The End of a Long Battle

A One-Eyed Giant.

Its movements were ponderous, but Azu could tell it wasn't an enemy to be taken lightly.

Superficial cuts regenerated instantly, and when she cut deep, the severed muscle itself tried to clamp down on her blade and hold it in place.

She'd nearly lost her sword once.

Azu managed to avert that crisis by pouring mana into the blade at the last second, but it left her struggling to press the attack.

Elza's mace strikes were even less effective than Azu's slashes.

Its muscular defense meant that no matter how hard she swung, her blows just bounced off.

"Small or not, a One-Eyed Giant is still a One-Eyed Giant… I suppose."

Any lapse in the offensive, and the giant would bring its club crashing down.

A single hit to any part of the body would be instantly fatal.

The party's linchpin, Alexia, stood motionless in wait.

Not because she was idle—she was trying to construct a spell from her remaining scraps of mana that could actually bring down the One-Eyed Giant.

Fire magic was especially effective against regenerating monsters.

When they'd defeated Etoroki, it had been by burning through its heart.

The ambient fire energy was dense, and the flames leaking from the Fire Elemental had swelled to more than double their normal size.

There couldn't be better conditions for casting fire magic.

By now, all Yohane and Orleans could do was hide and watch the battle unfold.

Azu focused her aim on the fingers of the giant's right hand, timing her strike for the moment it slammed its club down.

She severed three of its six fingers, including the thumb.

A human hand lost enormous grip strength from losing even a single finger.

Losing the thumb was especially devastating.

Monster or not, its anatomy was similar enough to a human's. Its weaknesses overlapped to some degree.

Its sheer vitality and muscle power were beyond comparison, but that was all it had.

With those fingers gone, the giant's grip strength dropped to less than half.

It screamed in pain and swung the club it had just brought down in a sideways sweep toward Azu.

She leapt backward to dodge, but the club—slick with blood and weakened grip—slipped free and flew straight at her like a thrown projectile.

It probably hadn't been intentional, but the timing couldn't have been worse.

Hurled with the giant's full arm strength, it closed the gap in the blink of an eye.

Because she'd just jumped, Azu couldn't dodge sideways.

So she sheathed her sword in a flash and placed both hands on top of the oncoming club.

Spreading her legs wide and bracing her arms, she vaulted over it.

It was a feat only someone as light on her feet as Azu could have pulled off.

The club's momentum nearly threw off her balance, but she adjusted mid-air and stuck a clean landing.

Elza broke into applause in spite of herself.

The One-Eyed Giant glared at her irritably, and she stopped clapping, looking sheepish.

At least the fingers didn't seem to regenerate quickly. The bleeding had stopped, but they showed no signs of growing back.

Given enough time, though, who knew.

One of the iron rules of adventuring was that you should never try to outlast a monster in a contest of endurance.

Monsters fatigued far less easily than humans.

If you couldn't kill it before your stamina gave out, you lost.

Azu had been learning that lesson firsthand through this long battle.

So she committed to an all-out gambit.

The color of her right eye began to shift, fading from deep blue to an iridescent shimmer.

The power of the Creator King's Apostle.

She drew the Sealed Sword Grungaus once more.

The Apostle's power enveloped the blade.

The Water Elemental dwelling within her provided support, making the activation far more stable than when it had first awakened.

The One-Eyed Giant took its eye off Elza and fixed it on Azu.

It was clearly more wary of her now than before.

Having lost its club, it clenched its fists and charged at Azu, ignoring Elza entirely.

Its strides were long, so despite its lumbering movements, it covered ground quickly.

Elza, brushed aside, swung her mace to try to draw its attention, but the giant paid her no mind.

It wound up its intact left fist and threw a punch at Azu.

Azu swung her sword to meet the incoming left hand.

The blade carved through the One-Eyed Giant's left arm like a knife through soft butter.

She slashed through while slipping past the arm, circling behind it.

The moment the sword exited, the severed flesh knit back together and regeneration began.

Unless she cut the limb clean off, there was no stopping the healing.

Azu raised her sword overhead and brought it straight down.

Given the height difference, the blade connected at roughly chest level.

In that instant, she unleashed the Sealed Sword Grungaus's effect, amplified by the Apostle's power.

A wave of cutting force expanded outward, just as the skeleton called Kiyo had once done.

That slash bisected the One-Eyed Giant clean in two.

But even that didn't kill it.

The giant reflexively clutched its own head with both hands to keep it from sliding off.

Blood surged from the wound like a geyser, trying to seal the gash.

"What insane vitality…"

Azu said, almost in disbelief.

Her right eye's iridescent hue was already fading back to deep blue.

That was when Alexia finally leveled her battle-axe at the One-Eyed Giant.

"Get clear!"

Elza and Azu immediately bolted from the spot.

Every last drop of Alexia's remaining mana was being poured into the spell she was about to release.

A compound spell weaving fire and concussive force—on impact, it would detonate over and over until the mana ran dry.

Designed specifically to deal damage faster than regeneration could keep up.

She fired it at the One-Eyed Giant, immobilized as it desperately tried to hold itself together.

A small sphere of fire streaked toward the target and struck home.

Explosion after explosion rang out.

The bombardment continued for a short while, then fell silent.

When the smoke cleared, the One-Eyed Giant lay facedown on the ground.

Elza prodded it experimentally with her mace. It twitched once, then went still.

They'd finally brought it down.

The monster wellspring had dried up completely. This was nothing more than empty land now.

The long seal maintained by the Fire Dragon and the Fire Elemental had at last run its course, burning away the monsters little by little until the wellspring was empty.

Azu confirmed it, then fell backward. She spread her arms and legs wide and began to rest.

She was completely spent.

She wouldn't move a single step unless Yohane ordered it.

And that same Yohane was uncapping a water canteen and bringing it to the lips of the spread-eagled Azu.

It was the dead of night by the time the subjugation was finished.

The sun would start peeking over the horizon before long, and the sky would begin to lighten.

Alexia was drained of mana and sitting on the ground. Azu was flat on her back, already asleep.

Even Elza had finally sunk to the ground. Every last one of them was battered and exhausted.

Orleans was tending to the slaves.

Placing damp cloths on their foreheads and the like.

If a monster attacked them right now, mounting a defense would be difficult.

In exchange, they'd gained an enormous amount of experience.

At some point, Finn had appeared at Yohane's side.

"What are you people even doing…"

"Whoa!"

"What kind of reaction is that?"

Her voice was what finally clued Yohane in to her presence.

"My cash cow dying on me would be a problem, so I came to check on you."

"You could've lent a hand, you know."

When Yohane said that, Finn silently made a circle with her thumb and forefinger.

The universal gesture for I'd charge you.

"Well, just rest up. I'll keep watch."

"That gonna cost me too?"

"Nah, this one's on me."

As she said it, Yohane could see magic stones poking out of Finn's coat.

She'd probably swiped the ones they hadn't been able to collect.

Yohane couldn't even be bothered to call her out on it, and accepted the offer.