Chapter 45: The Giant
“W-what in the world is that!?”
From her vantage point atop the trembling defensive wall, Elisabeth caught sight of it and her eyes went wide in shock.
Far off in the distance, a massive wall was hurtling toward them.
“The wall…it’s moving!?”
The scene was so utterly absurd that Elisabeth could hardly believe her own eyes. Yet, there was no mistake. She blinked repeatedly, hoping to dispel the illusion, and each time she opened her eyes, the enormous wall continued to race across the ground with relentless speed.
What kind of wall was it? How could it possibly move? And…was it friend or foe?
No…walls didn’t have allies or enemies, did they?
A whirlwind of questions surged through her mind, each more frantic than the last.
Even as she pondered, the wall rapidly grew larger, looming ever closer. If this kept up, it wouldn’t just crash into the monsters—it could strike their own soldiers as well…
The thought sent a shiver down Elisabeth’s spine.
“Evacuate—EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
Strangely enough, the voice seemed to come from the wall itself.
“Th-the wall…spoke!? What is happening!?”
Elisabeth’s shock was intense, yet somehow, instinctively, she felt that this wall might be on their side.
“R-retreat! GET TO SAFETY!”
“““Ooooohhh!”””
The soldiers, apparently hearing the wall’s warning too, immediately began to scatter.
Fortunately, the monsters did not pursue them. Their minds seemed focused solely on breaching the castle gates. They charged headlong toward the gates, unaware of the wall closing in behind them.
By the time they finally noticed the approaching wall, it was far too late.
With a deafening impact, the wall collided with the mass of monsters.
Zudooooooon!
“““Grrraaaaaaah!?”””
At the moment of collision, the wall inexplicably grew even larger, sending monster after monster flying through the air. Even the fearsome Blood Elephant was hurled away, bouncing violently from the west gate.
When the wall finally came to a stop, nine-tenths of the monsters that had gathered in front of the west gate lay scattered in a grotesque heap, lifeless and broken.
“W-what…just happened…?”
But Elisabeth couldn’t see clearly what had occurred. The wall extended vertically as well, blocking her view entirely from atop the fortification.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Ouch…”
I had been thrown off the golem, landing hard on the ground. Luckily, the cultivated soil of the garden was soft, cushioning the blow enough to prevent serious injury.
“Meow!”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
The garden had stopped moving on its own—likely because it had collided with the mass of monsters. The force of the impact had tossed me from the golem’s back.
“Back onto the defensive wall,” I muttered.
I couldn’t observe the outside properly while still in the form of the garden. I needed to return to the wall temporarily, climb back onto the golem, and survey the battlefield from above.
It seemed that my garden had stopped right in front of the west gate, blocking it.
Beyond the wall, I could see the aftermath of the collision—countless monsters strewn across the ground, presumably dealt with by the massive impact.
“Paooooon!”
Amid the chaos, one of the monsters stirred—a gigantic elephant attempting to destroy the west gate.
Even after being tackled by my garden, it was still alive. Worse, it was furious, charging straight for the defensive wall with a roar of rage.
“Let’s bring it inside.”
I caused a portion of the wall to disappear, and the elephant surged through the opening.
I summoned four mega golems, encircling the beast and preparing them to attack.
“Pawwwn…”
Already heavily injured, the elephant let out a feeble cry. It could barely resist as my golems unleashed a concentrated assault, leaving it gasping for life.
Zudon!
Finally, it collapsed to the ground.
The formidable elephant was defeated, but more monsters began spilling in through the hole in the wall—those that had survived the earlier clash.
Naturally, this was exactly as I had planned. I used the golems to deal with each intruder as they entered the garden.
There were strong opponents too—lion monsters, scorpions—but with careful use of the mega golems, I managed to defeat them all.
“Phew…almost done here.”
Before I knew it, the once-overwhelming swarm of monsters had been almost entirely eradicated. Much of the credit went to the soldiers, of course—they had taken down a significant number already.
It seemed like the battle had finally settled.
…Or so I thought.
“Fshaaah!”
“W-what’s wrong, Milk? Why are you puffing up like that…?”
Milk bared her teeth, bristling her fur, and fixed her gaze toward the west. A cold unease settled in my chest as I followed her line of sight.
“W-what is…that…?”
For a moment, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. It was enormous—completely out of place.
Its form resembled a human, with a single eye, two arms, and two legs. It had no wings or tail, yet its size was unimaginable.
Each step it took sent vibrations through the ground: Zudon… Zudon… Zudon…
Its height must have been at least ten meters—maybe twenty.
“A-Atlas…! It’s a superior Cyclops!”
“He’s the cause of the stampede!”
I heard someone shouting nearby.
Cyclopes were part of the giant monster class, I remembered, notoriously difficult even for seasoned adventurers. And this was a superior variant.
“Ooooooh!”
Zugoooon!
Atlas kicked through the garden’s defensive wall, crushing it with terrifying ease. That wall—it had been thick and formidable!
“G-Golems!”
I hurriedly sent the giant golems forward. But even these titanic constructs looked like children compared to Atlas.
“Oaaaah!”
With a single swing of its arm, Atlas sent my mega golems flying. No…this can’t be happening—they were completely outmatched!
Atlas advanced relentlessly. Milk stood in front of me, growling to protect me, but it was futile.
What should I do!?
…Wait. Of course. I could just escape using the garden’s teleportation.
“But if I do that…he’ll tear through the city!”
No, there was no time to worry about that! My life came first!
〈Absorb the monsters?〉
W-what? Now was not the time—
I froze, taking in my surroundings. Strewn across the garden were countless defeated monsters from earlier.
“Fine, it’s worth a shot! If this fails, I’ll retreat properly!”
〈Absorb the monsters?〉
“Yes!”
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Geo’s Private Garden
Level 37 | 92/185
Garden Area: 201,000/∞
Skills: Wall Creation | Defensive Wall Generation | Castle Wall Creation | Guardian Summon | Mega Guardian Summon | Giga Guardian Summon | Garden Concealment | Garden Inter-Teleportation | Garden Movement
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〈Level Up!〉
〈Learned Giga Guardian Summon, derived from Mega Guardian Summon〉
〈Unlocked cultivation of new crops〉