Sword Art Online Volume 16 – Alicization Exploding Chapter 18 – War of the Underworld 31 The thousand giant warriors called to this battlefield, contrary to their taciturn nature, seethed with an intense will to fight. To them, born into the times after the ancient «age of blood and iron», this would be the first large-scale battle they experience. The race’s chief, Sigrosig, thought in all seriousness. That they would massacre the entire enemy army with the initial charge and end the war. They would grant no chance to step forward to those determined by Emperor Vector as the army’s main force: the Order of the Dark Knights, the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, and the Pugilists’ Guild. By attaining victory without them, the giants would be validated as the truly superior race. When the slave skull given to him rattled its jaw, resounding the emperor’s order to charge, Sigrosig felt the old scars carved all over his body rise in heat. He thought it proof that might of those innumerable large magical beasts he had torn apart with his bare hands had transferred into him. “—Trample them!!” His thundering command consisted of a single line. That was enough. Swinging up the gigantic warhammer in his right hand and making the ground tremble alongside the reliable, brave warriors around him, Sigrosig began his assault. The soldiers of the Human Empire were packed tightly into the valley in front. To the three-and-a-half mel tall giants, they were weaklings not much different from the goblins. The swords they wear were smaller than even the teeth of a newborn rockscale dragon. They would crush, punt, and tear apart every last one of them. The circuit carrying Sigrosig’s superiority complex grew red hot and scattered sparks of pleasure. His rectangular chin warped and exposed a brutal smile.