The Titan closing in on Cardina was about three meters tall. That placed it among the smallest of the Titans, but even then, it was large enough to pry open one’s eyes with awe. If it were a human, its appearance could be described as elderly; its wrinkled face wore a sad expression as if to bemoan old age. While its cruelly bent back gave the impression that it was about to stumble and fall, it maintained its forward rush with a steady gait. At this rate, Cardina would soon be Titan food.
The wall was right in front of Kuklo. At least he should be able to get away. But─
“Damn it!” Kuklo braced his legs to come to a sudden stop. He turned around and headed back toward the Titan.
“Forget about him! You cannot save him!” the soldier yelled from the wall, but Kuklo ignored him and continued to run.
Kuklo would have abandoned a criminal, but Cardina was nothing less than a victim caught in the crossfire of political strife. Just like Kuklo, his life had been jostled by events beyond his control, and Kuklo couldn’t see him as a total stranger. Saving him seemed like a right and human act.
I have to do it.
Thankfully, the Titan was a smaller one, so buying time seemed like a possibility if he played his cards right. The Survey Corps had taught him how, and he had the weapon he needed. Titans possessed bodies that were impervious to average arms, but he knew the knife he possessed could slice through their skin. It was just as sharp, if not sharper than the Survey Corps’ standard-issue short swords, which meant that it had to be made of Iron Bamboo.
The Titan’s skinny arms resembled dead branches, but they went for Cardina, who was running with all his might to escape its wicked clutches. Yet, outpacing a Titan’s untiring legs was an unlikely proposition. When the Titan swiped with its rod-like arm, one of its fingers grazed Cardina, and that was all it took to send him flying. His body rolled wildly across the ground amidst clouds of dust.
“Cardina!”
He stirred in response to Kuklo’s scream. While he groaned and his face twisted in pain, his injuries did not look fatal. In no time he would be back on his feet, but they could not afford the wait. If Cardina didn’t want to be eaten by a Titan, he had to move any way he could, even if it meant crawling.
“Get away from it!!” Kuklo hollered, and Cardina grit his teeth and stood. Watching this out of the corner of his eye, Kuklo closed the distance between himself and the Titan. Its clouded eyes settled on him.
Kuklo was now closer to the Titan than Cardina, and both were food alike to it. The monster switched targets and charged at Kuklo. While small for a Titan, a creature with a three-meter-tall frame was now advancing on him with malice aforethought. The oppressive force of this was like a raging gust of wind. It should have caused Kuklo to cower in fear, but he was running toward it at full speed, and it was too late to retreat.
The Titan held out its arms as though to receive a beloved baby grandchild. Kuklo ran with his body bent low to avoid it. Still in the same posture, and aiming at the Titan’s left ankle where a human’s Achilles tendon would be, he swung his knife. He didn’t need to kill the Titan. All he had to do was buy a little time.
It was the same technique used by the Survey Corps during their expedition. Practically immortal, Titans were intimidating monsters that kept coming back to life unless their weak point was destroyed. Their movements, however, could be curtailed. That was where their legs came in. In other words, no matter how absurd a monster the Titan was, when you took away some of its physical abilities, it found itself unable to move. Kuklo had even seen a Titan fall to one knee with its ankle sliced. If he hadn’t witnessed the Survey Corps’ tactics in action, he probably would have mounted a frontal assault─a form of suicide.
Dealing his first blow to a Titan bolstered Kuklo’s confidence. Cutting through its exposed right Achilles tendon next, he ran off without confirming the result. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to slay himself a Titan, but his goal was to return inside the walls alive. The soldiers could take care of eliminating the monsters, and in any case, there were other Titans behind the current one. Escape was his only option.
“Hurry! Over here!”
Guided by the familiar voice, Kuklo looked up to the top of the wall. For some reason, Cardina was up there waving his hand. The life-or-death situation must have provided him with the strength needed to climb up the rope.
“Hurry! It’s coming!!”
The rough, sonorous voice belonged to the soldier on the wall. Though the Titan should have been immobilized, Kuklo looked back to find it rising to its feet with a spring. The deep wounds would have kept a human from ever walking again, but they were like insignificant scratches to the Titan.
You damned monster…
Kuklo arrived at the wall and reached for the lowered rope. When he took a closer look, he realized it was not a rope at all, but a wire. There were no knots to hold onto, and the wire itself was thin and unsuited for climbing. Kuklo doubted he had the last-ditch strength, but if Cardina could do it, he ought to as well.
The Titan had recommenced its charge, and Kuklo heard its footsteps behind him. An earth-shaking rumble alerted him to the incoming attack. It’s over…
“Grab the handle at the end! I’ll pull you up!!”
Kuklo looked at the wire. Something resembling a handle had been placed on its tip.
“Hold on tight. Don’t throw out your shoulders!”
Kuklo grabbed on with both hands, unsure of what the words meant, and immediately found himself flying into the air. Intense pressure came over his body, and his face contorted as though he was having a convulsion. The seemingly impossible vertical movement put a strain on his body. The slightest lapse in concentration would make him pass out.
He flew away from the ground in an instant, and the Titan, arriving too late, yet unable to stop, crashed into the wall.
“Serves you right!!” Kuklo spat, traversing the wall’s fifty meters in the blink of an eye. He’d gotten a taste of what it was like to be a fish on a pole.