Giant Subjugation Quest #14
Giant Subjugation Quest #14
Even as I suggested it, I couldn't be sure the plan would work.
An old giant was clearly different from a young one boiling with hot blood.
With age came experience — maybe he wouldn't be so easily provoked.
If the taunt failed, Rebecca and I were finished.
"Tch."
My mind nearly went blank from the fear of failure.
But the moment I looked at Rebecca, I could calm myself down.
Because Rebecca was staring at the old giant with pure resolve.
She was the one who had to provoke him directly. If she could stand like that, I had no business trembling with anxiety.
"Screw it. Let's just do it."
"I'm counting on you."
When Rebecca started walking toward the old giant, I quickly moved to a hiding spot.
Right behind the mountain of spider corpses piled up around the camp.
A place where the giants' half-eaten scraps were heaped in piles.
Here, I could evade the old giant's gaze.
I peered forward through the gaps between bodies and formed hand seals.
Round droplets of water rose around my body. I began linking them together to form a whip.
'As thick and as long as possible. Long enough to reach the ceiling way over there.'
While I was pouring all my focus into crafting the Water Whip.
Rebecca finally arrived before the old giant. The giant was brushing off his hands, glancing at Kate, whose body was bound tight with vines.
Rebecca shouted at his turned back.
"D-don't move, you!"
Hearing her trembling voice, the old giant turned around.
His sharp gaze fell on Rebecca.
"Red-haired swordswoman. Do you wish to save this nun?"
"I-I don't give a damn about that blonde bitch! You asked if anyone wanted to test their strength against you, right?"
"Test their strength against me?"
The old giant spoke with a puzzled expression.
"I did say that, but is the matter not settled? You already refused my proposal."
"It's not settled yet."
Rebecca raised the curved blade in her hand and aimed it at the old giant's throat.
"I, Rebecca, warrior of this desert, challenge the giant to a duel!"
Yet even with a blade before him, the old giant remained composed.
"What has gotten into you? Just moments ago you were trembling in a corner. I cannot fathom why you would challenge me now."
The old giant swept his gaze around with suspicious eyes.
Eyes that looked as though searching for an ambush hidden somewhere in the camp.
Then the old giant reached out toward Kate, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"Shut up and fight me, you goddamn giant bastard!"
A voice so forceful it riveted the old giant's attention!
Rebecca's voice echoed through the cave.
"Wh-what did you say?!"
"Can't even catch one girl, and you're floundering? What a waste of that big body, you cowardly giant piece of shit!"
Rebecca shouted with all her might, her shoulders heaving.
The old giant's mouth twitched as if to say something, but Rebecca's provocation wasn't over yet.
She unleashed her final insult at the old giant.
"Come at me, you son of a bitch! I don't know what Jotun honor is supposed to be, but a bastard like you wouldn't have any! You're just a cripple who can't even kill one girl!!"
At last, Rebecca had insulted the honor of the Jotun.
Jotun must be what the giants called themselves.
The old giant stared at Rebecca, shrouded in silence.
"......."
Did it land?
I swallowed dryly and watched the old giant.
A mottled flush spread across the old giant's face. His lips were sealed, but an ominous aura radiated from him.
Finally, the old giant opened his mouth.
"You wench. You must want to die."
"Tch."
"To think a pathetic little human would dare soil the honor of the Jotun with her mouth. I will tear your limbs apart and feed you to the fish!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! The old giant broke into a violent run.
His bloodthirsty, chilling glare was even more horrifying than the young giants'.
"Tch!"
Rebecca turned and fled, her face stricken with terror.
The old giant's claws narrowly grazed her back.
'Almost there.'
I watched the nearly finished Water Whip and muttered to myself.
The provocation had succeeded, and Rebecca was steadily luring the old giant beneath the stalactites.
All that remained was for me to swing the Water Whip with precision.
My hand clenched around the whip, tension surging through my arm.
'Even if the whip misses.'
I raised my head and looked up at the ceiling above.
A ceiling densely packed with sharp stalactites like thorns.
If the Water Whip missed, the giant's eyes would immediately turn this way.
Realizing a mage was here, the old giant would charge straight at me.
'I'll just swing again and hit the ceiling. Then that old giant and I can both get skewered together, nice and cozy.'
Dying is terrifying.
But dying alone would be a raw deal.
At the very least, I have to drag that goddamn giant bastard to the afterlife to make the books balance.
I didn't survive twenty years in this fucked-up otherworld as an incubus just to hand over my stubborn, leech-like life for free.
Of course, it'd be best if the whip didn't miss.
"Come on, catch me already, you giant bastard!"
Rebecca kept hurling insults as she sprinted toward the camp entrance.
By the time the old giant reached the massive stalactite, I let out a groan as I watched him charging at a furious speed.
"He's way too fast."
Can I really land this?
It looks like he'll just blow past before the stalactite even falls!
But the old giant couldn't simply pass beneath the stalactite.
"Right here!"
Rebecca panted and stabbed her curved blade into the ground.
Using the planted blade as a brace to absorb her momentum, she thrust her shield toward the giant menacingly.
In that split second, a broad target — wide enough to smash with his club — was born right there.
"━━━━!!"
The moment the old giant swung his club with a staggering rotation, Rebecca rolled her body out of the way.
That was the exact same movement she'd shown when fighting the kelpie at the lakeside.
BOOM!! The club struck the ground futilely, having lost its mark.
At last, the old giant stood still beneath the massive stalactite.
This was the moment to swing the Water Whip.
'This time, I won't miss.'
I couldn't squander this chance like I had fighting the kelpie by the lake.
With desperate focus, I lashed the Water Whip toward the ceiling.
A massive Water Whip spanning fifteen meters in length.
A whip that long would normally lose accuracy from recoil — but a Water Whip born of magic was different.
Because I could constantly adjust its trajectory with water-manipulation magic.
The writhing Water Whip snaked diagonally toward the ceiling like a living thing.
"Got it!"
CRASH! The writhing Water Whip cleanly pierced the base of the stalactite.
When the whip's tip, packed with destructive force, smashed through the stone ceiling, a thick mass of rock plummeted toward the old giant's head at a terrifying speed.
It was over.
Sensing his end, the old giant abruptly looked upward.
"━━━!!!"
Then the unbelievable happened.
The old giant, who had been standing still, poured power into his lower body.
His already massive calves swelled as if ready to burst.
BOOM!! The stalactite pierced into the ground.
But the old giant was nowhere to be seen.
Using the rebound from kicking the earth, he'd rolled his body across the ground and landed away from the impact point.
"H-he dodged it...?!"
The old giant had evaded the stalactite.
A giant who escaped death with impossible movement was nothing short of a monster.
"━━━!!"
The old giant roared and rose to his feet.
But it hadn't been without a cost. Blood streamed from one of the old giant's knees. The excessive movement had blown out his right knee.
With his right knee blown out, the old giant glared at me with hate-filled eyes.
"Mage. So you were there."
"Gruuugh!"
Under that gaze brimming with killing intent, my body shuddered instinctively.
I swiftly began retracting the Water Whip to prepare the next attack, but even reeling it in took time.
The old giant limped toward me.
'Please! Please, faster!'
Watching the Water Whip coil back, I prayed with all my heart.
That I could ready the next attack before the old giant reached me. That I could at least put up one final struggle.
"Ugh."
But maybe my prayer didn't reach the gods.
The old giant was one step faster than the whip's return speed.
His stride was so broad that he closed the distance with insane speed. I had no choice but to let him approach.
"Gwa-ha-ha-ha-hat!"
The old giant let out a mad laugh.
He roared a battle cry loud enough to burst eardrums and swung his club.
This was the end.
No corner left to run to.
Just as the massive club cleaved the air, aiming to crush my skull, I gave up on everything and squeezed my eyes shut.
"......."
Was this my life flashing before my eyes?
Fragments of the past flickered through my mind.
I wished that at the moment of death, I could at least recall happy memories.
But just as something faint began to surface in my mind, a loud voice pierced my ears from somewhere.
"━━Not yet!"
My eyes flew open at that voice.
In that instant, red hair flickered right before my nose.
A familiar red-haired swordswoman stood blocking my way.
Rebecca, running at full speed, had thrown herself between me and the giant in that split second.
Holding the Tower Shield out in front!
"Luke—!"
Rebecca's voice rang in my ears.
CRASH! The massive club slammed into the Tower Shield. Rebecca's body was hurled backward with the sound of shattering iron. Unable to withstand the giant's monstrous strength, she was launched into the air and crashed to the ground in an arc.
The fallen Rebecca held no shield in her hand.
Because that absurdly huge Tower Shield was currently lying right beside me.
"━━I'll kill you!"
The old giant roared, glaring at Rebecca for her interference.
Yet despite the bellowing, the old giant was down on one knee.
Maybe he'd unconsciously put weight on his knee when swinging the club — blood was pouring from it.
The old giant's right leg was completely ruined.
"You're the one dying."
The fully retracted Water Whip was already in my hand.
The moment I put strength into it and swung the whip again, the old giant hunched down.
But what I was aiming for wasn't the old giant.
It was the ceiling where the stalactites hung!
I lashed the Water Whip at the ceiling packed with countless sharp stalactites.
The fifteen-meter Water Whip ripped across the ceiling.
The ceiling trembled, and sharp stalactites rained down toward the ground.
"You bastard!! You mean to take us both down!!"
It was like a rain of pointed awls.
The old giant shrieked in fury as he stared at me — when had he opened his eyes?
But all I did was smile at him.
Because even with countless stalactites raining down, I was confident I alone would survive.
"As if."
I threw myself to the ground and stretched out my hand.
My hand closed around the Tower Shield, its surface battered and dented.
The huge shield had been lying right there on the cave floor.
I hoisted the Tower Shield over my head and crouched low.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The falling stalactites battered the Tower Shield mercilessly.
Sharp pressure crushed down on the shield's surface, and stone shards flying from all sides cut into my body.
But even amidst the pain, I burst out laughing.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
Because they were piercing the old giant's body without mercy.
The plummeting stalactites lodged themselves into his enormous frame.
The old giant's body was riddled with countless holes.
The moment the last trembling stalactite fell, the old giant exhaled his final breath, blood fountaining from every part of him.
No matter how giant you are, if your whole body gets punctured, you can't survive.
The old giant collapsed to the ground, his head hanging limp.
Head buried in the dirt, the old giant breathed his last.
"A-are you alright?"
We had won the battle, but right now, the giant's death meant nothing to me.
I quickly looked at Rebecca, who lay fallen on the ground.
Luckily, she had been flung far enough that no stalactites had fallen around her.
Rebecca was simply collapsed on the floor.
"Thank god you weren't hit by the rocks..."
Her chest was rising and falling — she was clearly still alive.
We had finally survived against the old giant.
"We won. We really won."
I slumped to the ground and let out a sigh of relief.
My gaze fell upon the shattered Tower Shield.
The Tower Shield that had narrowly endured the falling stalactites.
In the end, it had been smashed into pitiful shards, but thanks to it, my life had been saved.
What had Rebecca said to me when she showed me this Tower Shield?
I could recall it instantly.
Probably, outside the Adventurer's Guild, Rebecca had said this:
'I bought it to protect you, you know.'
'━━If anything happens, I'll protect you.'
She really had kept her word.
Rebecca's Tower Shield had saved my life.