Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Gigant - (2)

The faint hope that maybe—

//s_win

//win_h ◎ Knockback, Absolute Immunity!

//e_win

Was immediately shattered.

Status effects induced by skills like Whisper of Darkness, Rising and Crushing Airflow had no effect at all.

The damage went through, but the blindness, airborne effect, or gravity enhancement that should have been linked in the process did not apply.

‘Immunity monsters are the worst.’

Sanghyun clicked his tongue.

His attack style was based on concentrating damage intensely in a short period using status effects.

But with immunity as a given, his options felt severely limited.

‘It’s something I would have encountered eventually anyway. Learning how to counter it now isn’t a bad thing.’

That was how Sanghyun thought about it.

He might not have to fight players immediately, but the chances of such an event occurring in the future were high.

Hadn’t he already fought Tory in front of his house? He couldn’t rule out the possibility.

That meant that, just like Kim Miso, there could always be opponents who wore artifacts granting immunity to status effects.

He wanted to think of this fight with Gigant as a rehearsal for that moment. No, it was exactly that kind of situation.

‘Let’s just consider it a wooden training dummy. A very spicy one, though.’

Sanghyun stared at Gigant, whose massive body was filled with a look of absolute discontent with the world.

It was truly revolting.

It had eyes, a nose, and a mouth on its face, but it looked as if someone had haphazardly lumped clay together and stuck a few buttons onto it.

Strength and stamina mastery training would be much more useful if he continuously fought opponents like this.

Since the skills had not yet been fully developed, there was no better condition for repetitive training.

“Waaah!”

The enraged Gigant suddenly took an interest in a boulder the size of a six-person table beside it.

Sanghyun frowned as he saw Gigant trying to lift a rock of such an ominous size.

“Hey, that’s—”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Meanwhile, Ham Jiyeon’s freezing magic struck Gigant.

Although it wouldn’t freeze due to its absolute immunity, the damage could still torment it.

But Gigant, as if it had been hit by a mere feather, didn’t even blink and went ahead to lift the boulder.

Then, with all its might, it hurled it at Sanghyun, whom it had despised from the start.

The force of the throw was so strong that it produced a sharp sound as it cut through the air.

He executed consecutive Back Steps.

It was a high-speed retreat covering 11.5 meters, and the evasion itself was successful.

The boulder landed precisely where Sanghyun had been standing.

The problem was that Gigant had deliberately thrown it at an angle, causing it to bounce up again.

“Crazy.”

Sanghyun immediately took a defensive stance. Using Back Step again would place too much strain on his body in such a short time.

He deployed a thick barrier, consuming mana to reinforce it. He intended to block it somehow.

“I’ll add firepower!”

Just then—

Ham Jiyeon pressed herself closely against Sanghyun’s back. The unexpected teamwork surprised him.

At that moment, she placed both hands on his broad back and infused a powerful force into him.

“Huh…?”

Before she could even explain, the change occurred first.

The defensive barrier that had just been created instantly thickened more than fivefold, turning into a veritable wall.

Thud!

“Urgh!”

“Kyaa!”

And then the boulder collided with it.

The original plan was to slow down the boulder’s momentum with Defensive and evade afterward.

Sanghyun himself had no confidence in purely blocking it.

But with Ham Jiyeon reinforcing him, the impossible became possible.

Sssss.

Using the barrier as a foothold, Sanghyun and Ham Jiyeon were pushed back only about two handspans—that was the extent of their injuries.

Apart from the brief soreness in his muscles, it was a perfect defense.

“Kreeeeh!”

Gigant became even more furious.

He thought it was a rather confident attack, but when it was easily blocked, it seemed to boil his insides with rage.

“What was that just now?”

“I used Sanghyun's body as a medium to augment my skill. Amazing, right?”

“…I didn’t expect that.”

Considering how she had been in close contact with him, it seemed like a conditional skill overlaying ability.

It was an extremely useful ability.

Sanghyun was curious.

She had the ability to translate the language of monsters and could even overlay skills onto others.

What kind of life had she lived in her past to end up failing to make a name for herself?

If she had consistently honed such a special ability, even if not a named player, she should have at least reached the ranks of a quasi-named one.

However, in Sanghyun's mind, which knew quite a few notable players, the name Ham Jiyeon did not exist.

That left only one reason.

Death.

Brushing away the dark thoughts filling his mind, Sanghyun immediately changed the topic.

“Jiyeon.”

“Yes?”

“As we saw earlier, freezing or burning that thing is impossible. But we can hinder it, right?”

“Hinder it how?”

“Obscuring its vision with flames and making the ground slippery by freezing it.”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Then let's torment it that way. The concept is tricky, but it doesn’t seem to have high intelligence. If we strategize wisely, we can take it down.”

“Ah….”

Only then did Ham Jiyeon feel like the gears in her frozen mind had been greased and were turning smoothly again.

So this was the judgment of an experienced player? She had overlooked something.

It was true that it was immune to status effects, but not to those induced by nature.

“Let's go. This will turn into a melee, so don’t stick too close unnecessarily. Got it?”

“Got it!”

Meanwhile, Gigant had found another boulder and hurled it at them.

However, Sanghyun dashed forward and evaded it with ease, while Ham Jiyeon slipped away to the side to avoid it.

As he charged at Gigant, Sanghyun thought to himself.

'Let's start by stabbing into it.'

For monsters with high defense and stamina like Gigant, a straightforward attack strategy was often the best approach.

The way to deal with them was to keep pouring in damage and whittling down their stamina.

If this gate had a level 500 restriction, Sanghyun might have thought differently.

But since it was a level 200 restricted gate, he could say with certainty that Gigant wouldn’t have a troll-like regeneration ability.

The system’s judgment criteria were precise and clear, making it easy to deduce.

Moreover, his certainty came from having lived through thirty years of experience with countless dungeons, gates, and rifts.

“Uwaaagh!”

Noticing Sanghyun's approach, Gigant swung its thick arms wildly in an emotional outburst.

“You think that’ll work?”

Dodging it wasn’t difficult.

It wasn’t particularly fast to begin with, so avoiding its attacks just by sight was more than enough.

He hadn’t even used Over Psychedelic yet. It wasn’t the right time for that—Gigant had yet to fully activate.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

While effortlessly dodging Gigant’s attacks, Sanghyun successfully landed two light strikes.

//s_win

//win_h ◎ Weakness Enhancement

◎ Two Strikes

//e_win

The stat from Weakness Enhancement accumulated.

'Its attack repertoire is really diverse.'

Sanghyun admired himself.

Comparing himself to his past self, the difference was almost embarrassing.

Back then, his only swordsmanship skill had been a consecutive strike move with a five-minute cooldown.

Even that had been enough to move him to tears, making him desperately await those five minutes before he could use it again.

But now, he could choose his skills according to the situation.

Because of that, there were even swordsmanship skills he had never used due to strategic choices.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Two consecutive strikes followed.

That made it four consecutive hits.

The conditions he wanted were met.

From the moment he acquired the Sage's Leather Belt, Sanghyun had envisioned this perfect scenario.

Thanks to the Whisper of the Sage, the already powerful Crushing Blade skill had its damage further amplified as if oil had been poured onto fire.

And then.

Puuuk!

The greatsword that Sanghyun thrust with all his might deeply pierced into the inside of Gigant's right rib.

The body of Gigant, which had seemed as impenetrable as a thick steel plate and an unscathed wall, was now pierced through.

"Kuaaaaah!"

Gigant let out a pained scream, frantically shaking its head from side to side.

Thick, sticky saliva splattered in all directions from its gaping mouth.

"Disgusting bastard."

As expected, it did not die.

Rather, even while in pain, it stretched out its left arm, aiming for Sanghyun.

Whoosh!

Sanghyun quickly pulled out the Greatsword of Fighting Spirit and retreated backward.

Just in time, Gigant's left hand swept past the spot where Sanghyun had been standing, scratching at the air with frustration.

Pshuussh!

Drip, drip.

"As expected."

Sanghyun nodded after seeing the deep and elongated wound around the rib area.

If Gigant had been a monster classified under the troll category, the bleeding would have stopped, and signs of regeneration would have appeared.

However, after a single fountain of blood spurted from its chest wound, blood gushed out like an opened faucet.

"It's tough, but it doesn't regenerate. So, it's just a walking fortress."

He quickly summarized its characteristics.

A moving defense fortress.

But it seemed more like a disposable defense fortress that could not be easily repaired.

Gulp. Gulp.

Sanghyun drank a mana potion.

The potion played a role in enhancing recovery, so it did not instantly restore his depleted mana.

It would take another ten years before potions like those in games, which provided massive restoration in a short time, would appear.

Right now, potion research had barely begun, still in its infancy.

‘I'll think about potion research step by step. The process isn’t the issue; the ingredients are. That’s the real problem.’

Sanghyun set aside his thoughts on potions and refocused on Gigant.

It was true that his last strike had inflicted a deep wound, but it still seemed far from enough to bring it down.

At that moment.

"Krooo!"

Gigant let out a roar.

Kwaang!

It then slammed the ground.

At first, it seemed like an expression of mere rage, but what followed was entirely unexpected.

Kwaaajijik!

Cracks spread out from beneath Gigant's feet, branching out swiftly toward Sanghyun.

At the same time, the areas where the cracks extended collapsed into sinkholes.

『Back Step』

Fwoosh!

Sanghyun quickly dodged.

Immediately after, the ground where he had just been standing crumbled, swallowing everything above it.

"That bastard is insane."

He knew it was strong, but he hadn't expected it to shake the earth itself, creating fissures and collapses.

At this rate, even a single direct hit from Gigant's attack could send him straight to the afterlife.

Even after his regression, he had never encountered a monster with such an overwhelming destructive force.

"……"

Sanghyun narrowed his eyes as he watched Gigant pounding its chest in fury.

He focused on the changes occurring within Gigant. It was not completely invincible. The system’s balance was absolute.

With a sharp gaze, Sanghyun scanned Gigant’s entire body, and upon noticing something, he snapped his fingers.

"Gigant, I’ve found your weakness."