Terrifying tremors shake heaven and earth.

The giant’s presence was impossibly unreal. Perhaps “unreal” was exactly the right word for this situation. The orc elder’s sorcery had banished me to the spirit world. This was not reality but the spirit world, so the common sense I knew would not apply.

But I knew nothing about fighting in the spirit world. The middle realm, spiritual worlds, souls and bodies—those were things the witches of the Heavenly Empire studied. All I knew was how to wield a sword and how to fight. So instead of pondering at length, I did what I could do right now.

Just as Master had told me.

I gripped my sword.

A pitiful little blade, insignificant beside the immense giant before me.

This was all I could do.

* * *

Which sword should I choose to fight a giant?

The swords I currently possessed were 「Needle」, 「Fang」, and 「Twilight」.

Each had its own distinct characteristics, and they had been an enormous help whenever I found myself in trouble. But in this moment, all my swordsmanship had been reduced to petty tricks.

「Needle」 pierced an enemy’s vital points from various angles to subdue them in an instant. Useful against humans, but it would be useless against a giant as large as a mountain.

Then what about 「Fang」, which held the dark techniques of an assassin from the Free City? Useless, of course. Assassinating a giant hundreds of times my size with a dagger was impossible. This was a scale of opponent that called for siege weapons or a corps of mages, not a blade.

And the last option, Petel’s knightly swordsmanship, 「Twilight」? I could not expect much from that either. Petel’s swordsmanship was subtle and solid: techniques faithful to the fundamentals, combined with wrestling that effectively subdued opponents. It was a weapon suited to fighting humans. Taking down a giant like that with wrestling was impossible. None of the moves Petel had practiced in life could stop its attacks.

Then how was I supposed to fight?

What weapon did I have left...?

“Whew.”

The giant was drawing closer. I exhaled once. My second heart, the 「mana heart」, surged, granting superhuman strength to my entire body. Countless 「paths」 spread from my heart and took control of my surroundings. The giant entered my 「paths」 without hesitation. In that instant, I read its strength in detail.

‘This is insane.’

The giant’s body was composed of muscles possessing horrifying strength, covered in rocklike skin. Fortunately, suspicion found a weakness in the information presented to me. Endurance.

‘It won’t be able to move for long. Its body is inefficient.’

That was characteristic of enormous species such as giants. Creatures with abnormally huge bodies could not keep moving for long. The larger the body, the more resources it required. Even in the spirit world, that law would apply. Studying the giant within my 「paths」, I decided to move for now.

「Stand and fight.」

I kicked off the ground and sprinted.

Then I climbed onto the approaching giant as though scaling a mountain. Its skin was as hard as a mountain trail. Under my feet, it felt not like a living creature’s skin but like rock. Could I even wound something like this by stabbing it? Frowning, I drew 「Fang」 from my thigh and drove it in. But it sank only a little; the blade would not penetrate deeply.

「Would a mountain collapse just because children dug holes in it?」

Liam’s comparison was apt. I retrieved Fang and began climbing higher. Even a giant needed to breathe to stay alive. Without a beating heart, a supply of oxygen, and circulating blood, it would return to dust. I had established that by reading the vital signs of the giant within my 「paths」. Cut off its breathing, and it too would die. And however enormous it was, it had to have vital points. Its neck, the airway inside its throat, its lungs, its heart, its temples close to the brain, its eye...

I had to fight intelligently.

Gritting my teeth, I climbed the giant’s body. Not with the three swords I had eaten so far. This time, I had to unleash my own sword. Suspicion. The way I had been born with.

“Uhh, urgh...”

As I climbed doggedly up its body, an immense, echoing mumble reached me. It was the giant’s voice. With a majestic rumble like rocks colliding, the face concealed above the clouds slowly began to emerge. It was lowering its head. As it did, I saw one enormous eye, a blunt nose, and a muzzle with protruding fangs. That enormous eye was fixed directly on me, with the expression of someone looking at a bug clinging to their body.

“Uhh, ah. Aah.”

Its voice carried irritation. Just that slight increase in volume felt enough to burst my ears. As I struggled to endure its roar and keep climbing, the giant swung its massive hand at me. If it hit me, I would die. If I tried to block it, I would die. If I could deflect a mass of flesh swung with that weight and speed, I would have long since become a 「sword runner」 or even a 「sword expert」. I had to dodge.

Countless 「paths」 unfolded in that instant. I moved acrobatically along the clearest one. Spinning once in midair, I avoided the giant’s hand, then clung tightly to its skin so the wind rushing in its wake would not blow me away. The powerful gust felt as though it would peel the skin off my face. Damn it.

‘A direct hit would have burst my body and killed me. Like a fly.’

It was a monster. Even experiencing its strength indirectly, without taking a direct hit, was enough to tell me that. A monster on an entirely different plane from me. My fingertips began trembling of their own accord. Not just my fingertips—my whole body shook uncontrollably. It was instinctive fear.

But I did not despair.

「Are you afraid?」

“Yes, I am.”

「But you won’t run.」

“Having come this far, there’s nowhere left to run, is there?”

Afraid or not, I had to stand against it.

As I always said, once was enough to surrender to fear and be unable to do anything. That would never happen again in my life. Even if I was bent and broken, I would stand against it.

Head-on.

I drew in a deep breath. My mana heart beat hard, easing my tension and sending vitality surging through my body. Gripping my sword, I steadied myself.

The dwarf-made steel sword Daisy had given me was an excellent weapon. It could slice through most iron swords as easily as a radish, and it could take on a knight clad in full plate. But it could not cut this giant’s entire body to pieces. The problem was not the weapon, but me. I lacked the muscular strength to wield it that way, and the difference in our size was far too great. Then what should I do?

With my strength, even breaking the giant’s bones, tearing its muscles, or piercing its skin was difficult. But raw muscular strength was not all I possessed. Special blood flowed in my body. The blood of 「Caravan」. The gift left behind by the greatest swordmaster, who had once made his mark on history. I ran toward the giant’s head with all my might.

“Hup!”

I sucked in as much air as I could. Then I gripped the sword with both hands, bracing the end of its hilt, and opened my eyes wide. At the same time, the 「paths」 before my eyes converged, growing thin and distinct. A 「line」. The path of steel passed down through the Caravan family, capable of shattering anything. I had that great weapon, which had even broken a 「sword runner’s」 sword.

CRUNCH!

As I expected, the line was powerful enough to pierce the giant’s hide and destroy what lay beyond. When I reached its chest, I succeeded in opening a hole as large as my head there. But even that could not be a fatal wound to such an enormous giant.

‘I have to make a hole in its throat. I have to stop it from breathing.’

To the giant, a wound of this size was no more than a mosquito bite. Even if I made a hole in its chest, penetrating its muscles and ribs to destroy its heart was impossible. I could not yet draw a line that powerful. I was still unskilled.

“Urrgh.”

I felt the giant’s cold gaze bore down on me. I darted this way and that to avoid its hands, clinging to its body as though hanging from a cliff and taking care not to be blown away by the gusts in their wake. One mistake would kill me. It was like climbing the rugged mountain range to reach the orcs’ sacred ground. I had to climb and climb, struggling desperately. To survive. To win.

「Be more careful, young descendant.」

There were moments of danger along the way.

The giant shook its entire body and swung its arms. Its struggles were like an earthquake, sending shocks through me more powerful than I could bear. The skin tore from my palms, and my inadequate grip made it feel as though all my fingers would be ripped off. Even so, I endured. With all my strength.

Upward. Higher still.

The giant reached out a hand. I barely dodged it.

Its finger touched my torso. I swung my sword upward, extending a line to knock it away. It would have been good to sever its hand, but having already used the line once and with my breathing shallow, I could not muster its proper power. Knocking it aside was all I could manage.

I was gasping for breath. With bloodied hands, I climbed the giant’s body.

The route to its head was treacherous. It grew steeper and steeper, and when I could no longer walk up it, I began using Fang like climbing equipment. I drove its tip firmly into the giant’s skin, supporting myself as I climbed. My arm muscles strained, and my grip weakened until I felt I might fall at any moment. The sensations were so vivid it was hard to believe this was the spirit world.

What would happen if I died? If my soul vanished, would my body die too? Or would my soul return to my body, and would they acknowledge me as a warrior, saying I had fought well enough? If so, had I already put up an excellent fight just by making it this far?

Liam had said the orcs’ coming-of-age rite tested a warrior’s will to transcend fear and limitations. Wasn’t a warrior’s will simply courage? Then wouldn’t fighting hard enough suffice, without necessarily winning? In that case, wasn’t this enough? Couldn’t I earn their recognition even if the giant crushed me now...?

Worthless thoughts rose in my mind. It was human instinct. In this crisis, my steadfast resolve was gradually weakening. This was enough. I had done my best. I wanted to stop now. Those thoughts kept surfacing.

This was the difference between humans and orcs.

Orcs were simple. They did not fear death and courageously faced any enemy. To them, death was not the end.

But humans could not be so simple. They thought too much, worried too much—frail creatures who quickly weakened before death. I was one of those humans too.

I was afraid to die. I had reasons I must not die. To me, death was the end, and I had reasons why everything must not end here.

“Hah!”

Amazingly, that was precisely why humans grew strong.

Because they feared death, because each carried at least one reason they must not die in their heart, they could grow stronger than the other six races.

["Whatever happens, don’t even dream of revenge."]

The same was true of me.

I could not die here.

So I had to struggle.

Like a beast.

["I’ll let you live. So forget what happened today and live your life."]

That terrible moment when a monster far more frightening and powerful than a mere giant had taken everything from me. That day when I had only trembled, frozen in terror. The anger from that day forced my exhausted body to move.

Even if this coming-of-age rite was nothing more than a test of courage, simply a trial of a warrior’s will—even if I did not have to win—I would stand against it to the end. Until the very last moment, I would not let go of my sword. That was proof of my life.

And proof of the life I would lead from now on.

The memories and emotions contained in the three swords I had swallowed—the memories those people had accumulated over countless years—faded away. In their place, only my anger as Arhan Caravan remained. Only a boy thirsting for revenge, who had lost his family, his neighbors, his friends, and his home.

“Hrrgh, hh, aah, aaaaaah!”

I let out a battle cry closer to an animal’s howl. A meaningless cry. A roar containing only anger and anguish. Pouring out my emotions as though coughing up blood, I stabbed Fang into the giant and climbed upward, higher still. Before I knew it, its face was close. So close I could feel its breath. Its single eye gleamed. In that instant, I held on to Fang with one hand and drew the sword at my waist with the other. I inhaled to gather Mana and prepared to form a line.

But—

“Ah.”

Instead of closing both hands around me, the giant was protecting its neck. As though it already knew that as long as it guarded that one place, I could not hurt it.

‘Now that using the line several times has reduced its power, I can’t pierce that hand and punch a hole through its throat. Absolutely not.’

I reached that conclusion the instant I saw it.

I could see how this fight would end. Defeat.

Dazed, I looked up at the giant’s face. It watched me with a cold eye, its expression almost mocking.

* * *

“Uhuhuh, phuh. What an interesting fellow.”

The orc elder watched Arhan’s coming-of-age rite unfold in the spirit world with interest.

“A giant larger than a mountain. This human harbored quite a monster.”

The monster that appeared in the coming-of-age rite gave form to the “monster” the participant harbored within. For young orcs, it usually manifested as a savage wolf, an ogre warrior, or a fierce beast from the deep forest.

“He has spirit, but is spirit all he has? Phuhuhu.”

The orc elder had seen ample proof of Arhan’s fighting spirit. He had clearly witnessed his courage as a warrior too. It was excellent enough to stand comparison with any orc. It would be no exaggeration to say he had already passed.

An orc’s coming-of-age rite was, at its core, proof of being a warrior. During it, orcs experienced a desperate fight with their lives on the line, died at the monster’s hands, and were born anew. That was why the rite was designed to be unwinnable from the start. It was a test that evaluated the process within a predetermined outcome.

The orc elder watched Arhan struggle in the spirit world. Even if the giant killed him now, the elder intended to give him a passing mark. He did not like the fact that the boy was human, but he had shown sufficiently “orcish” courage.

“Hmm.”

But the orc elder did not end the rite.

Because...

“Show me more.”

In the elder’s eyes, Arhan had not yet revealed everything he possessed.

“Prove that you are harder still.”

Arhan still had something left.

And the orc elder wanted to see it.

“Are you not the heir of steel, appearing again after hundreds of years?”

The now-forgotten greatness of 「Caravan」.

“Prove the hardness that will not break under any adversity. If you do... I will give you a gift more special than the sacred relic you wanted.”

For the first time in a very long while, the orc elder felt his heart race.

In the distant past, in an age now forgotten by history, there had been masters of steel whom all seven races of the continent looked up to. He wanted the thrill he had felt when facing them. If he could only feel it again, the orc elder would give that human anything. No matter how precious it was.

“Come now.”

* * *

The hand holding my sword trembled. My stamina was nearly gone.

Without thinking, I looked down. The height was dizzyingly immense. The fight was all but over. However short the giant’s endurance, it would outlast mine. If it simply kept shaking its body, I would eventually fall off from exhaustion. If I lost my hold on Fang and fell, I would plunge to my death. That was the rational conclusion.

But I would not give up.

My suspicion did not stop.

I swung the blade in my hand with abandon. Blue rays raked the back of the giant’s hand. Bone and muscle flew up. But they could not penetrate as far as the muscles of its neck.

Still, I questioned.

How could I win? What would it take to kill this overwhelmingly enormous monster? My mind raced. My head grew hot enough to feel as though it would burst.

“Aah, aaaaaah—!”

I roared. Straining my arm muscles to the bursting point, I drove Fang in and crawled like a beast toward the giant’s nape. Then I wedged my knee between its fingers, braced my body, and thrust my sword with every ounce of strength I had. To somehow make a hole in its neck.

“You fucking—”

None of the memories of the swordsmen I had devoured, none of their exquisite swordsmanship, accompanied those actions. There was only a boy holding a blade, intent on killing his enemy. Reason vanished, leaving only a human filled with anger and anguish. Yes, only wildness.

A sword without even a form thrust and swung, thirsting for blood. My breathing grew ragged, and my strength ebbed. Yet I repeated the same actions without stopping. Whenever the giant’s body shook, I matched its violent movements and kept driving my sword into it.

The giant’s body shook. I was jolted violently, slamming against its rocklike body. As my balance faltered, one of its hands swept through the air. A fierce wind blew, threatening to tear the skin from my whole body. I tasted blood. My body bounced with a thud. The edge of the giant’s swinging hand had touched me. That alone sent a lightning-like shock through my flesh and bones. I nearly lost consciousness for an instant.

Why was I fighting here, suffering like this?

What meaning was there in continuing a fight I seemed utterly incapable of winning? My reason questioned me ceaselessly. It shouted at me to flee, to give up. Who would ever recognize what I was doing? If I was already struggling this badly, could I truly reach the heights of a swordmaster?

Sensible, rational questions tormented me.

Yet I could not stop.

Through my fading consciousness, I somehow kept moving.

I swung my sword. The swordsmanship I had devoured poured out unconsciously. Twisting my wrist, I stabbed the skin of the giant’s hand. I felt the blade pierce its skin, but only shallowly. The giant roared. My eardrums felt about to burst. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears.

I thrust my sword again and again. Then I pulled Fang from my thigh and stabbed frantically. Using Fang embedded in the giant’s skin as a foothold, I unleashed Petel’s 「Twilight」. But nothing changed. Like a cat clawing a fortress wall, I left only a few marks. A fortress wall would not collapse under a mere blade. No matter how I used the swords I possessed, nothing changed.

["Young master, you must forget. Only then can you live. Only then..."]

It felt as though the world itself was mocking my efforts.

At that point, I abandoned reason entirely. Only instinct and wildness remained. In that moment, I was not a human but a beast. A beast with a fanatical obsession with victory.

Anguish erupted.

Anger surged. Fiery emotions raged through my chest.

Strangely, the moment I let go of reason, my senses began sharpening as though the world were slowing down. Every mode of thought and all five senses were mobilized for battle.

I raised my head.

I saw the giant’s face. The one-eyed giant gazed at me as though mocking me, its hands wrapped around its neck. Swordmaster Carlos’s face overlapped with the giant’s. No, not only Carlos’s face. I saw my mother’s face as she told me not to seek revenge, the face of the steward who had sobbed while leaving the estate, and the faces of the villagers taking their belongings elsewhere as though fleeing. And all of them told me...

To give up. To forget. Not to think of standing against him.

That I could never win.

I still could not obey them.

I simply held my sword in silence.

And in that moment, when I felt about to lose consciousness...

“...”

A single 「path」 began to appear.

Clearly different from anything I had seen before.

A 「path」 of light shaped like a single ray, flickering like a comet piercing the night sky.