Chapter 87

Leon’s reaction was a perfectly natural one. How was one supposed to believe that the person who taught martial arts to the Titans was none other than the Holy King Rodrick himself? Leon had never seen it in any book in the library, nor had he ever heard such a story from anyone.

Of course, ever since “obtaining” El-Cid, he’d heard a number of stories of that sort—but no matter how often he heard them, he couldn’t help being shocked each time. They were hidden histories even renowned scholars were unaware of.

If it hadn’t been El-Cid himself saying it, even Leon would have doubted it. That was how much weight Rodrick’s name truly carried.

Meanwhile, El-Cid was lost in his memories. He couldn’t care less about how shocked Leon was.

—Sure, they manage on their own now, but back then, they couldn’t understand a word I said. It was a nightmare. Man, if only it weren’t for that goddamn Goddess...

“Huh? What’s the Goddess got to do with this?”

—What do you mean, ‘why’? She dumped the whole thing on me.

With no particular intention to hide anything, El-Cid casually began unraveling the story behind that hidden history.

—You know the origin of the Titans, right?

“Yeah, something about a bunch of ogres receiving wisdom from the Goddess...”

—Right, that part’s true. The Giant King begged her for mercy, and she granted him wisdom. Before that, they were all just dumb ogres. And the part about being tasked with guarding the dimensional fissures deep in this mountain range is also true.

El-Cid took a brief pause, then added with his voice sharpened, —You think they were eloquent and skilled fighters from the beginning? They were a bunch of mumbling meatheads whose brains had just started working. I’m the one who turned them into functioning beings.

“You’ve got to be kidding...”

—Just hear me out!

Leon broke into a cold sweat as he got a sense of what was about to come, and El-Cid exploded in outrage, using Leon’s reaction as fuel. The Holy Sword even trembled in tune with that emotion.

—That damn wench! She dumped a bunch of oversized toddlers on me and just said, ‘I’ll leave them to you~’! What, did she think I was running a daycare? A hero’s supposed to babysit?

It was, unfortunately, just as Leon had guessed. The “blessing of wisdom” merely awakened their intelligence; it didn’t fill them with any necessary knowledge.

It had been more than three hundred years, but El-Cid’s fury was still fresh. The resentment he’d built up from being used by the Goddess again and again was so intense that any Inquisitor who heard him now would declare it blasphemy and burn him at the stake.

Leon listened with one ear and let it out the other, quietly revising his impression of the Goddess he hadn’t even heard speak yet.

The Goddess is good, that’s for sure... But she sure roughens people up.

Even the great Rodrick had apparently balked at her demands. The average person probably couldn’t even handle a single one of her missions. Not exactly reassuring, considering Leon’s own future as a Hero.

—

Ugh

, dammit. If I’d known she was going to wring me dry like this, I never would’ve taken the Hero’s mantle or the Holy Sword. Even that Demon King’s immortality would’ve crumbled eventually if I shredded him up a thousand times.

From the Demon King’s perspective, it was a blessing in disguise that he got destroyed as quickly as he did. Maybe the Goddess had known what Rodrick would have done to him and had taken pity on him.

—Anyway, that was a long tangent. Like I said, I was the one who taught the Titans their martial arts. Just the basics—how to train their bodies, how to use weapons, some basic tactics.

“That Hell’s Club place, too?”

—That one, I don’t remember. They probably came up with that themselves. Bit extreme, sure, but it looked decent enough. It would work.

It seemed the training hall had been created by the Titans themselves. To repeat such torturous training for decades and still maintain that level of motivation—Leon had to admit, it was impressive.

As Leon nodded in agreement, El-Cid returned to the thread he’d lost in his complaining.

—Still, there was one guy I trained properly. He awakened his intelligence even without the Goddess’s blessing. By human standards, he was a genius.

“The Giant King...”

—That’s right.

El-Cid confirmed it in a single word and continued, —That guy probably raised the entire standard of Titan martial arts by himself. Even after learning from me, he must’ve refined it for centuries. By now, I’d bet he’s well past the level of Master.

A Titan who’d reached the realm of a Master! Leon had half-suspected as much, but actually imagining that power sent chills down his spine.

He had faced the Titans in eleven bouts. Each and every one of them had massive muscular bodies that were both powerful and flexible. On top of that, they were born strong and intelligent enough to grasp martial principles. And though hard to make significant progress, they could even wield basic Aura.

Could five human Masters win against him...?

Some of the Titan warriors could fight Leon evenly when all they could do with Aura was strengthen their bodies. If a Titan reached the same level as an Aura Master, it was only natural they'd be several times stronger than a human counterpart.

The Giant King was the undisputed leader of the Titans, whose strength had been building for three centuries. Just imagining the scale of that yet-unseen being made Leon tremble.

El-Cid’s voice pulled him out of that tension.

—Leon. For now, just keep doing what you were doing. Spar with the giants. It’s not often you get a chance to fight life-or-death battles with the guarantee that you won’t actually die

“But what if I end up meeting the Giant King soon?”

—What if you do? It’s not like you’ll be fighting him. If you did, you’d die in one hit. What’s the point of maintaining your condition if you can’t even beat the village chieftain?

“

Ow

. Harsh.”

Every word stung, but Leon couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. Painful as it was to hear, El-Cid was right, and what he had to do now was hone his strength.

In the Titan village, worthiness meant one thing: strength. He needed to prove himself worthy before receiving the legacy of Rodrick the Giant King guarded.

***

The gust of wind that followed the blade swept past his hair. Dodging the sword by just three inches, Leon didn’t miss the opening and fully escaped from his opponent’s range.

No matter what, he had to avoid getting caught in a combo. He’d gotten a good sense for fighting Titans over the past few days, but even a glancing blow was still dangerous. The difference in strength between humans and Titans was just that great.

“Damn! You keep slipping away just when I think I’ve got you!”

Drugo, the dual-blade Titan who had once again let Leon escape, chased after him with a furious expression.

Every time Drugo swung his twin swords forged from the spine of a basilisk, the air split with a ripping sound. They were unimaginably sharp despite their blunt appearance.

Thankfully, his chaining of attacks was a bit sloppy. If it had been more polished, Leon would’ve been cornered long ago. However, he had already seen through those weaknesses.

For someone using dual blades, he’s way too aggressive.

The martial art of twin swords was, contrary to its lethal reputation, largely defensive in nature. Most dual-wielding techniques split the roles between the swords—one for blocking, the other for striking. Even when both were used offensively, purely aggressive styles were rare.

Above all, contrary to popular belief, twin blades had more limited trajectories than single swords.

Attacking from two directions at once is powerful, sure—but that’s all they’ve got going for them.

With his Rodrick’s Vision, Leon had long since pinpointed the gaps in Drugo’s technique. The only reason he hadn’t exploited them was the gap in reach—and even that wasn’t insurmountable.

Leon had been coldly laying the groundwork for several minutes now. His evasions—close enough to look like luck, always a hair’s breadth from being hit—were all a trap to lure Drugo in.

Almost.

Leon saw Drugo’s eyes widen with excitement. Rising bloodlust was a powerful weapon, but it was also a drug that made one lose composure. Veteran warriors knew where the line was and adjusted accordingly, but Drugo lacked the experience.

That was exactly why he fell for Leon’s trap without a second thought.

“Take this, Leon!”

Two slashes came at Leon nearly simultaneously: a vertical cut and a horizontal sweep. It was a cross-shaped attack meant to shred anything caught between and Drugo’s so-called trump card.

If caught, it would be hard to dodge, and Leon didn’t have the strength to block both swings. As Drugo’s eyes gleamed with certainty of victory—

There it is.

Leon hurled himself forward, just half a beat ahead of the point where the two blades crossed.

“What?!”

Drugo let out a cry of disbelief as Leon slipped through the eye of the storm—the blind spot in the intersecting blades. This was a weakness he had never realized because he had never fought someone human-sized before.

However, despite that shock, Drugo’s battle instincts were fierce. The moment he realized his mistake, instead of freezing or retreating, he lunged in for a headbutt.

El-Cid was quietly impressed.

—

Oh

? Not bad.

To respond with a counterattack instead of leaving his guard open when his technique failed showed how sharp his battle instincts were, despite the lack of ability to read the flow of battle. If Leon had been just slightly less experienced, that headbutt might have flattened him, but that wasn’t the case.

Leon dodged it cleanly and struck Drugo at the base of the neck. He used the hilt, not the blade—but if he’d wanted to, he could’ve taken Drugo’s head off. The Titan didn’t deny it either.

“

Tch

... I lost.”

A human would’ve blacked out on the spot, but Drugo simply let his swords fall and admitted defeat. Leon had wrapped up his tenth match with a win. That made it seven wins and three losses.

Didn’t even feel the hit to the neck, huh.

Even as he stood victorious, Leon clicked his tongue in disbelief. The hilt of his sword was solid and heavy. It was no different than a blunt weapon, and yet the Titan felt no damage at all.

There might be no more useless weapon against Titans than a club. Unless it was a massive iron mace like the one that Caesare used, hitting them with some regular hammer would amount to nothing more than a massage.

“Drugo lost! This is why dual-bladers are hopeless!”

“

Bwahaha

! I can’t believe Leon charged through that cross-cut! If his timing had been off, he’d be sliced into four pieces!”

“No way a warrior like Leon would back down from that! Of course not!”

The surrounding Titans erupted in cheers, but it had become a usual activity by now. Leon had been sparring with them for over a week now, and during that time, many of them had grown fond of him. They now called out his name like he was one of their own, especially those who had fought him themselves.

The Titans had spent decades living the same life over and over. A fight with an outsider like Leon was a welcome thrill.

“Alright, I’m next! Face my trident!”

“The hell you are! It’s my turn!”

“What was that!? You wanna settle this, Arul?!”

“Why not?! Bring it!”

Before Leon could intervene, two Titans crashed into each other. The others just laughed and egged them on instead of stopping them. For Titans, fighting and talking weren’t that different, which was why debates often became brawls.

“

Hah

, what a mess,” Leon muttered, rubbing his nose at the usual scene.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

That’s when he sensed someone approaching from behind. He turned around to see Balkan, the Chief-Warrior-tier Titan and the chieftain of the village.

“Chieftain Balkan? What brings you here?” Leon asked.

Muscles even more rugged than the others, Balkan glanced around and leaned in to whisper—though, with the shouting match going on, it was hard to hear him anyway.

“Follow me quietly. He’s summoned you.”

Leon’s face hardened as he realized what that meant. There was only one person Balkan could refer to as “he.”

The Giant King had called for him.

It was finally time to fulfill the purpose he’d come to the Titan Mountains for, to receive the legacy Rodrick had left behind long ago.