Thump, thump, thump-.
His footsteps sank and the ground rumbled with every step he took.
That was only natural.
The trees Hercules lifted must have weighed dozens of tons.
It was a wonder to see how he could lift so much wood with one hand.
"What's he going to use all this wood for, fire?"
Ranker Players, or at least those above a certain level, were rarely cold because of the weather.
They rarely burned wood to heat their rooms, only lighting fires to cook their meals, and even then, it was a rare practice in this era.
"Probably..."
"Probably?"
"You and I may not need it, but some people still need wood. The only ones who don't feel cold are the Players."
Ultimately, it meant he wouldn't use it himself.
'It looks like he's sending it somewhere.'
If so, it wasn't just a simple job, but some sort of service.
Chopping firewood and sending it to warm someone, that's what Hercules was doing, stuck on this mountain.
"Good job."
"Not really."
Embarrassed, Hercules walked away in silence for a while.
Behind him was a hut.
A rustic house, carved out of a tree.
But it looked big enough. It seemed too big for one person to live in, and it had few rooms.
'It's the same here.'
A cabin that had remained the same for quite some time.
It was refreshing to see it again.
'The door isn't locked, so come on in, I'll tidy up and get you something to eat.'
"That's it. I'll rent the house and I'll cook the meals."
"I thought you said you were tired."
"I'm just trying to make a living."
"...."
Hercules was speechless at the polite tone.
YuWon stoked the fire as if it were his own home, picked up a stack of bowls to the side and poured water into them.
As she watched him expertly prepare the meal, adding dried meat and vegetables, Hercules began chopping the wood he had brought with him.
Kak-!
Fuduk, fuduk, fuduk-.
He broke and chopped the wood with his hands.
The work went quickly. Hercules threw the cut wood aside.
Meanwhile, the sun was setting.
Tadak, tadak.
The lit bonfire roared in front of the hut.
Having finished his work, Hercules sat down in front of the fire. YuWon served the food in a bowl carved from wood.
"What is your name?"
"You're quick to ask."
YuWon took a spoonful of the soup, simmered with various ingredients, and answered.
"Kim Yuwon."
"Kim Yuwon... I've never heard of that name before, aren't you a Ranker?"
"I'm still a Player. However, I'm quite famous outside."
"It's been too long since I've been here alone."
Hercules didn't interact much with the Rankers outside.
He rarely wore his Player gear and had few close friends in Olympus, which meant that Hercules knew very little of what had happened in recent years.
"You should get out sometimes, though. It's not good to isolate yourself from the world."
"You don't seem to be very close to the world either."
"Do I look it?"
"You seem so."
"You're right."
After a brief exchange, the expressions of the two men returned to the same. Hercules, who hadn't smiled in a long time, felt a strange sensation.
"How strange."
"What?"
"I'm sure we met for the first time today, but this seems strangely familiar."
The conversation flowed like water.
It was like meeting an old friend for the first time in a long time.
"You don't seem like a very social person."
"You mean me?"
"That's right."
"I guess like-minded people get along well."
The meal went on for quite a while.
Meanwhile, YuWon and Hercules talked about each other.
"My name is Hercules."
"Ah, Hercules."
"Have you heard of me?"
"With a classification like that, it's impossible not to."
"...I'm not surprised."
"Wow."
Seeing YuWon pretending to be exaggeratedly surprised, Hercules laughed.
He wasn't overconfident, but he wasn't so stupid that he didn't know his place either.
Hercules.
High Rank on Olympus, second only to the three Gods in influence.
But in terms of Rank, he was second only to Zeus.
He alone could take down any medium sized Guild, or even a Guild on the threshold of a Great Guild.
But YuWon didn't seem to mind.
"But..."
Tadak-.
Hercules tossed a dry twig into the lit bonfire and stared at YuWon.
"It's only a matter of time, and someday you'll be up there."
Peculiar fellow, he thought.
From what he had just heard, he was not a Ranker Player, but a Player who had not yet reached the top.
However, there was an aura or subtle energy about him that a normal Player would not have.
He seemed to be facing a Player who had already reached the top.
It was the first time he felt this way.
"I enjoyed the conversation. I'm done with work today, so I'll go to sleep."
Putting away the bowl, Hercules stepped on the fire to put it out and entered the house.
YuWon, who entered after him, was led to a spare room.
A large wooden bed.
Lying there, in a hut in the silent forest, he felt relaxed.
At the same time...
Zalgraak-.
As he held the necklace from his inventory in his hand, a jumble of thoughts swirled in his mind.
'We've somehow found each other again.'
Hercules.
A High Ranker who had been considered as one of the candidates to return to the past along with the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.
Also, the hero YuWon most admired.
He was here, alone, fighting a futile battle.
"...I'll think about it later."
YuWon put the necklace back into his inventory.
Then he closed his eyes.
It wasn't as big and solid as a castle, but it was the safest place than any other in this huge tower.
That day, YuWon slept comfortably for the first time in a long time.
* * *
Three days passed.
Meanwhile, YuWon had been following Hercules, felling trees and blowing them up.
"You're working hard."
"Yes, but these trees are heavier than I thought."
"Right. The wood of this world is harder and heavier than most iron, so it's a good material."
YuWon, who wove several trees together and hung them from his shoulder, felt a considerable weight.
He wondered how Hercules was able to move so much wood every day without using any tools.
'In terms of strength alone, you are the strongest in the Tower.'
Even now, Hercules did not even use Gigantification.
Moreover, his Gigantification had existed for a long time, unlike YuWon, so his skill level would be incomparable.
"Then why are you still here? You said you were going to take a break."
"I thought life wasn't so bad here."
"I see you have quite a bit of time before your Test..."
"Plenty."
The conversation went smoothly.
Over the past three days, YuWon had talked to Hercules quite a bit.
About his life, who he had met and what he had been through.
They had been close once, so it wasn't too hard to get back together.
However...
"Still, leave today."
Thud.
He hadn't said what he really had to say.
"Before nightfall."
Hercules dropped the pile of firewood he carried over his shoulder to the ground and turned to YuWon.
His kind eyes lifted and his pupils filled with strength.
At first glance, he looked like he was angry, but YuWon knew that expression.
'This is his face before the fight.'
This was the beginning.
He wondered how long he would have to keep felling, but it looked like he wouldn't have to wait much longer.
"Why today?"
"Because this place is about to get dangerous."
"I can take care of myself."
"Still, go."
Hercules made an anguished expression.
"...Please."
Even though this was the place where he lived, he even begged her to leave.
What a silly guy, he thought.
He asked YuWon to leave for two reasons.
The first was because he was really worried about YuWon's safety.
'I guess he doesn't want to show himself fighting.'
The image of Hercules fighting couldn't be that harsh.
She could still see the image of him grabbing his coat with his bare hands and slamming it to the ground.
However, from what she had heard, the Hercules in his days as a Giant Killer was a little different.
"Back then," he says, "when he fought, his eyes were turned upside down."
'Hercules with his eyes upside down...'
I couldn't imagine it.
Although he was sometimes afraid when he fought, but his eyes didn't seem to turn inside out.
Hercules had survived his fight with the Outers, and they had been in many fights together.
Thud.
Arriving at the hut, YuWon set the firewood he had carried down on the ground.
"You've done a good job. Now you can really go." Hercules said urgently, as he watched the sunset.
But YuWon, who had no intention of doing so, ignored him.
"Before that, let me ask you something."
"What?"
"Your character is very different from what I've heard."
Giant Killer/Giant Hunter.
The World called him the Hero of Olympus, but to the Giants, Hercules was nothing more than the demon who had killed most of his kind.
But Hercules did not fight for Olympus.
He went to war as the son of Zeus, but, well.
At least in the early period of the Gigantomachy, Hercules was against fighting the Giants.
However.
"Why do you hate the Giants so much?"
From one day to the next, Hercules' eyes would turn upside down when he saw giants and he would start killing them.
And it was the same even now.
"...Don't talk nonsense."
"Weren't you always on good terms with Surt and the Giants..."
"You..."
Hwaaak-!
Heavy mana fell over his entire body from top to bottom.
In an instant, he felt as if his body was about to explode. It was to the point where an ability of his activated on its own.
[The 'Blessing of the Sea' dwells in your body].
'I'd rather be struck by a sword.'
At this point, Hercules was half-fucked.
Fortunately, thanks to Triaina, he was able to escape the mana weighing on his body. However, it was only the power that Hercules unconsciously threw out.
"What do you think you know?"
"...I don't know."
YuWon let out a long sigh and opened his mouth again.
"That's why I'm asking. What happened."
He knew everything.
But he still wanted to hear it.
Hercules.
His idol, his friend, the story he had told, now, again.
But...
"Nothing happened."
There was no answer.
Perhaps it was to be expected.
Bonds and camaraderie were just feelings that YuWon was the only one who could feel.
To Hercules, YuWon was nothing more than a 'stranger' with whom he had had a brief conversation in the past few days.
'At least that's good.
Pang~
The ground began to shake.
As Hercules warned, the sun was setting.
It was about time.
This was originally a world where Humans and Giants coexisted.
Although the Giants, who had separated from the Humans after the Gigantomachy, had disappeared from the earth, they still lived in this world.
The 38th Floor.
The land of Humans and Giants.
This was the world that served as the setting for the Gigantomachy.
