Chapter Sixty-Nine

The ground rumbled under his feet as he ran. No matter how fast he ran, the rumbling only grew. There was no way he could outrun a giant as tall as a tree, but hopefully with his head start, he didn’t need to.

Worry built as the tunnel kept going. He ran for several minutes, but there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. Worse, the rumbling not only shook the ground but shook dirt free from the ceiling of the tunnel. The giant was likely already in the tunnel, so there was no way he could backtrack and take the more modest size path.

There was no turning back, so all he could do was run forward and hope he made it in time. He didn’t dare look behind him as each moment wasted could lead to his death. Though he stretched his senses out just in case, not that the giant could be stealthy. At least he didn’t think it could be. It didn’t show any signs of a dark or illusion attunement and going by its rather forceful path to their territory tree, it just wasn’t in the giant’s nature. Still, it was always good to be prepared.

Just as he felt a ripple in the mana behind him, the tunnel opened up. His eyes darted around, looking for threats. What greeted him could only be described as a bone hoarder’s dream house. Stacked in mountainous, randomly scattered all around the football field sized cavern were bones of all sizes and shapes. One thing he noticed right away was none of the bones looked fresh. Some even looked borderline fossilized. The best were yellowed, and those were few. If he had to guess, the freshest bones were centuries old.

At the center of the cavern was an absolutely massive bone. It was only a small chunk of a femur if he had to guess of what he did not know. Unlike the rest, it wasn’t yellowed or fossilized. No, it radiated with power. So much power he felt almost overwhelmed from across the cavern. From his vantage point, it was hard to tell, but it looked like it was hollowed out and turned into a bed. The bone was big enough to be a bed for the giant. Just the thought of facing the creature the bone came from sent shivers through him. Whatever it was, it could have squashed the giant like a bug, but somehow, it didn’t. Or maybe the giant scavenged it. Like his chances against the giant, he doubted the giant had much of a chance against whatever that bone came from.

Suddenly, the rumbling grew more violent, as if the giant was running faster. Despite his previous stance of looking back, he couldn’t resist. Of course, he regretted it. As soon as his eyes landed on the towering force of the giant off in the distance, but closing fast, he dashed deeper into the cavern.

Arden took advantage of the scattered piles of bones several times his height as worked his way toward the center of the cavern. Something about that bone bed drew him in. He hoped it wasn’t to his death. With its prominent location, it had something to do with the dungeon. At least he was pretty sure he was in some form of dungeon. It felt like one, but something was off about it. That off feeling prompted him to listen to the melody.

The source of the off feeling presented itself right away when he peeked at the massive bone. It gave off the same strained melody he remembered the giant radiated, proving there was a link. The question was if the bone was the dungeon core, and the giant was the guardian, or were they one and the same?

Unfortunately, before he could reach the bone, a deafening roar raddled him. Several bones as big as he was fell from the top of the pile he stood near, forcing him to dodge out of the way, exposing himself. Without missing a beat, he dashed behind another pile of bones as rumbling steps approached. The temptation to use his cards burned bright, but he held off. There was no way he could face the giant head one. He needed to be smart about it. Plus, there wasn’t a guarantee he had to fight the giant. Now that he saw the bone bed, it proved the giant was a guardian or a part of the dungeon core. Neither option meant the giant was an enemy. At least he hoped it wasn’t.

Contrary to his expectations, the giant didn’t charge toward him. Instead, it tiptoed through the cavern. Though despite its best efforts, each step shook the nearby piles of bones, causing several to fall. With the dexterity of a cat, the giant caught each bone before it hit the ground and gently placed it back on the piles. This sequence repeated itself as the giant passed each pile until it reached the pile Arden previously hid behind.

A tear fell from the giant’s eye as inspected the fallen bones. The fall was too much for the fragile bones, causing each of them to shatter. As soon as Arden saw the state of the bones, he winced, but a moment later an idea formed. It was grasping at straws, but if it worked, it might be his way out of the situation. Though part of him wanted to destroy the entire cavern like the giant did to his home. That impulse would do no good. At best, it would create a cycle of hate. At worse, he would meet an unfortunate end.

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Before he enacted his idea, he did some preliminary checking. First, he turned on his equilibrium sense, then winced as every single bone in the cavern basically screamed at him that they were important. The bones themselves probably weren’t but a rampaging giant certainly was.

Next, he activated his nature manipulation card and tried to latch onto a random bone nearby. His heart leaped when he found he could. Maybe he had a chance after all. It all came down to how the giant would react. Would he even have time to pull it off? The giant could squash him the moment he approached. Just in case he had to play it as safe as possible.

The giant didn’t seem to notice him as he snuck closer. He kept himself out of behind a pile of bones, hoping it would cause the giant to hesitate, squashing him but within range of the shattered bones. Somehow, the giant remained oblivious as he activated his Nature Manipulation card and latched onto the bone fragments. The giant continued to stare down at the bones, tears welling but otherwise silent.

At least the giant was silent until it spotted the bones pulling themselves back together. A gasp escaped its mouth as its eyes filled with awe. Before its eyes, the bones healed as if they had never shattered. Unbeknownst to the giant, sweat dripped down Arden’s face as he put all his focus on reforming the bones from the edge of his range of control. As the last crack healed, Arden wiped away the sweat, then stepped out from his hiding place. Despite being easily visible, the giant didn’t notice him. That changed when he stepped closer with a bone in his hand. He picked it because it had a visible crack in it. It was so fragile, it was hard to avoid shattering it by just holding it.

The moment the giant’s eyes locked onto the bone, its body stiffened. Instead of rage, fear filled its eyes. That fear shifted back to awe when Arden healed the crack, just like the other bones. Unfortunately, his bracelets decided to go onto cooldown the moment he finished.

A giggle escaped the giant as it clapped its hands in excitement. “Again!”

Arden stiffened, eyes flicking down to his bracelets, then up to the hopeful giant. He pacified the giant, but how long would it last? Did he have to keep healing bones to appease it? No, he had to have a way out. He couldn’t endlessly heal bones. One glance at the piles of bones, most of which were on the verge of crumbling, told him he needed an out. An out that hopefully left him unsquashed.

A hint of impatience formed as the giant shouted, “Again!”

Fortunately, that was when his bracelets came off cooldown, but instead of simply healing a random bone, his gaze gravitated to his target. Now that he was a little closer, he spotted several imperfections in the bone bed.

With careful steps, always keeping a bone pile between him and the giant, he moved toward the massive bone. Instead of going right for it, he grabbed another random bone and fixed it to appease the giant. He paced himself. As long as he didn’t fix too many bones too fast, his bracelets remained active. He should have known better than to fix the shattered bones, then make his presence known right after. It was odd how they went into cooldown so quick though.

On the next repair job, he found out why. The dense mana radiating off the bone and the giant must have gotten to him. How else wouldn’t he notice he used a ton of mana just to repair one bone? Was it because they were so old? He inspected the newly repaired bone while trying to ignore the giant giggling like a schoolgirl. The previously heavily yellowed bone looked almost fresh. Odd, he didn’t try to renew the bone, only repair the crack.

An idea came to him as he felt out the mana in the surroundings. Maybe he didn’t have to use his own mana. Could he go back to the old days before grade one and use the ambient mana to do most of the work? Well, the old days weren’t all that long ago, but it felt like an eternity ago.

To put his idea to the test, he activated his card, but instead of letting his own mana do most of the heavy lifting, he grabbed some ambient mana to help do the legwork. Before his eyes, the bone regenerated. In mere seconds, the bone looked fresh. Well, not quite fresh as the bone still lacked marrow, but at least on the outside, it looked pristine.

An ear rattling squeal was his reward. All he could do was wince. Then move a little closer to the central bone. The giant didn’t seem to mind him getting so close to its likely most prized bone, but maybe it didn’t notice it. It seemed pretty dumb. Obviously, it had intelligence, but he doubted it went past the level of a child. That was a terrifying thought. He’d just about rather the giant be extremely intelligent than a child prone to tantrums.

Whatever, he just had to keep the giant placated until he found a way out of the situation. He had a feeling the key laid with the largest bone with a pounding melody identical to the giant. Said melody sounded perfectly healthy. If anything, it was too potent.

It was almost deafening. If it could even deafen.

After the latest bone rejuvenation, from a pile five meters from the massive bone, he made his move. Standing so close to it, he had to crane his neck just to see the top. The bone was at least ten meters tall, lying on its side. Once again, he couldn’t help but imagine what creature it came from.

Arden grabbed one more bone and rejuvenated it, but unlike the previous one, he took it much slower as he approached his target. Somehow, the giant remained oblivious the entire time, completely fixated on the bone in his hands.

As soon as he completed rejuvenating the latest bone, he pressed his hand against the massive bone towering above him. The moment his hand made contact, a flood of energy rushed in, bringing with it a series of images.

An angered roar sounded, but it fell on deaf ears as Arden fell into memories that weren’t his own.