Chapter 76: Spirit of the Wood(3)

Paat!

Liam and Spencer finally came back with sacks of empty glass bottles. Luke smiled and didn't noticed the soft and gentle stares directed at him and just looked at Yulia who is almost done with gathering the withered souls and Bell almost done absorbing withered souls.

After a few more minutes, both Bell and Yulia finished at the same time. They both huffed and puffed while beads of sweats are running down their faces. Luke approached the two and passed them some towel from his coat. Seriously, his whole coat is just a very convenient travel bag at this point.

Yulia and Bell panted and grabbed the towel from Luke's hands. They then started to wipe off their sweats and rested in a corner. Luke just stared at them for a while before grabbling a sack filled with empty glass bottles.

"Now, let's gather the remaining withered souls."

Luke and the others then looked at the dark giant orb floating above them. Even though Bell absorbed a large amount of withered souls, it seems like the amount of withered souls is still not going down. Luke sighed and threw the bottles up in the air which made Eleanor surprised.

"Luke why would you-?"

Eleanor stopped when she saw the bottles floating in line up in the air with green mana keeping them afloat. Spencer was the one who caught it. Luke then activated [Wind] and guided the withered souls towards the bottles in small streams. After filling up the bottles, Liam then closed them tightly with lightning speed. This process repeated while Eleanor and the others are just on the side, watching with shocked expressions on their faces.

· Dad! I'll help too! Don't worry! I won't expose myself!

With the help of Nash, a legendary beast, the work got faster. After a few hours of filling the empty potion bottles with withered souls, they're finally done. Luke, Spencer, and Liam sighed in exhaustion. Luke then asked Liam beside him.

"How many bottles of withered souls do we have?"

Liam then spoke while packing the bottles of withered souls into the spatial pouch Luke gave him.

"We have a total of 600 bottles."

Luke nodded and looked at Bell, who seemed to be okay now.

"How many witches are in there?"

Bell was silent for a moment before answering.

"As far as I can remember, there is about 300 in there. I'm not so sure now."

Luke smiled in satisfaction.

"Perfect, just the amount we need."

Luke then put the spatial pouch that Liam filled up into his coat's pocket. He then heard Nash's cautious voice.

· Dad! Something is coming in your way!

"Hmm?"

Luke frowned. He then suddenly heard loud stomping noises from all directions.

Booom! Booom! Booom! Boom! Booom! Booom!

The group then looked at their surroundings with wariness. The sounds seem to be coming towards them in all directions. The dead trees around them shakes violently causing the dry leaves to fall.

"Haaaap!"

Luke then heard a deep and loud voice coming towards him so he jumped away from where he is standing.

Boooooooom!

Luke frowned. He is about to curse whoever did that but flinched when he saw a large hand stuck to where he was just standing. The dust then slowly subsided causing him to regain his vision and saw something shocking. It was someone who is also looking back at him with a glare. Luke then slowly speak what they are while still being in shock.

"Giants....?"

· Dad! Are you okay?!

"Brother!"

"Luke!"

"Hey! Are you alright?!"

Luke ignored the calls of his group and focused on the giant being in front of him.

Giants, they are what people called conquerors of the world in the ancient times. Destroying and smashing everything in their way. It is also said that they even eat people to survive. But those are only in ancient texts. There is no solid proof that the giants really did those but chose to believe it anyways.

Giants are legendary beasts according to the novel. Although they are not clearly 'beasts', they are still legendary figures. But one thing was weird....

"I thought you guys went extinct years ago?"

The giant frowned and stood up straight. The other giants then showed themselves and surrounded Luke and his group. Unlike how they are describe in the ancient texts, they are not muscly and full of scars, they are actually thin and tall.... Really tall. They are about 20 meters in average, the tallest was the one who just struck a blow just now. They also have longs legs and arms and also long black hair which made any kid who sees them pee in their pants from terror. They have leather dresses in their body and look like people from the ancient civilization.

The tallest one, who seems to be the leader spoke.

"Did those bastards sent you here?"

"Hmm?"

Luke made a confused face. He doesn't know what this guy, more like giant, is talking about.

"Who? No one sent us here, we came here on our own."

The giant frowned.

"Don't lie! You came back to gather the withered souls you dumped here to use it again on others right?!"

Luke's eyes squinted and his eyebrows furrowed. Just what are they talking about? He felt accused to something that he didn't do.

"I am not the one who dumped the withered souls in here, you must be mistaken us for someone else."

The leader seems to have lost it and charged forward. Luke then pulled out his sword and activated his purple aura. He was about to ready himself to attack but then he felt an extreme heat on his chest pocket. It was so hot that his body shot forward from the pain.

"Ugh!"

"Brother!

· Dad!

Liam looked at Luke's pained expression and frowned. He then glared at the giant who stopped charging and also looked at Luke with shock.

"You dare hurt our brother?"

Liam then pulled out his sword and activated his fiery red aura. He was so mad that his aura was shaking uncontrollably. The giant saw Liam's fiery gaze and slightly backed off from his intense pressure. Liam is about to charge forward but he then heard Luke stopping him.

"Wait! I'm fine, don't charge."

Liam turned his head to Luke and saw Luke pulling out a green necklace from his chest pocket. It was shining a bright green light and it's also shaking violently. Luke frowned and looked at the giant who is looking the green necklace on his hand. They then heard a voice echoing from the necklace.

· Ah, finally, I'm home....

"T-that voice..."

Luke turned his head to Eleanor and saw Eleanor's shaking eyes while looking at the green necklace.

· It's been a while since I saw you personally, Eleanor. We only chatted through calls.

Boom! Boom!

Luke flinched and then he saw the giants kneeling one by one. He then heard the majestic voice calling out to him inside the stone.

· Luke, break the stone and set me free.