Faced with the violent flying kick that descended from the sky like a burning meteorite, the battle instincts of the battle-hardened Dorry and Brogy made a split-second judgment.
The two did not hesitate at all.
With a tacit glance, their weapons—the sword and axe that had been locked in a stalemate—instantly shifted direction, combining into one to unleash a terrifying power far exceeding what they had shown before.
“Hakoku!” Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, a terrifying shockwave that fused both their powers together, like a reverse tornado, tore through the atmosphere and slammed head-on into the descending Mina!
The next second, the flaming flying kick and the Hakoku shockwave collided with a thunderous boom.
A visible ring-shaped shockwave centered on the point of impact spread wildly in all directions.
The violent wind pressure, like the wrath of the gods, ravaged the entire island.
Countless towering trees that would take several people to embrace were easily snapped like fragile matchsticks, uprooted, and then shredded into pieces in mid-air by the violent air currents.
With the three of them at the center, a layer of the ground within several kilometers was forcibly shaved away, forming a massive circular crater and kicking up dust that blocked out the sun.
A moment later, the firelight above slowly dissipated, and the dust on the ground gradually settled.
Amidst the dust and mist, a huge figure appeared first.
Mina knelt on one knee in the center of the crater; that flying kick had left her entire right leg feeling numb.
However, the dual bloodline of the Lunarian Race and the Oni Race granted her an incredibly monstrous recovery ability; this minor injury was nothing more than a matter of a few breaths.
She slowly stood up, brushed the dust off her body, turned around, and looked at the opposite side.
Dorry and Brogy were watching her with wary expressions, their respective longsword and giant axe held horizontally in front of their chests in a defensive stance.
The two of them did not look too good; their bodies were covered in small wounds, and their breathing was somewhat ragged.
Clearly, that combined attack just now had also taken a huge toll on them.
However, more than their physical injuries, their hearts were filled with indescribable shock and confusion.
“Are you…
an Ancient Giant?” Dorry looked at the menacing horns on top of Mina’s head and her hundred-meter height, asking in an uncertain tone.
“But…
why is there a ball of fire behind your back?” Brogy added, his gaze locked tightly onto the cluster of eternal golden-red flames on Mina’s shoulder blades.
Faced with the two giants’ questions, Mina did not answer, but instead grinned with an excited smile.
“Hey!
You two, that move just now was pretty awesome!
Let’s do it again!
No, wait, how about you teach me?” This nonsensical, and perhaps even slightly provocative, remark left Dorry and Brogy stunned.
From Mina’s eyes, they saw no malice at all, only a pure, childlike curiosity about powerful strength.
Coupled with that familiar, massive physique and heroic aura belonging to the Giant Race, the hostility in their hearts dissipated for the most part without them realizing it.
After exchanging a glance, the two suddenly burst into deafening laughter at the same time.
“Gahahaha!
Interesting little girl!” “Want to learn our moves?
Of course you can!” A few minutes later, the atmosphere of the duel, which had originally been a life-or-death struggle, turned into an ocean of joy.
A grand banquet began rather hastily.
Mina excitedly caught a giant dinosaur the size of a hill, skillfully skinning, lighting a fire, and roasting it.
Her practiced techniques left the two old giants, who had lived for over a hundred years, completely dumbfounded.
Soon, the rich aroma of meat drifted across the entire island.
The three sat around a huge bonfire, gorging themselves on dinosaur meat roasted to a golden, dripping-with-fat perfection, and brought over mountain-sized piles of giant barrels from the two giants’ storage.
“*Hic*…
Refreshing!” Mina downed half a barrel of wine in one go, let out a long, satisfied belch, then wiped her red lips with the back of her hand and began her grand scheme of bamboozling them.
“Tell me, what are your names?
Why are you fighting here?” “My name is Dorry!” “I am Brogy!” “We are dueling for the honor of Elbaf!” The two giants explained in a jumble of voices.
After listening, Mina pursed her lips, feeling disdain for such a boring reason, but she didn’t show it, instead taking the opportunity to throw out her own question.
“Elbaf?
Is that the homeland of the Giant Race?” “That’s right!
Aren’t you from the Giant Race?
How could you not know about Elbaf?” Dorry asked curiously.
“Me?” Mina pointed to her own nose, a perfectly timed look of confusion on her face.
“I don’t know either.
I grew up in the outside world since I was a child.
I am of the Oni Race.” “Oni Race?” Dorry and Brogy exchanged a glance.
The term seemed slightly familiar; it appeared to be a rare branch of the Giant Race.
“Yeah,” Mina began to talk nonsense with a straight face.
“Our clan is very small.
I haven’t seen any others of my kind since I was a child, let alone any Giant Race techniques.
If it weren’t for good luck this time, I probably would have died at sea long ago.” As she spoke, she put on a pitiful expression, looking at the two giants with eager, pleading eyes.
“So, big brothers, considering we are both of the Giant Race, could you teach me that ‘Hakoku’ move?
I don’t know anything, and it’s too dangerous to travel outside.” The personality of the Giant Race is mostly simple and straightforward, and Dorry and Brogy were typical examples of this.
Looking at Mina’s “sincere” eyes and thinking back to the powerful strength and bold personality she had just displayed, they didn’t have the slightest suspicion.
“Gahahaha!
No problem!
It’s just a mere Hakoku; if you want to learn, we’ll teach you!” “That’s right!
We warriors of Elbaf are never stingy!” Just like that, through the offensive of a barbecue and several barrels of wine, Mina successfully managed to learn a few more skills.
Over the next few days, the sky above Small Garden echoed with deafening roars every day.
Mina’s learning ability completely shattered Dorry and Brogy’s worldview.
On the first day, she learned Hakoku.
This move requires the combined effort of two people and focuses on the fusion and resonance of power.
Mina, on her own, relied on the monstrous combat talent brought by the Garp template and her ultimate control over power to figure out her own solo version of “Hakoku” in just a few hours.
When she swung her fist and unleashed that shockwave—although slightly weaker in power, it was the real deal—Dorry and Brogy’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
On the third day, she learned the Spear of Elbaf.
This is one of the Giant Race’s most proud techniques, capable of condensing power into an invincible spear of energy to strike enemies from a distance.
Mina only had to watch it once to imitate it perfectly.
By the fifth day, the spear of energy she unleashed was already no less powerful than the dual giants.
On the seventh day, she learned the Sun Saw and Sun Shield.
These were the basic combat techniques of the Giant Warrior Pirates, one for offense and one for defense, simple and effective.
For Mina, they were not difficult at all.
In just over ten days, she was like a dry sponge, crazily absorbing the combat techniques of the Giant Race, and was able to draw inferences and integrate them into her own fighting style.
Watching that crazy girl chasing a giant pterosaur across the sky using the “Spear of Elbaf,” Dorry and Brogy looked at each other, their faces filled with expressions of existential doubt.
“Hey, Brogy, if I remember correctly, didn’t it take me fifteen years to learn ‘Hakoku’ back in the day?” Dorry muttered to himself.
“You’re lucky,” Brogy’s tone was even more bitter, “It took me a full twenty years to barely master the basics of the ‘Spear of Elbaf’.” The two fell silent.
Thinking back to their younger days, they were also Captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, the top warriors of Elbaf, geniuses among geniuses.
But compared to the monster in front of them, their talent was simply a joke.
Just as the two were deeply struck and beginning to wonder if they had been adopted.
Mina dragged the pterosaur, which had been beaten to the brink of death, and ran back happily.
“Hey!
You two, stop spacing out!
Come and help!
We’re eating roast bird meat tonight!” Smelling the aroma of meat, the two giants instantly cast their previous troubles to the winds.
“Gahahaha!
Good!
Let’s drink until we drop today!” “Roast bird meat!
My favorite!” The so-called blow to their ego was completely fragile in the face of absolute appetite.
A hearty barbecue feast allowed them to completely move past this, immersing themselves once again in the joy of the banquet.