11. Rescue Operation (2)
Wayne cautiously kept a safe distance as he followed the orc. The cave ceiling soared high above, and its depths stretched on endlessly. After some time, the orc holding the torch came to a halt.
Wayne crept as close as he dared. Up ahead, he spotted the boss orc—and beside him, Captain Jamie, bound and slumped on the ground.
“Kuok! Brought human mechanic!”
“Kuoooook!”
The boss’s shout drew cheers from the orcs.
“Orcs ride steel giant!”
Huh? Steel giant? What the hell?
“Orcs! Dig up steel giant! Orc era now!”
“Kuok!”
“Kuok!”
Along the cave wall the orcs faced, a massive shape loomed amid their cheers.
What is that? A Gigant!
He’d first mistaken it for just a boulder... but no. Hulking frame, bipedal stance—the pinnacle of ground-based magic weaponry. It was a Gigant.
Unbelievable. A roughly five-meter Gigant sat leaning against the cave wall, greatsword gripped in its hand.
Damn! What’s a Gigant doing out here?
“Kya aaak!”
A woman’s scream snapped Wayne alert. Captain Jamie had woken.
The boss orc pressed a massive blade to her throat.
“Kuok! Orcs ride steel giant. Tell method!”
“G-get away!”
Surrounded by seven hulking orcs, Captain Jamie lay bound and terrified.
“All orc brothers dead. Tell method!”
“W-what are you talking about?”
As the orc jabbed a finger at the Gigant behind him and repeated his demand to ride it, Jamie caught on—and paled in shock.
“How could orcs ride a Gigant? You need to master Odd to pilot one.”
“Ardenetu heard from human! Human mechanic makes steel giant. So knows riding method!”
“...What?”
So the orc boss Ardenetu had kidnapped the mechanic Captain Jamie just to learn how to pilot a Gigant.
This is insane!
Wayne nearly cursed aloud. Without mastering Odd, even elves who lived five hundred years couldn’t control a Gigant. Let alone orcs, whose average lifespan barely scraped fifteen to twenty years. The idea was absurd. Pure orc logic at work.
“Kuok! Orcs ride steel giant. Save tribe! Tell method!”
“......”
“Orcs no repeat. Tell method. Kill mechanic!”
Jamie kept insisting the truth, but the boss orc menaced her with his blade, ready to strike. He was beyond reason. As the edge bit into her neck, blood trickled down in a thin red line.
Having lost all his minions and hearing he couldn’t pilot the Gigant, the boss had snapped.
Shit, he’ll really kill her!
Blaster was still far off. If Wayne didn’t act now, Captain Jamie was done for.
How much risk would you take to survive?
It was the question he’d asked himself back at the mansion, right after surviving by the skin of his teeth and resolving to live as Wayne.
Weighing it now, this was a huge gamble. The rewards if it went well didn’t outweigh the losses if it failed. Smarter to stay out of it. He could die.
But he couldn’t just watch Captain Jamie scream in terror.
Damn it, no choice...
Wayne bit his lip.
“Kuok! Tell method! No chance!”
Boss orc Ardenetu bellowed, hefting his massive blade.
“Please... everything I said is true! Without mastering Odd, not even humans can pilot it!”
Jamie’s voice shook violently. She had no way to put an orc in a Gigant—it was maddening.
“Orcs grab mechanic!”
Two orcs seized her arms and hauled her up. Ardenetu approached with a savage glare and leveled his blade at her wrist.
“Kuok! Last chance. Cut!”
“Kya aaak! Stop! Don’t!”
Jamie thrashed and screamed, but it was futile. Ardenetu gripped her arm and raised his blade high. Her wrist was as good as gone.
Tsssh! Clang!
“Kuok?”
A strange noise made Ardenetu look up—and his face twisted in horror.
“Ku, kuoooook?”
“Ooooook!”
The orcs screeched in unison, stumbling back. The Gigant’s eyes blazed with green light.
As the orcs recoiled in fear, Jamie’s bonds loosened, and she collapsed.
But... the Gigant’s eyes only flashed once. It didn’t move.
Ardenetu tilted his head.
“Orcs check!”
At his command, the terrified orcs crept toward it. They kicked it, hacked at its legs with axes—nothing.
“Kuok! Look! Human mechanic comes, steel giant eyes light!”
“Ooooook!”
The orcs cheered again. Jamie, clueless, shrank back in terror.
Inside the Gigant, Wayne was dying.
Damn, just Odd Eyes isn’t enough?
A normal orc would’ve fled at the glowing eyes alone. But not this boss. Now his only option was to move the damn thing somehow.
He focused his mind, poured every ounce of will into it—but not even a finger twitched. Odd’s barrier loomed impossibly high.
Come on, move! Move, damn you!
Wayne gritted his teeth.
“Kuh!”
Suddenly his head spun like he was drunk. Dizziness hit, then the dark cave overlapped with the Great Forest—reality and illusion merging.
What the—? This scene?
In one vision, he strode through the Great Forest. He’d seen this yesterday, collapsing in the maintenance Gigant. He’d written it off as a dream from memory loss. But now both felt vividly real—he couldn’t tell which was which.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground shook with each step, power surging from his body. Massive build, elongated form, tough hide, rippling muscles and vitality everywhere. Wayne was a monstrous lizard, like a giant neckerchief salamander.
Huh! Yesterday a monster gorilla, now a monster lizard...!
He couldn’t guess why these visions plagued him. This illusion disguised as reality wouldn’t fade no matter how he blinked or shook his head.
Suddenly, a giant ant-like monster charged. The lizard beast whipped around and lashed out with its massive tail.
Whooosh! Boom!
The ant monster crumpled from the tail strike. The lizard pounced, sinking fangs into its neck and killing it.
“Kuaaaaa!”
The lizard’s roar echoed through the forest. It devoured the fallen beast. As predator consumed prey, a fishy, savory taste filled Wayne’s mouth—and Odd drained rapidly from his body.
This is it!
Right now, he was the monster, and the monster was him. In the illusion, the monster was this Gigant.
Realization struck. The Gigant’s pinky finger twitched on the sword hilt.
[Kuaaaaa!]
A eardrum-shattering roar erupted from the Gigant. The orcs clapped hands over their ears in shock.
In that instant, the Gigant’s arm swung. Torchlight glinted off the blade.
Slash!
Flash—and silence.
The sword halted mid-air. The Gigant, off-balance from the wide swing, toppled sideways.
Thud!
“Kuhuk!”
Wayne groaned. His mind blanked. The Gigant had swung impossibly fast. But his Odd was spent in an instant. Pinned on its side, it wouldn’t budge. Blackout loomed like last time.
Ugh! Gotta cut off the Odd flow!
This was his shot to save Captain Jamie. As consciousness faded, Wayne desperately recalled Cassnet’s memories.
Whirr! Hiss!
“Got it!”
The Gigant’s viewport vanished; the hatch popped open. The beating from Cassnet had worked.
Wayne crawled out, mustering his last strength.
The cave filled with hazy dust. Odd depleted, he couldn’t even activate Odd Eyes. His body felt like lead after a bender.
“Captain Jamie!”
Wayne staggered to his feet.
“Captain Jamie! Where are you?”
To Jamie’s clogged ears, the voice rang like a hallucination.
“H-here.”
A faint reply came from behind the Gigant’s leg.
“Stay put! I’m coming!”
Jamie recognized the voice and cried out.
“Young Lord Wayne! Over here!”
Wayne vaulted the Gigant’s leg blocking his path. Flickering torches lit the floor—orc corpses everywhere, torsos bisected, heads severed.
All killed in one strike?
Incredible.
“Kya aaak!”
Thud!
“What?”
He snatched a fallen torch. There lay unconscious Captain Jamie—and the boss orc, dragging her by the ankle. Blood streamed from the boss’s head; wounds looked grave. But while the others died clean, this one had freakishly good luck.
That luck ended now.
“Hah! Let’s finish this.”
Shing!
Wayne drew his sword from his belt.
“Kuoo...ok?”
The boss orc gaped, palms out.
“O-orc... spare! Orc future depends...”
“Just die!”
Stab!
The blade pierced the boss orc’s throat. Ardenetu’s eyes bulged in disbelief.
Wayne yanked the sword free. Blood gushed from the orc’s neck.
“Gurgle...!”
The boss convulsed in agony, then went limp.
“Hah! Hah!”
Wayne kept his sword raised, scanning warily. Nothing moved. Good.
***
For a while, Wayne slumped to the ground, unable to budge. Odd depletion wrecked the body—like life force being siphoned away.
As Odd trickled back and his head cleared, he untied the fainted Captain Jamie and gently laid her near the Gigant’s front.
Then he inspected it.
What model is this?
Its design differed completely from Dresden territory Gigants. Those were crude, bulky, built like tanks. This one seemed more humanoid. No joint guards—it felt oddly exposed. Mass-produced vibe, but still a Gigant.
How’d the orcs get this here?
Orcs couldn’t pilot it, and hauling this beast would’ve been no joke.
What’re these marks?
Wayne frowned. He’d assumed the orcs dragged it from outside and hid it deeper in. But the tracks said otherwise.
Dragged it from inside?
He followed the marks cautiously. The cave plunged deeper; drag scars from dozens of orcs hauling the Gigant littered the floor.
Then the boss’s words hit him.
Orcs dig up steel giant! Orc era now!
“Dug up” implied it was buried somewhere. Not outside the cave—from inside.
Did that mean Gigants were buried deeper in?
Wayne’s eyes gleamed.
“This bears investigating!”