Sword Art Online Volume 16 – Alicization Exploding Chapter 18 – War of the Underworld 30 The giants’ chief, Sigrosig, was a legendary warrior with a bronze beard and unkempt hair, a brawny appearance, and a stature the size of a hill covered all over with countless gashes. They, the giants, were the very ones with the purest interpretation of the Dark Territory’s only law, «the strong shall rule». With each of them sieved through every possible means of comparing their might, skill, and guts for as far as they could remember, their hierarchy was decided in a manner stricter than the Order of the Dark Knights’. Though the giants’ domains were the high plains in the west region of the Dark Territory, the various kinds of large animals and magical beasts that ought to be spawning there in abundance were constantly depleted. The giants had thoroughly hunted them down as targets for their rites of passage. Why did they go that far in their pursuit for strength? If they had not, their souls, their «fluct lights», would break. The four demi-human races in the Dark Territory were terribly warped existences, with the «soul prototype» confined within flesh not that of humans. A mental safety was necessary in order to guard against the breakdown of one’s psyche. For example, the goblins anchor themselves by converting the inferiority complex towards humans, born from their small stature, into the strength of their resentment and hatred. The giants, on the other hand, hold back the distortion of them being human yet not through developing a superiority complex over humans. Each and every giant would never lose against a human in one- versus-one combat at least. That served as the foundations of their mentality, an absolute rule. That was especially why they imposed such excessive rites of passage on their youth, pulling up each individual’s priority even if it meant reducing their race’s numbers. As such—