The Giant Slayer

Axel was petrified. The Giant held him in its fist, and kept leaping into the air, and looking back every two or three seconds. In the creature's palm, Axel couldn't help but squirm around to get more space. In fact, if the giant were to hold him for at least a minute more, he'd be squeezed to death.

Agonized from the pain, Axel forced two words out of his mouth, "Huh-hey...ugly!" he shouted, struggling for air to breathe.

He wasn't lying at all, the creature had a face even a mother couldn't love. With a crooked nose, a patchy beard, an asymmetrical face, and more gaps in his teeth than an unfinished puzzle, no doubt he grew up in an orphanage.

Having heard Axel, the giant looked down after leaping into the air once more and said, "If Oi eat this elf now, more energy I will get. But, him used as hostage is better."

Axel pushed his head out of the figure's hand, and said, "Hopefully your debating skills are better than your English, 'cause I'm suing your ass when this is over!"

Every time the giant landed on the surface, there was nothing but damage to the land, and the other beings who lost their lives because of it. To Axel, it looked like the giant was in a rush for whatever reason, but the reason why remained unknown.

It's been more than 3 minutes since the giant picked up Axel, when suddenly, the giant landed, and before it was successful in leaping again, Axel heard a "Slash!" sound. And consecutively, the giant's arm was separated from its body, and finally, it fell, with blood oozing out from the cut.

Concerning all that had just transpired, Axel for one was perplexed. But on the other hand, which the giant now lacked, the giant knew exactly what was happening! The arm ended up on a plain. Still, Axel wasn't strong enough to escape, however, he was able to see the rest of the giant.

He watched as a figure with black wings hovered in one spot. He wasn't able to overhear what exactly the human figure was saying, for he was pretty far away from them, but he knew for certain that the figure was speaking. On the contrary, he heard everything the giant was saying.

"WHAT!? 'Atone for your sins? Sins? What sins? A sin eating human meat is? No understand. True, but meat you humans eat too! You want to punish me? Cutting off arm did not suffice for punishment? No understand."

Despite the horrible grammar, Axel had a pretty good idea of what was going down. And no, it wasn't an English teacher punishing her student. He could not have escaped on his own, so he decided to pay attention to the drama before him.

"Wait! I beg you, " the giant went down to its knees, "No kill me! If kill me, brother avenge me!"

After saying that, the giant was instantly decapitated, without the figure having to move much at all. In fact, it seemed as though the human figure didn't put in any effort whatsoever. Yet, the giant was defeated by a figure merely 4% of its height. Gradually after being decapitated, the giant's body fell on top of the head, making the scene drift away from family-friendly.

Next, the figure suddenly vanished from his initial position and reappeared in Axel's face.

"Uh?" uttered Axel as he moved his head backward.

The two faces were only a hair's breadth away.

Now that the figure was this close, Axel managed to get a look at him. He had green hair, which Axel strangely knew was a wig, and he also wore a mask that obscured his identity. He was quite tall too, with long skinny legs, and just with his appearance, Axel could tell that this man was powerful.

"Sorry, " the figure replied, "I teleported without looking in this direction. A little closer and I would have kissed you there. I apologize. Come, let me get you out of its hand."

The figure then helped Axel get out of the hand, "There! All set. For a small one, this giant was clearly troublesome. He took out an entire village this morning and ran away while I aided a wounded victim. You are very lucky to be alive right now, what is your name?"

"My name's Axel Woods."

"Are you okay, Axel? You look strikingly familiar, have I seen you before?"

"Nah, probably not, " Axel scratched his head.

"You are a little too young to be out in the forest alone. Where are your parents?"

"No, it's okay, I'll be alright."

"Okay, then—farewell, " the figure flew off, with enough speed to cause a sonic boom.

'Damn, that guy was strong. Who was he anyway? Are the people here this strong? Can I kill a giant so easily too? If I'm like my Earth self, I'm far behind. Also, is getting attacked by giants a normal thing here? If so, I better hit the gym. Speaking of a gym, back on Earth, I was supposed to go one this Saturday, so that I get to see that new pretty girl in my class. I suppose that's not happening anytime soon. What a pain.'

He then sat on a big nearby rock with his elbows on his laps, and his hands on his face. He was also looking up at the sky.

'Even if I was on Earth, and I managed to go to some gym sessions with her, I would've definitely embarrassed myself. I can't lift weights to save my life. And even if I somehow managed to not embarrass myself, my reputation as a depressing idiotic looser was sure to crush my chances.'

He sighed, 'Wait a pain. Still though, she's so freaking hot! Her face, her smile, ' a strange look appeared on his face as he smiled widely, "Aver! You're so god damn hot, Aver!"

"Snow's not hot. But she's so damn cute! Then there's Jennifer, that top senior student! She's even hotter than Aver! Girls are the best! Too bad I never spoke to them. I'm such a waste."

'I'm still upset about missing that gym session on Saturday though. Aver has no friends yet, so there's a chance she'll accept me as one! Just thinking about her alone face turns me on!"

*Axel did and said some weird stuff after this that had to be removed for certain purposes.

"Axel!?"

He turned around and saw Snow.

"Oh my, Axel are you okay? I was following the giant through flight this whole time! I thought you were crushed! Thank God you're alive!"

She flew closer, "Wait. Are you okay Axel? What happened to the Giant? Axel? What is that serious look on your face?

"Snow, " he said, "Just how long...have you been standing there?"

"Oh, I just arrived. Why?"

"Thank, God," he exhaled, "Nothing..."

Snow flew closer, "Is that the giant's body over there!? Ah, I see. This is undoubtedly the work of a Giant Slayer. You didn't eliminate it, right?"

'That's what you call them? 'Giant Slayers'?'

"No, some green-haired show-off killed it."

"That was Rubin, A B-rank Giant Slayer. He also has many other jobs — he simply slays Giants part-time. He is also well notorious for torturing them, for nothing but pleasure."

While speaking to Snow, a small creature bit Axel on the leg.

"Ah! Something bit me!"

Snow flew over, "Ohh, it is one of those things, " she pulled the tiny creature off of Axel's leg.

Axel sat down on the floor, looking at the bitten leg, "Man, this hurts for a small bite—it burns a lot!"

The tiny creature had gold scales and was the size of a pea. Snow held it in her hands, yet it didn't bite her as it did to Axel.

She then threw the creature away, "I can not remember the name of the insect, but I do know that it is a minute organism that tends to die through the consumption of a small amount of mana. Hence the reason why it targets people who have no mana imbued into them by birth, " she glanced at him, "Which makes you a suspect, Axel."

He got aggravated by her words, "What do you mean? Are you saying that I'm unable to use mana!?"

"That is correct. In Archeria, this vast world established by magic itself, beings can be born without the ability to utilize mana. This is quite common in the human race. However, beings of other races can potentially suffer the same fate."

'Archeria, huh…'

"Man, this SUCKS! Why can't I be cool too? How can I get strong if I don't have magic!"

"You are speaking nonsense. There are many people, with the inability to utilize the divine preassigned flow of mana, who actually became the best of the best. They did this through sword styles, various forms of Martial Arts, Wisp hunting, and many more."

"Are you certain that it's impossible for me to utilize mana?"

"Well, it is not impossible. There are a few ways. The number one method used by many beings without mana is Wisps Hunting. Despite having no mana whatsoever, a Wisp can be absorbed by a person for him to attain high levels of Mana. However, Wisps are rarer than finding a diamond on the surface. Also, the mana absorbed from a Wisp is only temporary, so the absorber will have to revert to Wisps Hunting in hopes of getting more mana. So it is not the best method."

"Man, that sucks. I don't even want to hear the other methods at this point."

She looked at him, "One in 100,000 beings are late-bloomers, who naturally get mana after aging, and not by birth. And there just so happens to be a way in which we can determine who is a late-bloomer, and who is not. So, follow me. Let us pay Balcromn a visit."

"Balcromn? Who's that?"

"A mage, " she started flying off to the south, "Just pursue my path. You will see why afterward."

"Wait, before we go," he looked down at his leg, "My leg still hurts so much after that bite, why?"

She stopped and turned around to face him, "Ohh, that is nothing to worry about. It only injected a highly dangerous venom into your leg that kills within an hour or so, and that is all."

"WHAT!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

Axel immediately dropped to the floor, brought his leg closer to his face, and started sucking and spitting out the poison from his leg. His actions were fruitless. For the tiny hole, in which the poison was injected, was far too small for him to suck out anything. He was already so convinced that he was actually spitting out poison, but, the only thing that came out of his mouth was his very own saliva.

"The poison is a special type. One that only requires contact with either blood or any other body part to kill. So, both digesting and making it get into your blood kills. Just by tasting it, you are poisoning your mouth as well."

He widened his eyes and immediately stopped sucking and spitting out the saliva, "HUH!?"

"Calm down. It is certainly not a problem. After all, that is another reason why I am taking you to Balcromn. You will receive treatment upon requesting for it there. Also, your mouth will be fine, there is no poison in your mouth, so you can stop scraping your tongue now."

Axel stopped and furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you, insane? Aren't there any other nearby places with treatment here? You do know that you said the poison kills within an hour, right?"

"Snow?"

"Snow, you're making me look like the annoying one here. And that's the last thing I want to be."

"Just how far is this 'Balcromn' guy anyway? His name sounds like a snack, are you sure he's a mage?"

"And Snow, I only have an hour to live! And if I die, that's when my hand will itch to hit a woman for the first time in my entire life."

She glanced at him with laughing eyes, smiled remotely, and flew off, "You will be fine, Axel. Just follow me."

He stood, 'What does that smile suppose to mean?'

"And hey!" he shouted, "Don't fly off on me like that, little girl!"

'Damn it, she's fast.'

He then started sprinting after her, "Hey! Wait for me! There could be more Giants out here."

***

Axel walked through the land, pursuing Snow's confusing path. And as he walked, with a deliberate gait, he felt the cool grass under his rather soft small feet. This felt great, so he stopped for a second, just to play with the grass between his toes. The grass was not hot, nor was it cold, it was perfect. The colorful grass looked so pleasing to the eye, that Axel didn't even want to trample over them too much. As he continued walking, on his left and right, there were tall colorful trees, of different sizes, all prevalent throughout the land, and they gave off a pleasant sweet scent that made Axel feel good inside for some reason.

There were also many animals, and strange creatures, which Axel ignored. And as he looked up, rays of light squeezed themselves through the spaces between the leaves in the tree above him and hit his face as the wind did the same, giving off a calming effect. The temperature of the Sun wasn't too hot, nor was it cold—it was perfect. Even if the temperature was hotter than it was at the moment, the great shade the massive trees provided would have most definitely made it cooler.

As he walked, he inhaled some fresh air, and slowly exhaled through his nostrils, and after doing so, his eyes began to relax gradually. But after realizing how far behind he was from Snow, he started walking faster to keep up. While walking, however, his stomach started to roar like a beast and kept roaring.

"Waw. I just realized how hungry I am. When was the last time I ate anyway?"

Coincidentally, that's when his eyes landed on something he assumed was edible. They were huge dark purple berries, so huge that the size of a single unit exceeded the size of his hand. They were also quite shiny, and they hung from thin red branches that had sharp thorns on them. Furthermore, they were insanely tempting. Tempting to an extent where Axel felt as if he needed at least one of them to consume. He immediately approached the short berry tree with a new strange look in his eyes.

'My eyes won't look anywhere else. I just saw Snow taking a new turn. I want to look in her direction, but I...just can't for some reason."

Then, he picked one of the berries and observed it.

'I don't know what this feeling is, but...I am hungry. I have no idea why I just got sucked in like some gullible piece of shit, because there is no denying the fact that these are poisonous. What asshole will be stupid enough to consume one of these? They're poisonous."

He brought the berry closer to his mouth, 'Then why am I STILL GOING TO TAKE A BITE? What am I doing?'

'Why can't I fight the urge!?'

'Why is my body moving on its own? What's...happening to me?"

Snow then stopped and looked behind. Promptly after seeing Axel near the tree, her eyes widened, and she shouted, "Axel, do not eat that!" as she rushed towards him. She flew the fastest she could, and then she slapped the berry out of his hand in an aggressive way.

"What were you thinking!? That is a Black Berry, the most dangerous thing you can ever consume!"

"One bite, and you would have died in three minutes."

She noticed how silent he was. His back was turned on her, and he didn't face her at all. So, she flew around his body to face him. And when she saw his face, her pupils immediately shrunk. For there was juice from the berry all around his mouth, and he was unresponsive to the environment.

"One bite," he said, "I just took one...bite."