Lemnos was running like crazy, his feet on fire.
Just running wasn’t enough, so he added Albion’s physical enhancement buff magic and was dashing like a lunatic.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!”
“What the hell is that..!!!”
“I won’t let this go, you damn academy, I swear I’ll expose everything to the elders!!!”
“Hey, hey, hey, hey!!! Dodge!!!!”
– KUUWAAANG!!!!
Just a moment ago, the place they were running past became a massive hole.
[KUUAAAAAA!!!]
The one who created the hole was a giant even bigger than the trees in the Black Forest.
An ogre standing at around 3 meters tall is a huge giant, but this giant was so large that its face was hidden behind the trees.
They didn’t start running like this from the get-go.
The four members of Lemnos’s team were all confident in their attacks, so they unleashed their strongest techniques, but they only managed to shave off a little flesh from the giant without inflicting any real damage.
Even the chunks that had been flung away quickly healed.
The tough skin and thick fur absorbed much of the techniques’ power.
“Whaaaaaat?!!! What the hell is that, Lemnos??”
“If you want to live, take off all your rings!!”
“Uh… uh-oh!!”
It wasn’t too bad, though.
Since they were running away from the giant, they saw teams ahead of them giving up on the tournament in fear as the giant’s every step sounded like artillery shells hitting.
How long did they have to keep running like this? While they were thinking about clenching their teeth and just keeping on going—
“When I looked back in the chaos… what are those five pillars? What’s going on here?”
“Can’t you see?! If you don’t want to die, just run away!!”
The confident male who was riding on a person-sized golem and running alongside them was Helial, the club president of the Department of Magical Engineering.
With his thick glasses and strands of gray hair, he was followed by three students riding on similar golems.
It seemed that everyone in the Department of Magical Engineering planned to navigate the Hunting Festival with the power of the golems.
Watching the giant chase after them while they fled, Helial asked Edgar with a curious glint in his eyes.
“Dodging for your life… so if they just take off their rings, why are they running away? Does that mean the giant is enjoying picking off other participants and monsters?”
“Is this really the time to be asking that?? They’ll take them off when they can’t run anymore, so quit being clueless and get lost!”
“Ugh… I guess I made the elf angry, I’ll apologize for that. I’m just curious about the giant, though! Can you summarize the characteristics you’ve figured out about how we came across it?”
“Ugh, ugh… if we weren’t running all over the place…!!”
It was exhausting to be fleeing from the giant, and having those kids safely riding on their golems jabbering away next to him made Edgar want to smack them immediately.
But he couldn’t afford to let his breath get ragged, so he gritted his teeth and held it in.
“I-I’m sorry, our club president is a bit clueless…!!”
“Please don’t hate him too much!!”
The other members of the Department of Magical Engineering following behind chimed in one by one.
“Hahaha, is that so…? I’ve always wanted to test this with a giant-typed monster. Leave this to me.”
Regardless of everything, he readjusted his thick glasses while watching the giant like a natural disaster, raising his arms high.
“You idiot, I told you to dodge if you don’t want to die!”
“No! We have to fight back! Just in case, I’ll show you my secret weapon!!”
In his hand was a small artifact shaped like a key.
“GA-GA-RACKS! God of the Immortal Power, come forth and write a new history! Golem Hyperion!!!!!”
A massive summoning magic circle was generated beneath Helial’s feet, and something gigantic began to materialize.
With a swirl of magical light, what was summoned was a two-legged bipedal golem of human form, approximately the same size as the giant.
The golem was enveloped in thick, earthen-colored armor, resembling a clay figure at first glance.
“Now… you all remember, right? Get on!”
“Yes, President!!”
Helial, still mounted on the small golem, and the other mages of the Department of Magical Engineering jumped towards the golem in sync.
As soon as they did, armor plating on Golem Hyperion opened up, and light erupted, receiving the signal from the small golem and drawing them inside.
<My project that contains my blood and sweat since entering the academy… strategic-purpose giant-type armored golem… Hyperion!!>
Once they were inside, a voice started emanating from the body of the giant golem Hyperion.
It seemed they had successfully boarded without incident.
Members of Lemnos’s team stared in disbelief at the absurd situation unfolding before them.
The cyclops also stood dumbfounded, taking in the golem that had appeared before them.
“Humans create extremely unique things.”
“Is it really going to be able to handle this challenge despite the similar size?”
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden emergence of the golem in the middle of the forest.
Had they really been building something like that until now?
No one could even fathom how much budget it must have consumed.
They knew that quite a number of sponsors had jumped on board with the Department of Magical Engineering’s development of new golems, but it was astonishing that they had the capacity to research something like this.
<Wow, President, the moment to use this has finally come!>
<I'm sorry for calling you the piggy that was pocketing the budget for three years!>
<I guess it was worth directly opposing the professor's claim that golems must become more compact!>
As the giant armored golem Hyperion took a step, the ground caved in similarly to how the giant would.
Their masses seemed comparable.
<Now that I've gotten up here, I can finally see its face, there's one eye... Cyclops, huh! This great monster is worthy to be Hyperion's first sortie. I designed Hyperion based on the Cyclops!>
Upon seeing the giant’s face, Helial immediately identified its existence.
The giant, whose head was towering above, was actually the ancient one-eyed giant from legend, the Cyclops.
Known to be a powerful monster, Helial didn’t seem afraid of it.
He was confident.
<Prepare to receive this...!! The first weapon of Hyperion!>
Obeying his command, Hyperion’s arm transformed.
His clenched fist pulled back into his arm along the wrist joint, and the armor plating opened up, revealing a propulsion mechanism springing forth.
<Receive... the Destruction Siege Hammer!>
With a hammer-like transformation, Hyperion’s arm launched itself towards the Cyclops.
Combined with Hyperion’s own strength and the power of the propulsion, it was going to show overwhelming destructive power that could shatter any castle gate with a single blow.
<Did it dodge that??>
But the Cyclops wasn’t just standing there like a castle gate.
Bending its waist smoothly, the Cyclops evaded Hyperion’s attack while swinging its own arm.
[GRRRAAAAHHHH!!]
– SMASH!
<WAHHH?!!>
Hyperion’s shoulder armor went flying.
With a single punch from the Cyclops, the golem’s firmly attached armor was torn off.
<What is happening?! I made it based on the information about the Cyclops I got in advance, how could I be losing like this?? This should be in our favor… ACK?!>
The giant, Cyclops, continued its relentless assault.
<No... this can't be!! If this keeps up!!>
Hyperion was steadily being pushed back.
His efforts to resist were futile as the Cyclops’ movements were much swifter.
With each blow, Hyperion’s armor was being ripped apart, and its joints were breaking down, leaving it in tatters.
“This is definitely a mistake..!”
“What are we going to do? Help me out here!”
“What can we do to help…?”
Watching as Hyperion was getting completely wrecked, the fact that he could do nothing stressed Edgar immensely.
This feeling of helplessness was infuriating.
– THUD!!
At that moment, the sound of something massive falling echoed.
“Uh…?”
“An arm… fell off?”
“Is the professor here or something…?”
<What... what the heck??>
One of the Cyclops’ arms had been severed and was lying on the ground.
A human-sized arm fell from the sky, blood splattering down, and even the half-destroyed Hyperion was taken aback by it.
Seemingly a result of sheer luck, the severed arm of the giant was swinging its remaining arm as if trying to disperse something.
[ROOAARRRR!!!]
As the giant flailed its arm, broken branches scattered everywhere.
For the monsters residing at high altitudes, it was an unprecedented disaster.
<AHH?! Emergency escape!!>
And it was the same for Hyperion.
With the Cyclops rampaging about, its body got crushed, making it impossible to maintain its form.
With Helial’s last cry, Hyperion was unsummoned, and the members of the Department of Magical Engineering who were still atop the small golem exited.
The Cyclops was still swinging its remaining arm.
– SLASH!
A resounding cut echoed from above.
Just like that, both of the giant’s knees were severed.
[GYAAAHHHH!!]
Losing its supports, the giant’s body collapsed weakly to the ground, causing the earth to erupt as its massive weight impacted the ground.
“What the hell is going on….”
“Is it over…?”
“Professor? If that’s you, please respond!!”
Lemnos’s team stood in shock, staring at the forest that had been reduced to rubble within just a few minutes.
Encountering a monster that could be called a natural disaster had brought them a shocking realization of the situation.
At that moment, they heard a voice from afar.
[…] “… Didn’t you guys think you could behave any better?”
“You should be glad you didn’t die.”
It was the voices of two people.
One sounded like an elderly man, and the other was… a voice they recognized well.
“That voice sounds familiar…?”
“… It can’t be, right?”
“Yeah, he didn’t participate.”
Someone stepped out, and everyone tensed, getting ready for combat.
“Are you all still alive?”
“Ah… Atlas?”
Dressed in a tuxedo just like before, and holding a longsword, Atlas appeared from Class 5.
He looked oddly displeased.
