Chapter 306 – City of Giants (One)

A windless, sunny wasteland.

Riiip!

With a sound like tearing paper, the split void spat Ray out.

Twirl! Thud!

Landing lightly, Ray then caught Veronica, who was falling in a posture ideal for making close acquaintance with the ground, and set her down beside him.

With Orea, who alighted gracefully on Ray’s shoulder, the rift closed.

“The place where he is sealed is right here—.”

Orea’s crown fell from her tilted head, and Ray caught it and handed it back.

“Phew, thank you, Ray-nim.”

“…….”

Orea, letting out a sigh of relief, placed the symbol of the queen back on her head.

The crown was the Orange Shard of the Rainbow transformed, emitting the brilliant radiance of its color.

“Thank you for returning it, Ray-nim.”

“I don’t think you need to thank me. It was originally yours.”

The Orange Shard of the Rainbow, whose ownership had temporarily changed hands.

Thanks to it, Orea, having regained her original power, activated the Magic Circle inscribed in the Land of Disaster and instantly transported Ray and Veronica here.

She also commanded the Fairies constituting the Disaster to withdraw, and Philip, who had been desperately continuing his story, caught his breath before leading the rescued children towards the entrance area of the Land of Disaster where the bus was parked.

“This is the place where Khum is sealed.”

Khum—that was the true name of the Indigo Guardian who had started the first war of the Ancient Era.

“…….”

Ray stared at the scenery before him.

Objects buried in sand or shattered buildings were similar to any other ruins.

But there was a decisive difference that made it all feel new.

“It’s big.”

“Yeah, super big. Ray.”

Namely, the fact that everything visible—the buildings, the objects—was excessively large.

Orea spoke.

“Khum was a Giant. They are a race whose ability to handle Mana is the weakest, but who enjoy the blessing of the most robust strength through their massive bodies themselves.”

Ray listened intently.

It was a story he hadn’t heard from Rael either, due to the limits of memory preservation.

“Even after the era of Magic’s prosperity arrived, the Giants didn’t worry about their weakness. There was no problem living without Magic. But Khum, who took on the duty of guarding the Indigo Shard, was different.”

Ray slowly began walking towards the ruins and asked.

“How was he different?”

“He desperately wanted to use Magic. And he envied and was jealous of all the other races enjoying prosperity through Magic. Such emotions were sufficient to awaken the power of the Indigo Shard.”

Ray thought he understood.

Indigo Mana had a nature that primarily resonated with negative emotions like inferiority and anxiety.

“Khum, having fully awakened the power of the Indigo Shard, became able to use Magic. Perhaps… it was his near-paranoid yearning shining through. After that, he started a war. He thought he would annihilate all other races and become the most superior being.”

“Did they stop him…?”

Veronica’s cautious question.

Orea shook her head.

“Even if all the other races united, they couldn’t stop him. Khum was a being who enjoyed both the formidable strength of a Giant and the blessing of Magic. They were pushed back, and pushed back… Only after the Giants joined in did they barely succeed in sealing Khum.”

“The Giants?”

“Even fellow Giants feared Khum. He was a being who broke the rules and disrupted order. They felt great guilt as the same race and voluntarily offered their own city as the place to seal Khum. A kind of atonement, perhaps. The other races, whose cities were destroyed and had no strength left, accepted that offer.”

Orea added.

After that, to prevent the sad history from repeating, she constructed the Land of Disaster in front of the Giants’ city to completely block external access.

Veronica’s voice grew sad.

“But that’s sacrificing an entire race.”

“It’s better than Khum awakening again and the world falling into chaos.”

Orea answered with a faint smile, holding onto Ray’s hair to keep from falling off his shoulder as she spoke.

“But Ray-nim, did you retrieve the Shards from the other Guardians? I’ve been here with the children all along, so I don’t know what happened after the seal…”

“Redran started the second war. By sowing discord among the other Guardians.”

Ray explained quickly.

Redran has a plan to erase all the world’s emotions, and the man and Golem who passed through the Land of Disaster are like his subordinates.

“And he’s trying to absorb the Indigo Guardian’s power to stop me.”

“Ah…”

Confusion and shock flitted across Orea’s face, but her judgment of the situation was swift.

“We must hurry. The place where Khum is sealed is the central plaza of the city. The subordinates must have gone that way. The direction is…”

“This way.”

Ray’s steps as he entered between the buildings were unhesitating.

Because the emotions Indiago had left behind were trailing through the air like footprints.

Gloomy crimson and indigo Mana.

Anger, inferiority, anxiety, self-loathing.

Following the trail of emotions with negative hues, the party moved quickly.

Thud—! Thud thud—!

The huge buildings and objects buried in the ground created the illusion that their own bodies had shrunk.

But only desolate winds blew around; no presence of Giants could be felt at all.

“Orea-nim, have all the Giants disappeared…?”

“I haven’t visited since Khum’s seal either, so I don’t know what happened in this city. But considering that Giants’ lifespans are short compared to other races, and they had no special techniques to extend them, they probably declined naturally. But they must have left some kind of gatekeepers behind…”

Thud.

It was at that moment Ray stopped walking.

What appeared before them was a plaza of immense size, with statues of Giants standing at regular intervals along its perimeter.

Height reaching 4-5 meters.

Three fierce, bulging eyes.

Their vivid appearance, as if they would swing down their raised clubs at any moment, made Veronica move behind Ray with a frightened face, grabbing his clothes.

Orea expressed puzzlement.

“I don’t remember Giants having this kind of artistic culture…”

“…….”

After scanning the Giant statues once, Ray moved his steps towards the center of the plaza.

There was a huge circular platform there, densely scattered with enormous chains and restraints, large enough to capture a monster.

“Khum is gone! He was definitely sealed here! Redran’s subordinates must have arrived first and done something!”

“That’s highly unlikely.”

Ray’s answer was firm.

Because Indiago’s bewildered emotions remained intact around the platform.

‘Meaning Khum was already gone when Indiago arrived here.’

Where did the vanished Khum go?

Did he awaken and move on his own?

Or was he moved by someone?

Then a sound came from around them.

Crrrrk!

Turning their heads, they could see the surfaces of the statues cracking, stone fragments crumbling away.

Crrk!

In an instant, the shells were shed, and Giants awakening from a long sleep muttered with menacing eye light.

“Intruders will be eliminated.”

“Unauthorized entry.”

“Will annihilate on the spot.”

The Giants approaching gradually.

But Ray wasn’t flustered.

Because he already knew they weren’t real statues from the faint Mana flowing through their bodies.

‘Seems approaching the platform was the trigger.’

Did Indiago and the Golem use some special method to deceive the Giants’ senses?

Anyway, it seemed they just needed to subdue them, then establish physical rapport to find out Khum’s whereabouts.

“Nell! Rom! Pa! Ken! Stop!”

Just then, Orea flew up from Ray’s shoulder and shouted.

“It’s me! Orea! Don’t you recognize me? Now is not the time for us to fight! Someone trying to free Khum has entered this city right now!”

The Giants answered without stopping their thump-thumping advance.

“Who the opponent is doesn’t matter.”

“Orea, you are no exception.”

“All intruders are merely intruders.”

“How can this be! Have you all turned to stone? Right now, this person here! Might be the very one we’ve been waiting for!”

For a moment, the Giants hesitated.

But soon resumed their advance.

“Lies.”

“There’s no way he would return.”

“Orea, are you still holding onto vain hope?”

Orea, biting her lip tightly, looked back at Ray and Veronica and shouted.

“Persuasion is wrong! We should avoid the area for now…!”

“No. No time for that.”

Ray sent a look.

Veronica, immediately understanding his intent, instantly cast small Wards and acceleration Magic on Ray.

Ray kicked off the ground and charged.

The moment he leaped before the Giants.

Whoosh!

A Giant’s hand, which had been moving slowly, swung its club with lightning speed.

‘As expected.’

The slow movements were a trap to make the opponent let their guard down.

This must be the real speed Giants with their innate physical abilities could unleash.

Swish!

Ray’s body performed a somersault.

Evading the club by a hair’s breadth while simultaneously summoning Lacria, who was squirming inside the yellow Shard.

Crackle! Zzzt!

Lacria, having completed enlargement, bound three Giants’ bodies at once, emitting electric currents as it wrestled with them.

Meanwhile, Ray landed on the shoulder of the one who had swung the club.

And.

Booooom──!

He placed his palm on the Giant’s neck and fired a shockwave.

He intended to knock it out, but its thick skin didn’t even get a scratch.

‘That was 4th Circle level Magic, completely useless.’

Ray evaded the fierce, flying giant palm and moved to another Giant’s shoulder.

Booooom──!

This time, much higher output.

One Giant staggered and fell.

Groooan!

Ray flew his body next, mounting the Giants’ shoulders, and each time, heavy, dull sounds echoed through the plaza.

Orea, who had flown after him, flew between the Giants, disrupting their vision and coordinating with him.

Vines of wind controlled by Veronica bound the Giants’ feet.

“Ray! Behind! Look behind!”

A giant hammer was flying towards Ray, who was leaping high in the air.

It was an attack reading the repeated pattern and matching it.

Whoooosh!

The hammer’s impact surface, expanding in an instant. Too late to dodge.

The Mana of the gem and Ring moved according to the boy’s imagination and will, without any process of calculation.

Crrk!

A platform made of stone was created.

Whooosh!

Dense wind wrapped around his entire body, changing its direction.

Thud.

On the platform, after regaining his balance, the fist he threw collided with the flying hammer.

Kwaaaaang──!

A deafening roar as if the earth’s axis shook.

The hammer shattered to pieces.

The Giant flew to the edge of the plaza and fell, and fierce winds swept along the path the fist had been thrown.

A silence followed.

When the hazy dust cleared, not a single Giant was left standing.

Ray approached the face of the Giant who seemed to be of the highest rank, pushing up the huge eyelid that was drooping as it lost consciousness.

And, meeting its gaze, he said.

“Wake up. I need to hear where Khum, who was sealed here, has gone.”