Each Their Own Operation (3)

It was nothing like an Uliphant. An Uliphant might share the elephantine look and the enormous bulk, but this thing was dozens of times larger still. And oddly enough, unlike an Uliphant, it had not a single tusk.

“What kind of size is that….”

I wasn’t overreacting. Freya beside me, and every soldier on the front line waiting to provide fire support, had gone pale with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠terror.

Of course they had. When something so vast that it shatters ordinary common sense appears before your eyes, fear is the natural response. I finally understood why the genre called cosmic horror even exists.

This is… genuinely beyond any sane scale.

It was so colossal that I couldn’t even make out what might be sitting on its head or back. It wouldn’t have been strange if something were riding up there.

I wasn’t the only one stunned. Freya’s mouth hung open in pure shock. This was clearly the first time she had ever seen a monster of such size.

“Freya, any idea what kind of creature this is…?”

“…It doesn’t seem like there are multiple of them. Even I’ve never… something like this…”

So that was it. If creatures like this existed in numbers, the enemy could simply herd them forward and flatten everything. Heroes and armies alike would be finished.

Utterly monstrous.

I wondered whether even Karna would have a way to handle this. A body that large meant an overwhelming HP—stamina stat—to match.

That was precisely why dragons, Caesius especially, stood out so sharply in stamina compared to the rest of the party.

And the stats of a monster this overwhelmingly larger than even Caesius’s true form…

Once again, every stat except the name was hidden. This was clearly no ordinary monster.

“Walking Mountain”—a name that essentially admitted the thing was a mountain that moved.

Had it noticed that the binding magic had vanished? Its steps had stopped…

“I don’t know why it halted, but this looks like our chance to hit the legs.”

“Yes, definitely.”

“Caesius, begin.”

I called for Caesius rather than anyone else. She was already too far for ordinary shouting, but the master-servant contract let her hear me clearly.

Whether she had caught my words or not, I felt mana stirring behind us—Caesius, Mersius, and Letisia as well.

Even at that distance the flow was unmistakable. A moment later the skill activation messages appeared before my eyes.

I glanced back. Two dragons were already rising into the air—the one sheathed in blue scales was Caesius, the one covered in green was Mersius.

And then—

The sudden appearance of the two dragons and Letisia’s assault must have finally triggered its wariness. The colossal monster that had stood motionless until now began to move its foot.

BOOOOM!!

With the binding magic gone, the full force of that enormous body slammed into the surroundings. A single step made the earth roar and the air itself shudder. I felt with my entire body what it meant for something of such mass to move.

“Hah….”

“Albrecht! Stop staring and move!”

Freya seized my arm and leapt backward. The sheer presence had frozen me for a second; I snapped out of it and followed her.

“I never expected to experience cosmic horror firsthand….”

“What is that? I have no idea what you’re talking about, but let’s get farther away first.”

Freya frowned as she spoke.

“…We’re going to need a truly powerful strike.”

The moment the words left her mouth, the three skills that had just activated slammed concentrated force into Grandis’s leg.

KRA-KRA-KRAAAASH!!! BOOM!!!

Each attack was formidable in its own right, yet the creature’s hide was as absurdly tough as its size suggested. The leather tore and punctured, but the damage still looked far from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠decisive.

“If we want real damage, we’ll have to open the hide first.”

“Originally Erinn was supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠handle that… but it looks like Letisia will have to come this way instead.”

“Letisia? …Ah.”

With Spirit Possession, Letisia could raise her stats to the level of a front-line fighter. That was clearly the plan.

“Albrecht, the magic’s already been broken, so go tell Letisia. I’ll stay here and support Hero Karna.”

“I can’t pull back. I only disrupted the spell temporarily—the mana is still here.”

If I moved too far away, the mana I had bound might slip free and reconstitute the magic. Of course that would be impossible if the caster weren’t present, but with this enemy nothing was certain.

That Magic Legion Commander…

He could pull something that defied common sense without anyone batting an eye.

“Then what do we…?”

“…There’s a way.”

I lifted the subspace pouch Gergius had given me.

“Time to try bomb-demon possession once.”

“…Pardon?”

Just then Grandis’s foot began to shift again. The fact that it was already moving proved the earlier attacks hadn’t done serious harm. I spoke quickly.

“Fall back for now! Getting caught in the blast won’t do us any favors!”

In my haste I grabbed Freya’s hand and pulled. She looked startled for a moment, then followed obediently and asked, puzzled,

“W-wait, bombs? What do you mean?”

“Ah—I showed these to command earlier….”

Freya had stepped away briefly to tend the wounded at the time. I drew a single crystal from the subspace pouch.

“This.”

“This is…?”

“I obtained it while curing Mersius’s illness. Simply put, it’s runaway mana that solidified as-is.”

“…Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Extremely. But with the nature of my mana, it’s manageable.”

I curled one corner of my mouth in a crooked smile. Preparing to hurl something that was essentially a bomb made me feel like I was up to no good—like I had slipped back into those thoughtless days of my reckless youth.

“Watch.”

I wrapped the crystal in the last of my mana. The mana crystal immediately began thrashing as if it would explode at any second, yet my power suppressed it and kept the detonation locked inside.

I spoke to Caesius, who could still hear my voice.

“Caesius—the moment the explosion hits, strike again immediately.”

I drew my arm back behind my head. A brief memory of playing catch as a kid flickered through my mind, and I hurled the crystal with everything I had.

My strength stat had risen enough that reaching the area around Grandis’s leg from here was no trouble at all.

Now!

The instant the crystal arrived near the monster’s knee, I withdrew my mana.

KAAAAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOM!!!

An explosion of staggering force erupted. Freya, startled, reacted almost exactly the way Letisia once had.

“Kyaaaaah!!”

Kyaaah…?

The scream carried more pure panic than Letisia’s. Unlike Letisia, who had lunged at me, Freya simply crouched down and covered her ears—another difference.

Still… because she was already so beautiful, even that pose didn’t look ridiculous. Someone might even call it cute.

Only after the blast faded did Freya lower her hands from her ears and ask in a still-trembling voice,

“A-Albrecht, what did you just do…? Don’t tell me you developed bombs on your own?”

“…I only forced the solidified mana inside the crystal to run wild.”

It wasn’t as if I were some munitions manufacturer. How would I develop bombs?

The moment the explosion bloomed, the skills I had ordered from Letisia and the dragons activated exactly as planned.

Each skill looked different, yet every one of them could easily claim hundreds of lives. All three slammed into the knee that the explosion had just opened.

WHOOOOOOSH──────!

A moment later we saw the result.

“…It worked!”

As I had hoped, stripping the hide first made all the difference. Blood began pouring from Grandis’s knee, and—thanks to Mersius’s power—the once-red flesh started rotting away almost at once.

Green dragons commanded poison… in pure lethality she might well be the strongest of the three.

“It seems to be working, Albrecht?”

Freya’s voice was bright with hope. Indeed, that single concentrated strike had halted Grandis’s movement. The heavy, resonant cry now echoing in every direction was unmistakably the monster’s.

But we had only managed a small wound on the knee. We would have to keep repeating this. And while we did…

…If Karna can finish it, that would be ideal.

While Albrecht and Freya worked furiously to pin Grandis’s legs, Karna had not been idle.

The operational goal is to buy time, but if we can actually bring it down, nothing could be better. While my comrades, the soldiers, and I hold it here, Hero Karna—find its vital point. If you fail, withdraw at once. We’re only trying because the chance is there; no need to force it.

Following Albrecht’s suggestion, Karna was climbing the monster’s long trunk toward its back. Even a creature this vast was still a living being; heart and brain would be its weak points. The fact that it breathed and bled meant it was no golem or slime with a core.

So Karna headed for the head. He could roughly locate the heart, but driving a spear deep enough to reach an organ buried inside that mountain of flesh was impossible. Piercing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the skull to reach the brain was far more practical.

In an instant Karna scaled the thousands of meters to Grandis’s head. At that altitude a normal human would be unable to breathe, yet a Hero blessed by sky, earth, and sea was unbound by ordinary natural limits.

Vmmm─── / Ziiing────.

And there Karna found what awaited him.

“…So it didn’t come alone after all.”

Seven colossal figures stood on Grandis’s back, waiting for his arrival.

Compared with Grandis they looked small, yet each still towered over even a Giant—one of the larger monster species. “Colossi” was the only fitting word.

These were the seven golems personally crafted by Magic Legion Commander Arcel and known as the Masterpieces.

The power of each individual unit was such that—

—they easily surpassed the front-line heroes and were rated as equal to an entire nation’s military strength.

They could not match a great power like the Dern Empire or the Estire Kingdom, yet against a small nation such as the Behend Kingdom a single golem could reduce the whole country to ashes.

“….”

If these seven descended now, the outcome was obvious. The people below could handle one or two, but all seven would be catastrophic.

Even if Erinn returned, the army might suffer so many losses that reclaiming the front line would become impossible.

“…Looks like I’m taking the full load alone.”

Karna muttered to himself and raised his spear straight.

“No choice, then.”

His quiet words carried fierce will and courage. The title of the Hero who fought hardest on the front lines had not been given lightly.

He had already crossed the line between life and death countless times, and his skill rivaled even Erinn—the one called the strongest living Hero. As if answering that resolve, the Holy Spear blazed with brilliant light.

“I have no choice but to bring them down here.”

The colossi recognized that the surrender demand had been refused. They waited no longer. Their eyes flared crimson and steam vented from their arms.