33. The King's Memory (2)
That all-too-familiar aura of Odd!
'Brass is alive?'
His head screamed no, but his heart pounded relentlessly. It was weaker and fainter than the Odd Brass had wielded in life, but unmistakably his.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Boom!
He kicked open the door and charged into the palace interior, where a massive throne room stretched out before him. Wayne's Gigant surged forward. Far ahead, atop the dais, someone—or something—sat slumped on a throne that stretched all the way to the vaulted ceiling.
[Brass, is that you? It's me, Wayne—no, Carian!]
As he infused his voice with Odd and projected it, the entire throne room reverberated. In response, a fierce blue light erupted from Brass's eyes.
Vrrrrm!
It was definitely Brass's Odd! At that moment, four of the sixteen steel statues lining the throne room walls flashed their blue eyes and slammed their swords down in unison.
Thoom!
'What the—?'
[Who disturbs the king's eternal rest!]
[Who disturbs the king's eternal rest!]
[Who disturbs the king's eternal rest!]
The moment he laid eyes on the 10-meter-tall steel giants, Wayne's face drained of color.
"What? Steel Golems? This can't be happening!"
Whirr! Clank!
With their glowing blue eyes, the black steel golems leveled their swords at the Gigant and began advancing toward Wayne.
Wayne hurriedly popped open his Gigant's hatch.
"Brass, it's me! Carian! Snap out of it!"
He shouted the name Carian, even though he was Wayne, not Carian himself—just a man carrying the memories of his past life. Still, he hoped Brass would recognize it, remember it.
That's when Wayne's Odd Eye caught sight of Brass.
'Yeah, no way Brass is alive...'
His armor hung draped over the throne, and a skull shrouded in a veil of blue Odd. That's right—Brass had died long ago, leaving only bleached bones behind.
As two steel golems closed in, Wayne had no choice but to seal the hatch again.
Whoosh! Swoosh!
He heard the fierce wind from their swinging swords, but Wayne shifted his Gigant backward, dodging the blow. The golems didn't let up—one thrust at his neck, the other slashed at the knee joint. Wayne gasped at their coordinated assault on two points at once.
'Th-this is Brass's signature move!'
Dwarf King Brass! He stood at the pinnacle of Odd mastery in another sense entirely. If King Carian possessed Odd optimized for Gigants, Brass reigned supreme in controlling golems. Dwarves didn't ride Gigants. Instead, they manipulated golems with Odd to battle Giants. A typical dwarf mech warrior handled one steel golem, but King Brass was a golem master who commanded the Thunder Golem Ahriman and eight steel golems simultaneously.
Swoosh! Whish!
As the swords slashed again, Wayne didn't block—instead, he retreated, evading them.
'How the hell are these things moving?'
He couldn't fathom how the golems were activating when Brass had died ages ago. But seeing Odd emanating from Brass's skull and the powerful Odd Eyes manifesting, it seemed his lingering will was animating them. The world of Odd held mysteries even Wayne—and Carian—had yet to unravel.
"Gah!"
No time for contemplation. Two more steel golems from the front joined in, making four that hounded his Gigant relentlessly.
Clang! Clang!
Wayne's Gigant was pushed back helplessly against the synchronized attacks of golems four meters taller than itself.
Suddenly, all four swords seized the angles, thrusting straight for his chest. Wayne desperately leaned the Gigant backward.
Thud!
'Ugh! Damn it, I should've brought Artemis!'
Too late for regrets now—he was about to die!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His Gigant barely rolled across the floor, dodging the blades. The one operating these steel golems was Golem Master King Brass. But Wayne was only at the third stage of Carian's Odd breathing technique—he stood no chance. So...
'Never turn my back!'
Wayne desperately channeled Odd, pushing the Gigant to its absolute limits. He kept retreating to prevent the golems from flanking him, using the open space. A single steel golem matched the power of a 3rd-class Gigant, and since only four were attacking, he could hold by falling back. If it had been Thunder Golem Ahriman or all the others, his Gigant would've been scrap metal by now.
'Where's Ahriman, though?'
He scanned around, but the golem dubbed the Thunder God was nowhere. And why weren't the other steel golems moving? 'Odd running low?'
If Brass were alive, he'd command not eight, but up to sixteen—a true apex of golem Odd control. So if Wayne just held out a bit longer, the Odd would deplete, and the golems would stop.
'No!'
Suddenly, he recalled absorbing Carian's and Python's past-life memories, along with red Odd. Touching Brass's Odd-shrouded skull might let him claim his memories and Odd too.
The skull remained intact, wrapped in Odd. But if that Odd depleted, the memories might vanish.
Wayne's heart raced. 'Damn it, looks like I have to fight!'
Shifting from defense to offense, he swung wildly at the golems, driving his Gigant toward Brass's dais. But the closer he got, the sharper their movements became, forcing him back to defense.
Dwarf mech warriors controlled golems from afar. Up close, fighting alongside synced the golem's performance to maximum. So naturally, proximity to Brass boosted them.
Kaang!
'Damn, my arms are shaking!'
Against a 50-meter mini-Giant, Brass could've hunted solo with Ahriman and eight steel golems. At Wayne's level, he couldn't handle these.
Slash!
A burning sensation scorched his back.
"Urk! This damn sync rate!"
He'd just taken a hit from a steel golem's sword. High synchronization maximized Gigant performance but transmitted pain on hits.
'At this rate, I'm done for!'
He needed something special before Brass's Odd ran dry. Wayne swung his sword wide and charged straight for Brass. Only about 50 meters left! The steel golems chased tight behind.
Soon, the four golems surrounded his Gigant.
[For the king's glory!]
[For the king's glory!]
They thrust in unison.
Pfft! Pfft!
Two golems overtook and stabbed the Gigant's chest; the trailing two pierced its back.
Thud!
Wayne's Gigant knelt, run through by four swords, collapsing pathetically. But Wayne was already climbing the dais.
'Whew! That was close.'
The moment the swords struck, he'd popped the hatch and leaped out. Without Carian's first-stage Odd breathing for stamina training, his legs would've shattered.
Sacrificing flesh for bone, he'd abandoned the Gigant to claim Brass's Odd.
With their target gone, the golems turned their heads toward Wayne and charged, swords thrusting.
"Enough!"
Slap!
Wayne placed his hand on Brass's skull. Instantly, Brass's Odd whirled like a vortex, sucked into Wayne. The four massive steel swords halted inches from his face. Before they could swipe down, Brass's memories slammed into Wayne's mind.
"Gah!"
Gasping for air, tears streamed down Wayne's face. These weren't Brass's tears.
"Poor king... To meet such a futile end."
They were King Carian's tears, witnessing his comrade and friend's final moments.
Regrettably, he hadn't fully absorbed Brass's past-life memories. Perhaps due to Odd depletion, or overwhelming injustice—the pain, regret, and sorrow dominated, leaving few intact recollections.
But all the Odd clinging to Brass's skull was now his.
"Such vast Odd!"
Odd overflowed through his body, bringing surging power. Even after millennia as bare bones and powering four steel golems for over twenty minutes, the remaining Odd surpassed everything Wayne had accumulated. Once more, he felt Brass's greatness.
Wayne's eyes moistened again. Fragments of Brass's desperate heart and horrific memories surged back.
"Ugh! Why dragons?"
Another vision flashed, contorting Wayne's face in shock. Steel golems battled massive dragons. He couldn't grasp why the allied races, who once united against Giants, now fought.
Dwarves vanished in flames from sudden ambushes; steel golems melted under dragon breath. Ahriman's lightning felled one black dragon, but retaliation ended there. Dragon breath filled the air; even Brass dodged.
"So this barren land wasn't the Barantia Empire's doing?"
The dragons seemed intent on exterminating even underground dwarves, torching earth and vegetation alike. But this region held more than the dwarf kingdom—druids, goblins, even a human realm. Yet the dragons scorched it all.
Dragons had suffered most against Giants yet led the charge, teaching Odd, magic, and language since ancient times. Carian's memories alone couldn't explain their betrayal of the alliance.
"Damn, no one to ask...!"
If even Martias, who treated humans as equals and befriended him, lived, maybe. But no one to query about dragons.
"Guess I need to head to the Acad Kingdom..."
The ancient elf kingdom in the Great Forest might complete this puzzle. But it lay deep within, home to S-rank beasts—unexplored even by Python. Not feasible now. Preparations had to be thorough, and a 3rd-class Gigant wouldn't cut it. Plus, answers about the Great Forest's sudden expansion.
Grr! Grr!
'Huh? Eleven?'
Eleven's growl echoed in his mind, snapping him alert. His red Odd around Eleven detected countless heat signatures.
'Goblins?'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Yann! Run faster!"
Sara and Yann chased behind Eleven as goblins fired goblin rifles in pursuit.
"Damn! No Gigant!"
The 3rd-class Gigant from Grint Territory lay pierced and immobile. How to stop the horde?
'Maybe I can move one...'
That's when he spotted a steel golem right in front of him.