Chapter 666

“Everyone, prepare for battle!!”

A sudden surprise attack.

It had not appeared on the minimap, so they had not known.

In the urgent situation, Uven shouted, and Su-ho also shouted.

“Protect everyone.”

[ Protection is activated. ]

[ Dragon Speech is activated. ]

[ Blood Spirit Art is activated. ]

[ Blood Demon Art is activated. ]

With a single word, thick defensive barriers unfolded.

The targets were naturally everyone present.

He did not discriminate just because they belonged to Uven’s group.

Afterward, the shadow army and vampires that had been standing by emerged and began fighting in place of the giants.

“W-what is that?”

“What is this......!”

“Vampires?”

“A dragon?!”

The giants under Uven, seeing Su-ho’s soldiers for the first time, merely opened their mouths in shock.

Three Giant Hunters had appeared.

Their appearance was the same as before.

They became entangled with Typhon, the Black Shadow Dragon, and the others, fighting like mad.

Su-ho spoke to Uven, who had drawn his weapon.

“Good timing. Take this opportunity to watch. See whether I was lying or not.”

“.......”

Uven was left speechless.

Just as he had said earlier, it was true that they had killed two Giant Hunters, but that was only because they had done so after meticulous planning.

Otherwise, fighting Giant Hunters was impossible.

Every Giant Hunter possessed the strength of a hundred giants, enough for one to fight a hundred alone.

Thud!

Around then, one Giant Hunter fell.

It was the one whose nape had been bitten by the Black Shadow Dragon before being hacked apart by the Shadow Knights.

Thud!

Then another one fell.

The entire group of vampires had clung to it and drained its blood, so in the end, it could not endure and had all of its strength taken away.

Now only one remained.

But that fight also looked as though it would end soon.

Typhon was dealing with the last remaining Giant Hunter, and using his uniquely massive body, he was beating the Giant Hunter like mad.

Kuuung!!

Before long, the final Giant Hunter also fell.

Truly overwhelming power.

At the absurd sight, Uven had no choice but to close his open mouth.

Su-ho smiled amiably and asked.

“What do you think?”

“This makes no sense.......”

“Why doesn’t it make sense? You saw it with your own eyes.”

“.......”

There was nothing he could say.

To think there was a hunting method like this in the world.

The other giants belonging to Uven were the same.

Su-ho looked around at them.

In particular, the one who had first called Su-ho a fake turned his head away like someone guilty the moment their eyes met.

“Instead of doing that, how about coming over to my side this time? If you join me now, I’ll protect you all the way until this trial ends. I’m not forcing you. I have no intention of dragging along anyone who says they won’t follow me. But you know, right? In the end, only one person becomes king, and the rest either die or become that person’s soldiers.”

“.......”

Uven remained silent.

It was not because he was tempted by the protection.

Nor was it because he feared death.

Among the things Su-ho had said, the fact that only one person would ultimately become king had brought him back to reality.

“......All right. I’ll come under you.”

Uven was the first to move to Su-ho’s side.

“Good choice. But do you represent everyone?”

“No.”

“As expected.”

While they were in the same group, Uven had been able to take the position of leader.

He was the strongest, skilled in tactics, and had used those qualities together to hunt Giant Hunters.

But it felt more like a temporary alliance than complete submission.

Su-ho looked at the remaining giants and spoke.

“What do the rest of you think? You don’t have to follow me. I won’t kill you. But I have no intention of protecting you like this again next time.”

“.......”

“.......”

“.......”

The giants remained silent.

But his words struck deeply.

To put it bluntly, everyone here had just come to owe Su-ho their lives once.

In the end, beginning with Uven, all the remaining giants decided to follow Su-ho as well.

More than anything else, the fact that only one person would ultimately become the Giant King had shattered their expectations that they themselves might become king in the face of such an overwhelming difference.

Furthermore, there was not a single dissenter.

That was because they all strongly felt that they owed Su-ho their lives.

“Congratulations, Commander.”

When the recruitment of Uven’s group succeeded, Ruin quickly came over and congratulated him.

Ruin.

He was truly good at navigating social situations.

Su-ho continued advancing.

Whenever he saw a Giant Hunter, he killed it, and whenever he saw giants, he recruited them.

He did not hold on to anyone who refused.

But as time passed, there were no longer any giants who rejected Su-ho.

The number of giants following Su-ho had itself become a powerful form of persuasion without anyone needing to add a word.

Eventually, the sun set and night arrived.

The moment the sun went down, Su-ho stopped moving and gave an order through Ruin.

“He says we’ll move again when morning comes!”

Everyone agreed, and after counting their numbers through Ruin, Su-ho learned that he had 346 giants under his command.

‘Judging by the atmosphere, it feels like I’ll become king without much difficulty.’

Of course, there were still more than five hundred giants he had not met.

But it did not seem as though they would particularly refuse to come over to his side either.

Naturally, he was confident as well.

Because he knew that in the end, everything would revolve around the logic of strength.

Su-ho put an appropriate amount of distance between himself and the giants and rested.

Jack slowly crept out and spoke.

- But why are you bothering to rest? Night doesn’t matter to you anyway.

“It doesn’t matter to me. Maybe it doesn’t matter to them either. But that doesn’t mean there’s any need to work too hard.”

- What do you mean?

“The content of this trial itself is to survive the Giant Hunters for three days, not to kill all the Giant Hunters or gather all the giants. That’s why I’m taking it easy.”

- You worked hard during the day, though?

“I had to show them something during the day. Even though they came under me, there’s no special bond between them and me right now. So my conclusion is that it’s better to rest at night and recruit other giants during the day. Or do you have a better method?”

- No. I was only curious about [N O V E L I G H T] your intentions. But that guy is nowhere to be seen.

“That guy?”

- Graul.

“Ah?”

Right.

Come to think of it, there was that guy.

After his position changed and he dealt with the problems that followed, Su-ho had briefly forgotten about him.

In any case, just as Jack said, where was that Graul bastard?

Since Graul had treated him so absurdly at the end, Su-ho intended to properly land a blow on him when they met again.

......Boom!

At that moment, Su-ho’s ears caught a very faint explosion.

‘An explosion?’

He checked the minimap, but there was nothing.

Neither giants nor Giant Hunters nor anything else was marked on the minimap.

Then it meant the sound had come from quite a long distance, one that was not even covered by the minimap, and if he could hear it from here, the explosion must have been considerable.

He became curious.

- Did you hear that?

“I did.”

- What will you do?

“I am curious.”

- Then we should go take a look. But what about the ones below?

“I’ll leave them here. It’ll become troublesome if I take them along and they die.”

- Good choice.

Su-ho sent Ruin a telepathic message.

He told him that he would be going somewhere for a while and to hold their position.

Then he immediately took flight and began flying toward the direction the sound had come from.

......Boom.

......Boom.

Explosions rang out intermittently.

Each time he closed the distance, the sounds grew louder.

And when something finally began appearing on the minimap, Su-ho’s eyes widened into circles.

“......Huh?”

The minimap was filled with red dots.

And among them, there was exactly one yellow dot embedded in the middle.

It meant that a single giant was facing the Giant Hunters alone.

‘Who?’

He increased his speed.

And a short while later, he was able to satisfy his curiosity.

Dozens of Giant Hunters.

And the identity of the sole giant facing them was none other than Graul.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!!

Graul stood in the air with two enormous grimoires opened on either side of him, pouring out magic without pause.

“Wow, that bastard really was completely insane.”

Without a single summon, he was facing dozens of Giant Hunters using only magic.

He was not even being overwhelmed in terms of firepower. Rather, he was overpowering the Giant Hunters.

Su-ho watched him in disbelief.

But at that moment, Graul, who had been pouring out magic with his arms crossed, turned his head and looked at Su-ho.

- So you survived.

The moment he saw Su-ho, Graul sent him a telepathic message.

To calmly greet him in the middle of battle.

Was he that confident?

Su-ho responded as well.

- I won’t die before I land a blow on you. But what gives you the confidence to fight dozens of Giant Hunters alone?

- I am not fighting. I am training.

- What?

- Giant Hunters each possess the strength of one hundred giants. Opportunities to train to my heart’s content like this are rare outside of this moment. If you need instruction, come closer and watch. As I said before, I will not kill you.

“Ha?”

At the sight of him acting like a superior as though it were the most natural thing in the world, Su-ho let out a hollow laugh aloud.

Jack also clutched his stomach and laughed loudly.

- Kahaha! That bastard is really something. Why don’t you take this opportunity to go stand beside him and receive a lesson or two?

“Be quiet. I was already about to get genuinely angry.”

It seemed that now was truly the time to show him the difference in their strength.

Su-ho immediately drew the Blood Sword.

Then, after activating all kinds of buff skills, he swung his sword widely toward the Giant Hunters focused on Graul.

[ Extermination of Evil is activated. ]

[ Blood Spirit Art is activated. ]

[ Blood Demon Art is activated. ]

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!!

He poured in as much strength as possible and unleashed the Twin Malice Beasts.

They became a tidal wave and instantly swept over the entire area.

[ You have defeated a Giant Hunter. ]

[ You have defeated a Giant Hunter. ]

[ You have defeated a Giant Hunter. ]

[ You have defeated a Giant Hunter. ]

.......

As expected, he succeeded in sweeping away every Giant Hunter with a single strike.

However, there was someone who had not died even in the aftermath.

It was Graul.

Displeased that his training had been interrupted, Graul furrowed his brow.

- What are you doing?

- I’m going to give you some instruction. Now that there’s nothing left to interfere, let’s settle this once and for all.

- You insist on making a foolish choice.

The pages of Graul’s grimoire rapidly turned.

At that moment.

[ A large number of Giant Hunters have been defeated. ]

[ The condition has been fulfilled. ]

[ The power of the Giant Hunters is greatly enhanced. ]

[ The Giant Slaughterer awakens. ]

A system notification.

It was the moment the second phase of the second trial began.