The Mage Lord, the Fastest Man Alive, the Dragon Slayer, and many other notable Hunters had all tried to harm the chained Ice Giants, with some of their attacks capable of bringing the world to its knees!
Yet all of them failed…
Not even a scratch. Not even a scratch was left on the silent Ice Giant that all old and new Hunters tried to damage.
Even Cassius fared no better in damaging the Ice Giants when he found out about this Gate from an article and snuck in. He used his strongest attacks, which included the infusion of the Atomic Element, yet none of it made any difference. No matter how many city-destroying Atomic Laser Beams he shot at the Ice Giants, none of them budged an inch.
Perhaps if he utilized the complete incantation of the I AM ATOMIC, I AM OMEGA, I AM THE END Skill, he might be able to damage an Ice Giant. But seeing as that Skill, after being further upgraded due to Skill Fusions, obtained an even more catastrophic description and also a one-time usage function, it wasn't worth it to use his ultimate trump card for something like that.
But then why was Cassius here today? Why had he once again trespassed into private property and slipped into a seemingly endless world of ice?
Cassius's slow steps echoed throughout the desolate landscape as he walked around ancient, rusted structures of unknown origin, all glazed in freshly laid snow. They looked as if they had been there for many, many millennia, with their original construction materials having long since been lost to the perpetual dredges of time.
In the far-off distance, possibly farther away than the distance between the Sun and the Earth, there stood an icy mountain. Yet, even from such a vast distance away, the 'icy mountain' appeared around the size of a golf ball.
After taking a few more steps, Cassius crossed millions of miles and made it to the 'icy mountain.'
Even though he was still hundreds of miles away from touching the icy mountain, when he looked up, he was unable to see the top of the mountain. Though, once he zoomed out his magical sense, he was able to make out the entirety of the mountain, which was when he saw large gusts of hot air blowing out near the top of its snow-covered peak.
At the same time as Cassius's magical sense scanned all of the icy mountain, something unusual occurred. The mountain started to shake, causing everything for tens of thousands of miles to violently tremble. Cracks opened up in the ground, creating countless chasms that seemed to have no ends.
The whole world felt like it was about to collapse in on itself and forever bury everything beneath an incalculable number of tons. But before things reached a point of no return, all of the snow was shaken off of the impossibly large mountain.
That was when Cassius saw it…
A pair of eyes appeared, their sheen no longer as resplendent as they were in their prime. Rather, they were dull, hiding within them all of the weathering they had endured over the innumerable years.
The hot gusts of air abruptly stopped, leaving just the pair of massive eyes and a far smaller pair of eyes to stare at each other.
Massive, unusually pristine chains the size of cities rattled all over the Ice Giant's body, with there being hundreds of them in total. Every single one of them shone with a low golden glow that culminated together to form a physical restriction capable of locking the unbelievably mighty entity in place.
Then, something changed in this staring stalemate between insignificant mortal and entity beyond human comprehension.
An ancient, indecipherable voice emanated, like an echo traveling throughout eternity.
"ZHA'VRAETH NOL'QUIRA THYS'VEN DRAL'KYR...
ULN'FERATH KEL'THUREN ASHA'VIR RA'THEVRA…
SHYN'ETHRA LOS'VRYN KAEL'THIRAS... VAE'THROS IL'NOTH…"
As the Ice Giant had a giant metal cage clasped over its mouth, what it spoke was akin to a broken language. Even those of the same race as the behemoth were unable to understand what the monster was saying, let alone the mortal who didn't have even a single language converter Skill that extended beyond translating basic human languages.
But even without actually understanding what the Ice Giant was saying, Cassius could guess the intent behind the words.
"What reverberates among creation, echoes throughout eternity," Cassius repeated to the best of his ability. However, during the process, he broke out in a cold sweat and was forced into a lotus position.
The reason why he had come here, even despite his futile attempts at killing these indescribable organisms, was solely because of the obscured phrases spoken by the Ice Giants. When he first arrived here, he thought their low and deep enigmatic bellows to be nothing more than nonsense. Others who came before him also thought the same thing.
But that was when he felt a reaction resonate outward from his comprehensions of the SSS-Rank Sword God's Training Manual. This reaction urged an unknown sensation to circulate through his mind, leading to rapid advancement in the Training Manual.
-The SSS-Rank Sword God's Training Manual-
It was what an ancient human ancestor left behind before he ascended and became a higher existence. Within its translucent pages were numerous unfathomable poses, all describing training exercises that truly embodied the essence of "Train it till you break it, then make it."
Every single one of the exercises involved experiencing pain induced from training, all while comprehending deeper profundities from one's surroundings. Moreover, the more pain one experienced and the more complicated the profundity, the easier it would be to progress through the stages of the SSS-Rank Training Manual.
The stages went as such:
4. Persistent Trainer
6. Outlandish Trainer
Even as the creator of the Training Manual, the Sword God stated toward the end of the booklet that he had not achieved the final stage.
He mentioned such a stage as one that "Even the craziest of madmen would not have the will to achieve."