When Zara arrived in the room, he saw a giant with skin the color of green, corroded copper fighting an enormous deva.
It was not a party or a group.
A single warrior was fighting against the strongest deva one-on-one.
There was no doubt that he had cleared the path to this room all by himself.
He must have been a tremendous warrior.
But what country was he from?
Zara had never seen a person with that skin color before. He had heard that some of the barbarian tribes that lived in the Jami Forest had strange skin colors, so that might have been where the warrior was from.
The top half of his body was bare, he was wearing a modest loincloth over his waist, and he was completely barefoot, so he looked just like a barbarian warrior.
The muscles throughout his body were well developed. His head was hairless. His lips were thick. His face was bony, and he had a protruding chin.
His eyes were large and contained a calm light that made it seem as if he had stifled his anger. His nose was long and thick.
What stood out more than anything was his weapon. It had the appearance of a long knife used to prepare large fish, but it was significantly bigger.
Zara was about five and a half feet tall, but the warrior was over eight. The blade was even longer than that. It was also slightly wider than Zara’s shoulder width.
The giant warrior was swinging around that fearsome lump of iron, which couldn’t even be considered a sword, as if it were a rapier.
It was an incredibly powerful sword, but there was nothing rough about the way he handled it.
His swordsmanship was polished, with no wasted movements. He had perfect control over his body. His muscles contained outrageous strength. He had a mastery of the sword that didn’t suggest a hint of showiness.
He was all those things, as well as limber. He was as graceful as a leopard, and his movements had a wildness and a uniqueness to them that Zara had not seen in any of the schools of swordsmanship he had studied.
Judging by Alestra’s words, the warrior’s skin and figure were probably not exactly as they appeared to Zara. But his movements, his presence, and his sound swordsmanship were definitely real. It was unbelievable that anyone could fight in a place full of miasma so thick that an ordinary person would be killed in an instant.
The world is a big place.
To think there is a warrior this strong in it.
This man is a hero.
The deva he was fighting overwhelmed Zara with its gigantic size. It had the shape of a giant tree that was thousands of years old.
Its four tentacles were powerful and quick. The thickness of each tentacle roughly matched the average person’s height. They also had enough destructive force to smash through rock. One blow from them would probably be lethal, even for the giant.
That the giant was able to engage it calmly was incredible.
The first thing Zara did was activate the invisibility of Bolton’s Charm and attempt to strike the hard trunk with Bora’s Sword. He didn’t even scratch it.
Next he stored his shield, pulled out his Tirika Bow, and fired an arrow. He learned that attacks were effective against the parts of the deva that could move.
The giant warrior cut down one of the deva’s tentacles. Then, without a moment’s delay, Zara hit the stump with Summon Comet. The blast claimed another of the deva’s tentacles, but that was the extent of the damage.
Why didn’t it explode?
Where did all that magic energy go?
The fallen tentacle gently rose into the air and rejoined to the deva’s main body. It was a bit shorter than before.
But a moment later, the deva’s body wriggled, and the tentacle returned to its original length.
No way… Does it absorb magical energy and use it to repair its body?
Zara lifted his invisibility and started to fire arrows while moving around. That way, he could distract the deva and make it easier for the copper-skinned warrior to fight.
While acting as a decoy, Zara went over what he had learned.
First, he absolutely could not use magic attacks with any significant amount of magic power against this enemy. However, attacks that had only a small amount of magic power like the Tirika Bow’s arrows were surprisingly effective. Even if they didn’t damage the deva, they could divert its attention.
The roots of the deva and the tips of its tentacles were hardened. This rendered them immobile but also impervious to attacks.
The giant warrior is relentlessly attacking the tentacle he cut down. Why is he doing that?
The tentacle the giant warrior was attacking was eventually absorbed back into the main body and returned to its original position, but it was clearly smaller than before.
Oh, I understand what he’s doing!
Basically, he was focusing on building up the total amount of damage inflicted. By doing that, they could whittle down the deva’s body and weaken it.
Zara increased the intensity of his arrows and drew the deva’s attention.
Mana was required to form the arrows of the Tirika Bow and fire them. But Bora’s Sword had a continuous mana regen blessing, so he could fire as many arrows as he wanted.
The addition of Zara changed the state of the battle significantly. It was happening slowly, but the deva was clearly shrinking. The balance of the battle was tipping toward Zara and the giant warrior.
The battle continued in this way for some time, and then the deva began to transform. With the sound of rock being broken apart, the roots that were spread across the ground retracted and turned into two giant legs, each landing with a thud as it started to walk. Every one of its tentacles split in two, making eight in total.
It was much more flexible than before and was capable of a greater variety of attacks, which made it much more difficult to deal with. But this transformation was welcomed by Zara and the giant warrior.
They were in greater danger of getting hit, but they also had more opportunities to deal damage. The part on the ground had been completely invulnerable, but now they would undoubtedly be able to injure it.
The giant warrior attacked the deva’s right leg.
It got smaller!
He jumped back to dodge the tentacles, then instantly attacked the right leg again. He performed that action repeatedly.
Zara felt inspired by the persistence of the giant warrior.
While diverting the deva’s attention with arrows, Zara waited for a specific timing. The moment he was waiting for came when the deva lifted its right leg in order to kick the giant warrior.
“Summon Comet!”
Zara summoned a comet and smashed the rock in front of the deva’s left leg. The deva’s balance was thrown off significantly, and it stopped moving.
Then, as if they had discussed this beforehand, the giant warrior and Zara charged simultaneously and sliced at the bottom of the deva’s left leg. The deva swayed dramatically and collapsed.
Zara and the giant warrior then slashed at the deva quickly and repeatedly. The first thing they did was cut off six tentacles, which was all of them except for the two hidden under its body.
The deva let out a strange roar and got up. But in the small amount of time it spent on the ground, they had already inflicted a significant amount of damage.
Its body had become considerably smaller.
We’re doing it!
As soon as the thought came to Zara’s mind, the deva’s body split into a countless number of tiny clusters and flew up into the air. They floated just below the ceiling of the dome, dividing and rejoining repeatedly.
They then took the shape of thousands of flying orbs with the color and pattern of internal organs, and they began to shiver. The orbs swooped down at the giant warrior and Zara and attacked them from every direction.
Zara retrieved Ende’s Shield and ran up to the giant warrior. They both stood with their backs to each other and repelled the orbs of the deva as they flew at them.