Solo Clear

I fell asleep as I leaned against the hard wall and dreamed.
It continued the giant’s story.

After waiting for a long time, the giant came face-to-face with the opponent that he wanted to get revenge on.
I realized it after watching the fight.
The giant king that I was facing was nothing more than a vestige.
The fight was displayed like video clips, so I couldn’t watch the entire fight.
I didn’t know how many days the fight had lasted, but every time the scene changed, I shivered.
Their fight changed the layout of the land.
I later realized that the large mountain was split into two.
The large river that was in front of the city was destroyed by someone.
Saying that it was a mess wasn’t enough to describe this place.
I felt that the large Earth wasn’t enough s.p.a.ce for them to fight in.

It seemed like this fight was never going to end, but one side was eventually defeated.
Even though they fought hard, the giant was on their knees.
However, the victor wasn’t in the greatest condition either.
No, it was difficult to tell who won just from looking at their eyes.

They were trembling.
Their expression looked like someone that experienced something that was unrealistic.
The fear of the unknown. Like someone that experienced something that was out of their common knowledge.
Just from looking at their pale face, I knew they were filled with fear.

However, the giant looked like they still had strength to fight because they didn’t let go of their sword.

“Ack.”

The giant let out a groan and placed their hand under their abdomen.
Dark blood was flowing out like a waterfall.
As I was looking down on this battlefield, there was one thing that crossed my mind.
If I cut that deep wound of theirs, then I might be able to take them down.

It was definitely worth trying since the giant was a lot weaker now.
There was a feature where I’m able to attempt it several times and find different methods.
I’m given unlimited opportunities to try and there was a need to put that to good use.

Hm?

As the dream was becoming blurry, someone walked out from behind the giant.
There were a lot of them too.
Their opponent looked dissatisfied by the fact that they had to leave the giant that was winning.
They had to run away before they could finish the fight.
There might’ve been back-up that came to help.

They could’ve been from a different land or a group of people that were just travelling.
Anyways, thanks to that it seemed like the giant was able to live this long.
In the end, the giant was probably captured and was imprisoned within this coliseum.

I found out that the opponent that the giant was fighting was one of the Managers.
It wasn’t Crosus or the 13th Manager.

I didn’t know why they were trying to kill the giant.
The giant was trying hard to kill the Manager because they were probably related to the reason why this land was destroyed.
It was difficult to know the details just from the dream alone.
I didn’t want to know anyways.

While dreaming, I was able to understand the giant, so I shared a lot of emotions with them.
I was afraid that I would confuse my ident.i.ty if I continued dreaming the same dream.

“…What the?”

All my life, I slept quietly and didn’t have any sleeping habits.
But when I woke up this time, my surrounding was a mess.
The wall was destroyed and the blanket that I used was ripped to pieces.
I was the only one here and I was the culprit.

I took out the water from my inventory and drank it.
The water and chocolate bar that

I saved for emergencies was getting low.
Nothing good came out from prolonged battles.
The store that I’ve seen in other stages didn’t exist here.

I had to settle this, tomorrow at the latest.
No, I couldn’t relax till tomorrow.
Knowing that there was a next time took away the nervousness that I felt.
People tend to say not to be nervous when it came to doing something big, but I was different.
Having a bit of that nervous feeling and my body being a bit tense was an advantage for me.

Slap!! Slap!!

I usually come to my senses after slapping my cheeks really hard.
I was prepared.
I didn’t even know how many times I’ve attempted this.
Compared to the other times, I felt free and wasn’t worried about losing again.

All I had to do was clear it.

I walked into the portal.
The armor that the giant was wearing was so rusty that I was surprised it lasted this long.
It wasn’t the same shiny armor that I saw in the dream.
It might break if I hit it a couple of times.
That’s all I thought about.

It’s still there!!

There was something I wanted to check.
It was to see whether the giant resp.a.w.ned after the stage has been cleared.
Last time, I lightly injured their cheek.
And after seeing that the small injury was still there, I was sure that my plan was going to work.

“…It’s different.”

The giant noticed that my spirit was changed and they became serious.

“10:00 countdown will begin.”

As soon as the countdown started, I immediately targeted the injury that I saw in the dream.
All this time, the first thing that I did was dodge the giant’s first attack.
However, if I was able to dodge every attack and attack the giant, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.
I would just clear it by dodging.

Bam!!

Using a fist instead of a sword to break their shabby armory was more effective.
No, I wanted to use the sword at least once, but the sword wasn’t in the best condition.
Unlike me that attempted this several of times, the weapons couldn’t keep up.
The monsters that I fought up till now were weak, so I didn’t bother bringing repair tools.

I was thankful about it.
While fighting with this giant, I found some weak spots.

“Gah!!”

Even though the giant was still wearing the armor, I could tell they were in pain.
It was that painful to them.
Even if it recovered, I would still be able to attack it in the giant’s current condition.
The injury was so deep that it hasn’t completely recovered.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!”

The giant was. .h.i.tting himself in order to get me off of them since I was sticking to them like a leech.
…No, the attack was kind of unnatural.
Even if their body wasn’t in the best condition, it wasn’t that bad that they weren’t able to control their actions.
Even if they were physically confined because of the Managers, their mind was still theirs.

I didn’t have time to think about it.

Instead of continuously dodging their attacks, I kept on attacking that one spot.
If I get eliminated, then I’ll enter the portal again without any hesitation.
There’s only one thing I had to do beyond the portal.
Attack, attack and attack again.
The next attack and the next attack, I crazily attacked that one spot.

The armor was starting to fall apart.
Maybe it’s because I kept on attacking the same spot, but in between the injury, blood and discharge from the wound started flowing out.
I took out the sword that I was saving.

I planned on pouring today’s portion of mana into the sword.
I gathered every bit of energy that was within my body.

What if they block it?

That’s the thought I had before using the sword.
What would happen if they block it despite of me gathering all of my energy?
If they covered their injury with their hand, I wouldn’t have any way to attack it.

No, I couldn’t turn back now.
If I don’t release this power somewhere, it’ll seep out in odd directions.
In that case, in order to increase the possibility, it was better to use the attack.

Let’s do it!!

I stopped my hesitation.
The giant created a magic circle and blocked my path.
I was at my limit and by trusting my instincts, I noticed that there was a small opening among a labyrinth of rocks.
I managed to slide through and approach the injury.

This is the end.

Swoosh!!

“Ackkkkkkkkkk!!”

Their breathing became heavy because of the pain and their heart was pounding faster than ever.
They couldn’t stop the blood from flowing out and the giant ended up falling in front of me.

“2:10 remaining.”

There was still time until the timer reached zero, but the giant looked like it didn’t have any energy left to fight.
On top of that, it looked like they weren’t planning on stopping me any longer.

“…Ah. Please. This twisted world…please destroy it. I hope this strength will help you when that time comes.”

Right before dying, the giant decreased the size of their sword.
The sword became so small that I was able to use it.
I approached it and grabbed it.

King of the Giants Sword (Rank 0) (Dropped Item) – User Kang Jin Woo.

The giant was one of the kings.
The sword was sealed deep into the ground.
Many fairies sacrificed themselves in order to create this sword and there are rumors that the user will receiving their blessing.
(The condition of the weapon is in bad condition, which will decrease its power until it is repaired.)

Hm?!

While looking at the details of the sword, darkness started seeping out of the giant’s body and enveloped mine.

“Wait…what is this?”
“The darkness will also show you a different path. Accept it.”

I was swallowed by the darkness and it was quiet within it.
It was suffocating and my head started spinning.
My body slowly started absorbing the darkness.

“You have absorbed the King of Giant’s darkness.”

What does it mean?
The darkness disappeared moments later.
When I stepped out of the darkness, the giant had become a lonely corpse.
They were used by the Managers for 1,000 years and they were finally able to rest in peace.

“Did they want to die…1,000 years is a really long time.”

It seemed like he purposely didn’t block my last attack.
In order to clear up the doubts that I had, I wanted to hear the answer directly from him, but they had already died.

“You have cleared the sixth stage’s Nightmare mode. Congratulations.”

The reward box for clearing this stage fell from the sky.
There was a magic book and some sort of potion.
It was a treasure box.
And the most expensive item that was in the box was a marble that had a bright light.

Rainbow Jewel – Value (A+)
A legendary jewel that increases all the user’s stats by 50 points.

This was the first time I saw an item that increased all the stats by 50 points.
I did see items at the auction house that increases the stats by consuming it.
Among them, the best item were items that increased one stat by 25 points.

This was hard to comprehend.

Later, people will be bidding on the item.
The clans especially will take interest and will try to gather as much in order to get it.

I told myself that I wouldn’t turn on my phone until I cleared the stage, but I took it out.
I asked the others that cleared this mode.

“???: Out of the rewards that you received, have you consumed an item that raised all the stats by 50 points?”
“Choi In Hyuk: I got an item that raised my agility by 30 points and I got it from the fourth stage’s Nightmare mode. When I posted it on the site, one clan offered to pay over seven billion.”
“???: I would keep that for myself. I wouldn’t sell it.”
“???: It’s the first time I’m hearing it. Did you consume an item like that?”

Just from their answers, I could tell this was an amazing item.
Is it because my luck was increased?
The reward for the sixth stage wasn’t set, so it seemed like it was different for everyone.
Among them, I got a good one.
I was confused as to what I should do with this.

I decided to use it.
I can make money by selling other items, but who knows when I’ll get another rare item like this?
I checked my stats.

Strength: 989 (+50) / Stamina: 874 (+50) / Agility: 1024 (+50) / Mana 964 (+50) / Luck: 721 (+50)

Just how strong did I get?
That’s what I was curious about.
I wasn’t the type to compare my stats to others, but after seeing my stats increased, I became curious.

“…..”
After looking at the giant’s corpse one last time, I walked into the open portal.

End.

Staff :
Jen (TL)
Kuhaku (PR)