Chapter 56 – Giant Subjugation Quest #13

The old man looked around at the adventurers with compassionate eyes.
But no one answered the old man’s question.
If I answered the question, my head would be smashed with a stick right away.

“There is no answer, little people.”

An old man with a club.
The old giant that Old Nickel had spoken of appeared right here. He broke down the walls of the cave and escaped through a secret passage. Looking at the fearful adventurers, the old giant chuckled.

“It seems that there are no brave warriors who can compete with me! Then let me go from my side! I will show you the power of Jotun!”

The old giant let out a loud roar and brandished his club. Unlike the young giants, the old man’s roar was mixed with a deafening shriek. The adventurers near the collapsed wall screamed and stepped back.

“Luke! It’s a giant! The old giant the old man said!”

Why was there a secret passage near the camp?
If I’d rather connect the passage, I’d rather connect it to the outside of the cave! I gritted my teeth at this situation where I was unfortunately attacked by a giant. The escort job I chose for safety is rather strangling me!

“Don’t approach me recklessly. You protect me.”

I hid behind Rebecca’s tower shield and began making hand signs. The idea was to create a water whip by stamping water droplets. But did he lose his composure because of the sudden appearance of an old giant? The hand that was making the handshake kept twisting. His trembling hands prevented him from calming down.

“You fucking giant bastard-!!”
“Don’t underestimate continental people!”

Fortunately, there was enough time to sign a hand sign.
Excluding me and Rebecca, there were 6 adventurers left here.
Excluding the nun Kate, there were five armed adventurers standing in my way. As if they were expecting me as a wizard, they swung their weapons and tried to attract the old man’s attention.

It was while I was biting my lip and making water droplets little by little.
The shouts of adventurers echoed from the front.

“What! These old giants are definitely weaker than the young ones!”
“Mo, I think I’ll be able to do anything if I avoid the club well.”

Old giants are weak?
I moved my fingers flamboyantly, poking my head out of the tower shield and examining the situation ahead. Contrary to their thoughts, the five adventurers surrounding the old giant were showing good moves. It may be that they are doing their best in a crisis, but it was also because the old giant’s attack was relatively slow.

“As the barbarian said, this is an old man who has lost all his energy!”

The five adventurers were holding out hope while surrounding the old giant. Among them, a warrior holding a two-handed hammer eagerly aimed at the old giant’s knee. Every time the hammer grazed his knee, the old giant contorted his face in a savage manner.

“How dare you aim for Jotun’s knee.”

At that moment, the old giant let out a roar and lifted a rock that had been rolling on the cave floor over his head.
For an instant, the old giant’s movements stopped.

If you aim for the knee in that state, it’s a must-have!
However, the adventurer with the hammer simply backed away with his face bluish. As soon as you hit your knee with his hammer, you’ll be crushed by a rock. The adventurer didn’t seem prepared to die.

“Hryaaaaap!”

The old giant hurled a large rock over his head. However, the direction in which the old giant threw the rock was somewhat strange.
The boulder that flew in a parabolic arc couldn’t hit the adventurers who stood in their way.
I blankly turned my head and fixed my gaze on the rock, and soon realized the old giant’s intentions.

Wounded!
Injured people lying breathless in a corner of the cave!
The rocks thrown by the old giant tried to hit the wounded.

Fortunately, I wonder if there was no precision enough to accurately throw a rock at the old giant.
Rocks that flew like cannonballs crashed into the walls of the cave instead of hitting the wounded. The wounded who were lying down screamed and scattered in all directions, even crawling.

“Where are you looking? Haha!!”

But it was not yet the time to be relieved. The old giant approached behind one of the adventurers who looked away.
It was an adventurer holding a hammer.
At the adventurer who was aiming for his knee, the old giant swung his club with anger.

Kwajik! An adventurer with a hammer flew into the sky.
The adventurer who was hit in the chest by him threw up against a wall while vomiting his blood. The moment the adventurers looked at the dying adventurer with a shocked expression, the old giant nodded his head as if he had remembered something.

“The injured dwarfs were being treated here. Among the dwarfs fighting against us Jotun, there were always annoying females mixed in. They were strange females who wielded the power of divine power. And among you, those strange females were mixed. It seems.”

It was then.
The old giant pushed the adventurers away and charged like a wild boar. The direction the old giant was charging was none other than Kate, who was shivering by the campfire.

Kate in a nun’s uniform.
No matter who could see it, it could not be anything other than the image of a clergyman.

“Kwaaaaa, !!”

Kate gasped and tried to run away.
Rather, it was faster to reach the old giant’s hand.
The old giant grabbed her by the waist with his thick arms.

“Here you are. If you leave it alone for four years, trouble will happen.”
“Sah, save me!!”

Caught in her flank by her old giant, her Kate struggled. It was the moment when I finally completed the hand sign after watching it. She clutched her thick water whip with her hand behind Kate’s tower shield.
However, she could not recklessly wield her perfected water whip.

I felt like I knew instinctively why.
If I wield a water whip at this moment, I can’t survive in this cave.
The old giant opened his mouth with a fishy smile.

“…Wizard! Are there any wizards among you? Wizards are more annoying than these females. Despite their small size, they have the power to slaughter us jotuns. We shouldn’t leave wizards alive.”

The old giant looked around him with his bloodshot eyes.
The adventurers trembled in fear whenever their lively eyes met.
The moment the old giant’s gaze finally touched Rebecca’s shield.

Made a judgment
Now is not the time to get his attention.
I released the water whip and took the longsword in my hand.
It was a longsword that I had obtained after fighting a duel in the Adventurer’s Guild.
Holding it in my hand, I walked out to the side of the tower shield as if I had learned swordsmanship.

The old giant smiled in rapture at that moment.

“Are there no wizards? Saved the trouble!”

The old giant was deceived, as his posture was quite plausible.
In fact, it wouldn’t be easy to think of me as a wizard with my bulging muscles.
Holding the sword, I had the appearance of a perfect swordsman.

The old giant soon turned his attention away from me.
Then he swung his club at the adventurers around him again.
The adventurers stabbed their weapons at the old giant while screaming. However, the adventurers hesitated to attack because of Kate clinging to the old giant’s side. Because a carelessly wielded weapon might take Kate’s life.

It would have been better if an ordinary adventurer had been taken hostage.
It was Sister Kate who was now captured by the old giant.
Since she was Kate, a valuable healer, her adventurers’ touches were bound to contain hesitation.

“Kwaaaaagh.”

One after another, the adventurers were hit by clubs and fell out. Once beaten, the adventurers never got up again. The number of adventurers, who had been five, was gradually decreasing.

“Luke… They’re all going to die.”

Rebecca looked at me with a desperate expression.
I just held my head and was lost in thought.

How can I survive that giant?
If I use magic, the old giant will only try to kill me.
Like an old giant, he will try to crush my head with all sorts of cunning tricks! If even I, now a mage, die, the escorts will truly be annihilated.
Is there no way for everyone to survive in this cave?

I remembered what old Nickel said.
I tried to find a way in the advice Nickel gave me.

Take your breath away with a fatal blow!
Nickel’s inspiration clearly said so.
The moment I remembered that voice, something immediately came to my mind.

Stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave.
They are countless stalactites studded with sharp thorns.
Among them, there was one stalactite as huge as the pillar supporting the building.

‘That’s it.’

What if you could drop a stalactite on an old giant’s head?
If you can hit the sharp tip on the top of your head, it’s sure to be a blow.
It can send an old giant away in one blow!
It was when I came up with a plan and tried to talk to Rebecca.

“Rebecca! I remembered a method.”

I’ll have to tell Rebecca about the plan soon.
I couldn’t.

Bang-!! The moment when a loud roar resounded in the cave.
The adventurers surrounding the old giant flew through the air at the same time.
Unexpectedly, the old giant’s lump spun like a top!
The adventurers hit by that blow stretched out at once.

“Are the two of you left there?”

The old giant laughed cruelly and looked at me and Rebecca.

“Thank you for your patience. My boys will let you go without any special pain. Wait a minute.”

Could it be that the battle ended like this?
Have you ever tried magic?
I looked at the old giant with a stunned expression.
It was the moment when he tried to make a fist with magic.

However, I had no choice but to stop once again the hand that had been working so hard to make a hand sign. Having endured it once, I decided to endure it twice. For some reason, the old giant with a fishy smile started behaving bizarrely.

“That giant brought out something strange.”
“It’s a vine.”

The old giant reached into his bosom and pulled out an oblong object. It was a thick, green vine. Then he started tying the vines around Kate like a rope.

Why are you tying Kate up?
Where are you going to use that blonde nun by tying it up?
But after thinking about it for a while, I could roughly guess why.

“Probably to use as a hostage.”
“Hostage…?”
“Using the nun as a shield worked better than expected. She intends to carry Kate until she escapes the cave. Maybe that old giant knows that the chase team is after her.”

While walking out through the secret passage, the old giant might have noticed the existence of the pursuit group. A pursuit group with nickel inspiration, the actual strength of the subjugation party.
Then it made sense for the old giant to tie up the nun.
It must be the idea of ​​making it immobilized and continuing to use it as a shield.

“Cowardly bastard.”
“But thanks to you, it bought me time. I have a plan I want to tell you about.”

I lowered my voice and spoke to Rebecca.
It was quite a distance, and the old giant was preoccupied with concentrating on tying his vines. If we run away from this spot towards the entrance, the old giant will try to kill us right away. But he was capable of whispering.

“See the stalactites hanging over there at the entrance? The biggest stalactites around here.”
“I think I know what you’re talking about.”
“Rebecca. You lure the old giant under that stalactite. If you see a crack, I’ll use magic to cut the stalactite.”

As I spoke, I couldn’t help but watch Rebecca’s expression. It was tantamount to risking one’s life to lure the old giant alone. It was on a different level from the time spent fighting kelpies on the lake shore.
There was silence for a moment.
I asked Rebecca helplessly.

“Isn’t that going to be hard too?”

No answer was heard.
Rebecca was just staring at the old giant with hesitation. She is an old giant much bigger than her size. Her hand gripping her shield is shaking.
I couldn’t help but push Rebecca.
Admittedly, this was an unreasonable request. She shouldn’t be entrusted to a newcomer who has just become an adventurer. Rebecca was the only one who could lure the old giant in this position, but that would be too harsh for a newcomer.

“Sorry.”
“…I will.”

It was the moment when I lowered my head.
Rebecca’s voice echoed.

“Even if it’s hard, you can’t help it.”

It was a voice full of determination.

“Because if we can’t kill that old giant, we’ll be finished.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Are you okay?”
“Of course it’s not okay, but you have to!”

As if she were doing what she was supposed to do, Rebecca clutched her shield with her hand. The trembling in her hands had stopped.
The moment when the tremors finally subsided completely.
Rebecca took a deep breath and drew her sword.

“Tell me, Luke. How can I lure the giant?”

She drew her sword, met my gaze, and opened her mouth.

“How to lure?”
“That old giant is holding a nun hostage. Even if I draw attention, just ignore it, and he might attack the other adventurers. It might not make sense to just hold him with his body. We need a way to lure the giant.” .”

When I heard that, I swallowed her saliva.
It’s not like there’s no way to lure a giant.
If you recall old Nickel’s actions, there was only one way.
Old Nickel recalled the magic word that stopped the stone-throwing giants.

“Provoke the giant. Provoke it while mentioning the honor of Jotun.”

Insulting Jotun’s honor.
Rebecca seemed to understand what I meant.
She must have seen the young giants rage.

I don’t know if it will work or not.
Provocation may not work on an old giant.
But for now, this is the only way we can try.