The Giant of the Howling Forest
Fuck!
"Ugh!"
"Augh!"
A sudden roar laced with fierce qi erupted from afar, and the two of them clapped their hands over their ears in startled confusion.
"N-Noona. What is this…?"
"……."
There was someone else out here besides them.
Whether the stranger had been hiding and only now revealed themselves, or had been shifted here for the same unknown reason they had, was impossible to tell.
"Young Master, we should move…."
"Huh?"
"I have a bad feeling…. The voice is thick with killing intent. If we meet him now, things will not go well…."
Sensing the savage murderous aura coiled inside that string of curses, Dang Seol-yeong decided to put distance between them and the source of the voice.
But several things she had not anticipated were already in motion.
1. The entire forest had been shifted here from another dimension.
2. The sudden change in environment had made the forest's creatures turn passive.
3. After days of that passivity they had grown ravenous, and their ferocity had only climbed higher.
The final spark was that roar thick with killing intent. It detonated the savagery that had been stacking atop their hunger.
Kieeeeeeeee———!
Kyaaaaaaaaa———!
A chorus of monstrous howls tore through the whole forest, and murderous auras exploded from every direction.
"Aaah!"
"Young Master! Breathe! Circulate your qi!"
Exposed to that killing intent, Kaisent screamed in terror. Dang Seol-yeong instantly pulled him into her arms and ordered him to use the breathing method she had taught him.
"Hah! Kuh!"
Fortunately, the earlier humiliation had left its lesson. Kaisent wrenched his breathing under control as though squeezing his own heart, and color quickly returned to his face.
"Behind me!"
At the same moment she felt something massive charging straight at them. She shoved Kaisent behind her so he would stay hidden.
"Kugaaaah!"
Moments later a brown-skinned giant appeared, swinging a crude club that was nothing more than a tree trunk torn free and roughly shaped into a handle.
Over three meters of towering bulk, a face that vaguely resembled a human's, and a pair of sharp lower fangs jutting past its lips—the giant had clearly sensed them. With terrifying strength it smashed trees aside as it charged.
"Kwooooor!"
Coming face-to-face with Dang Seol-yeong, who stood firm to protect Kaisent, the giant swung its club to turn her into a bloody pulp.
Kwaaaaah!
The shockwave alone snapped branches and sent leaves whirling in every direction.
"Uuh?"
There had been no impact. The giant blinked around in confusion at the spot where Dang Seol-yeong had vanished in an instant.
Then it felt killing intent. It hurled the club aside and dropped onto all fours in a rough, ready crouch.
"Tch!"
Dang Seol-yeong, who had been perched atop the club ready to strike, recovered her aborted technique and landed cleanly.
Looks dull and all raw power, yet it's sharp and quick on the uptake. And that kind of force from pure external arts alone….
She checked the path the giant had taken and instantly knew: this was a master of external martial arts.
A level of external power that even the famous external specialists of the Murim would have to yield a step to.
It sensed us from far off and charged. Running will only make it hunt us to the end. In that case….
Ssssss—
Dang Seol-yeong circulated her inner energy and began activating her poison arts.
Finish it with everything I have.
If the man who had caused this uproar came looking because of the noise, things would turn troublesome.
So she would pour her full strength into killing the giant in front of her in a single breath.
"Krr?"
Sensing the change in her aura, the giant lowered its stance and prepared to move with equal agility.
So it intends to keep attacking us to the end.
Ordinarily she would have ignored or simply shaken off such a bothersome foe.
But the giant's eyes kept flicking past her toward Kaisent, hunting for an opening—and rage exploded inside her so violently it startled even herself.
Without her usual experience, her reason might have blacked out completely.
If fighting me gets hard, it plans to go for Young Master.
Give it any room to choose and it would drag the fight exactly where it wanted.
It did not know her abilities. She would strike with poison arts in one decisive blow.
I'll make sure it never even thinks of trying that.
Decision made, Dang Seol-yeong found the giant's opening and shot forward with light-foot technique.
"Kwak!"
The giant's dynamic vision was excellent; it tracked her movement and lashed out with a brutal kick.
The wind pressure that rode the kick was strong enough to kill or cripple even skilled masters in a single blow.
Yet Dang Seol-yeong planted a foot on that very leg and drove herself toward its face, her hand sharpened into a blade aimed straight at its eyes.
Whoosh!
The giant snapped its upper body back with surprising agility, balancing on one leg so it would not topple, then reached out to seize the body that had just stabbed empty air.
It could not put full power into the grab, but once it caught her its grip alone would crush her.
"Haht!"
Dang Seol-yeong flipped so her feet pointed skyward, released a burst of qi, and shot herself toward the giant's face instead.
The giant raised its free arm to shield its eyes from the attack that still sought them.
Now!
But the relentless focus on its eyes had only been a feint to create an opening.
Her specially crafted shoes—designed to slip free the moment qi was released at a precise angle—came off. She curled her toes.
Thick, razor-sharp claws blackened by poison flashed in a storm of afterimages, hammering the giant's exposed nape in relentless succession.
"Kuwoooor!"
Pain lanced through its neck. The giant bellowed and flailed its arms wildly, trying to swat her off.
Instead she used those very arms as stepping stones, leapt clear, and opened a safe distance—already anticipating the horror that would follow.
Its hide is thick, as expected of an external master, but I managed to wound it. That is enough.
From the start her true target had never been the eyes; she only needed an opening to draw blood.
A hide that thick could not be pierced by ordinary strikes. She had simply created the one moment she could strike properly.
"Kurk!?"
Centered on the wounds her claws had left, a searing heat bloomed, then the sensation of fire-ants burrowing into its veins and chewing from the inside. The giant clutched at its own throat.
Her claws and nails had been steeped until the roots were saturated in water dissolved with Seven Poison Powder—a blend of seven different toxins.
On top of that, the poison qi she had released while closing in was inhaled, driving the Seven Poison Powder through its system even faster.
Poison qi seeped from her skin; her nails and claws were pure toxin made flesh.
This was the Tang Family's ultimate secret poison, forged by pouring every resource the clan possessed into one person: the Soul-Hunting Fire Child, Dang Seol-yeong.
"Krrrrrk!"
"!?"
An ordinary external master would already have collapsed, blood spraying from all seven orifices. Yet the giant before her—whether from monstrous vitality or some natural resistance—refused to die easily.
"Krarararak!"
Perhaps it already sensed its own death. Even while vomiting black blood it charged straight at Dang Seol-yeong.
If it was going to die anyway, it would at least take one companion with it—the stubborn malice of a cornered fighter.
Dang Seol-yeong had faced countless martial artists of this type and knew exactly how to handle them.
Death is only a matter of time. No need to fight it head-on.
She simply widened the distance, intending to wait until the giant's life force ran out.
But the malice of a dying giant proved far more vicious than she had expected.
Kwakakakak!
The giant that had been lunging at her suddenly veered and charged straight at Kaisent instead.
"Young Master!"
"Hic!"
Having sensed how precious Kaisent was to her, the giant poured every remaining scrap of strength into the rush.
"No!"
Dang Seol-yeong abandoned all defense and tore into the giant's side with everything she had, yet even as blood and entrails spilled from the wound the giant did not stop.
"Kuhk!"
Chunks of organ and black blood burst out with its cough.
Knowing its time was gone, the giant now radiated only pure malice—the will to kill the one thing she most desperately protected.
"Ah… ahh… aaa…."
Staring into eyes that promised his absolute death, Kaisent froze solid.
"Stop! Stop it! I said stop!"
Dang Seol-yeong's specialty was swift movement and razor-sharp strikes powered by poison arts; she simply could not halt a giant whose entire body was driven by overwhelming external power.
Sseeeek!
A fist carrying every last ounce of the giant's strength cut the air with a vicious whistle.
Mingming, which had been riding Kaisent's nape, flared into a shield form and tried to block—but it could not overcome the full-powered might of the dying giant.
Tuhwaak!
The giant's massive fist shattered Mingming and continued toward Kaisent's skull.
I'm going to die.
Dang Seol-yeong could not stop the giant's strength. Mingming's defense had already been broken.
Die? Here? Like this?
"Young Master!!"
The moment Kaisent understood death was unavoidable, Dang Seol-yeong's scream tore into his ears as though it would rip them apart.
You're making Noona cry?
More than his own death, the sight of the woman who had given him her heart screaming and weeping ignited a rage that swallowed his reason whole.
In the same instant Kaisent settled into the opening stance of the Baesan Palm Technique.
—If you strike the muscle, they can still resist! Hit the joint and you can push them away easily!—
Every principle of the Baesan Palm that Dang Seol-yeong had taught him rose unbidden. Kaisent twisted his body slightly and struck the giant's wrist with his right hand.
"Kwoork!"
The joint shattered under the blow; the giant's attack trajectory skewed, and the fist whistled past Kaisent's head.
—Once you've deflected it, step boldly inside and strike the open abdomen!—
Having turned the attack aside, Kaisent stepped forward as naturally as breathing.
Tak.
His palm settled against the abdomen of the giant that had lowered its stance to kill him.
In that instant Kaisent spun every muscle in his body together with his inner energy, gathering the force into his palm, and released everything he had charged.
Puhwaaaak!
The giant's back exploded as though a bomb had detonated inside it—entrails, flesh, and blood spraying outward like shotgun pellets.
The astonishing part was that the skin of its belly remained completely intact.
"Guh… gulk… ge… gegeok…."
With its back blown open the giant crumpled bonelessly, yet Kaisent casually tossed the corpse aside with one hand as though discarding trash.
"Young Master!"
"……."
"Young Master…?"
"……."
What… what is this aura…!
The presence rolling off Kaisent was the same overwhelming force the Heavenly Demon had once shown while laughing off the combined assault of Murim Alliance masters… no, it was even stronger.
"Ah… aaa…."
Feeling the aura of an absolute being who looked down upon the entire world, Dang Seol-yeong dropped to her knees as though in worship.
To remain standing before that existence felt like blasphemy.
"Haht!? Eek! N-Noonaaa!"
But the moment Kaisent's mind returned and he stared at the giant's corpse with his usual terrified expression, the aura vanished completely.
"I-It's dead, right? It is, right?"
"Young Master…? Do you… remember anything…?"
"Huh?"
"…My poison simply took effect late…. Its resistance was stronger than ordinary creatures…."
"I-Is that so…. Still, I'm glad the poison worked. Ah, Mingming! Are you okay!?"
Kaisent accepted her words without the slightest doubt and immediately began checking Mingming's condition.
He doesn't remember what he just did. Is it a power that only surfaces in moments of crisis?
She had lied, claiming the poison had finally worked, because the truth would only confuse him.
Even if she told him the truth, she was not sure he would believe it.
"Noona! Mingming is in danger! We have to feed it something nutritious right away!"
"Then we will use that corpse as feed…."
Deciding to investigate later, she chose to restore Mingming—who had suffered heavy damage protecting Kaisent—by feeding it the giant's body.
Once we leave this place, I will help Young Master fully control the power he carries.
If he could wield that strength at will, crises like today's would never come again.
Having set her course toward awakening that potential, Dang Seol-yeong approached the giant's corpse together with Kaisent.
Pakpakpakpak!
Mingming had failed to stop the giant's blow, yet it had slowed both speed and force. Now it burrowed into the still-intact lower half from the inside and rapidly recovered its strength.
"So there were filthy black mages here as well."
"!!"
At the killing-intent-laced voice that suddenly spoke behind them, Dang Seol-yeong felt a surge of danger. She hurriedly shielded Kaisent and turned toward the sound.
There stood a man whose clothes were torn in places from what must have been a fierce battle, looking down on them with cold eyes.