'This time it's not there, buddy.'
Taking advantage of the moment its gaze turned backward, I instead leaped into the air from the front and attacked its fatal weak spot.
Specifically, that area where even one attack would inevitably cause damage if you're male.
[Everyone from Pantheon and Pandemonium tightly closes their eyes.]
BANG!
The balls were softer than other parts, so the attack hit properly, and when I injected Demonic Energy and poison there, it began screaming for the first time.
"KUWOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Tears were even flowing from its eyes.
'...So giants have weak spots there too.'
I learned a secret I didn't want to know.
[Everyone from Pantheon and Pandemonium asks if you want to win that badly.]
'Well, what, should I lose then?'
What strange people, really.
Han Yeong-min felt not the slightest bit of guilt.