This can't be!'
He clenched his teeth as aura surged through his body.
It was like facing a wild, dangerous beast; his instinct was to bare his teeth in defense.
Could it be that they had somehow summoned another king of their kind?
After a moment of stunned disbelief, Ging quickly regained his composure, suspicion creeping across his face as he tried to piece things together.
In truth, Ging knew that the current leader of the stone giant race wasn't the original one.
The former leader hadn't died of old age but had fallen in battle.
This fact weighed heavily on Ging's mind as he tried to understand what was happening before him.
Ging was deeply impressed because, in his heart, the former leader was the strongest.
There was also a special connection between them; Ging was actually a part of that former leader.
You see, stone giants reproduce by splitting off parts of a higher-level giant to form new ones, so Ging was essentially a fragment of the former leader.
From a human perspective, that made Ging like the leader's child.
But despite that immense power, the former leader ultimately died, killed by the Diamond Elf King.
The Diamond Elf Clan had a very clear hierarchy, and their king stood out from the rest.
Not only was the Diamond Elf King more beautiful and radiant, but they were also much stronger and possessed several unique, powerful abilities.
One of those abilities was a self-destruct move that ended the former leader's life.
Ging was there when it happened, witnessing the terrifying scene firsthand.
It left a deep, haunting mark on his mind, like a nightmare that kept replaying over and over.
At first, the former leader seemed to have the upper hand in the battle.
But in the end, the Diamond Elf King used their self-explosion ability.
The power of that explosion was overwhelming and terrifying; it reduced all the stone giants present to ashes.
Ging only survived because of his teleportation ability, though even then, he was caught off guard and seriously injured.
That near-death experience made him wary, and since then, he's kept a close watch on the Diamond Elf Clan, always fearing the day another Diamond Elf King might rise.
Over the years, two creatures have haunted Ging's fears the most: the Diamond Elf King, because of the psychological trauma it caused him, and the Hell Bell double-tailed snake lurking in the swamp.
Now, as he faced Diancie, Ging noticed something striking; the creature looked remarkably like the Diamond Elf King.
At first, it was just a fleeting thought, but as he focused on the details, the truth became clear.
No, this wasn't what it seemed.
Narrowing his eyes, Ging stared at Diancie with a cold, sharp gaze, ready to confront whatever truth lay ahead.
Though the two looked very similar, there were still plenty of differences that caught the eye, along with a strange sense of familiarity.
It reminded Ging of the previous giant beasts he'd faced.
He sighed quietly inside, grateful that he had remembered that scene so vividly; otherwise, after all this time, it might have slipped from his mind.
Was this a pursuer?
But this one didn't seem particularly strong, though its appearance was enough to scare him.
Had it caught up so fast?
Ging's expression tightened, and he cursed silently.
Still, his face relaxed a bit because its cooldown period had ended.
That meant it could teleport again, and once it teleported, it could appear anywhere on the ground.
Then, with the sky above and the sea below, it could easily escape and come back for revenge later.
Ging thought this through carefully, convinced he could get away, and even started planning how to retaliate.
He didn't take the black glare seriously; it seemed like just some special field effect.
It wasn't the first time he'd encountered something like this, and he knew he could simply teleport away to avoid it.
Then Diancie tilted her head, a curious look crossing her cute face.
Slowly, she lifted her hands, palms facing Ging directly.
The aura around her surged, and the sparkle of diamonds flickered in the air.
Ging's heart skipped a beat; he clearly felt the aura radiating from Diancie.
He had misjudged the situation; this enemy was actually very strong.
His body trembled as he immediately decided to teleport away.
No matter what, he couldn't stay here; it was far too dangerous.
He wondered why he hadn't encountered such powerful enemies before.
Now, it felt like he was poking a hornet's nest, with one threat after another swarming in.
The strong fighters he'd seen today rivaled those he'd known his whole life.
This wasn't supposed to happen; this was only the outskirts, not even the depths of the area yet.
But Ging had no time or mental space to dwell on these thoughts.
Right now, running was all that mattered.
Fortunately, his cooldown had just ended; otherwise, he would have been trapped for sure.
Thanks to the mysterious ore it had consumed, it gained an incredibly valuable space ability.
Not only could it store items within its body, but it also possessed this almost godlike teleportation power.
Ging quickly gathered the aura within himself to perform this critical teleportation.
After using the Hundred Slashing Swords, resisting Mashado's attack, creating nine clones, and teleporting long distances, his aura was almost depleted.
If he teleported once more, he would probably drop back to his previous, weakened state.
At that point, escaping would be even more impossible.
So, he had to seize this one chance to survive from the pillar!
Dark aura flowed into Ging's body, preparing to teleport him away.
Suddenly, an invisible force blocked the teleportation, keeping Ging rooted in the same spot.
His expression changed drastically as he cursed, "What's going on?! Teleport now!"
His body shook violently, and his voice trembled with fear; his horror was unmistakable.
But no matter how much he cursed, he stayed frozen in place, as if the teleportation was stuck on a loading screen.
Ging's face went blank.
Then, instinctively, he looked up and stretched out his arms to block the incoming attack.
A massive diamond storm was rushing straight at him, moving incredibly fast and appearing in front of him in the blink of an eye.
Countless diamonds of various sizes whirled through the sky, spinning rapidly in a precise pattern, radiating intense aura.
The diamonds shone brilliantly, and the storm they formed was dazzling, each gem flashing light that illuminated the dark passage so brightly it almost felt like daytime.
This Diamond Storm was the signature move of the legendary beast Diancie, naturally powerful and unique in its own right.
Diancie has the unique ability to continuously create diamonds by compressing the carbon elements found in the air, and the quality of these diamonds is exceptionally high.
To put it simply, the diamonds produced by Diancie are just as good as the finest gems out there.
This means that anyone who has Diancie would never have to worry about money, as these diamonds can fetch a very high price and require no initial investment to produce.