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Chapter 86: Hua Tuo Pt. 4
Chapter 86: Hua Tuo Pt. 4
Chapter 86: Hua Tuo Pt. 4
Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the giant covered in black fur they called Thrymr.
‘He’s strong.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong could feel it emanating from him. The giant was filled with dense mana, and his physical abilities didn’t seem like they would lack in comparison easier.
Even if it was difficult for Lee Jun-Kyeong to accurately measure the abilities of giants accurately, even while using his mana stream, he was sure about one thing.
‘He’s stronger than Thjazi.’
Among all the giants he had seen so far, the strongest had been either Thjazi or the giant whom they called the king or the chieftain.
However, the giant named Thrymr in front of him seemed to be similar to, or even stronger than the chieftain.
'This could be dangerous.'
Lee Jun-Kyeong signaled Fenrir and waited.
“...”
Thrymr and Thjazi, who had been standing silently, began to speak.
'Damn it.'
Watching them, Lee Jun-Kyeong was left cursing in his mind. Although he had studied many languages and could speak even more, he couldn’t understand a single thing they were saying.
‘Am I going to have to learn the language of the giants as well?’
Thjazi had been speaking in Chinese up to this point out of consideration for Lee Jun-Kyeong, but was now speaking in his own language in his conversation with Thrymr.
As Lee Jun-Kyeong listened to the two giants speak while bewildered, he heard a voice ring out.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> pities you.]
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> sponsors you the ability, ‘Language, Jotnar.’]
Lee Jun-Kyeong blinked in astonishment. What just happened?
For the first time in a while, he had been given useful support.
‘Thank you.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the sky for a moment and then listened to the conversation in front of him again.
“What do you think about considering it again now?” asked the giant named Thrymr.
Unfortunately, Lee Jun-Kyeong had no idea what they were talking about before he acquired his new language.
“I no longer have any reason to waste thought on a traitor.”
Thjazi seemed angry while Thrymr spoke in a calm, dry tone.
“Do you plan on following that idiot around and calling him king? To think the Frost Giant clan could fall this low. We are not traitors here. The only truth is that we aren’t the owners of Utgard at the moment,” Thrymr said, a smirk forming on his lips.
“...”
“To think you would support that idiot as your chieftain. How low the name of the Former Leader…”
“Enough!” shouted Thjazi.
Suddenly, two axes appeared in his hands.
"It's been a long time since we’ve done this," Thrymr said as he also raised his ax in response. So it was a situation where a single spark could bring about an explosion.
The warriors of Utgard all seemed to be nervous as they prepared for battle.
"Is that the special being over there?"
Right then, Thrymr's eyes turned to Lee Jun-Kyeong and Fenrir.
"Why is that thing here… and even a human?"
There was a look of interest in Thrymr's eyes, and then the giant left a single remark as he turned to leave.
“It’s been fun. Let’s meet again soon.”
As Thrymr turned around and was about to leave, Thjazi hurled an ax at his back. Though it may have been called an ax, a boulder of metal with a massive haft the size of a building hurtled toward Thrymr like a hurricane.
Clang!
However, the ax fell short of the giant. Some sort of veil blocked it from moving forward, and the weapon floated in the air as Thrymr extended a hand to grab ahold of it.
Split!
He threw the ax back toward the group.
“...”
The ax split the ice in front of Lee Jun-Kyeong and Fenrir, deeply embedded into the ground.
“See you around, special being. Same goes for you, special human.”
Having said his farewell, the black fur-covered giant named Thrymr disappeared into the flurry.
"Ugh."
Thjazi looked at Thrymr with a face distorted in anger.
Thrymr had been the one to find the situation fun when he had first laid his eyes on Lee Jun-Kyeong and Fenrir, but now Lee Jun-Kyeong had also felt the same way staring back at the giant.
‘How quaint.’
He thought to himself that it would be prudent for them to find out exactly what had happened between these giants.
“Leader! Are we not going to chase them?” one of the warriors shouted as if their existence was an insult to his very being.
“They still have Thrymr. If we fight with them now, our warriors will die.”
Thjazi had chosen to retreat to preserve the lives of his warriors.
From Lee Jun-Kyeong’s perspective, although he hadn’t been able to fight them, he had been able to observe the giants at least–no, at least those two giants, and definitely see their skills firsthand.
Furthermore, he had uncovered their unusual relationship.
He was satisfied.
This wasn’t entirely a fruitless expedition.
***
Unlike Lee Jun-Kyeong, Jeong In-Chang was extremely busy.
"Oooh!"
"Princess!"
"Goongje!"
Jeong In-Chang and the princess were a fantastic duo.
It may have been because of their Familiar relationship, but the connection between the two was so seamless and perfect that it was impossible to tell if their hands and feet were one. It was to the point where it wouldn’t have been odd to question if they were originally one body.
“Sweep them all away!”
The two were preoccupied with hunting monsters.
Jeong In-Chang was moving further and further away from Lee Jun-Kyeong as he hunted for food with the giants. As he hunted a horde of ice trolls, the giants with him shouted at his performance.
“Wow! That human fights well!”
"Humans are pretty good!"
“What are they shouting about?” Jeong In-Chang asked.
However, there was no way for him to understand what they were saying.
He then shrugged. “Well, at least it seems like compliments. Thanks, anyway!”
After shouting back, Jeong In-Chang resumed hunting.
[<The Prince on a White Horse> grants the skill ‘Meant to Be’ to you and your soulmate princess.]
Contrary to its cringeworthy name, Meant to Be was an effective skill that would increase their stats when they were together.
“We are meant to be, Princess!”
“Goongje!”
He wondered how long it had been since the last time he had been able to hunt properly. The current situation was more than enough to allow Jeong In-Chang to destress from his tiring burdens.
All of a sudden, he had slain all the trolls in the vicinity. The giants gathered all that he had hunted alongside their own spoils, wrapped them in a net, and attached them to the back of an ice drake.
“So this is enough for today, it seems.”
It was impossible for them to communicate verbally with each other, but Jeong In-Chang soon realized that their nonverbal forms of communication were actually a decent substitute.
"Okay!" Jeong In-Chang said as he turned his gaze away.
‘I wonder if Mr. Lee is doing well.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong had said that he was going to battle with the giants. That task was much more dangerous than hunting monsters, which obviously made Jeong In-Chang worried.
‘I can’t believe I’m the one who’s worried.’
However, the more he thought about it, the more Jeong In-Chang thought it was funny. Lee Jun-Kyeong was much stronger than he was. Furthermore, there was also the monster named Fenrir with him.
Moreover, he also had the halfway decent skull Hyeon-Mu with him.
“Goongje?”
The princess suddenly shrunk and returned to Jeong In-Chang's arms.
“He probably is doing fine,” Jeong In-Chang reassured himself.
However, he still felt a little worried. He wanted to be of use, but it was proving harder than he had thought to help Lee Jun-Kyeong, who was too incredible.
‘I mean, if he were able to get sick at the very least, then I would have sat by his bedside.’
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the powers of a Hunter, Lee Jun-Kyeong would never suffer from any sort of disease, so that would have been impossible.
Furthermore, Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t suffered any injuries since he had the battle with Heracles.
“I’ll just do what I can.”
Jeong In-Chang made a promise to himself and followed behind the giants.
“Let’s go!”
As they progressed toward Utgard, all of a sudden, the giants in the front stopped.
Thud.
The ice drakes then stopped as well, with the others behind stopping soon after.
Jeong In-Chang couldn’t see what was going on as his view was obscured by the height of the giants, but he could still feel the ominous aura that emitted from the front.
‘This…’
“ROAR!”
The giants suddenly roared and began to draw their weapons. At that time, even Jeong In-Chang, who couldn’t even talk to the giants, understood what was going on.
“It’s the Nar!”
It was the word Nar. And that meant.
Enemies.
"Princess,” Jeong In-Chang said in a calming voice, distinctly different from when he was hunting monsters.
Suddenly, the princess appeared by his side in ogre mage form.
“It’s an attack! Protect the food!” the giants screamed as they started moving.
The ground rumbled like an earthquake as the colossal giants moved rapidly. As they drew their weapons, mana raged like a storm.
“Human! Run away if it gets too dangerous!” a giant shouted at Jeong In-Chang, but as if he seemed to know what the giant had meant, he shook his head and started to run forward.
“What are you talking about?”
His field of view widened with every giant he passed.
“I’m going to fight too!”
Eventually, he was finally able to see those beings they called the Nar. They definitely resembled the giants that had attacked his party before. However, they also had a different aura and feeling.
They looked as if they were well-armored warriors.
‘They seem stronger than the Utgardian warriors!”
Furthermore, it was easy to see that compared to the Utgardian warriors, the Nar warriors were stronger.
However, it was meaningless to think about who was strong and who was weak.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was who was his ally and who was his enemy.
"Princess!" Jeong In-Chang shouted as he approached the front row where the battle was taking place.
“Goongje!”
The princess hadn’t fallen behind and understood what Jeong In-Chang was trying to convey.
“Ha-eup!”
The princess lifted Jeong In-Chang by the leg and threw him.
Swish!
Jeong In-Chang flew across the sky like a bird.
He was able to make eye contact with the giants who had seemed impossible to reach through the incredible strength of the princess.
“Ooah?” said a Nar, confused.
As the giant in black fur responded in bewilderment when Jeong In-Chang appeared in front of him, Jeong In-Chang thrust his greatsword into the giant’s shoulder.
Squelch.
“Graaah!!!”
The greatsword pierced into the shoulder like cutting through tofu, and under the weight of Jeong In-Chang, it began to drag down toward the ground from the force of gravity.
Tear!
Jeong In-Chang dropped down to the ground, holding the greatsword that had been embedded into the giant’s body.
Swish.
He flicked his blade and splattered the giant’s blood and flesh.
“...”
All of a sudden, the reaction of the Nar began to shift. They turned agitated upon uncovering Jeong In-Chang’s existence.
“ROAR!!”
In an instant, Jeong In-Chang started running forward toward the transformed atmosphere, and the giants behind him followed while beginning to attack savagely.
They were successfully pushing back their enemy, but as soon as the atmosphere was becoming overwhelming for the Nar, Jeong In-Chang suddenly stopped moving.
Clang!
“...!”
Jeong In-Chang's face contorted in embarrassment, and he tried to pull his greatsword back quickly.
Clang! Clash! Clang!
However, noises rang out in succession.
In order to prevent Jeong In-Chang from escaping, his opponent continuously thrust forward with a long spear.
The opponent had high-level spearmanship, but the real reason Jeong In-Chang was flustered was different.
“A… are you a human?” he gasped.
The opponent in front of him looked like a human.
A human dressed in black was attacking him, fighting on the side of the Nar.
That person continuously said something to Jeong In-Chang, but he wasn’t able to understand him.
“...”
Soon the Nar began to retreat. However, the Utgardian warriors didn’t pursue them.
They were content with having protected the food they were guarding and having won the battle.
“Im Chang! Im Chang!”
They rejoiced as they changed Jeong In-Chang's name.
However, the Hunter’s expression wasn’t good.
‘Why are there humans…’
He wondered why there was a human colluding with the Nar.
‘I should tell Mr. Lee what happened.’
In the midst of that confusion, Jeong In-Chang was diligently doing his part.
1. Lit. Jotun Language.
2. In-Yeon(??) literally means Fated Relationship and is often used as the title of a song. The English equivalent would be as if a couple told you they were star-crossed lovers.
3. In English.
4. This is referring to Fenrir’s incredible strength, not that Fenrir is a monster himself.
5. Sitting by one’s hospital bedside and cutting apples is a very common way for Koreans to at least feel like they are being useful.