Where to Go, Whom to Kill, and How Many?

Iver woke up to a series of shaking and the sound of crisp music.

... It felt like being on a ship.

Iver only felt a slight headache...

That even reminded Iver of how he felt the day after a hangover in his Previous Life.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a dry and simple bed. Sunlight streamed through the window and fell on the blankets.

A thin cotton quilt was covered with a pure white silk quilt in Elven Style, without any decorations. The room he was in was small, probably less than ten square meters. Apart from the bed he was lying on, there was only a wardrobe and a desk with cabinets.

The desk was covered with documents pressed down by a stamp, while the cabinet was filled with various trinkets.

A brownish-red crystal cup, seemingly for drinking, with a rough, bark-like texture; a palm-sized golden music box, from which a tiny figure made of rubies jumps out when the box is opened, performing a complex dance... the singing is coming from here; and a square piece of White Crystal, inside which, like a "photograph" or a "golem," there is a short animation preserved within the crystal.

Iver first closed the music box that seemed to be acting as an alarm clock. Then he stretched out his rough but strong right hand and picked up the "piece" of moving photographs.

The main character is undoubtedly a young man with a bright smile and golden hair.

He draped his arm around his female companion's neck, embracing her intimately like two buddies, and gave a thumbs-up to the "camera," as if saying something. His hair shimmered in the sunlight, and his pupils sparkled with a blue-green luster like turquoise.

His ears were very pointed and long. Of all the elves Iver had ever seen, his ears were at least the length of those of the "Pure White" Saintess or Cardinal Matilda.

The woman he was with had long, straight black hair.

She had ominous scarlet pupils that drooped down, obscuring half of one eye and giving her a rather somber appearance. But what caught Iver's eye most were the two long dragon horns on her forehead.

Those were curved dragon horns similar to those of Ligeia.

[This is me... and Fafna]

A thought popped into Iver's mind.

This is... me?

Iver paused for a moment.

—Wait, is this really me?

Self-doubt is like a sharp blade, prying open a small hole in memory.

Just like the yolk flowing out of an egg after its shell has been cracked open, Iver suddenly remembered everything.

This Promotion Ritual didn't even have a waiting room? I was just thrown in like that with my eyes closed?... Oh right. This is solo queue.

If there's no need to queue, there's indeed no need to wait in the waiting room for everyone to arrive. And this time, there wasn't even a "host," because it was the Lord of Scales and Feathers himself who hosted the event...

Only after realizing who he was did Iver finally hear the ritual announcement from the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

Unlike the hoarse and unpleasant voice during Iver's first Promotion Ritual, the voice used by the Lord of Scales and Feathers this time was the same as when He appeared before Iver, becoming mysterious and mature. "You are Hellerchein Dragonflame, the renowned White Knight."

"As a ' Mediators,' you walk across the land of humanity, upholding justice and judging right and wrong with your own will. Your name spreads far and wide, and humanity respects you greatly."

"But one day, one of the people you punished shouted: 'Since you like meddling so much, why don't you go and do something about the giants? They eat more people in a day than we kill in a month!'"

"—Do you know what a giant is? They are the darlings and bloodline of the Pillar God of the Supreme Heaven, born strongmen, beings capable of wrestling with dragons."

"That savage and warlike race does not venerate the Nine Pillar Gods, but instead reveres the Supreme Heaven. They determine the order of the Pillar God by force and regard the Supreme Heaven as the most powerful supreme god."

"And the Supreme Heaven is also the most violent of the Pillar God. For thousands of years, only He has personally punished the disrespectful. But precisely because of this, some people do regard the Supreme Heaven as the 'one true God,' which is one of the main difficulties in the missionary work of the Nine Pillars God Church... because only the Supreme Heaven frequently performs Divine Miracle and is known to all races."

"But you also find this matter very troublesome. Because giants are very powerful, they can reach the Fifth Level almost upon reaching adulthood; giants are not social creatures, yet they have the terrifying ' Skinless One.' Even a pair of the Pope Guard would find it difficult to fight a single Skinless One."

"Although this matter involves Pillar God, giants, and powerful enemies—you believe that this matter must be addressed. Although some humans also eat snake people, Birdmen, and Lizardman, only giants would consider such consumption as a matter of course."

"—And as your investigation unfolds, you are enraged to discover that the giants' diet includes not only humans but also elves. To be precise, the giants feed on all races, even their own kind. The conquered are slaves, the defeated are food, and for the giants, slaves are their food reserves. If the giants had not been trapped by the ' Magic Cauldron ' and gathered on Avalon with its infinite food supply, they would have become a race that brings endless calamities."

"Therefore, you decided to bid farewell to your pregnant wife and embark on an adventure to investigate Isle of Avalon with your retinue. Your wife is also your mount, Fafna, a dragon. As a ' Dragon Knight,' you have lost your mount, which will greatly diminish your power; so you have temporarily acquired a pegasus to supplement your fighting strength."

"These followers of yours are not your subordinates, but your friends who were moved by your righteous deeds when you were out there and chose to follow you. Their races include elves, humans, Lizardman, snakemen, goblins, and even dwarves—a total of forty-eight people, who traveled with you to Avalon by ship."

"And one of your secrets is... you are actually a born prophet, able to see fragments of the future from your dreams. When you arrived at Arctos and awoke from your dream, you already knew... you would die here. And the Giant Priest also saw this future; they are coming to capture you."

What will you do?

As the Lord of Scales and Feathers finished his announcement, Iver saw the Lord of Scales and Feathers ' mission before his eyes.

[Necessary Task]

[Continue to impersonate Hellerchein Dragonflame, without being recognized or exposed by anyone (Points: 100)]

Survive (Points: 100)

[Additional Task]

[Giant Slayer: Kill a giant of a higher rank than yourself (Points: 100)]

[Giant Slayer: Kill all giants gathered at the 'chest,' 'spine,' and 'rib' points (Points: 500)]

[The Great Enemy of Giants: Proceed to the Temple and slay three Giant Priest of ' Cervical Vertebrae ' level or higher (Points: 500)]

[Attacks Must Die: Kill a total of 100 Titans (Points: 500)]

[Skinless and Heartless: Proceed to the Royal Court and kill a Skinless One (Points: 1000)]

[Wildfire Blows Again: Head to the Temple and kill a Giant Priest of the 'Skull' level (Points: 1000)]

[Royal Hatred: Go to the Royal Court and kill or severely wound the Giant King (Points: 2000)]

[Blasphemer: Proceed to the Royal Court and destroy the statue of the Supreme Heaven enshrined there (Points: 2000)]

Holy crap!

Iver exclaimed in amazement, "Boss is awesome!"

Having lived in this world for so long, he had never seen such a clean, simple, and straightforward task requirement.

—Where to go, what to kill, how many to kill.

Apart from that, it was completely clean and had nothing.

He finally understood why the Lord of Scales and Feathers was so certain that this Promotion Ritual would lure Bear Angel into his trap...

This time, Iver is playing the role of Sir Hellerchein, the elven hero he saw in Eagle Cape Village who became the Wild Hunt after his death! He is arguably the person the giants hate the most.

In a sense, he was the first to question "why can man-eating giants exist," the first to ask "even if it continues like this, is it right?" and the first to attempt to overthrow the rule of the Giant King's court. It was from him that humanity realized "giants can actually be rebelled against."

Before this, humans only regarded giants as a divine race that they had to revere and worship in order to avoid destruction—even if they were Evil God, they were still gods.

This Promotion Ritual consisted of nothing but killing giants. There were no puzzles, no battles of wits, and no traps based on role-playing—although he had to maintain the role, as long as he made his escape, Hellerchein's followers couldn't catch him at all.

But... I have a small problem, boss.

Iver reviewed the task more carefully and began to have some doubts about his new boss's plans.

... Are we just going to fish with a straight hook like this?

Doesn't Bear Angel know something's wrong? Can this really be caught? Update complete, meow!