Chapter 15
– I don’t care because I’ve heard all the spoilers.
– It’s become really boring thanks to the spoilers.
The viewers knew the contents of the ‘Survival’ stage through the continuous chatting during the march. Ferius misunderstood that the giant tribe’s leader was alone.
The main content of this stage was the trial of survival for the villagers and players who moved to capture such a leader.
– But if you know it’s a trap, can’t you just not go?
– Exactly. Can’t you persuade them?
– How would you persuade them?
– LOL, right, LOL.
– I’m a player, so I know. If I say it’s a trap, it’s persuadable, LOL.
– Even if they refuse, they’d end up here to die.
– Persuasion was impossible. Players couldn’t choose to stop Ferius and the villagers who were determined to risk their lives.
To proceed with the 5th stage, they inevitably had to come here with Ferius.
Crack-.
Thud-.
The trees fell backward. At the same time, giants who were lying flat on the ground began to reveal themselves one by one.
Ferius’s face turned pale with astonishment as he saw them.
“W-What is this…?”
“They’re giants.”
“I-I know that, but…”
Ferius’s mind went blank. He quickly counted the number of giants. Even the giants that started appearing in his view exceeded dozens.
Could they handle one giant each?
No, such an assumption was out of the question. From the beginning, he and the soldiers only moved to capture the giant tribe’s leader.
“Let’s run.”
In place of the panicking Ferius. Suhyuk, holding the Heart of the Giant and wearing Thunderclap, spoke.
“You need to pull yourself together.”
Crack-.
He came to his senses due to the firm grip on his shoulder.
“Y-You’re right.”
Snap-.
He bit his lip hard enough to bleed. Ferius shouted at the soldiers who followed him.
“Run down the mountain! Quickly!”
And at that moment.
Roar-!
The giants screeched, making the mountain tremble.
“R-Run-!”
“Hurry!”
“Aaaah-!”
The soldiers had come prepared to die for the village from the beginning. But they were prepared to die, not necessarily come to die. If there was even the slightest chance of winning the fight, they would have taken it.
The moment the chance became zero, the soldiers were essentially defeated by their fear of the giants.
Crack-.
“Benefactor, you should run too. Quickly!”
Ferius, gripping his shield tightly. He, prepared to die, faced the giants alone.
But then.
“That’s what I should say.”
Skaaat-.
Regardless, Suhyuk drew his sword. It was a red-colored sword.
“Aren’t you going?”
“W-What?”
“You need to run away so I can move.”
Thinking the conversation would drag on, Suhyuk hurriedly nailed it down.
“If you don’t want to go, we can both die here.”
“…”
– LOL
– If you don’t like it, you can die LOL
– Even if you die, you can try again
– But if you try again, wouldn’t Ferius be in Suhyuk’s second round too?
– He doesn’t know that, LOL
After a brief hesitation, Ferius lowered the shield he was holding.
“Thank… you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Let’s meet again, alive.”
Whoosh-.
Ferius turned and started descending the mountain. The last one left was Suhyuk.
– But wasn’t this survival? Why send the others first?
– The score depends on the number of surviving soldiers
– It wasn’t surviving alone? The difficulty is insane;;
Even Ferius, who was stubborn, was sent down. Now, there was only one thing left to do.
Thud-.
The giants chased after the descending soldiers.
Swoosh-.
Suhyuk aimed his sword at one of those giants.
Thwack-!
Roar-!
A giant screamed as the sword pierced its thigh. The giants’ gazes gathered. Thanks to this, the giants chasing the soldiers were momentarily halted.
– Huh?? Fighting?
– Isn’t that suicidal?
– There are too many of them ㄷㄷ
– Over a hundred giants.
Suhyuk provoked them all as if he intended to deal with every single one of them. The purpose was obvious. It was for the survival of Ferius and the soldiers descending the mountain.
– Is he really trying not to let a single one of them die?
Fifty soldiers. Including Ferius, Suhyuk aimed to ensure the survival of all 51 of them.
This was Suhyuk’s ‘first’ goal when planning this trial. The fifth stage, true to its name of survival, offered rewards based on the number of survivors from the giants.
However.
Roar-!
As he looked at the giants charging towards him, Suhyuk changed his thinking slightly.
Thwack-.
Slash!
He pierced and slashed the arms and legs of the giants. He gradually drew on the power of the magic sword as he faced the oncoming giants.
‘I can do this.’
He had wondered.
In the intoxication of the magic sword’s power, and in the sweetness of selfish sacrifice, he questioned if he might have made a wrong decision.
He had doubted once. But the conclusion remained unchanged.
Tuk-.
Stepping on the tree, he leapt up to the height of the giant’s head. And at that moment.
‘Let’s do this.’
The decision was made.
『‘Nameless Magic Sword’ absorbs the user’s stamina.』
『All stats increase proportionally to the consumed stamina.』
Woo-.
The magic sword in his hand glowed a darker red. He felt his stats filling up his entire body. As he drew on more of the magic sword’s power, the speed and power of his sword also increased.
Therefore.
Slash-.
This was possible too.
Thunk-.
The head of a giant fell to the ground.
『You’ve defeated ‘Fragment of a Giant’.』
『You’ve gained 10 achievement points.』
That one was a smaller entity than a fragment. A giant of a lower grade than the one defeated in the fourth stage. The issue wasn’t the level of the giants but their number.
Crack-.
Suhyuk stepped on the body of a giant that hadn’t fallen yet.
Pat-.
And from that moment. The bodies of giants became stepping stones for Suhyuk to leap on.
Roar-!
Growl-!
Suhyuk flew over the heads of the giants. As he flew, he slashed or pierced through anything that blocked his path, quickly killing them.
Slash-.
Slice-, thwack-.
『You’ve defeated ‘Fragment of a Giant.』
『You’ve gained 10 achievement points.』
『You’ve defeated ‘Fragment of a Giant’.』
『You’ve gained…』
『…』
The messages echoed continuously. The giants bared their teeth and swung thick wooden clubs they held in their hands.
Occasionally.
The clubs swung by the giants brushed past Suhyuk’s body. The viewers watching the stream were all on edge at the sight.
– Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.
– This is nuts, LOL.
– If he slips just once, it’s instant death.
– This seems beyond stats;;
– Isn’t aerial combat Suhyuk’s specialty?
– I’m so nervous I can’t watch, LOL.
– Same here, 2222222222.
Despite being in a situation where it wouldn’t be surprising if he got eliminated in a moment of carelessness. Suhyuk, who was breaking through the giants’ ranks, was actually calmer than the viewers.
『‘Selfish Sacrifice Lv2’ resists the damage from ‘Nameless Magic Sword’.』
『The user’s stamina and mental strength are recovered.』
The message resisting the magic sword repeatedly came to mind. Trusting that, Suhyuk drew out the power of the magic sword with all his might.
‘Stamina is… sufficient.’
The ring on Suhyuk’s hand sparkled in the sunlight filtering through the shadows.
‘With the giant tribe’s heart, with +2 stamina, I can move for a few more seconds.’
Two stats.
It was a minor variable.
But in this precarious trial, as if walking on the edge of a blade, +2 stamina stats made a huge difference.
– But where is he going now?
– Exactly??
– This isn’t about running away.
– ???????
– Is he heading to the leader??
– No way ㄷㄷㄷ
Booom-.
One of the giants’ clubs brushed past Suhyuk’s head. It was so close that the wind ruffled his hair. But instead of retreating, Suhyuk beheaded the giant.
‘Getting closer.’
Suhyuk’s pupils reflected the giant tribe’s leader.
‘Little by little…’
Paat-.
Before the beheaded giant’s body fell, he stepped on it again.
‘Getting closer.’
Since the first time he stood on this stage, he had thought.
5th stage, survival.
A trial to survive against the giants.
If the trial’s mission alone were enough, he felt confident.
If Suhyuk had no goals. If he were an ordinary player, he would have been satisfied with perfectly completing the given trial.
Maybe that’s why. At the moment he faced the giant tribe’s leader, Suhyuk thought.
‘What will happen if I catch you?’
He decided to turn the game around. Catching the giant tribe’s leader was just the means for that.
“Aren’t you curious? You too.”
Maybe he was too engrossed. A whisper escaped his lips behind the mask. By now, even the giant tribe’s leader seemed to understand his intentions, laughing mockingly from afar.
– Is this possible?
– This is pointless, isn’t it? There’s no way to succeed.
– LOL, it was a guaranteed pass, but he’s ending it with s*****e.
– Shut up and just cheer him on.
– Trolls mixed in?
– He could have gone smoothly and reached the final stage, but now he’s throwing it all away, damn.
– Honestly, it’s a shame.
– Cheers and ridicule mixed together.
The way Suhyuk moved through the air, stepping on the giants’ bodies, filled with acrobatic grace, was awe-inspiring.
But it was obvious that penetrating through this number of giants to reach the leader appeared almost impossible.
The gap was narrowing. The problem started from here.
Roar-!
Grrr-.
The giants surrounded their leader protectively. Unlike the beginning, the closer he got to the leader, the denser the giants became.
The viewers weren’t wrong for saying he was heading for s*****e. It was as if they were resonating with the viewers who said that.
– I’ll bet all my points that he won’t make it through this.
Thunk-.
For the first time, Suhyuk, who had been flying through the air stepping on giants, touched the ground.
– What?
– A mistake.
– Fact: Even monkeys fall from trees.
– GG.
– The precarious tightrope walk ended here.
The giants’ gaze, which had been aimed upward, shifted downward. It seemed as if they had finally caught him, judging with their limited intelligence.
At that moment.
‘Now.’
Snap-.
Suhyuk snapped his fingers.
『You used ‘Thunderclap’.』
『The sound of thunder spreads across the battlefield.』
Boom-!
A sound loud enough to burst eardrums echoed. It started from the armor Suhyuk was wearing.
Growl-!
Roar-!
The giants threw the clubs in their hands to the ground and clutched their ears. They fell into chaos for a moment due to the sound that shook their ears. That brief opportunity was what Suhyuk had been targeting.
The Heart of a Giant.
And the Thunderclap.
Suhyuk used these two items as if they were meant for this very moment.
Spaat-.
While the giants were in chaos. Suhyuk penetrated through the giants, reaching the giant tribe’s leader.
“-You didn’t think I could make it, did you?”
The one who had been mocking him from afar. Even that giant now seemed to be affected by the thunderous sound, clutching its ears in agony.
Woo-.
『‘Nameless Magic Sword’ absorbs the user’s stamina.』
The red effect deepened as never before.
Drip-.
Drawing the sword’s power to the extent that blood streamed from one eye, Suhyuk leaped onto the giant tribe’s leader’s head.
“I’m here, you arrogant fool.”
Thunk-.
