BOOM!
The instant Charlie finished speaking, the beanstalk seemed to slam into something, sending a massive tremor through it.
Then...
Splash!
A huge torrent of water, mixed with countless clumps of dirt and rocks, came crashing down toward everyone.
At that moment, Ethan's eyes went wide.
The beanstalk... had broken through the ceiling.
There was no time to think.
The instant it broke through, Ethan jumped off the beanstalk. Dragon Claw Blade in his left hand, Godslayer Sword in his right.
The moment he leaped away, he unleashed the fifth move of the Eight Forms of the God-Slaying with both hands at the same time.
"Dual Wield Style: Crescent Form!"
Whoosh!
Whoosh!!
Two enormous crescent-shaped sword energies, one blade energy and one sword energy, shot out from opposite sides and crossed as they slashed toward the giant beanstalk.
The two crescents passed only a few meters away from Bird Team and Daji.
If the beanstalk had grown just a little more slowly or if Bird Team had climbed just a little more slowly, those two attacks would have sliced right through them.
Fortunately, the blade energies struck the beanstalk just beneath their feet.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out.
The beanstalk exploded apart at its middle and toppled to one side as it fell.
But the remaining section seemed completely unaffected. It continued growing at a frantic speed.
Ethan also noticed that many goblin natives had climbed onto the lower part of the beanstalk.
They were probably trying to escape the same way he and the others had.
But they neither had Ethan's ability to foresee danger, nor his instinct to jump away the moment he sensed it.
The next second...
"Ah!"
"Help!"
"AAAAAH!"
Screams, mixed with green goblin blood and fragments of the beanstalk, rained down from the top of the Gray Ore Mine.
Many goblins didn't even have time to scream before the spatial turbulence at the top of the Gray Ore Mine shredded them into pieces.
But even though the goblins below saw what happened, the beanstalk was growing so quickly that they had no chance to react.
All they could do was watch helplessly as the beanstalk and their clansmen were fed into the giant shredder... until it was their turn.
Slice!
Slice! Slice!
Bird Team had already transformed into their bird forms before climbing the beanstalk.
Combined with the beanstalk's incredible growth speed, they hadn't even had time to change back into human form.
So the instant Ethan cut the beanstalk in two, they didn't even need his orders. All of them spread their wings and took flight at once.
Bird Two and Bird Three even grabbed Daji and carried her into the air.
There they hovered watching the beanstalk grow endlessly, carrying countless goblins upward to be torn apart by the spatial turbulence overhead.
"What is that up there? That's way too terrifying!"
Bird One and the others stared at the gigantic meat grinder in the sky, still afraid.
Using his Flying Cloak to glide down, Ethan explained as he descended, "It's spatial turbulence! The entire Gray Ore Mine is actually a separate space. Think of it as an invisible tent."
"Simply put, this Gray Ore Mine was probably thousands of kilometers away originally, or maybe even on another continent."
"It only became connected because of a spatial rift."
"And above this independent space is a spatial barrier capable of cutting through anything, or you can call it spatial turbulence."
"So..."
"Once the beanstalk grew taller than the tent, that is, higher than the spatial barrier, it was naturally cut apart."
"So that's how it is!"
Bird One and the others exclaimed, then said with gratitude, "If you hadn't reacted so quickly, my lord, we'd probably have been chopped into minced meat by that spatial turbulence too."
"My lord, you're amazing! How did you think of cutting down the beanstalk to save us?"
"The beanstalk was growing too fast," Ethan said, "The only way to stop it from continuing up was to cut it."
"Phew!"
Bird One let out a long sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness we had you, my lord! Even if we'd thought of the idea ourselves, we couldn't possibly have cut down such a gigantic beanstalk!"
"Exactly. Even trying to take off, we probably wouldn't have reacted fast enough!"
"The speed that thing was growing was unbelievable!"
"I wasn't actually sure it would work either," Ethan smiled, "It was my first time using dual wielding, or rather, a blade-and-sword style. I didn't expect it to work so well."
Rumble!
A thunderous crack suddenly exploded beside them.
Ethan looked up and saw a vast bank of thunderclouds racing toward them.
"Damn!"
He cursed under his breath.
"So the mastermind behind the scenes won't stop until I'm dead, huh?"
Bzzz~
["Because you've risen too quickly, and because you keep gathering powerful beings around you,"] Charlie's radio crackled from inside Ethan's arms, ["To maintain the balance of this world, or this game, the only option is to erase you!"]