Chapter 97

◈ Chapter 97: The Fire Giant's Banquet (2)

The sudden appearance of the fire giant turned the banquet hall into a chaotic inferno in an instant.

"What, what is that thing!"

"Aaaa! Run away!"

People, startled, scattered in all directions, colliding and tangling with each other.

Most of the people gathered here were ordinary individuals with no special abilities. As a result, they couldn't maintain their composure in the sudden situation and fell into a panic.

The giant observed the people for a moment, then finally opened his mouth wide.

His mouth, filled with sharp fangs like a beast's, revealed a writhing flame inside.

It looked like the hottest red flames burning at the bottom of hell.

The people who saw this scene turned pale.

The people in the hall instinctively felt what the giant was about to do.

Kwaahh!

Even from a distance, the scorching flames that shot out toward the center of the banquet hall were hot enough to burn the skin.

At that moment, the guards moved.

"Whoa!"

The guards, dressed in black suits, drew their swords from their waists and immediately swung them.

Although the number of guards was not large, considering that a single knight can perform the role of dozens of ordinary mercenaries, the security of this banquet hall was by no means low.

Klang!

The first guard to step forward swung his sword and struck the flames.

The aura contained in the sword cut through the flames and deflected them in another direction.

Whoosh!

The long stream of fire changed direction and engulfed the ceiling of the banquet hall.

The fire spread in concentric circles along the ceiling, burning all the chandeliers hanging in the air.

The chandeliers, unable to withstand the heat of the fire, melted and fell to the ground.

"Get out of the way!"

"Run away!"

Kwang!

Screams echoed from all over. People, in a panic, collided and fell over each other.

Those who were trying to escape stepped on and tangled with the fallen, repeating the cycle.

The banquet hall was quickly filled with chaos, resembling a scene from hell.

At that moment, the teachers of Seolron moved.

"Everyone, get out of the way! This way!"

"Slowly! Move calmly!"

Elementals appeared in various places, blocking or clearing the falling debris from the sky.

Wind elementals helped the fallen, while water elementals extinguished the flames on the burning ceiling.

The other mages were not idle either. Magic symbols appeared in various places as they cast spells at the fire giant.

The fire giant, who had initially breathed the flames, blocked the spells with his body.

"Everyone, block it! We need to bring down that monster!"

"Where did it come from?!"

"Buy some time! Evacuating the people is the priority!"

Rudger stared at the fire giant.

Although he had never seen its form before, the aura was unmistakably familiar.

It was definitely the high-level fire elemental he had encountered before.

'High-level? No, it's even stronger than that.'

When he first sensed it, it was at least a high-level elemental, but now it seemed much more formidable.

It looked almost like a supreme-level elemental, which is said to be born from the essence of nature with an extremely low probability.

'A supreme-level elemental is just below the elemental lords, who represent the attributes of each elemental. To think someone could control such a creature.'

On the continent, elementals are classified into different levels.

From the lowest to the supreme.

Among these, high-level elementals are comparable to 4th or 5th-tier mages, while supreme-level elementals possess power close to 6th-tier mages.

Above them are the elemental lords.

The fire giant who had burst into the banquet hall was a supreme-level elemental, just below the elemental lords.

Due to its overwhelming power, the attack spells cast on the spot were not dealing significant damage to it.

'Where is Esmeralda?'

Rudger's eyes darted around. The most suspicious person was the girl Joanna Rabbit, whom Selina had mentioned.

However, she had not been seen since the fire giant appeared.

He needed to find her.

Just as he was thinking this, the fire giant, which had only been receiving spells, moved again.

Kwooo!

The fire that had not been completely extinguished from the ceiling responded to the giant's roar and stretched downward.

It felt more like a thick, viscous liquid than ordinary fire.

When it fell, the guards quickly moved to protect the guests.

"Block it so the guests don't get hurt!"

"Cut it or destroy it, whatever you do!"

However, one of the guards who shouted this immediately swung his sword to cut the falling fire.

"Huh?"

He couldn't help but exhale in confusion.

The thick, fiery mass didn't cut properly and instead clung to his sword.

If that were all, he could have simply infused his sword with aura to shake it off.

But when the fire on the sword spread to the guard's body, the situation changed.

Whoosh!

"Ahhhh!"

The guard, who had tried to cut the falling fire, was instantly engulfed in flames and rolled on the ground.

Even his superior physical abilities as a knight were useless in this moment.

The fire of a supreme-level elemental was far different from ordinary natural fire.

Inferno of extreme heat.

The guard's body melted away in an instant, turning into a black pile of ashes.

The other guards, witnessing this, turned pale.

"Everyone, be careful! Don't let it touch you!"

"Drop your sword if you cut it! Otherwise, you'll die!"

However, their warning came a bit too late. After the first victim, three more guards were burned to death.

Rudger frowned at the scene.

'Indeed, this is an elemental's element. It's different from ordinary fire. This is closer to magma.'

The fire had a distinct shape, and despite its small size, the heat was unimaginably high.

Upon closer inspection, the giant's body was covered in numerous black spots, like sunspots.

It looked like a living embodiment of magma.

'I've heard that ordinary elementals show the mystery and grandeur of nature.'

While the form of elementals is not strictly defined, there is a certain consistency.

Elementals generally take the form of non-human entities, such as animals, plants, or other bizarre structures.

This is true regardless of the elemental's rank.

The higher the rank of the elemental, the more it embodies the essence of nature, and the more it transcends the form of a living being.

A long time ago, Rudger had once seen the elemental lord of water while wandering the world with his master.

The appearance he saw then was quite different from what people generally imagined.

A dragon from the East, or a massive whale.

With a body larger than an island, it moved on the surface of the sea, trailing countless white manes like a giant sea mist behind its back.

It truly embodied the wonder of nature.

But the fire giant in front of him did not.

If he had to describe it, it was closer to a being tailored to human senses.

Despite possessing supreme-level power, it had taken on a human form.

It had its arms crossed, and its body, though large, was more like a grotesque mass of flabby flesh rather than muscle.

The black spots all over its body made the fire elemental's appearance even more hideous.

'Twisted elemental.'

The elemental controlled by Esmeralda could only be described this way.

Rudger, observing the creature, realized something was off.

'Its lower half is... missing?'

Compared to its unusually large upper body, the lower half was almost invisible.

This was because the lower half did not exist.

He soon understood the reason.

The giant had not fully manifested.

'It must have been summoned through a medium.'

When an elemental mage summons an elemental, there are two methods.

The first is to summon the elemental using the mage's own mana.

However, if this method is used, mages who are sensitive to mana can immediately identify the summoner.

The second method, which is used in such cases, is to summon the elemental through a medium.

Depending on the type of medium, a supreme-level elemental would require a very expensive gemstone to be properly summoned.

'But the advantage of summoning through a medium is that the summoner's identity remains hidden.'

The method chosen by Esmeralda was the second one.

And the medium used to summon the fire elemental was...

'The silver tray on the banquet table.'

It was definitely the tray that Joanna Rabbit had secretly placed there.

Even though it was incomplete, it must have been a special tray to summon a supreme-level elemental.

It was fortunate that he had identified Esmeralda, but the current situation was far from favorable for Rudger.

He couldn't immediately chase after Joanna. Even if he did, he wouldn't know what to do.

'This isn't the time for that.'

Rudger looked around.

The guards were trying their best to contain the giant, and some mages were using water and ice to attack it.

In the midst of the chaos, Rudger noticed someone who hadn't managed to evacuate.

'That's... '

His expression hardened instantly.

* * *

'What's happening?'

Liene opened her eyes.

She remembered serving diligently just a moment ago, but her memory after that was hazy.

The last thing she saw was something exploding in front of her.

Had she fainted?

Holding her dizzy head, she tried to sit up and realized what was happening in the banquet hall.

"What, what is this?"

At the center of the banquet hall, where the party should have been in full swing, chaos reigned.

Most notably, the massive fiery being near her.

'An elemental? Could that really be an elemental?'

The giant fire elemental was fighting against the guards and magic teachers of the banquet hall, its rank so high that she couldn't even guess.

What had happened while she was unconscious?

'This isn't the time for that. I need to run away!'

Liene tried to move but felt a sharp pain in her ankle and frowned.

'My, my leg.'

Had she been injured while she was unconscious? There was a wound on her ankle.

The wound wasn't deep, but it was painful.

'I, I need to crawl away!'

At that moment, the fire giant scattered flames around.

It seemed intent on clearing away all the annoying flies in one go.

"Ah."

Liene realized that there was no way to avoid or block the flames.

Each small ball of fire had enough power to turn a person into ashes.

Liene closed her eyes tightly, facing death.

At that moment, she felt something cover her body and then a strong pull.

'Huh? It doesn't hurt?'

Liene cautiously opened her eyes.

And she saw Rudger looking down at her.

"Liene."

"Teacher Rudger?"

"Are you okay?"

Why was he here? No, more importantly, had he just saved her?

Liene, trying to make sense of the situation, realized that Rudger had saved her life.

And he had done so by throwing himself in front of her.

"Tea-teacher...!"

"Stay still."

Liene's face turned red as she struggled, but Rudger remained firm.

He carried her to a safe place and then immediately checked her leg.

"The wound isn't deep. I have a healing potion, so wait here."

"..."

Seeing Rudger pull out a potion bottle from his pocket, Liene felt a sense of déjà vu.

'What is this?'

Clearly, she and Teacher Rudger didn't have much interaction.

They didn't meet often.

But in this moment, seeing Rudger save her from danger and treat her wound,

She felt as if she had seen this scene somewhere before.

"Teacher."

"What is it?"

Liene, not sure why she was saying this, but feeling compelled to ask, said:

"Have we... met before?"