Chapter 216: A New Faction & The Balance of the Middle Floors (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 216: A New Faction & The Balance of the Middle Floors (1)
'I didn't expect these guys to make their move at this exact moment...'
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
Approaching the castle were mid-sized giants, each about five meters tall.
There were seven of them in total.
It wasn't a massive number, but none of them could be taken lightly.
A single giant was more than a company of soldiers could handle.
If they were to breach the capital—the very heart of the Empire—the resulting damage would be unimaginable.
"I thought giants were highly territorial creatures... No, more importantly, how did they even get here? No matter how weakened the Empire is by internal division, how could they miss giants of that size?" Alice muttered, her face filled with disbelief.
"They probably... came through there."
Jinhyuk pointed to the river flowing to the right of the castle.
It was a shipping route where the river met the sea and flowed inland.
Fitting for an empire that ruled over seven kingdoms, it possessed transport routes to move various goods.
"Are you saying they came all the way here on boats?"
"They used a far more absurd method."
Looking closely, the giants' bodies were dripping wet.
No way...
"Through... the water?"
"Yeah. From their citadel all the way to here, they sent a detachment underwater."
This way, they could bypass the border guards and infiltrate deep into the heart of the Empire.
The murky water must have also helped conceal their massive bodies.
Though he didn't know how they managed to breathe underwater... considering the nature of the 'guy' who would come up with such a method, he had undoubtedly found some ingenious way.
'The King of Giants...'
Jinhyuk recalled his past memories.
Ograkun.
He was the king who led the giants, a minority faction in the middle floors of the Tower.
He was the monarch of a race that had managed to protect its territory even between the colossal factions of the Empire and Murim.
'At the same time, he's the one holding the key to this war.'
In any case, the die was cast.
Not by the Empire, nor by Murim, but by the hands of the giants.
* * *
"What on earth were the border guards doing to let seven giants slip past them?!"
"Damn it! We can argue about that later. We have to stop them first!"
"Fire! Pour everything we have on them! Don't let them get near the walls!"
Along with the frantic shouts, an earth-shaking rumble echoed.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The heavy thuds of their massive bodies reverberated through the air, pressing against the skin.
It felt like the oppressive weight of a herd of charging rhinos.
And at that very moment,
Boom! Boom! Crash!
Various spells exploded against the giants' bodies.
Sparks of fire and shards of ice flew in all directions.
"Groooar!"
"Raaaar!"
The giants, covered in massive wounds, roared.
However, they only slowed down for a brief moment.
They marched on mechanically until they reached the moat right below the castle walls.
"Damn it! They're already here!"
"No matter how big they are, these walls are over twenty meters high. They won't be able to climb them easily... Gasp?"
The soldier speaking gasped.
Two of the relatively larger giants grabbed the feet of a smaller giant and flung him high into the air.
As if launched from a springboard, one giant cleared the top of the wall in a single bound.
Of all places, he landed right where the archers—the most vulnerable defensive unit—were concentrated.
Whether it was intentional or not, one thing was certain: it was practically impossible for the defensive forces here to stop a giant.
"Die...!"
The giant roared savagely.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter.
Slash! Crash!
The giant swung a massive axe that looked capable of splitting boulders in a single blow.
"Aaargh!"
"My—my leg!"
"S-save me!"
Soldiers clad in iron armor and carrying shields were torn apart like paper.
It was an attack that made the very concept of defense utterly meaningless.
With the infantry breached, the archers right next to them were left completely exposed to the giant.
Losing the archers, the core of their ranged warfare, would be an incalculable strategic loss.
They had to prevent the annihilation of the archers at all costs—especially since they still didn't know how the enemy had managed to reach this place.
"Kill... every... last... one of you!"
The giant muttered in human tongue, swinging his axe like a madman.
Arms and legs were hacked to pieces, dyeing the air red with fountains of blood.
But right then, someone stepped in front of the giant.
"This is as far as you go."
Whoosh!
A blinding blue radiance coalesced along the blade of a sword.
A wielder of aura.
The strongest weapon in the Empire's possession...
...a Knight.
"Whoaaaa!"
"It's the Templar Knights! Sir Melbern of the Templar Knights is here!"
"We're saved! We're going to live!"
The soldiers, who had been in hell just a moment ago, cheered at Melbern's appearance.
The blonde, blue-eyed Melbern stepped on the giant's arm and leaped toward his neck in a single bound.
Taking the giant's back in a fluid, natural motion, Melbern swung his sword.
However,
Clang!
The sword, which had been slicing forward unimpeded, was suddenly deflected in midair.
"He... blocked aura?"
Melbern's pupils shook violently.
There was no mistake.
The giant had used his axe to parry the strike.
Giants were already difficult to deal with based on their physical specs alone... to think they even had a way to counter aura.
'...This is bad!'
Sensing danger instinctively, Melbern tried to retreat.
But it was already too late.
The giant's axe tilted diagonally, and then—
Crunch!
It shattered Melbern's sword and split his body cleanly in two.
"Sir Melbern... defeated in a single blow."
"I-I can't believe it."
"What kind of giant is that? How are we supposed to beat that?"
Hope vanished like popping bubbles in an instant.
The fact that a knight had died without even lasting a minute sent the soldiers' morale plummeting to rock bottom.
"Kuhahaha... Heh! Humans... weak. We... strong."
The giant let out a bizarre laugh, his lips twitching.
He looked down at the humans, intoxicated by his own power.
"You bug-like humans... who have tormented us for so long. Today, I will kill you all... and feast on your flesh."
Filled with dreams of a feast, the giant relished the terrified expressions of the humans.
Indeed, it was the law of nature for prey to be devoured without even daring to fight back against their predator.
But then, a human who seemed to have lost all sense of fear calmly walked toward the giant.
While everyone else was trembling, he took step after step without showing a shred of fear.
"Is he... crazy? Or... stupid?"
The giant tilted his head in disbelief.
Then, he raised his axe high into the sky.
Just as he had done to the knight named Melbern, he intended to split this opponent's skull open.
Whoosh!
With a terrifying gust of wind, the axe hurtled toward the man's head.
However... the outcome the giant expected did not happen.
Clang!
The axe, which had not been stopped even once until now, was blocked for the first time.
And by nothing more than a single, paper-thin dagger.
* * *
"Not a bad weapon."
Jinhyuk glanced at the giant's axe.
Meteoric iron, capable of withstanding aura.
This was exactly why the giant hadn't been pushed back even against a knight.
Combined with his innate strength and speed, it was only natural that the knight couldn't stand a chance.
"Are the dwarves involved in this too?"
"H-how do you...?"
"Why are you so surprised? It's obvious."
This kind of advanced craftsmanship wasn't something giants could pull off.
It was a craft reserved only for dwarves, who were blacksmiths by birth.
It seemed the minority factions, having suffered collateral damage from the power struggles of the major factions, had finally allied to form a new force of their own.
"All my questions have been answered. It was a brief meeting, but thanks for everything."
"Don't get cocky just because you blocked one attack... Gasp?!"
The exact same sequence that occurred between the giant and Melbern repeated itself.
The only difference was that the roles were completely reversed.
Screeech! Crack!
Cracks slowly began to spiderweb across the surface of the axe.
The meteoric iron, which had easily withstood aura, was splitting apart, unable to endure the fang.
A blue-grade weapon.
The combination of Blacksmith Orun's unique ability and the high-ranking mythical beast Pentagris was, without a doubt, peerless.
"Who... on earth are you?"
"No need for a dead man to know. You worked hard traveling all this way."
He was being sincere.
How exhausting must it have been to walk underwater for days on end?
Of course, he was going to die before he could even be properly rewarded for his troubles.
With those final words,
Slash!
The dagger severed the giant's neck.
The massive head rolled across the top of the wall.
It was an incredibly anticlimactic end for a giant who had been terrifyingly strong just moments ago.
"W-we're not dreaming right now, are we?"
"Damn it, we both saw the same thing. What do you mean, dreaming?"
"Which knight order does he belong to? If there was a knight this strong, surely we would have heard of him..."
The watching soldiers couldn't believe their eyes.
Some rubbed their eyes, while others shook their heads in disbelief.
A recently appointed knight commander, or perhaps a top-tier mercenary whose name was not yet widely known.
Most of them were certain the man before them was one of the two.
The spectacle Jinhyuk had just displayed was simply beyond the realm of common sense.
But right then,
"W-wait! That man... isn't he the criminal on the wanted poster?"
Another wave of commotion rippled through the crowd at someone's words.
"You're right. The Player from outside the Tower. The guy who caused a riot at the nobles' assembly."
"I heard his bounty alone is more than we could earn in a lifetime."
"Then shouldn't we capture him?"
"Capture him? How the hell are we supposed to capture a monster like that?"
Indeed. What was the point of a massive bounty?
It was like a fruit hanging on a branch far too high for them to ever reach.
Besides, they felt deeply reluctant to draw their swords against the savior who had just spared their lives.
Most importantly, the urgent matter at hand wasn't arresting a criminal, but the remaining giants.
The giant who had just devastated the wall was only one of seven.
To deal with the remaining six, they needed to reorganize their forces immediately.
However,
"Stay where you are," Jinhyuk calmly stopped them.
"What do you mean? The ones remaining down there are still..."
"If you mean the remaining ones, who are you talking about?"
The surprise attack was over.
Because another Player, 'Unknown', had already made his move.
A Player wearing a mask with geometric patterns could be seen floating in the sky.
[Alice activates her unique ability, 'Blood Lord'!]
And just like that, the sky was dyed red.