Iver: I'm Back!

In an era when people still feared giants, most humans would devoutly and fearfully refer to them as "Giant God."

Because they are so terrifying—often four or five meters tall, with rock-solid bodies full of muscle, and well-equipped with weapons and full of vitality.

Even the rare superhumans among humans who fight against it often need a numerical advantage of more than ten times to barely achieve a Pyrrhic victory.

If several giants were to gather together, it would require an army of over a thousand men to defeat them.

—Without a doubt, that is a god.

When the gods are angered, humanity has no way to deal with it; to appease their wrath, humanity can only sacrifice its own kind to beg for forgiveness. Even if they manage to accomplish the feat of "slaying a god," they will soon be sought after by other Giant God —and those who come may even be apostles from the Dream Realm, immortal and incomparably powerful.

From the very beginning, they were not two equal races.

Even a powerful empire like the Herasul Empire dared not directly challenge Isle of Avalon, which was less than one-tenth the size of the empire—just as humans feared the Theocracy, they also dreaded Avalon.

If someone is captured by giants while at sea, it can only be considered a death due to natural disaster; if dozens or hundreds of giants form a fleet to capture slaves in the territory of the empire to replenish the labor force that is lacking due to overconsumption, the Herasul Empire can only express its condemnation and evacuate important populations in advance.

This is why important cities in the imperial era were not built in coastal areas—according to normal commercial thinking, coastal cities are definitely the most suitable for developing commerce and culture.

—In fact, that was the empire's heyday. They were even able to send out a legion of over ten thousand extraordinary beings, certainly not because they couldn't defeat these giants... but because they dared not offend the Arctos Kingdom behind those giants.

Or rather, they dared not offend the Supreme Heaven Pillar God Alcthos and His apostles who were behind the Arctos Kingdom.

Under these circumstances, the high command of the Herasul Empire could only convey the concept of "Giant God" to the people.

In other words, those giants were gods walking on the earth.

Therefore, if one is attacked by a god, it means that one's own actions have angered the god. This cannot be attributed to the empire's inadequate protection, much less the empire's responsibility—one cannot expect the empire to challenge the gods in order to protect its subjects who have angered them, can one?

—And this idea has persisted for centuries. Education has ingrained it deeply in the hearts of every empire's inhabitants.

Today, the giants no longer need to travel to Herasul to kidnap slaves.

Because the villages would regularly send out the sacrifices, they only needed to set out by boat at set times to take them away.

As the empire's economy and population grew, the number of those sacrificed actually increased—giants have a very low reproductive rate, and the population growth is slow. They can't consume so many humans at once, so many humans were released into Avalon to "free-range" and became one "village under the Giant Lord" after another.

Ultimately, the human population within Avalon surpassed the giant population by several times. Moreover, as the giants regularly traveled to the Empire, they brought back even more and more humans.

These captured humans were raised by the giants like livestock... and few escaped even though there were no giants guarding them.

One reason was their fear of giants, and the other was their hatred of their own kind.

The humans sent to the Black Ship were all "sacrificial offerings" made by their own kind. Even if they were lucky enough not to be eaten immediately, they had not forgotten the day their homeland betrayed them. They no longer trusted humans and dared not rebel against the Titans.

They were now homeless. They could only live aimlessly on this island, awaiting their death.

Like lambs being herded, they wait for the day they are served on the dinner table.

And today.

This fear collapsed instantly—

As Iver marched forward through the rain like an angel of judgment, the pure white Pegasus spread its white wings. But now, it was stained red with blood, a symbol of vengeance.

The blood rain splattered across the earth.

Those giants howled miserably amidst the divine punishment of blood rain, melting into skeletons; they could not be called holy, much less invincible.

This had a huge impact on people.

"...Um?"

Just then, Iver was flying in the sky, suddenly saw a building and froze, stopping in mid-air.

It was a four-sided stone structure, like a pyramid, in the wilderness.

Unlike the spacious, square architectural style of the Temple of the Supreme Heaven, which is composed of stone pillars.

Its design gave Iver a sense of both incongruity and familiarity...

"... Viennes".

Iver suddenly spoke up, "Are you familiar with it?"

"My dear master... are you serious?"

Viennes countered with a strange tone.

Just then, a strange fluctuation came from the huge stone hall.

Iver's mutated right eye could clearly see its traces—golden ripples, spreading in all directions like water waves. They bounced back upon touching Iver, creating a resonance between Iver and the ripples within.

That is not the glory of the path of "power".

—But it was a radiance that Iver knew all too well, a radiance from the Dedication Path!

"Wait, this can't be..."

Iver immediately realized what was happening.

He immediately swooped down, calling out the Night Demon's name, "Viennes, prepare for battle!"

Viennes, arriving late but arriving first, transformed into a shooting star crackling with dark purple lightning, smashing the stone door to pieces! Iver followed closely behind Viennes and rushed inside.

When he entered, the incredibly familiar surroundings made Iver tremble uncontrollably.

It wasn't fear, but excitement! He was finally able to confirm that what he had felt before wasn't just his imagination—

"... This is the Temple of the Candlelight Apostle Kastenning!"

This is also the venue for Iver's first Promotion Ritual on the Path of Transcendence!

At that time, Night Fiend was still Shadow Fiend, and that was their first time cooperating in a dream.

Iver displayed his desire for transcendence to Barton, shattering the Magic Cauldron made from the souls of many innocents and capable of bringing the dead back to life with the Holy Lance!

The further Iver flew, the more familiar it felt.

The wide corridor allowed the now 2.5-meter-tall Iver to move freely even while riding a winged horse—it was originally a corridor that could accommodate the nearly 20-meter-tall Apostle Kastenning.

And now, its owner is...

Iver emerged from the dimly lit, wide corridor and rushed into the room from which the giant's roar was coming.

That was the hall where the Magic Cauldron was located.

What comes into view is an old giant who, despite his hunched back, is still thirteen meters tall.

It has a waterfall-like reddish-brown beard and its whole body is covered in red bear fur.

He was staring with extremely large eyes—although his eyelids were loose and drooping due to his age, like two heavy curtains, he had surprisingly opened them due to extreme anger!

This was none other than Aspar Waton, the one who had nearly killed Iver earlier! Aspar Waton, who could have crushed Iver as easily as squashing a mosquito! " —Aspar Waton!"

Iver felt his mind was clear and his thoughts were unobstructed.

He roared angrily, "I've come to settle accounts with you!"