Chapter 103: Back In The Nightmare

Tight.

It was the first thing that occurred to him, and that immediately made him wary. It should have resulted in a violent reaction, but he remained calm, his ears twitching first as he tried to pick up anything in his surroundings, yet there was nothing.

All was creepingly quiet, and in the next moment, a blue flicker crossed through the darkness as he opened his eyes.

Now he could see more of his surroundings, though everything was still dark. There was a thick stone wall behind him, while the wall before him appeared to be made of something other than stone.

His hands reached forward, and the moment he touched the wall, he realized what it was. Declan pushed against it, watching it shift before falling downward, and he stepped out into the light, plummeting to the ground but landing neatly on his feet.

When he looked up, he finally realized why the space had been so tight.

He was inside a stone bookshelf, concealed behind a row of hard-covered books that were nearly as tall as he was.

Looking around, he quickly recognized the room.

This was the same room he had been in during his last nightmare, the room belonging to the little girl, Griffene.

’But I was sleeping in the cage... how did I end up waking in the shelf?’

He mused quietly, and that was when his eyes drifted toward the side of the bed, where the cage he ought to have been sleeping in lay half-flattened against the ground, ruined as if a giant leg had stepped on it.

He walked closer, eyeing the damage for a moment before stepping out of the room.

The living room was as still as a grave, and even after stepping outside, Declan found nobody at all.

There was not a single giant but there was something else:

The gigantic horse-like beast that Grilda had ridden was dead.

A two-meter-long spear had torn through its belly, leaving the creature lying in a pool of blood and sand.

He walked toward it and pulled the spear from the creature’s belly.

The second he did, the spear glowed with a dim crimson light, its source coming from the runes carved into the handle.

"Arcane?" he mused in quiet shock.

What was more, the spear was his size, and Declan immediately understood.

"This isn’t the work of the giants."

The giants were tall with their kids being up to seven meters tall.

There was no way they would be using a two-meter spear.

He had seen what spears looked like before in Gorionda’s workshop, and they were even more enormous.

That meant whoever owned this spear, the one used to kill the horse, was no giant.

He walked with the spear, moving out into the wider settlement, and everything was quiet as a grave.

There were many objects scattered across the streets, while the beasts of burden had all been slaughtered with spears through their stomachs, and gigantic lines had been dragged across the ground, most of them resembling giant footprints.

By the time Declan reached the settlement’s front gate, he understood exactly what had happened.

The settlement had been invaded and ransacked.

It was like when bandits entered settlements in those ancient books and ransacked everything.

That was exactly what had happened here.

And the confirmation of it was the footsteps at the gate.

Footsteps belonging to beasts and humanoids.

They were easy to mistake for giant footsteps, but Declan realized they weren’t, as his own foot fit perfectly behind them.

"So they got attacked, huh?"

"Griffene must have hidden me within the shelves, and maybe that’s why I’m still here."

"I wonder how long it has been since then," he mused to himself, before his eyes turned toward the footsteps.

The footprints were still visible, leading far into the distance.

Most likely, if he followed them, he should be able to find whoever was responsible.

But the problem was the breeze he could see brewing in the distance.

That breeze could wipe away the footsteps.

If he went now and lost them, he would have left the settlement and would be lost in the wilderness again.

It seemed best to stay in the settlement and explore for now, but then the panel flashed.

[Main Quest Issued]

[Mission: Find the Missing Ronkhasa Giants!]

[Rewards:

1.) +10 Level Up Cards

2.) +70,000 EXP!

3.) Shop Tab Will Be Unlocked!]

"So, you’re awake this time, huh?" he mused, but then, looking down the panel, a glint crossed through his eyes.

Not because of the first two rewards, but because of the last one.

The Shop Tab!

It was the only tab that had remained locked from the very start, and Declan had long looked forward to the day it would finally become accessible.

Yet now, here it was, being given as a reward.

But it wasn’t all just reward.

[Penalty: The Shop Will Be Lost Forever!]

His decision to stay back and gather more information was immediately thrown out the window.

The longer he waited, the more likely the footsteps were to be erased by the wind.

He stepped into the house closest to him, and when he came out, Declan was covered by a thick, dark robe.

The garment shielded against the harsh winds, and it even had a connected hood, making it resemble a hoodie.

With a thick robe over his shoulders and a runic spear in his hands, he stepped out into the chaotic desert wind in search of the giants, with nothing but their footsteps and the unknown ahead serving as his map.

____________________

HOOOOOWWWL

HOOOOOWWWL

If all there was were the endless tempests of sand and wind, the mission would have been easier, for the footsteps he followed had endured.

But it was far from it.

GRRRROOOWWWWL

GRRRROOOWWWWL

Standing at the center of a tempest was Declan and around him were not just the howling winds, but the growls of beasts.

His spear rose, grasped in both hands as he fell silent.

Red blood covered the sharp weapon, forming a drop along its edge. Silently, it pooled until it grew heavy enough to bow under gravity, finally dropping toward the ground.

The second it landed,

BOOOOOOM!

Declan faded from where he stood, and in the next moment,

BAAANG!

The ground where he had been caved as a gigantic claw smashed into it.

It belonged to a creature five meters tall, its dusty-yellow fur allowing it to almost vanish into the landscape.

The creature glanced forward and froze, its eyes widening as its prey appeared right before its snout, the spear flashing toward its skull.

PUUCCCHIIIII!

His spear smashed through its eye, carved through its brain, and burst out the back in one brutal, unstoppable thrust.

He jerked it out in the next moment, crossing it over his side just as another claw slashed out and smashed into the weapon.

BOOOOOOM!

He hit the ground hard, skidding and ripping through the earth beneath him before bursting forward in a flash of power, already streaking toward the second creature.

It slashed at Declan, but its prey mysteriously disappeared.

The air flapped as Declan reappeared right behind the creature’s head.

He cleaved the spear diagonally, creating a smooth circular flash of white.

BOOOOM!

The ground shifted as he landed back, followed by blood spraying through the air as a head tumbled down from above.

He paused on the ground in a crouch, with two bodies collapsed around him, but this was only the beginning.

GRRROOOWL!

GRRROOOWL!

GRRROOOWL!

GRRROOOWL!

GRRROOOWL!

Five more wicked growls echoed from the side as his blue eyes flashed with a cold glint.

In the next moment, he vanished, and a beastly battle ensued.

_______________

3 minutes later...

THUUUUUMP!

A robed figure landed with a heavy thud, slashing the spear to the side as a puddle of yellow blood flew through the air.

BOOOOOOM!

The ground quaked as the head slammed down, and the last beast toppled after it, dead before it hit the dirt.

Declan bent toward the ground, noticing the footmarks still visible in the dirt.

"It’s just like the last ones. There’s no sign of panic in their movements, meaning they probably never encountered these beasts."

"But that doesn’t make sense. This is the beasts’ own territory. How did they get through without a single fight?"

"Unless... the beasts feared them."

He mused quietly before rising to his feet and looking into the distance.

The footsteps were still fresh, a sign that he was indeed getting closer.

Rising fully, he tightened his grip on the spear and continued forward.

As he continued following the footsteps, Declan eventually, arrived before a gate.

A gate so high that it towered into the sky, its upper half swallowed by rolling clouds and drifting mist.

Colossal walls extended outward from it, stretching so far across the horizon that even Declan’s enhanced vision couldn’t trace their ends.

He had moved away from the mountainous deserts and now stood in a world of white gem and mist.

A long bridge continued forward into the distance, at the end of which stood the gate.

This was where the footsteps ended, and it was clear enough where the Ronkhasa Giants ought to be held:

Behind that gate.

But things weren’t as simple as walking in.

Above the gates were posts where flaming torches burned, not with red flames, but purple ones that pierced even through the mist.

Declan could already feel gazes scanning every inch of him like lasers, even though he couldn’t clearly see their owners.

He could only make out humanoid silhouettes.

"ELBIANOR DOIRNGERAR!?"