Giant of the East 1

Raizel perched on a sturdy branch at the edge of a clearing in the Great Forest of Tob. The leaves whispered softly as a gentle breeze swept through the woodland, carrying the earthy scents of moss and pine.

From this elevated spot, Raizel had an unobstructed view of the clearing. It was early morning, and he was watching the entrance to the Giant of East's base.

With Varg as his guide, it had taken them several hours to arrive here. Upon reaching this place, Raizel commanded them to end their lives. He could have killed them on his own, but he wanted to see whether doing something this cold would unsettle his moral bearings. As for the reason, it was to do with his safety; he now understood that skills behaved differently in this world, and he had unlocked other abilities like blood manipulation.

For these reasons, Raizel didn't want to take any chances. It was possible that other beings had also unlocked additional abilities, and they might extract information about him from Varg. Although the chances of it happening were low, he didn't want to take a chance.

'Thinking back to it, I didn't feel a thing when I ordered them to kill themselves, hell I'd say I even enjoyed it a little.'

Thinking about it made his expressions turn sour.

'Just what the hell is happening to me. It's like I feel enjoyment in others' suffering.' He lifted his hand and closed it into a fist.

"Maybe because I have become my Yggdrasil's character, my negative karma somehow affects my mind? Karma played an important role in the game, but its description had a lot more to it than its role. And maybe that description became a reality after teleporting to this world."

He took a deep breath and shifted his focus toward the base's entrance.

"I should investigate it after dealing with this Giant of the East," he muttered while observing a rock face with a fissure in the middle of the clearing. 

However, the term 'clearing' might be misleading; it was better characterized as a barren expanse where trees failed to take root due to the rugged nature of its rocky terrain. A dead spot between the forest.

'I hope the trolls aren't strong like they were back in Yggdrasil. The goblins were a lot weaker than their Yggdrasil counterpart, so let's hope that the same is true for these trolls.'

In Yggdrasil, trolls were known for their high regenerative power. They were considered a very adaptable race that came in various forms and possessed specializations based on whichever one of the habitats they hailed from.

Because of their high regeneration ability and diversity, they were considered powerful monsters for newbie Players. The only way to kill them was to deliver one fatal blow- that would drop their HP to 0.

If they were not killed by fire or acid, they could come back from the dead even after being reduced to scraps of meat.

'I just hope that there isn't a Light Troll here.'

Because of his weakness against Holy and Light attacks, because a specialized troll was considered a level 80 monster back in Yggdrasil, even though their actual level was only 60, the reason was that they were able to imbue their attacks with a specific element- which was the Holy Element in the case of the Light Troll.

Although he had the World Champion armour and other spells and skills to protect himself from these trolls, he wanted to save them in case other Players specializing in holy magic showed up.

~Sigh~

He sighed and jumped toward the fissure, and before he was about to hit the ground, he activated his **Flight** skill.

He landed gracefully on the rocky terrain, his body shining in light blue. He then cast a spell to detect traps or enchantments on the fissure, which led into an underground cave.

'Although it is unlikely, the Giant of the East could be a Player because Trolls was a playable race back in Yggdrasil. So, I must check for any traps.' 

<Trapseeker's Gaze>

It was an 8th-tier spell, hailing from his _Runic Mage_ Job Class. Typically, it would've taken 8 MP for its activation, but because he had the _Runic Mage_ Job Class, the cost was reduced to 5 MP.

His red eyes shone in a plethora of colours- as he observed the fissure.

'Hmm, no traps. This means this shouldn't be a guild base.'

He suspected this underground cave should be a guild base if the Giant of the East was a Player. However, now he doubted his previous assumption because even the weakest or temporary guild bases had some traps.

He activated his **Soul Weapon** skill, and the {Billion Blades} materialized in his hand.

"Change into the Nymphrend variant." Undergoing a metamorphosis, the silver blade of the sword changed into a rusted iron blade. At the same time, its hilt transformed into one made of wood.

"Let's head inside," He spoke to himself while moving near the fissure.

He peered inside, and it looked like a gentle slope, and the interior seemed quite spacious. The ceiling was high, and it seemed- even large creatures could live inside without problems.

Surveying the floor, he noted the presence of numerous footprints, which matched the size of the footprint the Gazerwing had found.

'This oddly reminds me of Dungeon Delving back in Yggdrasil. Back then, we used to get curious and excited every time we discovered mountain caves and the like.' He contemplated while moving along the gentle sloop.

"Back then, Touch Me, Ulbert, and I were the front liners of the party, while Momonga would send his undead in front of us- to trigger traps. Those were the days before everyone abandoned me." Thinking about his past soured his mood. 

He shook his head to eliminate the negative emotions and walked deeper into the cave.

The stench from below made him wrinkle his eyebrows. It was not poison gas but an odour of beast fat and decay clouded up the air.

'There doesn't seem to be any traps here.'

He contemplated while his eyes again shone in a plethora of colours. The unique thing about the <Trapseeker's Gaze> was that it only deactivated once the caster willed it to. So, theoretically, it was possible to keep it active 24/7, but every minute it would consume 12 MP.

'If there aren't any traps here, where in the world is this foul stench emanating from? Perhaps it formed naturally here; considering the myriad differences from Yggdrasil, it's well within the realm of possibilities.'

Raizel was undead and did not need to breathe. He was immune to gas-vector attacks.

Continuing his stride, Raizel descended the slope and, at its base, encountered two lurking monsters. Fortunately, they had their backs toward Raizel, so they didn't notice him.

The creatures resembled colossal, hairless gorillas with rough, warty brown skin. Yet a sinister air surrounded them, accompanied by an imposing increase in muscle mass.

'What the hell are those. I don't remember any monster looking like that in Yggdrasil.'

He squinted his eyes and observed the monsters feasting on something. He then pointed the tip of his sword toward one of the monsters and cast another spell.

\<Astral Insight>

This was a 7th-tier divination spell- that provided the caster with information about the target. The information could be about anything ranging from levels to stats. The increased MP cost for casting stemmed from its classification as a Holy Element spell.

The tip of his sword shone in a faint blue light, and after a second, some information entered his mind.

'Hmm, an ogre. They certainly look different from Yggdrasil. Maybe they are NPCs?' In Yggdrasil, it was possible to customize the appearance of custom NPCs.

Raizel activated the **Flight** skill—to not make any noise— and slowly moved toward them. The two ogres were tearing at something and shoving it into their mouths. A new reek wafted over to Raizel.

'So this is where the stench was coming from.' Once he was close to one of them, he lunged his sword straight toward the head of one of the ogres, and it passed through it without any resistance.

"GRR--" The ogre grunted, and Raizel pulled back his sword. As he did, the ogre fell like a puppet whose string had been cut.

"Hmm, its level should be around 25, as I held back quite a lot." 

He muttered to himself while observing the other ogre, who was now alert and ready to strike Raizel with its wooden club.

"HUMAN! DIE!" The ogre swung the club toward Raizel. Due to the disparity between their levels, Raizel saw the ogre's attack in slow motion, and he could've easily dodged it, yet he let the club hit him.

But an invisible barrier stopped the club before the club could connect with his body.

"GRR!" The ogre grunted as he moved a distance away from Raizel.

"So the **High Tier Physical Immunity V** skill is working as intended; that's good to know," he muttered while he moved toward the ogre.

Raizel had this passive skill that nullified any physical attack from a being whose level was at or below 80.

"YOU NO NORMAL HUMAN?!" The ogre spoke, fear apparent in its tone, as Raizel approached him while floating a good 3 feet above the ground.

Hearing this, Raizel tasted bitterness, disgusted by the ogre mistaking him for a human.

'So, becoming my in-game character has made me disdain humans, despite being one on Earth.' 

"I am not a human, ogre."

Raizel spoke with disdain as he continued to approach him, causing the ogre to back away.

"If you so much as twitch, I'll burn you to a crisp," Raizel threatened with a smirk, raising his palm and conjuring a small ball of fire with the \<Fireball > spell, even though it was a waste of 3 MP, it would regenerate in no time. But instilling fear into the ogre was paramount.

The ogre trembled at the sight, fear etched on his face as he stared at the floating ball of fire. Seeing the fear on the ogre's face, Raizel felt a weird sensation of pleasure.

"This is kind of fun," Raizel thought as his smirk widened. "But I should deal with this Giant of the East first; there will be time for fun later."

Shaking his head, he adopted a neutral expression.

"Do you know anything about the Giant of the East?" Raizel inquired, deactivating his Flight. The ogre nodded, prompting Raizel to continue his questioning.

Through their conversation, Raizel learned that the ogre was a subordinate of the Giant, and the chances of the Giant being a Player or the presence of a Light Troll were incredibly low.

In light of this, he sent the ogre to tell the Giant about Raizel. After the ogre had run off deeper into the cave, Raizel also began moving in the same direction.

'Let's see what kind of troll this Giant of the East is.'

To be continued...