According to Sin Sua’s explanation, the gate that had undergone a fluctuation this time would come to be called the Giants’ Plateau in the future.
Originally, it had been a plain filled with A-rank ogres, but now that the gate fluctuation had occurred, giants as enormous as twenty-story apartment buildings were said to be roaming around inside. The gate was located on Jeju Island.
So after packing our things, we headed not to the Association but to the airport, where Gu Dohan, the branch manager of the Association, was already waiting to greet us.
“Welcome. And thank you for coming all this way to help.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? When I heard that the Dragon himself had agreed to help, I felt as if I had gained an army of ten thousand. But the lady behind you is…”
“Ah, she’s someone I hired recently as a manager to handle miscellaneous matters.”
“I see. Then I’ll guide you inside.”
When we followed Gu Dohan into the airport, the Awakeners who had arrived ahead of us were gathered to one side, waiting.
They must not have heard that we would be joining them, because the Awakeners looked surprised when they saw me enter the airport.
“Everyone, pay attention. You may already know them, but this is the Dragon, his contractor, Miss Sin Sua, and Miss Baek Yeon, a member of Miss Sin Sua’s party. They have agreed to explore the fluctuated gate that appeared on Jeju Island with us this time.”
At Gu Dohan’s explanation, the Awakeners’ faces brightened.
“If the Dragon is with us, there’ll be less danger.”
“We might even be able to clear the gate completely.”
“A carry and a performance bonus on top. Sweet.”
Perhaps they had heard about what had happened inside the gate last time, because they seemed to think that with my participation, even if an accident occurred inside the gate, they would be able to make it out alive.
And their thinking was not entirely wrong.
If some incident happened this time as well, we would certainly step in to resolve it, and we would save those who could be saved.
That would be good for raising our reputation, and there was nothing bad about maintaining good relations with the Awakeners.
But as those words implied, I would only save those who could be saved. I had no intention of overexerting myself to save people.
Well, if it was dangerous enough to threaten our party—especially my clone—then it wouldn’t be strange if all the Awakeners here had already died long before.
Realizing that his words had caused the Awakeners to relax, Gu Dohan spoke sternly, as if scolding them.
“Even if the Dragon has agreed to help us, do not let your guard down inside the gate. If you are veteran Awakeners, you know very well what happens to people who grow careless inside gates, don’t you?”
Only after Gu Dohan’s warning did a suitable tension settle over their faces.
Then Association staff came in and handed out materials to the Awakeners.
“These are the materials investigated by a reconnaissance team sent by the Jeju Island branch of the Association. As you can see, the gate was originally an A-rank ogre gate. However, after the fluctuation, the current gate has been measured at SS-rank.”
“I’ve never heard of SS-rank before. What are the standards?”
“An SS-rank gate is one that clearly exceeds the specifications of an S-rank gate, but is not entirely impossible to measure like the gate where the Dragon appeared.”
“Then, compared to the average S-rank gate, how much higher is it?”
“The measured value is approximately four times higher.”
“…Thank you.”
Four times the average S-rank gate.
I didn’t really know how significant that was, but it must have been serious, because worry flashed across the faces of the Awakeners scheduled to enter.
“Is that very high?”
“…You may not know, Lord Nidhogg, but even if we include gates that haven’t been made public, there probably aren’t even five gates in the entire world with values this high.”
“That is certainly worth worrying about.”
While Sin Sua and I quietly whispered to each other so those around us could not hear, the briefing continued.
“Moving on to the next page. According to the Jeju Island reconnaissance team, after they entered the gate and examined the entrance area, they found that what had originally been a plain had changed into a considerably high-altitude region. There is also said to be a light mist, so be careful around places like cliffs.”
“Were any monsters inside confirmed?”
“The place is quite vast. They were unable to confirm any monsters just by examining the entrance area. However…”
“However?”
The branch manager hesitated over whether he should say it, but in the end, he relayed something that was not written in the report.
“It may have been a mistake on the reconnaissance team’s part, but they said they saw a gigantic shadow in the mist.”
“…There may be an ultra-large monster inside.”
“Exactly. So all of you, be careful as well. If you judge that hunting it is impossible, return immediately.”
With the branch manager’s words, the briefing came to an end, and just in time, an Association staff member informed us that preparations for departure were complete. We boarded the prepared plane and departed for Jeju Island.
Since we were only going from Incheon to Jeju Island, the flight was short.
Not long after we rose into the sky, we arrived on Jeju Island.
After getting off the plane, we got into the cars that had been prepared in advance and headed straight for the place where the gate was located.
To enter the gate situated in the mountains, we drove deep along an unpaved road and arrived at a gate whose entrance looked easily twice as large as that of other gates.
“Welcome. I am Gang Inseong, head of the Association’s Jeju Island branch.”
While the half-bald Jeju Island branch manager and the person serving as the captain of this expedition exchanged brief greetings, we also confirmed the purpose of this exploration once more.
“Three giant hearts, as Ratatoskr requested.”
“And five stalks of Ironblood Grass, which only grows here. Right?”
“Yes.”
It was the same in any world, but giants were practically symbols of pure strength.
Therefore, in order to restore Ratatoskr’s power, we intended to kill at least three giants and take their hearts—or, to be precise, the cores inside their hearts.
‘Should I grab a few more for my own health?’
I had eaten giants a few times before, and their hearts in particular were excellent elixirs, potent enough to have an effect even on me.
Of course, assuming my main body ate them, a few giant hearts would feel, in human terms, about like drinking a pack of red ginseng… but still, they were better than nothing.
And the Ironblood Grass Sin Sua was going to collect was said to have the effect of strengthening muscles and bones. It was not potent enough to affect me or Ratatoskr, so she was taking it purely for herself and Baek Yeon to eat.
After that final confirmation was finished,
we took the storage containers we had brought separately to collect the two items and entered beyond the gate together with the expedition team.
The inside of the gate was, just as the reconnaissance team had reported, a highland region covered in a light mist.
“Begin the exploration.”
An Awakener specialized in reconnaissance took the lead, and we followed behind him deeper into the gate.
As expected of a gate inhabited by giants, the inside was absurdly vast.
We walked across the broad plateau, with no end in sight no matter how far we went.
“Damn it. This place is ridiculously huge.”
“There isn’t a single monster in sight, just a foggy field. Is this really a gate?”
There was a limit to how long one could keep moving while tense, and the Awakeners who had continued walking across the endless plain began to voice their complaints one by one.
But their complaints did not last long.
“Wait. Shh.”
At the signal from the scout in front, the expedition team stopped in place.
As we stood still and silently watched our surroundings, a tremor was detected.
Thud—
Thud—
As the ground vibrated in a steady rhythm, everyone realized that these were someone’s footsteps.
If they could echo this much from such a distance, just how enormous was the owner of those footsteps?
It did not take long for everyone to find out.
“O-over there—”
One Awakener pointed into the mist, and there, just as Branch Manager Gu Dohan had said, a gigantic humanoid shadow was passing by.
At last, a giant had appeared.
Sniff— Sniff—
The giant, which had come within a certain distance of us, flared its nostrils as if sniffing the air.
“Kuhu! Humans. It smells like humans!”
A thunderous voice struck our eardrums, and at the giant’s words, the inside of the gate began to stir.
“What!”
“Are they really humans?”
“Food! Food!”
“I’m eating them first!”
The source of the stirring was none other than other giants.
Some must have been crouching, and others sitting, because heads visible through the mist increased in number in an instant.
Thus, a total of four giants slowly began approaching the expedition team.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
Realizing that it was already too late to flee or hide, the expedition team prepared to fight.
Each of them drew their weapons, but their faces showed that they were not confident whether those weapons would even work against such enormous giants.
At that moment, the face of the giant that had first discovered us broke through the mist and emerged clearly.
“Humaans!!”
“Attack!”
A hand thrust out along with its face, approaching at a speed that made it unclear whether it intended to grab a human or crush one. The Awakeners at the front who held shields and close-combat weapons struck the hand away.
And they learned that, to the giant, the wounds from swords and spears were no more than being poked by toothpicks or cut by paper.
“It tickles!!”
The giant reached out again as if nothing had happened.
Drool dribbled from its mouth as if it were already anticipating the humans it would soon taste.
“Compared to the world I lived in, they are stupid beyond belief.”
There had been giants in the Nine Worlds where I originally lived.
They were the inhabitants of Jotunheim.
Among them were giants who were wise and sagacious, and giants who were wicked and cunning.
But look at these things.
Unlike the giants I had seen, there was not even the slightest trace of intelligence in their eyes.
Their actions were ruled solely by instinct and appetite.
“Surely they aren’t defective goods?”
I would be lucky if eating their hearts did not upset my stomach.
First, I would take the cores to Ratatoskr and have him inspect them before eating any.
While I was briefly thinking about something else, the expedition team was being pushed more and more into a corner.
They had only avoided being caught until now because the giant was stupid. At this rate, other giants would join in, or they would gradually be exhausted and captured by the giants to be eaten.
“I will join the fight as well.”
“Me too!”
Baek Yeon and Sin Sua went out to help the endangered expedition team face the giant, and since I had no intention of helping until those two fell into danger, I obediently waited where I was.
Would those two really be able to face a giant?
And so, as the two of them joined the expedition team, the true battle between giant and humans began.