Do I go for the kill?
Before Kuklo could act, the rest of Team Ten arrived. Acting on Rosa’s orders, the soldiers began attracting the Titan’s attention.
“You’d abandon your dear horse?” Cardina approached with Ku-klo’s mount in tow.
“Thanks for the help.” Kuklo shouldered Xavi’s writhing body and placed him on the back of his saddle. Then he got on too.
“Now let’s get out of here!” Cardina cried.
Just as he did, a Red Star and multiple Yellow Stars rose through the sky.
These flares were not Team Ten’s, but signals from the main force in the distance. The combination of flares told them that a ten-meter-plus-class Titan was heading their way. The incredible racket courtesy of the elderly Titan had kept them from noticing.
Unluckily for Kuklo’s team, the ten-meter-plus-class was rushing in from where the rest of the expedition was. The Titan seemed to be four or five hundred meters away. While it would normally go after the larger group of prey, the meal closer at hand was Team Ten. Choosing proximity over volume, the Titan charged toward them without hesitation.
“We can’t join up like this,” Kuklo warned.
“Grandpa is in our way, too…”
The ground now faintly trembled from the ten-meter-plus-class coming in. The tremors grew stronger and stronger before turning into a full-blown rumble.
And Kuklo remembered seeing this Titan that was roaring in like a tidal wave.
“Ogre…”
The monster running toward them looked like a slender youth. It sported a wide grin, as if it was glad to be joining good buddies for some fun.
“We can’t handle two at once. Let’s lose them in the oasis.” Rosa pointed west then led the way. Since they couldn’t regroup with the main force, they would use the oasis at the ten-kilometer point to shake off the Titans. It was indeed the best option available to them at the moment.
Team Ten hurried across the wasteland in single file with Rosa, their team leader, at their head. The dripping rain was turning into a light shower. Heavy rain seemed sure to come.
“You… Why…did you save me?” Kuklo heard Xavi’s voice from behind him. “Was it…to laugh at me?”
It was Cardina who replied, “Do you think we’d put ourselves in danger for that?”
“What about you? Why attack a Titan?” Kuklo asked Xavi.
“Results.”
“Results?”
“…I am better than you! And to show everyone…”
“You wanted to kill a Titan.” But Xavi had failed. Even if he’d been able to defeat a Titan, none would have praised him. Selfish behavior like his courted disaster, and indeed, Team Ten was being chased by Titans as they spoke.
“Why did you save me?”
“I made a promise to Sharle.”
“Sharle? I see. So she’s alive…” Xavi mumbled in surprise, as though he’d never imagined the possibility. “And that’s why you saved me… What a fool you are.”
“It wasn’t only because Sharle asked. I wanted to myself.”
“What?”
“Anyone would want to save a comrade.”
Xavi snickered at Kuklo’s explanation. “Don’t bother with the lip service. I’m your enemy, am I not?”
“Enough with the talk. The oasis is in sight,” Rosa interrupted, pointing at a copse about two hundred meters away from them.
There grew trees standing twenty, even thirty meters tall. Snaking through them might lose the Titans. Though fewer in number compared to the forests inside the walls, there were enough trunks to deploy the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.
The problem was that their speed had taken a nosedive. Traveling through muddy ground required extra stamina, and from the noisy gasps it was clear that their horses were out of breath. Kuklo’s mount also carried extra cargo in the form of Xavi, and a snaking path threatened to deplete its last reserves of strength.
The rain had been picking up and was now practically a downpour. Though the cascade muffled its footfalls, Ogre still pursued them. It was right on Team Ten’s trail about two hundred meters behind. Meanwhile, there were no signs of the elderly Titan. Perhaps it had given up.
Kuklo carefully probed his surroundings with his sense of hearing, but the only enemy he detected was Ogre, to his rear. Dealing with just one Titan was far easier.
Team Ten entered the woods. Though the rain was somewhat calmer there, it had already found the gaps in Kuklo’s cape, and he was, if not drenched, then certainly wet. Combined with the cold air, it was enough to make him shiver. Unless he found warmth, his movements would be dulled soon.
It was not Kuklo, however, but his mount that gave out first. Apparently having reached the limits of its endurance, the horse simply stood and neighed dolefully.
“Damn it!” Kuklo cursed. When he turned around, he was surprised to see that the Titan hadn’t encroached on their lead. In fact, it seemed farther away than before.
“Just leave me here… Your horse will probably move then…” A note of self-mockery tinged Xavi’s voice.
Kuklo shot down the idea. “I’m not letting you die.”
Still, Xavi was right. The horse would probably be able to run with just one rider.
If I took shelter in the trees… The Titan, lacking intelligence, wouldn’t think to climb a tree to catch him. In other words, in Ogre’s case, Kuklo would be safe if he climbed a tree at least fifteen meters tall. Once Ogre passed by, the main force could come get him. They had replacement horses with them so Kuklo wouldn’t have to become extra cargo.
“This rain seems like it’s on our side,” Cardina said, approaching Kuklo. “It looks to me like the Titan’s movements are being hampered by it.”
“You’re right…” That must have been the reason they were now farther away from Ogre despite their slowing horses.
“It looks like we have an option other than fleeing.”
“What do you mean?”
“We kill the Titan,” Cardina said simply.
“I see. With its movement hampered…”
“Yes. It’s almost like a practice dummy, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do you honestly think it’ll be that easy?” Xavi jeered.
“It’d be reckless if just the two of them took on a Titan. It’d be no different from you trying to do it alone,” Rosa broke in. “But we move as a team. We can do it if we work together.”
“I can’t believe it… Every single one of you…” Xavi laughed bitterly, then said, “In that case, I’ll be your live bait.”
“Bait? Do you want to die?!” Kuklo fumed.
“I can’t move anyway. Nor do I have a machine like you guys. But I can attract the Titan as bait.” They could kill the Titan while it was distracted, Xavi explained.
“You know that’s risky,” Cardina said.
“Then save me before I get eaten.”
“Quit sounding so selfish…” Kuklo muttered.
But their plan was set. Kuklo and the others would use their Vertical Maneuvering Equipment to leap into the trees and spread out among the branches about twenty meters off the ground. Ogre seemed to have a habit of being drawn to whatever prey was closest and would probably go after Xavi on the ground even if it did notice the soldiers in the trees.
Kuklo appended single-edged swords to his controllers and looked to the east. The thick growth made the Titan’s position hard to pin down, but he managed to spot it through the foliage. A hundred meters left…
Flailing its arms like a swimmer, the Titan weaved through the trees and gradually approached its prey. Meanwhile, Xavi trained a defiant gaze on the Titan. Sitting up straight on his horse, he looked valiant, the very picture of a soldier.
Soon, the Titan was standing in front of Xavi. Having finally caught up to its prey, Ogre seemed to be smiling as wide as it could. Yet, given its ever-present grin, any emotion Kuklo imputed to the Titan only existed in his own imagination.
It reached out to Xavi with its right arm. Unlike the three-meter-class, Ogre had arms as thick as logs, and the power of its grip would be in a different league. Muscles encased Xavi’s body like a suit of armor, but he’d never survive being clutched this time.
Rosa and five other soldiers maneuvered first, using their equipment to descend upon Ogre. Rosa swung her single-edged swords at its right wrist, slicing off the hand. No blood flowed from the wound, only steam, and the Titan did not seem to be in any pain.
“Guess it’s my turn next!” Cardina threw his body into the air and quickly began maneuvering.
The Titan was trying to grab its prey with its lost right hand but eventually realized the futility of the attempt. It angled its head, then reached out with its left hand.
Cardina was the one who forbade it. In the same manner as Rosa, he sliced off the Titan’s remaining hand. It would be unable to grab its prey for the next few minutes.
I can do it… I can kill Ogre… This was Kuklo’s chance to sever the accursed bond that tied him to the Titans.
He could not let it pass.
He leapt up off his foothold and immediately activated his equipment.
A bird’s-eye view of the world, no different from practice─the fruits of Team Ten’s training were on full display. Zipping freely around the Titan, they sliced off one part of its body after another. Chunks of severed meat scattered all about the area, and the steam spouting from the wounds made the air slightly hazy.
If I kill this thing, I can be free! When Cardina and Rosa sliced away both Achilles’ heels, the Titan, no longer able to support its giant body, fell to its knees as if to repent its sins. Now it’s just like the training dummy!
Kuklo circled the Titan, his sight locking on to its medulla oblongata. “There!!” he yelled, activating his controller’s lever.
The anchor shot out forcefully. It sank deep into a tree trunk ahead of Kuklo, perfectly on target. Now the wire would carry him toward Ogre.
As he returned the lever to its original position, the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment instantly began to reel the wire in with incredible speed. Bringing the tips of his single-edged swords together in a V shape, Kuklo focused on the Titan’s rapidly oncoming nape.
“This─” Kuklo let out a bestial howl, “This is the end!”
With all his might he sliced through flesh. A large clump of meat plopped down from the back of the Titan’s neck.
The wound laid bare bright-red muscles and a thick spine, but nothing there was any different from a human’s anatomy, no machinery buried there offering up the secret of the Titans. Observing the weak point for longer might have helped, but soon a rush of steam burst from Ogre’s nape. Within mere moments, the steam engulfed the Titan.
“The Titan… The Titan’s disappearing…”
Landing on a branch, Kuklo watched as the monstrous figure gradually faded away.