The Giant’s Blind Rage and Noren’s Ingenuity

Noren understood that facing such a lumbering, colossal foe with agility and swift movements was her best, perhaps only, option.

Realizing a frontal assault was futile, she swiftly decided to flank him. The giant’s twenty-foot-long tree trunk was a formidable deterrent, much like a two-meter greatsword in the hands of a German swordsman would give a leather-armored warrior, armed only with a short dagger, ample reason to deliberate their next move with extreme caution.

The twenty-foot, or six-meter, tree trunk was no less potent than a greatsword, if not more so. To take a direct hit from it was unthinkable; even a glancing blow, a mere brush against the bark, would be far more than a minor bruise. Shattered organs would be the *better* outcome.

With a few rapid steps, the golden-haired girl reached the giant’s back. The moment she swung her sword, the giant spun around, bringing the tree trunk crashing down. She had no choice but to retreat swiftly, dodging the blow.

Her sword, however, left only a shallow gash on the giant’s thigh.

It was impossible. She was at least two feet shorter than the giant. Unless she leaped to strike, she couldn’t reach vital points like its head or armpits.

To evade the giant’s tree trunk attacks, she had to stay outside its twenty-foot radius. Yet, to reach its back, she needed to run half a circle, a full sixty feet.

Even with a surge of effort, it took her two or three breaths to reach the giant’s back. And no matter how clumsy or slow the behemoth was, two or three breaths were more than enough time for it to turn around.

“Let’s try a few more times!”

The golden-haired girl’s eyes narrowed in concentration. She wasn’t one to give up so easily; perhaps if she circled him enough times, she could dizzy the giant.

After a dozen attempts, the giant remained unfazed, but Noren was beginning to tire. Though the distance covered in her evasive maneuvers wasn’t vast, the intense mental strain caused her stamina to deplete at an alarming rate.

Still, her numerous attempts weren’t entirely without effect. The giant bore more than a dozen lacerations, mostly on its outer thighs and buttocks, but the wounds were far too shallow to be truly effective.

“No, this won’t do. The wounds I’m inflicting are too shallow. He’ll never bleed out, and he’ll likely smash me into a pulp with that trunk long before he faints from blood loss!”

Seeing the futility of her efforts, Noren quickly decided to beat a hasty retreat. She opted for a tactical withdrawal!

One shouldn’t underestimate a tactical withdrawal; it was the Joestar family’s signature move, a remarkably effective tactic, and an excellent strategy for luring enemies deeper.

Recall how, during the Battle of Hastings, William the Bastard famously feigned a retreat, enticing Harold’s conscripted infantry to break formation. This maneuver significantly weakened Harold’s forces and laid a crucial foundation for William’s subsequent victory!

In short, of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is the best policy!

“Damn it all!” Noren cursed through gritted teeth, running and muttering to herself. She had never been so disheveled. This was the first time she’d been chased like this, and while she wasn’t sure what species this ‘human’ was—or if it even qualified as human—it was utterly humiliating.

“It’s all because of that brute’s tree trunk!” Noren fumed. While she could certainly lift the giant spruce the creature wielded, her own body simply lacked the necessary mass.

If only she possessed the giant’s immense size and weight, she would have long since smashed its thick skull with a single blow, making it clear that not just anyone could be trifled with!

The golden-haired girl felt a pang of annoyance, secretly regretting her choice of this dangerously elaborate hairstyle. Not only was it a nuisance in a fight, but it had also truly placed her in an absurdly perilous situation!

‘Was this truly the proper medieval Europe she had transmigrated to!?’

‘What on earth was this giant!?’

‘Where was God? Where was He?! I want to leave a bad review! I’ll have your entire monthly performance bonus docked!’ she mentally fumed.

“Damn it! I can’t shake him off!”

Noren gritted her teeth, tensed her legs, and surged forward with swift, long strides. Several minutes passed, yet the colossal ‘thump-thump-thump’ of the giant’s footsteps still reverberated behind her!

The booming sound felt like a thunderous drum beating directly inside her skull, making her ears ache and her head throb with dizziness.

“Noren, over here!”

At the shout, Noren looked up to see Tolke, Hafdan, and a few others clinging to the high cedar trees. Since the cedar branches and side twigs were quite slender, the group resembled clumsy apes, their limbs wrapped around the tree trunks, holding on tightly.

Noren glanced back as she ran, observing that the giant had already snapped numerous slender cedars. The massive spruce it had wielded was nowhere in sight, evidently discarded somewhere along the way.

“Can I fight back now? He’s lost his tree trunk, so the odds should be better.” Noren’s mind raced. She noted the dense surrounding forest, realizing there wasn’t enough space for a war of attrition or kiting tactics.

To be safe, she quickly scaled a cedar tree as thick as her thigh. Though she didn’t know why Tolke and the others had taken to the trees, she chose to trust them.

With a few agile leaps, Noren ascended, then, like an Olympic gymnast on a high bar, performed a grand swing that propelled her to the very top of the tree trunk. Utilizing the enveloping power of her bloodstone aura, she secured herself firmly in place.

Peering down through the dense, needle-like leaves, she watched the giant bellow in fury around the base of her tree. It snapped and crashed through many cedars, yet conspicuously avoided the one she occupied.

Noren was utterly bewildered. ‘What on earth is going on? Is it really that simple – just climb a tree and you’re safe?’ she wondered.

She gazed doubtfully at the giant below, whose eyes remained fixed straight ahead, and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. ‘Could he be deaf? Perhaps if we climb high enough, far enough up the trees, he simply can’t hear us?’ she mused.

As she pondered, a detail suddenly caught her eye: the four-fingered imprint of a fist on the giant’s nape, left by her full-force punch just moments before.

Such a super-powered punch, delivered with both speed and immense force, should have, given her strength, at least shattered a human spine and sent their head flying, if not driven it directly into their chest.

Yet, against this giant, it had been much ado about nothing, leaving only a moderately deep fist-print.

The giant, however, remained as lively as ever. Her previous punch to a mother grizzly bear had left it in agony for a good while, but this giant showed no reaction whatsoever, merely letting out a dry roar or two.

It was enough to make her doubt herself!

“So that’s it!”

Noren fixed her gaze on the giant’s thick, solid nape. The two trapezius muscles guarding its neck resembled bulging hills, and its latissimus dorsi were exceptionally developed.

No wonder she hadn’t managed to seriously injure him, and no wonder he couldn’t find her once she climbed into a tree.

It turned out his muscles were simply too dense and developed, preventing him from tilting his neck upwards. The principle was the same as certain bodybuilders who couldn’t reach their own mid-back; the giant couldn’t lift its head to look up.

“ROAR—!”

The giant let out a frustrated roar in the forest before sullenly lumbering away. If her guess was correct, he was likely off to find that hunchbacked thin man.

The heavy “thump-thump” of the giant’s footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Noren relaxed, her tense brow instantly smoothing out. She let out a soft sigh. “Unfortunate, yet a blessing in disguise!”