Chapter 95
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Lesson 20. Familiars Can Be Copied? - 5
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Thud. Thump.
The giant slowly closed in on Ban Yu-won, one heavy footfall at a time.
Its pace wasn't particularly fast, but the sheer overwhelming pressure from its massive bulk was enough to make anyone instinctively back away.
'Can I even read its concepts...?'
Still, he could make out two concepts that filled its entire body to the brim: Giant and Herculean Strength.
Their depth was at least 500 each. Without a doubt, this was the strongest monster Ban Yu-won had ever faced one-on-one.
Even the climbs he'd done with his teammates had their precarious moments, but this was on another level entirely.
The only reason he could keep his cool was knowing that even if he died fighting this giant, he'd just retire—no true death. Otherwise, the moment he saw it rise, he might have bolted from the tower right then and there.
"Eve, what do you think?"
"Shiiit..."
Eve shook her head with an uncertain expression.
Having evolved into a divine beast, Eve could now inflict hallucinations on enemies or freely shapeshift her own form, making her a versatile all-purpose supporter. But against such an overwhelmingly massive foe, her options were limited.
"Once we beat that bastard, I'll give you the Giant concept too. Then you'll be fine from now on, right?"
"Shii!"
Grrrrrooooaaar!
Perhaps annoyed that they were already divvying up spoils before the fight had even begun, the giant opened its maw and let out a bellowing roar.
That was the moment.
Something began dropping from both of its armpits onto the ground with heavy thuds.
"Filthy!"
'Ah, Cellon, you were awake. I thought you were being quiet this whole time.'
The Tower's ridiculous changes left me speechless, that's all.
Thankfully, what fell to the ground wasn't the giant's armpit sweat.
It was a frost giant—well, giant by normal standards at about four meters tall, but frozen solid blue.
"Ah...?"
"Father desires our strength."
"Who dares stand atop Father's flesh?"
"Such insolence must be repaid with death."
Unlike golems, these giants chattered fluently as they glared at Ban Yu-won, each one radiating an ominous aura.
And the problem was, their numbers kept growing.
Ban Yu-won counted up to fifty before giving up.
He got the gist right away.
'Norse creation myth, huh.'
In Norse mythology, there's a giant named Ymir.
As the primordial being and ancestor to all that would follow, it's similar to Pangu from Chinese myth. From Ymir's armpits, frost giants were born—just like the scene unfolding before his eyes.
Likewise, Ymir's descendants (likely great-grandchildren)—Odin and his brothers—committed patricide by slaying him and used his corpse to fashion the world. That's the backbone of this creation myth.
'In that case...'
He'd had a hunch from the start, but no matter how many frost giants he killed, their numbers wouldn't dwindle.
To break through this space, he'd have to take down that golem towering over fifty meters himself.
According to Norse myth, Ymir's blood caused a flood upon his death, drowning all the frost giants. So, skipping the minions and just killing the golem should solve everything.
'Yep, this Babel Tower really does mimic all the myths and histories from Earth.'
Christianity, Islam, Norse, Sumerian—who knew what other myths might pop up?
Ban Yu-won resolved to scour every mythology resource he could find once he got home, then first summoned Lilith.
Pwaang!
He'd figured a solo run meant no need for Lilith in this cramped 1-room setup, so he hadn't called her... but surprise! Never say never!
"Lilith might actually shine the most here."
Bwoooong!
The moment Lilith appeared, she sized up the situation and honked excitedly, letting Ban Yu-won hop on her back.
With no time for prep, she shot straight into the sky!
The frost giants marching across the earth halted in confusion.
"Father!"
"A bug flies in the sky!"
"Grrrrrooooaaar!"
As the frost giants whined, the golem roared again.
At that instant, Ban Yu-won spotted the unfamiliar string "Air Pressure" hovering above its head and instinctively reached out to steal it.
[Stolen: Air Pressure 10]
The moment he stole it, he understood its meaning.
Compressed air blasted in a fixed direction to create pressure—that was Air Pressure.
But with no visible prep, had this hulking golem cast a wind-attribute spell silently?
He couldn't tell the details, but right now, his focus was killing the golem!
Ban Yu-won steered Lilith to charge it head-on, then suddenly remembered something and halted her.
'Still, I should test out on those giants first.'
"Not sure if it'll work, but..."
Oh, testing it right away? Honestly, I've been curious too.
His inventory opened, and one sword automatically floated out.
From hilt to blade length, it resembled the Executioner's Longsword.
As Ban Yu-won gripped his Executioner's Longsword and focused his mind, the floating sword stood rigidly vertical in midair, vibrating faintly in response.
This was the fruit of Eve and Lilith's two weeks of labor, Ban Yu-won's deliberations on artifacts and familiars, plus the mutant power to bestow positive options on creations and the soul-infusing authority of Soul Imbuement... or rather, just one piece of it.
Of course. There were twenty-five swords total.
Twenty-four more ahead, each bearing exactly the same concepts as this one.
Individually dubbed the "nth Downpour Blade," they combined into the Downpour Sword.
'Good, it moves as I will it!'
Analyzing the artifact's concepts broke down like this:
Fundamentals to boost the sword's performance: Magic Sword, Life for the blade's own growth, Swordsmanship to amp its power.
The rest were bonus options.
Resonance came from Lucein Ortima's artifact Astraea's Spica, nurtured by Eve, Lilith, and Tike before being bestowed upon the swords.
With this, not only could he communicate freely with targets, but even temporarily lend his power.
In truth, that's why Ban Yu-won had started crafting these artifacts—because of this concept!
'Not just resonance between me and familiars, but between familiars themselves too.'
If one sword's power wasn't enough, use two—no, three!
Combining multiple swords' might into one attack on the enemy—that delusion alone had led him here!
And that brought up a new thought.
What about fusion?
There was. Thanks to the mutant power, the finished artifacts gained Unity.
Without Resonance, even the mutant power couldn't have yielded Unity.
'But Resonance and Unity are still advanced. First, I need to get used to controlling these swords.'
Ban Yu-won infused a fragment of his soul into each of the twenty-five swords.
To maximize Resonance's effects and handle the blades proficiently.
The Executioner's Longsword served as the command center to control the Downpour Swords.
By granting it Resonance too, he could link it to the Downpour Swords for more intuitive control.
Like right now...
"Go!"
Ban Yu-won raised the Executioner's Longsword, targeting the outermost frost giant milling about on the ground, and unleashed his will.
The first Downpour Blade, hovering idly, ignited in dark phantom flames and plunged earthward!
"Kreeeeaaak!"
It didn't pierce clean through, but the Downpour Blade crushed the giant's shoulder, dealing severe damage.
Other frost giants raged and swung at it, but the blade, under Ban Yu-won's direct control, slipped away nimbly and returned to his side.
How is it? Tough?
"Without the intermediary, it might've been harder. Controlling something totally different from me isn't easy."
Using the Executioner's Longsword as a bridge had been the right call.
This was just one for now, but ultimately, his dream was to freely wield all twenty-five Downpour Swords through it.
"Shall we try a second one?"
The second Downpour Blade, identical in concepts to the first, popped from his inventory.
Now two blades orbited him protectively, but Eve and Tike chittered in apparent jealousy at the sight.
"Shh, shiit."
"No need to compete, Eve. These don't have egos."
They were closer to magical tools than familiars, infused only with fragments of his own soul.
Though who knew what might happen as they absorbed other souls' concepts and grew.
[Stolen: Air Pressure 10]
"Good. Go!"
Ban Yu-won stole the new Air Pressure concept above his head and issued the attack order.
Two Downpour Blades blazed with phantom flames and dove down.
They struck true on the head and neck of the frost giant already wounded in the shoulder, finally claiming its life for good.
Whoa, you actually killed it. Seemed like no pushover.
"Solid power."
Handling up to two blades wasn't too tough.
Hard to analogize perfectly, but it felt like gaining two extra fingers he could move at will.
If he wanted, he could probably make them dance a sword routine.
"The coward attacks from afar!"
"Grab that burning metal rod and snap it!"
"Too fast to catch... then..."
"Rocks! Throw rocks!"
The giants only now scrambled for countermeasures after losing one of their own.
Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won checked the concepts of the frost giant flying at him amid his two blades.
[Stolen: Life 5, Ice Magic Power 3, Giant 5, Herculean Strength 3, Soul 2. Giant is a concept humans cannot possess.]
"Ooh yeah."
Not only high purity, but most were superior concepts to boot.
The lack of Body was a minor letdown, perhaps due to their unique birth method.
For now, he absorbed Life and Ice Magic Power wholesale: Life jumped by a whopping 2, while Ice Magic Power split into Ice and Magic Power... and surprisingly, 'Ice' boosted his elemental magic depth by 1!
Just like when he'd absorbed Volcano to advance his elemental magic before.
"Jackpot..."
As promised, he granted Giant and Herculean Strength to Eve.
Her divine beast and Myriad Transformations concepts each grew by 1, suggesting success in extracting the divine beast essence from Giant.
"Split the Soul between you two."
The first and second Downpour Blades' Soul depth rose to 2.
Scoring such tidy gains from just one frost giant naturally sparked other ideas in Ban Yu-won.
[Stolen: Air Pressure 10]
"The golem isn't as tough as I thought, and the frost giants are even easier..."
Sure, the golem's fifty-meter-plus frame was intimidating, but it moved slowly and only attacked from range with 'Air Pressure'.
The frost giants started chucking rocks one by one, but as proven before, Ban Yu-won could nullify projectiles by stealing their concepts.
They were easy to kill, and new ones kept spawning from the golem's armpits each time.
"...Shall I?"
The third Downpour Blade slyly emerged from his inventory.
Ban Yu-won licked his lips, locked onto a frost giant with the Executioner's Longsword, and unleashed all three magic swords at once.
Ban Yu-won, 18-year-old Korean.
In RPGs he'd played before, he'd once farmed a mid-boss that summoned adds each turn—not killing the boss, just endlessly slaying minions for mass XP and loot.
...That battle record? 37 hours.