Chapter 129: The Tin Knight and The Country of Giants
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 129: The Tin Knight and The Country of Giants
You were lost in quiet thought.
The Witch of the West’s power was stronger than you had anticipated.
Retreating with the boss right before you was deeply frustrating, but at the same time, it was exhilarating.
A fierce desire to win burned within you; an enemy of that caliber was one worth defeating.
The Tin Knight’s experience spoke to you.
It told you of the technique’s weaknesses and limits.
From this, you found a hint for your strategy.
No matter how powerful a technique, once analyzed, it was nothing more than a pattern.
As you looked forward to a rematch with the witch, giants of an immense size appeared before you.
However, it was difficult to say exactly how large they were.
Some were large enough to grasp you in one hand, while others were only half that size.
It wasn't as simple as the difference between adults and children; there were small adults and large children.
It seemed there was no correlation between a giant’s size and age.
Furthermore, their body proportions were a jumble, with some having overly large heads or disproportionately short limbs.
The surrounding environment was just as bizarre.
The giants were massive, yet the other flora and fauna were of ordinary size—tiny, in comparison. It looked as if people were moving around inside a diorama.
You did not know what any of this meant.
The scarecrow might have understood, but you did not.
To be more precise, you had little interest in their stories or background settings.
This was the witch’s workshop, they were beings connected to the witch, and, most decisively, they were hostile toward you.
The moment one of the giants tried to grab your head and pull it off, you recognized them as enemies.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares a giant hunt!]
Slice!
The sword you swung sent a giant’s finger flying.
You immediately leaped onto the giant’s arm and scaled it, slashing open its throat.
Because your sword was short, it was impossible to sever the head from the body as you usually would.
But the giant, a large gash now gaping in its neck, choked and collapsed.
You braced yourself, expecting another giant to charge at you, but instead, it bolted out the door.
You gave chase.
-□■◆◇◇!
The giant that had rushed into the street opened its mouth and shouted.
It seemed to be some kind of language, but due to the creature’s sheer size, it sounded to you like nothing more than an unidentifiable roar.
The nearby giants looked at the one who had shouted, then at you, where it was pointing.
A few of them guffawed.
It seemed they were mocking the giant who had cried out.
They sauntered over to you and swung a foot forward, as if to casually kick you aside.
When you dodged to the side, the giant’s brow twitched. This time, it tried to crush you under the sole of its shoe.
You rolled to the side to evade it.
Then you darted behind its foot and slashed the back of its heel with your sword.
-◆◆◆◆!!
The giant, its Achilles tendon severed, clutched its leg and tumbled to the ground.
You felt a strange sense of dissonance.
It was as if your mental predictions and your actual senses were out of sync.
You hadn't used sword energy thus far.
Not knowing when you might run into the witch again, you needed to conserve as much mana as possible.
And according to the Tin Knight’s senses, a giant’s body should not have been this easy to cut.
That strange jolt and sense of wrongness, like stepping down onto a stair that isn't there. A similar feeling tickled your chest.
-■□◇◆◇!?
-◇◇◆◆■!
The giants roared.
It seemed they had finally recognized you as a threat.
CRASH!
A boulder, about the size of your body, landed near you.
The giants watching you had picked up nearby rocks—pebbles, from their perspective—and thrown them.
Some even scooped up handfuls of gravel and dirt and flung them indiscriminately.
Th-th-th-thump!
The merciless barrage was like a shotgun blast.
Just by being in the attack’s range for a moment, your body was covered in countless scratches.
Deflecting the most dangerous and fatal of the projectiles with your shield, you charged toward the giants who were throwing stones and sand.
And you hacked at their ankles.
Slice!
A scream echoed, and blood bursting from a heel drenched your body.
You didn't stop, continuing to swing your sword.
One, two, then three you felled in succession. Around that time, one of the giants turned its back and began to flee.
Seeing this, the other giants also ran.
You watched them go.
You’d been feeling strangely deflated for a while now.
For some reason, the fight wasn't very fun.
It was hard to say why.
Was it the pressure of having to calculate your mana consumption?
Or did other battles feel trivial after the thrilling fight with the witch?
You glanced around.
The giants you had cut were still alive, though they were crying and wailing in pain, clutching their ankles.
Normally, you would have finished them off without a second thought, but for some reason, you didn't feel like it now.
There was no need to waste mana unnecessarily, you reasoned, convincing yourself.
Leaving the giants behind, you looked down at your wrist.
If the enemies had lost their will to fight, it seemed better to regroup with your allies than to engage in a pointless battle.
You were contemplating which of the directions indicated by the golden thread bracelet to take when it happened.
-■■■■■! ! !
With a terrifying roar, something tore through the air with ferocious momentum and flew at you.
The Tin Knight’s instincts screamed a warning that this was not the time to conserve mana.
You reinforced your shield and body with mana and thrust the shield forward.
KAAAAANG!
Your body was launched into the air and pushed back a great distance.
However, despite the spectacular flight, you had taken almost no actual damage.
You had managed to deflect most of the impact.
In the brief moment before you fell back to the ground, you identified what had sent you flying.
It was a pillar.
No, from your perspective it looked like a pillar, but it was actually something closer to a spear.
The shaft, made of several pieces of wood lashed together, was about fifteen meters long, and the blade was larger than your entire body.
The one who had thrown it at you was, of course, a giant.
But this one was exceptionally large and brawny, even compared to the others.
It was clad in proper armor, and its glaring eyes burned with intense will and fighting spirit.
You instinctively knew this was the giants’ leader.
The fact that it could throw a spear so accurately at you—a target no bigger than a mouse from its perspective—spoke volumes of its skill.
Nine other giants stood with the leader giant, and they too were properly armed.
Your two eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps, blazed brightly.
If you had a mouth, you might have curled your lips into a wide grin.
That’s right.
Rather than an enemy that left you feeling gloomy, a straightforward challenge like this was far more enjoyable for you.
-■■■! ! !
-■!
The leader giant roared and drew the sword from its hip.
The other soldier giants, as if responding to their captain’s cry, charged.
You couldn't be outdone.
You gladly raised your shield and provoked them.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts, ‘Bring it on!’]
Your words did not reach them.
There were no allies here to hear your voice.
Therefore, you wove your story not with words, but with your sword.
Scraaaaape!
Soldiers holding large, rectangular shields scraped them along the ground as they rushed you.
From your perspective, it was a sight akin to a castle wall charging at you.
This attack would certainly be difficult to dodge or block.
But you felt no fear.
The moment the bottom of the shield was right in front of you, you leaped backward and blasted mana forward.
With a slight delay, your feet landed on the shield’s surface.
You began to run up the face of the shield.
A feat made possible only because the enemy was pushing the shield forward.
Reaching the top of the shield in an instant, you kicked off its edge and landed on the soldier’s forearm.
The soldier finally noticed you and tried to swat you away, but you were faster, closing in on its neck.
You slashed at its Adam’s apple, then spun around the circumference of its neck.
Gushing an incredible amount of blood from its throat, the giant soldier collapsed.
You leaped off the helmet of the falling soldier and landed on the face of another.
You stabbed its eyes with your sword, and it covered its face with both hands, screaming frantically.
Of course, by the time the soldier’s hands covered its face, you had already jumped to the ground.
Just as you were about to choose your next target, you realized the sky had suddenly darkened.
The last soldier with a large shield was throwing its entire body at you, trying to crush you.
You had to admit, it was a very effective method.
You drew out your sword energy once more and swung.
With a shiiing!, the shield split in two.
The giants’ equipment was serviceable, but it couldn't be called high-quality, even with a generous assessment.
A mindless mass of rock might be one thing, but a shield made of layered leather and iron plates—and one that didn't even contain mana, at that—there was no reason you couldn't cut through it.
As the shield split, the belly of the giant behind it was also half-sliced open, spilling its contents.
To avoid being crushed by the giant’s body, you dove into its belly.
You had planned to cut your way out through its side, but the enemies acted faster.
Shunk! Shunk!
Several swords and spears were swung and thrust, all aimed at you.
Their intent was clear: to eliminate you while your movements were restricted.
They seemed to have no qualms about attacking their own ally to achieve that.
You sensed that if you cut through its side or slipped out through the gap beneath its stomach, you would be attacked immediately.
Crack!
A huge spear grazed your side.
You plunged your sword deep into its shaft.
Just as the sword was firmly embedded in the shaft, the enemy pulled hard, trying to retrieve the spear.
Perhaps because of the obstruction you presented, the spear did not come out easily. But when the soldier pulled with all its might, the spear came free—along with you, who was clinging to it.
Using the momentum of the spear being pulled out, you retrieved your sword and flew toward the enemy’s torso.
After that, as you had done countless times before, you scaled its body and cut its neck.