Chapter 54

After entering the Giant’s territory, I encountered various giant corpses.

“Some of them have undergone ossification.”

“There are those that died recently, but there are quite a few giants that died a long time ago.”

“Did they die while hunting?”

“It’s more likely that a wandering giant, expelled from its territory, returned and was ultimately killed by the others due to its inability to adapt.”

“Indeed…”

I nodded and looked around.

“Surely in a place like this, the giants wouldn’t struggle to find sustenance. I never imagined a place like this could truly exist.”

It was so enormous that everything felt surreal.

The trees, the grass, the flowers, and the beasts.

I had only crossed into the intermediate area between humans and giants.

“It’s like a model garden of the gods.”

I led Rudolf towards a massive tree corner.

Under it was a colony of mushrooms, their caps fully spread.

The problem was that each of those mushrooms was taller than me.

‘From the feel of it, it doesn’t seem to be a toxic mushroom.’

I approached and pressed the cap of a fully spread mushroom with my palm.

It had a soft texture and rebounded elastically.

In that moment, a desire arose within me.

I felt entranced as I shifted my body atop the mushroom’s cap while on Rudolf’s back.

And with a single leap.

The mushrooms gently propelled my feet upward without any spells.

The sensation of floating was evident even without any special techniques.

‘Oh… this is something else.’

“…Master?”

“Huh-!”

As I was enjoying the pleasant sensation of floating, a voice came from outside my consciousness.

As I regained my senses, I saw Golb, gazing at me with bleary eyes, and Silv, looking on with envy while biting their finger.

“Hmph… there are indeed some strange mushrooms here.”

I once again shifted onto Rudolf from the mushroom while clearing my throat, trying to hide my embarrassment as best as I could.

“…Didn’t you directly tell me to be careful? This isn’t a place for play.”

“…I have no words.”

To be defeated in logic by my disciple.

Feeling a bit melancholic, I continued to observe the surroundings.

“I’m not sure why, but the mana concentration becomes significantly denser from this area onward.”

It felt as if, during the rainy season, the humidity in the atmosphere was palpable against my skin, representing the thick mana density.

“Come to think of it, the beasts in Elven Road were also larger than the ones in human territories. Do beings in regions with dense mana tend to grow larger?”

As I spread out my perception to sense the thick mana concentration far denser than that of Elven Road, it reverberated throughout, creating dissonance, prompting me to retract all my awareness.

It seemed like beings possessing vitality comparable to giants were scattered throughout the forest.

“…Oh wow, Golb. What kind of beast is that?”

I pointed towards a creature visible between the towering trees, which looked like a lizard larger than a giant.

Its long neck and forelimbs were longer than its hind legs, appearing longer than the Fenril I faced in Elven Road.

“Ah, that’s a Brachiosaurus. It’s one of the larger ones that live here. Just one of those could sustain hundreds of giants for a day.”

“That truly seems like the case. Judging by the aura, it appears to belong to the normal cycle of life, but how can it be that large?”

The aura emanating from that Brachiosaurus felt like typical life energy.

It neither felt like Roa nor a subordinate species; it belonged to the normal cycle of life.

“If something like that is wandering around, there might be a bird large enough to tear giants apart.”

At that remark, Golb tilted his head in confusion.

For now, I should observe more closely.

However, despite surveying the Giant’s territory until sunset, I found little of value.

It was disappointing that in a place belonging to the giants, the only traces were those of ossified giant corpses.

Counting only the recently deceased giants, there were over thirty, not even including the older ones.

“If we include the giants seen in the intermediate region, that makes over fifty.”

“That’s undeniably an unusual number. If the recently deceased giants are comrades of the giants who died in the neutral zone, it’s crucial to know where those giants came from, as it corresponds to one-tenth of the giant population living in the village.”

“It’s also important to understand why those giants were recently exterminated.”

I continued, tossing a stick into the campfire.

“To summarize, we’re dealing with a colossal creature capable of splitting a giant in two with its claws. Judging by the traces left on bones, it seems the beast is the same.”

“The first thing is to uncover the identity of this dangerous creature that can even hunt giants in groups. That will be our top priority.”

“The second is to find out where the unidentified giants came from. It’s going to be difficult to learn without contacting the giants, so we’ll put that off for later.”

“The third, and this is a mere desire, is to learn more about this fascinating place.”

Crackling sounds from the campfire sent sparks into the sky.

“A highly dense mana zone that leaves my own perception in disarray. The beasts and plant life that have grown large due to its influence. It’s almost as if this place is disconnected from any other world, filled with interesting phenomena.”

“…You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Well. Oddly enough, it’s amusing how all the creatures in here seem like lizards mixed with something.”

“I also saw various beasts only after entering the human world, but here, the majority seem to be lizard-like.”

“That learning process is also part of the fun.”

“In this place, only someone like you could casually approach with a sense of adventure.”

I chuckled at the giants’ grumbling and settled into a cross-legged position.

“Since we must move again tomorrow, you should stop complaining.”

◈ ◈ ◈

“Tearato’s remains. Found again!”

“Seriously, it just keeps coming. So boring.”

“Can’t we stop searching?”

“If we do, Gal will just cause trouble!”

“Gal won’t stop until every last remnant is cleared from her garden.”

“Gal is ferocious!”

“But she is pretty, right?”

“That seems accurate!”

“But there’s something with the remains.”

“Is it the remains? It’s too small for that.”

“But it’s something pretty. The fur color seems like it would be liked by Gal.”

“Something feels familiar and comforting.”

“Should we go closer?”

“Ah! There are lots of traces of little ones on its body!”

“Scary! Someone do something!”

“I do not want to get close!”

“Still, it looks like it’s sleeping. I don’t feel any consciousness from it.”

“Use a vine or something to tie it up.”

The voices sounded like children aged five to seven chattering.

And something began to entwine around my body while I sat in a cross-legged position.

My dormant consciousness started to awaken due to external stimuli.

In my awakened state, what I saw were vines that restrained and bound around my body as if they had come alive.

“…Hmm.”

“They’re awake!”

“Don’t worry!”

“They’re tied up good!”

In an instant, my vision flipped upside down.

But more than being flipped over and bound by the vines, I was panicking over the surrounding situation.

‘Did I not notice how I ended up like this in the forest?’

Even if a wide area search is difficult, I had kept my minimum senses open for surrounding vigilance.

However, in the time my field of vision was disoriented, I had allowed an unidentified enemy to approach.

The senses of the trained High Elf, which should have been more pronounced in the forest, along with my sixth sense, gave me no warning at all.

As a result, though it was merely being stuck by vines, the thought that my life might have been in danger made my embarrassment rise with a surge of hostility.

“Yikes!”

“That’s dangerous! I’ll die!”

“The spirit killer!”

“I’m still tied up!”

The cacophony of children’s voices rang in my head.

‘Spirits…’

I deduced the identity of the intruders in my mind.

They were spirits like the dark spirits contracted with the succubus Lamia, who had now become harmony-imbued.

While their energy wasn’t that of dark spirits, these before my eyes were formless beings that lacked a proper physical body.

‘…Unlike the dark spirits, they feel strangely familiar.’

Surprised by my situation, I looked all around at the glowing light swarm.

‘Indeed.’

Unlike the dark spirits, the ones before me didn’t feel significantly different from the dense energy of this forest.

Even the spirit dwelling within the vines binding me felt like just a plant.

It seems spirits possess this particular trait.

‘This is something to watch out for.’

Curiosity. Fear. Mild hostility. Favor.

Mixed emotions were felt from the spirits’ intentions.

If these spirits bore ill will and had the means to act on it, it would have been truly dangerous.

Honestly, until yesterday, I had been in a traveling mindset, but now my senses were fully alert, sharpening my instincts.

I wouldn’t allow myself to be careless again.

“Yikes! I’m out of the vines!”

“This is bad!”

“Run away!”

“They wouldn’t even be able to touch us anyway!”

“Then what about those traces of the little spirit?”

“Good question?”

As I released myself from the vines, the spirits surrounding me, some of whom fled in panic, had mixed reactions, with some watching me with curiosity.

“I was startled and tied up the moment I woke up, but do we have any business with each other?”

“They spoke!”

“They look cute.”

“But the traces are horrific!”

“Why is that?”

“Hold on, hold on. Could you each speak one at a time? It’s quite chaotic.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you. For now, I don’t know anything about the traces. The spirit I saw before mentioned something about spirit traces, but…”

“When we die, we leave traces!”

“We die when our lifespan runs out too!”

“But we’ll be reborn one day!”

“Normally, we just vanish naturally, but spirits who die in fear leave behind traces infused with negative emotions.”

“A curse!”

“We can’t feel it!”

“Protect the comrades!”

“…I have no clue at all.”

I had never even seen a spirit, so when could I have harmed a spirit to be cursed by one?

‘…I should ask my mother about this later.’

“Well, I understand that. But why exactly did you attack us?”

“Attack?”

“We did not attack!”

“We were just helping find it…”

At those words, I glanced at the giant siblings.

The vines had not cast a shadow over my sleeping giant siblings during the turmoil.

“…Then why was I bound?”

“You look scary.”

“But you are pretty.”

“When around, you feel comfortable. But you’re scary.”

“Weird child.”

Unlike the dark spirits, who had developed intellect, the spirits of this forest could communicate only in fragmented sentences, yet it posed no major issue in continuing our dialogue.

“However, when you say you were ‘looking’, what were you looking for?”

“Tearato’s remains.”

“Gal. You woke after a long time.”

“Tearato. Disrupted Gal’s garden.”

“Gal is angry. Attack Tearato.”

“Tearato bled. Remains came from the blood.”

“Gal. Find the remains in the garden and eliminate them.”

“Gal is lazy; she told us to seek.”

“‘Remains’…? What are those?”

“Something like that. But upon closer inspection, it doesn’t seem like remains.”

“Isn’t that right?”

“It feels a bit different?”

It seemed the spirits were talking about the giant siblings.

‘They know something!’

“Could it be that the ‘remains’ are—”

In that instant, the air changed.

The dense mana in the atmosphere suddenly turned hostile.

As if representing someone’s feelings.

“Gal is coming!”

I didn’t hear what the spirits were shouting.

As I felt the energy of the heavens and earth receiving a scream from my upper dantian, it sent a warning.

The upper dantian, which had once never issued a warning since the battle with Fenril thirteen years ago, sent a far more significant warning than before.

Feeling a crisis, the power surged through my body, awakening my stiffened form.

Then I looked at the sky.

There was nothing.

‘Right now,’

It was an instinct that couldn’t be explained with words.

If I didn’t move now, at least two of the giant siblings would die.

The energy that initiated from the lower dantian surged towards the dragon vein, awakening the surrounding blood vessels.

The energy erupting from the dragon vein shot upwards into the sky.

In that moment, a single point appeared in my vision.

In an instant—

What had been a dot turned into a colossal form and was descending towards where I had just been and where the giant siblings lay sleeping.

I couldn’t stop it.

My decision was instantaneous.

-Bend.

The power from the dragon vein burst and shifted direction in mid-air.

The target was the falling giant.

In this critical moment, what I needed was the fastest means of attack I possessed.

The instant the trajectory of the falling giant aligned with mine, the hand that had been on the hilt of my unsheathed sword quickly grasped it to draw and strike upward.

Namgung Family’s Transformed Lightning Sword Technique

Thunderous Sound that Breaks the Sky

The sound of thunder resounded across the clear sky.

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