Chapter 195

Chapter 195
## Chapter 195

White Giant (2)

Whoosh!

Pale, chalky fluids erupted violently from the deep gash, spraying across the terrain.

Had the fluid been a standard crimson, the scene would have been utterly gruesome, but the bizarre coloration rendered the sight surreal, almost clinical.

It felt less like a bloody battle and more like watching an artificially censored broadcast.

‘But there is no time to dwell on that!’

Heinrich executed a sharp, spinning maneuver to evade a savage sweep from the titan. Utilizing the momentum of his rotation, he brought his massive blade of radiant energy down with immense centrifugal force.

He targeted the exact same location as his initial strike.

It was the critical vulnerability at the giant’s heel.

[———!]

Simultaneously, Harley and Geos launched a coordinated assault on the opposite ankle, while Isea unleashed her gravity magic, imposing a heavy restraint on the creature’s mobility.

The moment they caught sight of the titan’s ominous grin,

The entire vanguard of the hero party, Heinrich included, poured every ounce of their strength into immobilization tactics, completely disregarding the danger to themselves.

A defensive approach was no longer viable. The expression the behemoth had just displayed carried an incredibly dark portent.

Through this grueling confrontation with the White Giant, one fact had become abundantly clear to them.

The creature was undeniably an ordeal to manage due to its colossal bulk, impenetrable hide, and nearly instantaneous cellular repair, yet they possessed the sheer martial capability to bring it down on their own, provided they had sufficient time.

Though surprisingly nimble for an entity of its scale, its agility was not high enough to completely outclass their reflexes, and it lacked any complex or esoteric combat techniques.

Its primary asset was its absurdly massive anatomy.

‘But that anatomy alone is a catastrophic threat.’

Their offensive strikes, amplified by dense sacred energy and the inherent properties of the holy sword, were undoubtedly carving deep into the titan’s vitality.

The issue lay in the sheer volume of its life force, which made the accumulated damage seem practically invisible.

While the party struggled to deliver a conclusive blow against this endless pool of vitality, the surrounding settlement was taking a heavy toll.

Distressed cries echoed from every direction as the shockwaves of the clash battered the area, systematically dismantling the once-serene village.

[“Saint! It is attempting to break away again! Blast it, the evacuation of the populace is incomplete!”]

[“My focus on the gravity matrix is reaching its absolute threshold! The discrepancy in our physical volumes makes total suppression impossible… I require a minimum of five minutes to cycle the spell again. Ah, I really should have dedicated more hours to my arcane theories!”]

Spells altering gravitational pull were exceptionally viable against the monster, given the immense weight tied to its towering form.

Without that magical suppression, the party would have been overwhelmed long before this point.

However, even that tactical advantage was crumbling against the brute physical power and innate resilience of the titan.

‘If we could simply engage it without these external complications, if we just had a bit more time…’

The necessity of shielding the area was severely hindering their efficiency, but Heinrich remained certain that in a pure, unhindered duel, they could systematically dismantle the beast.

Although Heinrich barely reached the height of the monster’s palm, the maximum extension of his luminous blade, augmented by “Blessing: Capacity Increase,” stretched well beyond three meters.

To a creature of that magnitude, it functioned like an oversized dagger, possessing more than enough lethality to pierce vital structures.

Furthermore, Harley wielded a massive battle axe capable of lopping off the titan’s digits with a single swing, while Geos deployed his spear with the piercing efficiency of an oversized awl.

Had the giant lacked even a fraction of its current physical output, the battle would have concluded already.

‘…In truth, it is quite remarkable that they have managed to anchor such a colossal mass even temporarily.’

The only reason it hadn’t completely ignored them was because its lower limbs were repeatedly severed whenever it tried to walk away.

‘…A single breakthrough on its part will mean utter annihilation for the townsfolk. Is there truly no alternative strategy available…? Wait. What am I looking at?’

In that exact instant, a specific detail drew Harley’s attention.

It was the condition of the giant’s lacerations, which were actively closing even amidst the chaotic exchange of blows.

[———!]

The deep furrows carved by Heinrich’s holy weapon were barely beginning to knit together, whereas the puncture wounds inflicted by Geos’s spear had already vanished entirely, leaving flawless skin behind.

The anomaly lay in the structural marks left by Harley’s own weapon…

‘Hold on, let me look closer.’

Narrowing his vision, he scrutinized the severed surface of the giant’s smallest toe, which he had lopped off moments prior.

The rate of cellular mending in that specific spot fell precisely midway between the delayed healing of Heinrich’s holy energy and the instant recovery of Geos’s mundane piercing damage.

Harley immediately deduced the underlying mechanism.

‘…Understood. So that entity is also an incarnation of absolute madness. In that case…’

What he was witnessing was a localized conflict for dominance between the chaotic energy laced within his own strikes and the primordial madness saturating the titan’s biology.

Granted, the concentration of chaos within a single swing of his axe was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of malice inside the behemoth, rendering the passive effect minimal…

But that limitation did not deter him in the slightest.

A brutal, predatory grin stretched across Harley’s face as a viable path to victory finally manifested before him.

Regrettably, the monster had arrived at its own realization simultaneously.

“Ugh, stop!”

“…Its mystical dampening is far too potent, I cannot anchor it…!”

Having successfully bypassed the constraints holding it down, the White Giant bared its teeth in a grotesque smile, fixing its gaze entirely on a single destination.

—

Immediately following the sudden manifestation of the White Giant,

Rumble—!

A cataclysmic detonation reverberated from the fringes of the settlement, causing the earth to buckle and roll as if struck by a massive tectonic shift.

“Ah! What is happening?!”

“Kyaaaak—!”

“A monster has appeared! Run for your lives, everyone!”

Inevitably, the local populace erupted into absolute panic, fleeing frantically from the source of the deafening noise.

This particular village had always prided itself solely on its isolation and tranquility; lacking any valuable natural resources, it had never been troubled by monster populations.

Yet now, the entire community was plunged into utter pandemonium, obliterating any semblance of their quiet daily routines.

Such a reaction was entirely warranted when a monstrosity rivaling the height of a ten-story structure was actively destroying the landscape nearby.

It was a stroke of immense fortune that the creature had materialized on the outer borders and that the hero party had intercepted it immediately; otherwise, the initial casualties would have been catastrophic.

“Waaaah—!”

“Hic… Mommy…”

“Hiik—! The monster is coming…!”

Inside Chehai’s orphanage, the environment was equally chaotic.

Although Isea’s defensive barrier successfully filtered out the oppressive, malevolent aura of the beast, preventing immediate physical harm, the children were naturally terrified by the thunderous violence occurring just beyond the walls.

“Children! Maintain your composure and proceed with the evacuation orderly. Thomas, Sally? Assist me in managing the headcount!”

“Y-yes, Mother! Deep breaths— Billy, Hans! Stop hiding in the corner and get moving! Hover, monitor the exit point as people file out. I will perform a secondary sweep to ensure no one is left behind.”

“Everyone, follow Mother’s instructions immediately! Garnet, Sarah, come with me to the nursery quarters to secure the infants. The older youth, focus on comforting the younger ones to keep the crying down.”

Despite the initial terror, the group stabilized rapidly, organizing their retreat under the firm direction of Chehai’s spouse, Milena, who managed the daily operations of the orphanage.

With the adolescents who were nearing adulthood and the more level-headed children stepping up to guide the toddlers, the entire household managed to clear the building with remarkable speed.

Right as they crossed the threshold,

“Milena! The children?! Is everyone accounted for and unharmed?!”

Chehai, who had initially left the premises to escort their departing visitors, sprinted back into the courtyard, completely out of breath.

He cast a rapid, sweeping glance over the gathered youth and let out a massive sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness… though we aren’t safe yet. Let us double our pace. We need to maximize our distance from that battlefield!”

Rumble—

Right then, another massive tremor accompanied by a violent shockwave rolled out from the combat zone.

The children, who had been fighting to maintain their composure, began to panic anew as the physical impact hit them far more directly now that they were out in the open.

There was no room for hesitation.

Chehai took point, leading his extended orphanage family away from the danger zone.

After traveling a short distance,

He risked a glance over his shoulder toward the titan’s location to evaluate the trajectory of the threat.

His intention was to chart a safer evacuation path by monitoring the orientation of the colossal entity, which stood out against the horizon like a massive obelisk…

“………?!”

He abruptly locked up, a sudden, freezing dread seizing his spine.

“…Blast it, what in the world…”

An involuntary expletive escaped his lips.

He consistently made a conscious effort to maintain proper language within earshot of the youngsters, but the sheer horror of the sight broke his discipline.

The reason was clear—

The exact moment he aligned his vision with the titan, he felt a direct, undeniable gaze lock onto him, despite the creature being actively engaged by three elite combatants of the hero party!

Technically, it wasn’t a traditional gaze, considering the monster’s eyelids remained firmly stitched together with thick thread…

Yet that anatomical detail mattered little.

The titan was twisting its features into an incredibly unsettling, malicious grin.

Its face contorted in a mockery of recognition, as though it could perceive everything perfectly.

It was actively assessing the fleeing orphans, its mouth curling in dark amusement.

With that, Chehai’s momentary paralysis shattered.

[———!]

Unleashing a thundering roar that caused the atmosphere to vibrate, the giant pivoted and accelerated toward their coordinates with terrifying momentum.

Given the sheer length of its stride, it closed the distance to the escaping orphanage group in a matter of heartbeats.

And then…

“Damn it all…!”

Boom—!

An explosive, deafening roar shattered the air right where they stood.

—

Boom—!

A world-shaking detonation rocked the landscape, sending immense shockwaves and billowing columns of pulverized debris radiating outward in concentric circles.

This localized earthquake, operating on a completely different scale of violence than the previous tremors, instantaneously flattened every structure in the immediate vicinity and ripped gaping fissures across the topsoil.

The resulting devastation looked as though a localized meteor strike had occurred.

“Ugh— What just transpired…?”

Chehai cautiously parted his eyelids, recovering from the sheer kinetic force that had detonated mere meters ahead of his position, and surveyed the environment.

The initial sight that met his eyes was a shimmering, azure translucent film enveloping his entire group, contrasted against the thick wall of dust churning violently outside the barrier…

It was unmistakably a defensive spell designed to absorb spatial impacts.

“Whew, utilizing a pre-cast matrix certainly makes mitigating these shockwaves vastly more manageable. Mind you, had that physical impact connected with us directly, this defensive shell would have shattered instantly.”

A highly familiar voice spoke up from his immediate flank.

Turning his head abruptly, he discovered Isea, the vanguard mage of the expeditionary force, exhaling a tired breath while maintaining the alignment of her arcane staff.

“Ah, my deepest gratitude for preserving our lives…”

“The threat has not been neutralized. Secure the youth and continue the withdrawal.”

“Ah! The children! Are they unharmed?”

“Rest assured. I allocated a significant portion of my mana pool to reinforce this specific perimeter.”

With a subtle gesture of her staff, the children who had lost consciousness from the sheer terror were gently suspended in the air by localized telekinesis.

A standard levitation and transport formula of this nature presented negligible strain to an arcana user of her caliber, even when managing dozens of targets simultaneously.

“I deliberately induced a sleep state in your spouse and the newborns. I surmised that witnessing an event of this magnitude firsthand would leave lasting psychological scars.”

“…You have my immense gratitude. Your judgment is entirely correct. Even my own heart is hammering violently against my ribs… But what exactly caused that impact just now?”

He resumed his rapid retreat alongside Isea, unable to resist peering backward as a distinct sensation washed over him.

A massive, hemispherical mass resembling a boulder was gradually becoming visible through the settling particulate matter.

It was the skull of the titan, pinned flat against the dirt.

[———!]

The colossal head was thrashing violently, releasing an incredibly furious roar that signaled an imminent attempt to right itself.

Judging by the muscular contractions, the creature was far from incapacitated.

Even so, the sheer scale of the event left him bewildered…

“Goodness, truly. To think a mere tumble could generate an impact of that magnitude.”

Naturally, the architect of that massive shockwave was the titan itself… whose entire pale white form was now thoroughly coated in grime and dirt.

While the structural fallout was immense, the actual sequence that caused it was somewhat comical.

The creature had simply sprinted forward and executed a massive face-plant into the earth.

[———!]

“Hahaha! Incredible! That was a spectacular crash! You must be utterly mortified, so why don’t you just remain down there, my friend! Hahaha!”

Of course, the titan hadn’t simply lost its footing due to clumsy clumsiness.

An external force had deliberately disrupted its balance while its attention was fixed elsewhere, causing it to trip and plow directly into the ground.

“…Harley?”

The boisterous voice was instantly recognizable to Chehai.

Was that not Geos’s comrade, the fierce, imposing warrior from the southern territories whom the young orphans had been so terrified of earlier?

However, the silhouette visible through the clearing dust cloud was completely bizarre.

The massive skull thrashing on the ground, easily doubling Chehai’s entire height, belonged to the giant without question, but…

What was that gargantuan, house-sized entity currently lounging atop the titan’s neck as if it were a personalized throne?

“…My word, I have never witnessed that state before. Is that the manifestation of a Dragonborn…? It diverges significantly from the standard texts.”

As the remaining dust settled completely, unveiling the entity in its entirety, Isea whispered in profound astonishment alongside Chehai.

The figure possessed a muscular architecture that completely transcended standard humanoid limitations, with shimmering, deep crimson scales encasing its entire frame like heavy plate armor.

Rows of jagged teeth lined an elongated, open maw, while the digits on its hands and feet ended in razor-sharp, obsidian talons.

Eerie crimson and emerald ethereal flames flickered intensely within its eyes like lanterns.

Prominent horns erupted from its cranium, and a dense, blood-colored miasma radiated continuously from its entire physical form.

Any remaining vestige of its original human appearance had completely vanished.

This was a peak manifestation of biological evolution—an entity that had swelled past four meters in height through the utilization of “Physical Transformation,” actively expressing the absolute pinnacle of dominant genetic traits harvested via “Mutation.”

This was the state known as the ‘Complete Harley.’