Chapter 433: Not Equal

"Did they... take each other out?" Silvia murmured. "I can’t believe even a behemoth like this could meet its match."

Along the way, under the diligent guidance of Jilannis’s old mentor, Ron and the others had seen all sorts of mutated Spore People and Thorny Beasts, but none had ever grown to such a size. Perhaps the limits of what mortals could achieve were, in the end, no match for the sheer power of nature itself.

"Perhaps I’ve read about such monsters in some ancient, vague records, but I’m certain no book ever mentioned a giant like this," Jilannis said as she slowly rose, floating around the pair of opponents locked in a death struggle, examining every detail on their bodies. "He is not of the Giant Race. What we saw on the previous level were his kin—those creatures were all adults, not younglings or even infants."

"Even among his own kind, I fear he was a unique specimen. As for this beast..."

A hand covered by the Sword-Singing Lion Armor reached toward the giant Thorny Beast’s head. A faint blue light sank into the desiccated corpse, reemerged a few minutes later, and returned to the Elf Grand Mage’s hand. "It’s a Thorny Beast, without a doubt."

"A Thorny Beast? A Thorny Beast can grow this big?" Anastina cried out in disbelief. "Don’t forget, just like the Spore People, Thorny Beasts are born from corpses killed by the Red Mould! What kind of corpse could possibly give birth to something so big—"

The Mercenary stopped herself, because the very thing she was talking about was right in front of her! This being, more colossal than some true giants—even if it had no body of flesh and blood, but one of plants!

"You mean to tell me a big... guy like this isn’t a one-off?" Delaford gestured dramatically. He had already spread his arms as wide as they could go, yet he still couldn’t fit the giant’s entire body within his field of vision. Compared to this big fella, he was just too small.

’Like an infant? Or even an embryo?’ The Goblin Hunter tried to use his poorly learned mathematics to describe a fitting ratio, but he quickly gave up on the idea.

"If that’s the case, Jilannis should have at least heard of them, right?" Ron looked at the Moon Elf. "Even if ten centuries separate us from these creatures, that’s not actually too long for an Elf, is it?"

"Correct," Jilannis nodded. "If there were truly enough giants living here, even larger than this one, Elves traveling the world would surely have recorded a fragment or two about them, and I would have definitely read such accounts."

"After all, the existence of the Delusional Land is a popular topic for all scholars. Even the most fragmented accounts would have been dug up from old tomes and compiled. But it’s very suspicious. To date, I have never read anything of the sort."

"Perhaps it’s you, my other half that I split off, who lost the relevant memories?" A laugh echoed from within the Sword-Singing Lion Armor, but it was quickly silenced by its own rhetorical question.

"It’s possible I don’t remember. Do you?"

"No," the other Jilannis in the Sword-Singing Lion Armor huffed. "But look. This scene before you isn’t an illusion, is it? Nor is it some kind of dream."

"The facts are right here, and they can’t be refuted just by saying ’there are no records’! So, isn’t it possible that when I split myself, some of the... middle parts... were lost?"

Before the Sword-Singing Lion Armor could finish, there was a CRUNCH. Sera, with half a piece of hardtack in her mouth and the other half in her hand, looked up quizzically at the Moon Elf who was staring at her from mid-air.

A few crumbs had fallen to the ground when she broke the hardtack, and they were quickly devoured by the unusual fungi.

"What?" The barbarian swallowed the hardtack in her mouth whole and took a big swig from her waterskin. "There’s no fighting going on. We’ve been running around for so long, can’t a girl get a bite to eat?"

"It’s nothing," the Moon Elf licked her lips, turning away from Sera. "I highly doubt it. Do you really think my experimental procedure is on the same level as her breaking a biscuit?"

"What’s that supposed to mean—"

"Arguing with yourself is pretty rare," Aive said, standing beside Ron with her arms crossed. She craned her neck to look at the Mage who was bickering with herself. "But we’ve already had the pleasure of seeing two such pairs."

"Actually, everyone goes through that process. Most people just don’t do it out in the open," Ron said, patting the Half-Elf on the shoulder. "Let’s not stand around either. We should open up these Hibernation Pods on the ground and see what’s inside."

True, the two behemoths were eye-catching in this space, but they were clearly exceptions, not the norm. If they wanted to draw any conclusions by collecting and comparing samples, these two would definitely not be the first choice.

Specific questions could wait for a specific discussion.

The pods here were more or less the same as the ones on the level above. However, everyone noticed that the metal they were made of seemed slightly inferior in quality. Yet, their surfaces were engraved with decorative patterns that hadn’t been completely erased by time.

This left Ron and the others confused. Decorative features on an item usually suggested a high-status owner, but inferior materials were a sign of low status. So, what role did the owners of these pods play in the society of these Plant People?

"Isn’t that easy? You know how we goblins divide labor? I think it’s kinda like that," Delaford said as he dragged a desiccated corpse out of a pod he’d opened. He reached deep inside the pod, rummaged around, and actually managed to find an irregular nugget of gold. "Look! These guys must be rulers or something, or like this dead-faced guy here, a... what do you call it, uh, right! A noble!"

"Although they and I are both ’dead,’ I really don’t think we have anything else in common," the Vampire Count sighed, turning to look at the corpse Delaford had pulled from the pod. "But... Sir Ron, I think Mr. Delaford might actually have a point."

"If you would please look, aren’t those various metal ornaments and such stuck in the structure of its body?" Richthofen lifted his high-bridged nose and pointed chin, gesturing toward the corpse from a distance. "And if I’m not mistaken, is that a bracelet on its hand?"