Chapter 76
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Miracle, or Fortuitous Encounter (1)
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Thud-quack-!
A colossal force detonated.
It surged forward like an unstoppable wave.
The first-ever triple blast in history.
That explosive power pierced through everything blocking its path and charged ahead.
Crunch!
A cry of agony burst from the Gigatitan's maw for the first time.
At the same instant, the massive beast's body was pierced clean through in a flash.
Chitin and ivory.
Two materials tough enough on their own, fused at the molecular level into an exoskeletal shell.
A triple-layered honeycomb structure twisted into helical strands once more. Its hardness and toughness defied description. And the sheer thickness of that brutish design measured a full meter.
It was, quite literally, a hyper-advanced biological ballistic armor—or composite plating—that surpassed even Kevlar fibers.
But before the explosive penetration of the triple blast, even that defense was futile.
Crack!
The triple honeycomb structure shattered.
The helical molecular bonds melted away.
The searing heat of the triple blast bored through the meter-thick exoskeletal shell without mercy.
Inside the tough, resilient shell lay comparatively fragile tissue.
The savage torrent of force stormed inward.
It tore and shredded without restraint.
Grk!
The first thing pierced was the muscle tissue right beneath the exoshell.
The jelly-like muscles within the rigid shell were exposed to immense heat. Proteins cooked. Moisture inside the tissues boiled. Widespread damage ravaged the surrounding areas.
Yet the blast's penetrative force showed no sign of weakening.
After the muscles came the internal organs.
Squish-crunch!
The ventral nerve cord, snaking along the underside like a spine, was pierced. Severed. The massive neural mass let out a death rattle.
The rest of the tissues fared no better.
The coiled heart atop the ventral nerve cord.
The lung sacs supplying oxygen to the enormous body.
Part of the house-sized stomach and the hormone glands.
Even the muscle tissues clinging to the back.
And finally, the tough, resilient meter-thick backplate covering the spine.
All of it was penetrated.
Melted, ripped.
Shattered to pieces and bored through.
Thud-quack-!
The fierce, raging blaze of force erupted from the Gigatitan's back.
Amid the surging blast, chunks of pulverized innards exploded outward like fireworks.
They rained down like a storm.
Lloyd plummeted amid it all.
He slipped into full unconsciousness, his awareness fading away.
‘……Sleepy.’
From the Gigatitan's exoshell to the ground below.
A drop of about twenty meters, like a puppet with cut strings.
He couldn't steady himself or brace for impact.
No, the thought never even crossed his mind.
He was just dazed.
Everything felt like a dream.
With blurring vision, he gazed ahead.
The rocky surface of the coastal cliff, littered with gray boulders.
It rushed toward him at breakneck speed.
‘…….’
Falling like this, he wouldn't survive unscathed.
With that final thought, Lloyd's consciousness snapped.
His body followed, plummeting to the ground.
No—right before smashing into the rocks, he sank into a plush bed of fur.
“Ppoding!”
Poof!
Ppoding arrived, panting desperately just in time.
Ppoding caught the falling Lloyd on its plump, bouncy back.
Thanks to the thick, fluffy fur, Lloyd landed without a scratch. He didn't even bounce off.
But Ppoding couldn't afford to smile.
Catching Lloyd didn't mean it could relax.
The situation was far too dire for relief or laughter.
“Ppo-dong! Ppoding! Hek-hek!”
Instead of relaxing, Ppoding ran harder, breath ragged.
A massive shadow barreled after it from behind.
Grrrrowl!
Kwaang! With a roar, rocks shattered where Ppoding had just passed.
Explosions followed in rapid succession.
Amid agonized death throes.
Kraaaah-!
The Gigatitan thrashed wildly.
Between segments 11 and 12 of its exoshell.
A massive hole gaped at that weak point.
Part of the ventral nerve cord severed, heart and lungs burst.
A fatal wound no creature could survive.
But the beast didn't die easily. Its wondrous stamina, vitality, and primal fury postponed the inevitable death, if only briefly.
So now, hurtling toward demise moment by moment, it summoned its last reserves to rampage. Drenched in madness. Lunging to destroy everything in sight.
The coastal cliff rocks, the nimble Ppoding fleeing before it—all targets for annihilation.
Kraaang! Kwaang! Kwakwakwa-!
The Gigatitan's club-like forelimbs hammered down relentlessly.
Ppoding pushed itself harder in response.
Even as its breath grew ragged enough to snap.
Even as its legs buckled.
It kept running.
Leaping boulders, kicking off the ground, desperate to put even one more step between itself and the Gigatitan.
But the Gigatitan's tenacity proved slightly stronger.
Kwaaaang!
“……Ppo?”
A massive club-like forelimb slammed down.
It blocked the path Ppoding was racing toward.
Ppoding skidded to a frantic halt. Spun around. Tried to veer left and escape.
But that attempt failed too.
Thud-kwaang-!
The other forelimb blocked the escape route.
Ppoding's round eyes filled with panic.
“Ppoding?”
No way out.
Of all places, a huge boulder blocked right and rear.
Climbable, sure.
But would the Gigatitan wait patiently while it clambered up?
Unlikely.
No room to turn and flee.
Climbing meant getting nabbed by the scruff.
Ppoding saw only one option left.
“Ppoding! Ppo-dodong! Arrr!”
It glared straight at the Gigatitan.
Bared its grown incisors and snarled with all its might.
The Gigatitan's upper body came crashing down toward the defiant Ppoding.
Its gaping maw surged forward without hesitation.
And smashed headfirst into the ground.
Kwaaaaang-!
“……!”
Ppoding's plump rear twitched violently.
Moments later, the stout, chubby fantasy beast beheld an unexpected sight.
Plink, plop……
Amid falling rock fragments and dust.
The fallen colossal beast lay motionless.
No twitch, no breath.
Only one meaning.
“Ppoding?”
The monster's breath had stopped.
Ppoding's eyes widened in realization.
But this plump fantasy beast didn't celebrate its survival or rejoice in escape.
Instead, it ran.
Leaving the Gigatitan's corpse behind.
Pushing on despite lungs ready to burst.
All for the Lloyd slung across its back.
“Ppoding! Ppo-dodong!”
Lloyd sprawled atop it.
His heartbeat barely detectable.
His breaths so faint.
No time to dawdle.
It had to save its master.
“Ppodong! Hek-hek! Ppoding!”
A bit more effort.
Hold on just a little longer.
Crying out as if cheering itself and Lloyd both, Ppoding raced toward the distant trading city of Creemo, abuzz with commotion.
Behind, under the moonlight, only the massive beast's corpse remained.
The night of disaster passed.
♣
Six days passed.
Days after the monster's death.
The city's citizens gradually emerged from shock.
They banded together.
Cleared shattered paving stones, repaired collapsed walls. The injured received timely care, the homeless aid from neighbors.
Yet no one forgot.
They couldn't.
While clearing stones, rebuilding walls, tending the sick—turn your head, and there it loomed beyond the city: the massive silhouette crouched on the coastal cliff, like a slumbering form. The Gigatitan's corpse, left there.
Gazing at it, people relived that night of calamity.
And felt relief.
That sudden disaster.
Yet not a single casualty amid the chaos.
“It's nothing short of a miracle. I never dreamed someone would reach out so swiftly to save me flailing in the water.”
A middle-aged woman said at the clinic.
She continued.
“It was like thunder. The ship rocked violently, and I felt my whole body flip. When I came to, I was thrashing in the cold sea. Yes, the moment the monster rammed the hull, I was flung overboard.”
“And then? How'd you get out of the sea?”
A volunteer nurse asked.
Other volunteers listened in.
The woman smiled faintly.
“That man extended his hand.”
“That man?”
“I don't know his name. The one who summoned that big familiar in the plaza last month.”
“Oh, that guy. I know. The snake-like familiar blasted a huge diaper fart or something.”
“Yes, him. He came right over without hesitation and pulled me from the water. And I wasn't the only one. An old man sinking unconscious beside me, a kid flailing nearby—he saved them all.”
“Wow…….”
The volunteers murmured in quiet awe at her tale.
Meanwhile, across from the clinic in the central plaza, another story circulated.
“Hey, you hear?”
“Hear what.”
“About that young guy.”
“What's with the vague talk? Spit it out plain.”
“You know, that kid setting up construction out in the front sea.”
“Oh? That one?”
The plaza, wrecked by the flying statue.
Workers repairing it chatted.
“What about him?”
“Word is, that kid put out the fire.”
“Fire? How?”
“Summoned a familiar, apparently. A big plump one that sprayed water everywhere.”
“And that doused the flames?”
“Yeah. Kept a big blaze from spreading, they say.”
“Heh, really? Possible?”
“If it wasn't, the story wouldn't spread. Plenty saw it.”
“Yeah?”
Some workers perked up their ears.
Others eyes sparkled as they shared the news.
The tales spread beyond clinics and plazas.
“I witnessed it. All true.”
“True, you say? Be precise. You're saying Lloyd Frontera punched that massive hole in the Gigatitan's torso?”
“Yes.”
This was the Creemo Count's official residence conference room.
A post-incident inquiry by the investigation committee.
Station Chief of Outpost 23, appearing as a witness, nodded.
“If it's alright, may I recount what I saw from the beginning?”
“Please do.”
“Thank you.”
The outpost chief took a breath.
His account began.
“To be frank, I was prepared to die that day. The outpost was destroyed, and the Gigatitan had landed. So I made a decision.”
“What decision?”
“To detonate the outpost's explosives.”
“Explosives?”
“Yes. To inflict some damage on the Gigatitan, even if it cost me my life. But it failed.”
“It took no damage?”
“None at all. I was in mortal peril, and that's when he appeared and saved me.”
“Lloyd Frontera?”
“Yes.”
The outpost chief nodded.
He scanned the count and committee members across from him.
His voice gained strength.
“He saved my life. Evacuated me to safety. Then stepped up to fight himself.”
“Against the Gigatitan?”
“Yes. Precisely, the silver-haired knight with him struck first, and he joined after.”
The outpost chief's explanation continued.
Haviel battling the Gigatitan.
Lloyd drawing its attention with the jury-rigged mermaid statue.
Haviel's collapse.
Lloyd's flight and counterattack.
Finally, the mysterious massive explosion piercing the Gigatitan.
As they listened, the count and all committee members clenched fists, swallowed dryly, sighed, gasped in admiration.
An unbelievable tale.
Yet impossible to disbelieve.
That gaping hole in the Gigatitan's torso.
Irrefutable proof.
The count asked.
“So, you didn't see exactly how Lloyd Frontera made that hole?”
“No. It was quite far and dark, so I couldn't make out the method. Only that it seemed…….”
“Seemed?”
“Like firing an incredibly powerful cannon.”
“Cannon?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, a cannon.”
The count furrowed his brow.
No cannon in his arsenal could pierce Gigatitan armor.
Yet it looked like firing a cannon.
“Perhaps he used some potent magic in secret.”
“I suspect as much.”
“I see. Well heard. Good work. You're dismissed.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The outpost chief withdrew after testifying.
The remaining committee murmured in discussion.
Amid it, the count closed his eyes.
‘Whew. If only the man himself would wake.’
He thought of Lloyd.
The young man from the remote Frontera Territory in the eastern corner.
He recalled the myriad feats that youth achieved in one night.
‘Without him, I'd be dead too.’
Fact.
Just before the Gigatitan struck the brigantine and statue.
Lloyd had cut the anchor line.
Allowing the brigantine carrying him to barely evade the assault.
Not just that. Thanks to one intact ship, they rescued everyone who fell into the water.
‘Plus suppressing the city blaze and repelling the Gigatitan itself. The debt my city and I owe……’
Gratitude beyond measure.
‘Please, open your eyes.’
He wished earnestly.
The miracle of zero deaths in the city.
He wished a miracle for Lloyd, who wrought it.
After that night of disaster.
Lloyd's heart stopped.
It never restarted.
Yet he didn't die.
His breathing persisted.
For all six days since.
Stopped heart, sustained breath.
An unheard-of phenomenon.
Thus, the count never dreamed.
No one in the city could imagine.
Lloyd's heart, seemingly halted by blast shock.
Within it, an unprecedented fortuitous encounter unfolded like a miracle.