Chapter 680: Chasing the Sword (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 680: Chasing the Sword (5)
Red pillars of light surged from the seabed. The beams from the Grave Giants were so dense they were difficult to evade, but Jin and Valeria adjusted their trajectory by releasing bursts of mana and aura as they descended.
Like two people who had fought together for a lifetime, no words were necessary. They moved as one, instinctively covering each other’s backs.
Thanks to the memories of his past life, Jin knew most of her combat style, but the same could not be said for Valeria.
Nevertheless, whenever Jin fought alongside Valeria, he felt a strange sense of wonder—a feeling she shared.
‘Unlike me, my master doesn't really know the current me, yet our coordination is perfect every time.’
‘Fighting alongside Jin always feels so… stable.’
While the two heading toward the center of the enemy lines remained largely unscathed, chaos had already broken out above.
The Barmul Alliance suffered no damage thanks to Quicantel’s nimble evasions, but the sheer numbers of the pursuing forces from Zipple, Kinzelo, and the Garden of Swords were another matter entirely.
It was the difference between a small fish slipping through a net and a large one getting caught. The Barmul Alliance was the small fish; the other factions were the large one. Only Quicantel, supported by the cover fire from those on her back, dodged the beams with ease.
The elites of each faction struggled desperately to minimize their allies' casualties, but the power of the Grave Giants was simply overwhelming.
If each Grave Giant had possessed the ego and skill of a transcendent being, even Jin would not have considered fighting them.
No matter how strong, a weapon without a soul has its limits.
Whoosh—!
Along with the red beams, spears as large as giant trees flew in from all directions. They moved at a speed inconceivable for their size and weight.
Jin chose not to dodge the first spear that reached him, instead meeting it with his sword to gauge its power. His wrist throbbed from the impact.
‘Heavy, but these attacks lack depth or variation.’
It was a monotonous repetition of patterns, like a machine reacting to specific conditions.
The sheer number of attacks naturally made the path forward complex, but Jin was able to parry their spears without much trouble and land on the seabed.
As soon as the two touched down, defensive armaments attached to the surrounding buildings activated simultaneously, aiming at them.
‘Are these auto-response mana cannons like the ones Sir Amela made?’
The mana cannons did not distinguish between friend and foe. Even if Grave Giants were in the way, they simply fired toward their target.
The shells, however, ricocheted in all directions like light reflecting off a mirror. They clattered against the bodies of the Grave Giants, producing a metallic ting-ting-ting sound that seemed far too light for their destructive power.
Most of the shots flew off toward the surface or the walls of the chasm, but many still threatened Jin and Valeria’s path.
‘This might get a bit tedious.’
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Valeria tapped the ground once with her Silver Pine Staff. A massive magic circle formed, spreading out as if water were filling engraved channels.
“It’s not a shield,” she said.
“I’m going to warp the flow of the ricocheting shells. You focus only on destroying the Grave Giants.”
The mana extending from the magic circle began to carve Rune characters into the air. About a thousand Rune characters materialized, each maintaining a distance of about five paces from the next. The incoming shells seemed to get caught between them, unable to pass through.
In fact, any shell caught within the array could never reach them. It was as if the projectiles couldn't even perceive the space in which the two of them were moving.
‘The amount of mana she’s using is minuscule compared to the cannons’ destructive power… Is this even possible?’
It was like a master swordsman parrying a novice’s attack with minimal force. Valeria was achieving through magic what was usually only seen in the martial arts of high-level warriors.
‘This must be how she survived against Luntia-nuna’s divine power.’
Jin found himself once again struck with awe at his master’s magic.
“Understood.”
Bzzt—!
Sigmund became shrouded in thick lightning.
Jin poured his strength into a strike, slashing at the ankle of the Grave Giant blocking his path. The blade did not sink in smoothly.
It hadn’t cut through.
Instead, with a grinding crunch, a section of the ankle shattered and caved in. Jin decided that was good enough.
‘It’s not that I can’t cut them if I put my mind to it, but…’
To do so, he would have to maintain a high level of concentration with every single swing. There was no need to fight so inefficiently.
Crack!
When he detonated the lightning energy while the blade was still embedded, the Grave Giant’s ankle exploded. It was a crude method for a swordsman of his caliber, but the effect was undeniable.
“Groooar…!”
As the Grave Giant with the shattered ankle knelt on one knee to regain its balance, Jin leaped up, ran along its body, and thrust his sword into its head.
Even before the head shattered and the fragments, crackling with lightning, fell to the ground, Jin descended like a thunderbolt to parry the spears flying toward Valeria.
It was as if a Lightning God were trampling and crushing the massive spears. Jin looked tiny compared to the Grave Giants—like a mere insect—but his presence was so overwhelming that all the giants combined couldn't compare.
‘If it were Father, he would have dismantled these things without even needing to focus.’
The sudden thought of his father caused his brow to furrow momentarily.
“You seem to have the leisure to daydream,” Valeria commented dryly. “I, on the other hand, have to risk my life every second.”
“I’ll focus more.”
In truth, just as Valeria had warped the trajectories of the mana cannons, Jin could ensure she was never harmed—at least as far as the Grave Giants were concerned.
Valeria knew this as well; she was only teasing. Jin was slightly surprised that she now felt comfortable enough to make such lighthearted remarks to him.
It was a pleasant battle.
Regardless of the situation, the two felt their hearts lighten as their offense and defense harmonized perfectly. Whenever Jin swung his sword, a part of a Grave Giant broke; whenever Valeria cast a spell, their attacks went wide.
It felt as if they could keep destroying Grave Giants forever, no matter how many appeared.
More than ten had already been destroyed. New ones were forming in the meantime, but fortunately, they weren't appearing faster than the two could dispose of them.
Furthermore, the speed at which new Grave Giants appeared was gradually slowing. Jin suspected that they would stop generating once they reached a certain number.
“Jin.”
“What is it?”
“Normally, weapons like these stop functioning once the object they are protecting disappears.”
“Are you saying the remains of a forgotten god might still be somewhere in this tomb?”
“Possibly. Or… the god itself might still be here.”
“The individual presumed to be an inhabitant of Old Runcandel could be a god?”
“I don’t have time to cast record magic right now, so I can’t confirm anything until we meet them face-to-face. Even if I looked at the records, there’s not much I could understand at my current level. And besides… the movements of these things are just too simple.”
At Valeria’s words, Jin suddenly realized the Grave Giants' movements were peculiar. It was as if they had a specific purpose.
“Now that you mention it, it doesn't seem like they’re moving solely to eliminate intruders.”
He hadn't noticed until now, preoccupied as he was with their sheer size and his concern for his allies above.
“Their formation isn't meant to surround us, Valeria. It only looked like we were being pressured because of their size.”
Jin and Valeria began to observe the giants' overall movements more closely as they darted between their legs.
First of all, not all the Grave Giants were attacking them. Some stood perfectly still, staring at the ground, while others were digging into the earth.
Unless they were broken, there was only one reason to dig.
“They’re looking for something.”
“The Grave Giants searching the ground are more intricately designed than the others,” Valeria said. “Jin, if my guess is correct, this is an ancient unsealing method. They are trying to find the Seal Core buried somewhere here.”
“And after they find the core?”
“The power of all the Grave Giants will be channeled into the core, and the seal will be released. The reason the sword flew for so long in the first place was likely to find where the core was hidden.”
“Then that means if we destroy all of them, the sealed entity will never wake up.”
Valeria nodded.
“The choice is yours.”
The one waking from the seal would be a god, or an ancient Runcandel presumed to be a god-like being.
There was no guarantee that whoever it was would be friendly toward them. In fact, the possibility of them being hostile was much higher.
Or, beyond mere hostility, they could be consumed by resentment and hatred, much like Padler.
“Let’s wake them.”
Jin didn't hesitate.
If they destroyed all the Grave Giants now, he and his companions would be safe, but a piece of Old Runcandel’s history would vanish forever.
From that moment on, the two shifted to a purely defensive stance. The Grave Giants continued to attack, but as the two stopped counter-attacking, the intensity of the assault gradually decreased.
After about ten minutes, the Grave Giants stopped attacking them altogether. Their attacks toward the sky, however, did not cease.
“The Grave Giants aren't attacking the Young Master and Aria! It must be because the Young Master found some kind of clue. We just need to keep dodging and blocking!”
Thanks to this, the chaos above intensified, but it didn’t have much of an impact on their comrades.
From the beginning, the Barmul Alliance had never counter-attacked after the Grave Giants awoke. The Zipple, Kinzelo, and the Garden of Swords, however, had been fighting back the entire time. As a result, the Grave Giants had eventually stopped perceiving Quicantel's group as a threat. The only reason they still had to sweat while dodging the red beams was because they were caught in the crossfire aimed at the other factions.
'I almost committed a great discourtesy to an ancestor waking after a thousand years.'
After another ten minutes, one Grave Giant’s eyes flashed as its body began to vibrate. Coincidentally, it was the one right in front of Jin and Valeria.
“Groooar!”
As that Grave Giant let out a bizarre cry, the other giants’ eyes began to glow and their bodies trembled, seemingly in the process of injecting power into the Seal Core.
The Grave Giant that had roared first finally pulled its two hands out from where they had been rummaging beneath the seabed.
In its hands was a sphere glowing like a miniature sun. Jin and Valeria watched as the power of all the Grave Giants concentrated there at once.
“I’ll pray that whatever wakes up is something we can handle, Jin.”