Chapter 116: Giant Tree Grove (3)

"I'm sorry."

The name of the giant with short hair was Tawi.

He had charged in with fury, ready to kill, but the result was no different from what happened to Tawee.

Jang Woo-hyun held his black sword and beat him down, just like earlier. Truly like beating a dog. Having calmed down after being beaten, Tawi approached Tawee and, upon hearing the situation, offered an apology.

'He's stronger than Tawee.'

Though they were similar in size, the giant who appeared later—Tawi—was a bit trickier. Jang Woo-hyun couldn't simply overpower him with brute strength alone. He had to mix in the subtleties of martial arts from time to time while beating him down.

'It's not martial arts.'

Tawi hadn't properly learned martial arts either. He just fought better by instinct.

His movements were unrefined and unstructured, yet strangely, he managed to operate internal energy. As naturally as breathing.

However, he couldn't use qi efficiently. What could be done with one, they used three or four times—such was their method. Naturally, the consumption of internal energy was tremendous.

Though their bodies were larger than humans, and even if their dantians were bigger, Jang Woo-hyun thought they'd quickly empty due to the armor of qi wrapped around their bodies and their inefficient internal energy usage. But contrary to expectations, the giants continued using a tremendous amount of internal energy.

Jang Woo-hyun found the reason why the giants could draw on internal energy like a waterfall—in their breathing method.

Qi swirling around the dantian.

Rapidly rotating internal energy absorbed surrounding qi much more powerfully. While Jang Woo-hyun also drew in great amounts of internal energy with a single breath, it couldn't compare to the giants' breathing.

Unrefined movements and brute fighting. And on top of that, a unique breathing technique.

A method completely different from that of humans, unique to the giants.

Jang Woo-hyun searched within that for something he could steal. If he could steal the movements of monsters and beastkin, why not those of giants?

'Even if I can’t use it right away…'

If he thought it through a bit, a method might come to him.

"What are you going to do now?"

Cho-su asked, and Jin Ha-un, standing beside him, grabbed his arm. Jin Ha-un extended his index finger and covered his lips, saying "Shh!"

At that gesture, Cho-su instinctively lowered his voice.

"Hm? Why?"

"Looks like he's organizing his thoughts."

"……"

Jin Ha-un recognized it immediately because he’d seen it often in the Central Plains, but Cho-su was different.

"Uh... So, this is like when you have a realization or something?"

"Yes, something like that."

No, seriously, just what is he looking at? Cho-su wanted to ask but barely restrained himself. It didn’t make sense, but when he thought about it, Jang Woo-hyun had been strange from the moment they first met.

'What exactly is this guy?'

Though he couldn’t even handle artifacts, he used the Dharma Treasure Dragon King’s Scales as if it were his own limb, and he ascended while marked by the Windstorm Great Saint.

And just a moment ago, he had beaten down a giant several times bigger than himself to subdue him. Having seen it with his own eyes, it was believable—but if he had only heard the story, none of it would have made sense.

As Cho-su silently watched the mysterious Jang Woo-hyun’s face, he turned his head to scan the surroundings.

‘Was it always like this here?’

The Giant Tree Grove, where massive creatures and giants roamed, was a very dangerous place. Yet being with Jang Woo-hyun, he felt no such danger. It just felt like he had come to a forest near his home to hang out.

‘Well, he did beat up a giant.’

As Cho-su shook his head at the absurdity of the situation, Jang Woo-hyun, in the midst of organizing his thoughts, came to a question.

‘Did Senior Cheol really need to do that?’

The giants he’d just encountered were unique and strong. But it wasn’t at the level that would require Cheol Geuk-jin to transform the Heaven-Dominating Divine Armor into a giant form to fight them. That seemed far too inefficient.

Even he could handle them just fine. Then someone like Cheol Geuk-jin, who had reached the Boundless Realm, should have had even less trouble.

'Were those he fought stronger?'

After his thoughts settled, Jang Woo-hyun asked,

"Among the giants, how strong are you?"

"I'm about average. Tawee is slightly below average."

As expected, Cheol Geuk-jin must have fought a stronger type of giant.

"I misunderstood. I'm sorry. Lately, small ones have disturbed the forest. They attack our kin. I thought you were like them."

Though his speech was stiff and choppy, Tawi was unlike Tawee—he could communicate properly. He even formed full sentences, rather than just words.

"What are those guys doing?"

"I cannot tell you. I'm sorry for attacking someone who helped us. But that is separate. This is our matter. I cannot tell it to small ones. And I do not fully trust you yet."

Jang Woo-hyun didn’t press further—he understood the sentiment. And his involvement with these people had only happened by chance.

"Did you come to this forest for a reason? I apologize. If I can help, I will."

"We’re looking for a place called the Red Wood Region. More accurately, it’s not the Red Wood Region itself, but the location where thunderclouds rage above it. But we need to find the Red Wood Region first to locate that spot."

"Thunderclouds rage? Is it where fragments of a shattered Floating Island and Floating Continent are suspended?"

"Oh? You know it?"

"There is a place called the Storm Archipelago."

Hearing the exact name, Jang Woo-hyun’s group was surprised.

"You know the Storm Archipelago?"

"A long time ago, a small one fought something there. The environment changed then. Villages call it the Storm Archipelago."

"Villages?"

"We are not the only ones in the Giant Tree Grove. Many clans live in villages here."

Come to think of it, since the forest was so vast, it wasn’t strange at all for there to be several villages.

“The Red Wood Region seems to refer to the blazing forest...”

Tawi tilted his massive head, puzzled about something.

“Is there a problem?”

“...It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Why did you come into the forest?”

“What do you mean?”

Tawi raised his hand and pointed to one side.

“The Storm Archipelago is a place separate from this land. It circles the outer rim of the forest. It looks toward the edge of the continent. If you do that, you can find it easily. That’s why I said it's strange that you came into the forest.”

“Ah...”

Upon hearing this, the three finally realized what was odd.

The place called the Storm Archipelago was entirely separate from the Floating Continent where the Giant Tree Grove was located. Naturally, it would be outside the forest, so as Tawi said, if they had moved along the forest's outskirts, they could have found it without much trouble.

They had made the mistake of focusing solely on the Red Wood Region and failed to consider anything else.

“We were being stupid.”

“Indeed.”

Jin Ha-un and Cho-su, who had been listening nearby, also acknowledged their mistake.

“Which direction do we need to go from here? If you just tell us the location, we’ll head there ourselves.”

“We will take you there with our boat. It’s farther than expected from here. It will take a long time.”

“Boat?”

“If we go with our boat, it’s faster.”

“Let’s do that. I’ve never ridden one, but I’ve heard the Daein Nation’s boats are unique. It’ll help.”

Thanks to Cho-su’s comment, the group decided to use the giants' boat.

“Before that, let’s search these guys.”

Before boarding the boat, Jin Ha-un pointed at the dead enemies.

Only then did Jang Woo-hyun recall the assassin’s corpse he had left on a tree branch. He quickly moved and retrieved the corpse he had left behind.

The ones Tawee had fought were all blown to pieces and unrecognizable, so the only intact bodies were those of the assassins Jang Woo-hyun and Jin Ha-un had fought.

They searched the enemies’ belongings, but found nothing unusual. Even inside the Inner Robe they carried, there was nothing that indicated their identity or affiliation.

“Do you know who these guys are? They looked like assassins.”

“I don’t know which assassin sect they’re from. But Hyung-nim, this place must be Murim too, don’t you think? Since there are assassins and all.”

Jang Woo-hyun chuckled lightly because he had a similar thought while facing the one who seemed like an assassin. Even if there were trees over a hundred jang tall and strange races roaming around, the Central Heavens Martial Realm was not so different from the Murim of the Central Plains.

“Assassins, you say?”

Hearing their conversation, Cho-su joined in.

“Yes, that seems to be the case. It wasn’t just that they concealed their presence—they vanished completely and then reappeared. How should I put it? A different place? Maybe a different space. Or a different dimension. It felt like they moved through such a space and then suddenly appeared to attack.”

“Hm.”

Sensing something odd, Cho-su personally examined the two bodies. Using the power of the third eye between his brows, he discovered something inside the corpses.

Taking out a small blade, Cho-su sliced open the corpse’s abdomen and thrust his hand in.

“Is this it?”

When he pulled his hand out, he held something about the size of a thumb.

“What’s that?”

“It seems to be a Spell Artifact, but I’m not sure what it’s used for. I’ll have to investigate.”

As he examined the small bloodstained object, Cho-su continued speaking.

“From what you just said, it sounds like these guys were disappearing and reappearing from another space, but I didn’t think that was due to their skill. If they were really that skilled, they wouldn’t have died so easily.”

Cho-su then sliced open the other corpse and rummaged inside it again.

“I thought there might be something else, so I searched them. What I just pulled out is likely what allowed them to move like that. Whoever made this... I found it.”

When he pulled his hand out again, a similar item was in his hand.

“Uh... Where did I leave off just now?”

“You said, ‘whoever made this,’” Jin Ha-un helpfully reminded him, as if he were an assistant.

“Right. I don’t know who made it, but it seems like someone quite skilled is helping them. With a bit of research, we should be able to find out what kind of aid this provides and how it works.”

“Is there anything else to do?”

Tawi, who had been silently watching, asked with a slightly stiff face. Cho-su, who had personally searched the corpses, smiled and replied.

“No. That’s it. We can move now.”

The group packed the Spell Artifacts retrieved from the assassins' bodies and began heading toward Tawi’s boat.

After traveling for about an hour, they arrived at a clearing with a small stream flowing through it. At one side, there was a rough wooden boat.

To a giant, it was the size of a small boat, but to Jang Woo-hyun’s group, it looked enormous.

“If we go on our boat, we’ll get there quickly.”

Once everyone boarded, Tawi stood at the rear of the boat and grabbed the oar. As he rowed through the air, the boat slowly began to rise into the sky.

‘What is this?’

Sensing the energy, Jang Woo-hyun narrowed his eyes.

Though it was a roughly made, crude-looking boat, the energy enveloping it was anything but. Even to Jang Woo-hyun, who wasn’t particularly knowledgeable, it was clear this was no ordinary boat.

"Don’t tell me..."

Cho-su, also sensing something strange, examined the boat.

The third eye between his brows emitted light once more, and he slowly looked over the boat.

"Is it made of Dry Wood?"

"As expected of a native of Nation of Mechanical Marvels. You're right. It's made from Dry Wood."

As he said that, he rowed the oar, and the boat moved forward.

"Wow."

The speed was beyond what could be described with the word 'fast.'

This boat was not merely flying through the air. Each time the oar was rowed, it leapt through space.

"This is my first time riding one, but now I get why they say it’s unique. Huh... to think it’s made from Dry Wood."

Dry Wood, once used by gods to descend to the Lower Realm, was a natural Teleportation Array that existed throughout the Central Heavens Realm. This boat, made with the properties of Dry Wood, was now moving by leaping through space, traveling at a speed incomparable to Cho-su's previous Flying Apparatus.

"Tawi, when did the humans causing trouble in the forest show up?"

"I don’t know exactly. But it definitely hasn’t been long."

"You don’t know who they’re affiliated with? Whether they belong to a sect or some organization?"

"...I don’t know."

It was just a brief moment, but Tawi hesitated before speaking.

‘He knows who they are.’

Still, he had hesitated. He was unsure whether to tell Jang Woo-hyun or not. They hadn’t built that level of trust yet.

‘Who are these guys?’

While pondering how to coax Tawi into revealing their identities, the giants’ boat carrying the group neared its destination.

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