Chapter 72
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Targeting the Weak Spot (2)
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“Get out of the way! Move!”
“Help! Get me out of here!”
“Fire!”
“Start over there! Everyone, move!”
It was an ordinary evening.
They had finished a tiring day’s work.
They returned home and had dinner with their families.
They were resting at home after a long day.
It was an utterly ordinary evening, just like most people in the trading city of Creemo.
That’s how it should have been.
But tonight was different.
A disaster had struck from the sky like a bolt of lightning.
No—a mermaid statue that had suddenly flown in and crashed down.
From the moment that destructive accident occurred, the city’s entire daily life had collapsed.
It was a night of calamity.
“Over here! My leg’s stuck! Someone pull me out!”
“Just hold on! I’ll get more people!”
The area near the plaza was a scene of utter chaos.
People trapped under collapsed buildings cried out for help.
But rescuing them wasn’t easy.
It was because of the fire.
At first, it was just a small ember from a hearth in one of the ruined buildings.
But the area around it was littered with shattered wood and furniture.
The flames caught quickly.
They grew in an instant.
They devoured the building and began to spread.
And just like that, it escalated into a massive blaze.
“Fire!”
“Bring water! Water!”
Citizens and guard members moved frantically.
They cleared building debris, rescued people, and fetched buckets of water.
But the sea breeze was the problem.
The dry winter weather was a problem too.
Once the fire took hold, it wouldn’t go out easily.
The parched wind carried it spreading far too quickly.
No matter how much water they poured, it was no use.
The fire spread much faster than they could extinguish it.
At this rate, it threatened to engulf the entire urban district in a catastrophic blaze.
“1st Battalion, focus on rescue operations near the plaza. How far out are the 2nd and 3rd Battalions?”
“They’re assembling now.”
“Too slow. We need to establish a firebreak right now.”
The Creemo City Guard commander gritted his teeth.
The situation was far from good.
No, it was deteriorating by the second.
‘This is bad. We can’t handle it.’
His mouth went dry.
The situation was that desperate.
‘Of all days, on a day with these gale-force winds. The flames are out of control. And most of our command staff went out to sea with the lord on those sailing ships and haven’t returned.’
The uncontrollable inferno.
Even the guards meant to put it out couldn’t move efficiently.
That was because most mid-level commanders had boarded ships with Count Creemo.
And the situation outside the city wasn’t pretty either.
No, in a way, it was even more hopelessly dire.
‘For that thing to come ashore…’
Outside the city, along the coastal cliffs.
Just glancing that way felt like a nightmare.
Under the dark night sky, in the moonlight, a 90-meter behemoth thrashed about faintly visible.
It was the Gigatitan.
Grroooarrr!
A low, menacing roar like claws scraping the earth echoed clearly all the way here.
No, it pounded the eardrums like a charging beast.
‘If that thing reaches here… we’re done for.’
He was certain of it.
The city was already a mess from the fire.
If the Gigatitan came here and rampaged?
The damage would be unimaginable.
Even if the entire Guard and the Count’s army sacrificed themselves, they might barely hold it off.
‘And there’s no word from the lord. He might have already fallen to that monster. Is this the end for our city… today?’
A dark cloud settled over the Guard commander’s heart.
He surveyed the urban district with sunken eyes.
He watched the flames spreading from the plaza, gnawing away at the city.
Thanks to that, he witnessed it.
The soaring, spreading blaze.
The night sky glowing red from it.
And above it, the majesty of a 60-meter-diameter pink water balloon plummeting down.
“Hamang!”
*Plosh!*
Hamang cried out.
At the same time, it opened its mouth wide.
From the gaping maw of the fantasy beast poured over 100,000 liters of seawater.
*Shwooooosh!*
The seawater poured from the sky collided with air resistance.
It shattered into chunks.
Scattering into tens, hundreds of millions of droplets.
Sprinkling over the plaza and the entire urban district.
*Splash!*
In an instant, like a localized downpour.
That single strike snuffed out the flames raging through the city.
The fires leaping to nearby buildings died out, and the heat scorching pillars and roofs cooled abruptly.
And then, Hamang—now shrunk to the size of a fist—came plummeting down.
It landed neatly in Lloyd’s palm.
“Hamang!”
*Plop!*
“Good job.”
Lloyd stroked Hamang.
Honestly, he’d wondered if this would even work.
He’d wondered if Hamang, stuffed full of seawater, could leap from outside the city all the way to the urban skies.
Those worries had been unfounded.
Hamang’s abilities far exceeded his expectations.
It bounced along the ground a few times like a rubber ball.
“You did amazingly well. Today, you saved a lot of people.”
“Hamang!”
Lloyd gave Hamang one more stroke before tucking it into his inner breast pocket.
He shouted loudly.
“Keep going, Ppoddong! Hya!”
“Ppoddong!”
Ppoddong, carrying Lloyd, ran even harder.
It raced across the main urban avenue, leaped over a dried fish shop’s roof, and sped through the plaza.
And finally, he saw it.
‘Found it.’
A steeple standing tall on one side of the plaza.
The mermaid statue was embedded in its side.
Lloyd urged Ppoddong straight to the base of the steeple in one go. He shouted.
“Ppoddong! Pull it out!”
“Ppoddong!”
Ppoddong leaped up with its full momentum.
It grabbed the mermaid statue embedded in the steeple’s side and hung on.
Its chubby butt wiggled as its front paws strained.
*Crack!*
The mermaid statue, deeply lodged in the steeple, came out in one pull.
‘Perfect.’
His eyes gleamed.
The mermaid statue was badly crushed and mangled.
It had flown here after taking a body slam from the Gigatitan earlier, so that made sense.
But even so, its body outline and silhouette were mostly intact.
Its broken head and arms lay nearby.
“Can you carry this?”
“Ppoddong!”
Fortunately, Ppoddong could shoulder the mermaid statue larger than itself without issue.
The same went for the two arms Lloyd had lugged over with grunts.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Ppoddong!”
It dashed off, leaving the plaza behind.
He was a bit worried about the people left in the plaza, but there was no choice.
He’d put out the most urgent fire, so the remaining guards and citizens could handle the rest.
Believing that, he spurred Ppoddong on.
“That way! To the shipyard!”
“Ppoddong!”
At Lloyd’s gesture, Ppoddong veered direction.
The caissons made at the shipyard for the earlier maritime artificial foundation project.
He was familiar with the route from ordering and checking on them.
Thanks to that, Lloyd reached the shipyard easily.
And there, he quickly found what he had in mind.
‘They always parked the large cart over there… Yes. Got it.’
Lloyd’s eyes lit up.
A special large cart used at the shipyard was there.
A monster for transporting massive loads of timber or small ships over land.
Thick wheel axles to bear enormous weights.
Six pairs of wheels as tall as a person.
Even in this large city, there were only two of these special-sized carts.
“Ppoddong? There!”
“Ppoddong!”
Lloyd pointed at the cart.
Ppoddong instantly understood and moved.
It loaded the carried mermaid statue onto the cart.
The huge cart rocked once, but it didn’t matter.
True to its monstrous design, it withstood the statue’s immense weight.
Lloyd performed emergency surgery(?) on the statue.
‘It has to look as lifelike as possible—like a living mermaid to the Gigatitan’s eyes.’
He fetched plenty of ship ropes.
He wrapped them meticulously around the mermaid statue’s body.
With those ropes, he connected the broken arms.
Conveniently, the statue’s arms were broken at every joint.
Shoulders, elbows, wrists—all separated.
He bound and connected them all with ropes.
The connected joints dangled like nunchucks.
He did the same for the broken neck.
With less dangling.
Just a slight bob.
And with that, the temporary bronze mermaid balloon doll was complete.
‘Realism on point.’
At this rate, every time the cart shook, the rope-tied joints would sway naturally.
It looked far more lifelike than before it broke.
‘Next, stand this guy up… like this! Urgh!’
Fortunately, the cart was designed to tilt its bed.
Like a modern dump truck angling its bed to unload dirt.
A mechanism for dumping transported timber.
*Creak! Creak! Creak!*
He worked the lever up and down nonstop.
Each time, the cart’s bed mechanism clanged noisily.
The bed tilted at an angle.
Naturally, the mermaid statue rose with it.
Finally, a satisfied smile crept onto Lloyd’s lips.
‘This’ll do.’
The slight angle was perfect.
Finally, Lloyd lashed the statue’s body completely to the cart with ropes.
To keep it from falling even if the cart galloped and jolted wildly.
All preparations were complete.
‘These ropes can secure hundreds of tons of ships, so this should hold.’
Confident, Lloyd tied the remaining rope around Ppoddong’s waist.
He trailed it long to connect to the cart.
“Ready, Ppoddong?”
“Ppoddong?”
“Ready to run?”
“Ppoddong!”
Ppoddong’s black eyes filled with determination.
“Then go! Hya!”
*Smack!*
Lloyd slapped Ppoddong’s back.
Ppoddong’s plump body exploded forward.
The heavy cart trailed behind, pulled by Ppoddong’s superhuman strength.
*Rumble…*
At first, slowly.
Then steadily faster.
Acceleration building.
Finally, explosively.
“Let’s go!”
“Ppoddong!”
*Boom boom boom boom boom!*
Every time Ppoddong’s paws hit the ground, the earth cratered.
The cart charged through the explosively flying dirt.
It left the shipyard behind.
It escaped the city in seconds.
It raced toward the western coastal cliffs.
The rampaging Gigatitan was there.
“Straight ahead!”
“Ppoddong!”
Straight at the Gigatitan.
The trailing large cart made a racket over the coastal rocks’ uneven surface.
*Clang clang clang! Rattle rattle!*
Not a smooth path, but jagged rocks.
The cart bounced like a bumper car as it passed through.
Jolting madly, shaking wildly, yet charging on.
Naturally, the mermaid statue on the cart shook violently too.
*Rattle rattle rattle!*
Its head bobbed nonstop.
Its arms unleashed a mad popping wave dance.
Thanks to that, the Gigatitan’s gaze turned this way inevitably.
And finally, it took it in with its eyes.
Its mortal enemy and natural predator: the mermaid.
Especially this massive, threatening-looking one.
That foe charging fiercely toward it.
The transcendent sight of it dancing the hula in 16-bit self-propelled rhythm as it came.
Grroooar!
The Gigatitan whirled around immediately.
It forgot Haviel, whom it had been relentlessly targeting moments ago.
It perceived this incoming dance-machine mermaid as a far greater threat.
And it reacted.
Like kids charging at a balloon doll at a local chicken shop opening event. Or a jobless grad’s eyes lighting up at an open-sale fried chicken 1+1 deal.
It charged head-on at the oncoming cart.
It unleashed a ferocious roar.
It swung its massive club-like foreleg.
*Whiiiish!*
“Dodge!”
Lloyd shouted.
He yanked Ppoddong’s right ear.
Ppoddong, grasping his intent, veered right instantly.
The multi-roped cart followed rightward.
*BOOM!*
An explosion like a bomb.
An illusion of the earth shaking.
The Gigatitan’s foreleg strike devastated the area.
But even amid it, Ppoddong charged on fine.
Lloyd on its back was the same.
‘Good thing I learned riding from Haviel!’
The horsemanship he’d gradually picked up on the way to this city.
Thanks to that training, he stayed mounted even as Ppoddong galloped madly.
But it was still too early to relax.
“Faster!”
“Ppoddong!”
*Boom! BOOM!*
The powerful mermaid statue’s fantastic popping dance.
The sight drove the Gigatitan mad, charging at it.
Each time, Lloyd’s chest heaved like walking a tightrope with a burning oil drum on his back.
“Faster! Run! And Haviel, you too—hurry up!”
Lloyd’s shouts grew urgent.
He’d succeeded in drawing the Gigatitan’s aggro, at least.
Now it was Haviel’s turn to take it down.
‘This is why I didn’t want this role!’
He’d just wanted to pay off his family’s debts.
He’d tried living diligently for that.
Today, he’d planned to stay hidden quietly.
How had he ended up taking on this danger?
Amid involuntary sighs, Lloyd cursed his fate.
‘It’s all your fault, you novel protagonist with hero syndrome!’
Busy driving Ppoddong, he still shot a resentful glance upward.
He caught sight of Haviel leaping like lightning.
*Fwoosh!*
The Gigatitan, exposed while chasing this way.
Haviel lunged at its weak point.
Drawing a single sword.
Poised to thrust piercingly.
Finally, he struck like lightning.
*Thwack!*
Haviel’s ultimate technique.
Blasting detonated.