Andre grimaced as he hid in the bag, his squeezed posture stretched his stitches, and injuries that were previously healed began to resurface. "How did I get here? Why am I the one that's being launched into his own death? Why not send Noa, who has a death wish, to go? I'm too young to be sacrificed to an ugly giant, can't I just be rear support?" Andre grimaced as he hid in the bowels of a makeshift cannon. Although he knew why, he was essentially a suicidal bomb… hopefully recoverable after it explodes….
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Luke looked at everyone, who were staring at him with confused, repulsive, and curious expressions all in one mess of emotions. He then realized, looking to Ariana with a bit of a nervous expression, chuckling, "that was what you were about to tell them as well, I'm guessing, sorry to interrupt, I thought I could actually use my hunting skills to use for once", which seemed to ease a bit of the lady's suspicions. "Oh, thank god, that was way too close. If she knows I actually got an education, then that would be an awkward conversation to get out of."
Luke had kept up a very impressive front towards his friends, Noa being the only one who knew his secret, and he was determined to keep it that way. It would be too dangerous for everyone if anyone were to find out.
For now, however, Luke had to find a way to launch a lethal weapon or explosive into the giant, without any canons or launching pads to even get inside the Giant. It was a conundrum that he had no resources and not much time to solve. As he was thinking, Noa tapped him on the shoulder, "Umm, boss...there could be something there." Luke led his eyes where Noa pointed, as he devilishly grinned, "Oh…. great job, Noa, that can definitely work." There was a pile of rocks and boulders, more akin to slabs, that almost seemed to shape a canon. He immediately then turned to Sari, who sighed as she again transformed into her pink panther "on it.." She started producing a rubber-like substance from her saliva as Luke turned to Iron. "Gimme a bag, and come with me, we'll refine the rocks actually to make it function somewhat like a canon, it will be very rough though so we'll focus on speed rather than precision, Noa, you'll focus on trying to keep the Giant distracted, me and Iron will join you after we are done, Kirin, once Sari is done, you and Cam try and help us deal with the giant in the sky." He then smirked as he turned to Andre "and you, get a few buffs and potions from Steph, Ms. Mayella, I'm assuming you know the anatomy of a giant, due to well your education of course." Ariana nodded "yes, and I'm happy to help however I can." Luke nodded "good, then explain to that idiot where to go to kill a giant, he.." turning back to Andre as his mischievous grin grew "will be our cannonball."
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Noa sighed as he slowly watched the golden giant slowly approach the spot where they would clash. Or, a clash wasn't the best way to describe it, more of a hit and run, there is no way Noa could ever defeat a giant in an actual battle, however, his gift allowed him to escape very dire scenarios, since virtually anything couldn't touch him as long as he had the mana reserves for it, and Noa had huge mana reserves compared to anyone of his age. Although this was the major risk of a mission like this compared to regular people or anything under at least 5 meters, he had the mana to easily stop them and repel their attacks, but he had never thought of the mana he would have to expend when going against a giant. It would be one of the hardest battles he had ever fought, but Noa wasn't scared of it still.
As the colossal form of the giant drew near, Noa sighed as he drew the machete that Luke had given him. It was in much better condition than the rusty grass cutter that Noa had previously used to defeat the rats and the golden knight, and the machete seemed to fit more to Noa's size better than it to. He then got into a runner's stance, breathing in deeply to get as much oxygen into his lungs. With it, mana poured into the tips of his toes, strengthening every muscle fiber in his legs; the ground seemed to chill just a bit as well. Noa then looked at the towering figure of the Giant, who had finally made his way to the area of the clash, and then only a sharp boom rumbled through the hills.
Noa splintered and shattered the ground underneath him, as he seemed to instantly appear in successive strides, 10 meters apart. In only a few seconds, before even the giant could comprehend what was coming at him, something seemed to strike at its ankle, attempting to cleave it into two. However, the slash only seemed to scrape the giant's hardened bone as it looked down. Noa looked at the giant's feet, noting its incredible durability. "Hmm….it's a lot stronger than regular gold, does it know how to reinforce its body as well? If that was the case, though, it would be much faster than this."
Noa only quickly studied his colossal opponent before swiftly dashing behind it. The giant looked back with vengeful eyes, as it seemingly recognized its maddening pursuer, as it raised its hand to stamp out the infuriating pest. Noa looked up at the hand, quickly descending upon him, about to squish him like an ant. He swiftly dashed to a luminous spot in the ground, not influenced by the giant's shadowed hand, barely making it past the narrow timing of the attack. The moment the hand came down, a wave of crashing winds seemed to push Noa just enough to topple him, sending him rolling before he could come to a jarring halt.
Noa didn't waste any time regaining his focus; however, he only took a split second, before quickly reinforcing his machete and thrusting it into the giant's golden boned finger. The moment he latched onto the giant's hand, he quickly scaled the giant's arm before it rose, as he made way to its nape. Sliding across the collar bone, he prepared to cleave through the nape; however, again barely did anything to the giant, only scratching the gold surface a little. Noa sighed as he scaled down the other arm before the giant could crush anything behind its neck. The giant seemed to be locked onto Noa's position, as it swung its other arm, throwing Noa off of it. Noa still didn't seem to be fazed, even while flying. In fact, all he did was drop straight down, diving until he seemed to slow down, stopping the moment he was an inch from the ground. He looked back, seemingly 30 meters away from the golden behemoth.
Noa seemed to have a good picture of what he was dealing with now. It wasn't that the golden giant was actually almost invincible; it was just that its belief in itself was stronger than most creatures, on top of having such an insane amount of durability. Gifts and Curses work in a similar manner, the latter just being demonic or the Gift equivalent of monsters. Gifts were strong or weak based on three factors: Mana, knowledge, and faith. Mana was self-explanatory, essentially the mana reserves a mortal naturally possesses, the greater the size, the more uses a mortal would have with their Gift. Fait, however, could be interpreted in many ways, of course, being faith in yourself, religion, or a concept. The more a person believed in something, the stronger and more impact the effect of the gift would be. Knowledge is simply how effectively one can balance his or her mana with their faith, as well as use most of their gift. Knowledge and Mana were aspects Noa was gifted in, thanks to Luke and a past he could never remember for some reason; however, Faith was one of his biggest weaknesses.
Noa wasn't someone to have such a strong belief in any sort of god, nor any concept; his gift wasn't linked to any sort of faith in a figure, and he didn't trust anything other than Luke. This hindered the impact of his strikes or his gift, and it was the reason why he expended much of his mana reserves. He always fought, substituting his weak will with mana and intelligence, and it had always worked. However, this was a fight Luke warned him about, saying, "You better not get cocky on me though, you ain't gonna last long with that ghost-like attitude." He then looked at his adversary as he took a deep breath. "What does faith really mean, though? How can you believe something that is never a guarantee?" Noa thought as he sighed, looking at the colossal being coming towards him again."
Noa looked at his opponent, trying to decide his next course of action. He knew no matter what, the giant couldn't hurt him if he kept up his speed, but he needed to find a way to keep it in one place, and that would be too difficult with just him alone; it was almost guaranteed he would be stomped out before Luke and Iron could get here to assist him. He looked around, trying to find anything that would help him, until he found a lake in the distance, not too far from the planned clash Area.
"Well, sorry, Andre, you're going to have to dread a little bit more inside the bag." He quickly dashed to the lake, as the colossal giant followed shortly behind. He then swiftly dove into the lake, keeping the giant on his tail. It slowly descended into the depths of the lake with Noa, as it started to slow down even more, twisting and turning in the unfamiliarity of the depths of the deep lake. The giant's head and shoulders were above the lake, but it could not catch Noa, the imprudent pest seemed to be torpedoing through the lake, swiftly circling around the giant. Suddenly, a blur seemed to whiz straight at the giant's shoulder. As the giant's eyes widened, it stumbled back as its shoulder seemed to be sliced clean off.
Noa flew into the air, looking down at the giant, indifferent. It wasn't hard to injure the giant after it was immobilized; he was able to quickly find the joints in the behemoth and strike in a spiral through its weakest gaps. However, the machete seemed to take a lot of stain, almost cracking after the strike. He quickly dove back into the water, the protective force around him elegantly letting him stream through the water without any injury, as he circled back to the giant's head. He lined up his strike and aimed directly at the weakest bone of the giant's neck. He was then about to swiftly leap off and deliver a fatal blow again; however, the moment he leapt out of the water, he seemed to stay still, just like his opponents, midair.
The giant stared directly into Noa as his eyes emanated a strong purple pulse, forcing Noa still, even in the air. If a skeleton could properly smile, Noa would see its immense glee as it looked down at its prey. The giant then quickly sent Noa flying to the ground, as Noa still stopped just before hitting it; however, this time, a crushing weight seemed to be pushing down on him. "Oh crap…damn, I might actually die, it has a gravity gift, you gotta be kidding me." As he looked back up at the giant, it immediately sent its fist, shaped into a hammer, this time wholeheartedly trying to squash the bug in front of him. Noa sighed as he closed his eyes, seemingly accepting his finality in fate. "Oh well….sorry boss…I guess I-" It was then that Noa felt a quick flash through his mind, as a loud boom could also be heard.