The village where the giants live.
Managed by the Warebird Noble’s territory and regularly supplied with materials, the giants’ village was uniquely known as the Giant’s Fortress Village.
For any place name, either “fortress” or “village” would suffice. Still, there was a reason why it was called the Giant’s Fortress Village.
The Giant’s Fortress Village had no simple fortifications despite its name; it was wide open without even a single wall, making it just a village.
Originally, lacking basic elements of a fortress, “Giant’s Village” would have been sufficient.
The issue lay in who resided there: they were giants.
Not only sudden ambushes but even wild animals and monsters fled upon catching the scent of their breath and body odor.
The roughly built, primitive homes crafted by giant hands created a wall-like effect merely by being densely packed together.
Even if those walls were breached, it wouldn’t make much difference.
Because the inhabitants within were giants.
Though few in number and not very wise, these giants possessed monstrous strength capable of crushing humans with their bare hands. Such giants would awaken from the commotion of neighbors, grow enraged, and swing their stone battleaxes high.
For these reasons, the Giant’s Fortress Village was a village that functioned as a fortress, achieving fortress-like defensive efficiency through its residents.
And now, Aslan was witnessing this fortress-like village under attack.
“Specters… so many specters…”
The astonished voice of a giant. Even amidst the stench of their breath, the smell of death lingering over the village did not fade.
Aslan frowned and leaped off the giant’s shoulder. Upon landing on the ground, cries rang out clearly.
Not human cries, but the cries of giants.
Cries echoing throughout the village reverberated between the large tent-like structures, reaching toward the sky.
While Aslan observed and listened to the scene, trying to organize his thoughts, the hesitant giants stepped forward.
“There are veterans here! The veterans will kill the specters for us! So we won’t fight in fear!”
A thunderous shout. At that shout, the giants who had been frightened cast curious glances at Aslan.
The gaze held trust—an unexpectedly sudden trust.
“I’ll go first!”
The giant who had first confronted Aslan shouted this and then ran forward, wielding a stone battleaxe. Despite yelling loudly, his cry was easily drowned out by the screams echoing throughout the village.
“That’s right! We have veterans!”
“I will fight too!”
All the giants, who looked alike, charged into the village with shouts of determination, following the one who had run ahead. Amidst the stomping footsteps, indistinguishable battle cries rose, gradually drowning out the screams heard earlier from the village.
“…Damn.”
Unable to keep up with the sudden flow of events, Aslan paused momentarily, gazing at their retreating figures before drawing his one-handed sword.
When the sword began to blaze with white light, Aslan spoke.
“Let’s go. Before those fools all die.”
Ereta drew her weapon expressionlessly, while Angie gripped her staff tightly and followed behind.
Aslan led the traveling party into the village.
Upon entering, the situation was worse and more perplexing than expected.
The sight of giants running about the village split into two distinct directions.
Some giants were fleeing, while others—those who had just accompanied Aslan—were charging mindlessly forward.
Since their directions differed, many giants collided with each other.
“Hey, get out of the way! I’m going to fight!”
“You’re an idiot! Run away! Specters don’t die!”
“No! The veterans have come! The veterans will kill the specters!”
Amidst such senseless exchanges, Aslan was overwhelmed.
But even overwhelmed, he could still fight. Clutching the drawn one-handed sword firmly, Aslan rushed forward between the arguing giants.
Swish!
Running forward with a firm grip on the sword, when a specter resembling a giant appeared close, Aslan swung diagonally upward. The specter’s arm split apart from the upward strike.
Stopping by sliding along the ground, Aslan noticed the specter swinging its other arm and gripped the sword with one hand, holding the blade tip tightly.
Clang!
Then he struck. Pushing the blade forcefully into the trajectory of the attack, the arm clashed, emitting blue sparks and was severed.
With both arms lost, the specter screamed and lowered its head just as Aslan’s sword swept past in a trail of white afterglow.
The specter’s head fell with a thud, and a scream echoed.
It was the sound of the deceased finally meeting true death.
Qi Qi Qi Qi Qi Qi Qi!
The giant lying nearby cried out in surprise upon witnessing the entire process.
“The veteran really killed the specter!”
“If you’ve seen it, fight now, fool!”
At the reprimand from another giant, the giant nearby grabbed a tree and lifted it.
“I’ll fight too! I’ll hit the specter!”
It was a simplistic and brutish exchange. While ignoring that conversation with one ear, Aslan took in the wriggling forms of specters beyond the one he had just cleaved.
The specters weren’t all giant specters.
There were massive specters resembling snakes, thick-bodied lizards akin to the famous Buitreraptor, and even specters resembling trolls.
Among the monster specters, there were also animal specters. This point puzzled Aslan greatly.
Specters were originally supposed to exist only in humanoid forms, yet the sight of all kinds of specters overflowing seemed to negate both his 12-year journey and the journey 12 years ago.
“Krrrkk!”
But there was no time to think about such things. Firmly gripping his weapon, Aslan ran toward a specter that was killing a giant at that moment.
With a slash of the one-handed sword, the specter was helplessly cut down, and as the severed specter screamed and disappeared, the giants watching cheered and picked up their weapons to charge toward the specters.
However, brute force didn’t work well against the specters, and the struggling giants started getting injured and dying one after another. Watching this, Aslan was flustered.
Flustered, he shouted, but it got drowned out among the giants’ shouts. Clenching his teeth, Aslan firmly gripped his weapon and actively began cutting down the specters.
The blade gleamed white, and since there was no fat or blood to soil it, it maintained its consistent cutting power, splitting the translucent bodies into two, three, or perhaps even more pieces.
This bewildering chain reaction caused the rescued giants to charge again.
Although it was familiar to kill someone who tried to kill him, Aslan wasn’t pleased with someone dying for his sake, so he continued to relentlessly slay the specters.
“Ngh, damn!”
Naturally, vigilance towards the rear decreased. Angie suddenly swung her staff widely at a wolf specter that had appeared, and seeing the weapon pass through like water, she cursed.
The attack was useless. The moment the wolf specter realized this, it opened its mouth wide and lunged. As it lunged, its entire jaw turned opaque white.
Just as the sharp fangs aimed for Angie’s neck, she raised her staff to block.
Crack!
The wolf’s teeth scraped against the staff. Losing her grip due to the biting force, Angie watched as the wolf lowered its body and lunged again.
Seeing the leaping wolf, Angie instinctively crouched low.
She crouched so deeply that she was almost lying flat on the ground. The wolf’s jaws tore through the air, and Angie used the rebound from the staff being pushed back to twist her body.
Supporting herself with her hands on the ground, she flipped backward forcefully, striking the wolf’s head with her heel.
Chomp!
An astonishing flexibility and reflexive counterattack reminiscent of an animal.
The head of the charging wolf specter, along with its jaw, was crushed.
“Huh?”
Angie looked at the specter she had killed as it screamed and disappeared, piecing together information.
Through near-superhuman insight, the girl deduced that the specters only materialized when attacking.
It was a trait not found in typical specters.
“Hey! We can beat them when they try to attack!”
Hearing this shout, though finding it strange, Aslan nonetheless picked up an axe.
Right in front of Aslan stood a troll-like specter. Raising its huge arms high, it brought down interlocked hands in a downward strike. Just as it was about to strike, the forearms to the shoulders unmistakably turned a dull white.
Aslan leaned sharply to the side and jumped, dodging the attack.
BOOM!
The downward strike coincided almost perfectly with Aslan swinging his axe upward. The axe blade cleanly bisected the specter’s arm. The severed limb dropped, and the specter let out a loud roar.
Clearly, unlike regular specters, it only materialized during attacks. Moreover, its means of attack were purely physical. Though Aslan found this peculiar, he swung his one-handed sword to sever the leg and rotated using the momentum.
Swish!
He horizontally severed the specter’s head. The specter, split vertically from the corners of its eyes, died without even a scream.
With Aslan aggressively hunting the specters, Angie countering with retaliatory strikes, and Ereta hesitantly attacking the specters after observing, the number of specters quickly dwindled.
“Fleeing! The specters are fleeing!”
“We’ve won! We are strong!”
When the number of slain specters exceeded twenty, the specter Aslan had struck began screaming and fled, followed by the specters brawling with the giants in the village turning their backs and escaping.
The giants roared upon seeing the fleeing specters. Those who hadn’t participated lay dead on the ground.
Most of the fallen giants were those who had guided Aslan.
Turning his head to look around, Aslan sighed upon realizing there was no familiar giant he could recognize.
At least, he thought there might be some way to address the issue of introductions, but it felt uncomfortable knowing people had died for him.
But there was nothing to be done for those already dead. Aslan sheathed his weapon with a troubled expression just as a giant clad in bones and skin approached.
“Thank you for your help, human! I am the village chief of the Giant’s Fortress Village!”
A lively shout. The thunderous yell made Aslan cover one ear and furrow his brow.
There was absolutely no sign of caution.
Thanks to the giants shouting “veteran” without understanding what it meant, fortunately, no distrust had arisen.
The village chief stopped right in front of Aslan and spoke.
“We’ve been asking for help for several days now! But you humans arrived too late! Many giants have died! Why were you late…?”
“Hold on.”
Aslan, pondering what to say to the chief who was about to question him, interrupted the conversation upon sensing a strange energy.
Certainly detectable through heightened mana and fortune, this strange energy was somewhat familiar yet faint enough that its source couldn’t be distinguished.
That faint energy was spreading in the direction the specters had retreated. It felt like bugs crawling on the skin, sending a subtle shiver down the spine.
Aslan frowned upon sensing this energy, then knelt on one knee after noticing footprints trailing in that direction.
Examining the prints, they were clearly neither human nor giant. These footprints stretched long in the direction the specters had fled.
The chief, seeing Aslan abruptly stop mid-conversation and perform odd actions, glanced around at the other giants and shrugged, while Aslan organized information as the chief’s shadow loomed over his head.
Specters are supposed to appear only at night.
Yet now, the specters had appeared in broad daylight and slaughtered the giants.
Their method of killing was also unusual. Instead of draining life force or cursing to steal life, these specters attacked in a very physical manner.
Moreover, the specters, which should have been nearly immune to physical attacks, had fallen to Angie, Ereta, and the giants.
Footprints extended in the direction the specters had fled, and creatures that shouldn’t become specters had indeed transformed into them.
After standing up and staring blankly in the direction the specters had fled, Aslan addressed the chief.
“Human! Why did you interrupt me? I haven’t finished speaking yet….”
“Chief, may I ask one favor?”
“Eh?”
Aslan glanced at the scratching giant and spoke.
“Gather the weapons of the giants who fought these specters and bring them here.”
*
This forest has no name.
Partly because the nearby village is quite famous and holds a proper name, but the main reason is that there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the forest.
It’s an utterly ordinary forest. There aren’t many beasts, and there’s nothing special to be unearthed. There are no nearby villages, and it holds little value as a trade route.
Thus, human traffic is extremely rare, and although bandits sometimes frequented the area, the forest is currently very quiet.
Beneath that silence, something existed.
Hidden in the darkness, it resembled a giant but was not a giant.
It had four arms and six breasts, with pus oozing from its elongated form.
Two inverted eyes were embedded in its forehead, while the other two remained properly positioned where eyes should be.
The only normal aspect was those eyes.
The grotesquely torn face revealed raw flesh, clearly indicating that this creature was far from normal.
The deformed giant stared vacantly for a while before looking ahead.
The giant, who had been kneading something pale blue with its four arms, set it down and began walking. Two of its four arms dragged along the ground.
From the direction the deformed giant was facing, countless specters emerged and approached her.
As the specters drew near and rubbed their heads, bodies, or limbs against her, the giant emitted a low moan and caressed them.
Specters missing arms, legs, or half their faces crumbled like children seeking their mother, and the giant patted them as if comforting her own offspring.
Her patting hand halted upon encountering a deep scar.
“…Ah…”
The swirling eyes revealed their whites. The troll-like specter whimpered softly as it accepted her touch, and the giant’s hand plunged deep into the specter’s unnatural flesh.
A grinding sound echoed. The specter seemed to be in pain, emitting silent screams, while the giant-like deformity redirected her rolling eyes forward.
“Are there still… living kin…? No, no….”
The divine power lingering where her hand grazed the scar burned faintly, consuming the specter.
The divine power within her resonated with the divine flowing from the scar, bubbling vigorously and plunging her into agony.
Once again, her four pupils rolled. Within them, she cried out excitedly.
“Mother?”
The dying lesser divinity shed tears and went into a frenzy.
