Chapter 66

Chapter 66
The colossal entity attempted to snatch the individuals positioned further down. Simultaneously, the Luna Moon band on his finger grew intensely warm against his flesh, acting as if it wanted to prompt him to cease delaying and rescue the commander immediately. Hold on. He harbored zero intention of letting the commander perish. He simply required a brief interval to think. While he subtly calmed down the piece of jewelry, Lucas let out a startled exclamation. Do not tell me His Excellency is situated down there?! Fortunately, the reach of the Eye Giant fell slightly short. The instant Haydam verified that the massive hand feeling along the bottom of the precipice had grasped nothing, he turned toward his two companions. Disembark. Sir? I stated, disembark. The newly appointed officers hurried off their vehicles as their instruction required, though confusion still marked their expressions. What do you intend to accomplish? I intend to draw that creature away. Once it departs, employ this item to pull the people below upward. He extended a length of rope. Bones and Lucas stared at him as though they found it difficult to accept. From where on earth do you continually pull these items? Haydam paid no attention to Bones’ inquiry and started his motorcycle. Lucas urged him urgently. Wait, draw it away? What precisely are you trying to do? Do not tell me— I am departing. Before they could halt him, he revved the motor and shot forward. He directed his course toward a fissure situated not far from the Eye Giant, which remained frantically thrashing to haul up the group accompanying the commander. He positioned himself far enough from the cliff edge where the commander clung so that falling debris would not crush him, yet close enough to remain within the gaze of the giant. Once he established the appropriate separation, he vaulted off his transport once more. The vehicle, retaining its momentum, rolled onward and plunged past the border of the precipice. I shall experience that shortly. He pushed off the snow and directed his gaze toward the Eye Giant. From his lateral vantage point, he observed the commander and Platon pressed tightly against the stone surface, maintaining a low profile to evade the giant’s grasping hand. The leader of Team Two lay restrained and prone upon the ice. The commander appears to be in terrible condition. Given the physical capabilities of the commander, he ought to have cleared the ledge without issue prior to the drop. He had shoved Haydam to safety at the final fraction of a second and failed to pull himself free. He had been aware that he was tumbling over the drop and chose to rescue him anyway, because he trusted that Haydam served as the offspring of Luna Moon. This situation was entirely absurd. Yet abandoning the commander to meet his end was never a viable choice. Just as the man had attempted to rescue him during that desperate moment, Haydam—provided he maintained the persona of his child—was obligated to risk his existence to rescue him in return. That represented the pact he established with Luna Moon. That constituted the cost of residing here under the identity of Heydam Goodman. As if responding on cue, the wind shifted to blow in the required direction from his current location toward the Eye Giant. Splendid climate for a descent. He pulled the blade from his belt, elevated his left arm, and dragged the weapon downward from beginning to end. Flesh parted and crimson fluid emerged. In the distance, the Eye Giant halted its movement. It required little time for the entity to begin sniffing the atmosphere and pivot its head toward him. In the distance, Lucas and Bones traversed the snow while shouting something at maximum volume. Yet human movement through deep snow possessed strict limits. The Eye Giant disregarded the humans who had served as distraction and charged directly toward Haydam instead. It would reach him well before the junior officers could arrive. Excellent. Rather than fleeing, he positioned himself upon the precarious brink of the cliff fissure, withdrew several pieces of Star Candy, and tossed them into his mouth. The moment they contacted his lips, they dissolved into blue fragments that integrated into his system, causing the extended laceration to mend immediately. Once he confirmed the injury was closing, he shattered a smoke canister near his feet, then launched white phosphorus and signal flares directly into the facial area of the giant as rapidly as he could load them. This served not to inflict damage, but purely to provoke aggression. The thoroughly infuriated Eye Giant accelerated its pace and closed the separation. When his final special cartridge was exhausted, he commenced firing at the ice positioned beneath the feet of the giant. The interval between them decreased continuously. Inadequate. The ammunition had been engineered for monsters rather than glaciers. They caused minimal impact on the frozen surface supporting the giant, and the ground refused to yield. Causing a glacier to collapse beneath its weight independently would border on a miracle anyway. His genuine strategy commenced at this juncture. No alternative remains, then. He hurled the depleted firearm at the Eye Giant. The creature batted it away with one hand as if treating it as an insult. The instant the giant, nearly upon him, extended its appendage to seize him, Haydam clutched his blade and leaped upward above the smoke plume. The Eye Giant rotated to track him. WAAAH—! Its limb punched straight through the fog into empty space. He had blanketed the edge with the smoke canister intentionally. The giant had failed to recognize that the spot he leaped from opened into an abyss, causing it to step straight into nothingness. Naturally, Haydam had also jumped from the cliff to sell the deception. He plunged into the fog and drove his dagger into the face of the glacier. The blade failed to penetrate sufficiently on the initial attempt. He slid downward along the sheer ice barrier in a prolonged, unmanaged descent. The Eye Giant thrashed in search of a handhold for itself, but its thick, furred paws could not generate the friction achieved by his blade. It dropped helplessly into the darkness. Even such a drop likely will not destroy it. Observing the descent of the giant, he withdrew a secondary blade and forced it into a fissure within the ice. This instance, it caught securely. Rather than sliding, he jerked to a complete halt and hung suspended in the open air. The drop had felt extensive, but upon looking upward, the fall proved relatively modest after all. Haydam, sir! What on earth—! Lucas and Bones reached the edge belatedly, identified him down below, and began shouting simultaneously. With both individuals speaking at once, he understood nothing. All required action involved holding on until they pulled him upward. He directed his gaze skyward, noting that the cloud formation appeared incorrect. Above the persistent tempest, a storm cloud was amassing rapidly. Do not tell me… An unfavorable sensation tightened his brow. As previously noted, the Eye Giant controlled meteorological conditions. The blizzard that had battered them was something generated by the giant itself to conceal its massive form. Consequently, that storm cloud was likewise summoned by it… A powerful rumble echoed across the sky. Golden illumination flashed amidst the clouds, and a single flash of lightning struck directly onto the blade held in his hand. Curses—! Rather than absorbing the impact and getting blown off the barrier, he released the blade a fraction of a second prior to the lightning strike. The point of impact flared white and burst apart like popping corn. The fractured ice receded as he descended. Evading the lightning bolt proved beneficial; what followed was unassisted free fall. He searched his memory for anything stored in his inventory that might offer assistance. He possessed nothing prepared for a descent. Either a miraculous event occurred, or this physique possessed sufficient durability to allow him to ingest Star Candy after reaching the lower surface. That represented his sole remaining hope. The factor that halted his descent moments later was neither miracle nor fortune. It was the Eye Giant. A massive furred hand thrust inward from the side and snatched him from midair. The grip possessed enough force to crush every bone within his body; he suppressed the scream striving to escape and glanced sideways. The giant had located a cavern entrance opening from the fissure wall, clung there, and plucked him out of his unassisted drop. Without hesitation, it brought the prize grasped in its fist upward toward its oral cavity. As the interval closed, the golden gem embedded within its forehead dominated Haydam’s field of view. Landing a single blow proved preferable to being consumed entirely. He forced one arm free from the crushing digits, extracted an explosive device from his inventory, pulled the pin using his teeth, and tossed it into the open maw directed toward him. He could not reach the forehead. The explosive glided smoothly down the throat of the giant and detonated. The Eye Giant shrieked in agony and hurled him into the cavern. The impact of bouncing across the cavern floor finally extracted a vocalization from him. He only halted upon colliding with the distant barrier. Groper about his belt, he forced Star Candy into his oral cavity. As the lacerations mended, the sensation of every bone in his body being shattered began to subside. He gasped for the oxygen he had withheld and pressed his forehead against the cavern stone. Being cast into the cavern rather than downward into the crevasse constituted the sole reason he survived. The circumstances remained precarious. Star Candy could repair injuries, but more severe trauma required extended recovery durations. The positive aspect was that his physique maintained sufficient durability to endure the impact without losing consciousness, though he could not simply remain prone and wait for healing to conclude. The entity that had tossed him into the cavern was already roaring with fury and pursuing him. You must be joking. What probability existed that he could be swallowed, discharge a firearm from inside its oral cavity, and fracture the gem located in its forehead? He entertained the futile notion and fled deeper into the cavern regardless. Dense ice formations obstructed the passageway. The Eye Giant, sluggish inherently, fell behind rapidly amid the barriers. Those same sharp formations presented a hazard for Haydam as well. Warm liquid trickled down his cheek during his flight; he wiped it away to discover crimson fluid. An icicle descending from the ceiling had lacerated him unnoticed. Subsequently, a realization struck his mind. Wait. What if… He sprinted frantically with his gaze fixed upon the ceiling. Deeper he progressed, the higher the roof extended, and the larger the suspended icicles became. Total commitment. If the offensive power he carried failed to eliminate the creature anyway… Hey! You foolish giant beast! He halted abruptly at a favorable location, drew a weapon from his inventory, and discharged the entirety of its ammunition upward into the ceiling in a chaotic burst, drawing the giant inward. The creature, which had lost track of him temporarily and wandered aimlessly, locked onto the gunfire and charged after him. The entire cavern trembled with the thunder of its strides. That outcome suited him. The more aggressively it thrashed, the greater the number of fractures that would form within the overhead ice. He held his respiration and waited. To drop an icicle upon it at the precise moment, he could not maintain a substantial distance between them. Premature action caused the spike to drop fruitlessly; delayed action meant the giant had already passed. The second he observed the giant smash through the ice formations and storm into the chamber, he initiated gunfire directed at a massive, razor-sharp column of ice suspended from the roof. The giant shortened the interval, yet he maintained his weapon elevation. The instant the creature bellowed and elevated its limb upward— A splitting sound filled the cavern as something yielded, and the enormous icicle that had adhered to the ceiling for ages detached and plunged directly onto the skull of the Eye Giant. He observed the sharp apex pierce the skull of the giant, and simultaneously, a whip-like hand struck him and sent him airborne. The impact cast him against the cavern barrier. The sound of his physique striking dense ice was masked by a louder impact. Upon colliding with the wall, the icicle that had pierced the head of the giant embedded itself into the cavern floor. The Eye Giant ceased motion. Likewise, he ceased motion. He could not move a single digit. That final collision against the barrier likely compromised my spine… Despite every effort, nothing responded. Agony enveloped his entire physique. Even so, he needed to elevate his head and evaluate the state of the giant. Monsters did not perish merely because an icicle impaled them. He hoped the spike had shattered the gem situated within its forehead. When he finally forced his head around to observe, the golden stone remained positioned correctly, radiating with unabated brilliance. The icicle skewering the Eye Giant had missed its target by a fraction. He uttered a brief, hollow laugh. I am finished. It could not recover and launch an immediate assault, but neither could he. He required only to transfer the ration in his pocket to his mouth, yet currently he could not twitch a single finger. If that concluding attack had destroyed the entity, he might have managed somehow… Even if the Zone dispatches a rescue unit, that creature will recover prior to their arrival. He sighed and closed his eyes. He recognized mortality when he experienced it. What am I accomplishing, risking my existence for a non-player character… Yet a veteran maintained his pride. He could not accept assistance from a non-player character and subsequently depart nonchalantly. Curiously, expiring felt neither as alarming nor as unjust as he had anticipated. The thought was not restricted to the notion that expiration here might simply signify logging out of this game world. He had consistently envisioned mortality as cold and terrifying, yet the sensation he experienced currently felt warm, nearly peaceful. Resembling less a chill and more the act of grasping a warm stone within his palm… An abrupt sensation of wrongness caused his eyes to snap open. He directed his gaze downward toward his hand. The ring of Luna Moon emitted a soft, radiant illumination, enveloping his physique in gentle warmth. What… is happening? Do not tell me… Only a single explanation emerged in his thoughts. The unidentified consciousness residing within the band of Luna Moon. He had recognized long ago that an alternative presence inhabited the stone. It had simply demonstrated no inclination to assist him, even when the Eye Giant placed him on the brink of mortality, causing him to abandon expectations. Now that he hovered on the verge of destruction, the entity apparently chose to intervene at last. Timely arrival. Let us observe, then. Who resides within this band. No sooner had the thought crystallized than the illumination streaming from the band retracted directly into the moonstone embedded in its face, and a pure white entity emerged with a soft pop.