"We can't win… Not against a monster like that… How could we ever win…"
No one knew which Hunter had muttered those despairing words.
Even ordinary giants took several S-Rank Hunters working together to bring down. So what "rank" was the even bigger thing standing before them?
Was this really something humanity could fight?
"Is that monster… the master of this Dungeon?" Goto Ryuji stared at the giant, wavering with shock. It wore a vicious suit of bone armor, its beard bristling like spearheads. He was in better shape than the other S-Ranks, but only barely—his face was just as bad.
"No. It isn't the master here." Scáthach's cool, clear voice cut through the dread and reached everyone's ears. "In terms you'll understand… it's a mid-boss before the Boss. Only after we defeat it can we meet the true master of this Dungeon."
"…You've got to be kidding me?! That horror—and you're telling me it's just a mid-boss?!" An S-Rank Hunter shrieked as that hopelessly dense mana ground his sanity down second by second.
Goto Ryuji studied Scáthach's profile and asked, baffled, "How are you still calm?"
"There's no need to panic…" Scáthach said evenly. "Didn't I tell you? The master of this Dungeon is in a weakened phase. In terms of raw strength, it's not even a match for the giant in front of us. This one's job is to protect the true master." As she spoke, she tilted her chin toward the bone-armored giant. "That's why it didn't charge us like the others. It can't stray too far from its master."
"…So the thing in front of us is the most troublesome—strongest—enemy in the Dungeon right now, yes?" Goto Ryuji's gaze sharpened as he watched the bone-armored giant radiating a suffocating presence at the far end of the corridor.
Reality was—barely—more tolerable than the worst-case scenario they'd imagined… and yet Goto could feel it in his bones. What stood before them was a mountain he could never climb, no matter what he did.
If he tried to force his way into the fight, he'd probably die just from the shockwaves… Even the very best of S-Ranks would be nothing more than slightly larger ants in that monster's eyes. The gap was so vast it crushed the will to fight before it could even form.
And if even he was this battered, the other Japanese S-Rank Hunters who'd come with him didn't stand a chance.
Scáthach looked at the bone-armored giant from afar and sighed, almost admiringly.
"Hm… This one's a bit of a pain."
Hearing that, Sung Jinwoo's eyes went wide.
"Even you think it's a pain, Shishō?"
"Mm. A real pain." Scáthach nodded, wearing an openly troubled expression. "It's huge. Every movement it makes brings massive destruction. Killing it while guaranteeing none of you suffer so much as a scratch… that's what's troublesome."
Goto Ryuji couldn't even picture that far-beyond-S-Rank monster dying—yet Scáthach wasn't only talking about killing it. She meant doing it while protecting them at the same time… and she called that merely "a pain."
Using their discovery—that the bone-armored giant couldn't wander far from its master—Scáthach and the others chose to leave it for the moment and instead purge the ordinary giants scattered throughout the Dungeon.
But once the city's giants had been thinned to only a sparse handful, the bone-armored giant, which had remained stationed at the corridor's far end, finally lost its patience.
It swung its colossal greatsword—wide as a building—in a single brutal arc. The blade-wind tore through the hall, and more than a hundred shadow soldiers instantly dissolved into black smoke.
Tusk chanted a spell and raised a hand, releasing fire magic. A massive, blazing sphere condensed in his palm—like he was lifting a small sun. The corridor lit up like midday, and the terrifying heat made the nearby Japanese Hunters feel like they'd been thrown into a steam room.
But the roaring flames were smashed apart with a casual slap. Even Tusk's all-out spell—its power doubled by the Orb of Avarice—couldn't leave so much as a scorch mark on the bone-armored giant.
"GRAAAAH—!!"
Several giants Jinwoo had already turned into shadow soldiers charged forward with earthshaking strides, fearless as they tried to halt the monster's advance.
The bone-armored giant bared a savage grin, as if mocking their ignorance. Its seemingly cumbersome body burst into speed that didn't fit its size at all—its left palm came down like a mountain and slammed the foremost shadow giant's head into the ground, while its right-hand sword carved a dazzling arc of light.
The slash poured out like a fallen galaxy, cleaving three shadow giants clean in half. The stray blade-wind became a raging torrent that ground everything caught within it into dust.
Swarms of ants clung to the bone-armored giant's body, but even their steel-rending jaws couldn't bite through its skin.
"It's realized that if it waits until all the ordinary giants are gone, it'll be the one cornered."
Scáthach drifted to Jinwoo's side like a specter and said in a low voice, "Plans change. Jinwoo, take the others and get farther away. I'll deal with the big one."
"…Got it. Be careful, Shishō."
Jinwoo didn't say anything more. He turned and left, sending his shadow soldiers to search for and rescue the Japanese Hunters who'd been swept up by the shockwaves of the bone giant's last attack.
"Be careful?" Scáthach's lips curved. A bewitching red light shimmered in her eyes. "The one who should be careful isn't me. It's anyone who dares stand against me."
The bone-armored giant continued massacring Jinwoo's shadow soldiers, too lazy to even defend itself. Their blades, claws, and magic couldn't break its hide—couldn't harm it at all. And every time it swung that greatsword, it kicked up a ruinous gale. Rows of shadow soldiers turned to drifting black smoke under the crushing pressure. The violent aftershocks tore at the corridor, and stones rained down from the vaulted ceiling like hail.
Then—a crimson meteor split the air. It punched through the raging wind barrier with a shriek and shot straight for the bone-armored giant's right eye.
The giant's eye caught that flash of red. It immediately ignored the shadow soldiers around it and raised its left hand to shield its face. The vermilion spear struck its palm and only split the skin a little—hardly dealing any real damage.
The bone-armored giant's eyes narrowed, then snapped wide.
Because there, standing on one of its fingers, was a tiny human—purple hair whipping wildly in the turbulent air.
"You're absurdly big," Scáthach said, sounding like she was complaining, though she wore a smile. "My spear looks like a toothpick against you. Normal methods won't kill you."
For her, the more troublesome the enemy, the better. The harder they were to kill—the stronger they were—the more she enjoyed it.
"You look awfully pleased. Is slaughtering the weak what satisfies you?" Scáthach's mana surged around her in flaring waves, the muscles in her limbs tightening. "That shouldn't be it. Swinging your blade at the weak does nothing but dull it. Why not find someone who can force you to fight at full strength?"
She lifted her spear.
"For example… me."
"Leave through the Gate first. When the fight's over, Shishō and I will come find you."
At the Gate, Jinwoo led Goto Ryuji and the other Japanese Hunters through an orderly withdrawal from the Dungeon.
It stung, but none of them were idiots blind to reality. They understood perfectly: staying would only drag Scáthach and Jinwoo down.
If they could help at all, it was by getting back to Earth as fast as possible—so Jinwoo could return to Scáthach sooner.
BOOM!
A heavy impact rolled in from afar like thunder detonating right beside their ears. The sound wave surged down the corridor, stabbing pain into their eardrums and turning their thoughts woolly. Akari Shimizu and the others clapped hands over their ears, yet even through their fingers they could feel the air shuddering violently.
When they looked back toward the battlefield, the sight stole the words from every mouth.
"That giant… fell?"
The bone-armored giant wasn't dead. It didn't even have any obvious wounds.
But it had, unmistakably, fallen—and the ground trembled from the force of its collapse.
"You've wrapped thick mana around your body like armor," Scáthach said, her tone calm. "That's why Jinwoo's soldiers couldn't do anything to you. Simple. Effective. But unfortunately for you, I've seen far too many enemies like this."
Take the most famous example: Artoria, whose Saint Graph was tainted by the black Holy Grail, turning her into Saber Alter. With inexhaustible mana and the skill [Mana Burst], she was always shrouded in a black, foglike mana so dense it became nearly tangible—any attack had to break through that veil before it could touch her.
Or the same principle applies to certain gods, spirits, fae, or pureblood dragons with a Dragon Core—mana spilling from their bodies becomes a barrier, a suit of armor that turns away harm.
And Scáthach had killed gods. She had killed pureblood dragons.
"Compared to the gods and dragons I've slain, your 'purity' is far too low." With an effortless flourish of her crimson spear, Scáthach continued, "And in battle, you keep protecting your eyes—consciously or not. That must be your weakness, isn't it? Even those shameful gods don't leave themselves such an obvious flaw. And you're so big that I couldn't miss even if I fought with my eyes closed."
"GRAAAAOHHH—!!"
A massive shadow swallowed Scáthach and everything around her, as though reenacting the moment Five-Finger Mountain pinned Sun Wukong beneath it. The bone-armored giant's palm came crashing down toward her.
The howling wind arrived first, pressing the ground into a shallow crater. Rock and dust spiraled upward in the savage airflow—then the sky-blotting hand dropped like a falling meteor.
But long before it landed, Scáthach had already slipped out of range. Like a light feather riding the wind, she twisted and danced through flying stones and surging gusts, drifting away with impossible grace.
In the instant she flicked backward through the gale, Scáthach's waist turned, and the crimson spear in her hand tore the air like a homing missile, shrieking toward the bone giant's eye.
Sensing the threat, the bone-armored giant's lips curled in disdain. It lazily raised its enormous palm in front of the incoming red meteor.
So much for "I won't miss even without my eyes," huh? This is it?
But the giant didn't get to feel smug for long.
A second crimson spear shot in—so fast it caught up to the first in an instant—striking the butt of the leading spear with perfect precision and knocking it off course.
The deflected spear accelerated even more, slipped through the gaps between the giant's fingers, and—
Squelch.
The spearhead punched into the bone-armored giant's eye. Scalding, dark-violet blood burst forth.
"GRAAAAHHHH—!!"
The bone-armored giant roared again, and this time the sound was thick with pain and fury.
"See?" Scáthach's voice remained unhurried even in the storm. She tapped a protruding chunk of rubble with her toe, her figure flickering in and out amid the jagged battlefield. "If you want to do it, it's easy."
The moment her heel touched down, her form blurred—then vanished like an illusion scattered by the wind.
In the next instant, a world-splitting sword-light slammed down. The blinding slash skimmed the edge of her afterimage and carved a bottomless chasm where she'd just been standing.
The shattered stones didn't even have time to fall before the sword aura ground them into powder. Residual mana hissed along the gash's edges, as if testifying to the strike's terrifying power.
"But that would be too boring," Scáthach said, that maddening voice ringing out again. "It took work to find an opponent like you. If the fight ends too quickly, how am I supposed to savor it?"
Defying physics, she stood atop a chunk of stone—nearly three meters across—that had been blasted into the air. She bent her knees, sank her hips, and assumed a flawless throwing stance. A blood-red aura spiraled along her crimson spear, turning the whole weapon into a burning scarlet comet.
"I want to try something," she said softly, her eyes—soaked in red—glittering as if filled with starlight. "Not beating you with a trick… but head-on. Shattering your defense."
"GRAAAAH—!!"
The bone-armored giant bellowed and swung its greatsword, ready to cut her down.
But Scáthach's strike had already been primed.
"HERE IT COMES."
"ACCEPT MY BLOW AS A GIFT FOR ONE ABOUT TO DIE."
"[GÁE BOLG]!!!"
SOARING SPEAR THAT STRIKES WITH DEATH
It was like hurling a blazing sun.
Wrapped in a spiraling, roaring inferno of mana, the crimson spear blasted forward. The instant it collided with the bone-armored giant's chest, a ring of annihilating light erupted outward.
BOOOOOOOM!
"GRAAAAAAHHHH—!!"
The bone-armored giant let out a scream that tore at the ears and staggered backward under the impact.
A vicious wound marred its chest. It was shallow—but Scáthach's blow had undeniably punched through the mana armor coating its body and hurt it.
So in the end, it was still going to win…
Just as that thought of relief rose in the bone-armored giant's mind, the sun-hot glare of mana flared in its vision again.
Scáthach had landed back on the ground—and she was already in a throwing stance once more.
The crimson spear that should've shattered now rested in her hand again. And behind her hovered dozens more spears, wreathed in blood-red aura, their tips trained on the bone-armored giant.
"CLENCH YOUR TEETH—IT'S TIME TO SWALLOW ALL MY SPEARS!"
One spear after another was hurled, each wrapped in brilliant, searing light, carrying a momentum that felt like it could smash the stars themselves.
BOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOM!
Across the bone-armored giant's chest, arms, thighs, waist—blood-red "suns" detonated again and again. Dark-violet blood poured from the sky like a storm and splashed onto the ground below.
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T/N: woah this giant needs more than one gae bolg? cu gets nodiffed LMAOOO