[Ku…ah…ahah…ahahah…ahahahahhh!]
Renu’s scream contained all kinds of negative emotions such as rage, hate, humiliation, and shame.
[D-D-Die…Dieee…Dieeee!]
His regenerated arm swung again. The flames that made up the arm burned even more fiercely than before.
Craaash!
His arm didn’t disappear this time. It hit its target smoothly, and Renu’s mouth turned into a sheepish grin.
[I-I-I kill—!]
“No, you didn’t.” Renu heard the voice he loathed, and unlike before, he didn’t hear the voice from far away with his superb hearing skills. He heard the voice right beside him.
[Uh…!] Renu looked to his side and was surprised to see that Zich had already jumped up to the giant’s head.
“For now.” Zich grabbed Windur with both hands tightly. “Let’s go back a bit more!” He swung with all his might.
Crash! The fire giant’s head twisted and turned.
[Kkuehhh!] As Renu screamed, the fire giant’s body swerved.
Thud! Thud!
To maintain his balance, the giant stumbled a couple of steps back. But he twisted his torso too fast and ended up falling backwards.
[Uh…ah…uh…!] The fire giant flung its arms around to lift its body up, and Zich sat beside it.
‘He’s still fine.’ Even though Zich had swung his sword with a great amount of force, he failed to cut off both Renu and the giant’s head.
Then, Zich recalled how a wall of fire appeared around the giant’s head when Windur approached it and thought, ‘I guess it knows how to defend itself.’
The wall of fire failed to completely block Windur’s attack, but it succeeded in reducing its damage. Thanks to that, the giant could avoid the worst-case scenario of getting its head cracked into pieces.
‘Well, maybe that won’t be the worst-case scenario for this guy,’ Zich thought. After all, this giant might be able to easily regenerate its head like it did to its arm. Even if Renu disappeared, the giant could move by itself too. Renu pushed himself off the ground and realized that Zich was next to him.
[Uh…ah…ahah…!]
Whoosh!
Like he was trying to catch a bug, the giant’s hand hovered over Zich. The flames that made up its arm seemed to have grown fiercer.
Crash!
The fire giant’s arm collided against Windur and flew out again. This time, Zich noticed a clear difference in power. ‘I’ll only cut off its upper arm this time.’
Although his last attack had blown away even the giant’s shoulders, the attack this time blew away only a smaller portion of the giant’s arms.
‘Is it getting stronger?’ If Zich thought about how the giant had failed to even hit its targets with its attacks, it seemed more accurate to say that the giant had simply learned how to use its powers.
[Uhah…ahahah…!] Things didn’t go his way, so Renu screamed like a child throwing a tantrum. The fire giant got up abruptly and attacked Zich who blocked and evaded the giant’s attacks and swung Windur towards the giant’s body.
Swerve!
The fire giant lost its balance again, but it simply took a couple of steps backward and didn’t fall down like last time. Zich launched a flurry of attacks again. The fire giant backed away, and Zich attacked again. His attacks were incredibly fierce, and Zich didn’t even give the fire giant the opportunity to fight back. Eventually, the speed at which the fire giant stepped backwards slowed down.
Slosh! Zich pushed back the fire giant beyond Mentis until its feet were submerged into the lake. The moment its feet touched the waters, steam rose around the giant’s feet and the lake boiled. The fire giant backed away a bit more, and when the lake’s water reached the giant’s shins, it stopped moving. Zich swung Windur once again, and the fire giant also swung its fist.
Crash!
A loud collision rang out, but the fire giant didn’t back away this time. Its arm that had collided against Windur was also completely fine.
[…Hu…huhu..!] The sound of Renu’s annoying laughter flowed out, and the fire giant swung its arm at Zich who was in mid-air. Zich’s body flew backwards.
Thud! He landed near the lake’s shore, and a cloud of dust rose from the ground. It was such a strong collision that made spectators wonder if Zich was deeply injured. However, when the cloud of dust settled down, they saw Zich appear without many injuries. On the small crater that formed on the ground from the impact, Zich shook off the dust that had settled on his clothes.
[I…am…stronger...than you now…!]
“Ah, sure. You can think whatever you want.”
No longer interested in what Renu had to say, Zich turned around. He saw the allied forces retreating from a distance.
‘Is this far enough?’ Since there was a good amount of distance between them and the allied forces. Each of the elves was strong, so Zich thought they wouldn’t be affected even if he started a more intense battle from now on.
“Hey, Renu Ent Draus,” Zich said as he walked towards the lake.
“Do you know that I didn’t protect myself from your last attack?”
Slosh! Zich’s feet sank into the lake—he didn’t care whether his shoes or the ends of his pants were soaking wet.
“Normally, I would’ve stopped you. Although I often let my opponents go about their schemes to crush their last bit of hope, the mana from the tree of fire is a great threat even to me.”
Whatever Renu’s last trick was, since it was most likely connected to the tree of fire, things would be much less troublesome if Zich simply sliced Renu’s head off.
“But it’s different this time.” Zich looked down at Windur. Like how it had opened the door in the castle’s basement, it was clear that Windur had a connection to the ancient empire.
Zich pulled out his mana, and an enormous amount of mana on a different level from before whirled inside his body.
‘I couldn’t test my power out much before.’
There was a time in Violuwin when he could use all of his power at once, but he had to greatly restrain himself from letting it all out. It was because he had been inside a city, and a single mishap could have brought the city into ruins.
‘Now, there’s nothing hindering me.’
The only presences nearby were in a forest far away or at the edge of the lake. Mentis was becoming an empty city, and the allied forces were probably fully capable of protecting themselves.
‘Of course, I still need to control my powers somewhat.’
If he battled too recklessly, he could accidentally destroy the entire library in Mentis and he could injure the allied forces. Moreover, his physical body won’t be able to handle it.
‘I’ll still be able to fully enjoy myself.’ Zich’s eyes let out a chilling light.
[Ooh...] Renu flinched. The fire giant took a step back. Renu himself did not understand why he moved back. He was able to obtain an immense power, and he was now able to fully control it. Other beings could not even touch his feet right now, but why did he take a step back just because of a human’s gaze? Why did he feel such horror? Renu was not in a state of denial; he really could not understand why he was feeling this way. However, Renu was soon able to find his answer in a horrifying nightmare.
“Then why don’t we start playing, Renu Ent Dras?”
Tap! Zich jumped up; his hand tightly clutched Windur. The fire giant also moved; he clasped his hands tightly together and lifted them high up in the air. A ferocious fire erupted from his hands.
Swing! He slammed his hands down on Zich, and the two of them collided.
Crasssssh! The pressure from the flames disappeared and the severe heat scattered across the air. A violent attack pierced through the air where the flames used to be.
* * *
Lyla led Hans, Snoc, and Romanne to the edge of Mentis. She looked back a couple of times and checked on the battle between Zich and the fire giant a few times, but most of her focus was on moving as far as possible from the center of Mentis. However, they had no choice but to stop.
“Lyla! Please help me!” Romanne quickly lifted up the Lake’s Tear in front of her. Lyla moved right next to her and touched the Lake’s Tear.
Ziing! The Lake’s Tear lightly vibrated and spread its water mana around its surroundings. This time, it didn’t spread its mana everywhere but gathered together to form a stable boundary. A soft blue light illuminated their surroundings.
“Come inside!”
“Everyone stay on guard!”
Romanne and Lyla shouted to everyone. Hans, Snoc, and all the other elves quickly moved to their own defense positions.
Crassssh! They felt as if they were walking in reverse against a flowing current. The mana blast hit them as if it was going to sweep everything in its past. The burning heat and the sharp debris from the blast strongly bashed against them. Fortunately, thanks to the Lake’s Tear, they were able to endure it. However, no one was happy about this—no, to be more exact, they had no leisure to think about happiness.
From far away, a battle that might come out in mythology was happening in front of them. The fire giant was causing colossal damage. With its enormous body and overwhelming strength, it spread flames everywhere. Even if the allied forces tried to defeat the fire giant, it would be impossible for them to defeat the giant. However, that fire giant was being played around with right now—by a mere human.
Thuuuuuud! From a distance, they saw the effects of the battle on the lake; the deep and wide lake trembled and formed waves as if it was being swept by a storm. The image that left the deepest impression on the elf soldiers was the sight of a giant cliff crumbling from the mana shock.
Crumbbbbble! As if it was cake, the cliff was cleanly cut apart, and it made a giant, white splash as it hit the lake; then, it disappeared underneath. The elves watching the sight were unable to find the right words to describe what they were seeing.
“…Ms. Lyla? That person named Zich…” Romanne carefully began her sentence; she opened and closed her mouth several times. It seemed like she wanted to say something but felt uncomfortable saying it out loud. However, in the end, her curiosity overpowered all other emotions. “Is he really human?”
“Well, for now.” Lyla could clearly empathize with Romanne’s complex emotions. Who the hell would think that the person responsible for reshaping the entire landscape around them and pushing back the fire giant would be a mere human? Lyla suddenly felt that Zich was a very amazing but also very scary existence. The Demon Lord of Strength Zich Moore did not come from nowhere.
“That power is probably temporary. Something like this happened in the past once, and he soon returned back to normal.”
“Ah, is that so? There must be a way for him to suddenly bring out a lot of power.” Romanne made a sort of relieved expression. Regardless of Zich’s safety, Romanne felt relieved that her common sense was at least partially preserved.
However, because of that expression, Lyla was unable to tell her that in the future, a possibly very near future, Zich might be able to use this amount of strength with no limits.
“Yes, but with this, the war is now over.” The humans and elves saw the fire giant finally collapse on the ground after being ripped apart everywhere.
* * *
[Uh…ugh…aaaaah…!] Renu let out a moan; the fire giant no longer moved. The flames that used to burn bright red were now much darker than before. The surrounding lake also let out steam, but it was no longer boiling like before. Zich sat next to Renu near the giant’s face area. Even though the fire giant’s flames were dying out, it was still a strange sight to see Renu lying down on top of the flames.
“Are you going to die by getting hit this amount of times?” Zich glanced at the fire giant’s messed-up body.
[Yo…You….Youuuu…!]
Pierce!
As if he were going to spit out some curses, Renu was pierced in the head by Windur.
“I played enough. Get to sleep now.”
Crunch! Zich twisted Windur and messed up Renu’s face. Blood or flames or something completely unknown came out of Renu’s face.
Explode!
The fire giant scattered its flames everywhere and disappeared. A flame landed on top of the lake and also disappeared. Like this, the massive war that brought out all the elf tribes in the Great Adrowon Forest met its end.