Chapter 176: The World of Arrogant Giants (2)
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“You! You there!”
“I told you, I have questions.”
“You little…!”
The giant who had been thrown earlier came back, gritting his teeth.
“Tiny human! You’re dead!”
They charged at Taesan. He clicked his tongue, realizing he would have to knock them all out to get any answers.
As he clenched his fist, a tremendous sound echoed from afar.
It was the sound of hooves. At the same time, there was the clinking of armor. The eyes of the charging giants turned pale.
“Damn it. The knights!”
“Run!”
“B-but brother!”
Their gaze turned to the fallen giant. But it was only for a moment. The one called “brother” nodded.
“Leave him!”
“Yes, sir!”
They fled in a panic.
Taesan calmly waited as the sound of hooves grew closer, and soon, the source of the sound appeared.
A giant, clad in medieval armor that one might see in a movie, appeared. Judging by his neat appearance and well-maintained armor, he seemed to hold a rather high rank.
“Did they abandon their brother?”
The armored giant looked at the fallen one with a puzzled expression. His eyes then landed on Taesan.
Taesan waved his hand.
“Hello?”
The giant was startled to see Taesan.
“A human? How did a being like you end up in our world?”
“At least you recognize me.”
It seemed there was no need for a lengthy explanation. The giant looked back and forth between Taesan and the fallen giant before asking,
“Did you defeat him?”
Taesan nodded. The giant, initially bewildered, raised the corners of his mouth.
“Impressive.”
“My lord!”
Along with the sound of clinking armor, dozens of soldiers ran from the direction the giant had come from.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
The giant, referred to as “lord,” tilted his chin.
“Bind him. Be careful not to trample him.”
“What?”
The soldiers looked at Taesan and the fallen giant.
“What’s that?”
“Why is it so small?”
They murmured as they tied up the fallen giant with ropes and dragged him away.
The giant on horseback spoke.
“Thank you. These scoundrels have been causing us quite a bit of trouble.”
“Annoying fellows, huh?”
“They’re thieves who rob people passing by. They aren’t very skilled, but they’re good at running away, which has been a headache. This worked out well.”
The giant laughed heartily and extended his hand.
“What is your name?”
“Kang Taesan.”
“That’s an unusual name. I am Umberach. As a token of gratitude for dealing with these nuisances, would you visit my territory? I’ll give you a grand welcome.”
“Sure.”
Taesan accepted.
He needed to find the king of the giants in this world. And to do that, he needed information about this place and what he needed to do to achieve his goal.
The giant before him, Umberach, seemed to hold a high position. He was likely to know the information Taesan sought.
Satisfied with Taesan’s agreement, Umberach laughed heartily.
“A valuable guest. We must have a celebration.”
He seemed content but then had a perplexed smile.
“But how should we…”
The size difference between them was too great. Even the giant’s casual steps covered more ground than a human’s sprint. Moreover, he was on horseback, making the speed difference even more pronounced.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Taesan kicked off the ground and landed on the horse’s back, quickly taking his seat. Umberach marveled at how quickly Taesan, despite being ten times smaller, had arrived on the horse.
“Impressive. No need to worry then.”
Umberach kicked the horse’s side, and it started galloping toward the distant territory.
The horse’s speed was very fast. Though slower than Taesan’s full sprint, it was a speed Lee Taeyeon or Kang Jun-hyuk could never match.
‘A race capable of facing transcendents, huh?’
After running for several tens of minutes, they arrived at the territory. Umberach shouted toward the medieval city gate, reminiscent of a scene from a movie.
“Open the gates! Your lord has returned!”
Soon, the gates opened. Soldiers lined up, running out to form ranks.
“Welcome back, my lord!”
“Rejoice!”
Umberach smiled broadly.
“I have finally captured the troublesome Black Marauders!”
The soldiers cheered. The lord raised his clenched fist.
“Today is a festival! Inform the residents!”
The soldiers responded briefly and then dispersed.
Taesan followed Umberach’s guidance into a massive room to rest. The bed was the size of a small hill.
Throwing himself onto the bed, Taesan closed his eyes to rest. That night, Umberach came to the room.
“We’re about to start the festival. Will you join us?”
Taesan got up.
A large village.
At its center, many giants were gathered, chatting and talking. In the middle, a bonfire roared, with all kinds of food and drink being passed around.
And there was also the Black Marauder tied to a pillar.
“Everyone, throw stones! He’s a thief who stole our wealth!”
The giants threw pebbles. What were pebbles to them were boulders to Taesan. The giant tied to the pillar screamed as he was pelted with stones.
“Stop!”
“Look here, everyone!”
Umberach shouted loudly. The giants’ attention focused on him as he pointed to Taesan.
“This small being subdued the Black Marauder!”
“What is that?”
“…A human?”
“It’s really tiny. It looks like it could be crushed underfoot.”
They murmured. It was a natural reaction. No one could calmly accept seeing a completely different being.
But their surprise was only momentary.
Not even five minutes later, they resumed chatting and handed food to Taesan.
“What does he eat when he’s so small?”
“Chef! Make some special dishes for him!”
As Taesan accepted what they handed him, he realized.
This was the world of giants, and he was a human.
In other words, he was an outsider. And in any world, outsiders were often rejected.
A look at the history of Earth showed that people discriminated and rejected others simply because their skin color was different. When it came to entirely different races, it was no different. Taesan had expected to have a hard time gathering information.
But that wasn’t the case.
The giants welcomed him without any fear.
This spoke to their magnanimity and confidence.
Even though he was an outsider, they were confident he couldn’t be a threat, treating him as just a guest.
Umberach, who had been enjoying the festival, laughed heartily and approached.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“More or less.”
Taesan put some food in his mouth. It was food prepared by a chef who, in his drunken state, had tried to make something very small for Taesan. It was crude, but it had been a while since Taesan had eaten such cooked food, so it was enjoyable.
“That’s good. It’s the first time we’ve hosted such a small human, so we didn’t know what to expect.”
Umberach drank from a giant cup.
“Now then, why have you come to our world?”
Umberach’s eyes were calm as he asked.
“I welcome you, but as a lord, I must ask for the sake of our territory. A human visiting our world hasn’t happened for about five hundred years, as far as I know.”
“For magic.”
There was no need to hide it, so Taesan answered.
“The God of Magic told me. To come here and reintroduce magic, to imprint his name.”
“The God of Magic?”
Umberach’s eyes lit up. He stroked his chin.
“Magic… it’s been a long time since I’ve heard that. Not since I read old books as a child.”
It seemed that magic was indeed a forgotten power here, as the God of Magic had said.
“You came here to imprint that, huh.”
Umberach said with a puzzled look.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because we don’t need magic.”
His words were filled with certainty.
“More importantly, to discuss that, you would need to meet our king. But I don’t have that authority.”
“What must I do to meet the king?”
“That’s a difficult task.”
Umberach gave a bitter smile.
“Even I can’t meet him without a valid reason. For an outsider like you, it would be even harder.”
That was to be expected. It wouldn’t be easy for a different race to meet the king of another race. An accomplishment or something comparable was necessary.
“Of course, since you are an outsider, someone related to the king might come, but you won’t be able to meet him directly. If there is a possibility…”
Umberach thought for a moment and then spoke again.
“We are giants. We revere strength and worship the strong. If you prove your strength, you might have a chance.”
‘Prove my strength.’
That was the issue.
Umberach asked Taesan, who was deep in thought.
“Are you from the labyrinth?”
“You know about it?”
“It’s famous even among us. It’s said to be a place where talented and outstanding individuals from various worlds gather. But none of us go there.”
Umberach spoke calmly.
“Because we are strong in our own right. We don’t need to seek the labyrinth to become stronger. The same goes for magic. We don’t need it because we are strong.”
Bwoo—
As Umberach finished speaking, a horn sounded.
The giants, who had been
enjoying the festival, stopped moving. Their eyes began to fill with heat.
“They’ve come again.”
Umberach smiled and stood up.
“Would you like to see?”
Taesan nodded.
He felt an unpleasant force at the outskirts of the city, a force he had felt many times before.
‘They’ve come this far.’
“Those are the beings invading our world. Disgusting and insignificant things.”
Umberach bared his teeth.
“Everyone, rise! Our enemies are here!”
With a battle cry, Umberach charged. The giants followed him.
After all the giants moved, Taesan also moved.
He kicked off the walls of buildings and ran to where he felt the unpleasant force. In front of the giants was a rift. A purple rift shimmered on a large hill. As the rift tore open, monsters appeared.
Grrr.
Disgusting and dark beings emerged.
At the same time, a system window appeared before Taesan.
[Monster 182851 has appeared.]
Among the six-digit numbers, those in the higher ranks appeared.
Several C-rank monsters emerged.
The monsters that had trampled Earth were now appearing in the world of giants. But it wasn’t surprising.
The archdemon had said that the High Gods had trampled countless worlds. He had said their number exceeded 250.
Earth wasn’t the first world they had destroyed. They had already destroyed many worlds and would continue to do so. It wasn’t surprising that the giants’ world was among them.
“Come on, everyone!”
Umberach laughed fiercely.
“Let’s start the battle!”
The giants roared and charged at the monsters.
The monsters also began their attack.
Because it was the world of giants, the monsters were as large as the giants. Of course, it wasn’t surprising since he had seen similar sizes on Earth.
What was surprising was the strength of the giants.
C-rank monsters were ones that a player who had cleared Normal Mode or could defeat.
Compared to Hard Mode, they were extremely weak, but they weren’t weak overall.
Before the labyrinth appeared, such power would have been enough to overthrow a country alone.
“Haaaaah!”
Umberach swung his sword with a shout. The C-rank monster staggered from the blow.
The monster retaliated, swinging a massive tentacle at Umberach. Umberach snorted and punched it.
The tentacle flew wildly.
Umberach then plunged his sword into the monster’s body.
It wasn’t just Umberach who was active.
Even the giants in everyday clothes, who had been enjoying the festival, were punching and clubbing the C-rank monsters to defeat them.
Though they couldn’t subdue them as easily as Umberach, they were defeating them by working together.
At this rate, they could likely defeat B-rank monsters as well. The giants were indeed strong, just as they claimed.
Taesan watched from a distance.
After defeating the last monster, Umberach shouted with a relieved face.
“We have won! Let’s toast to our victory!”
They resumed the festival. It wasn’t until much later that the festival ended. Taesan returned to his room and lay on the giant bed.
He looked up at the ceiling and spoke.
“A race capable of facing transcendents. They don’t seem like it.”
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