#196
White Giant (3)
[———!!]
A sound wave filled with the giant’s rage and killing intent spread out heavily, shaking everything in all directions.
Rumble—! Crack! Kwaaang—!
And it did not stop there. With the giant’s body thrashing about nonstop, the ground broke apart, producing quakes as well.
“Kahahaha! This bastard’s still full of energy!”
Harley burst into a refreshing laugh as he sat atop the creature’s head with his ten-ton body.
All the while, he continued using “Jewel Eye: Coercion” at full power, obstructing it so it could not rise.
Of course, even for him, completely suppressing this colossal body—hundreds of tons in weight and the size of a ten-story building—was impossible.
But as long as the creature’s body was humanoid, wasn’t the process required to get up obvious?
“I know the structure of the human body fairly well myself.”
Having personally remodeled his own body and, unintentionally, become well-versed in human anatomy, it was no difficult task for him to focus solely on interfering with the movements the giant needed in order to stand.
“Even that alone consumes a lot of energy, so I doubt I can maintain it for long. Still, I bought enough time for the people to evacuate, so that’s fine.”
On top of that, when he mixed “madness” into the bioenergy used to activate “Jewel Eye: Coercion,” it proved, just as he had expected, more effective against the giant.
If not for that, holding the creature down would have consumed far more power.
Rumble—
But even that seemed to be approaching its limit now.
“Whoops! This friend sure is impatient! You could’ve stayed lying down a bit longer!”
At last, the giant planted both hands on the ground and began to slowly raise its upper body.
Harley, who had been pressing down on the back of its head with his overwhelming mass, quietly rose from his seat.
And sure enough—
Whoooosh—!
A white hand, nearly the same size as Harley in his current complete transformation, flew toward him with a fierce tearing sound.
“Oops!”
Of course, Harley had no intention of allowing such a simple attack to land. He lightly dodged the hand and slipped down to the ground.
Still, thanks to Isea personally stepping forward to evacuate the people during the time he had bought, the only ones left nearby now were Harley himself and…
“Hmm. I expected as much to some extent, but no matter how much we destroy its organs, it has little effect. Still, I didn’t think it would be fine even after its heart was crushed.”
“Kh… I don’t even know whether my attacks are getting through.”
Heinrich and Geos, who had been diligently carving up the giant’s torso in that brief interval.
“Kahat! Looks like we really do have to aim for the head. I tried to keep smashing it while I was riding on top earlier, but it was so hard and packed so full of madness that it didn’t seem like it would work right away. Wouldn’t a place defended that thoroughly be its weak point?”
Harley moved his massive body and stood beside his companions, speaking casually.
Heinrich and Geos were both rather tall themselves, but beside him, the difference in height was so extreme that they looked like an adult and children.
…Though in front of that giant, they were all much the same.
Before them, the white giant, which had fully risen before they knew it, was looking down with an expression full of rage.
Looking up at it from directly in front, it blocked out the entire sky, casting shadows all around.
[——?! ——!]
“Mm, it really does seem quite angry.”
Its vast muscles swelled to their limits, and a fierce rumbling came from its throat as it writhed ceaselessly.
Also, as if it no longer had any interest in the orphanage group it had first pursued, its gaze remained fixed on the hero party… or more precisely, on Heinrich and Harley.
As though reflecting the giant’s feelings—
Whiiik—! Kwaaang!
Its hand, which had risen high before anyone noticed, came crashing down like a thunderbolt and crushed the entire area where they had been.
Of course, the party was not one to be caught by such a simple attack, and the battle once again unfolded in a pattern similar to before.
“This giant is definitely intelligent, but… it isn’t rational enough to use that intelligence efficiently. Well, since it’s a monster that crawled up from the Abyss, I suppose that’s only natural.”
Somehow, it not only understood human language, but had also picked out information from their conversation and precisely identified the target that could become their weakness.
Had it not even shown cunning afterward, using that in reverse to gain a considerable advantage in battle?
“Though in the end, charging at the real village was an irrational decision.”
Hostages had value only while they were alive.
If it truly killed them, it would only provoke the anger of its opponents, leaving nothing behind…
“No, wait. Would there really be nothing left?”
Then suddenly, such a thought crossed his mind.
The opponent was a monster that had crawled up from the Abyss.
Was it truly right to judge such a creature’s behavioral patterns by ordinary standards?
“If so, then what it can obtain would be…”
When a certain target is brought to death, someone who witnesses it will become enraged.
There may also be those who grieve, those who despair, those who grow pessimistic about the world, and perhaps even those who cannot accept reality and go mad.
“All of them are negative emotions.”
And to a being of the Abyss, such negative emotions were not simply a source of strength.
“A means to absorb evil karma that can raise the very rank of its existence… and grow stronger.”
He knew that better than anyone.
Because—
“…Hans is the same.”
The Immortal King Hannibal Strauss, Hans for short.
The Immortal Kings throughout history had been swallowed by the mission to dye the world in death and had invaded the continent each time.
Thanks to “Mind Hub,” Hans had been able to block that impulse, but he knew well enough just how strong that compulsion was.
Not only had he felt it indirectly several times while coming into contact with fragments, he had also accessed the information left behind by the thoughts of the previous Immortal King.
“And the evil karma of that predecessor is what continued into the current Hans.”
When the Immortal King was passed down through generations, he inherited a portion of the evil karma accumulated by his predecessor and became even stronger.
Of course, since he was a crystallization of death drawn from the Abyss, he must have been powerful from the start.
The first, who had been the greatest mage of his age, burned away half the continent, even if he had aimed for a moment when it was defenseless.
And the second, a third-rate dark mage who happened to obtain the heart, annihilated the western part of the continent, which had already finished preparing thoroughly.
“Of course, this giant doesn’t seem to have the ability to pass evil karma down through generations…”
What mattered right now was that this white giant before them was also a being capable of growing stronger under conditions similar to the Immortal King.
“…Are they planning to create a second Immortal King?”
Heinrich frowned without realizing it as he swung his sword.
He was certain that the phenomenon occurring now had not happened naturally.
It was not some being drifting along the boundary, but a monster that should have been at the bottom of the Abyss, suddenly tearing through a Scar and bursting out.
On top of that, its body contained a considerable amount of madness.
In that case, wasn’t it obvious who had caused this?
“The Oath of Reversal. The one who possesses a medium of madness drawn from the Abyss. He must have pulled some trick.”
Thinking that, it no longer seemed like mere coincidence that the giant had appeared here, of all places, at this exact time.
Even if this was the Lesque Kingdom, where many Scars of the Abyss remained because it had been the site of the final battle against the second Immortal King, the timing was still far too convenient.
“…Was he aiming for Heinrich the Saint? Or perhaps it was drawn here by the madness Harley carries.”
Perhaps it truly was coincidence, but now, whatever the reason might be, it no longer mattered.
“…We just need to finish this thing off right here, so it can’t grow any further.”
The eyes of Heinrich, who swung the Holy Sword, and Harley, who tore into the giant’s flesh with his sharp claws, flashed.
[“I’ll assist now as well! I gathered not only the orphanage people but even the villagers and set up a temporary barrier in a safe place, so unless something extraordinary happens, they shouldn’t get swept up in this anymore.”]
[“Good. Now that there’s nothing to worry about, shall we finish this thing off properly?”]
Just then, word came that Isea, who had left her position, had returned.
They had grasped enough about the giant’s abilities, and there was nothing more to pay attention to.
Whooong— Thud!
The giant’s enormous right foot came stomping down, once again aiming for Harley.
But by the time it touched the ground, he had already taken the giant’s back.
He had moved so quickly that the cloud of dust rising along his path had not even settled yet.
Harley crouched on the ground like a beast, the corners of his mouth rising to reveal vicious teeth.
Crack! Creeeak—!
A metallic sound seeped from muscles compressed to their limits, and the “Heart of the Mad Dragon” beat without rest, sending high-density energy surging through his entire body.
“Krhahaha! First of all…!”
Engravings, bio-aura, and “madness” lightly ignored the limits of his flesh, strengthening his body and destroying it at the same time.
Maintaining the cells as they necrotized was the role of “Hyper-Regeneration.”
“Let’s get ourselves at eye level! Friend!”
His thigh muscles, mixed with the genes of a mutant minotaur he had acquired at some point, swelled greatly.
Then, as he forcefully pulled with both hands dug into the ground—
Kwaaang—!
Harley’s body shot forward like a missile.
Toward the back of the giant’s right knee.
Thud—!
With a heavy sound, the giant’s leg jolted and its body staggered.
No matter how many hundreds of tons the creature weighed, Harley was not exactly light himself.
Since that body had slammed like a missile into a vulnerable point of the human form, the result was obvious.
The creature tried, for a moment, to brace itself with its left leg, but…
“Hup!”
Slash—
Its effort could only come to nothing, as that leg had already been scored with countless cuts, and Heinrich swung his sword there again right on time.
[———?!]
In the end, the giant began to topple toward the side Harley had struck.
Just as it instinctively reached out a hand to brace itself against the ground—
“Whooo—.”
Geos, taking a deep breath, raised his spear and—
In an instant, thrust more than a dozen spear strikes into the air.
Until now, his attacks had not had much effect on the giant, healing in mere seconds, but—
Kwaaaang—!
That was enough time to smash the wrist of the hand it was trying to plant on the ground and send it rolling.
[———!!]
The earth screamed, and at the same time, with a tremendous shockwave that swept the surroundings, the giant let out a strange cry and twisted its body.
Then, as it planted its intact left hand on the ground and tried to forcefully push off with its right hand, which had only just begun to regenerate, in order to raise its upper body—
Wooooong—
The sound of mana resonating rang out, and Isea’s gravity magic, activated once more, pressed down on its body.
It was an excellent coordinated attack, synchronized through the teamwork they had built up and the magic that allowed them to share intentions.
[“That giant has high magic resistance, so I can’t hold it for long!”]
[“Krhahaha! This much is enough! We’re going straight to the next one!”]
[“…Pardon? You have to be more specific if I’m supposed to match you!”]
However, as if he intended to show the rest with his body, Harley simply charged forward.
He ran to where the giant’s head lay, then leapt upward with all his strength.
“Urachacha—!”
[“Ah? W-wait! If you enter that range now, Mr. Harley, you’ll also…!”]
“Wahahaha! That’s exactly what I was hoping for!”
His two hands were clasped tightly and swung behind his back, his waist bent like a bow.
In that state, as he fell through the air, accelerated by gravity—
He put all his weight behind his two hands and drove them downward.
Kuuuuung!
Just as before, the enormous head was smashed into the ground once again.
It was only natural, since it was no different from being struck on the head by a hammer weighing several dozen tons.
[“Are you all right?! No matter how tough you are, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”]
[“Mmm… I’m a bit stiff, I suppose.”]
Naturally, even Harley, who had launched the physical assault, could not ignore the impact.
But he merely shook out his hands a few times, then once again looked down at the head pinned beneath him.
“This is a familiar setup. What a nostalgic sight! Now then, I suppose I’ll have to smash this.”
As if accustomed to it since it was his second time, he used “Jewel Eye: Coercion” to hinder the giant’s movements while tapping the ground with his foot.
Its skull was so hard that even after taking a direct hit from his “Sure-Kill Gravity Hammer,” all it had done was cave in slightly.
[“…How about cutting off its neck first?”]
[“Oh? Not a bad idea, brother!”]
[“Then I shall try cutting it first.”]
However, perhaps because it was indeed a point that could be called a weakness, cutting the neck was not easy either.
Of course, in the end, it only took a little more time.
Midway through, the giant finally broke free of its restraints and rampaged once more, but ultimately, it did not last long before it was brought back down to the ground and had its neck cut.
And at last—
“Oh, what’s this?”
Harley, who had seized the reward for all their efforts, smiled in satisfaction.
***
The western border region of the Azerion Empire.
“Aaaagh!”
“What the hell is that monster?! How are we supposed to catch something like that?!”
At one garrison there, a massacre was taking place in the truest sense of the word.
The number of elite soldiers already dead had reached several hundred, and among them was even a Master-class knight who had been the unit’s commander.
“Retreat! Retreat! We have to inform the legion of this first!”
“No, if something like that gets loose and enters a city, everyone will be slaughtered!”
“It’s not like there’s anything we can do! Warning the surrounding areas comes first!”
In the end, the officers forced a retreat despite taking losses and managed to accomplish their intended goal of passing on the information.
Though, in the process, there was the tragedy of more than ninety percent of the unit being slaughtered.
And the one who had caused that tragedy… the enormous white giant standing in the middle of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—
Tuk— Tuk!
Was alone in its ecstasy, feeling the stifling seal that had restrained it all this time come undone.
Of course, that did not mean all restrictions had disappeared.
What had opened was merely the seal that had been blocking one of its nostrils.
[Huuup—]
But even that was a tremendous joy to it.
At the very least, it could now breathe like this.
As the giant began to inhale deeply, the surrounding air was sucked in at an unbelievable speed, filling its lungs.
And…
[Huuu—]
From the breath that poured back out of one nostril—
Fwoooosh—
A dreadful poison that corroded everything spread in all directions.