Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Legend's Mountain
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Crunch-!
The roof of the wooden cabin collapsed. The giant with the hunched back who had stomped the house flat with his foot turned his head.
Puff-.
Breath as hot as lava seeped out between his slightly crooked teeth.
A colossal body large enough to peer down at the building's roof.
The overwhelming pressure radiating from a frame easily exceeding ten meters blanketed the entire village.
"Fidal......"
The giant's voice reverberated. At his feet, countless giants were smashing the village to pieces.
Boom, crack-!
Grrraaaah-!
Nearly a thousand giants rampaged through the village in fury.
Fury over their leader's death.
Vengeance against the humans.
They vented it by destroying the village and slaughtering its people.
And towering at the center was the giant.
"My... son......"
Awakened from a long slumber by grief and rage over his lost child.
Thud, thud-.
The giant took slow steps forward.
His strides were unhurried, but each one covered great distance. As he rapidly closed in, one soldier collapsed backward onto his rear in terror.
"Uwa, uwaaaah......"
Crackle, zzt-!
Faint bolts of lightning flickered in the giant's eyes.
Thud-.
The giant approached the human in his sights and muttered.
"I shall surely soothe your spirit with human blood."
The human sprawled on the ground met the eyes of the giant raising a hand toward him.
The upraised palm blotted out the sun. Sensing what came next, he screamed out his terror.
"Uwaaaack!"
Crack-!
The giants advanced meticulously, demolishing the village as they came.
The scene before his eyes dispersed like clearing smoke.
Soo-hyuk, who had watched the cutscene from a human perspective, let out a small "Oh" of admiration.
When his vision returned, he was astride a horse.
The chat flooded in as the cutscene ended.
The sky-scraping height and the overwhelming power to smash buildings with a hand or foot.
While strength or levels weren't everything, there were still limits.
A monster of that size as the boss?
'Does that even make sense?'
This time, even Soo-hyuk furrowed his brow.
He had taken down the giant tribe's chieftain in the fifth stage, 'Survival.'
Even before acquiring Lightning, he had judged it possible by charging through the giants and striking the leader.
But this was different.
"Is it just telling me to go die?"
No matter how he looked at it, the matchup didn't add up.
Not a single viewer expected the giant from the video to be defeated.
It was only natural.
If even Soo-hyuk couldn't properly gauge it, there was no way average viewers could.
'It's not just the size.'
Soo-hyuk recalled the faint flow of electricity in the giant's eyes at the very end.
'Could that guy also...'
Soo-hyuk began to ponder.
There had to be a reason for showing this footage.
The village was filled with knights and soldiers gathered to fight the giants.
For starters, he wouldn't be fighting alone.
There was surely a purpose in showing the giant's appearance in the cutscene.
It had given prior warning and time to prepare.
"It will take the giants a few more days to reach here."
Before departing the village.
Pelius had come to see him off and pleaded earnestly.
"Don't come back without finding the Lightning. Without it, capturing him is impossible."
It seemed like a warning that the boss couldn't be defeated without the reward from the sixth stage.
'No matter how I think about it, there's no way right now.'
Sitting calmly atop the galloping horse, Soo-hyuk calculated the battle with the giant.
'In the end, this trial is the key...'
A sigh escaped him.
"Why'd a guy like that have to show up."
Soo-hyuk nodded.
"You're right."
It made sense. With his son dead, a parent seeking revenge was perfectly natural progression in a story-mode trial like this.
A sponsorship seemingly convinced of failure.
Soo-hyuk replied while glancing at the incoming chat.
"There is no such thing as an unbreakable trial in this world."
A famous quote left behind by Blue Eyes' Lee Soo-hyuk in an interview from the past.
The words were used in a similar situation with the same meaning, but they landed differently on the listeners.
A chat that stung a bit slipped in midway.
Regardless of whether they believed it or not, the viewers went wild over Soo-hyuk's declaration.
Most of them were fans who missed the old Lee Soo-hyuk. The more he resembled him, the more fervently they cheered.
And his manager, Unhyang, was probably no different.
Even viewers who thought it a failure registered missions.
The atmosphere was similar to when he had obtained Lightning.
Missions piled up one after another.
Some were cheers, others 'eat this' provocations.
Of course.
'Jackpot.'
Intent didn't matter.
Once received, it was all the same points.
"Everyone."
Soo-hyuk grouped all the mission donors together and greeted them in advance.
"Thanks for the advance sponsorship."
The same confident greeting as always.
But no viewer took offense.
Missions were sponsorships and bets between viewers and streamer.
Especially for challenging ones like Soo-hyuk's, that aspect was stronger.
Most mission donors were that type anyway, so they hyped even more at such bold responses.
Of course.
Both the challenger and the accepter.
Each side was confident of victory.
Neigh-!
Pulling the reins made the horse whinny to a halt.
Dismounting, Soo-hyuk gazed at his destination.
A massive mountain towering into the heavens.
That was the stage for the sixth trial, 'Legend.'
"The 'Fragment of Lightning' is something out of legends. Whether it's a special power, an object, or even a person... nothing is known."
"The way to obtain it is the same. All we know is the mountain's location and the legend."
Irresponsible words.
Not knowing what the Fragment of Lightning was or how to get it.
But that wasn't what mattered to Soo-hyuk.
"But this much is certain. In the past, a being who wielded Lightning exterminated the giants."
'Extermination of the giants...'
Soo-hyuk recalled the legend he had learned in this trial.
He thought he knew Lightning better than anyone, having wielded it longer and more masterfully than most.
But he knew little about its origins or who had used it before.
'The Fragment of Lightning is here, huh?'
If that was true, whatever he obtained here would be the key to facing the giant from the cutscene.
Soo-hyuk slowly approached the enormous rocky mountain before him.
A rocky mountain with no entrance.
It stretched thousands of meters high into the sky, vast and imposing.
But aside from that, it didn't seem particularly special.
He circled the mountain for a long while.
No matter how much he looked, there was nothing around it.
"What is this?"
In any other case, maybe, but there couldn't really be nothing. As he had said just moments ago, Soo-hyuk believed there was no unbreakable trial in the world.
Which meant.
There had to be a clue somewhere in this place to clear the stage.
'This stage changed route after I took down the giant chieftain. So that means...'
After a moment's thought, Soo-hyuk seemed to steel his resolve and began to move.
Unhyang, having secured lodging, immediately called John Tail.
"Team leader! Contract success!"
Reporting to the team leader was the first thing to do after landing the deal.
John Tail, upon hearing the report, congratulated her joyfully.
-"Finally, Unhyang, you're acting like a proper person!"
Finally? Proper person?
Question marks popped up and vanished in Unhyang's mind. She wasn't sure if it was praise for a job well done.
-"I just met Hawk's Eye yesterday anyway. Details..."
Click.
She hung up after the report. A text came right away from John Tail, who hadn't finished speaking, but she had something more urgent now.
"Gotta watch the stream~"
She flopped onto the bed and turned on Soo-hyuk's broadcast.
Having missed time securing lodging and reporting to John Tail made her anxious.
"What? Total loser moment..."
It started from the instant Pelius turned into 'Loserlius.'
'Good thing I told him the mic channel.'
Usually, tossing in quips like this livened up the stream.
Until now, Soo-hyuk had been too conscious of the trial. Since the trial characters could hear what viewers heard.
But the mic channel eliminated that awkwardness.
Light laughter bubbled up, followed by the scene of knights doubting Soo-hyuk.
"Looks like they can't believe I took it down. Or rather, don't want to believe?"
He didn't seem offended.
On the contrary.
"Arrogant, right?"
He plainly shared his true feelings with the viewers.
"Kya! What to do!"
Yes, this.
This confidence.
And the skill and achievements backing it.
This was Lee Soo-hyuk.
No, 2Soo-hyuk.
She lost track of time, immersed in the stream. Soo-hyuk on horseback headed toward a mountain a bit away from the village.
Upon arrival there.
"What?"
Soo-hyuk found nothing.
"Right? What?"
The chat was filled for a while, teasing Soo-hyuk for his fruitless efforts.
Soo-hyuk stood still for some time, seemingly with no answers.
Then.
"Wh-what?"
Unhyang muttered, bolting upright in surprise.
"What the heck is he doing?"