51: Chapter 51 The Brainless Giant

Qin Chuan swallowed hard, "These giant humanoid monsters, they are so oppressive!"

Lin Yan did not respond; he had already charged out.

The five-meter Brainless Giant was like a wall of flesh before him, but it was nothing more than an appetizer.

The giant leaned down, opened its massive mouth, and bit at him. A foul, fishy stench rushed toward his face, and undigested scraps of meat hung between its teeth.

Lin Yan dodged to the side, evading the bite, and smashed his right fist upward into the giant's chin.

"Bang!"

With the sound of cracking bone, the giant's jaw was dislocated. Its head jerked back violently, its balance was thrown off, and it stumbled back two steps. Dark red bodily fluid seeped from the torn muscles, dripping onto the grass and making a faint hissing sound.

Lin Yan did not give it a chance to regain its footing. He jumped onto the giant's calf, drove his bone spurs into the muscle fibers to anchor his body, and ran up along its body.

The giant's muscles contracted violently beneath his feet, trying to shake him off, but he was too fast; the giant's reactions could not keep up at all.

In two seconds, he had climbed to the giant's back.

There was an area on the back of its neck that was slightly darker in color with spiral-shaped muscle fibers—that was the core.

The instructor had mentioned in the Monster General Knowledge class that although individual giants were stronger than regular monsters of the same level, giants had a fatal weakness on the back of their necks; cutting or destroying that muscle would severely wound the giant.

Lin Yan's right fist clenched, all his bone spurs popped out, and he smashed down with a Blood Burning Strike.

"Puff!"

The bone spurs pierced the muscle, and the core shattered. The giant's body went rigid instantly, like a machine unplugged from its power source, and then it collapsed forward with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

[Ding! Successfully killed a Level 16 Brainless Giant, gained 192 EXP!]

The roar of the Tank Engine exploded within Lin Yan's body.

[Tank Engine activated: +1% Max HP, +1% Physical Defense, +1% Magic Defense, +5% Body Size. Current Stacks: 1.]

A wave of warm power surged from deep within his bones, as if someone were pouring molten iron into his body. He felt his muscle fibers slightly expanding, his bones lengthening, and his skin tightening. The change was minuscule, but he could feel that he was growing larger.

Lin Yan jumped down from the giant's corpse and landed on the ground.

In the distance, new red figures appeared on the hills. A group of five, six, seven; they appeared one after another on the ridge of the hills, like a string of red beads threaded together.

The smallest was five meters, and the largest was nearly fifteen meters. The fifteen-meter giant's physique was several times that of the five-meter one; its muscles were thicker, its strides longer, and the ground trembled slightly with every step it took.

"Seven," Jiang Ruoxue reported quickly, "Four 5-meter Level 16s, two 10-meter Level 17s, one 15-meter Level 18."

Qin Chuan gripped his short blade, "Seven, that's a bit much."

Shen Xin's hands lit up with light, "I'll add a buff for you all," and she immediately cast the skill 'Inspire' on Lin Yan—increasing teammates' Attack Power by 20% and Movement Speed by 15%, lasting for 3 minutes.

Her talent also took effect, [A-Rank Talent · Oath of Light — Synchro Light: When casting any buff, shield, or heal on herself or a teammate, all teammates within a 30-meter radius automatically receive the exact same effect. Heart of Light: Possesses extremely high resistance to all mental and curse-type abnormal statuses.]

Jiang Ruoxue made the first move.

She pressed the longsword at her waist against the ground, and frost spread forward from beneath her feet.

[A-Rank Talent Frost Dominator: Reduces Ice-type skill consumption and cooldown, +80% damage, skills include a freezing effect. Restraint effect against high-temperature targets is doubled.]

The core characteristic of the Brainless Giant was that its body temperature was extremely high; its scarlet muscle fibers constantly generated heat, and their bodies were like furnaces that were always burning. And ice was precisely the bane of fire.

The ice layer congealed beneath the feet of several giants; the speed was nearly twice as fast as usual, yet the consumption was lower. The giants' feet stepped onto it, and the hot muscles made contact with the cold ice surface, emitting a "sizzling" sound as white mist rose. The freezing effect triggered; although it did not freeze them completely, the ice layer formed an ice shell on the giants' feet, making their feet unable to bend flexibly.

Two Level 16 giants slipped, their bodies tilted forward, and they fell to the ground.

"Nice crowd control!" Qin Chuan shouted and charged forward.

He rushed toward the fallen Level 16 giant, his short blade slicing into its ankle. The moment the blade sank into the muscle, a layer of pale red light patterns spread from the wound, rippling up along the giant's calf like ripples.

[Breaker Blade triggered: Target's Physical Defense and Magic Defense reduced by 20%, lasting 10 seconds. Effect doubled against Elite and BOSS monsters.]

Lin Yan followed up, piercing the back of its neck with a single punch.

[Tank Engine stacks +1, currently 2 stacks.]

For the second fallen Level 16 giant, Qin Chuan followed up with armor reduction, and Lin Yan secured the kill.

[Tank Engine stacks +1, currently 3 stacks.]

Jiang Ruoxue's frost continued to spread; her talent significantly reduced skill consumption and cooldowns, so the ice layer was laid out beneath the giants' feet almost without interruption. A Level 17 giant had its left foot frozen; although it only lasted a few seconds, it was enough for Qin Chuan to circle behind it and slash its Achilles tendon.

The giant swayed and dropped to one knee. Lin Yan rushed up from the side, stepped on the giant's knee to leap onto its back, and shattered the back of its neck with a punch.

[Tank Engine stacks +1, currently 4 stacks.]

Qin Chuan's Breaker Blade struck precisely at the giants' weakest points every time—ankles, the back of knees, wrist tendons. He was not the main damage dealer, but every one of his attacks created opportunities for Lin Yan. A 20% defense reduction meant that every one of Lin Yan's punches was more lethal.

That Level 18 giant finally moved—a full fifteen meters in height. It was smarter than the other giants, or perhaps, more patient. It stood at the very back, watching Lin Yan and the others kill its companions one by one, without rushing forward.

Only after all its companions had fallen did it take a step.

Fifteen meters tall, with every step spanning three or four meters, the ground shook violently beneath its feet. It leaned down, and both giant hands slapped toward Lin Yan simultaneously.

Lin Yan dodged the first palm, and smashed his right fist into the wrist of the second palm; his bone spurs cut into the muscle, locking onto the giant's hand. The giant swung its arm, trying to shake him off, but Lin Yan took the opportunity to jump onto its forearm and run up along its arm.

In three steps, he reached the giant's shoulder.

The giant's other hand slapped down from above his head; Lin Yan jumped, dodged the slap, and landed on the back of the giant's neck.

Blood Burning Strike, right fist charging up, bone spurs popping out, he smashed down with one punch.

The core shattered. The fifteen-meter giant collapsed with a crash.

[Killed Level 18 Brainless Giant. Gained 216 EXP!]

[Tank Engine stacks +1, currently 5 stacks, body size 2.3 meters.]

Lin Yan jumped down from the giant's corpse and landed on the ground. His height of over two meters made a dull thud upon landing.

Qin Chuan had just climbed up from the ground and looked up at him. Over two meters versus one point seven eight meters; his neck really did need to tilt back.

Qin Chuan walked over, looked him up and down, frowned, and then leaned in closer.

"...Boss, did you get taller?"

"Grew a bit," Lin Yan said.

"Grew a bit?" Qin Chuan gestured at his shoulder, "You're over two meters tall now!"

"My talent randomly rolled into the physical growth aspect." Everyone present knew he had a random talent, so Lin Yan spoke without reservation.

Jiang Ruoxue stood still holding her sword, her gaze falling on Lin Yan, her mind stirred, 'Is this an S-Rank Talent? The growth rate is too terrifying; it increased this much after just a few monsters.'

Shen Xin walked over and looked up at Lin Yan; she was just over 1.6 meters, and now she had to tilt her whole face up to look at him. She reached out to compare Lin Yan's shoulder to the top of her own head. "A total of eight giants, you killed five, and you grew from 1.78 meters to over two meters?"

"It will grow more," he said.

Qin Chuan was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Jiang Ruoxue and Shen Xin.

Jiang Ruoxue was withdrawing the frost, and noticing Qin Chuan's gaze, she said indifferently, "I heard it."

Shen Xin tilted her head and teased, "If you keep growing like this, when I stand next to you in the future, people will think I'm a doll you carry around with you."

Lin Yan could not help it, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.

Qin Chuan burst out laughing, "Shen Xin, what you said..."

"It's true, though; the height difference is just too obvious." Shen Xin touched her head and chuckled.