Chapter Sixty-Eight

Arden ran as fast as he could toward the territory core. Fortunately, the giant did a quite thorough job of destroying the Solanine defense system, so he didn’t have to worry about stumbling over a trap. That didn’t mean he didn’t stumble. In his haste, he tripped over several roots, only saved by his many years of agility training his parents forced him through. Help by the fact he was well on his way into the path of magehood.

The sound of thrashing and roars grew louder the closer he got. Despite the devastation, the fallen trees piled enough to block his view of the giant. Suddenly, something flew overhead, sending him diving to the ground. His gaze snapped up then behind him to find a chunk of root lying in a ditch of its own creation several dozen meters behind him. A shiver ran through him as imagined the root hitting him. Maybe it wasn’t so good of an idea to run toward a thrashing giant.

He pushed down his fear a moment later. Solanine was doing her part. How could he think about running away? He needed to do all he could to protect their territory. That didn’t mean he should simply run toward danger. No, he needed to take a more cautious route.

Instead of running straight toward the giant, he circled around, hoping to use the territory tree as a shield to get a better idea of the situation.

More root chunks flew in random directions, leaving scars in the land surrounding their territory tree as he ran. He tried his best to ignore the flying projectiles, which were at least double his size.

Finally, he reached the territory tree opposite the giant. Standing before it, he couldn’t help but notice how massive the tree was now. He swore it grew several meters in diameter in the last few hours. It was so massive the trunk blocked the giant from view.

Upon peeking around the trunk, he saw the roots still entangled the giant. Each chunk it ripped out regrew, though as he watched, a worrying pattern emerged. While the roots regenerated each time the giant ripped out a chunk, the regrowth slowed. Whatever defense system Solanine triggered had limits.

One look at the roots the giant ripped apart crushed any desire to summon his own to help. Though a part of him still itched to try. What if the boost strengthened his cards? Did he want to risk drawing the giant’s attention by trying? He had no doubt if the giant threw one of the root chunks at him, he would die. No, he needed to take a stealthier route. The giant didn’t seem to know where he was, so he had the element of surprise. What could he do, though?

Arden eyed the giant thrashing against the roots, restraining it, looking for ideas. His mind whirled, but any idea that came out he quickly discarded. What good would it do for him to try to control the roots? If Solanine was the one controlling them, his meddling would only step on her toes. Or worse, set the giant free.

His mind flashed back to the tool that fixed most of his recent issues. It could hurt to check its melody. As soon as he listened to the melody, his eyes widened. Similarities to the dungeon core appeared. Too many similarities to be a coincidence. A glance at the melody of the territory tree and Solanine’s muffled melody proved the similarities to the dungeon core creature weren’t universal. That meant the two had a link. Did that mean the giant was a dungeon core, too? How was that possible? He never heard of a dungeon core or even its guardian leaving the dungeon. Though to be fair, he hadn’t heard of a living dungeon core before he met one, either.

Like the living dungeon core, its melody didn’t feel right. It wasn’t as bad, but several off-tune sections worried him. The giant seemed healthy, though. Should he try to tune it? Would that make it less hostile? If it was a dungeon core did that mean he had to claim it first? So many questions with no answer in sight. He had to take it one step at a time. His best bet was to try to tune the melody.

A problem presented itself right away, however. While he could hear the melody, something blocked him from tweaking it. That discovery brought a realization that he hoped was wrong. Every other time he performed surgery on the melody, he made physical contact. There was no way he could touch the giant without drawing its attention. Actually, he was pretty sure he would meet a bad end even if he didn’t draw its attention just by standing next to it.

Before he did anything, he turned his attention to his bond. “Can you hold the giant’s legs still? I have an idea. The giant seems similar to the living dungeon core.”

Solanine’s strained voice snapped back in an instant. “What do you think I am doing? Yes, the giant is another living dungeon core. Did you forget you aren’t the only one who can hear the melody? I tried fixing the melody like you did already, but I can’t hold it and focus on the melody at the same time.”

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Despite her words, the roots shifted to hold the giant’s legs tighter. It came at a cost, though. The giant ripped an arm free and lashed out at their territory tree, sending a spike of pain through him. He needed to move quick.

Arden dashed out from behind the tree, focus locked onto the giant’s right leg. He didn’t risk looking up at the giant. It wouldn’t matter soon if he didn’t fix the melody. If fixing the melody even saved them. It was their only potential solution, so all he could do was pray to Ortus that it was the solution.

As soon as he pressed his hand to the giant’s rough skin, he dove through the melody. Unlike his last dive, he met resistance. So much resistance he lost ground within a moment. Just before the resistance pushed him out altogether, he fought back. Still, it was a losing battle. At least it was a losing battle until the blessing showed itself once more. His mind blurred forward, cutting through the resistance, but like before, the boost didn’t last long. As soon as it ended, he felt his mind go hazy as the resistance slammed into him. He grabbed out blindly, feeling his mind latch onto something just as he flew out of the melody.

The next thing he knew, he was back in his own body. His neck hairs stood on hand as he dove away from the giant. The ground rumbled as the giant’s fist slammed down where he had previously stood. Without missing a beat, he dashed behind the territory tree once more, knowing it could take a hit. At least he hoped it could. The growing pain he felt from the tree told him it didn’t have long.

Just as another spike of pain hit him as the giant struck the tree, he felt a connection he didn’t have before. His eyes traveled to the west as an image of a cave displayed in his mind. He knew right away it was one of the locations downloaded into his mind. Unlike the other locations, the image was perfectly clear. It was more than clear. He knew exactly how far away it was.

His gaze flicked between the giant and the connection, finding they were linked. Was that the giant’s dungeon? The closer he looked a frown grew. He found the source of the giant’s damaged melody. At least, he thought he did. The connection he grabbed seemed to yank at the giant, as if trying to pull it back. Its attack came at a cost. The giant didn’t show it, though. Could he take advantage of the connection and force the giant to retreat? On that thought, he reached out to the connection with his mind, but like the giant’s melody, something blocked him from interacting with it. He could only observe it.

Solanine’s voice spoke in his mind, a tingle of pain leaking through. “Do something. I can’t hold it much longer.”

An insane idea came to him. It would either end in his death or it could save them all. There was no way he could fix the giant’s melody. Even the blessing only got him close. There was a massive different from a willing or weak melody and a hostile one. That probably meant he couldn’t just dive into someone’s melody and wreck it. A shiver ran through him at the thought of what would happen if he did that. Would they implode? He didn’t want to find out, but he had a feeling he would have to, eventually.

Arden shook his head and dashed to the west. He didn’t have time to dwell on what if’s he had to take a chance while he still had time to. As he ran, it became obvious how the giant reached the territory tree. There was a path of overturned trees leading to the west. The giant simply bull rushed through the forest.

The pain he felt from the territory tree grew as he ran. It spiked at an uneven cadence as if mirroring the struggles of the giant. He tried his best to ignore it. There was nothing he could do to help. Solanine was buying him time. The giant would outrun him, so his only chance of reaching the cave before the giant was a head start.

Even though he was on foot, it didn’t take him long to reach his goal. The cave turned out to be about the same distance away as the last dungeon, housing a living dungeon core. Except it was to the west instead of north. Yet another similarity between the two. Unlike the treehouse city, there were no obvious indicators. He doubted he would have seen it from above with how the cave blended into the surroundings. It was perfectly camouflaged.

What if he stumbled upon the cave at random? He shook away that thought. Nothing good came from that train of thought. Still, he couldn’t help but imagine the giant reaching out and grabbing him as he walked by the cave.

To take his mind off the imagery of the giant eating him, he focused on his surroundings once more. His eyes landed on several budding trees near the cave and the present ambient nature mana. Was that what alerted the giant? Did the giant think they were encroaching on its territory? No point

As he neared the cave, he felt the ground tremble. Despite knowing what it was, he couldn’t help but look back. Off in the distance, he saw the giant charging toward him. Each step ate up a dozen meters, bringing the giant closer, far faster than he could ever run. The only saving grace was the pain he felt from the territory tree dimmed to a mild throb. That meant the giant didn’t kill the tree. Good. Solanine bought him time now he needed to make use of it.

Before the giant could reach him, he dashed into the cave. His dark vision turned on, revealing the interior. There were two paths forward. One was far larger than the other, probably meant for the giant. The other was just wide enough for maybe two people to walk side by side.

He frowned as his gaze flicked between the two paths. It didn’t make sense for the smaller path to lead to his goal when the giant obviously came from the larger path. The smaller path seemed safer, but it probably wasn’t the right answer. He had a lead, so he couldn’t play it safe. The giant would reach him any minute.

Arden dashed down the giant-sized path, hoping he was making the right decision.