Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Let's Go Together
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Entering the Gigant's cockpit brought the smells of iron, oil, and blood.
The floor was densely covered in incomprehensible patterns like circuit boards, with gears meshing layer upon layer like the insides of a mechanical clock.
Clunk!
The hatch shut, plunging everything into darkness.
A faint light flickered like candle flames, illuminating only the roughly forty-square-foot circular space—beyond that lay pitch-black void.
Though clearly walled in by the Gigant's interior, peering into it gave the eerie sensation of an infinite universe unfolding.
A profound silence and darkness, like sinking into the ocean depths.
From within came Raphael White's transmission.
—Take off.
Just as he'd observed so far, Raphael White wasted no words on explanation and straight-up ordered liftoff.
‘Would it kill him to teach me how to take off? …Well, maybe I'll figure it out once I touch it.’
Grumbling inwardly, Kang Geohan crouched and placed both hands on the floor.
And then it began.
Click, click—!
Screeech!
Amid the clamor of machinery activating.
Boom!
The sensation of a massive drum being struck slammed through his entire body.
“Guh!”
The pressure he'd only felt during squats over 440 pounds crushed down on his shoulders.
His shoulders and back hunched forward involuntarily.
‘Breathe in! Brace the core!’
Maximize intra-abdominal pressure to resist the weight.
But the Gigant's pressure wasn't mere weight. Far beyond bone and muscle, a conceptual force terrified him and dragged his soul to the floor.
Kang Geohan gritted his teeth.
‘Twist the demonic essence throughout my body and squeeze out the mana!’
“Hup!”
His demonic essence stretched like tough, multi-stranded rope along his spine and limbs. Fully sensing it, he wrenched mana from his hips and lower back.
Only then did his body straighten.
Battling the layering pressure, Kang Geohan extended his buckling waist and shoulders.
And in that instant.
Thump! Thoom!
He felt it clearly. Something in the cockpit's lower section—the Gigant's gut area—pulsed like a rising sun, growing stronger.
Instinct told Kang Geohan what to do.
He had to seize that throbbing thing and yank it up in one go, like a pump drawing water.
‘Pull! No hesitation! No wasted power…! All at once!’
The massive, radiant throb below felt gripped in his hands. Kang Geohan clenched his fists, loading his legs and glutes.
Craaack!
His body felt like it was splitting apart.
His faint demonic essence screamed as if tearing.
“Hah!”
But Kang Geohan rose in a single motion.
Streeetch!
The throbbing light ballooned like elastic following his movement, then contracted with a bang!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Gigant's heart began to beat.
An unknown power, drawn up from the shining, pulsing Gigant heart, enveloped Kang Geohan's body.
Clank! Clatter-clank!
Steel plates meshed from all sides.
The dark cockpit blazed with light.
The Gigant's field of view overlaid Kang Geohan's retinas.
‘Ah… sweet.’
In that moment, he felt profound liberation.
Freed from frail human flesh, a godlike transcendence overlooking the world.
Omnipotence that could shatter mountains.
Ecstasy like honey poured into his brain clouded his mind.
His eyes rolled back involuntarily, pleasure verging on climax.
But no.
‘Snap out of it!’
Biting his lip till it bled, he seized control.
‘This is my only shot to land one on Raphael…!’
A realization from watching Kuruld, Harkrux, and Roen shatter. Once Raphael attacked, it'd be too late.
Kang Geohan's chance: just once, right before Raphael struck—now, as he admired the fresh liftoff success!
‘Roen's mana was five times mine. But willpower? Almost even.’
[Roen. Willpower: 41/43]
[Kang Geohan. Willpower: 39/46]
Simple implication.
‘Roen, you split your 59 points of mana. But me? I'll dump it all at once!’
Use massive willpower to drain mana to the dregs in one burst.
Like piercing the goblin's throat with just 2.1 points.
Kang Geohan whipped his gaze around. Through the three-story-tall Gigant's eyes, the world looked small and easy.
But not Raphael White's Gigant, standing eye-level.
Still…
‘I’ll get him!’
Exploding all his mana, he dropped into stance and launched.
Boom!
Kang Geohan's Gigant stomped the ground with heavy steel legs.
* * *
“W-What the hell is that?!”
The onlookers watching Kang Geohan's liftoff erupted.
“J-Just now, how many seconds? Under a minute, right?”
“Whoa… two trainees nailing first liftoff in under a minute.”
“Wasn’t it Helena? Faster than her?”
“Nah, she’s the real monster—45 seconds.”
“53 seconds. Just took 53.”
“…That’s still insane?”
“Insane… Isn’t he a reverse-migrant? First time gripping a mana stone not even a week ago—how’s he lifting off that fast?”
Common sense shattered. Goosebumps raced up spines like a plague.
But the real shock was just beginning.
“Huh? Huh? That?”
Ruuuumble—!
With earth-shaking stomps, Kang Geohan's Gigant charged Raphael's.
—W-What?
Raphael, who'd watched with keen interest, panicked.
“F-Fast!”
Onlookers guarding Kang Geohan—official candidates, their squires, technicians, soldiers—all gaped in shock.
The charge, pouring all 11 points of Kang Geohan's mana in one instant, outpaced even Helena, the genius trainee.
Kwaaang—!
That's why Raphael White couldn't react in time and ate the tackle.
Crunch!
The massive steel giant seized another's waist.
Boom!
Shoulder slamming gut, crumpling steel plates—sparks rained like volcanic ash.
Pillar-like legs floated skyward in an unreal scene, and the crashing Gigant shook the earth with a rumble! Dust billowed like a landslide.
—Gah!
A short groan escaped Raphael White, unmoved even by applicants' deaths.
Onlookers were aghast.
“C-Crazy…”
Dust filled the air.
Deathly silence. Rolling eyes.
A first-time Gigant rider toppled a White-surnamed official candidate.
Impossible.
As they stood speechless, the lone-standing Kang Geohan spoke via external speakers.
—Mana’s depleted… That’s all for me.
He opened the hatch, dropped the rope ladder, and descended leisurely.
Raphael White, downed, could only watch wide-eyed.
“W-What! That arrogant bastard!”
Late-to-react official candidates moved to surround Kang Geohan.
—Stand down!!
But Raphael White halted them.
Hiss—!
Easily righting his Gigant, Raphael hopped out.
Step, step.
He stood before Kang Geohan.
Flames seemed to flicker in his eyes.
“Trainee. Name?”
“Kang Geohan Yellow, sir.”
“…Noted. Hey! Assign him quarters!”
Raphael growled the order and turned away.
“Raphael!”
The official candidates, fierce-faced but clueless how to react, rolling their eyes, called after him as they followed him out.
“Whew…”
Kang Geohan finally exhaled. Legs trembled.
Dumping all power at once was never easy. Fighting a weight that could kill you was terrifying, horrifying…
‘But thrilling…’
Kang Geohan clenched his shaking fists.
Same as piercing the goblin's throat last time, and now. The instant he unleashed all mana, the world sucked into a pinpoint.
Body vanished, mind vanished—only a singularity of will remained.
…A fullness touching the divine.
As Kang Geohan savored the fight's afterglow, a soldier approached.
“Um… Sir Kang Geohan Yellow. I’ll show you to your quarters.”
“Ah.”
Kang Geohan started following absentmindedly, then stopped.
“Wait.”
“Yes? What is it?”
Kang Geohan scanned the onlookers.
He spotted Davis rushing over, and nearby, arms crossed, Kaltz Black.
Quite distant, but Kaltz Black's gaping mouth was clear.
Still riding the liftoff ecstasy?
Or the fullness of total mana dump?
Or witnessing Kaltz Black's agitation?
That 'absurd idea' from before resurfaced.
‘No time like now, right? Make or break… First and last chance.’
Kang Geohan steeled himself and turned toward Kaltz, marching straight.
Kaltz, mouth agape, hastily schooled his face and voiced confusion.
“…What? My escort duty’s done. Follow training ground command from here.”
Kaltz uncrossed his arms, oddly tense.
Kang Geohan stared into his eyes, as if peering into his mind.
‘Kaltz Black. Court-martialed, barred from Gigants forever. But he misses them.’
Now he knew why.
The liftoff ecstasy and omnipotence were more addictive than any drug.
No one who tasted it could live without.
‘So, one shot.’
Kang Geohan swallowed and extended a hand like a handshake toward Kaltz Black.
Kaltz glanced at it and asked.
“What’s that mean?”
“Come with me.”
“…What?”
“Be my squire.”
“That’s insane…”
“I’ll let you pilot a Gigant. Become the greatest Gigant Rider— one who equips even his squires with Gigants.”
Absurd claim.
Kang Geohan didn’t even know if it was possible.
All he knew: Gigant Riders held immense status here.
So he tossed it out.
Top riders could outfit underlings as they pleased, right? Pure vague fancy, pitching the impossible to an active knight: become my squire.
Yet…
“You right now…”
Kaltz’s eyes shook like in a storm.