Chapter 741: Low-Altitude Flight (9)

The moment the Corpse Giant’s palm struck the ground, the hollow cavern trembled, and debris began to scatter in all directions.

KWA-AAANG!!

An immense crushing force, covering and suppressing Gillian’s body with a single palm.

It was a pressure so extreme that it wouldn’t be strange for an ordinary human to lose all form and be reduced to a mere splash of blood.

Only then did Agneta, realizing that Lennok was finally and fully manipulating the Corpse Giant, whisper.

“That’s a truly unique idea. You thought of manipulating that preserved giant’s corpse in the meantime?”

After realizing Gillian was aware of Agneta’s presence, she no longer seemed to bother hiding herself.

“It’s not just part of the body, but the whole thing you’re manipulating, so it’s exactly like what Chebyen does.”

But Lennok scoffed at Agneta’s admiration and retorted.

“Don’t compare me to such a trivial puppeteer.”

“That’s just how it looks from the outside. I know the method is different.”

“Watch closely and understand.”

“Alright, alright. Why are you so confident?”

Agneta understood the method of manipulating the Corpse Giant, having seen it once in the fortress’s underground.

It wasn’t a matter of attaching mana threads externally to manipulate it, but rather a method of replacing the nervous system to directly control the movement of muscles and joints.

The precision and compatibility of this method would be incomparably more complex and intimate than simply manipulating a doll.

Gillian, too, seemed not to have expected Lennok to manipulate the giant in such a way, as his reaction was slightly delayed.

“Khh…!!”

He hastily enlarged one hand to receive the blow, but it seemed he couldn’t bear the weight, as all his fingers snapped.

Rather, it appeared Gillian had withstood the Corpse Giant’s power and weight.

“As expected of a Colossus Brigade corpse, its weight and durability are absurd even in death.”

Lennok looked down at Gillian and nodded.

Following that simple gesture, the Corpse Giant standing behind him also turned its gaze.

Lennok, seeing Gillian’s complex expression as he looked at the giant’s corpse, asked.

“Was it because of the Colossus Brigade corpses that the fortress knights were so tough?”

“…What?”

Gillian’s expression went blank for a moment at those words, then a vein bulged on his forehead as if something dawned on him.

“These bastards, surely…!!”

Gillian grit his teeth, stood up, and forcefully rotated and then unleashed his mana.

Lennok, too, immediately manipulated the Corpse Giant from his spot and swung its arm.

Gillian’s explosively expanding fist and the Corpse Giant’s hand collided head-on from different altitudes.

Circular shockwaves overlapped in succession, exploding and flinging both figures in opposite directions.

Pwa-aaang!!

Lennok’s figure, enveloped in a shadow robe, couldn’t overcome the recoil and was pushed back as if bounced.

But instead of resisting the flow and stopping himself, Lennok once again pulled out mana threads and flung them overhead.

At that moment, another giant’s corpse lying in the ruins’ cavern rose, accepting Lennok’s form with both hands.

Kii-iik…!!

Movements so delicate and precise it was hard to believe a corpse was moving.

Using light manipulation, Lennok mounted the Corpse Giant’s shoulder and looked down at Gillian.

From all around the two, loud shouts could be heard.

The surviving knights had realized the situation and rushed in, searching for the source of the impact.

“Lord Gillian!!”

“Are you alright?!!”

The ruins crumbling and the fortress shaking from the impact. It would be stranger not to notice such a commotion.

The knights, rushing out into the ruins’ passageway, gaped upon seeing the giant standing tall on two feet and Lennok atop it.

“A-A Colossus…!”

“The ruins are coming to life!!”

But Gillian, seeing the knights, irritably snapped his head back and yelled roughly.

“Stop that nonsense and get back!!”

“Huh? What on earth…!”

“Lord Gillian!!”

Gillian, seeing the flustered knights, picked up the mana threads that had been wrapped around his arm.

Long after the connection with Lennok was severed, the threads remained, their tension undiminished, far from disappearing.

Outwardly, they didn’t seem to contain much mana, yet their persistence and durability were baffling.

Bzzzt…!!

But before confirming that, Gillian glared at the knights and abruptly asked.

“Did you bastards consume the giant’s serum while I was gone?”

…!!

A faint look of contempt flickered across Gillian’s face as he saw the knights flinch, unable to answer properly.

“Pathetic fools… Was that also instigated by the Royal Family?”

“Th-That…”

The knights stammered, their faces pale, but Gillian didn’t press the matter for long.

Instead, he simply burned the mana threads he gripped with his own mana and turned his gaze.

“That one, as you can see, is an extremely dangerous manipulator. Get away quickly, or you might be controlled.”

“But…!”

“More importantly, quickly find out information about this guy.”

Gillian spoke quickly, his gaze never leaving Lennok’s fingertips.

“His combat experience and technical proficiency are beyond absurd. If a spellcaster of this caliber is moving, there must definitely be someone behind him.”

His skill and experience are too extraordinary to be a mere thief coveting treasure.

Gillian, through his long experience, instinctively knew that someone of this skill wouldn’t cause trouble merely for wealth.

While Gillian himself, having not been on the front lines for a long time, didn’t know much, there was a high possibility that this was a strong individual publicly known.

The knights also immediately understood Gillian’s words and quickly began to retreat.

“Move the wounded to a safe place. Everyone, prepare yourselves!!”

“Investigate manipulators who have been active on the Central Front recently. Move quickly!!”

Leaving the knights who were putting distance between them while exchanging various orders, Gillian strode forward and swept his hair back.

“Let’s start again. This time, it will be different.”

A warrior figure, with only one arm grotesquely swollen, striding forward barefoot.

His sheer size was so immense that he completely blocked off one side of the fortress’s outer wall, where the mountain ridge had collapsed.

“No wounds.”

Lennok stared intently at Gillian’s arm and said.

“If it were a power that directly enlarged your body, then even a superficial wound of that degree should have proven fatal.”

…

Gillian didn’t answer.

Instead, he merely poured his mana intensely onto his greatly swollen forearm.

Woo-woo-woong!!!

Vast mana coiled around the gigantic forearm, staining his skin with a blue light.

Gillian’s Mind-Image Enhancement, which had used no mana at all except when wielding his Miniature Universe.

The mere aftereffect distorted the surrounding air, giving the illusion that it was being sucked towards Gillian.

Kugwa-gwagwa!!!

Inner World Miniature Universe: Colossus Armament

[Loyal Blossom (貞中花)]

An illusion of the surrounding air being sucked into the giant’s forearm. Following that spiraling, converging momentum, a handful of blossoms seemed to bloom.

The giant’s arm, imbued with the essence of martial arts, shot towards Lennok’s body at incredible speed.

Swa-aeeek!!

The Corpse Giant, with Lennok atop it, immediately raised both arms to guard, but Gillian’s straight punch simply pushed through the Corpse Giant’s tough body.

The giant’s forearm, manipulated by mana threads replacing its nerves, was crushed and distorted, instantly losing control.

Udeu-deudeudeuk!!

KWA-AAANG!!

The Corpse Giant’s body was slammed upside down into the wall of the ruins.

Lennok, now standing before Gillian without the giant, asked mockingly.

“Is it really alright to strike the corpse of a precious comrade like that?”

“Of course. We were friends.”

Gillian chuckled and retorted.

“When he was alive, this wouldn’t even have tickled him.”

…

“Now, I am the last.”

Gillian’s murmured laugh was somehow twisted.

“All that’s left for me is this…!!”

Gillian’s single punch, which had sent the Corpse Giant flying, twisted and descended directly upon Lennok’s head.

“Die, manipulator!!”

Hwoo-woong!!

Not enough time to manipulate another Corpse Giant into a shield. An inescapable zone where no escape route existed.

But Lennok, knowing this, raised his hand towards the approaching giant’s fist.

The moment dozens of mana threads tied between his fingers snapped simultaneously, threads hundreds of times their number poured down, obstructing Gillian’s fist.

Chwajajajajak!!

Without a proper impact sound, a punching force, wrapped in mana threads, pushed forward with the sound of threads stretching.

The aftermath tore through the corridor ceiling and walls, directly conveying the startled shouts of the knights from outside.

Ujijijik!!

As the distance narrowed, far more mana threads coiled around the giant’s arm, pulling and drawing its tension to the absolute limit, blocking it.

At the moment countless mana threads, stretching endlessly, completely covered Gillian’s fist until his skin was barely visible.

His fist stopped abruptly right before Lennok’s nose.

Kii-iiii…!!

Only the strange sound of stretching mana threads echoed, like the scream of a stringed instrument snapping.

The knights, watching the exchange from above the two, gaped.

“He, he blocked…!!”

A full-power strike from an 8-level superhuman using his Miniature Universe.

Was it even conceivable to block that head-on purely by layering mana threads?

A monstrous power, impossible for human senses to even perceive, was split hundreds, thousands of times and distributed among each mana thread.

Proof that he had mastered the method of perfectly controlling tension and elasticity within the realm of manipulation spellcraft.

While the knights were aghast at the unrealistic result, reaching the pinnacle of skill, Gillian didn’t hesitate.

Simultaneously, he reverted his gigantic right arm to its original size, and instantly enlarged his left arm, striking Lennok once more.

KWA-AAANG!!

The corridor, blocked by fallen rubble, exploded in one blow, penetrating even the space beyond.

But what remained in that spot was not Lennok, but only a chaotic mass of tangled mana threads.

At the last moment, Lennok easily evaded with a Blink, instantly escaping the outer wall and climbing onto the half-collapsed fortress corridor.

The Giant’s Fortress was a natural stronghold, with its mountain range connected to the outer walls.

As the mountain range near the hidden ruins collapsed and dirt poured out, Lennok’s figure naturally returned to the fortress.

While attention was drawn to the Corpse Giant revealed beyond the collapsed ruins, Lennok swiftly concealed his presence and walked down the corridor.

Chee-iik!!

Lennok took an ampoule from his pocket, injected it into his neck, and murmured.

“What ignorant brute strength. It’ll be hard to deal with him like this.”

“Need help?”

Agneta, who had been quietly observing, asked, but Lennok shook his head.

“The compatibility isn’t good. There aren’t many angles to exploit his abilities with my system.”

“What if you tied his limbs with mana threads beforehand, then tightened them the moment he transformed into a giant?”

Agneta, having observed Gillian’s abilities right beside them, seemed to have her own ideas.

“If it’s an ability that explosively enlarges the body, I don’t think the parts bound by mana threads would hold up.”

“I thought of that at first, but—”

KWA-AAANG!!

A giant’s fist surged up where Lennok had just been standing, sweeping through the corridor.

Dudu-dudu!!!

With a light squeeze, the corridor and floor of the castle, made of solid stone, were crushed.

The giant’s grasp, swiftly approaching Lennok, annihilating even the space to stand.

But Lennok, seeing this, cut the mana threads he had already looped around his fingers with his own hand.

Ting!!

At that moment, Lennok’s body shot forward as if rebounding from that spot.

A tightrope walk, rapidly pulling his body forward along the corridor by instantly shortening the pre-set mana threads.

Lennok’s figure, cloaked in a shadow robe, flipped dozens of times in place, flying past decorations and obstacles throughout the corridor.

Pwa-ba-bat!!

He had already taken a drug to numb his sense of balance in preparation for such a situation.

Lennok, pulling on his ringing ear, glanced back while suspended in the air and said.

“The wounds don’t open even after he transforms into a giant. I suspect he’s not truly enlarging his own body, but rather replacing his body with a materialized giant’s arm.”

“Ah, then it definitely might be tricky to fight him head-on.”

If Gillian were an ability user who honestly enlarged his own body, one could simply wound him and wait for him to transform.

Then the wounds would naturally gape, and the blood loss would become uncontrollably large.

But on Gillian’s skin, where his arm had been enlarged, there were no traces of the wounds Lennok had inflicted with mana threads.

Through this, two possibilities could be considered.

Either he possessed an ability to heal simultaneously with enlargement, or what was being enlarged was not Gillian’s arm in the first place.

Either way, it’s tricky to deal with using mana threads.

“Even if I manage to bind his giant arm with mana threads, he can escape the restraint by simply reverting from his giant form. To exchange blows head-on, there are too many conditions for me to worry about.”

Fundamentally, manipulation spellcraft has poor compatibility against physical ability users like Gillian, who combine gigantification with monstrous strength.

Because as much as it relies on precise manipulation of mana threads to display skill, the combat becomes easier only when there’s an angle to intervene with the opponent’s abilities or combat style.

“So, are you just going to run away like this?”

Instead of answering, Lennok pulled out mana threads with both hands, gripped them in a cross, and pulled hard.

At that moment, he abruptly stopped in mid-air, then instantly changed direction and flew low to the ground.

“Catch him!!”

“We must stop him from escaping!!”

The knights waiting nearby tried to somehow grab Lennok and pull him down, but,

As Lennok tapped his hands in the air, dozens of mana threads pulled his figure, changing direction and accelerating him.

He dodged the knights’ attacks by a hair’s breadth, then swung the drawn mana threads, binding their limbs and sticking them to the walls and ceiling.

Chwa-aaak!!

The knights, instantly bound to the corridor ceiling and floor, let out screams mixed with shock.

“Kuh, what power…!!”

“The mana’s properties are strange. Everyone, be careful!!”

An overwhelming result where even a single exchange of blows couldn’t be established.

The moment they briefly clashed mana and exchanged patterns, they had already reached a defeat that left no room for further thought.

Even amidst that, Lennok’s figure grew faster, widening the distance from the hand that smashed through the corridor in pursuit.

Swa-aeeek!!

The jet-black shadow robe flew at incredible speed, snatching and flinging away everything in its path, running wild.

Even the obstructing knights of Kabahim were equally seized and slammed into the ceiling and walls on all sides without a single exchange.

KWA-AAANG!!

“The fortress’s security, by just one spellcaster…!!”

Leaving even the shouts of the seemingly shocked knights behind, the moment Lennok rounded the corridor and reached the vast lobby hall below.

A long, deer-like hoof appeared from the side and kicked Lennok directly in the back.

KWA-AAANG!!

A speed so agile it was difficult to even react. The power in that leg strike momentarily bloomed concentric circles in the air.

The shadow-robed figure blurred, instantly disappearing to one side, scattered and pushed away.

Fio, the Transformation Wizard who had changed his lower body into a deer’s form, rose from the ground and glared at Lennok.

“Are you the thief who’s been causing a ruckus in this castle since earlier?”

“Fio!!”

Fio, rubbing his chin with a weary expression, extended an arm to stop Geo, who had rushed over late.

“Geo. Don’t come closer. Wait there until Gillian returns.”

“What are you talking about…!!”

“I once heard that a very unusual manipulator joined that group of fiends.”

Leaving Geo with a rigid face, Fio slowly loosened his body and said.

“Seeing the spellcraft he uses, it’s certain. His compatibility with your abilities is the worst, so absolutely do not approach.”

The moment Fio, who had transformed his left arm into the shape of a sharp blade, glared at Lennok.

“Yoo-hoo~!”

Bbeong!!

From afar, a blood-soaked Clown crushed a knight’s head and landed next to Lennok.

The Clown, very naturally putting an arm around Lennok’s shoulder, said.

“I knew you’d help, I had faith in you!!”

“…Get your arm off me?”

Seeing Lennok, who irritably tilted his head, Fio muttered, seemingly tense.

“These bastards, it’s Pandemonium.”