Arad looked at his sword. Alcott kept warning him about trying to cut hard things with it. He could damage the edge and there aren’t that many blacksmiths that could work with such a weapon.

“Well, I guess I can’t damage before the quest starts,” Arad sucked the sword back into his stomach and cracked his fist. He glared at the giant with a smile, “Sorry, but I have to punch you to death,” He walked forward, facing the giant monster.

Arad closed his eyes, remembering his fight with Nina. He took a deep breath, sucking his boots and upper shirt into his stomach.

He could feel it. The ground shook from the giant’s weight and the wind moving as he swung the trunk. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell the giant was moving.

That might seem unsteady, but in his draconic form, Arad is always barefoot and topless. He could feel the same things in his dragon form, and it was amazing to predict incoming attacks.

SWOSH! Arad ducked beneath the tree trunk attack and swung the back of his fist at the spot that he cut earlier with his sword. CRACK! The tree trunk shattered as the giant gasped.

Arad smiled and stomped the ground, “Your moves are simple, far simpler than mine,” He swung his fist at the giant wrist.

CRACK! The giant dropped the tree trunk, grasping his wrist and growling. Healing crush injuries took longer than clean slashes.

GROOOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAAAAA! The giant screamed, swinging his second fist at Arad. Thud! Arad ducked beneath it and took a deep breath.

SWOSH! Arad spun in place, swinging a back kick at the giant’s guts at full force. Like a horse kick, Arad put all of his draconic might behind it.

BAM! The giant’s body flew away, crashing into the trees, his ribs shattered.

The giant might look bigger, but Arad’s true form was far larger. And it was a ram kicking a child in the gits.

The guards froze in terror, and the captain’s face turned pale. Isdis glared at Arad in shock. She never could have imagined seeing a giant flying, and from a human kick no less.

BAM! Arad lunged forward after the giant as he stood. Thud! He landed in front of the giant, closing his eyes and bringing an image from his memories.

^That princess Isdis, how did she kick that tiger?^ Arad could remember that memory clearer than the blue sky. ^She gave the monster her back,^ His body followed his thoughts.

^She bent forward, lifting her right leg while keeping the left one firmly stuck to the ground.^

Isdis could see it coming, and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

^Such a move require incredible flexibility that I don’t have, but that doesn’t mean my joins can’t achieve it.^ CRACK! Arad’s leg flew up toward the standing giant’s jaw.

At the moment of the impact, Arad remembered Isdis’s magic, the one he’s been seeing her use all the time lately.

^Ice, it’s like that of Gojo, but where is the difference?^ Arad thought, sensing the void inside himself.

With fire, Arad used the void in the air to rapidly move the air particles to heat them up. With lighting, he rubbed those particles together to generate a shock. But how with ice, it only took his draconic brain a second to figure it out.ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom

The humidity and water droplets in the air. Use the void to gather them to make water. Then, do the exact opposite of fire, prevent the particles from moving to cool them down.

CRACK! Ice formed on Arad’s foot as he kicked the giant jaw with his sole, Ice Kick

The giant’s head froze and shattered as Arad glared at the corpse falling to the ground with a smile.

He clenched his fists and could see ice crystals forming on his forearms.

***

Isdis stared at Arad, her knees shaking. “Royal martial arts, where did he learn it?” She gasped, falling on the ground, “No, that was my kick from earlier, don’t tell me he learned it with just one look.”

The captain sighed, “I guess we’re dealing with a fish bigger than our pond could handle,” He sat on the ground, “With suck power and learning speed, we might be late to trying to pull him in.”

“But that was Royal marital arts, those moves aren’t supposed to be that quickly. I was training since I was twelve!” Isdis gasped, almost crying.

“Sheer talent. You can’t reach s-rank with hard work and luck. You must be built differently than normal people, and he is.”

“But it’s unfair,” She sighed.

“Look at his back and arms, I’ve never seen such muscles in my life. A man can train for his whole life and never achieve such a body. I won’t be surprised if he ranked up this year into s-rank,” The captain added.

Isdis stared at Arad jumping in place, his boots and upper clothes appearing again out of nowhere.

She looked down, a little disappointed. She wanted to have a longer look at him, but couldn’t.

Arad landed on his feet, glaring at the giant’s corpse. He could notice large claw marks on its back. ^A larger monster lives in this forest. We need to be careful.^

Giants are nomads. They keep moving all the time. With how old the wound is, I would say they got it somewhere else.

Arad looked around, and the fight was almost over. Aella had dropped the last wolf with her arrows and everyone could finally breathe. ｂ𝚍ｎｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏｍ

Everyone sheathed their weapons as the last wolf died, “How did you get attacked twice?” Arad asked, approaching Isdis. “And what happened to that elf?”

Isdis’s face turned bright red and stumbled white standing and tripped on her dress, falling on her face.

Arad stared at her, confused, “Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?” He couldn’t understand why she was acting like a drunk kobold.

She stood before Arad, bleeding from her nose, and bowed slightly, “First, let me thank you on behalf of everyone here. You helped us twice.” She smiled, blood trailing beside her lips.