Ascension Through Skills

“You, you!”

“I have something to ask.”

“This piece of shit!”

The flying giant returned, grinding his teeth.

“Tiny human! You are dead!”

They charged at him. Taesan clicked his tongue; it seemed he would have to knock them all down to get an answer.

As he clenched his fist, a huge sound echoed in the distance.

It was the sound of horse hooves, accompanied by the clashing of iron armor. The faces of the charging giants turned pale.

“Damn it. It’s the knights!”

“Let’s run away!”

“Bu-but, brother!”

Their gaze shifted to the fallen giant, but only for a moment. The giant they called brother nodded.

“Leave him!”

“Yes!”

They fled in a hurry.

Taesan calmly waited for the sound of the horse hooves to draw closer, and soon the source of the sound appeared.

It was a giant wearing medieval armor, like in the movies. From his neat appearance and well-maintained armor, he seemed to be a high-ranking giant.

“Did those guys abandon their brother?”

The armored giant looked puzzled at the fallen giant, then his gaze settled on Taesan.

Taesan waved his hand.

“Hello?”

The giant looked at Taesan with confusion.

“A human? How does a being like you exist in our world?”

“Lucky he recognizes me.”

It seemed there was no need for a lengthy explanation. The giant looked back and forth between Taesan and the fallen giant.

“Did you bring him down?”

Taesan nodded. The perplexed giant smiled.

“Impressive.”

“Lord!”

Soon, with the sound of clashing iron, dozens of soldiers arrived from the direction the giant had come from.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

The giant they called the lord clicked his tongue.

“Tie him up. And be careful not to step on him.”

“What?”

The soldiers’ gazes turned to Taesan and the fallen giant.

“What’s that?”

“Why is it so small?”

They murmured among themselves, bound the fallen giant with ropes, and dragged him away.

The mounted giant spoke.

“Thank you. These pests have been quite a headache.”

“Annoying guys, huh?”

“They were thieves who robbed people passing by. Their skills weren’t great, but they were adept at running away, which had become a nuisance. It worked out well.”

The giant laughed heartily and extended his hand.

“What is your name?”

“Kang Taesan.”

“That’s an unusual name. I am Umberak. It may not be much in return for the trouble you’ve taken on my behalf, but how about visiting my territory? I’ll receive you grandly.”

“Okay.”

Taesan accepted.

Taesan needed to find the king of the giants here. To do that, he first required information about what this place was, and what he had to do to achieve his goals.

The giant before him, Umberak, appeared to be of a considerably high rank. There was a good chance he possessed the information Taesan sought.

When Taesan agreed, Umberak laughed contentedly.

“A precious guest. I should throw a festival.”

Pleased, he soon adopted an ambiguous smile.

“But how to…”

The size difference between them was too vast. A giant’s casual step covered more ground than a human’s full sprint. Moreover, he was on a horse, making the speed difference even more pronounced.

“It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Taesan stamped his foot and climbed onto the back of the horse, securing his position. Umberak watched in admiration as Taesan reached a height ten times his own in an instant.

“Impressive. No need to worry, then.”

Umberak kicked the horse’s side. With a neigh, the horse started running towards the distant territory.

The horse’s speed was incredibly fast. It was slower than Taesan’s full sprint, but Lee Taeyeon or Kang Jun-hyeok could never catch up.

‘A race that could rival the transcendents.’

After riding for several minutes, they arrived at the territory. It resembled a medieval city from the movies.

“Open the gates! Your lord has returned!”

Soon, the gates opened. Soldiers hurried to their positions.

“You have arrived!”

“Let everyone rejoice!”

Umberak smiled broadly.

“Finally caught the pesky black plunderer!”

The soldiers erupted in cheers, and the lord raised his fist.

“Today is a festival! Let the residents know!”

The soldiers responded briefly and dispersed.

Taesan followed Umberak into a huge room and lay down to rest. The bed was the size of a small hill.

Lying there, Taesan closed his eyes for a rest, but that night, Umberak entered the room.

“The festival is about to start. Will you join us?”

Taesan got up.

They were in a giant village.

At its center, numerous giants gathered, chatting and laughing. In the middle, a bonfire roared, with all sorts of food and drinks being passed around.

And there was the black plunderer, tied to a pillar.

“Throw stones! The thief who stole our property!”

The giants threw pebbles. To them, just pebbles, but to Taesan, they were like falling rocks. The pelted giant screamed.

“Don’t throw!”

“Everyone, look here!”

Umberak shouted loudly, and all eyes turned to him as he pointed at Taesan.

“This small being is the one who subdued the black plunderer!”

“What’s that?”

“…Is that a human?”

“So small. I might accidentally step on him.”

They murmured among themselves. Their reaction was natural. It was impossible for them to calmly accept a being completely different from themselves.

But their bewilderment was short-lived.

In less than five minutes, they resumed chatting and offered food to Taesan.

“How do we feed someone so small?”

“Chef! Make a special dish for him!”

As he accepted their offerings, Taesan realized something.

This was a world of giants, and he was a human.

That made him an outsider. And in any world, outsiders were usually shunned.

History on Earth proved this. People were discriminated against for having a different skin color, let alone being from a different species. So Taesan had expected it would be difficult to gather information.

But it wasn’t.

The giants welcomed him without showing any fear.

Their boldness and confidence were evident.

Despite his status as an outsider, they did not regard him as a threat. To them, he was merely a guest.

Umberak, who was enjoying the festival, approached with laughter.

“Are you having fun?”

“Sort of.”

Taesan put some food in his mouth. It was a tiny dish, crudely prepared by a drunk chef, but it was the first time in a while that he had enjoyed such a meal.

“That’s good. We’ve never hosted such a small human before, so I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Umberak took a large gulp from his enormous cup.

“So, let me ask. What brings you to our world?”

Umberak’s expression turned serious.

“I welcome you, but as a lord, I have to inquire for the sake of our land. It’s been nearly five hundred years since a human visited our world, as far as I’m aware.”

“For magic.”

Taesan saw no reason to hide his purpose, so he responded candidly.

“The god of magic sent me to spread magic throughout your world and to make his name known.”

“The god of magic?”

Umberak appeared intrigued and stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Magic… It’s been ages since I last heard of it, not since the ancient texts I read in my youth.”

It seemed that magic had indeed become a completely forgotten power in this land, just as the god of magic had claimed.

“To establish that here…”

Umberak’s expression was ambiguous as he contemplated.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“We have no use for magic.”

His words conveyed unwavering certainty.

“Furthermore, such matters would require the attention of our king. But I lack the authority to make such arrangements.”

“How can I meet the king?”

“It’s difficult.”

Umberak gave a bitter smirk.

“Even I cannot see the king without a legitimate reason, much less an outsider like you.”

The situation was as expected. It would be impossible for an outsider, especially one not even of the same species, to easily gain an audience with the king of another race. He would need some notable accomplishment or something of equal significance.

“Of course, as an outsider, you might meet someone related to the king, but it’s unlikely you’ll meet the king himself. However, if there is any possibility…”

Umberak paused, lost in thought before he continued.

“We are giants. We revere strength and worship the strong. If you can prove your own strength, it might be possible.”

‘Proving strength.’

That was the problem.

As Taesan mulled over this, Umberak interrupted his thoughts.

“Did you come from the labyrinth?”

“You know about it?”

“It’s well-known even to us. A place where talented and exceptional beings from different worlds gather. But none of us go there.”

Umberak’s voice remained even as he spoke.

“Because we are naturally strong. We have no need to venture into the labyrinth to grow stronger. The same applies to magic. Strong as we are, we find no use for such things.”

Boooooom.

As Umberak finished speaking, a horn sounded.

The reveling giants halted their festivities, a fiery look igniting in their eyes.

“They’ve come today too.”

Umberak grinned and stood up.

“Want to see?”

Taesan nodded.

An unsettling power emanated from the outskirts of the city, a power Taesan had encountered several times before.

‘They’ve come this far.’

“These are the beings invading our world. Repulsive and worthless creatures.”

Umberak bared his teeth in disgust.

“Everyone, stand up! Our enemy has arrived!”

With a rallying cry, Umberak charged forward, the other giants at his heels.

Once the giants had all moved out, Taesan set off in pursuit.

He sprinted, his feet kicking off the walls of the buildings, as he made his way toward the source of the sinister power. Before the giants stood a rift. A purple rift shimmered atop a large mound, and as it tore open, monsters began to emerge.

Krrrrr.

Vile, dense creatures spilled forth.

A system window popped up before Taesan.

[Monster 182851 has appeared.]

A monster with a six-digit number, indicative of the lower ranks.

Several C-grade monsters materialized.

The monsters that had trampled Earth appeared in the giants’ world as well. But this wasn’t particularly surprising.

The Demon God had said it: “The High Gods have trampled countless worlds, more than 250, in fact.”

Earth was not the first world they destroyed. They had shattered many worlds and planned to destroy more. It wasn’t odd that the giants’ world was among them.

“Everyone!”

Umberak laughed boisterously.

“Let the battle begin!”

The giants roared and charged at the monsters.

The monsters began their attack.

The monsters were as large as the giants, rivaling their size. This wasn’t surprising since Taesan had seen such sizes on Earth before.

What was astonishing was the strength of the giants.

C-grade monsters were something that players who had cleared Normal Mode could defeat.

They were weak compared to Hard Mode but not absolutely so.

If they had possessed such power before the labyrinth appeared, they could have overturned a nation alone.

“Haaaa!”

Umberak swung his sword with a shout, and the struck C-grade monster staggered.

The monster counterattacked, swinging a giant tentacle at Umberak. He scoffed and swung his fist.

The tentacle was sent flying.

Umberak plunged his sword into the monster’s body.

It wasn’t just Umberak who was active.

The giants, previously enjoying the festival in their everyday clothes, also swung fists and clubs, bringing down C-grade monsters.

They didn’t subdue them as easily as Umberak did, but by combining their strength, they defeated them.

With that power, they could probably defeat B-grade monsters. The giants were as strong as they claimed.

Taesan watched from a distance.

Umberak, having defeated the last monster, shouted with a relieved face.

“We have won! Let’s all raise a toast to victory!”

They resumed their festival. By the time it ended, it was quite late. Taesan returned to his room and lay down on the huge bed.

Looking up at the ceiling, he said,

“A race that could rival the Transcendents. They don’t seem like it, though.”