Chapter 407: Eighty-Ninth Floor, A Nation for Giants (5)

[Primary objective: avoid the giants’ gaze and meet the Giant Resistance. Time remaining: 13 hours 54 minutes.]

The tunnel was long and winding—too long to remain silent the entire time. Well, I didn’t see a reason not to chat in the first place.

I needed information about this place, and the small giant wanted assurance that I was an ally. Naturally, conversation flowed as we walked.

The small giant’s name was Tiring. Given his size, I had expected a rough, heavy-sounding name that matched his bulk. Contrary to expectations, though, his name was rather endearing.

A surprising contrast. Then again, I suppose it makes sense. He is a giant to me, but to other giants, he is the small one.

We talked a little more about his age, and Tiring grumbled something about how the difference in species made such things irrelevant.

However, he ultimately went along with it after I released some of my power. I wanted to avoid unnecessary suspicion about my capabilities, and I made sure not to overwhelm him with my presence.

Perhaps because of that, Tiring seemed slightly exhilarated. There was a buoyant optimism in his demeanor, characteristic of someone young. He wasn’t openly showing it, but he was probably imagining that I could save them.

Anyway, our exchange led to a useful revelation about the relationship between giants and the miniatures. Tiring admitted he didn’t know everything, but he shared what he could with sincerity.

“The tinies... they’re small devils that control people.”

His story reached back into the past.

While excavating for ore, the giants had come across a massive iron door buried deep beneath the surface, etched with strange symbols.

Their curiosity led them to open it, and beyond it lay an underground world—the home of the tinies.

Apparently, the first meeting was friendly, despite the sheer difference between their species.

The giants, non-aggressive by nature, had approached cautiously but gradually began to interact with the tinies.

At first, it was a one-sided relationship, with the giants constantly offering help.

The tinies had lived in total darkness, deep underground, surviving off of minuscule bugs that appeared as mere dots to a giant’s eyes. To them, the bright world above and the enormous creatures within it were terrifying threats.

Then, the giants got stabbed in the back.

Tiring didn’t know much about what had happened after that. It wasn’t clear whether he had heard and had simply forgotten, or had never bothered to ask in the first place.

The latter seems more likely.

His parents were likely members of the Giant Resistance, so he would have grown up harboring blind rage toward the tiny devils and a deep desire for revenge.

I didn’t find his lack of knowledge particularly regrettable. I figured I would get more details once I met the resistance myself.

Still, something felt off.

I swear the controllers seemed stronger when I saw them.

It wasn’t as if the giants were too weak to notice something like that. That part didn’t quite add up.

There were two possible explanations.

One, the tinies were truly weak in the beginning and grew stronger after encountering a new world. We climbers had experienced something similar after we entered the tower and awakened magical powers.

Second, the controllers had concealed their strength.

Even so, the first possibility felt more plausible. The idea that no giant had realized the truth didn’t hold water. Still, I couldn’t say for certain.

Hmm.

The farther I walked along the tunnel with Tiring, the stronger my sense of unease grew. This unease was a product of experience and intuition shaped by countless trials.

Considering that the tower had converted this floor into a personal challenge floor, the beginning had gone far too smoothly. Some things didn’t sit right.

More often than not, floors that began this calmly turned vicious later on.

Especially the higher-up floors.

I was also feeling a faint jolt of discomfort, which was an instinctual warning about something unknown.

I don’t have Soulbound with me either.

Having anticipated that the eighty-ninth floor would be practically free, I had used the Dimensional Forge voucher, but the trial had changed.

According to the master craftsman, upgrading my axe would take about two days. Around twenty-four hours had passed in the waiting room, and I had another twenty-four hours to clear this floor’s first objective.

If it took me the full time to finish this objective, I could potentially obtain Soulbound shortly after finishing it. Sadly, I wasn’t even sure if I could retrieve it while conquering this floor.

There is a chance I will have to fight without it.

Of course, I always kept spare weapons inside Mung-chi, but none of them came close to Soulbound. They were barely passable substitutes. I wasn’t particularly picky about weapons, but the better the tool, the better the outcome, especially against a formidable opponent.

The old saying that a true craftsman doesn’t blame their tools was a lie. That only applied to minor tasks.

The higher one’s mastery, the more they come to care about their tools.

They understood them better than anyone.

Well, there isn’t anything I can do about it now.

I truly hadn’t expected this floor to change. On second thought, even if Natalie had told me, it wouldn’t have helped—I used the voucher before entering her world. By then, it was already too late to go back.

Perhaps that was why Natalie had held her tongue. Even if she had said something, it wouldn’t have changed a thing. She probably wanted me to conserve my strength.

For now, I would have to make do with the spare axe I bought.

It is usable, but not particularly good.

If things got dicey, I would have to rely on Lung Shark’s Dagger again. It was a god’s favored blade, imbued with the absurd ability to block any attack, albeit with one caveat.

It wasn’t all-powerful and didn’t work on gods. That was why I hadn’t used it during the battle with Endless Furnace.

Still, it is better than a mediocre axe.

Even if my opponent happened to be a god.

I stopped that line of thought as I turned a corner. The tunnel hadn’t been dug in a straight line and twisted continuously. It wound in every direction, branching off into countless paths.

Clearly, the creators intended to confuse anyone who entered the tunnel without permission.

We had already passed dozens of intersections, yet Tiring never once hesitated. I wondered if there were markings to guide him, although I hadn’t spotted any. He had apparently memorized every twist and turn.

Perhaps a good memory was also required for members sent out on missions.

After all, anyone who is observant enough can discover markings.

If I were in charge, I would have had everyone memorize the path, too. With no signs or clues, it would be nearly impossible to find the correct route without checking every single passage.

Alternatively, the paths could all be connected and designed to allow attacks from any direction at any time.

I had no idea how long we had been walking when Tiring finally stopped midway down a dead-end tunnel. A ladder was propped up at the end of it, and above it, an iron trapdoor led into the ceiling.

Tiring turned to face me. “Let’s stop here for a moment. One of my comrades is above, and I will have to speak with them first. If we go up together, they probably won’t open the door.”

I bobbed my head slightly. “Sure.”

Tiring deliberately stepped loudly as he approached the door, seemingly signaling whoever was above. He climbed the ladder and knocked on the iron trapdoor three times.

From above, someone dryly stated, “Dawn, autumn, letter breeze.”

“Weight, promise, vow, heart.”

They had exchanged some kind of coded password. Just in case, I memorized both sequences.

Clunk.

Right after the sound of a metal latch being undone echoed, Tiring hurriedly called out, “Wait a moment!”

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

“There’s an ally with me.”

Clunk!

The latch had slammed back into place with surprising speed. Honestly, it was impressive.

Even among comrades, they didn’t let their guard down. It was understandable, given the circumstances.

“An ally?” the other member asked, full of suspicion.

“It’s kind of complicated to explain. He’s mid-sized.”

“Mid-sized?”

“How should I put it,

umm.

He’s bigger than the tinies but much smaller than us. Anyway, he said he came from another world to help us.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

The other side of the iron trapdoor grew noisy—someone had placed something heavy over it. Apparently, Tiring’s explanation hadn’t been very convincing.

Should I intervene?

I briefly considered it, but that would only deepen their suspicion. I decided to wait a little longer.

First impressions were important. Any misunderstanding between us could eventually be cleared up, but a bad first impression would never go away.

“Sir! I swear I’m not betraying anyone. Why would I? I’ve got no reason to do that. It’s just hard to explain, but he’s definitely not a tiny. Aren’t tinies supposed to be the size of a finger? His kind are way bigger than that!”

He didn’t receive a response.

A long silence followed, heavy with discomfort, before the voice from above responded, “The sea howls at the sky.”

“Do not hate your fellow man. It is but a trick of the enemy.”

Silence returned, and during that brief pause, I committed the new phrases to memory. The silence, thick with suspicion, dragged on. I could sense the other side’s hesitation.

Tiring likely couldn’t hear it, but someone was murmuring faintly behind the trapdoor.

Just as Tiring opened his mouth to plead once more, someone moved whatever had been blocking the iron trapdoor.

“Wait there. I’ll come down and check myself. Step back and speak clearly so I can hear you.”

“Okay!”

Tiring turned back, walking toward me with even heavier footsteps than before. He was visibly anxious.

Moments later, the door opened, and someone lowered their massive head through the opening. The middle-aged face scanned Tiring first, then shifted toward me.

I released a subtle trace of my pressure. Not enough to provoke them, but enough to leave an impression.

“Not a tiny, then.”

Without bothering to use the ladder, the giant simply leapt down from above. The iron trapdoor clanged shut behind him.

Although this giant had jumped down, another had stayed above. Based on what I sensed, the resistance members worked in pairs

The man looked at Tiring with a measured gaze before turning his full attention to me. “You’ve got some explaining to do. What exactly are you?”

***

[Primary objective: avoid the giants’ gaze and meet the Giant Resistance. Time remaining: 12 hours 27 minutes.]

Persuading this giant proved more difficult than expected. Tiring had been relatively easy to deal with, thanks to Natalie, but this one was different.

Instead of relying on her again, I opened a portal to the rest area. I wanted to show him the people I had rescued.

To be honest, the delay was irritating me slightly. Because of that, I limited the portal to five meters wide to force the giant to crawl through.

Although some people would consider that petty, it was a calculated move. If I had opened a full fifteen-meter portal, the giant could have come charging out and frightened the inhabitants of the rest area.

Some discomfort on his part is necessary.

Information gained too easily often couldn’t be trusted. Even if forcing him to crawl seemed like a minor issue, it created just enough friction to matter.

In the end, after the various races in the rest area called me their savior, the giant nodded slowly. He hadn’t dispelled all of his doubts, but he had accepted most of my claims.

From the beginning, I had emanated pressure so that he knew I wasn’t weak. Thanks to that, he hadn’t scrutinized my strength.

Eventually, I was able to pass through the iron trapdoor and meet the leader of the Giant Resistance. He was twenty meters tall, at least five meters taller than the others.

His name was Kireing.

Though his name sounded similar to Tiring’s, the resemblance ended there. He had rough features, appeared more brutish, and radiated an entirely different level of strength.

Still, unlike the others, he didn’t seem particularly suspicious of me.

If anything, he greeted me with unexpected friendliness. “You look just as formidable as the strength you carry.”

“Thank you. Did you know I was coming?”

“No, I just heard about your arrival. Why?”

“Because you don’t seem nearly as suspicious as the others.”

Kireing let out a light laugh. “I didn’t become the leader through blind luck. I take pride in knowing how to read people, even someone like you, a mid-sized.”

“I see.” I nodded quietly.

Despite his overwhelming strength and intimidating appearance, his gaze carried a certain sharpness.

“Well then, let’s get to the matter at hand.” Kireing seemingly had little patience for idle talk.

That suited me just fine.

After a brief exchange, he started sharing about the giants’ history, specifically about the initial betrayal.

“At first, they took over His Majesty the King and the Royal Guard. It all happened in one night, and no one noticed. Then the corruption slowly started to spread.”

From his expression, I could tell that he was recalling a painful memory—he had been there.

“My father, the Grand General, realized what was happening far too late. He tried to gather the army, but it was already too late.”

He clenched his jaw.

“One of the tinies appeared like a demon. It didn’t ride a giant like the others. Even though it was the size of a finger, it shattered mountains larger than us and obliterated entire divisions of our troops.”

For a brief moment, fear flickered across Kireing’s face.

Just like that, I realized that was the enemy I would face on this floor.