The Author Reincarnated As An Extra
Chapter 52: • How’s Your Swing?

Chapter 52: • How’s Your Swing?

The Goliath Mammoth was around the size of two estates, extremely big and slow. It stirred in slow motion, its colossal body rising from slumber, unveiling the sheer scale of the nightmare that had been hidden beneath a veil of deceptive beauty.

So far, it was the highest ranked Paragon Deremiah had faced, having the Shadowed Echelon. Usually, it would be expected that a beast so gigantic would undeniably be of the highest Echelon.

To put it in perspective, the NeonSquid, as large as it had been, was sized the same as the Goliath Mammoth’s footprint.

So, the beast’s main advantage truly was its size.

Its body was an endless stretch of ancient, mountainous hide, a living landscape covered in patches of green moss, thick, gnarled roots, and jagged ridges of hardened flesh that had long fused with the remnants of a world it had trampled in its eternal march.

There were chains of an unknown origin wrapped around its legs and torso, remnants of some past battle against forces that had failed to contain its wrath.

Beneath all that ugly hair was its eyes, massive and sunken, burning with a ghastly, void-like glow, flickering between purple and obsidian black. When it lowered its trunk, its breath was audible, pounding even in everyone’s chests as they hung on its back.

Even though the Paragon was given a lower Rank because of its lesser powers compared to others in Forsaken and Abyssal Echelons, Deremiah still knew that the powers of the Goliath Mammoth were tremendous.

Cataclysmic, in fact.

They were as follows:

Worldshaker: Each step of the Goliath Mammoth was a tremor that could fracture mountains. If it moved with intent, entire landscapes would shatter beneath its sheer weight.

Trumpet of Catastrophe: When it trumpets, a shockwave of pure destruction will shoot out, capable of sending armies flying, rupture eardrums, and reduce stone to dust. Depending on the intensity.

Hard Skin: The Goliath Mammoth has one of the most impenetrable skins amongst most Paragons.

Brooding: The Mammoth sleeps eternally and even when awake, remains in a subconscious state where it is increasingly powerful and attacks things that disturb its rest.

Grateful that his memory of the Mammoth was back and intact, Deremiah took a deep breath once more and looked down the chasm below him. Dark and deep.

He gulped.

Elora moved her gaze between him and Cestrel, mouthing to Cestrel to stay calm.

However, the Mammoth had not fully gotten up in fact, and soon, it started to stretch its feet, standing straight.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" a participant yelled as he rolled off the back and fell into the hole.

"No— Ngh!"

"Ugh!"

Instantly, Deremiah, Elora, and Cestrel also lost their footing. The ground beneath them tilted sharply, completely turning into a landslide of chaos.

They tumbled violently, rolling over patches of dirt and tangled roots, desperately trying to grab onto anything stable.

"Ughh!" A groan pushed out of his lungs as Deremiah dug his fingers into a chunk of strong grass, the roots tearing at his skin as he held on for dear life. The moment he stopped sliding, he thrust out a hand, just in time to catch Cestrel’s wrist as she hurtled past him.

"Got you!" he grunted.

Cestrel gasped, her blue hair whipping wildly in the wind as she clung to his arm, her legs dangling over the edge of what had once been stable ground.

She looked down at the chasm below, her eyes terrified to hell. "Don’t let go, please."

Deremiah squeezed his face. ’Don’t go giving me ideas,’ he thought.

Above them, rolling down and hitting rock protrusions after rock protrusions, Elora managed to quickly unsheath her sword in midair and, with precise instinct, plunged it into the mammoth’s back.

The blade bit into flesh, but to the mammoth, it was nothing more than the sting of a tiny needle. Still, it was enough. The resistance let her grip the hilt tightly, suspending herself against the force of gravity as the mammoth’s shifting body threatened to throw her off.

"Ugh—!" Elora gritted her teeth, her muscles straining. She looked down, seeing Deremiah barely hanging on, and Cestrel struggling against gravity.

Deremiah looked at Cestrel, his jaw clenched. "If you don’t want to die, then hold on to my hand."

Cestrel nodded nervously.

But then, Deremiah snapped his head up. The grass he was clutching had begun to uproot.

His stomach clenched. They were going to fall.

Elora’s eyes darted to him and then to the grass he was holding tight to. Her eyes narrowed.

"Why aren’t you teleporting?" she asked.

Deremiah hesitated. "My reserves are out. I don’t think I have enough energy left to fuel it." He exhaled sharply. "If I try, I might barely make it myself. But she—" He gestured to Cestrel. "She’d fall."

Elora exhaled through her nose, a flicker of frustration in her expression. She wanted to say, I told you to leave when you had the chance. But that would be insensitive, especially because he had only stayed because of her.

Instead, she looked up at her blade and narrowed her eyes.

Then, gripping the hilt tighter, she began pulling herself up, hand over hand, until she could position her foot against the blade. With a burst of power, she pushed off, flipping to a crouching stance on top of it.

Deremiah’s eyes widened, although he was impressed, this wasn’t the time for Elora to be showboating. "What the hell are you doing?"

Elora didn’t say anything, rather her gaze flicked toward the mammoth’s tusk.

"We can’t stay here," she said. "It’s going to move again soon."

Deremiah huffed, feeling his muscles strain. "Yeah, I know that."

"I don’t know if my vines will be enough to hold us," she admitted, before glancing at him. "How good is your swing?"

Deremiah froze.

"...What?"

☆☆☆

From the safety of the river below, the only two who had listened and crossed before the earth began to shake, Varion and Sarah, watched the chaos unfold.

Varion leaned against his boat’s edge, curiously watching the participants on the Goliath Mammoth’s back. "What are those three even doing?"

Sarah followed his gaze and she joined to watch Elora, Deremiah, and Cestrel shouting over the wind as they scrambled toward each other.

She glanced at Varion. "Do you have the same question I do?"

Varion’s eyes narrowed. "The guy."

Sarah nodded. "It makes sense that Elora and Cestrel would form an alliance. But him? He looks like a slummer."

"Too good-looking to be one, though."

Sarah’s face reddened slightly. She quickly looked down. "Is he? I... I didn’t notice."

Varion looked at with one brow raised. "Anyway. He must be capable if Elora is trusting him."

"Mhm." Sarah agreed. But then, her expression turned thoughtful. "Should we help them? I mean... we’re only safe because she warned us. They’re up there because of us."

Varion exhaled. "I don’t know how we can be of any help to them here, and speaking of that... how did she know that the land was actually a Goliath Mammoth?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "You’re right—"

Their thoughts were interrupted by movement.

"What are they doing on the mammoth’s tusk?"

Varion’s eyes widened as Elora created a vine, tying it to the tusk’s base.

Deremiah gripped the vine, then leapt forward, swinging across the open air. As he landed, a pulse of purple energy swirled beneath his feet, absorbing the force and letting him land smoothly onto the boar.

Cestrel was next. She swung gracefully, landing on Deremiah, who caught her and let her down easily.

But just as it was Elora’s turn—