Chapter 114

In the bleak spring wilderness that felt nothing like spring, unexpected visitors arrived.

The resurrected giants approached, shaking the ground from the distance.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

With rock-like gray skin, a bear-like physique, and striking blue irises, they possessed an imposing appearance.

Deep wounds marred their bodies, exposing red flesh, and some lacked an arm entirely.

That did nothing to diminish their terror.

“Woooaaarrrr!”

A roar from a 16-meter giant shook the heavens and earth.

They were not Infiltrators but Undead, so their roar lacked the psychic waves of a true beast, but instead carried an overwhelming presence that stiffened muscles and rattled minds.

Had the carriage train departed even a moment later, all the horses would have perished.

“They’re noisy even in death.”

Seberik grimaced in discontent as he pointed at the giants.

“Duke Valencius.”

Valencius nodded, confirming he had red and blue potions in his inner pocket.

“I am listening.”

“Have you fought giants before?”

“I recently faced humanoid Infiltrators that were larger than humans.”

“At least that is fortunate. Let me share a few things to watch out for when fighting giants.”

“I will gladly listen.”

Seberik’s gray eyes, previously calm, now shimmered with a blizzard-like intensity.

His voice wavered slightly as it recalled the past, anger seeping through.

“Giant intelligence surpasses expectations.”

“Excuse me? You said they’re intelligent?”

Valencius seemed to question an unheard statement.

For ages, giants and intelligence were words that stood worlds apart.

Had that been said by anyone but Seberik, he might have scoffed.

“Of course, that does not mean they use strategy. However, being ‘smarter than expected’ is a variable.”

“So it’s a matter of not underestimating them as merely large, stupid monsters or else getting taken down in one blow. I understand.”

Valencius nodded, his inhuman golden eyes shining with determination.

“They’re creating a loose encirclement from a distance, so I will engage each individually. I will attack the largest one, so Duke Valencius, please keep an eye on any giant spellcasters that might appear.”

Seberik unbuttoned the front of his uniform and the sleeves of his shirt before drawing his sword.

The hilt of the sword was adorned with a blue gem at its tip, and the blade was decorated with gray and white wave patterns.

Whee-ooo—

The blade sang long and true, glowing with a chilling blue light.

With the light casting a sharp shadow over his distinct features, his face twisted momentarily, revealing a mixture of weariness and resolve.

“I will send you back to death. Both your soul and your body.”

With that, the Sword Master struck the ground.

Even from Valencius’s perspective, Seberik moved with extraordinary speed.

Seberik dashed through the wilderness, his dark blue hair waving like waves in a storm.

From high above, one would have seen a trail of kicked-up dust rising behind the giants, and that same trail surging toward them in a cold blue light.

Seberik raised his sword, leaving a comet-like trajectory in his wake.

A bright blue light surged forth, gathering in layers around his lengthy sword.

The Aura Blade, said to cleave mountains, was unleashed a hundred meters away from the giant.

Wooooooom!

The Aura Blade spread like a crescent moon, fanning out in a wide arc that swept across the giant’s knees.

Thump!

A sound akin to crushing flesh echoed.

Had it been normal, it would have cut cleanly through as if slicing pudding, but reinforced by the power of death, the resurrected giant’s body was sturdier than in life.

“Grrrrahhh!”

This was the reason why the giant, whose knee was nearly severed, fell forward and roared in agony.

Thud!

The massive body, weighing in tons, crashed to the ground with a colossal noise.

With a single breath, Seberik closed the remaining 100 meters.

The giant raised its colossal hand, attempting to swat down Seberik like a fly.

Seberik controlled his storming anger as he thrust his sword upward.

It was a precise strike targeting the joint between wrist and hand.

Ssssh!

The giant’s body, generally impervious to mana blades or magic, was cleaved as easily as pudding.

Clang!

The hand that fell away was already frozen solid, shattering upon impact with the ground, sending fragments of gray and red ice flying.

Thud, thud, thud!

Seberik charged up the giant’s arm.

A 4-meter giant, having hurriedly approached, swung its massive hand toward Seberik.

Blood, dried and caked, coated the giant’s white-furred hand.

Seberik’s gray eyes darted briefly to the giant’s neck.

Moving in a straight line toward it, he launched himself at the 4-meter giant.

The Undead, driven by jealousy and craving life, gaped its jaws wide toward the approaching vitality.

The Northern Duke swung his sword upward under the open mouth.

With a clean and elegant upward cut that seemed straight out of a swordsmanship manual, his long sword soared in a graceful arc.

Swoosh, shwick!

The sword, severing the giant’s neck like pudding, emerged from behind.

A head that could not even fit in a cart rolled across the ground.

The body of the 4-meter giant stood upright for a moment due to inertia.

With a powerful kick, Seberik sent the headless body crashing down and returned to the 16-meter giant’s arm.

The time it took for him to leave and come back was barely the duration needed for Valencius to blink once.

Seberik kicked the giant’s shoulder and leaped toward its neck.

The glowing Aura Blade blazed with fervor, extending beyond four meters in length.

At that moment, the giant squeezed its blue eyes shut.

In an instant, the 16-meter giant exploded.

Boom!

Blue flames erupted like a mushroom cloud, obliterating everything—grass, bushes, and rocks—within a 700-meter radius.

* * *

Valencius watched as the approaching giants loomed near, his vertically-split dragon-like pupils narrowing in focus.

He soon spotted an Undead giant infused with mana.

‘Truly… smarter than expected.’

The resurrected giant spellcaster had cast the ‘Corpse Explosion’ spell.

As a caster who was itself a corpse, it was difficult for him to criticize the use of their kin’s bodies.

He clicked his tongue and chuckled softly.

It was absurd that already dead beings would fight by blowing each other up.

Seberik, caught directly by the blast, staggered and retreated.

His handsome face bore no scratches, but his thick coat of wolf fur had collected quite a bit of soot.

Undead giants, measuring 3 to 8 meters, rushed towards Seberik.

While the plan was rather obvious, it was equally deadly.

‘Seberik.’

“Rudi, cover me.”

“Yes. My lord.”

Valencius dashed towards the giants emanating mana, maintaining a distance of 50 meters from Rudi.

Identifying them was not difficult at all, as they had two ugly heads jutting out.

“You’re twice as ugly as the rest! Just looking at you would send streams and mirrors fleeing in terror!”

The spellcasting giant roared in response to Valencius’s presence.

“Grrraaaah!”

The solid ground transformed into a swamp, ensnaring his legs.

“Rudi, be careful.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Rudi swiftly maneuvered, while Valencius leaped high and shouted.

“Anima!”

A powerful wind surged beneath him as he ignited flames, leaping into the sky.

‘Corpse Explosion, huh. Just like a bane to the Knights.’

While Seberik fought valiantly as befitting a Sword Master, he was not without damage.

A giant, already powerful, became even more formidable as an Undead.

To kill them, one would need to sever their body in two or decapitate them, requiring close proximity; but getting close would mean facing the tremendous force of a ‘Corpse Explosion.’

Boom!

One giant charged forward wildly and detonated.

A 500-meter radius exploded, and from within the blue flames, Seberik emerged.

At first glance, he seemed unharmed, but Valencius knew the reality: he was merely enduring.

The Sword Master’s body, tough as dragon hide, was not specially enhanced for defense.

Even Jeilliris had her defensive gear crafted separately, opting never to bare her body to the strain.

In the current situation, with time running short, a full-on hit-and-run strategy wasn’t viable.

‘Crisis.’

As Valencius soared through the air and descended, he glanced back and forth between Seberik and the giant spellcaster.

“This is madness. Rudi, fall back 100 meters.”

“Y-yes?”

The distance between them and the giant spellcaster was about 500 meters, but halfway down, a 5-meter giant loomed large.

The two faces of the giant spellcaster grimaced, smiling wickedly.

Valencius grimaced and clenched his fist.

Clearly, the moment the spellcaster saw him approach, it would initiate a powerful Corpse Explosion.

That attack would affect even the Sword Master, so for Valencius, it would be deadly.

He looked at Seberik once more.

Seberik fired an Aura Blade, severing the legs of two giants, but as the legless giants scrambled in madness, he ultimately had to retreat, increasing the distance.

Valencius took a deep breath and steeled himself.

That was the only way forward.

He sprinted toward the 5-meter giant.

“Rudi. Buy me some time. Aim for the spellcaster’s eyes.”

Rudi nodded, gripping her magical gun tightly.

Six magical arrows, inscribed with powerful spells, were loaded and ready.

Twang, twang, twang, twang!

At 500 meters, it was nearly the effective range limit for a pistol-type gun, and the 14-meter giant appeared as a mere dot.

Yet her innate talent, bone-carving efforts, aid from magical tools, and loyalty combined to illuminate her arrows’ path.

“Th-this…!”

No matter how much of a magical arrow it was, penetrating a giant’s body was difficult, but inflicting pain on their face and eyes was certainly within reach.

The giant spellcaster stretched its neck as it sought Rudi.

Woof, creak crack!

At that moment, Valencius inserted his sword into the eye socket of the 5-meter giant and twisted.

Utilizing the shoes of wind, ‘Anima Lamentum’, leaping to that height was a simple feat.

The real challenge lay in what he must do next.

He retrieved the red potion from his pocket and drank it.

“Hah.”

In an instant, heat surged through his body, and the world began to spin.

The sound of a shattered glass bottle echoed faintly in his ears.

Clenching his teeth, translucent dark-red scales erupted all over his body.

These sturdy scales, able to withstand even mana blades, wrapped around him like armor.

Because he was already wrapped tightly in a white uniform, the only visible portions of the scales were his face and hands.

Twisting the sword again, he made the 5-meter Undead giant scream as mana surged from his heart.

This level of mana should have left him incapacitated, risking damage to his entire body.

At last, he shouted the incantation that could very well seal his fate.

“Corpse Explosion!”

When casting magic, the longer and more complex the incantation and the greater understanding of magic involved, the less mana is consumed.

Conversely, a shortened incantation with simple summoning and shallow understanding consumes an immense amount of mana.

Valencius hadn’t recited the spell, had no summoning gesture, and his understanding of this magic came purely from a few peeks over his shoulder before his reincarnation, lacking any potion or aid.

As a result, he paid a hefty price for employing magic, blurring his vision and causing blood to gush from his nose and eyes.

However, he ultimately fulfilled the payment, ensuring that the contract according to the laws of magic was honored.

Whoooom!

The two heads of the 14-meter spellcaster giant sensed the flow of mana and displayed varied reactions.

One opened its mouth wide and roared in rage, while the other closed its deep-set eyes, offering unspoken respect to the opponent it recognized from the mental duel.

Boom!

The next moment, the Undead giant spellcaster’s body exploded.

Blue clouds erupted like mushrooms, and the ground of the wilderness was overturned.

Even Rudi, over 600 meters away from the epicenter, would have been swept away by the force of the wind.

Valencius held on to his fading consciousness, using the 5-meter giant as a buffer to hide his scaled body behind it.

Kugugugugugugugu—

The 5-meter Undead giant caught in the blue explosion was torn apart, meeting its second death.

As blue flames poured over him, he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.

In times of dire straits, a reckless man becomes weakest when forced to trust someone.

“Seberik. I leave the aftermath to you. You wouldn’t be the one to behead my unconscious form.”