Nylon joined Elliott, who rushed toward the beast.


    Until now, they had been fighting creatures of all kinds, but this one was a first. Not only was it inorganic in nature, but it wasn''t an animal.


    ''A slime that sticks rocks together. How are going to fight this thing?''


    Thought Nylon, focused on the giant''s movements. It seemed to possess only one arm, but he wasn''t sure yet.


    The golem was still forming, even as the two fighters rushed it. Rocks continued to pile on the slime, pushing him higher and higher.


    At last, a ten meter monster towered above the two, who began their attacks on it.


    *Bling*


    Elliott''s sword and Nylon''s claws were pushed back the moment they touched the rocks. It shook them a little, but they rapidly stopped their assault. The same thought crossed their minds.


    ''We won''t be able to cut its legs down like that.''


    They both jumped further away, and dodged its counter.


    *FUUUUUSH*


    Its giant arm traveled rapidly where the two stood previously, ripping snow and dirt everywhere it went by.


    "It might be late to say that, but for giants, they certainly move fast."


    "You were expecting to fight sluggish monsters, didn''t you? If all were like that, father wouldn''t have bothered creating them. Oops-"


    A big rock flew toward Elliott as he was speaking. He closed his mouth and ran forward to avoid the hit.


    Nylon focused once again on the giant and stopped talking. There was no need to bother with anything else at the moment besides thinking of a way to bring the slime down.


    ''Let''s try to climb this thing. Elliott should be able to keep its attention while I move up.''


    He rushed toward the base of the giant and tried to climb on it like he did for the first corrupted giant they fought.


    Sadly, this option appeared to be a danger one. Not even two steps above the ground, rock spikes erupted from the leg and almost pierced him.


    ''That was close! Damn it!''


    Blood dripped from his left shoulder and right his thigh. Even his left cheek had been cut.


    ''If we can''t climb, then what can we do?''


    ''...!''


    The arm returned to swipe at him, and right before it arrived, Nylon dived out of its way. His face fell into the snow before his body rolled away.


    "Nylon! Incoming rocks!"


    "Damn it!"


    He emerged from the snow and barked angrily. Seeing the massive rock flying toward him, he cursed again.


    "This is bullshit! There''s no way we can fight this thing!"


    The rock crashed, but Nylon had already moved away.


    "Get behind me! Quick!"


    Elliott called Nylon to him, who immediately complied. He knew that following his directive was a matter of life and death for him.


    Once behind Elliott, Nylon observed the giant. The golem looked like it was inhaling.


    Before he could see anything else, a volley of stone bullets flew straight toward both of them. Elliott gripped Vanitas with one hand and stood his ground.


    He closed his eyes, and let his body move by itself. It looked as if the sword controlled his movements.


    "Fuuuuu..."


    A cloud escaped Elliott''s mouth right before the rocks arrived in front of him.


    *CLING* *BLING*


    One after the other, with swift movements and a rapidity never seen before, Elliott began to cut the stones coming his way with his sword.


    *CLANG*


    While deflecting those he couldn''t cut in half, he managed to defend the onslaught with minimal damage.


    As the last rock split in two and crashed on both sides behind him, he looked at his trembling hand.


    ''I''m getting my strength back. I should be able to do it then.''


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He grabbed that hand with the other one and stopped the shaking. He looked at Vanitas'' blade, who showed no signs of its metal chipping away.


    It was a truly exceptional sword, which could cut pretty much anything when in the hands of the right person.


    Elliott himself was unable to bring the full power of Vanitas, but that realization didn''t made him bitter in the slightest. He had accepted the fact that he had a long way before entering the realm of his mother''s strength.


    "You''re fine?"


    "Thanks to you."


    He glanced at Nylon, who nodded at him. He really looked fine, which meant that he had perfectly managed to stop the stone bullets.


    "Now what?"


    "Now? We counterattack. I should be able to use one of my dormant skills."


    Nylon looked at a little spark in Elliott''s hand. That spark grew in size, and displayed a bright yellow.


    "Get ready."


    "Why?"


    Surprised, he asked.


    "Where we''re going isn''t that stable. Act and react fast."


    Elliott closed his hand and looked above him. The arm of the giant was back above them.


    "Calamitas."


    He called the name of a skill, which finally awakened after all this time.


    A bright yellow whip appeared in his hand, but strangely, there was only its handle, which had a single gem incrusted on it.


    "Close you mouth, or you''ll bite you teeth."


    Gripping Nylon''s left arm, he pointed the whip handle above him. Suddenly, for both of them, their vision rapidly shifted.


    Nylon felt his organs get pushed down, and saw the hand of the giant get closer to him.


    "Huuup!"


    Their visions finally returned to normal, with both of them high above the arm. Their descent began right after that.


    With their feet touching the back of the arm of the golem, their counterattack begun.


    Elliott gripped Vanitas and rushed forward. Nylon inhaled to remove the nasty sickness that the rapid transportation gave him, and hurriedly followed being Elliott.


    "Be careful!"


    Said Elliott without turning back. He slid right and dodged a rock spike emerging from the arm. Nylon quickly observed the arm, and moved away the moment he noticed a spike emerging under him.


    Running on the golem''s arm this high in the air was a very danger move. But with this, they had a chance at attacking the slime itself.


    ''Five cores. Where are they?''


    Elliott scanned the slime to find any traces of the cores from the distance.


    "Is this a joke?"


    He said with a frown on his face.


    "Nylon, all its cores are roughly in the same place, disguised as rocks! You take the two on the left, I will destroy the ones on the right!"


    "Understood!"


    Arriving at the shoulder, they both went their separate way. The five cores were located on the top, behind boulders floating in the slime.


    It was an easy task to find those cores for Elliott and Nylon.


    With Calamitas still in his other hand, he jumped off the shoulder and swung below the arm. He released the whip and flew in front of the slime aggregating the rock together.


    ''There!''


    He slashed part of the slime and attacked the disguised core.


    *CRACK*


    ''One down.''


    *BANG*


    Another core was destroyed by Nylon right after.


    "Shit!"


    While falling, Elliott noticed another volley of stone bullet going his way.


    ''I''ll have to dodge them this time!''


    He pointed the whip handle at the arm once again, and began to swing from right to left as the stones flew past him.


    One grazed his ankle, but he ignore it, as it wasn''t a direct hit. He swung behind the golem and looked into the slime.


    ''We''ve broken two already... we have to hurry and break the remaining ones, or else they will regenerate.''


    ''Oh! There!''


    *CRACK*


    Another core destroyed. Only two remained.


    The slime began to writhe in agony as it felt its life come to an end. It savagely began to move its giant arm in an attempt to remove and squash the insects around and on him.


    "Wo-"


    Since Elliott was still holding on the arm with the whip, he felt himself being pulled left and right.


    ''You won''t get me... off!''


    Stubbornly holding on Calamitas'' handle, he resisted the thrashing.


    *BAM*


    The fourth core was destroyed by Nylon, and only the last one Elliott needed to destroy remained. Yet, he was in a difficult situation where he was unable to clearly see his surrounding.


    ''Why does it have to be like this!''


    He looked very frustrated, and made a difficult choice at a very crucial point. He released his grip on Calamitas and flew high in the air behind the golem.


    Elliott observed the slime while descending, and noticed the broken cores shine brightly. They were about to heal.


    ''Where is it? Where is it?!''


    While frantically looking inside the slime, he finally noticed it.


    "You little- You tried to hide it?"


    With a smile on his face, he plunged toward the bottom of the golem, where its base was stuck at. At the middle mark, the core traveled down in an attempt to be concealed.


    While descending at a rapid pace, he gripped Vanitas with both hands and pierced the slime while making his descent.


    Vanitas sliced the slime and the rocks forming near that area, and at last, sliced the last core in half cleanly.


    Pushing on his legs right before touching the bottom, Elliott jump off and slid in the snow, covering a few meters away from the giant.


    *SPLASH*


    The slime immediately exploded in all direction, and the rocks it used to form the golem began to fall back toward the ground.


    "Woah!"


    Nylon, still on top of the golem, stayed his ground to avoid crashing down.


    ...


    "I''m done falling from the sky!"


    "I did too, just so you know."


    Nylon threw his iron claws into the snow in a fit of anger. He wasn''t angry at Elliott, but at the fact that giants were dangerous thanks to their height.


    "Well, at least this one is dead. We should heal up before continuing."


    "You''re right."


    Thanks to the rocks falling in a certain way, a cave happened to be created, which they thought of using to rest.


    With multiple cuts and some bruises, they definitely needed to heal.


    "By the way, what was that thing earlier. Calami...tas?"


    He picked up his claws and strapped them to his waist.


    "Yes, Calamitas. It''s a skill I developed when controlled by my father. I used it quite a lot when..."


    Elliott remembered the carnage that was the fight against the giants.


    "I used it a lot in the past. It means I''m finally regaining my strength after all this time fighting."


    Nylon understood that even Elliott had matters he would like to avoid being asked, so he didn''t push further. He nodded and kept asking about the whip.


    "I only saw the handle. Where was the rest of the weapon? And how did you brought us up so fast?"


    They entered the cave at this point, and Elliott sat with a sighed. He seemed relieved to be able to rest.


    After relaxing a little, he answered the question.


    "There''s no remaining parts. Only the handle is the skill. It can wrap itself around whatever I want it too without it showing. I used it mostly as a way to travel upward, like we did first, and as a way to rapidly move from a certain point to another."


    "It might be useful against that spider, don''t you think?"


    With a frown, Nylon said. He was really thinking of a way to bring that monster down.


    "I plan on using it from now on. Let''s hope more skills become available by this point."


    After discussing a bit more, Nylon lighted a fire, cooked for both of them.


    Only one giant remained, other than the dangerous giant spider. Elliott''s journey was almost ending. Yet, there was still no trace of the thing that crashed into the Frigoria Plains.


    Where could it be...