The contrast between the perpetually dark red-light district and the afternoon sunlight outside blinded Alain’s eyes for a few seconds. His eyes tried to quickly adjust to the ray of shines and his vision slowly became clearer. The secret passage led to a small clearing that was connected to the jungle of grass and flowers beyond. Alain crouched down, trying to find any signs to where Renald could have traveled to but found nothing. 

I need to think like a twelve-year-old boy who had not gone outside before and had no survival experience. Where else to go but forward and continuing on straight? Alain reasoned in his mind. He figured overthinking the boy’s direction would be detrimental to his tracking. The boy probably had no sense of where he truly wanted to go the first time he ventured out. 

But first, Alain opened a vial of nectar and downed the blue liquid. A stream of enhanced strength, agility, and senses coursed through his veins. His eyes were capable of spotting the giant avian-type giant flying far above the skies. His feet grew lighter as he felt that he could jump to grab that bird with his very hands. And his arms felt like he could rip open the bird’s wings bare-handed. Of course, Alain knew these feelings were only that, feelings. Deception. Lies. His body was now enhanced, but not to the point of what his mind thought he could do in real life. Plenty of Giantslayers in the distant past have been fooled by this surge of confidence and ran towards their deaths. In fact, managing and suppressing this feeling was taught on the first day of the academy.

And so he did as what he thought the boy would do. Alain traveled straight for an hour. He encountered some small insects that he had no trouble killing with his enhanced strength. He even did not need to draw his sword-ax to kill some of the weaker insects, his small dagger did the job just fine. Alain jumped high up into the skies to catch himself on the stem of a flower to gain a better vantage point.

The boy said in his diary that the hole was near a river. If I remember the geography of this land, it would take me around six hours to reach that place, three if I run full speed but I need to be cautious of the surroundings so that’s off the table. There’s also one more problem. Alain looked at the sun above. I only have three hours of sunlight left so regrettably, I need to camp for the night. I truly hope the boy had not moved from his position but I cannot risk my life traveling at night. Dangerous nocturnal giants will roam the lands and they are not something I can deal with.

With his enhanced eyesight, Alain saw the tree lines that marked the edge of the real forest and the end of the grassland. I should be able to make camp on those trees, and they should mark the halfway point of the journey. He thought. He jumped back down and started venturing deeper into the grassland jungle. Alain also carried a smaller dagger on his side that he used to clear some of the blades of grass that would block his path or kill some of the smaller insects that don’t warrant him drawing his sword-ax.

Alain traveled until he could finally see the edge of the grassland jungle and the start of the forest trees. He was going to find a place to make camp here. The sun was disappearing as the environment had an eerie orange glow. Sounds of insects also reverberated throughout the environment. It has been largely uneventful so far. I don’t know if I’m lucky or what. As Alain was thinking that in his mind, he cut through a rather thick wall of grass that blocked his eyesight and stepped forward without thinking. Suddenly, he found himself not being able to move.

What!? I’m stuck! Alain looked down at his body to find faint lines of white streaks stuck to his body. The trap of an Arachnid-type giant! I need to free myself before it comes back! Alain looked above to see several insects trapped in the same predicament as him. Alain tried desperately to move. Even with his enhanced strength, he could barely move an inch.

This is not a normal arachnid, it’s an augmented giant! Alain panicked. The normal webs of an arachnid giant would not be as strong as this. Normally, even non-nectar enhanced individuals may be able to free themselves after some effort. But humans were not the only ones who discovered the nectars. Some giants were also attracted to the smell of the nectars and consume them, granting them enhanced powers and sometimes new capabilities or even limbs and organs. This was also why nectar expeditions were dangerous, it guaranteed the presence of augmented giants nearby.

Alain struggled and panicked for a few minutes before stopping and taking a deep breath. Calm down. What do I have on me? Alain looked down to see the dagger on his right hand. But the position of his wrist made moving it incredibly limited in freedom. He started to chip away at the strong webs gradually using the dagger but as his hand position was awkward he could only do it at a snail’s pace.

The sounds of constant clicking suddenly reverberated the environment. The clickings were distorted with low growls of something heinous. Alain looked in front of him, or rather he was forced to look as his face was stuck on the web. An arachnid-type giant with six legs jumped down from the flower stem above. Its entire body was black with a red mark on its back as if displaying a danger sign to anything that sees it.

It’s a Karja! I have to run! He screamed in his mind. Alain finally managed to free his entire right arm. The Karja looked at him and realized that its prey was escaping and started to shrieked and sprinted towards Alain. "Fuck!" he cursed loudly. Using his free right hand holding the dagger, Alain made a wide circular swipe in front of him to free the rest of his body from the webs. At the last possible second, before the Karja reached him, he sidestepped into the side and jumped backward.

The Karja noticed it missed its target and turned towards Alain. Its six legs made turning its body an extremely fast motion. Bits of webs were still stuck on Alain’s body. Some were on his face, blocking some of his vision. Alain tried to cut off the remaining webs on his body but another charge by the Karja interrupted him. He knew that he had to fight back if he did not want to die.

It’s still an early stage augmented giant! I will never be able to beat it now but perhaps I can still survive this! Alain thought. He noticed the Karja had not begun morphing his form yet as it still looked like a normal Karja, The only augmented abilities it had now seemed to be its strong webs and enhanced strength, he noted.

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Alain took out the giant sword-ax from his back, still using its sword form. He brought the sword-ax in front of his body to block off another charge. The Karja accepted the challenged and sprinted forward once more. It came into fierce contact with Alain’s sword-ax that acted as his shield. A contest of strength was waged between the two for a few seconds. But unfortunately for Alain, the Karja had the limb advantage. It used one of its other legs to struck Alain on his side, flinging him far away as he hit the ground tumbling and coughing blood.

Using his sword-ax, Alain tried to stand up but the Karja was already chasing after him. I can try baiting him like before! His mind raced, fueled by adrenaline. As the Karja was mere steps away, Alain sidestepped into the side. His sword-ax was pointed downward and he used the momentum to make a diagonal swipe upwards. The Karja shrieked, a small gash of injury on its side appeared. It used one of its legs to kick Alain to send him tumbling towards the ground again. But this time, it did not let Alain catch his breath as it charged forward again right away. As Alain was still on the ground, the Karja was already on top of him. Opening its mouth and showing its fangs, it brought down its entire head biting down. Alain’s bone armor managed to reduce the majority of the impact's force but it cracked and a gaping hole was created in the armor, stabbing Alain’s ribs.

It hurts! The venom is going to take effect soon! I need to run. NOW! Alain mind raced like never before. He tried to come up with a solution to escape this. I can’t die here! Alain grabbed the Ropecaster that was placed on his left hip and, while still laying down, shot the Karja point-blank. It shrieked in pain as the force of the shot and the proximity of where it was shot from meant the arrow was lodged deeper inside its body. This gave Alain a chance as it took its head off his chest. Alain stood up quickly and shot the other end of the rope arrow into the ground to anchor the Karja. He did not waste any more time and reloaded another rope arrow into the Ropecaster. He shot and reloaded three more times as the Karja was still distracted by the pain its experiencing.

The Karja was now trapped in its place with four ropes anchoring it down into the ground. But Alain knew this would not be enough. The ropes shook with tension, threatening to let the Karja free and Alain was still operating under adrenaline and the effects of the nectar to stall the spread of the venom. He needed to run now. And so he did. He ran as fast as he could as the Karja shrieked behind him furiously.

Alain finally reached the tree lines and he looked around for a place to hide. He ran around inside the forest and found what he was looking for. Underneath the roots of a gigantic tree, the former nest of a giant was dug to create a small cave. He checked around and did not see any signs of life or if this place had been used by a giant for quite a while. He decided to enter and just simply plopped down into the ground.

The antivenom! One of the standard equipment a Giantslayer must carry was an antivenom vial as they were guaranteed to meet at least one venomous giant in the outside world every time they went out. He downed the content of the vial and just stayed on the ground. The pain would not disappear any time soon as the antivenom needed time to have an effect. He took off his armor and bandaged the wound on his chest. Alain took one of the deepest breaths of his life. 

I made it. I can’t believe I survived that. Alain took a small ration of food from his satchel and started to gobble it down. All of his energy had been truly drained from him. It would certainly be impossible to continue the journey at night, it was perhaps a good decision to camp the night to wait until morning to march on. How the fuck did the boy survive the journey there the first time? Alain understood he had the protection of the Kashik in his later journeys but he did not understand how Renald stayed alive during his first time out on the wilderness.

Now well-fed, all Alain needed to do was get some sleep. The night quickly arrived as the last ray of orange sunlight faded into darkness. The sounds of nocturnal giants outside rang in his ears. Alain did not even have the energy to set up a proper sleeping space as he just laid down on the soil. He rubbed some oil created by the guild to hide his scent from giants on his body. Throughout the night, Alain failed to catch a wink of sleep. This was not his first time out alone on the wilderness as he traveled alone after the destruction of his previous city to The Sanctuary, but this was his first time out alone on the wilderness after experiencing such grave danger.

That time was hell. Alain remembered. When he arrived at The Sanctuary back then, the guards at the gate thought he was some new type of beast as he had mud all over his body that he used to hide his scent from giants. He survived out on the wild for weeks, maybe months, running away from giants every day and ate disgusting insects to survive.

I guess I need to be more grateful I have all this equipment with me now and I also have the power of the nectar. Alain remembered his pure joy as he passed the nectar initiation test that saw him drinking nectar for the very first time and not get extremely ill from it. He had the full potential to be a Giantslayer, and that meant revenge was on the table, no matter how far-fetched people thought it was.

Not that anyone believed me. Not even Rostav who took me in as a son. The Sanctuary was located too far from his previous city, they had no knowledge of the existence of the place. Elder giants were only whispered on legends of the distant past, the times of the first post-curse humans. And so no one believed Alain. But he had not stopped remembering the tragedy like it was yesterday, so what could they say about the reality of his claims?

It doesn’t matter what they think. My first step after becoming a certified Giantslayer and finishing my training is finding the ruins of my old city. From there, I will be able to gather the clues of where the elder giant is hiding. Alain remembered Renald’s diary and its shocking revelations. That’s why I am hoping this giant-taming thing is true. With that, I will be able to travel great distances extremely quickly, as well as obtain a highly useful giant as a companion. He thought.

Alain remembered the vague figure of the elder giant in his memories. Its red eyes and diabolical smirk etched onto his very soul. He remembered the utter devastation and sorrow the elder giant brought him. Will I really be able to kill that thing? Alain clenched his fists tightly. Maybe I don’t need to. If I can inflict some amount of pain to it and die an honorable death, it would be all worth it.

Alain spent the night contemplating in silence. The tree roots above him shielded his resolve.