Chapter 56

Bang! The tremendous sound spread everywhere.

Golb looked towards the epicenter of that noise.

A gigantic monster that seemed to be at least twice the size of himself, even among the giants.

And compared to that monster, a small elf, no bigger than a handful, was standing against it with a burning sword.

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen my master exert all her strength.’

Araya, who used to toy with both him and Silv when they attacked her together.

His senses were dulled, so he couldn’t feel it, but if they came into contact with the energy contained in that sword, he felt that both he and his brother would lose their heads before they could even take ten breaths.

And the being that was confronting his master.

He was likely looking at a monster that had only been seen as a ghastly creature of the corpses of giants until now.

‘Gal Dragon.’

He had only thought it was a being that existed in the legends and stories passed down among the giants.

He had never seen it since the Titan was created, and it was only passed down through the words of their master, Terato.

A unique existence with a golden body that resembled nothing in this world.

The perfect being of its kind.

Its name was also the name of the species.

In terms of rank, it would be a being comparable to Terato.

If such a being were to attack, no giant would be able to escape death.

‘…But if it is a being as described in the legends, then maybe…’

A question popped into his mind, but he quickly brushed it away.

It wasn’t something to think about right now.

The camping site, which had been surrounded by trees, was already in chaos.

The Gal Dragon, which had ambushed them while they were asleep, must have been stopped by his master.

He thought he needed to pull himself together after seeing Silv, who was trembling and unable to think, staring at his master’s fight, so he slapped his own cheek.

‘It looks like my master is at a disadvantage for now…’

The image of Araya swinging her fiery sword, slashing at the dragon’s claws and scales.

Each time, the Gal Dragon roared in anger, but in reality, it had suffered no significant damage.

There were only minor wounds; not a single deep or deadly injury could be seen.

Despite the sword and the blade having penetrated deeply enough to cut through the opponent’s body, the opponent’s size was just too enormous.

As a giant, he knew how it felt to deal with humans.

Human weapons stung and hurt, irritating him, but they weren’t life-threatening.

Moreover, there was something wrong; while Araya’s face began to show growing anxiety, the Gal Dragon’s wounds merely multiplied without changing much from the start.

Even the wounds that were burned by the flames of the sword were slowly healing bit by bit, for some reason.

‘If my master falls, it would mean total annihilation.’

Determined, Golb approached his younger brother Silv and struck him on the back of his head to knock him out of his daze.

“? Why are you hitting me all of a sudden?”

“Snap out of it! Our master is in danger. If she falls, we’re all done for. We have to help her now.”

Seeing his brother abruptly wide-eyed and staring at him blankly, Golb spoke with a serious face.

“I think our master is getting tired. We need to join in.”

Silv watched Araya’s battle and nodded.

“What should we do?”

“What we learned.”

◈ ◈ ◈

Silv liked his master, Araya.

Unlike himself, who was dull and foolish, Araya was pretty, and her every movement exuded elegance.

After being chased out of the Village of Giants, they had worried about starving to death, but ever since they were taken in by Araya, they no longer had to worry about hunger.

There was no longer any fear of the cold winters.

The humans who began to follow Araya and took care of him were initially scared of them, but as they helped with the things that were easy for him but hard for humans, they gradually grew close.

After being chased out of the village, it had only been him, his brother, and their mother, but now he had many human friends.

He was not lonely.

And Araya, though small, was truly strong.

While other humans were weak, Araya, smaller than them, still effortlessly toyed with him and his brother when they attacked.

Araya referred to herself as a master and taught him the martial arts to become stronger.

When he performed well, she would occasionally give him large dates or create huge honey pastries.

That’s why Silv liked Araya.

She resolved things effortlessly that had troubled his brother and mother.

Araya always provided him with wonderful things, even though he himself was foolish.

Now, it was said that Araya was in danger.

His brother, who always hit him in the back of the head for doing something foolish, wore a serious expression.

Araya, who was usually calm and strong, now wielded her sword with a stern face, exuding a terrifying aura.

The monster that attacked the camping site while they were half-asleep was frightening.

Just being near it made it hard to breathe and filled him with a desire to flee out of fear.

However, the thought of something happening to Araya or her dying terrified him even more.

If Araya died, it felt like all the wonderful things in the world would leave him.

Araya was a goddess to him.

Silv gripped his trembling legs and stood up.

‘No one can take my master away from me.’

Looking up at the golden dragon fighting against his master, Silv’s eyes took on the gaze of a warrior.

◈ ◈ ◈

Typically, people from the Central Plains were braggarts.

Was it because the vastness of the land instilled in them a sense of boldness?

Or was it that, due to the expanse, it was hard to confirm facts, so they just spoke out?

Moreover, among the people from the Central Plains, those involved with the Doosan Clan also tended to be similar.

Letting out grand tales and claims about their martial arts and the meaning they carried.

If they truly came to fruition, the world would have been destroyed a hundred times over.

Just look at the basic techniques of the Three Disasters Sword that could be easily found in any bookstore.

A simple horizontal slash could supposedly cut through a thousand soldiers.

While it would show some formidable phenomena if they attempted the uplifted martial arts, the ones doing it were merely humans.

The descriptions of martial arts that the basic techniques and doctrines presented were merely figurative expressions.

But I could undeniably say that the scene unfolding before my eyes was an exact match of technique and phenomenon.

Araya’s Martial Path (阿賴耶武脈) Giant Force Fist (巨力拳)

Giant Power Hard Climbing (巨力硬爬山)

With a single thrust of the fist, the earth trembled, and the outstretched fist, along with the explosive momentum, shook the air.

The solid form of the golden dragon momentarily swayed.

The shock was enough to crush a small mountain, and the dragon had to withstand it with its own body.

A presence with a weight more than a hundred times that of a human, moving with a terror close to a calamity.

It was the strike unleashed by the giant brothers, Golb and Silv.

As they moved, they had been given the opportunity and excellently inserted their fist into the dragon’s body.

“Rrraaaah! How dare you little monkeys interrupt my battle!”

Even allowing the giant brothers to land a blow capable of shattering a boulder or even the thick walls of Pohelrn, the dragon did not fall.

The tail, swinging towards Silv, swept with the might of the Flame King’s wrath.

While the giant brothers had a power that bordered on calamity in terms of attack, their defense was only marginally above average giants.

Allowing many hits could prove dangerous.

However, the dragon’s tail struck Silv’s body, overpowering the strength of the sword with a residual force.

“Ggurrgh!”

The dragon, twice the size of Silv, swung its tail with full force.

Even if the power of Silv’s sword was diminished, the impact was so overwhelming that he felt his legs weaken, letting out a scream, dropping to his knees.

“Silv!”

Despite being a strong giant, he was still a sensitive child.

At that moment, he tried to call his brother back, but the determination to not back down was reflected in Silv’s eyes as he lifted his head against the shock.

Instead of retreating, Silv quickly rose and punched his fist straight into the dragon’s abdomen.

A sound of air exploding followed, along with an additional strike from Golb, finally halting the dragon’s body.

I swung my sword toward a vital point on the dragon’s neck, infusing it with the martial technique of the Killer Dragon’s Palm.

“Graaaah!”

For the first time, the dragon’s previously unyielding stance shook and crumbled.

A phlegmy sound erupted from the dragon’s throat for the first time.

‘…I couldn’t cut deep!’

The dragon’s neck.

In my view, which was keenly focused, appeared a massive core charged with energy.

I instinctively felt that it was akin to a human’s dantian or the reverse scale of the dragons of the Central Plains.

However, while typically, the neck is one of the most vulnerable points on a living creature, the dragon’s neck was instead protected far more solidly than any other area by its tough scales.

Even though it was protected, I was even more convinced it was a vital point.

‘The strike I just delivered was my strongest attack against the dragon among my current martial arts.’

The deepest wound I could inflict only provoked the wrath of the dragon.

‘There isn’t a way to pierce through the dragon’s hide or break that core with what I currently possess.’

I had countless sword techniques—Sword of the Affiliation, Flame King’s Sword Techniques, Harmonious Sword Art, Cloud Wielding Sword, Thunderstorm Sword, Silent Wind Sword Techniques, and many others.

Even though my perfected martial techniques were worthy of being called Absolutist techniques, they were insufficient to pierce or cut through the dragon’s body.

‘…I’ve never seen the so-called extremities of martial arts.’

From the illustrious martial schools, what had been handed down from the elders was their legendary symbol, the five techniques.

Even if my previous life had been nearing its end, I would never have relinquished them.

Boom! The ground shook.

The giants, the monster, and I.

What had once been a camping site was now barely recognizable, as all the surrounding trees were shattered and bent, turning the forests into clearings.

Was this how the final battle in a dying world would unfold?

But the mythic monster remained steadfast, even in the combined onslaught of the giants and elves.

Dodging the dragon’s assault, I contemplated.

The brothers’ temporary assistance gave me a bit of leeway.

However, the air was still thick with mana.

That abundant mana moved solely according to the dragon’s will and did not submit to me.

Even the psychokinetic energy that I had previously boasted about couldn’t restore my internal power like this.

I was only growing more fatigued.

The blows of the giant brothers were heavy, but ultimately, it was still a dragon that had barely budged from any of my attacks.

It wouldn’t serve as a decisive blow.

‘…If I have no weapon, I must make one myself.’

If I couldn’t craft a means, then all of us—myself included, the giant brothers—would perish.

If there was no means, I had to create one.

I could do it.

I was no longer the boy waiting to die in a corner of a confined house, merely observing others’ martial arts.

‘What should I aim for?’

The core on the dragon’s neck.

‘For that, what is necessary?’

A single, precise fatal strike.

The echoes of the spirit of the Martial Sect kept warning me to flee.

Suppressing the instinctive warnings, I gathered the insights for that one decisive blow.

The flow of energy that had been moving alongside the Flame King’s martial discipline shifted.

Energy converged in the vital points of my right arm wielding the sword.

Powerful thrust.

However, unlike the Flame King’s sword art, it fell uselessly off the dragon’s scales.

‘I understood the feeling.’

Even a single thrust was over; the measuring was done.

It was time to unleash it.

I left the dragon’s opposition to my giant brothers and withdrew my body.

‘What thought is needed to weave it?’

The image inspired by the insight brought forth by the Spirit of the Martial Sect was that of a single arrow.

The age of myths in the Central Plains.

The ten suns born from the union of the Celestial and the Western Deity had been symbols of oppression that humans had to endure.

A violence that spread like a calamity before them.

Descending from the earth, the energy coursed from my foundation to the core points of the body.

Concentrating and tightening the body as if it were a flexible bow made of a buffalo’s horn.

The energy reached from my shoulder through to my right arm, filling the channel in my palm wielding the sword.

It felt like packing explosives into a cannon used in the military.

This act embodies the irrational violence of myths, a strike from a hero who dared to take down the sun.

This body becomes the Red Bow and White Arrow, with the sharpened blade of the sword as a single arrow destined to fell the sun.

Numerous inspirations surged from my core point, weaving into one cohesive thought.

The handle made from the branches of the World Tree shattered under pressure and pierced my hand.

Like the hero who, after knowing they were fated to bring about destruction after taking down the godly suns, still pulled the bowstring.

Shifting my entire right side backward, neglecting the means of defense, I aimed the sword’s tip precisely at the vital point of the dragon.

Did the shifted atmosphere send off an alarming signal?

The golden dragon began looking at me, disregarding the giants that struck at it.

Simultaneously, my body, once retracted, launched forward like a flash.

At the southern edge of the Divine Region.

With just a single thrust, I had risen to prominence among the many sects of the vast Central Plains.

The only masterstroke permitted to the leader of the sect that had simulated the hero who stood against the gods and rained arrows upon the suns.

Pointing the Cobalt – Sun Shooting Sword Technique

Yuan’s (原) He Companions Sun Shooting (后羿射日)

An immeasurable distance in terms of the field.

The manifestation of mythology from another realm pierced through the dragon’s body as if it were paper and continued on to penetrate dozens of trees before fading away.

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