The Giant's Blood

Incredible.

Ellen's unique ability.

Her body, swollen several times its normal size, surged with an unprecedented power.

This was the same form I had seen during the Great Collapse in France.

On top of that, the blessing of Olympus's great hero, Heracles, had seeped into her.

A golden aura shimmered across her dark-toned skin.

The power of the great hero—something no legendary monster or the giants who once threatened Olympus could ever rival—now projected onto Ellen.

The flame giant desperately crossed both arms in an X to block the frontal assault.

Puhahak!

It did not stop at piercing through both arms. A massive hole gaped in the flame giant's chest.

A human cannonball.

No. It was closer to missile-grade destructive power.

"Still as tough as ever."

—To receive the blessing of Zeus's child. A most excellent choice, Geudae.

"Oh. Goddess-nim, you know Heracles as well?"

—Of course this Yeo knows him. For I witnessed the end of the Gigantomachy.

Nyx's domain was night itself. The darkness of night reached even the underground prison of Tartarus.

Had the Olympian gods been defeated, they would have been sealed there alongside the Titans.

—This Yeo waited to offer a small courtesy, yet it seems such consideration was unnecessary.

"How merciful of you."

—Would dwelling within Yeo's domain truly be considered mercy?

Hmm.

She had once said that among all the horrors of Tartarus, Nyx's realm was the most brutal.

I'll spare you, or something to that effect.

Still, even with Heracles' blessing, to finish a flame giant in a single strike...

As expected, she was incredible.

The talent that had once elevated her to Monarch in her previous life had not faded in the slightest.

"What do you think?"

"She's grown far stronger than during the French Great Collapse."

"Her compatibility with her patron is excellent."

Ellen smiled brightly.

If not for the flame giant's corpse spewing lava at her feet, it would have been a truly radiant smile.

"Take the flame giant's corpse."

"You're really giving it to me?"

"You're interested in this one's remains, aren't you? Consider it a reunion gift."

If she put it that way, I wouldn't refuse.

I would devour it with gratitude.

Each individual was a quasi-boss-class monster. The amount of essence they yielded was equally enormous.

—Yet can beings called giants truly be this weak?

They were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only slightly stronger than the average monster on the 60th floor.

By mortal standards they possessed calamity-level power, but compared to the true giants the goddess knew, both their rank and strength fell short.

"They're fakes created by the Tower."

Titanomachy. The hunt for Vanaheimr. The death of Ymir.

The giants depicted in countless myths were both the predecessors of the gods and fallen beings.

Even in their fallen state, they had once ruled the world. Their lingering power was still immense.

I knew this well from fighting the giants that appeared when the Tower began its final erosion.

"You can't compare the real ones to the half-baked imitations spawned by a gate."

—I momentarily forgot after encountering a being that stimulates Yeo's appetite.

Nyx swallowed a disappointed hum.

"Mister Yu. Can you keep up?"

With her back turned, Ellen glanced over her shoulder with absolute confidence.

"You'll be the one trying to keep up with me."

Chwaaaaak!

Using the propulsion from kicking off the ground, I flew low. As I passed Ellen's side, I simultaneously deployed Thunder Wings.

Kwarurung!

Lightning erupted from various points along the wings, sweeping across the ash-covered earth.

The mountain slope was incinerated like a scene from a disaster film.

"Uwooooooh!"

The nearby flame giants, provoked, charged forward.

In that case, I would raise the output a little more.

From my body, now one with lightning, thick bolts as wide as ancient tree trunks burst in every direction.

Kwaang! Kwaang!

Holes were punched through the flames thrown by the flame giants.

Long furrows were carved into the bodies of those struck by the lightning, their cracked skin vomiting lava like blood.

Torn apart by the raging lightning storm, several dismembered corpses rained down onto the slope.

"Hah. You picked up another strange thing and came back."

Despite the sigh, Ellen's expression burned with that same insatiable fighting spirit as always.

Climbing the midsection of the mountain wasn't difficult.

Ellen's team, Golden Circle, and the World Eater master Baldy had been regularly hunting flame giants.

Even so, the flame giants spawned by the gate continued to appear everywhere to obstruct ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠us.

"Ugh, it's hot."

"You tore those flame giants apart earlier, yet now you're complaining?"

"Mister Yu. The flames of these monsters are not ordinary."

The original flame giants were primordial beings tied to the roots of myth.

They even possessed physical force, making them tricky to handle.

"They are indeed troublesome, aren't they?"

Puhahak!

I replied ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while watching Ellen sever a flame giant's neck.

Compared to Giant's Arm, the skill extracted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the Cyclops's essence, its effects felt somewhat plain.

However, the true value of Giant's Blood lay elsewhere.

From the Deep Slime's Acidic Blood to the newly devoured Giant's Blood—if I linked all the blood-related essences together, I would gain the foundation to transform my body once more.

With one more piece, I could even create the bloodline culmination skill Divine Blood.

Giant's Blood was a highly versatile essence beyond its simple effects.

To think there was a gate that spawned flame giants.

Really, my luck was almost too good.

This is why people should live virtuously.

—The standard of that virtue seems quite different from others'.

"Where would you find a kinder person than me?"

—Contractor. Place your hand on your chest and truly reflect whether that is accurate.

I believe I am kind without a single shred of shame before the heavens.

See? The fact that lightning doesn't strike me must mean the heavens acknowledge my virtue.

—Lightning would not strike inside a gate anyway.

Ehehehe.

Anyway, no lightning struck, right?

—Yet do you not already possess Dragon Blood? Why seek another blood-related essence?

"Mm. I want to try mixing them."

Dragon Blood and Giant's Blood.

Normally it would make sense to place the higher-grade Dragon Blood as the main component.

But this time I intended to do the opposite.

"Aren't you curious what kind of reaction I'll get if my body accepts the concept of a giant?"

—Hmph. You are the only one who would find experimenting on your own body so entertaining.

I'll take that as a compliment.

While advancing after devouring the flame giants' essence, a massive rocky cliff blocked our path.

"This is almost a perfect ninety degrees."

A cliff several hundred meters high.

On top of it, several flame giants holding flames in both hands looked down at us.

The space here was distorted. This was no ordinary world.

It was a gate—an anomalous dimension forged from fragments of other worlds.

The space around the mountain was warped, preventing any wide detour by flight.

The only options were to scale the cliff or fly close to its surface.

—This environment must make it difficult for that child to feel certain of victory.

Nyx, perched on my shoulder, murmured while gazing up at the cliff.

"Then I'll ascend from about a hundred meters away."

"You want to split their firepower? Sounds good."

"Tell me if it gets dangerous."

"Worry about yourself."

Ellen flashed a good-natured smile and kicked off the ground first.

For an instant, the sky seemed to warp in an illusion.

The heat was enough to evaporate an entire river in one go.

Though clearly degraded compared to their mythical origins, the flame giants' fire still mimicked the primordial flames well enough to be threatening.

"How annoying."

A frontal breakthrough.

It would be a bit tighter than expected.

"Goddess-nim. Lend me your strength."

A skill that assimilated the body with Polar Night.

As my body turned pitch black, Nyx descended into it.

Primordial flame?

So what.

What I wield is primordial darkness.

A fragment of myth where even light cannot reach.

Nyx released the maximum amount of unified Polar Night.

The flames poured out by the flame giants were swallowed by the darkness.

In an instant, the world lost all color and sank like a sunset swallowed by night.

—Contractor. You have accumulated this much Polar Night yet use it so passively.

"What can I do when control doesn't build up easily?"

Polar Night was Nyx's very origin.

I had gained the ability to handle it through my contract with the goddess during the tutorial, but the amount I could release at once was, in stat terms, only a little over 100.

Thanks to investing all my bonus stats into Polar Night, the stat itself was high.

Yet I still could not fully control that quantity.

Wasn't it reckless to invest so heavily in a stat I couldn't even fully utilize?

Not when I had a goddess to handle it for me.

—To entrust your life and death to another's hands and speak so boldly.

"It's because I believe in you, Goddess-nim, that I invest in it."

Thanks to Devour, my other stats rose rapidly without any effort on my part.

Therefore, investing in Polar Night—the only stat that could not be raised except through bonus points—was the optimal choice.

I glanced sideways.

"God damn!!! This shitty fire!"

Judging by the cursing, she seemed to be holding on just fine.

"Can you go any faster?"

—It is possible.

I'll draw some of the flame giants' aggro.

"That looks ominous."

"Darkness. Burn them."

The flame giants staggered as they spewed fire.

It was like molten iron freshly poured from a furnace.

Flames cascaded down like a waterfall above our heads.

It wouldn't kill me.

However, had I not used Body of Darkness and remained in my normal state, I would have been swept away by the ceaseless torrent of flames and plummeted below.

These flames even carried physical force when mixed with lava.

It was firepower that could push even the Golden Circle team to their limits.

Good thing I left it to the goddess.

This was not manifested through internal energy.

It was the form of Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword deployed with Polar Night.

Darkness condensed into a single point forged itself into a blade, slicing the cascade of flames cleanly in two.

I crossed the height of over a thousand meters in mere seconds.

Now I was at eye level with the flame giants.

"Player substitution."

—Understood.

I released Body of Darkness.

Immediately I extended my left hand.

I 'defined' a power that was originally uncontrollable, then mixed it with 'greed' that could dye anything in its own color.

Thus, I could wield the powerful artifact created by an Outer God as naturally as my own limbs.

Pale skin as if it had never seen sunlight for years.

Countless bloodless hands seized the flame giants with brutal force.

"Uwooooooh!"

The scarlet flames died down.

Flesh was torn from the flame giants by the pale hands.

"You bastaaaaard!"

A monster roughly twice the size of a normal volcanic giant roared with fury.

Ah. The main dish is right here.

"Hands, it's time to eat."

I ignored the flame giants at the very top.

Countless dark-red lines floated above the hands that had been 'understood' through Black Wisdom.

The power of the outer universe, dyed by Greed's Protection, could at least designate its intended targets.

One hundred hands swarmed the flame giant with ferocious momentum.

Crack. Crunch.

The mouths on the palms mercilessly ripped apart the flame giant's skin, which was harder and rougher than bedrock.

Fingers that had dug inside hollowed out its torso.

The terror of being eaten alive.

The boss monster, Flame Giant Chieftain, belatedly began to thrash.

However—

"Why? Is something not going your way?"

Along with the death sentence pronounced upon the Flame Giant Chieftain, I designated one hand to clamp over its mouth so it could scream no more.