Chapter 664

Bangbangbangbang!!

He was being stabbed without pause by blunt-ended clubs.

The heavy and powerful things were almost like steel.

- They are steel.

“They are?”

Jack slid out near Su-ho’s shoulder and spoke while looking at the things striking beyond the Protective Holy Art.

- The mana is as pure and dense as yours. That thing is no ordinary opponent.

“You can distinguish things like that?”

- I’m a mage too. One who reached the pinnacle, at that. You think I wouldn’t be able to distinguish that much?

Fair enough.

He was the pinnacle and essence of shadow magic in the spirit realm.

It would be stranger if he did not know.

The attacks continued.

After hearing Jack’s words, the man’s aura really began to look like steel. More precisely, like liquid metal.

Especially whenever it struck, it instantly became solid and hit him. It possessed quite a peculiar property.

But so what?

Su-ho did not even know his name, and the man kept spouting words he could not understand, but he was no longer interested.

After all, if the man died here, curiosity and everything else would become unnecessary.

‘Even a madman has to be on the same level before I bother playing along.’

That was why he decided to end it now.

Su-ho raised his sword.

[ Extermination of Evil is activated. ]

Cracklecracklecrackle!

The activated Extermination of Evil wrapped around the Protective Holy Art and burst out in every direction.

The man’s steel disintegrated in an instant, and the Extermination of Evil that had destroyed the steel seemed to ascend like a dragon before shooting toward the man according to its master’s will.

The man did not remain still either.

He gathered the disintegrated steel, then soon shaped it into something similar to Extermination of Evil, creating his own Extermination of Evil before making it collide with Su-ho’s.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!!

Extermination of Evil collided with Extermination of Evil in midair.

A massive explosion erupted, and the remnants of the colliding Extermination of Evil scattered and disappeared in every direction like fireworks.

At the sight, Su-ho’s lips rounded.

Oh.

He endured that?

Honestly, Su-ho had poured in enough mana to kill him in one blow.

But he endured it better than expected.

Then what about this?

[ Blood Spirit Art is activated. ]

[ Blood Demon Art is activated. ]

Fwoooosh!

Blood sprayed out.

The sprayed blood gathered in midair and soon became the Blood Malice Beast, opening its jaws and radiating its spirit.

“Go!”

He sent the Blood Malice Beast out as though commanding a summoned creature.

He had no intention of launching a surprise attack.

He openly sent the Blood Malice Beast where the man could clearly see it.

Then the man also recognized the Blood Malice Beast and began drawing out a separate mass of steel to confront it.

Was that why?

Su-ho’s eyes widened a little more than before.

“Wow, you can cover this too?”

- Among all the ones we’ve seen so far, he looks the most useful. Perhaps people like that are the ones who will survive among the final 999.

“Aren’t you giving him too much credit? Even so, it feels like he’d die immediately if I went all out.”

- Then kill him. Why are you deliberately dragging it out?

“Sorry. Honestly, I thought it would end at the Blood Malice Beast.”

He was sincere.

Ordinary opponents ended around this point.

Su-ho slightly opened his mouth toward the man enduring both the Blood Malice Beast and Extermination of Evil.

Then a red and scorching sphere began condensing in front of Su-ho’s mouth before blasting forward as though exploding.

[ Arc Dragon Breath is activated. ]

Fwoooooooooosh!!

What he used was Arc Dragon Breath, passed down to him by Omega.

It was his first time using it, but Su-ho thought the man was more than suitable as a test subject.

Arc Dragon Breath swallowed the Blood Malice Beast, Extermination of Evil, the man, and even his steel all at once, and when the breath subsided, nothing remained in the air.

“It’s over.”

The moment he thought that, a sharp whooshing sound cut through the wind, and a massive impact erupted from Su-ho’s blind spot.

Boooooom!!

That familiar ink-dark color.

It was steel.

He was not dead?

Just as Su-ho was surprised that the man had survived again.

Booooom!!

The Protective Holy Art shattered.

At the same time, the steel that had been pushing against it as though stopped engulfed Su-ho.

Boom!!

Struck by the steel, Su-ho’s body flew away at high speed and crashed into the ground.

“Wow.”

What was that?

Had he nearly failed to withstand it?

No.

The man was a mage.

When he saw Arc Dragon Breath sweeping toward him, he had not bothered to confront it and had instead cast movement magic.

There was no reason to waste strength in a pointless contest of power.

Su-ho rose from the place where he had crashed.

Fragments of the ruins tumbled down.

Jack laughed.

- Hehehe, you were acting all impressive, but look at you now.

“Sharrap.”

By then, the man had also slowly lowered his altitude until he met Su-ho’s gaze.

“Name.”

“That’s what I want to ask you.”

“Name.”

“Seriously, you’re driving me insane. My name is An Su-ho.”

“I am Graul. Among the fakes I have seen, you possess relatively useful strength.”

“What?”

“I hope you survive. If you do, I will give you the opportunity to become one of my closest subordinates.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Su-ho was now genuinely irritated and intended to kill him immediately.

But it was the moment he gripped the Blood Sword.

[ The trial has ended. ]

A system notification.

Only 999 people remained before he knew it.

“Ah.”

The trial had ended.

For a moment, Su-ho considered killing him regardless of the trial, but gave up.

There was no rule saying he could not kill him immediately, but avoiding unnecessary actions was the virtue of an intelligent person.

Jack understood Su-ho’s irritation and chuckled.

Meanwhile, the trial continued.

[ Information regarding the next trial will now be provided. ]

[ Giant Hunters will enter Apophis, the election nation. ]

[ One Giant Hunter possesses the strength of one hundred giants. ]

[ The next trial will begin in three days. ]

[ Survive against the Giant Hunters. ]

[ Your current location will be randomly reassigned. ]

[ The trial begins. ]

The second trial began.

At the same time, just as the announcement had said, effects began bursting out to randomly relocate their current positions.

Graul stared directly into Su-ho’s eyes until just before he was moved.

“Survive.”

Those were the words Graul spoke just before being transported.

Soon, Su-ho’s vision changed, and he was moved to another part of Apophis.

“Ha!”

A hollow laugh burst out.

It could not help but burst out.

How could he not be dumbfounded after being treated like a subordinate by someone he was clearly capable of killing?

Jack clutched his stomach and laughed loudly, while Su-ho, with nowhere to vent his anger, could only huff.

- Kahaha!

“Would you stop laughing?”

- All right, all right. I’ll really stop laughing now.

“This is seriously the first time I’ve been treated in such an absurd way.”

- Exactly. In that sense, make sure you survive.

“Are you going to keep making fun of me?”

- No, I just told you to survive. Kahaha!

“Oh, come on!”

To think he had given Jack material like this.

Just as Su-ho was frowning as deeply as possible in irritation.

[ The minimap is activated. ]

A minimap appeared in one corner of his vision.

The minimap displayed a simplified representation of the surrounding terrain, as well as Su-ho’s position as a yellow dot.

When he touched and manipulated the minimap, he was able to see a wider area, and more yellow dots appeared nearby.

Judging by the feeling, the yellow dots, including himself, seemed to be the other giants participating in the Giant King Tournament.

At that moment, a single red dot appeared on the minimap he was examining.

An obvious sign of danger.

‘It’s probably a Giant Hunter.’

Su-ho observed the minimap for a while.

According to the system notification, a Giant Hunter possessed the strength of one hundred giants.

Was only its strength powerful?

He suddenly thought of the Fairy Hunters.

Fairy Hunters were beings against whom even the sorcery of Queen-grade fairies did not work.

Then would Giant Hunters be the same?

At that moment, the yellow dots began gathering toward the red dot.

“They’re really belligerent.”

After meeting them, Su-ho knew that not all giants were stupid.

He did not want to admit it, but there seemed to be quite a few who used their heads, like Graul.

But separately from that, most of them seemed to have belligerent personalities.

Otherwise, why would they try to attack a Giant Hunter when they had clearly been told that it possessed the strength of one hundred giants?

Jack, who had been watching with him, spoke.

- What are you going to do?

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t we watch for now?”

- If we’re only going to watch, how about we secretly go take a look too? I’m curious what a Giant Hunter looks like.

“Let’s do that.”

It was a good suggestion.

What would a Giant Hunter look like?

Since it was a hunter that caught belligerent giants, Su-ho imagined something with the typical image of a barbarian warrior.

That was what he thought, and that was what he expected.

But when he actually followed the dot and arrived, what unfolded before his eyes was hell.

“Kill it!”

“I’ll kill you!”

“Die!!”

The giants charged while shouting at the tops of their lungs.

The height restriction had still not been lifted, so all of them were only around two meters tall.

However, even more shocking than that was the true identity of the Giant Hunter.

The Giant Hunter, which Su-ho had imagined with a typical image, was surprisingly a quadrupedal monster with an entirely pitch-black body and multiple tails.

“Grrrroooooar!!”

[ The Giant Hunter uses Fear. ]

“Urgh!”

“Ghh!”

Even a single use of Fear caused most of the giants to stiffen or clutch their heads in agony.

Stabstabstab!

“Aaargh!”

“Ghh!”

The Giant Hunter’s tails, reminiscent of a demon’s tails, thrust out like tentacles and pierced the giants.

Its strength was so tremendous that the moment it pierced several giants who looked quite heavy, it immediately lifted them and slammed them down.

The Giant Hunter was at least four meters tall.

What was even more impressive was that there was only one Giant Hunter.

That was why, despite being pushed back, the giants continued charging like moths into a flame.

Naturally, many were injured, and giants began dying one after another.

And that was not all.

The other giants who saw the minimap were still gathering toward the nearby Giant Hunter.

- What are you going to do?

Jack asked.

Su-ho’s eyes narrowed, and then he raised the Blood Sword.

“What do you mean? I have to save them.”

- Save them? Not fight together with them?

“Look at the size difference. Does that look like a situation where we can fight together? Even if they’re being saved, it makes sense for me to be the one saving them. In that sense, everyone come out.”

At the supreme commander’s order, the vampires and shadow soldiers began pouring out in droves.

“Kill the monster and pull the people back.”

- We obey!!

- Let’s go!!

- Waaaaaaaah!!

- Kiaaaaaaaa!!

The shadow summons and vampires let out battle cries.

At their appearance, not only the giants who had been fighting, but even the Giant Hunter was startled.

And in an instant, the tide of battle began to reverse.

The Giant Hunter was strong only against giants. It was not also strong against shadow summons and vampires.

“What is this.......”

The rescued giants stared blankly at the overwhelming difference in strength.