The giant gulped down the liquid from the cup in his hand in one swift motion.
Inside his wide-open mouth, sharp teeth grew menacingly, creating a rather grotesque sight.
The fully revealed giant had a pair of horns perched atop his head.
This was a giant like none I had ever seen before.
He wiped the liquid that dripped from his mouth with his forearm and smacked his lips.
“Mm, the alcohol of humans is quite tasty.”
“Today, I shall end you!”
Maran shouted, but the giant did not seem particularly interested.
“You are all too weak. I have no desire to fight.”
The giant outright ignored us.
“Still, if you want to d*e, then come at me.”
Revelin’s five swords and Melorna charged at the giant almost simultaneously.
Swish!
A total of six swords aimed for the giant’s neck.
Clang!
With a swing of the giant’s massive arm, the swords and Melorna were sent flying away as if utterly worthless.
Melorna absorbed the shock, spinning in mid-air before landing on the ground.
“If you wish to d*e, then you should let me do it.”
The giant turned to look back, and as he exhaled, blue sparks erupted from his mouth.
Turning fully toward us, the giant took a deep breath.
His chest expanded, his cheeks puffed out, and then he unleashed a bolt of lightning from his mouth.
“Graaah!”
Zzztt!
I stepped forward and reached out my hand toward the giant’s lightning.
Boom!
The lightning shot from the giant was filled with a frightening level of purity.
If this was the level of his light attacks, I couldn’t even imagine how powerful he would be if he were to unleash his full power.
“You not only blocked my lightning but suffered no damage?”
“I’ll give you a gift.”
Boom!
I sent a bolt of lightning down from above the giant’s head.
“Hmm. You’re someone who can handle lightning.”
“And you?”
The giant did not dodge the lightning falling above him but instead caught it with his horns.
“You seem like you could be interesting.”
“Bring it on.”
As I beckoned him to come at me, the giant produced a spear from thin air.
It resembled something forged from lightning.
Whoosh!
Though he merely tossed the spear from its stationary position, it flew towards me with arrow-like speed.
It was hard to tell if the spear itself was covered in lightning or if it was shaped by lightning.
I couldn’t accept a weapon of unknown origin with my bare hands.
I summoned Last Ape in the shape of a spear and struck the giant’s spear away.
Crash!
As Last Ape collided with the giant’s spear, an incredible surge of energy erupted, followed by a loud explosion.
Boom!
“You have a fine spear.”
The spear was nowhere to be seen on the ground.
What the giant threw must have been a lightning spear.
“Impressive strength, but mine is greater.”
“I’ll admit that.”
Surprisingly, the giant readily acknowledged that his lightning was lacking in power.
“However, I think my spear skills are superior.”
Once again, the giant pulled a spear out of the air, this time much larger than my own height.
Given that it was not surrounded by lightning, it seemed to be a real spear.
“From your sloppy defense, it seems you’ve never properly handled a spear.”
“Do you enjoy analyzing?”
“No, this isn’t even analysis. I can see from your grip that you are incompetent.”
It was clear he had never used a spear properly.
I transformed Last Ape from a spear into a sword.
“Ooh. A weapon that changes its form, just like a legendary god’s weapon.”
I wondered how surprised he would be to know that Last Ape was indeed a divine weapon.
As I took a stance for swordsmanship, the giant smiled in satisfaction.
“That’s how you should use your weapon.”
The giant approached me with slow yet heavy steps.
Whoosh!
With a tremendous sound, the giant swung his spear.
“You cannot defeat a spear with a sword.”
“But you seem to have many places to hit.”
I unleashed Demon Swordsmanship, aiming for the giant’s legs.
As the leg I was targeting took a big step back, my opportunity to attack vanished quickly.
It was quite challenging to face off against such a large yet nimble opponent.
“Take this!”
I saw the giant’s leg moving rapidly back toward me.
He had not pulled his leg back to avoid my attack.
In an instant, my vision turned black as I felt my body lift off the ground.
A heavy impact hit my back, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the dark night sky.
“Oh? Look at that. It didn’t break?”
“Cough. Cough.”
I immediately got up and regained my posture.
Whoosh!
The giant, who had been quite far away, suddenly closed the distance to stand right in front of me.
“Hey, are you a hybrid of the demon race?”
“Why do you ask such things?”
“Because usually humans burst when kicked.”
Under ordinary attacks, I had rarely felt any pain.
However, this giant’s attack was different.
Though it was just a moment, I had momentarily lost consciousness.
“Anyway, as long as I didn’t burst, it’s fine. Shall we continue?”
The giant swung his spear overhead and then attempted to cleave me with it.
The residual effects of the previous attack lingered, making my body difficult to move correctly.
Whoosh!
I focused my mind as best as I could, dodging the giant’s spear while looking for the right moment to strike.
“Azure Slash!”
As I extended my sword to stab the spear shaft, the giant hurriedly increased the distance between us.
He then examined his own spear here and there.
“I almost broke my spear.”
I was quite disappointed by that thought.
Compressing lightning at the tip of my sword, I stabbed it into the spear with the intent to break it.
Since I wouldn’t be able to deal damage with lightning anyway, I decided to focus on breaking the weapon.
Realizing this instantly and checking his weapon wasn’t something that was typical.
“You’re using clever methods. Then shall I start in earnest?”
The giant seemed to gather strength throughout his body, and suddenly, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky.
Smoke billowed out from the giant’s body as he received the fallen lightning.
“Now I’ll get serious!”
The energy emanating from the giant became incomparably denser than before.
It was accurate to say he had merely been toying with me up until now.
With a single swing of his spear, he quickly closed the distance between us.
“Is this magic?!”
“Something similar!”
I barely managed to block the giant’s spear thrust with my sword at close range.
Had I been unable to block just then, I would have surely been impaled.
Flash!
“Flare!”
The flames created from my palm engulfed the giant’s face.
“Hot!”
Since it was a hastily cast spell, its power fell short of expectation.
However, thanks to the giant creating some distance, I could buy myself a moment’s pause.
“Twelve Wave Slash!”
“Lightning’s Thunder Strike!”
The giant’s spear, imbued with tremendous power of lightning, thrust towards me.
Once a series of strikes like the Twelve Wave Slash has been unleashed, it’s almost impossible to cancel it.
With one blow, I struck the giant’s spear and pushed it away.
The giant’s spear shouldn’t have been easily pushed by me, but I managed to create a small opening.
Swish!
In one hand, I held Last Ape, and in my other hand, I held the Sword of Wind.
Last Ape executed the Twelve Wave Slash, while the Sword of Wind unleashed Demon Swordsmanship.
Unleashing two different sword techniques simultaneously proved to be more difficult than expected.
Especially since Demon Swordsmanship required both hands, my single-handed execution didn’t do it justice.
I succeeded in slicing the giant’s calf.
Bright blue bl**d flowed down, but it wasn’t deep enough to bother the giant much.
Boom!
When the giant struck the ground with his spear, he suddenly closed the distance between us again.
This time, I wouldn’t be caught off guard.
Transformed back into a child’s form, I quickly latched onto the giant’s waist.
With the dagger I had been holding in my possession, I plunged it in.
Thud!
As I pulled out the dagger, a warm stream of bl**d gushed forth.
When I reached my hand into the gaping wound, the giant, who had previously remained somewhat indifferent, let out a primal scream.
“Graaah!”
The sound nearly pierced my ears, but I gritted my teeth and shifted my hand apart.
Sharp and long nails, along with thick scales, ripped through the giant’s insides.
As I pulled my now enlarged hand out of the giant’s body and shook off the bl**d, I reverted to my original form.
As I landed on the ground, the giant glared at me with bloodshot eyes.
“How dare you! With something that isn’t a sword!”
“I wielded a proper sword.”
I showcased the dagger to the giant.
“It certainly swelled inside… What did you do?!”
“Nothing at all.”
I thought he would have received quite a damaging blow from such an attack.
bl**d continued to flow from the injury, in a place that the giant could hardly reach.
“I suppose this is it for me.”
The giant knelt down on one knee and lowered his stance.
Since lightning did not affect him, my available spells were quite limited.
I unleashed the Twelve Wave Slash barehanded, causing energy to converge in my hand as it shot outward like a blade.
Whoosh!
Swiftly, deep cuts formed on the giant’s body.
“What in the world is this?!”
“Twelve Wave Slash. Blade of Light.”
From the giant’s wounds, light erupted, instantly illuminating the surroundings.
As the light faded, the giant knelt where he stood, mouth open, gazing up at the sky.
“Did I defeat him?”
Maran cautiously spoke as the giant’s fingers twitched.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a fight like this.”
The giant noticed he was trying to retrieve the spear that had fallen to the ground, but was belatedly aware of what had happened to his own body.
“My hand is gone. I didn’t feel it get cut!”
The section below the giant’s right wrist had cleanly disappeared.
“Well, one hand is enough.”
The giant picked up the spear with his other hand and stood up.
Though he swayed slightly, he did not seem dead yet, with glimmers in his eyes.
“Grrr!”
Letting out a strange sound, a transparent energy gathered beneath his cleanly severed wrist.
Crackle!
Something that appeared as lightning grabbed the spear in place of his chopped-off hand.
“Shall we give it another go?”
The giant casually twirled the spear before resuming an attacking stance and swung it.
This time, his figure appeared behind me, unlike before.
As I turned around, I found no one there.
Whoosh!
Feeling an overwhelming bloodlust behind me, I turned my head.
The giant unleashed the spear with a terrifying expression.
