Xaren’s danger senses kicked in and he pulled his sword free once more a just in time, nding atop the building that now groaned uhe weight of the giant’s crashing body. The structure crumbled in seds, but Xaren had already leapt again, s through the air and nding atop the giant’s head. Dark fmes ignited around his hands, and he smmed them dowing the giant’s hair abze. The fmes spread rapidly, scorg the giant’s scalp and sending him into a fit of wild thrashing. Just as Xaren did that, a burst of wind magic blew past him, fanning the fmes and f the giant to cw at his burning hair.Ilya nded on the giant’s head, then grabbed Xaren by the arm and jumped off again nding on the floor nearby.“Take it.”Xaren blinked as she handed him a crudely made bottle with a familiar liquid inside, and as he looked at the bottle’s refle, he saw a good amount of blood dripping from his nostrils.He didn’t e out unscathed from being squeezed in the giant’s hand, the adrenaline had just prevented him from realising his body’s messed up state.“Thanks.”Xaren didn’t hesitate to gulp dowion bottle’s tents, and as he did that, he caught sight of Kravok leaping towards the giant in the er of his eye.Despite his left arm hanging limp and broken, Kravok charged forward, his warhammer glowing as Carack’s fire magiveloped it. With a roar, Kravok swung the hammer with his one good arm. The fmes intensified, and just as the hammer desded, Xaren acted, doubling its weight using his gravity magic. The blow struck the side of the giant’s head with devastating force, the impact eg like a thundercp, and the giant stumbling to the side, groaning in pain. Bjorn bounded onto the giant’s body at that moment, grabbed Kravok mid-fall, and carried him away from the battlefield before the giant’s erratients could crush him underfoot. As the giant tried tain his bahe grouh him suddenly cracked open. Thick vied from the earth, ing tightly around his feet and rooting him ihe giant bellowed in frustration, yanking his leg upward with tremendous force.The vines snapped, but as his foot rose, Ilya appeared again. She jumped onto the raised foot and sprinted up his legs, her bde blurring through the air as she asded, leaving trails of cuts in her wake.R, the giant raised his massive hand to swat her off like a bothersome i, but before he could reach her, a coordinated barrage from the surrounding demons struck his hand. Bdes, arrows, and magic collided with his wrist and forearm, f his hand away and leaving him momentarily vulnerable. With the path clear, Ilya tinued her ast, reag the giant’s waist before ung herself off with a powerful leap, nding safely on the ground below.The giant coated his hand in aura, sm the fmes ing his hair. But just as the fire began to die, Xare onto the giant’s shoulder, his sword fshing in the air as he swung with full force, slig into the giant’s right ear.Blood streamed down as the giant roared, his hand reflexively moving to shield his ear. Xarehe opening to dart across the giant’s back, reag the other side. This time, instead of sshing, he drove his bde deep into the giant’s left ear. However, the giant used his speed skill this time, and before Xaren could pull away, the giant’s massive hand struck him with brutal force. The impact sent Xaren reeling, and the giant’s fingers closed in to capture him. Xaren instinctively released a random burst of fire magic, but before even that reached the giant’s fingers, Ilya attacked the giant’s arm.Her timely strike gave Xarera time to not only escape but throw in a ter.Xaren lifted ks of debris from the shattered buildings around them and hurled them at the giant. The rubble shot through the air, crashing into the giant’s body, but midway, their momentum suddenly ceased. The debris dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Xaren froze, his breath catg as realization struck—his magic power had been pletely drained. Ilya noticed instantly, her eyes narrowing as she pieced it together. Xaren’s relentless use of gravity manipution had sapped his reserves, and now, only the demoniergy he hadn’t used against the giant was left.But even that would eventually run out as it wasn’t even up to 40% of his maximum reserves.The white-haired demoness checked her remaining reserves, then sed the area around, taking stock of the situation.The giant was wounded all over, but thanks to his immeality, he was far from defeated.She then g Xaren, her mind thinking back to his question at the campfire two days ago. Then, she made her decision.Ilya darted towards Xaren who had just torched the giant’s hair again and grabbed his arm firmly.“I’m heading to the city tre. Draw the giant towards me!” Without waiting for a response, she turned and sprinted in the dire of the city tre, as though fully fident Xaren could succeed in doing what she asked. She leapt over the ruins of broken buildings, and upon reag the heart of the city, where the giant had first appeared, Ilya found a group of demons engaged in battle with a few remaining elven mages. The demoness wasted no time in joining the fray and helping to wipe out the elves, and after the st elf fell, Ilya addressed the demons in a cold, anding toake the souls a out of here.” Meanwhile, Xaren was still locked in bat with the giant.As the behemoth fended off attacks from several other demons, Xare onto his bad drove his sword into the giant’s shoulder.He sent a few ks of debris smashing into the giant’s face, before jumping off his bad nding on the ground.Rolling a bit, Xaren quickly got up to his feet and shouted.“Hey, you oversized bastard!” “YOU TWAT!!!” The giant instantly snapped back.“…uh, oh…”Xaren realised far too te that he, out of every single demon in this city, was the one whom the giant wao kill the most.Not so surprising, sidering he’d made the giant go half bald, cut off his ear, and most of all, attacked his balls.The giant's eyes fshed with rage and he uatingly threw a shockunch at Xaren. The grey demon dodged nimbly, darting away, only for the giant to sm his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave that obliterated everything in its path. Demons were sent flying, some dying i, but the giant didn’t pause. He charged after Xaren. Xaren lightened his body and sprinted as fast as he could, the giant hot on his heels, knog demons out of the sky as he moved. Thanks to those demons, the giant’s speed was slowed so Xaren was able to gain some distance, reag the city tre before him.There, he saw Ilya standing atop the corpses of the fallen elven mages. Once she spotted Xaren, Ilya took a slow, trolled breath, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword.A few nights ago, Xaren had mentioned seeing dark bdes swirling around her during their fight for the fortress. At the time, everyone had been fused—except for Kravok, who had uood the significe of Xaren’s words earlier today. Now, Xaren wasn’t just catg glimpses of those dark bdes. He saw them in their full form. Bdes of dark wind whirled around Ilya, spinning rapidly in a deadly dance. Demoniergy filled the air as she looked up with glowing eyes and called out.“Unique Skill: Darkstorm!”The moment Ilya ihe skill’s ‘Active’ state, the bdes of dark wind around her accelerated to a speed so rapid that Xaren could not track them with his eyes. However, his instincts screamed danger and without hesitation, he used his gravity magic to lighten his body, leaping to the side. As he nded, he doubled his gravity to anchor himself to the ground. The giant, sensing the surge of Ilya’s demoniergy, swung his focus toward her. But the momeurhe wind around her spun with such force that it created a violent vacuum, pulling the giant’s enormous body toward her. This was her Darkstorm Skill’s ‘Pull Mode’. By spinning the wind bdes at their highest velocity, Ilya created a vortex that sucked ihing within a certain radius around her, f it into the storm’s core.The giant tried to resist, grabbing onto nearby buildings for support, but the vacuum was to. The structures themselves were pulled into the whirlwind, joining the storm of debris now hammering the giant's massive body. Nearby demons who had ignored Ilya's warning were also caught in the vortex, their bodies torn apart by the relentless winds.Rocks, fragments of buildings, and ons littered the air, slig through the giant's skin. Xaren, ag quickly, used his gravity powers to lift ons and discarded tools from the battlefield, hurling them into the storm to add to the attack.The giant coated himself in a protective aura, trying to withstand the shredding winds. He reached toward Ilya, determio stop her, but the closer he got, the more the winds tore into him. It eventually reached a point where his aura skin was broken through and at that moment, Ilya thrust her sword forward.“Darkstorm: Repel Mode.”