Chapter 55
Bang!
Boom!
A massive, stone-skinned figure was hurled backward as twin explosions detonated against its chest.
Crash!
It slammed into the side of a cliff, dislodging boulders and shaking the mountain range with a deep rumble.
Kenzo turned toward the collapsing figure, a confident grin spreading across his face.
“Stone giant,” he muttered approvingly. “Nice work, you two.”
Behind him, Vivi lowered her flame-tinged fists while Gine casually blew the smoke from the barrel of her red pistol.
“I aim to please,” Vivi said with a wink.
Gine smirked. “Finally got clearance to use the Vice Master’s prototype. Worth the wait.”
“Hey! How come we don’t get special weapons?” a hunter from the rear called out.
Gine stuck out her tongue. “Because I'm her favourite!”
As the dust settled, the stone giant began to rise, its body cracking the cliff face behind it with sheer weight and power.
“That thing’s incredibly tough,” Vivi said, eyes narrowing.
“All earth types are,” Kenzo replied, his aura flaring as he cracked his neck. “But they’ve all got cores.”
He vanished.
Boom!
The giant jerked violently as its chest caved inward. A split second later, Kenzo exploded out its back, landing with a soft thud as the monster froze, then collapsed into broken chunks.
From the settling dust, Kenzo emerged holding a glowing red orb in one hand and a dull gray essence stone in the other.
“Remove the core, and they drop. Try not to damage it too much though, cores sell for way more than essence stones.”
RUMBLE.
The ground trembled. All around them, more stone giants began to descend the sheer cliffs, crawling downward like massive, lumbering insects.
Kenzo’s grin faded. “Assassins will be useless against these brutes head-on. I want all assassins on healer protection, use your mobility to keep them alive.”
Vivi was already airborne, launching herself up one of the cliffs with flames bursting from her gauntlets.
“[Flash Fire Fist]!” she roared.
Her punch cracked the lead giant’s head clean off, sending it tumbling backward, directly into the others.
With the cliff face so crowded, the chain reaction sent several giants crashing down to the ground below.
Before they could rise again, a volley of magic spells rained down, engulfing them in explosions and elemental fury.
Gine sprinted forward, leaping onto a crumbling outcrop as she lined up her next shot. “Exploding Buck Shots!” she called out, her red pistol already humming with unstable energy.
Bang! Bang!
The blasts struck a giant’s shoulder and hip, both shots digging into pre-weakened joints. The massive creature buckled with a grunt, momentarily dazed, which was a big mistake as its grip on the cliff wavered and it dropped like glass.
Kenzo ducked low, narrowly avoiding a wide, earth-shaking fist. The punch collided with the ground, blasting up a wave of rubble that forced the casters to shield their eyes.
“[Glacial Chains]!” shouted a voice from above. An A-Rank hunter, Ilya, perched on a floating shard of ice, brought down shimmering ice chains that wrapped around a group of giants, dragging them from the cliffs.
On the ground, they were too slow to even retaliate.
Vivi darted in again. “Not so tough, are ya!?”
Flames spiraled around her fists as she twisted into an uppercut. “[Incendion]!”
The ground erupted like a geyser, torrents of flame spewing upward and scorching the stone giants as they advanced. Pillars of fire licked the sky, their intense heat warping the air and turning the battlefield into a furnace.
The flames did their job, weakening the giants just enough. Within minutes, the hunters closed in, dismantling the staggering creatures one by one in a brutal display of teamwork and precision.
Then the mountain groaned.
A low rumble echoed through the cliffs, and the ground beneath their feet trembled. From above, a shadow swallowed the battlefield in gloom.
A truly massive stone giant emerged, twice the height of the others. Its arms were thick like ancient tree trunks, and glowing crystalline veins pulsed across its patchwork stone skin, casting a red hue over its form with every heartbeat.
Kenzo stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as wind stirred the edges of his jacket. “I’ll take this one.”
Vivi gave a short nod and retreated, knowing better than to get in his way when he used that tone.
Meanwhile, Gine had already climbed halfway up the cliff, her red pistol nowhere in sight. In its place was a long, sleek sniper rifle strapped over her shoulder, polished and deadly.
Illya shot her a questioning look as she floated on her ice shard. “Really?”
Gine avoided her gaze, adjusting the scope. “What? It’s just in case.”
---
Name: Kenzo Tanaka
Level: 49
Job Class: None
HP: 7600 / 7600
MP: 3460 / 3460
Status: Stable
Attributes:
STR: 198 (+30)
AGI: 148 (+35)
VIT: 168
DEX: 148 (+25)
INT: 168
END: 158 (+10)
Physical Damage Resistance: 5%
Equipment:
Nimba's Cradle (AGI +15, STR +15, DEX +5)
Nimba's Grasp (STR +10, DEX +10)
Nimba's Stride (AGI +10, STR +5, END +10)
Nimba's Steps (AGI +10, DEX +10)
Skills:
Enhanced Strength (STR +30%) — Active
Strength Boost — Passive
Gold Berg (STR +20%. VIT +30%. END +30%) — Active — Physical Damage Resistance: +30%
---
The giant crouched low atop the cliff, crystalline muscles coiling with terrifying force. Then it leapt.
Its descent was cataclysmic, stone shattered beneath its feet as it launched downward, the sheer weight of its body carving a massive crater into the cliffside. It fell toward the hunters like divine judgment, the air screaming around its hulking form.
Kenzo didn't flinch. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he ignited his new power, burning golden energy wrapped around him like molten armor. His skin shimmered, hardening into something metallic, radiant and unbreakable.
He looked like a golden statue brought to life as he kicked off the ground, rock exploding beneath his feet.
He met the giant in the air, high above the battlefield.
Crystalline stone collided with burning gold.
CRACK!
BOOM!
The shockwave from their clash cracked the sky, sending out concentric rings of pressure that flattened the nearby trees and sent debris scattering like broken glass. The giant twisted mid-air, one hand swinging like a battering ram, but Kenzo spun under it, his gold-clad form flashing like a meteor.
“Too slow,” he muttered, bringing both fists down.
CRACK!
The impact drove the giant back, slamming it into the cliff face. Stone fractured, avalanched, half the mountainside crumbled with it.
Illya shielded her eyes from the dust and flying debris, that had somehow reached her side of the cliffs.
Up on the ledge, Gine steadied her rifle. Her scope tracked the crater. “Target not neutralized. This is my cool voice.”
A roar answered her. The massive giant surged out of the rubble, one eye darkened, its other glowing red-hot with fury. It picked up a boulder the size of a truck and hurled it at Kenzo without hesitation.
Kenzo didn’t flinch.
He caught it with one hand, arm straining briefly, then crushed it with a punch. Shards fell like gravel.
The giant charged again, its crystal veins glowing brighter. Its legs dented the cliff with every step.
Kenzo smiled, eyes gleaming beneath his golden brow. He raised his fists. “Let’s end this.”
They met in mid-air once more, an earth-splitting collision that lit the battlefield like sunrise. The crystal giant staggered, fractures racing down its torso. Kenzo didn’t let up.
Blow after blow rained down, each impact crunching through enchanted flesh and stone. Gold met crystal. Might met Might.
BOOM!
A final punch. Straight through the giant’s core.
A brief moment of silence.
Then the entire body detonated in a flash of red and white, raining crystalline shards across the canyon.
Kenzo landed lightly, smoke rising from his arms. He cracked his neck, calm as ever.
“Done.”
Back on the ground, Vivi lowered her hand from shielding her eyes.
Gine lowered her rifle with a groan. “Aww man.”
Illya sighed. “You are hopeless.”
---
"Grarg! Urkhh!"
The four-metre-tall orc let out a garbled cry, frozen in place as a thin white line cleaved straight down from the crown of its head to the dirt beneath its feet.
It clutched at its skull with both hands, as if trying to hold itself together. But the effort was futile, its body split cleanly in two, each half sliding apart with a sickening squelch.
Anna calmly flicked her odachi to the side, casting off the blood with a practiced motion. Her gaze was sharp, scanning the dozens of orcs ahead without a hint of concern.
“This is way easier than those lightning elves!” Akari called out with a grin, yanking the axe-blade of her bardiche from the crumpled skull of a fallen orc.
A few metres away, Hinata ducked under a clumsy punch, caught the attacking orc’s jaw with one hand, and tore it clean off with a brutal twist. With a sharp kick, she launched the now-screaming creature’s body into another oncoming orc.
“Take that, you disgusting piece of shit!” she spat.
All around them, the hunters were in motion, flashes of steel, sparks of magic, and the wet crunch of bodies hitting the ground. The orcs were numerous, but none of the hunters had fallen. If anything, they were holding back.
Korra stood near the rear line, her brows furrowed slightly as she glanced around.
“Akari’s right… Why’s this dungeon so different from the last one?”
She didn’t even lift a finger. Any orc that crossed into her radius dropped dead instantly, no wounds and no struggle. Their bodies simply collapsed where they stood, eyes wide and glassy.
Around her, over a hundred corpses lay scattered in eerie stillness. Perfectly intact. Not a single drop of blood spilled.
The quiet didn’t last long.
A shrill horn echoed from deeper within the jungle, followed by the heavy thud of dozens, no, hundreds, of footsteps.
Korra's eyes narrowed. “Reinforcements?”
“No,” Anna said quietly. She crouched, placing a hand on the earth. Her eyes glowed faintly. “It's the gate keeper.”
The trees ahead of them groaned. A second later, the entire canopy exploded upward as a massive, hulking form tore through the jungle.
A war beast. Ten meters tall, wrapped in crude iron armor and tribal bone charms, its muscles knotted like tree trunks. It had two massive tusks and a spiked iron club that looked more like a fallen tree than a weapon.
And chained to its back were three orc shamans, their hands glowing with ritual magic, eyes burning with white flame.
“I knew things were too easy,” Korra muttered.
Akari spun her bardiche once, cracking her neck. “Now it’s a party.”
Hinata was already moving, vanishing into the trees with a shimmer of speed.
The beast roared, a deafening, guttural sound that shook the leaves from the canopy, and charged.
The ground trembled under its feet.
Anna stepped forward, placing herself in its path.
She swung her odachi in a wide arc, and the air around her screamed as a white crescent blade tore through the air. It struck the beast dead-on, slicing through its armor and biting into the warlord’s shoulder. It roared in pain, but didn’t stop.
“Hide is really tough,” she muttered, stepping back.
Korra lifted a hand. The air bent, then surged upward in a ripple. With a flick of her wrist, pure pressure wrapped around the beast’s legs, anchoring it in place just long enough.
“Fighters!”
“On it!”
Hunters shot forward in a blur, leapt, spun, and brought their weapons down with bone-breaking force, right on the beast’s knee.
CRACK.
The leg buckled, and the beast howled, finally slowing its charge. That was all the opening they needed.
From above, Hinata descended like a missile, fists first.
“[Witness Me]!”
Both fists collided with the beast’s skull, releasing a sonic boom that sent shockwaves through the jungle. The creature staggered, tusks slamming into the dirt as it reeled.
The shamans screamed in unison and lifted their staffs. A blinding storm of lightning and red flame cascaded toward the hunters.
A shimmering dome of darkness spread out around them, swallowing the incoming spellwork. When it dropped a moment later, the hunters were unharmed.
A young hunter smirked as he lowered his staff.
Anna didn’t hesitate. She raced forward, running up the beast’s lowered arm like it was a ramp, her sword glowing a yellow haze.
“[Cut]!”
She slashed once, clean and precise, straight through the nearest shaman’s midsection. The orc's eyes widened in surprise before its torso slid cleanly off the beast’s back.
The warlord roared again, swinging its massive club blindly in rage.
BOOM.
Trees exploded. A shockwave flattened the undergrowth.
Akari was clipped mid-air and sent flying through a thicket of trees. She crashed through two trunks before embedding in a boulder.
“Ow,” she groaned, shaking off the dust. “Why am I in the front lines? Maple Tree is starting to get to me.”
Back on the warlord’s back, the two remaining shamans began to chant, their voices overlapping into a single, unholy hum.
Korra’s eyes widened. “They’re going to blow it up!”
Anna smirked. “Already there.”
Assassins appeared beside the shamans, daggers gleaming.
Two perfect slashes. Two heads rolled.
The humming stopped.
And then, silence.
The warlord stumbled once, knees bending… then dropped like a felled mountain. The ground shook violently from the impact.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then Hinata walked out of the trees, bruised and grinning. “That was awesome.”
Anna sheathed her odachi with a sharp click. “We need to move. If that thing was the gatekeeper…”
Korra nodded, still scanning the treeline.
“…Then the boss of this dungeon is going to be something a lot worse.”
The hunters immediately resumed their march, failing to notice the moon sized eyeball watching them from beyond the sky.
---
Kenzo looked down from the cliff he stood on.
Only, it wasn’t technically a cliff. And come to think of it… they weren’t on a mountain at all.
After looting the stone giants, the party had continued forward in search of the dungeon’s final boss. But when they reached what they thought was the edge of the mountain range…
They saw the sky... beneath them.
The “mountain” they had been hiking across were nothing more than an enormous floating rock.
One massive rock… among hundreds of others, all suspended in the air like fragments of a shattered continent. Some hovered close together, connected by thin, crumbling stone bridges. Others drifted lazily at impossible distances.
There was no doubt that each of those rocks was teeming with stone giants.
Kenzo’s eyes narrowed. Far off, at the very edge of his vision, he spotted two colossal landmasses, so large they dwarfed all the others several times over.
It was obvious where they needed to go.
But reaching them?
Kenzo turned, facing the hunters gathered behind him. His voice was calm, but resolute.
"This is going to take us a while."
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