Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. - Chapter 173

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 173: C-rank Dungeon – The Giant’s Hunting Ground (3)
“This blasted bird—!”
The giant’s palm swept through the air.
A strike this powerful would break far more than bone if it connected.
Whoosh!
Bingbing, the sturdy owl, slipped clear of the giant’s palm with a perilous Acrobatic Flight.
Slice!
Silphren’s Slash Attack followed immediately after.
The curved sword, optimized for cutting, left a thin red line across the back of the giant’s hand.
“Grraaaagh!”
While the giant that had reached out shrieked in pain, the one wielding the club came bounding over.
“Yonooom—!”
The club came crashing down.
But quick speed was Bingbing’s specialty, and the giant’s slow swing couldn’t match it.
“Ha-yah—!”
Bingbing darted out of the way with deft precision.
Silphren followed, drawing the blade through the air with flame dancing across its edge.
Crack!
The giant’s neck split wide open, fire spreading from the wound’s edges.
The perfect synchrony between Silphren and Bingbing harried the giants relentlessly.
“This is infuriating! They’re too fast!”
“It makes my blood boil!”
The two giants, their frustration mounting to a fever pitch, thrashed about with ever-greater violence.
Crash!
Boom!
They destroyed and shattered the terrain they had warped to make the hunt more enjoyable, but Bingbing had already soared skyward.
Silphren turned her head, putting some distance between herself and the giants.
“Uooooh—!”
Not far away, other giants were engaged in hunting exotic prey.
Their quarry was a celestial being of noble bearing.
Because the celestial didn’t look particularly strong in appearance or stature, the giants lamented that the prey seemed too easy to catch.
That had been the case at first.
“Please, just land on my blade once—!”
A colossal axe came smashing down on the celestial.
An attack that would instantly kill even a full-blooded Orc, a naturally born warrior race, if it connected.
“Their strength is certainly superior.”
But strength meant nothing if the attacks never landed.
All of the giants’ assaults had been missing since the start.
The celestial was simply hovering motionless in the air, yet the attacks couldn’t touch them at all.
“But technique? They have essentially none. If you wish to become a true warrior, learn skill.”
Lepicule, the celestial, was casually floating with arms crossed, offering instruction to his opponents.
It was a manner far removed from the gentle, courteous demeanor typical of celestials.
‘…Is this creature really a celestial?’
While transformation Secret Arts were common in the world, only a handful of people could assume the form of a higher race like the celestials.
Still, something told her that Lepicule belonged to that rare handful of the powerful.
She had no proof, but it was the feeling she got.
“Iyayaya—!!”
A creature’s roar.
A giant wielding an enormous spear in both hands and a hunting beast attempting to swallow Lepicule in one bite—they attacked in concert.
“Hrrgh—!”
A crackling sound.
As Lepicule floated casually and let the attacks slide past, the giant’s spear lodged itself in the beast’s mouth.
“This is what happens when one lacks technique.”
“No—! How dare you strike Koripariditascur—!”
“What a long name! That must mean you poured all your love into it. The greater the love, the greater the rage it stirs.”
Lepicule, muttering away to himself, landed on the crown of the giant wielding the spear.
A whistling sound, sharp and swift.
Red energy came ripping violently from the giant’s body.
Crackle!
The massive red energy swirling in Lepicule’s hands transformed into a colossal spear.
A spear bristling with thick, muscular arms drove deep into the giant’s torso.
“Grrrgh, now I’m angry—!”
Being a race of such natural fortitude, the creature began swinging the spear even as blood poured from the wound in great crimson rushes.
“You took that and you’re still standing? Truly, a giant!”
Lepicule chuckled with evident satisfaction, lazily letting every attack slide past him.
Watching this display, Silphren grew certain once again.
‘That one is absolutely not Celestial-born.’
In fact, he seemed to have barely any intention of hiding it at all.
Kar and his companions were simply not ordinary by any measure.
‘…Is this the exploration expedition that became famous for being strange?’
Silphren had only grasped half the truth when it happened.
“Get back!”
The giant’s club barely grazed past Bingbing’s body.
Whoosh—!
“Ugh!”
The sturdy-eyed creature was indeed a magical beast with a resilient frame.
But unable to withstand the sudden impact, it plummeted toward the ground.
Though the wound healed instantly upon touching the ruddy earth infused with Leria’s essence, that brief moment of falling was all the giants needed to encircle it, cutting off any escape.
“Ungh…!”
“I’ve got it, so get away, all of you!”
“Whoever kills it first wins!”
Surrounded on all sides by many, there was no way out.
Even if it shot upward, it would be struck down at once.
Whimper….
“It’s not your fault.”
Silphren stroked Bingbing’s head reassuringly while gripping the hilt of her curved sword firmly.
“All right! I’ll strike first!”
Just as the club-wielding giant raised its weapon to bring it down upon Silphren with all its strength—
Whoosh!
An arrow flew straight into the giant’s skull.
“…Kgh!?”
As the club-bearing giant staggered for an instant, more arrows came in rapid succession, embedding themselves in the bodies of the other giants.
Not enough force to slay them, but enough to make them hesitate.
“Ugh! Cursed flames of the accursed Leria!”
“So annoying! Making us angry!”
“One of Leria’s dogs—the betrayer!”
The arrows that had been raining down continuously bore flames along their shafts.
Fire as crimson as blood.
A hue much like the ruddy earth of this Wasteland.
“Greetings, all you powerful yet dim-witted giants?”
A golden-haired Half-Elf descended slowly through the air, waving her hand.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, would you be willing to serve as the object of Sacred Ritual devotion for Leria?”
Whoooosh!
“Do burn quietly.”
The giants’ bodies were engulfed in flame all at once.
It was a sight that could only inspire awe.
“…Is this really a Secret Art of the Sociatos?”
Whimper?
Silphren stood stupefied alongside Bingbing, then suddenly came to her senses and launched herself into the air.
“Silphren!”
Joining Brightfeather, who was waving her hands frantically in the distance, Silphren felt a genuine shock course through her.
“Are you hurt? Is anything wrong? Bingbing, let me see your wings!”
Chirp!
Brightfeather examined the wound near Bingbing’s wings and proceeded to splash Vitality Recovery Potion over the area.
Except in the Sky Village or at lodgings, the creature was always downcast—but now, something appeared in her eyes that was never usually seen there.
Courage.
‘…This means I have to let her go.’
Fifteen years ago.
A parrot who had once lived as a slave to human nobility, who had remained ever since her rescue confined to a cage gazing endlessly at the world beyond, seemed at last to be preparing to take flight into the open sky.
***
“Roooaaarrr!”
The giants were rampaging.
Whoooosh!
The silent one’s flames roared upward, consuming the colossal bodies like kindling.
Though the fire barely charred their skin and dealt no serious damage, the giants flailed their limbs uselessly nonetheless.
“Leria’s dog! We’ll kill you!”
“Uuuggghhhh!”
What little reason the giants possessed had long since been paralyzed.
Their fury burned bright as the flames themselves—directed at the lonely Silent Order, who had clasped hands to face the Orc Tribal Alliance only to betray them at the first opportunity.
Crash!
Perhaps he was satisfied with the grand scale of his Sacred Ritual.
The serpent tattoo writhed across his slender frame in agitation.
“How beautifully it burns!”
Lepicule, who had left the spear-wielding giant in a state of near-death, stepped closer and placed a hand on my waist.
“Grand Duke Kar. Is this banquet you’ve prepared for me?”
“It is, my lord.”
I bowed deeply as a vassal before his sovereign, gesturing toward the giants with both hands.
“I’ve warmed them for you, so do extract their essence at once.”
“As expected, you are capable. You are more than worthy of my affection!”
“Please don’t merely speak it—show me through action.”
“Ehehehehe! Come here!”
My sovereign began stroking my head and back indiscriminately.
Each touch was exquisitely precise—it sent shivers down my spine.
Having slowly undone me with a single hand, he suddenly rushed toward the nearest giant.
“Blonde Socialite! I’ll kill you—!”
The false celestial, having just shaken off the flames through violent thrashing, landed on the giant’s shoulder and reached out his hand.
“I shall take possession of your trivial rage.”
Shhiiiing!
Red essence poured out like water, flowing abundantly.
From the other giants’ bodies too, ‘rage’ was extracted.
“Your petty fury is thick and vast indeed.”
Whoooosh.
The red essence, gathered into one mass, soon became a magical beast.
A colossal creature covered in countless arms across its entire body.
At a glance, it bore the complete reflection of the giants’ ferocity and strength.
– Grrrrgh… kill… kill…!
It had even inherited their rather limited manner of speech.
“Beast of rage, embrace tightly those parents who gave you birth.”
– Kill—!
The colossal beast began wildly thrashing the giants with its numerous arms.
Though it was holding its own for now, as the Unnamed Demon King’s ‘Lepicule’ with only a Level 2 rank, I would not be able to suppress an entire race born with innate power for long.
“Falsehood.”
“Yes—!”
I summoned a false copy of myself to render aid.
“Dart around the giants and keep fleeing. Annoy them as much as possible.”
“That’s my favorite kind of job! Right away!”
The fake Kar flew off and began dancing wildly in the air, drawing aggression.
“…Socialite—!”
“Kill them all—the beast and the Socialite!”
“Raaahhhhh!”
For now, the giants would have no attention left for us.
“Let us depart, my sovereign.”
“Very well.”
I turned back toward where Brightfeather waited, attending my reliable lord.
Flapping its wings enthusiastically, it attempted telepathy: [Good good friend friend!]
– Our daughter, where are you?
– Gathering the fourth component right now!
A telepathic message came faintly from that distant place.
– But this is weirdly confusing!
– It’s meant to be—it’s originally an annoying puzzle that begins from the smallest clues.
Interpreting the hidden meanings in the ground drawings scattered across different locations, carefully arranging the stones, adding lines, removing some….
It’s more challenging than you’d think on your first attempt.
Of course, once you know the solution, it’s just a memory test.
—We’ll head in that direction.
—Right!
I pulled out the Compass immediately and checked our bearing.
Bartimir is currently positioned to our southeast.
“We should go that way. Since we need to move quickly, would it be all right if we all climbed onto Bingbing?”
—Fwoosh!
“Seems it’s fine!”
“Thank you, Bingbing. As a token of my gratitude, would you like to hear a nursery rhyme I composed called ‘Grinning Golden Crow’?”
—Fwoot!
“She doesn’t want to hear it!”
Bingbing curtly refused the offer and flew at high speed toward the southeast.
“From here, you’ll need to turn slightly to the left.”
—Fwoooosh!
“Kar, if we keep going straight like this, won’t I just appear on the opposite side again like before?”
“By adjusting our flight path according to the established rules, we’ll reach a secret location that can’t be accessed by ordinary means.”
“Ah-ha!”
After making several directional corrections along the way, we soon arrived at a landscape that felt utterly different from what we’d seen before.
A vast field where the earth was not merely red, but streaked with sallow yellow.
A deeply carved pit lay hollowed at its center.
“This is where the culprit behind the Mysterious Phenomenon of the Wasteland’s endless expanse hides.”
The Demon-type Being lay sprawled across the top of the ground drawing inside the pit.
She’d been concentrating intently when she spotted us and called out.
“Wait just a moment! I’m almost done!”
The instant Bartimir carefully scattered red earth across the eyes of a bird-shaped drawing.
Crunch-crunch-crunch!
The center of the ground drawing split open as a small pillar rose from beneath the earth.
On its flat top sat a stone shaped like a fan.
《??? – Fragment of Schism (1/4)》
《If we gather all four and combine them, something marvelous is bound to happen!》
“We’ve got them all!”
Bartimir bounded up the sloping ground and, clutching the last piece in one hand, combined it with the other Fragments of Schism that had been in her pocket.
Click-click-click!
The fragments, which had been clinking and rattling against each other, gradually merged into one.
A clean, perfect circle.
An impeccably round form—one might even call it the ideal shape.
“You’ve done well, Bartimir.”
“Is that all there is to it?”
“Yes.”
A circle is considered a complete figure.
Personally, I find poorly formed polygons—those appropriately warped and lacking parallel sides—more appealing, but mathematicians and philosophers alike agree on this point.
And the circle also symbolizes the heavens.
Because the sky is a perfect place where God resides.
“Shall we hold it up to the sky to check?”
“Like this?”
The Demon-type Being lifted the completed circle to examine it, her eyes widening.
“…There’s only one small crack running through it?”
“You have a keen eye.”
I raised my arm and pointed to a single spot in the sky.
“Brightfeather?”
“…Yes?”
“I have a very simple and easy request for you.”
It’s truly nothing much.
“Pierce the sky with a single Arrow.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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