"Huff... puff... wheeze... wheeze..."
Jin and Reinhard finally reached the spot where Reiko had found the footprints. When they saw the tracks for themselves, they were struck with pure astonishment.
"Judging by the size of these, isn't it over ten meters tall?"
It was truly gargantuan. Reiko, however, shook her head.
"No. According to the information I obtained from Anne, it simply has large feet to maintain stability. Therefore..."
It was at that moment.
"You there! Why are you in a place like this?!"
A voice called out from above. Looking up, they saw none other than Lucol, the man who had gone missing.
Jin and Reinhard hurried to climb up to him, while Reiko reached the spot in a single leap.
"We came looking for you because you vanished!" Jin shouted. It wasn't a lie.
Lucol scratched his hairless head.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. After breakfast, I went to take a peek at the ruins. I found a horizontal hole in the wall of one of the passages, and a sealed box was sitting there."
Lucol began to explain the circumstances.
"The seal was tight, but when I channeled magic into it, it opened on its own. A black magi-crystal rolled out, and then it started drawing in the surrounding rocks, growing larger right before my eyes. I fled in a panic, and the thing trampled my hut before heading toward the mountain. I’ve been secretly tailing it ever since."
"And where is it now?" Reinhard asked.
Lucol pointed silently toward the sun—the mountains to the east.
"It climbed up that way."
"Alright, let's go after it."
As Jin spoke, Lucol said in a fluster, "H-Hey, surely you don't mean to stop or destroy that thing?"
Jin told him firmly, "That's right. It's called a Gigas, and it was apparently a secret weapon from the Great Magic War. What's more, it’s an incomplete version that wanders around destroying things indiscriminately. If we don't stop it here, it'll be too late once the surrounding area starts suffering damage."
"B-But can you even defeat it?"
"I don't know, but we have to try," Reinhard replied. He followed Reiko and Jin out onto the ridge.
The footprints indeed continued along the ridgeline toward the east. The two men began to walk in pursuit. Reiko had already gone ahead to scout.
Lucol didn't move from the spot, merely muttering to himself, "...Is it even possible to defeat a monster like that...?"
The path along the ridgeline was easier to walk than the terrain they had faced so far. Moreover, wherever the Gigas had walked, the ground had been leveled flat, effectively paving the way for them.
"Ah, the breeze feels good."
"It's cooling the sweat."
The sweat they had worked up during the climb was drawn away by the mountain wind. The two of them picked up their pace.
After proceeding for about ten minutes, Reiko signaled for them to stop with her hand.
"It's... up ahead."
Beyond that point, the ridgeline dipped into what is known as a double ridge, where the crest of the mountain was quite wide.
Looking closely, they could see a part of the landscape moving.
"Is that the Gigas?!"
It was a massive humanoid whose entire body was covered in rock debris. It was the exact physique Anne had described. It was lumbering slowly toward the summit.
"Can we stop it?" Reinhard asked anxiously.
"Let's test it first. Reiko, try hitting it with a stone from here."
"Yes, Father."
Reiko picked up a stone that fit perfectly in her small hand and hurled it at the Gigas with twenty percent of her strength.
The stone struck the giant's body and shattered. A portion of the Gigas's rocky hide crumbled away as well, but it immediately drew in nearby rocks and regenerated the damage in an instant.
"Hmm, now that is a true golem," Jin muttered. Even in this situation, his craftsman's mind was analyzing the mechanics.
Reiko threw a second shot, this time a rock the size of a handball.
A sharp, metallic crack echoed as a larger chunk of the Gigas was blasted away, but it, too, was restored immediately.
"That regeneration is going to be troublesome."
Jin and Reinhard were of the same mind. To see just how fast the recovery was, Jin instructed Reiko to hit it with a large boulder.
Lifting a boulder roughly five times her own size with ease, Reiko hurled it at the Gigas. The boulder didn't arc; it flew in a flat, straight line and struck the Gigas dead-on.
"Still no good?"
The impact made the Gigas stagger, but amid the flurry of shattering debris, it regenerated before they could even distinguish the new rocks from the old.
"Small-scale attacks aren't going to cut it."
Reiko had her sword, Touka, with her, but even if she sliced it apart, it would likely regenerate. Besides, this rock-strewn location was overwhelmingly advantageous for the Gigas.
"In that case, we'll attack with magic!"
Reinhard pulled out a wand inscribed with a spell and unleashed magic toward the Gigas.
"Flame Lance!"
The spell activated the moment he channeled his magic power. The high-level fire magic struck the Gigas.
"Even that's not enough?"
The rocks melted under the intense heat, but they were immediately replaced by fresh stones from the surrounding area. It wasn't a decisive blow.
Furthermore, the Gigas finally seemed to recognize them as enemies. It turned around and began to slowly approach.
"Its reaction time is incredibly dull, though."
It was far too slow to recognize a threat. This was likely why it had been deemed a failure. However, they couldn't afford to be complacent. The ten-meter-tall behemoth was quite a sight as it closed in.
"I will destroy it directly!"
Reiko leaped forward and lunged at the Gigas.
"I'm worried about Jin-kun and Rai-nii."
Left behind in the carriage, Elsa was agonizing. Before her stood the automata, Anne.
"Hey, does the Gigas have a weakness?"
For some reason, the two men had left without asking that.
"A weakness? If its magic power is depleted, it will be unable to maintain its form. Its reactions are slow. It lacks intelligence."
It was information that wasn't particularly helpful. However, the first thing mentioned—the loss of magic power—caught Elsa's attention.
"How does the Gigas obtain its magic power?" she asked.
Anne's answer was startling.
"It absorbs it from everything it touches: the surrounding air, magic cast against it, and more. That is why it was designed for use against the demon race."
Anne explained that it was effective against the demon race, for whom magic power was an essential element for survival. Hearing this, Elsa felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
"Then... what about attacking it with golems?"
"It would be useless. It absorbs magic power from its opponents upon contact."
Elsa felt the blood drain from her face.
"Then... even an automata like you wouldn't stand a chance?" she asked, hoping for a different answer.
"Correct. Whether it is an automata or anything else, the Gigas will drain its magic power. Someone like myself would be rendered motionless in an instant."
Jin and the others' trump card was Reiko. And Reiko was an automata who ran on magic.
"Jin-kun..."
Elsa turned her anxious eyes toward the mountain where the others had gone.
Reiko launched her punch at the Gigas. The giant swung its massive leg to meet her.
It seemed as though Reiko's fist would shatter the leg, but...
"...?!"
The moment she touched the Gigas's leg, Reiko's movements seized for a split second. In that opening, she was kicked away by the giant’s massive foot.
"Ah!"
The weight difference was over fifty-fold. Reiko was launched into the air, flying in a long arc before plunging over the edge of the cliff.
The worst possible matchup for Reiko! What would happen next?