Chapter 44: Giant Killing

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages,

"Bold text" : Shadows & Deathborns.

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Narrator POV

The announcement of Sung Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho and Cha Hae-In's departure to Japan to render aid was met with different reactions. Japan's citizens were thankful for the aid, Korea's citizens felt a bit of national pride, as some of their Hunters went abroad to not only save another country from an unfortunate predicament, but would also show the level of strength the country had through them.

In America however, many Hunters saw this decision as folly, thinking that the Dominion Guild were in way over their heads, especially those who had gotten their abilities upgraded by Norma Selner.

However, the leader of the Scavenger Guild and the Hunter with the moniker of Goliath, National Rank Hunter Thomas Andre, felt that this wasn't even dangerous, but that Sung Jin-Woo would be the main reason for the Gate being cleared.

Sung Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In hadn't bothered with other people's thoughts on the matter, but Yu Jin-Ho wasn't particularly pleased when he found out. If they weren't on a plane headed to Japan, he would have been on his laptop fighting keyboard warriors from other countries.

A day had already passed since the Giants broke out of the S Rank Gate, and despite the small number of only 37 of them, they had gone and taken down multiple cities. The Japanese government had tried their best to evacuate as many citizens as they could out of the Giants' path, hoping to buy time until the Dominion Guild's members arrived.

Sung Jin-Woo, Cha Hae-In and Yu Jin-Ho landed in the Nagoya Airport to much fanfare and cheer. They also met the current head of Japan's Hunter's Association, Matsumoto Shigeo, who despite the dire situation that Japan was facing, only asked that they focus on defending Nagoya, as some Giants were already heading in that direction.

But much to his surprise, Sung Jin-Woo refused to follow such a directive. "Th-then what do you plan on doing...?" He asked Sung Jin-Woo, and received an answer he didn't expect. "We're going to take care of the Giants. All of them."

The look in his eyes as he said that shut Shigeo up, and he just nodded, being left behind to merely stay and watch as the Dominion Guild's members went out to hunt down the Giants that had terrorized Japan over the past day.

Sung Jin-Woo held on to Yu JIn-Ho and sped off using Shūndō, with Cha Hae-In following behind him, all of them heading to the closest area where Giants were present.

Meanwhile, back in Korea, Dante, Shiraori and Sung Il-Hwan were faced with an extremely displeased Go Gun-Hee. Dante had told him of Matsumoto Shigeo's plans for Korea and its Hunters, as well as his approach to tackling the Giants and the Gate that the erupted from.

In fact, he was the one who had suggested that Japan ask Yuri Orlov for aid, rather than ask Korea, indirectly putting the lives of all people in Japan at fatal risk. To say that Go Gun-Hee was utterly disgusted with Shigeo's self-serving attitude and corruption would be a gross understatement.

"So, you're saying that you can expose all of this?" Go Gun-Hee asked, his hands clenched together in front of his face. "Yep. But exposing him wouldn't be quite enough. So I'm going to do a light bit of mental alteration, and make him feel a bit of guilt, s making him surrender himself to the authorities." Dante said, a sly, sinister smile on his face.

"And what about Goto Ryuji? It would be suspicious if he died out of the blue." Go Gun-Hee said, wondering how an S Rank Hunter had so much authority within a country. "Don't worry, he's already dead. His ego was hurt when he faced the Giant that broke Yuri's barrier, so he foolishly threw himself at them, and he was killed." Dante said, his voice impassive.

"And what about the Giant that headed towards the sea?" Go Gun-Hee asked. "It's being dealt with by one of my own." Dante said, his senses focused on the sea between Japan and China.

...

The deathborn Giant, Balor, was faced with a foe that he felt was far too weak for his involvement. He had no qualms in obeying his master's orders, but he felt that this task in particular would be notably tedious.

The Giant roared at him, letting off waves of mana that he saw as paltry. He looked at the Giant in the same way that a human would look at a lemming, like it was a cute little critter that was squeaking loudly.

A mocking smile made its way onto his face, and he brought up his hand in a taunting gesture that worked extremely effectively. The Giant rushed at him, its arm cocked back in a punching motion, but before it could get into range for the blow to hit, its head received a powerful blow that sent it backward.

And while it tried to balance itself and clear its head of the pulsing headache it was experiencing, it was hit with three more blows, one to its belly and two to its chest.

Like any of Dante's deathborns, Balor had an impeccable ability to sense energy, and he used his senses to track down the magic stone within the Giant. Upon finding its position, he grabbed the Giant by the neck and hoisted it up into the air. And before the Giant could begin struggling, he plunged his hand into its chest, grabbing hold of the magic stone and ripping it out, then broke the Giant's neck, killing it.

Looking at the dead Giant in his hand, Balor scoffed, shoved the magic stone into its mouth, then threw the Giant back into Japan's mainland, leaving it there for Sung Jin-Woo to raise, then his body back to Dante's shadow dimension.

...

Meanwhile, with Sung Jin-Woo, Cha Hae-In and Yu Jin-Ho.

The speed with which Sung Jin-Woo had been taking down the Giants was unprecedented. But with the aid of Merlin, who had used the rubble to create giant statues that were about half the size of the statue of the Lord, things moved a lot faster.

Most people were amazed at his effectiveness in culling the numbers of the Giants, but the greatest surprise came when Cha Hae-In unveiled her new level of power, which was now at the level of a National Rank Hunter like Thomas Andre.

Dante had enhanced her powers on the day of Sung Jin-Woo's trial, but had kept it under wraps. And with that power, she was able to successfully take down two Giants by her lonesome.

Despite the extreme gap in power, Yu Jin-Ho still made sure to pull his own weight, defending citizens that hadn't already been killed by the Giants.

As for Japan's Hunters, while many of them were grateful for the aid, a few felt a bit useless, as they were left to pick up after Sung Jin-Woo, his shadows and Cha Hae-In.

Sung Jin-Woo also made sure to take this chance to add more soldiers into his army, raising over twenty Giants as shadows. This entire Hunt had been underway for two days, and it was almost finished.

A few more hours pass, and Sung Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In reached Shinjuku, where the main Gate was. They see three much larger Giants in front of the Gate, staying still, almost as if they were commanded to stay there without moving.

As they looked at the Giants, Sung Jin-Woo noticed that the destroyed city looked familiar to him. As he looked closer at the buildings covered in flames, it clicked for him. The landscape looked like the internal environment of the Demon Castle.

He let out a small laugh at the situation, then turned to Cha Hae-In. "Let's get ready to move. They're almost all here." He told her and she nodded, readying her sword.

Shortly after, his shadows arrived, surrounding the entire city. Beru, Merlin, Igris, Iron, Tank, Tusk and Baruka walked in front of him and bowed in reverence to him.

"Oh, you're all here now. Good work, everyone." He said with a smile. "Thank you, my liege." Beru said with a raspy voice.

Sung Jin-Woo turned his head towards the Giants, and noticed that there was one corpse of a Giant that he hadn't seen before, this one with its neck broken, a magic stone hanging out of its mouth and some parts of its chest sunken in.

"Well then, shall we end this hunt." He said, then pulled out one of his daggers. "My soldiers. Charge!" The thousands of shadows charge at the three Giants with that command.

As if they were highly efficient machines, the three Giants dashed forward, slashing at Sung Jin-Woo's army, clearing off hundreds of them with each attack. This didn't surprise Sung Jin-Woo much, as he understood the power gap between these Giants and his shadow soldiers.

The few soldiers that were able to get attacks in had their blows blocked by a thin layer of compressed mana on the Giants' skin. Noticing this, he understood that this was very different from the Mana Armor skill, as this was very likely to have some kinks in its formation.

Quickly activating Thought Acceleration, he analyses the blanket of mana, and soon finds areas where its structure is weaker. He also noticed that they avoided blows to their eyes and mouths.

He ordered Beru to lead as many of of the ants as he could to focus their attacks on the Giants' faces with the aim of invading their bodies, while ordering Kaisel, Igris, Baruka and Merlin to give him support.

Merlin sent smaller statues reminiscent of the statues in the Carthenon Temple, and they moved with immense speed to synergize their attacks with the others.

The Giants dodged the first few attacks, bit were soon cornered by the sheer number of blows, eventually leaving them open for Sung Jin-Woo to land an attack that would break the armor around their heads.

Taking advantage of the opening, Sung Jin-Woo quickly dashed with Shūndō to the Giants' heads and tore open their eyes with Mutilation, then ordered Beru and his ants to fly into the Giants and tear into them from the inside.

Obeying his orders posthaste, the shadow ants plunge into the Giants' eye sockets, tearing any organs they come across, debilitating the Giants. To add onto this, Merlin alters the statues to be shaped the same as Beru, then sends them after Beru, killing the Giants even faster.

To all of the on-ground spectators of the battle, they didn't see the battle as one between a human and monsters, but rather a monster in human skin against other monsters.

After they died, Sung Jin-Woo received a notification from his system, which made him lift a brow.

|You have defeated the enemy!| X3

|You have leveled up!| X9

While happy about his level ups, the fact that the notification didn't show that he had defeated the boss, made him understand that the boss was still within the Gate. This wasn't over yet.

Before entering the Gate, Sung Jin-Woo turned his attention to the now deceased Giants and noticed that no black smoke came from them, signifying that there was no shadow to raise, which made him wonder just how these Giants were brought about.

He turned his head to the Giant with the broken neck, and raised it, adding it to his legion of Giants. As he did this, he suddenly felt a wave of magical energy surge around him, and his senses pointed to the larger Giants.

Turning to them, he noticed that their magical energy was being absorbed into the Gate. Deciding to investigate the strange situation, he told Cha Hae-In and Yu Jin-Ho to stay outside while he goes into the Gate to find out what was causing the phenomenon.

He dashed towards the Gate, pulling Beru and Merlin into his shadow, just in case he would need some support. As he entered the Gate, he marveled at the place he stepped into.

It was truly gigantic, with pillars taller than some skyscrapers, arches reaching the ceiling,torches that were even larger than him, and intricate, ornate gargoyles and engravings. The place looked magnificent.

But he couldn't enjoy looking at it, because not only was he on a timer, there was also a sinister, cacophonic laughter coming from deep within the place. Thinking that the boss was odd, he ran down the massive hallway, heading to the place where he sensed the laughter coming from.

"Hilarious. Hilarious! Oh, you detestable Rulers! Witness who has found me first!" He heard a voice shout out in monster tongue. When he got to the place, what he saw there surprised him.

A Giant was restrained in what he could only call an excessively elaborate fashion, with} spikes going through multiple parts of his body, with massive chains holding him down. On the ground where the Giant was, was a magic circle, very likely a seal.

"Welcome, Monarch. The chains... Free me from these chains." The Giant said out to Sung Jin-Woo who understood that he had now seen the boss of the Gate for real.

"I know what the Rulers are planning, and it's imperative that the other Monarchs know this as quickly as..." The Giant started speaking, but stopped as he took a good look at Sung Jin-Woo.

"You... You're not the one I know." He said, referring to the fact that Sung Jin-Woo's spirit was vastly different from Ashborne's, despite inheriting the Black Heart. And Sung Jin-Woo took note of this. "I see. You're a Monarch." He said in realization.

"Yes, I am. And it is very likely that the Rulers and the other Monarchs have set their sights on you. Despite how you are, you do not possess the strength to face them all. You require support. So release me from my seal, and I will help you." The Monarch said, and Sung Jin-Woo scoffed at his words.

"You expect me to believe that you, a monster, will help me, a human?" Sung Jin-Woo said, his voice dripping with skepticism. "If you do not believe me, then I shall make you." The Monarch said, then chanted out the incantation for a spell, which caused a notification panel to pop up in Sung Jin-Woo's sight.

|Legia, the King of Giants, the Monarch of the Beginning, has activated the Skill: 'Pledge of Honesty (Deal)'.|

|Once the 'Skill: Pledge of Honesty (Deal)' has been granted, both the initiator and the acceptor cannot lie to one another.|

|Will you accept the 'Pledge of Honesty (Deal)'?

Y/N|

Sung Jin-Woo looked at the notification with a raised brow, but accepted it anyway. Two notifications popped up in his sight, one showing that the spell had taken effect, and the other letting him know that neither of them could now lie to the other.

"Release me from my seal, and I'll help you." Legia said once more, and when Sung Jin-Woo was about to respond, saying he believed him, his speech stopped. "That is the power of the Pledge of Honesty, the curse prevents you from lying." Legia said.

"I see. So where do the monsters that attack this world come from?" Sung Jin-Woo asked Legia, wanting to get as much information as he could from him. "Those ones are mere remnants of defeated armies, weaklings captured after losing to the armies of Rulers, and had their egos destroyed." Legia said with a denigrating laugh.

"Is that so? Then why are you still here in chains?" Sung Jin-Woo asked, aiming to provoke Legia Just a bit. "The Rulers couldn't let me be unrestrained even with that message that they implanted into my conscious, and so they sealed me, held me down so that I couldn't move to do anything." Legia said, then started chuckling.

"But I waited patiently, knowing that the fated day when I would escape from their grasp would come. And now, here we are, you and I." He said, a sinister grin on his face.

"I see. So why are they sending the monsters here to this world?" Sung Jin-Woo asked. "They are preparing for a war. They intend to transform the world into a suitable battlefield, and fight the Monarchs once more." Legia said, and Sung Jin-Woo was in thought for a while, before the realization hit him.

"They are injecting this world with mana." Sung Jin-Woo saidand Legia nodded in affirmation. "Yes, they are. Since the best way to spread power to those that do not have it is through the blood of those that do, the Rulers used their captives. And so the density of magical energy in the world will continue to increase, empowering the world until it can fully withstand the effects of a war between the Monarchs and the Rulers."

As Legia said that, Sung Jin-Woo's mind thought back to the battlefield on the Chaos World that he witnessed through Ashborne's body, and only one conclusion came from that. "This world is going to turn to hell. Unless..." Sung Jin-Woo stopped, wanting to see if the effects of the spell would force him to speak, but nothing of the sort happened.

"Yes. And as things are, we'll soon run out of time. If either the Monarchs or Rulers find out about our communication, they will intervene. It wouldn't be strange if the Rulers' envoys have already begun to move." Legia said, and Sung Jin-Woo's face seemed to turn grim.

"I would guess that it is because of my power. After all, Kandiaru did say that they would come against me." Sung Jin-Woo said, and Legia nodded, then spoke once more. "Yes, and you would be outnumbered. So release me, and I swear that I will fight on your side." He said, lightly pulling against his chains.

"You keep saying that you'll fight on my side. But, I've got a question for you. Are you on humanity's side?" Sung Jin-Woo asked, and Legia stayed silent, unable to speak. This was enough for Sung Jin-Woo to make his decision.

Climbing up Legia's restraints, he lands on his neck, where a magic stone is embedded. "As long as this is in you, regardless of your status as a Monarch, you would still hear the voice telling you to kill all humans, as if you were just another monster." Sung Jin-Woo said, then pulled out his shortswords.

"If you do this, you won't have any allies..." Legia said, but was interrupted by Sung Jin-Woo. "And who decided that? I'll tell you this now. Even if all the Monarchs and Rulers' came together, ten times more powerful, against me and my allies, they would still perish." These words struck fear into Legia, as the Pledge of Honesty was still at work.

"Ah...!" That was the last sound to come out of Legia's mouth, as Sung Jin-Woo cut of his head off his neck, ending the life of the Monarch of the Beginning.

|You have defeated the Dungeon Master.|

|You have defeated the Monarch of the Beginning 'Legia', one of the nine Monarchs.|

|Calculating EXP.|

|Due to the large amount of EXP received, additional time may be taken.|

As the notifications flew by, Sung Jin-Woo watched Legia's body dissipated into nothing with a bit of disappointment, the sounds of his restraints falling on the floor being the only sounds he could hear.

|Level Up!| X7

|Level: 120|

With that, he walked out of the Gate, with Legia's magic stone in his hand. Upon exiting the Gate, he saw the corpses of most of the Giants piled up in front of him. He looked to the side, where Cha Hae-In was standing, and walked over to her.

"Hey, Hae-In. How did all this come about?" He said, pointing at the pile of corpses in front of the Gate. "Jin-Woo." She said then walked over to him, and hugged him by his side for a few seconds, then released the hug.

"Dante placed one of his deathborns in my shadow, and it came out and piled them together while you were taking care of the dungeon boss." Sung Jin-Woo took the words with sheer amazement. Even with Shūndō and Godspeed, he knew that the levels of speed needed to move to move to each spot where the Giants' corpses were was higher than he could currently achieve.

But what he didn't know was that Dante had broadcasted the entirety of his hunt outside the Gate. So right now, the world had an almost unanimous agreement in Sung Jin-Woo being in the top three strongest Hunters on the planet. At least, until he proved even stronger.

...

A few days had passed since Sung Jin-Woo finished his raid on Japan's S Rank Gate, and in the other countries where S Rank Gates had opened, they were rounding up their raids, with the USA being the only ones that had cleared theirs.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C, Norma Selner and Michael Connor had gone to visit the other of the USA's National Rank Hunters, Christopher Reid, to deliver some news concerning him.

News that when he heard it, he saw it as absurd and insulting. "I believe that you will be killed in the near future." He slammed his hand on the center table between him and them, calling out the absurdity of someone killing him, a National Rank Hunter.

But, giving Norma Selner the benefit of a doubt, he asked her who she'd suggest to protect him, and her answer left him stumped. "Apart from Cha Hae-In and Yu Jin-Ho, I would suggest asking anyone of the Dominion Guild's members."

While he was trying to process the suggestion, a heavy pressure suddenly enveloped the room, as a black arm glowing with golden energy erupted from Christopher Reid's shadow.

The being then pulled itself out of the shadow to show its full body, which if Sung Jin-Woo or any of the Monarchs were here, would recognize as the now deceased Monarch of White Flames, Baran.

This was the deathborn that had been created by Dante, using Baran, Diablo. "Rejoice. For my master has seen it fit to send me, one of his generals, to protect your fragile life." He said, an unnerving smile gracing his face.

"You, medium." Diablo said, pointing at Norma Selner. "You need not concern yourself with this one's well-being. Even if this universe is destroyed, anyone under my master's protection will not perish." He said, then returned to Christopher Reid's shadow, alleviating them of his pressure, but leaving the knowledge of his presence in their minds.

"Well, it looks like my suggestion was the right one. Seeing as one of the Dominion Guild's members is already protecting you without you even knowing. I wish you a good day, Mr. Chris." Norma Selner said, then stood up to leave, and Michael followed behind her, leaving Christopher Reid to his thoughts.

...

OMAKE: Reincarnation Is More Common Than You'd Think

Hub of Reincarnation, Minor Branch 14956

??? POV

Phew, on the last soul of my shift for the day. When I thought of helping souls of my world move on as a Saint, I never thought it'd end up with me becoming a minor god of reincarnation, but here I am.

Either way, the last soul for my shift is on a bit of the younger side, being only 23. Looking through his life, I see quite a lot of abuse, and eventually some love. He really deserved better than he got out of life.

Well, that's why we're here. To give people lives that are hopefully better than the ones they had lived before. Letting him in, I remove the standard issue perception filter so that he can see me, and I give him the normal ROB speech.

Eventually he asks for a reincarnation into an Elevated world, which he only knew as fictional. Typical. But as is standard, I've got to give him something to ease his journey in the next world. And due to me being a minor god, I can't give him something purely from my will. My divinity isn't dense or plentiful enough for that.

What I can do is give him a chance to get a power for himself, and my divinity will then help fuse that power to his soul. Using theatrics, mainly because I'm a bit bored, I pull out a massive roulette wheel with different abilities from different worlds.

He spins it with all he's got and he lands on a rather interesting ability. I feel my divinity spill out of me as energy that manifests the ability in his soul and fuses it to the soul permanently. Then I send him on his merry way. Now to take my rest for the day. Life isn't easy for a reincarnation god.

Chapter End.

🧷 Cover Art Submissions🧷

Word Count: 4,145

A/N: Added one more project to those being written in the background while these two are releasing.

I'm not releasing any of those until February next year, with the first of them being the one with the most completed chapters by then. Thanks. Love y'all.