The Academy’s Time Stop Player

TL/Editor: looloo

Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri

Illustrations: Here

Hajoon felt a tingling sensation all over his body.

It was an intimidating presence he had never felt before.

It was as if the creature's magical power was completely enveloping and pressing down on him.

"Quite impressive..."

Yet, even with such an oppressive figure before him, Hajoon did not avert his gaze.

The supreme resilience somewhat offset the pressure it emitted.

However, even supreme resilience couldn't fully negate the pressure exerted by the king of giants.

From this situation, one could roughly estimate the extent of its realm.

Hajoon quietly observed the giant and a thought crossed his mind.

'Can it be destroyed?'

He was simply pondering whether he could physically destroy this being.

It was then.

"I have seen many transcendent beings."

Rooooar—

The giant's voice boomed, shaking the ground.

"Blademasters and sages, magicians who manipulate the language of all things, and beings who handle something beyond reason."

The giant moved its massive left foot forward, approaching Hajoon.

Thud!

"Still, I wonder. What have you transcended?"

An energy unfathomable.

He hadn't expected it.

That a single human could withstand those countless demonic forces.

"What exactly have you realized?"

As he spoke, the giant had moved right up to Hajoon and raised a massive fist.

Whooooosh!!!

Soon, an overwhelming magical force gathered in the giant's grasp, visible to Hajoon.

The magnitude of the incoming magical power was unimaginable.

The power gathered in its grasp already surpassed Hajoon's by several times.

Such an act was performed with ease by the creature.

"Your body is extraordinarily weak."

The giant declared.

The power held by the boy standing before it was frail.

Truly a human-like power.

A being that could easily be crushed in its grasp.

Yet, from such a being, the king felt a sense of discord.

The boy before him had handled forces unimaginable to human capacity alone.

Thus, the king of giants felt a slight interest and said to the boy.

"Show me."

With those words, a massive hand surged straight towards the boy.

Crash!! Whooooosh!!

Immediately, a massive wind pressure swept the surrounding rocks centered around the king of giants.

The ground struck down exploded, upheaving like a calm surface disturbed by a single droplet.

A terrifying power.

As if a bomb had dropped, sweeping the surroundings.

Yet, the destructive phenomenon caused by the king of giants was merely a light flick for him.

Amidst such a scene.

"……"

The king of giants, Gigantmakia, calmly gazed at the ground he had struck.

It was impossible for anyone to be alive.

However.

The sense of discord gnawed at him, allowing him to calmly accept what had just happened.

"You're alive."

When his fist touched the ground, he felt no sensation.

The king of giants realized that Hajoon was still alive.

As evidence, neither the boy's magic nor any trace of a corpse was felt at the spot he had struck.

In that brief moment, he realized the boy had dodged his fist.

Soon, his head, lifted up, was now facing straight ahead.

"What is that power?"

In front of the giant stood Hajoon, unscathed and intact.

In that moment of bewilderment.

Thump!!

A massive shock transmitted from his lower jaw, the king of giants felt it.

The shock made his head lift up.

Thud!!

Losing his balance, he was forced to kneel on one knee.

"This is..."

It was a voice calm and devoid of any confusion.

Yet, the doubt was evident.

'He vanished in an instant.'

As soon as the boy disappeared from sight, a shock was felt from the jaw.

It was a phenomenon too swift to be merely described as fast.

It was beyond his perception.

"Tch-"

Hajoon, who had just struck the giant's jaw, furrowed his brow.

He had put all his strength into that strike, imbued with the power of destruction.

Yet, not a single scratch appeared on the giant's face.

As Philaten had said, the power of destruction had no effect on him.

Hajoon turned to Philaten and asked,

"Philaten, how can we kill this thing?"

"You must destroy the source in its heart."

An entity that had killed and devoured all giants from ancient times.

All power was contained in the king's heart.

"Unless the heart is destroyed, it will regenerate endlessly."

"Annoying..."

Hajoon grimaced at the mention that it would endlessly regenerate even if its arms or legs were broken.

His body was so tough that even breaking an arm or leg was difficult.

Hajoon then grabbed the hammer again, attempting to activate time stop.

That's when it happened.

The giant had heard Hajoon's words and suddenly spoke.

[Philaten... you're alive.]

Its gaze turned towards Hajoon.

Or rather, it was directed towards Maharazu within Hajoon.

"You've been clinging to life within Maharazu."

Soon, the giant's next words narrowed Hajoon's brow.

"You destroyed our world and came here as well."

"…What does that mean?"

Hajoon asked, glaring at it with a puzzled face.

To that question, the king of giants simply responded with an unchanging expression.

"Didn't she tell you? She was the one who destroyed our world. The reason why kings and all races moved to this other world was because of her."

Hajoon's gaze turned towards Maharazu.

Soon, her voice echoed from Maharazu.

"The war of destruction you started had already brought the world to the brink of annihilation."

"If I had inherited Horton's power, it wouldn't have ended in destruction."

"Such a world would have been hell."

She said, hitting the giant king like a blow to the head.

"Did you think I wouldn't know your thoughts?"

"……"

The king of giants remained silent at her words.

However, the corners of its mouth began to rise chillingly.

"Even so, it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Right, Philaten?"

Power flowed once again from Gigantmakia.

But this time, it was a sinister energy, different from before.

"The power of chaos..."

Philaten revealed the nature of this power in a flustered voice.

The power that had swallowed and mixed the ancient giants.

A power that had become nothing.

Hajoon instinctively felt this power was dangerous and immediately activated time stop.

Right then, Hajoon activated a newly unlocked auxiliary skill for the second time.

{The Unfixed World}

"Objects no longer remain fixed."

"However, you can designate objects and living beings to be fixed."

'The Unfixed World.'

It was an auxiliary skill he had acquired upon reaching level 100.

While time stopping, he couldn't use magical power, but this new skill allowed him to use magic freely.

Immediately, Hajoon imbued Maharazu with the power of destruction in the frozen world.

Holding the imbued Maharazu, he charged towards the giant and swung.

Thump!!!

With a massive resonance, Maharazu, filled with the power of destruction, collided with the giant's body.

Simultaneously, Hajoon deactivated the time stop.

“?!”

Contrary to Hajoon's expectations, the phenomenon that unfolded made his pupils dilate in surprise.

The power of destruction.

Swish—

It scattered in all directions and disappeared the moment it touched the giant's power.

"The power of destruction isn't working."

Immediately, Hajoon changed his approach, activating time stop and moving away from the giant.

He gave up on attacking and quickly prepared to defend.

Soon, the voice of the king of giants boomed magnificently.

"Horton's power is before me. In the past, I could not obtain it because of your interference, but now it will be different."

With those words, the giant's massive right arm was raised into the sky.

The moment it slammed down, not on Hajoon, but on the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A massive shockwave swept everything around it, accompanied by the power of chaos.

The rocky terrain around was flattened into a clean plain.

At the center of this plain was a deep pit, and standing in the center of it, the king of giants simply surveyed his surroundings.

Soon, dust rose all around, and Gigantmakia's gaze fixed on one spot.

Amidst the rising dust, the enlarged Maharazu became visible.

As Maharazu shrank back to its original size, a figure appeared.

The moment he saw this figure, the king of giants didn't wait and charged.

Thud! Thud!

His massive body reached Hajoon in just two steps.

The king of giants leaped high and swung his fist at the spot where the figure appeared.

Boom!

Gigantmakia's fist, filled with the power of chaos, struck the ground, sending another bomb-like shockwave spreading through the area.

Whoosh!! Boom!!

Like a storm, debris was swept around again.

However, the expression on Gigantmakia, who had swung the fist, was not pleased.

"Annoying…"

He realized that his target had vanished at an unseen speed.

Soon.

Thud!

Gigantmakia felt an impact near his heart.

At first, the impact was faint, but the second one was more substantial, and in a flash, the intensity grew immensely.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The intensity kept increasing.

Creeeak!!

Due to the impact, Gigantmakia's body began to be pushed back.

The impacts continued endlessly.

And then, at one moment.

Boom!!!

As if a bomb had exploded, a strong shock came from near the heart, pushing Gigantmakia backward.

Soon after, his body began to tilt backward.

Thud!!

With a massive thud, the king of giants fell to the ground.

His gaze went to his heart area.

Though a wisp of smoke rose and only a slight scratch was visible, his body was still intact.

But the next moment.

Thud!! Boom!!

Another shock came from near the heart, much larger than before.

This impact caused debris to shoot up around him like a fountain.

The impacts kept transmitting endlessly, creating a deep pit around the king of giants.

Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!

Amidst the endless impacts.

In that situation, the king of giants smirked.

"Pathetic!"

With that, he released the power of chaos in all directions, causing explosions.

Boom!!!

If it's unseen, it can't be dodged—just transmitting an unavoidable attack.

Whether his decision was correct, no further impacts were felt.

In that brief moment, the king of giants quickly rose, bursting with explosive power, and leaped out of the pit.

Thud!!

As he emerged from the pit, the king of giants found the boy, Hajoon, standing with Maharazu slung over his shoulder.

The boy's body was still in perfect condition.

Unscathed and whole, he merely stared calmly at his opponent.

"You are indeed strong."

Witnessing this, Gigantmakia also looked down at Hajoon quietly and said.

The figure before him was a human with a frail body, but as he had suspected, this was no ordinary human.

Had he ever seen such a formidable being before?

Not since King Horton.

The human before him was indeed a worthy successor to Horton's power.

However.

"But you cannot kill me."

The king of giants, Gigantmakia, declared confidently.

Certainly, the human before him was strong, but not strong enough to kill him.

He had not yet felt threatened for his life.

The impacts had shaken him but had not penetrated.

The human possessed something transcendent, beyond ordinary human reach, yet he could not kill him.

At that moment.

"Phew... is this enough?"

Hajoon exhaled leisurely and loosened his body.

He held Maharazu and stretched his neck, relaxing his muscles.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!!

In that moment, Maharazu quietly but powerfully vibrated, asserting its presence.

Two impacts, specifically the shockwaves of magic unleashed by Gigantmakia and the stored shocks from Hajoon's strike.

Time overlapping had absorbed and stored all these impacts.

Hajoon then activated time stop once again.

In that moment, he reached right in front of the giant.

Hajoon swung Maharazu precisely towards the giant’s heart.

Boom!!!!

"?!"

At that moment, an unexpected, compounded massive shock hit Gigantmakia's heart.

What followed was the sight of his massive form being flung at an unseen speed far into the distance.