Giant Subjugation Quest #10
Giant Subjugation Quest #10
"We've arrived at Corpu Beach. Adventurers, prepare for battle."
The subjugation captain's voice rang out, and I stepped off the carriage onto the sandy shore.
The beach was beautiful, grains of sand glittering in the light — but I wasn't in the mood to enjoy the scenery. Monster corpses were strewn all over the place.
"Why are all the hermit crabs dead, Luke?"
"Probably the giants. Looks like they scooped out the meat and tossed the shells."
The hermit crab carcasses littering the beach had been hollowed out. Their bellies were burst open, the soft flesh scraped out clean. The giants must have been feasting on crab.
"Don't let your guard down. We're in a danger zone where monsters roam."
The subjugation captain took point and led the squad forward. Rebecca and I followed with the rest of the adventurers. Finding the coastal cave didn't take long.
"I-it's huge. There's a massive boat."
"That's a giant's boat."
Unease rippled through the adventurers' voices.
Just as they'd said, an enormous boat was moored on the shore. It was a canoe without a sail — but several times the size of any normal canoe, easily rivaling a decent-sized sailing ship. Rebecca turned to me, eyes wide.
"Giants travel by boat?"
"Yeah. Strictly speaking, giants aren't originally from the Midgard Continent."
"Then where do they live? In the ocean?"
"No. Across the sea, there's a land called Jotunheim. That's the giants' homeland. They cross over to Midgard to plunder."
"Jotunheim —! Th-there are other continents besides this one?"
"I've only heard stories. But the giants always come by boat to raid coastal villages, so the land beyond the sea has to be real."
"Wow."
Jotunheim.
The land of the giants, somewhere in this world's northern hemisphere.
Rebecca listened with an expression of disbelief. Information about Jotunheim was common knowledge for continentals — which meant the desert kingdom she'd lived in really had been isolated from the wider world.
"I've found the cave entrance! Over here!"
An adventurer who'd gone scouting raised a hand and shouted. Sure enough, a massive cave mouth yawned open beneath a sheer cliff. It was the only cave near the canoe, so the giants must have set up their hideout inside.
"I'll take point."
"Let's go together, young man. I'll lend you my strength."
"I feel a lot better with you here, old-timer."
The subjugation captain led the way into the cave. Old Man Nickel hefted his axe and fell in beside him, and the adventurers followed in their wake. Having a plate-armored bruiser and a barbarian up front put me a little more at ease.
"Please light the lanterns you've each been issued and illuminate the path ahead."
The subjugation captain had distributed lanterns to every squad. But we didn't really need them — crystals that scattered light were embedded all throughout the cave walls. Some kind of natural ore, maybe? Thanks to them, it wasn't all that dark even once we entered.
"The giants sure picked a fine hideout. With these glittering stones around, you won't lose your way."
"Hey Luke. If we pried out those shiny things and sold 'em, couldn't we make some money?"
"If they were worth anything, adventurers would've already stripped the place bare. Adventurers never pass up free money."
"Oh. That actually makes sense."
The subjugation squad was still near the cave entrance.
Then, up ahead, the subjugation captain spoke in a startled voice.
"Spiders. They're swarming."
"Looks like they've nested inside this cave."
What the captain was talking about were monsters that had taken the form of spiders. Ahead, spiders the size of wild dogs were milling around in clusters. Just watching them was unspeakably horrible. The way they skittered on those eight legs was nauseating.
"Hyaaahk!"
"Th-they're disgusting."
Adventurers were shrieking from every direction. Anyone would freak out seeing spiders the size of dogs crawling around. Rebecca beside me was trembling like an aspen leaf.
"Just so you know, I fucking hate spiders."
"Who the hell likes spiders? Anyway, looks like we've gotta fight these bastards."
I was already forming a hand seal, ready to conjure a mana sphere.
Out of nowhere, Old Man Nickel whipped his head around and spoke to me — the one who'd been the first in the group to ready an attack.
"You there. The blond young man."
"Yes?"
"Hold your magic. No need to provoke the spiders by attacking recklessly. Those fellows are timid creatures. They won't even dream of assaulting an armed subjugation squad."
What, does the guy have eyes in the back of his head?
How the hell did he know I was about to cast a spell from all the way back here?
And before that — was fighting really even unnecessary?
"How do you know that, old-timer? Monsters are violent by nature. They're the kind that can turn on you at any moment."
"Trust my long experience."
Old Man Nickel slung his axe onto his back and walked forward alone. He approached the clustered spiders in a completely defenseless state. The adventurers stared with horrified expressions.
Naturally, Rebecca and I were among them.
"What's that gramps doing?"
"You think he's planning to throw down with the spiders bare-handed? That's barbarians for you."
Rebecca raised a hand toward Old Man Nickel like she was cheering him on.
"Wreck 'em all, barbarian gramps!"
That was the moment.
Old Man Nickel took a deep breath — then stomped the ground hard. The instant his foot struck, the spiders reacted as one and locked their eyes on him. Countless crimson eyes all glaring at Old Man Nickel — it was practically a spectacle.
"Is he insane?"
"Gramps'll figure something out! Or we just bolt, Luke."
Then something astonishing happened.
The spiders that had reacted to Old Man Nickel took one look at the subjugation squad behind him — and turned tail and fled. They scrambled away in a panic, shooting silk from their rear ends. It was utterly stupefying. The dozens of spiders massed near the entrance vanished in an instant.
"Ooooh!!"
"Amazing, barbarian!"
"Now that's a savage stomp!"
The adventurers erupted with exclamations toward Old Man Nickel, who stood out front. It wasn't even especially savage — he'd just stomped the ground normally — but at that moment Old Man Nickel became the hero of the subjugation squad. The captain kept bowing to him over and over.
"You're incredible, sir!"
"No need for thanks. At my age, all my joints ache. Wrestling monsters one by one is too much for me. Best to conserve strength before we deal with the giants."
"But you're a barbarian — don't you seek battle?"
"That's for the young ones. Me, I'm just an old barbarian."
Indeed, the man had the bearing of the squad's hard-carry bus driver.
Watching Old Man Nickel calmly walk forward, I couldn't help thinking of someone else.
That guy Ethan. The one who called himself a Monster Behavior Specialist.
The weird halfling who tried to lure a kelpie and got donkey-kicked in the face and sent flying.
Old Man Nickel looked a hundred times more like an actual expert than that guy.
"Isn't that a little unfair to the halfling?"
"That mouthy little runt? Gramps here is way better than him."
Once the spiders had vanished from sight, the subjugation squad was finally able to advance. I moved along with Rebecca, blending into the adventurers' ranks — deeper into the coastal cave where the giants were hidden.
*
"What's all this gunk sticking to my feet?"
"It's a pain just picking it off a bit at a time. My shoes are so sticky I can barely move."
A short while later.
The adventurers making their way through the coastal cave couldn't stop grumbling. An unexpected obstacle kept hindering their progress. Even the subjugation captain and Old Man Nickel looked uncomfortable.
"Those blasted spiders have been spewing silk all over the floor."
"Spider-type monsters have a habit of expelling silk like excrement. The deeper you go into the cave, the stickier the ground is bound to get."
The cave floor was covered in sticky spider silk. Because of it, every step meant gooey strands clung to the soles. Lifting my feet was becoming a struggle.
"Seems like it gets stickier the further we go."
"Those damn spiders just keep spewing silk for no reason. No wonder it's piling up."
I'd spotted spiders prowling through the cave a few more times along the way, and they kept spraying silk onto the ground for no particular reason. Even during normal movement, they'd discharge silk like a reflex.
Like office drones whose career tracks just open in a straight line.
'They need some ointment.'
I wanted to smear some healing ointment on those spider bastards' rear ends so new flesh would grow in and stop them from spewing silk.
"Old-timer, is there any method? We need a way to clear out this webbing."
The subjugation captain, at his wit's end, sought advice from Old Man Nickel. Old Man Nickel just rubbed his chin with a troubled expression.
"Spider-monster silk is sometimes vulnerable to heat. But how would we produce fire in a space so saturated with moisture? Even the lanterns the adventurers were issued run on magic power."
"Fire, you say."
At those words, the subjugation captain let his sentence trail off discreetly. Then he slowly turned his head and looked at me. As if hoping for something.
"Fire?"
"If we have fire, it'll work?"
Before I knew it, dozens of adventurers had turned and were staring at me. The ones I'd helped with lighting campfires. One of them cautiously spoke up.
"Incubus bro, you can use fire magic, can't you?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Well, could you burn away the webbing with it?"
"Hm."
Hearing that, I made an unenthusiastic face. The fire I could produce was, at best, the size of a fingertip. The firepower seemed way too low to burn off the spider silk blanketing the floor like a disaster zone.
"My firepower's so weak, I don't know if it'll do the job. Still, I'll give it a shot. Just don't expect too much."
I formed a hand seal and conjured fire. A tiny flame flickered above my fingertip. The moment I touched it to the webbing covering the ground —
Tssssssssss-!
The webbing melted in an instant. It dissolved from the heat before the flame even properly touched it. I stared at the gooey mess with a baffled expression.
"Wh-why's it melting so easily?"
Where my finger had touched, a fist-sized hole was bored into the webbing. I'd just brought the flame close, and it melted like butter. I was surprised the effect worked so well. And of course, I wasn't the only one who was surprised.
"Th-the webbing melted."
"What kind of flame is that?"
"Guess he borrowed some hellfire. Fitting for a dream demon."
The adventurers staring at me were chattering loudly. A hole had been bored straight through the clumped webbing the instant my finger touched it. No wonder they were staring at my fire with astonished eyes.
But I'd swear on my balls this was just an ordinary flame. The kind of tiny orange flame you get when you turn on a gas range.
"How does this work, Old Man Nickel?!"
"That's exactly how it's supposed to work. Spider-monster silk is that weak to heat — it'll melt even under low firepower. But lad, you can use fire magic too?"
"You didn't know? I lit all the campfires at the bivouac site."
"I was asleep in the carriage all day, so I didn't notice. To think the subjugation squad had a walking fire-starter among us. Kekeke."
Ah, so Old Man Nickel had been sound asleep in the carriage while everyone else was lighting campfires. That explained why he didn't know I could use fire magic.
I turned back toward the webbing-coated floor.
"Are you telling me I have to sweep my fingers across this entire floor section by section? No matter how you look at it, there's way too much webbing for that."
"No need. The area the giants use as their hideout won't have any webbing. Unless they've got some perverted habit of enjoying sticky things, they'd have cleared it away themselves."
"So then?"
"We go further in, and once we reach a space free of webbing, you can light a fire. You'll just need to scorch the soles of the adventurers' shoes with your flame."
Sure enough, Old Man Nickel was right. After advancing a bit further, the squad reached an area where the webbing had been forcibly torn away. Judging from the massive handprints left behind, the giants had done the work themselves.
The subjugation squad finally set foot on solid ground free of webbing.
"Please lift your feet. I'll burn the gunk off."
"Be thorough, Incubus! We're in your care!"
A location presumed to be the giants' hideout.
The squad decided to take a brief maintenance break at the entrance.
During that time, I scorched the adventurers' shoes one by one with my flame. Every time the fire drew close, the webbing melted like liquid — it was nothing short of fascinating.
Then I locked eyes with Rebecca, who was sitting there with her feet pulled up, hugging them close.
I grinned and opened my mouth.
"So? Do you get it now?"
"Get what?"
"That my fire magic's more useful than your shield."
"...You crazy bastard!"
Hearing that, Rebecca clutched the back of her neck. She glared at me with her molars clenched tight.
"You're seriously still stuck on that? The argument from before we left?"
"Obviously! So, you admit it now? The soles of your shoes right now depend on me, so think carefully before you answer~."
Rebecca answered, her body trembling.
"...Fine. Fire magic is better than a shield! It's fucking amazing!!"
"Heh."
I grinned sheepishly, the flame still flickering above my fingertip.