Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1397  A Humbling Experience

The ground beneath him fractured as he launched upward.

Wind tore him from the earth, spiraling tight instead of spreading wide. He cut through the rising dust and shattered stone, body angled forward, knee drawn in. The giant loomed ahead, chest broad as a cliff face, eyes widening as Quinlan closed the gap.

Too small. Too late.

That was the thought on Hagnar's face.

Then Quinlan struck.

His heel drove into the center of the giant's chest, all four elements compressed into a single point. The impact rang out dull and heavy, more felt than heard. No cry of pain followed. No recoil.

But Hagnar's momentum shifted.

Just enough.

The arc of his fall bent downward, no longer aimed for the heart of the village. The two of them fell together, and Hagnar's massive arms began sweeping through the air in broad, panicked arcs. The motion pushed against the wind itself, clumsy but purposeful, forcing his bulk to rotate beneath Quinlan.

"Don't worry," the giant said, voice booming yet oddly careful, as if he were afraid of hurting him with his loud voice alone. "I've got you."

The world tilted.

Hagnar twisted his body mid-fall and took the descent on his back, armor plates scraping and screaming against the rushing air. Quinlan dropped the last stretch straight down, momentum carrying him hard into the giant's armored belly.

He could have flown.

The thought flickered through his mind as the distance closed fast. Wind was already coiled around him. He could have corrected it, softened it, and taken control.

But he didn't.

There was something in the way Hagnar moved, in the deliberate effort to put himself underneath Quinlan, that made him stop. And, if he was honest, Quinlan was curious to see how this would end.

So he let it happen.

The impact came like the world folding inward.

Hagnar hit first.

The ground failed beneath him, earth collapsing into a vast bowl as his body slammed down. Soil, stone, and shattered bedrock surged outward in a violent ring. Trees near the edge bent and snapped. Dust rolled skyward in a thick column.

Quinlan struck a breath later.

Not gently.

His body bounced once against the giant's armor before settling, the shock tearing a sharp grunt from his throat. Pain flared along his ribs and sides as the force rattled through him.

Giants were not delicate creatures.

'Elephants in a porcelain shop,' Quinlan thought, a phrase dragged up from a life in a different world.

He lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky through drifting dust, breath forced shallow by the ache in his torso.

'Flying myself would've been so much better,' he sighed inwardly.

Below him, Hagnar let out a long laugh, the sound rolling through the crater like distant thunder, careful not to move too much.

"Thank you, child. You're a kind person," Hagnar boomed with his deep voice. "Let me take a better look at you."

Hagnar shifted beneath him.

The motion started small, a subtle roll through armor and muscle, then turned into something far more felt. The giant drew a deep breath, chest and belly expanding outward as if he were bracing for effort.

Quinlan barely had time to register the change.

Hagnar pushed.

The armored belly beneath Quinlan surged upward with absurd force, launching him cleanly off the giant's body. Air tore past him as he shot skyward, limbs flaring on instinct as he spun once, twice. Then many more times as he ragdolled in the air, resigning to just letting this absurd event run its course.

A shadow overtook him.

Two fingers closed around his torso with startling precision. Thick as tree trunks, warm with life, they pinched him gently enough to avoid harm while making escape a distant concept. His ascent stopped at once.

Hagnar lifted him closer, squinting with curiosity as he rotated Quinlan slowly between his fingers, turning him left and right like an interesting figurine.

Quinlan looked down.

The crater beneath them stretched wide. The scale settled in all at once.

Minutes ago, he had been a threat.

The menace of Thalorind. The one who tore through cities, cut down elite armies, and forced historical noble lineages into extinction.

Now he was launched into the air by a belly push and caught between two damned fingers.

A quiet, bitter humor crept in.

He had been getting ahead of himself. This was a much-needed slap of reality, telling Quinlan he wasn't the end-all be-all. There were creatures like this out there, too.

Hagnar turned him once more, careful and unhurried. "You should not be sad about being weak, child. What matters is that you are very brave. You can increase your levels, but increasing bravery is a tough thing to do."

"… Thanks," Quinlan grunted gingerly. He was feeling smaller by the minute.

Hagnar nodded, satisfied. "You will grow very strong someday. Perhaps then you can stop me properly."

Quinlan's mouth twitched. "I'll work on that."

The giant smiled, broad and earnest, entirely unaware of the extreme ego-crushing nature of his words.

"Good," he reached up with a third finger and patted his head. Synchra flared to protect her master, lest this gentle giant accidentally crush his skull.

"…" Quinlan didn't even know what to say. He was close to shedding a few tears as he let the giant pet his head. Hagnar was too kind a soul for Quinlan to begin hurling insults and demanding to be released.

Quinlan had to remind himself that to this giant, he was just a newborn primordial, who should act a lot more wild and childish than he did.

He allowed himself to keep it together until a shadow fell across Hagnar's hand.

Two much smaller figures landed atop it with enough force to make even the giant blink.

Miri was already moving.

She strode across the back of Hagnar's hand and planted her boots between his fingers, driving her spear haft down hard enough that it rang against his armor. "Stop this!" she hissed, eyes sharp and bright. "Put Quinnie down."

Luminara was beside her an instant later, hands gripping Quinlan's shoulders through the gap between those enormous fingers. Her voice was tight, pressed flat with worry. "That's enough. You're making Quinnie feel bad!"

Hagnar's eyes widened with shock.