“Haa… haa…”
Kushan struggled to catch his breath, his breathing ragged and labored. Sweat poured down his entire body like a torrential rain, and the pounding of his heart seemed loud enough to hear from where I stood. From his appearance alone, he looked like someone who had just finished running a marathon.
After a moment, Kushan opened his mouth in a daze and slowly lowered his gaze to look at something. He unclenched his tightly closed right hand, revealing a small stone nestled in his palm, glistening faintly with a soft light. It was smooth and polished, with a tiny groove running through its center—like a pretty pebble.
Just as Kim Yuhyun had predicted, Kushan was able to observe the sequence of events unfolding on the grasslands. Hidden within his shadow were communication crystals brought by the users. Watching from the start, Kushan had allowed himself a sliver of hope when the giant and the human met without major conflict, and when Kuchar and Kim Yuhyun faced each other.
But then things began to take a strange turn. Suddenly, both leaders stood up one after the other, and Kuchar grabbed Kim Yuhyun by the collar, raising him up as he hoisted Mjolnir high.
Up until that point, Kushan had only watched, holding onto a faint hope that things wouldn’t spiral out of control.
But when he saw Kuchar’s eyes turn blood red, Kushan could no longer hesitate. Setting aside the fact that negotiations had broken down, Kim Yuhyun was in mortal danger. To save his first friend, Kushan ran at his maximum speed, entered the divine realm, and emerged bearing the ancient priestess’s emblem.
As a giant himself, Kushan couldn’t escape the limitations placed on his strength. The extent of the restriction was far more severe than he had expected, and even he was taken aback.
“Did I… do the right thing?”
Kushan muttered quietly to himself as he stared at the pebble. But since it was a solitary whisper, no one answered.
Some time passed, and just as Kushan felt his body begin to stabilize…
“Ah!”
He suddenly let out a sharp cry, lifting his gaze from the divine emblem. His face was frantic as he scanned the surroundings. Driven by the single-minded determination to save his friend, he had acted without knowing how the situation had evolved.
“Huh?”
But the users were nowhere to be seen. Four had entered initially. Until just moments ago, they had been urging Kushan on while watching the crystal together. Now, whether they had ascended to the sky or sunk into the earth, they had vanished without a trace.
Then, as Kushan’s gaze swept farther afield, he finally spotted one of the missing four near the entrance to the settlement. The user was frantic, their face tense with urgency. They waved their arms wildly toward Kushan, clutching the crystal and shaking it as if to say, “Come quickly!”
Though assassins couldn’t use translation magic, there’s a saying for a reason: gestures are a universal language.
Seeing the user’s desperate signals, Kushan felt an inexplicable unease, but also a strange sense of reassurance.
‘Why is this one alone? Where are the other three? Did they leave already?’
‘Could it be that humans are still in danger? Is that why they want me to hurry and stop it?’
From Kushan’s perspective, such thoughts made sense. From all his experience living alongside humans, they were fragile beings. Even the so-called greatest warrior had fallen with a single light blow from Kushan.
Moreover, the brothers out on the grasslands were all stronger than him. So even weakened, they shouldn’t be so easily overwhelmed by humans.
With that in mind, Kushan shouted as he saw the user darting through the entrance.
“Let’s go together! I’m coming too!”
Though his body felt noticeably heavier than before, Kushan pushed through the entrance and quickly disappeared into the forest.
A short while later…
“Are they gone?”
Three users suddenly appeared around where Kushan had been standing.
That’s right. Of the four who had entered, only one had left. The other three had been hiding in the nearby shadows, revealing themselves only after Kushan had gone out. Kushan guessed on his own that the three must have left earlier because the situation was urgent.
“Phew… then I guess the Jambyeonggo operation was a success for now?”
“Looks like it, yeah.”
One man, tired from hiding for so long, stretched and twisted his body as he spoke. Another nearby nodded in agreement.
“So now, all that’s left is the Trojan Horse operation?”
“Ah, don’t make it sound so grand. We just need to destroy the divine realm.”
The only woman among the three scolded them lightly. The man who had been stretching stopped and turned his gaze toward the direction Kushan had run off to—the divine realm.
In truth, the divine realm wasn’t much. There was only a solitary altar standing there. The only notable feature was that, unlike the clear landscape around it, the divine realm shimmered and wavered like a heat haze.
But now that the divine emblem had been removed, the divine realm was clearly visible.
“Alright, then let’s finish this quickly and get out of here.”
Secret Class: The Lord of Thunder. And the Lord’s power: Thunder God (雷神).
To put it simply, the Thunder God’s ability summons thunder and lightning from the sky, raining down destruction on enemies.
Of course, this power alone is formidable, but like any ability, its strength varies greatly depending on the user.
In that regard, Kim Yuhyun had two secret weapons that made his already special Thunder God ability even more extraordinary.
The first was his latent skill, Aim Line Alignment (2) (Rank: EX), which dramatically increased his magic’s accuracy.
The second was Jjorongi, a golden bird gifted by Kim Suhyun, which acted as a lightning rod and amplifier.
Together, these two tools allowed Kim Yuhyun to strike lightning exactly where he wanted and focus his power with precision.
Just like now.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
A torrential downpour of lightning crashed from the sky. At first glance, it seemed random, but each bolt struck with deadly accuracy, hitting all 800 giants without a single miss.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The lightning crashed down, striking the giants with fierce force.
“Graaah!”
At that moment, the air filled with the agonized screams of giants.
Zzrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The lightning pierced through their bodies, sending jolts of electric shock coursing through them. When it hit the ground, the residual moisture sparked blue flames that spread outward. Some giants’ beards flared wildly, while others were blackened and scorched all over.
Still, that was all. Many giants writhed in pain, but none had fallen yet. Despite their weakened state, they were still giants, and their remaining magic resistance absorbed much of the damage.
But these were giants already weakened by the loss of the divine realm’s power. The sudden lightning strikes left them dazed and off-balance.
This was exactly what Kim Yuhyun had aimed for.
By weakening them all at once, he created an opening—and the Thunder God’s power widened that gap. The means to exploit this opening was already in place. The signal had been sent the moment the Thunder God’s power was unleashed.
In other words:
“────. ────. ────. Ice Lance!”
“────. ────. ────. Ice Lance!”
“────. ────. ────. Ice Lance!”
“────. ────. ────. Ice Lance!”
The Northern Expedition force numbered about 5,000, with roughly 850 mages among them. All 850 simultaneously chanted the same spell, conjuring identical magic.
While Kim Yuhyun had been negotiating up front, the Northern Expedition had been preparing meticulously, waiting for the agreed signal. They had organized the mages into 56 squads of at least 15 each, assigning targets to every group.
The method for dealing with monsters resistant to magic was surprisingly simple. The more they were hit, the weaker their defenses became, and if the magic exceeded their resistance, it would break through immediately. So focusing fire on a single target until their magic resistance shattered was the key.
“Fire!”
The mages, staffs raised and waiting for the command, unleashed their spells almost simultaneously. Each squad fired 15 cone-shaped ice lances, raining down like beams of light on their assigned targets.
Clang, clang! Thud, thud!
Clang, clang! Thud, thud!
The effect was undeniable. At first, most of the lances bounced off the giants’ thick skin, but soon, some began piercing through and lodging deep inside. While one or two might have been shrugged off, the giants’ magic resistance, already battered and worn, was no match for the concentrated barrage.
“Kuhahahahahaah!”
One by one, the giants began to collapse, letting out agonized screams. Like porcupines, their bodies were pierced all over with icy spears, helplessly crumbling to the ground. After casting the spell twice in quick succession, the number of fallen giants on the battlefield had already surpassed several hundred. It was an incredible achievement.
Only then did the giants start to regain their senses.
“Raaaaaaargh!”
The giants positioned furthest back, who had been less affected by the magic, began to unleash long, mournful howls that shook the earth.
Of course, the users didn’t stand still either.
“Form into 120 squads of 25! Move quickly to your assigned groups!”
“Archers and assassins, set up traps! Move, move!”
As if anticipating this exact moment, they adjusted their movements to match the giants’ actions. When a man shouted orders at the top of his lungs, the users swiftly repositioned, and before long, 120 squads of 25 were formed.
With the mages having taken the lead, it was now time for the melee fighters to step up.
Meanwhile, at the same time—
As both users and giants began to emerge from their formations, ready to charge at each other,
the center where Kim Yuhyun and Kuchal had faced off was already nearly settled.
‘Looks like it had some effect.’
After confirming that the icy spears were targeting the giants across the field, Kim Yuhyun, who had just withdrawn his Thunder God power, staggered to his feet.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Turning his gaze toward the source of the wild laughter ahead, he saw Kuchal sprawled across the ground, and a man mercilessly swinging a spear while perched on the giant’s abdomen. It was Gong Chanho.
‘Seems like Kuchan Thor has been dealt with to some extent.’
Though Gong Chanho’s spear strikes made the giant flinch, that was all.
Kuchal had fallen. After the Thunder God’s power faded, he had suffered a fatal blow from Gong Chanho. A surprisingly anticlimactic end for Kuchan Thor.
The ambush involving Kuchal was a plan devised solely by Kim Yuhyun and Gong Chanho. With the sudden weakening of strength and the Thunder God’s power sowing confusion among the giants, Gong Chanho was to strike and take down Kuchal while the others were disoriented. Given Kim Yuhyun’s personality, there was no way he would miss such a prime opportunity to eliminate the most troublesome foe.
Anyway.
Having taken down the giants’ king, Kim Yuhyun felt it was time to start pulling back. From across the plains, giants with charred blackened skin were pounding the ground as they charged forward. Despite being hit by continuous spells, they kept coming—likely driven by Kuchan Thor’s influence.
Coincidentally, the users were also beginning to move out.
If the earlier plans had been a one-sided advantage for the users, now the real battle was about to begin.
‘But this won’t be easy.’
Watching the giants draw closer by the second, Kim Yuhyun felt a twinge of apprehension.
His feelings weren’t unfounded.
The chain of events from this plan had yielded four key results for Kim Yuhyun:
The giants’ strength was weakened.
A preemptive strike delivered by the Thunder God.
Kuchan Thor rendered combat ineffective.
A reduction in the giants’ numbers due to the ambush.
Thanks to these, the situation was now favorable enough to face the giants head-on. Compared to the initial warning that “we’ll definitely lose if we fight head-on,” this was a huge leap forward.
Still, they were giants. Even after taking down their king, over 600 remained, all charging with wild, frenzied eyes. Kim Yuhyun didn’t think they would lose at this point, but he instinctively knew they had to brace for massive casualties. That was why he felt that flicker of dread.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
“Gong Chanho!”
But the urge to retreat grew stronger, and Kim Yuhyun called out loudly to Gong Chanho.
Then—
A sudden, ear-piercing shriek echoed across the plains. Yet somehow, the sound felt strangely familiar. Without realizing it, Kim Yuhyun’s eyes lifted, and when he looked up at the sky, he couldn’t help but stare blankly.
Flap, flap, flap, flap!
Where had they come from all of a sudden?
Hundreds of monstrous birds soared high into the sky. Leading the flock was a blue-hued beast—one that Kim Yuhyun had met before.
Could it be… they’re challenging the cursed mountain rulers?
Actually, your goal isn’t entirely bad for us either… At least, it’s worth watching.
Words he had heard long ago flashed through Kim Yuhyun’s dazed mind. Come to think of it, Kuchan had said something similar. They had fought these monstrous birds countless times before.
Kim Yuhyun clenched his fist reflexively. Their appearance on this battlefield meant only one thing.
As if confirming his thought, the lead beast suddenly opened its beak wide.
Not toward the humans, but toward the giants.
---------------------------= Author’s Note ---------------------------=
The next chapter is coming right up.