This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 506 - 465 The Fall of Giant Civilization

Chapter 506: Chapter 465 The Fall of Giant Civilization

Amberser was no stranger to battling powerful creatures.

He had even fought a Giant Dragon, which felt manageable.

But the three Giants before him gave Amberser a completely different impression. Though they were not as huge as a Giant Dragon, they posed a far greater threat to Amberser.

The premonitions of Diviner Mages were often very accurate.

In the moment they clashed, Arthur Laine was struck by a sweeping blow from a Giant Sword, sending him flying over ten meters away.

Even though he quickly steadied himself and re-engaged with the Giant.

That was Arthur Laine, after all!

As for the other two Giants, they showed no mercy either, with the Hammer Giant firmly setting its sights on Airel, as if to see whose hammer was more formidable.

Finally, the only Giant left, wielding an axe, charged at Amberser.

The Giant Axe swung out, carrying with it the fury of Thunder and the howling wind, in addition to its earth-shattering momentum.

Amberser stood frozen in place, as if petrified by fear, but when the axe cut through his body, it only cleaved through a mist-like afterimage.

In that instant, he had executed the Haze Technique, Doppelganger Technique, and Traceless Step.

Thanks to the gift from the Elf Queen, the power of the Legendary Ranger not only made his archery more accurate but also enhanced Amberser’s casting speed.

The Giant Axe left a deep gash in the ground, embedded there, before being pulled out by the charging Giant to continue its pursuit of Amberser.

Amberser was now grateful that this Axe Giant hadn’t learned Gareth’s Chain Blade technique; otherwise, it could’ve just pulled its weapon back and hurled it at him again, leaving Amberser with no choice but to run for his life.

With another Traceless Step, Amberser was already behind the Axe Giant. These minor spells now cost him next to nothing, and he raised his hand to cast two Acceleration Spells, one each on Arthur Laine and Airel.

The War-Magic-Priest formation seemed to be scattered by the three Giants, but Amberser continued to play his role as a Mage.

This was the composure of a seasoned Adventurer.

The War-Magic-Priest trio wasn’t just about having the Warrior take hits at the front while the Mage and Priest safely cast spells from behind.

In past adventures, no Warrior could provide perfect protection for a Mage. Whether it was a hidden arrow or a sudden charge, various surprises could disrupt the original formation.

As a Mage, would you really wait for someone to come to the rescue? That would be tantamount to waiting for death.

So any Mage with a few years of experience knew what to do in the chaos of battle. Unless you were part of the Shaping Energy Type who could exempt allies from damage, you had to focus on support.

With Traceless Step in all directions and support spells thrown out one after another.

Casting Acceleration Spell to empower teammates, and Blindness, Charm, and Petrify—a series of control spells to be thrown first to see the effect.

However, Amberser awkwardly found that these Giants seemed to have very high resistances, rendering all his control spells ineffective.

Upon closer inspection, Amberser realized that these Giants weren’t normal creatures at all.

Their bodies seemed to be made of the same material as the Gateway arches, pocked and incredibly hard—as Arthur Laine’s longsword made no dent. Airel’s lightning was totally ineffective; the Giants moved freely, bathing in Thunder, completely disregarding the lightning wrapped around her hammer.

However, their speed was still manageable. The Axe Giant couldn’t keep up with Amberser’s repeated Blinks and eventually gave up, charging towards Airel in an attempt to take down this seemingly weakest woman first.

"Big, high resistance, strong power...there must be weaknesses!" Amberser thought calmly as he cast a Spell toward the Axe Giant charging in Airel’s direction—the Grease Spell!

A large swath of yellow grease exploded, covering the ground in a ten-meter radius.

Once the Axe Giant stepped on it, his body uncontrollably slipped, and he fell flat on his backside. The ground shook at his fall, and the axe was inadvertently thrown from his hand.

High magic resistance was useless, the Grease Spell didn’t consider magic resistance, and if you couldn’t stand steady, you were sure to hit the ground hard.

To be on the safe side, Amberser even threw two Dice of Destiny, ensuring that the Giant would definitely fall to the ground.

The thrown axe landed right in front of Amberser.

Without a second thought, Amberser used Featherfall Spell combined with Mage Hand to shove the enormous axe into his private space.

Without his weapon, the threat of this Giant was instantly halved.

The Axe Giant struggled to rise, but being large-bodied, his movements were wide and somewhat clumsy; he flailed in the greasy mess for a long time without getting up.

Amberser chuckled; indeed, being large did not only imply weaknesses but also a poor balance.

Just as he was preparing to take down the other Giants in the same way, a flash of Holy Light from Arthur Laine’s side, a dazzling brilliance that made even Amberser feel a prickling sensation all over.

When the light dissipated, the Giant who wielded the Giant Sword had fallen.

This Sword Giant had a deep gash on his head—for humans it would mean their head had been split in two, but for a Giant, it might only have been the scalp that was sliced open.

Yet, this Sword Giant lay twitching on the ground as though he was severely injured.

"They are Undead! Very special Undead, but my Holy Light can still suppress them!" Arthur Laine shouted out.

Indeed they were special, an Undead that could survive a strike of Arthur Laine’s Holy Light without perishing completely must be terrifying.

Watching as Arthur Laine was about to deliver the final blow, Amberser also shouted, "Arthur, go help Airel with the Undead, I’ll take care of this one!"

Although Arthur Laine was puzzled, he absolutely wouldn’t waste time arguing with his teammate. His sword flashed and he was at Airel’s side in an instant, the two of them teaming up against the last Hammer Giant.

Amberser then blinked right next to the twitching giant, pressing a palm against the gaping wound.

When Amberser retracted his hand, a cluster of translucent threads also came out with it.

This was the Giant’s Soul, the Heroic Spirit of the arena.

The moment Amberser made contact with this Heroic Spirit, he understood its structure—it wasn’t a simple soul, but one formed by the convergence of countless brave souls who had died in battle.

All the warriors who died in the arena would exist in this manner, their courage and wrath congealing together, only leaving behind memories related to combat; pure, and hence powerful.

But no matter how powerful a Heroic Spirit is, it’s still a soul, and when the Giant itself couldn’t resist, Amberser grabbed the spirit, unraveled it like a cocoon, completely disabling the Giant’s ability to move.

"What a treasure!"

Amberser coveted the Heroic Spirit, so although he acted swiftly, he was very careful when tearing apart the soul, ensuring that he could perfectly restore it to its original form.

Once its soul was extracted, the powerful Giant could no longer move.

The battle reached its climax at this point; with the Giants’ weakness found, there was no difficulty left for the War-Magic-Priest Trio.

Neither Arthur Laine nor Amberser could possibly capsize in the gutter.

So the battle ended quickly, with the Hammer Giant chopped down by Arthur Laine’s Holy Light, followed by Amberser’s blink soul extraction. After the two Giants were dealt with, the final Giant only managed to struggle out of the Grease Spell.

It wasn’t that his reaction was slow, but that Arthur Laine and Amberser’s speed was too fast. The Paladin and Lich worked seamlessly together; it was nothing short of a miracle.

The remaining Giant, weaponless, obviously couldn’t pose any threat, and the trio took it down in a manner of seconds.

All three Giants had their souls extracted, and their bodies were collected into Amberser’s private space; it was a complete victory.

But thinking back on it now, Amberser felt a shiver of fear. Had it not been for Arthur’s Holy Light being able to restrain the Undead, he and Airel really couldn’t have caused any damage to the Giants.

If Amberser had dared to reach out for the soul, a single slap from the Giant would have been enough to shatter his body.

With a sigh, Amberser remarked, "I think I understand how this Race managed to offend Talos."

Airel, feeling guilty about her recent performance, perked up with curiosity when she heard Amberser say this, "Master Ultraman, what do you mean by that?"

"I’m saying I might have guessed what led to the downfall of this Giant Civilization. Each trial involved a large number of heroes dying in the Arena, their souls would continuously strengthen the spirits of these puppets, and their bodies would be absorbed, fortifying the puppets’ physiques.

"The natural outcome is that the more often the gladiatorial battles are held, the stronger the trial’s monsters become, and the more the powerful heroes die. Until one day, the Giant Civilization discovered that even their strongest combined forces couldn’t defeat these monsters, so the Arena no longer had anyone who could pass the test..."

Amberser was saying this when Talos’s projection appeared once again before everyone.

The gigantic silhouette towered over the three; its eyes alone were larger than all three giants combined.

The majestic voice of Talos descended from the heavens.

"Indeed, you guessed correctly. They all died in the arena because they weren’t as inventive as you. That is precisely why I favor them and not so much you."

Amberser wasn’t surprised; his bracelet had stopped glowing at the start of the battle.

How could Talos have missed this fight? Hence, Talos’s arrival now was not at all strange.

Talos spoke with nostalgia, "Constantly fighting, continuously growing stronger, after unifying the world, they used their own flesh and souls to forge mightier enemies. Never indulging in pleasure, they always enjoyed battles with a burning passion. These are the chosen ones I like the most. Although they ended up creating puppets that even they couldn’t defeat, I admire their effort. That’s why the surviving giants were brought by me into the Divine Realm, where they shall enjoy eternal life!"

"But what a pity, the beings that came after simply lack this kind of will."

Amberser thought, isn’t this just pure battle mania? Generations of heroes died senselessly for the sake of a Deity’s hobby, becoming a burden for their descendants. Even with the reward of eternal life, Talos’s Divine Realm is notoriously desolate, so what’s the point of such eternal life?

Amberser could not understand this idea, but Talos’s candidness did clear up many things that had been puzzling Amberser.

The Giant Race had once ruled the world, and perhaps the Golden Desert was where they lived, which explained why they possessed an abundance of gold—because all the world’s treasures belonged to them.

But gold was merely an offering and a decoration, as the Giant Race did not indulge in pleasure but in battle.

Under Talos’s guidance, they built the Storm Coliseum and began their perpetual, bloody struggles.

Amberser surmised that most of the Giant Race were warriors, favoring no fancy tricks; they simply swung their axes, battling in the most primitive manner. So when the opponent was stronger, tougher, and more skilled in combat, those heroes entering the arena stood no chance at all.

In Amberser’s eyes, it was a vicious cycle; to the Giant Race, it was the goal of life.

Who knows how many had died before the entire race won the chance to enter the Divine Realm.

No wonder those underground cities were deserted with not a single corpse to be found—only vast amounts of gold remained. Because they weren’t dead, nor had they migrated; they were promoted en masse to the Divine Realm. Gold held no significance to them, so there was no need to take it along.

Everything came full circle, and Amberser hadn’t expected that the glorious civilization would vanish due to its self-destruction.

However, that was no longer important. Amberser said to Talos, "So, great Lord of the Storm, may I inquire about my reward for this time?"

Talos laughed, "You’ve stolen all the Heroic Spirits that remained in the coliseum, and you’re still asking me for a reward?"

"Spoils of war are sacred and untouchable, isn’t that your doctrine, Lord of the Storm?" Amberser was about to haggle with Talos when he suddenly felt something was amiss.

"Wait a second, what did you mean by that? Were these three Heroic Spirits all that remained in the entire arena?"