Chapter 973

The titan rampaging in the town of Scholz had a different form than the one in Sarthe.

「He’s kinda spiky.」

『And the shape of his arms and legs are quite different too.』

Sarthe’s titan was pretty thin, like a short chimpanzee. Whereas Scholz’s titan looked more like a macho man in spiked armor.

This one’s arms and legs were clearly thicker and more powerful, and he was way taller too. We could clearly see the difference at first glance.

Were they different to begin with? No, maybe they just grew differently?

If we consider how the titans were like babies before awakening, maybe they applied the drained mana to their own growth. This town was larger than Sarthe, so it had more people. Therefore, the titan here could drain more energy from them.

That might explain why this titan looked so much different from Sarthe’s.

「Izario, what do we do?」

「We’ll have to drag him out of town like we did in Sarthe. Can you act as bait again, little lady?」

「I’m on it.」

Izario didn’t hesitate to give Fran the dangerous role. The adventurers around him didn’t object either.

This meant everyone fully accepted her as a senior adventurer. Fran knew this, so she was happy to take on the mission.

『Fran, Scholz’s titan looks way tougher than the last one. Don’t let your guard down.』

「Nn.」

That said, our plan was the same.

Fran and Urushi would provoke him at a distance, and the soldiers behind us launch a long-range barrage from outside the walls. Then, we lead the titan outside and finish him off with an all-out attack.

Having already experienced it once, the second team was quick to deploy.

Fortunately, the titan was rather close to the wall. It’d take quite a while to lure him outside if he was closer to the center of town.

Once we ensured Sarthe’s refugees moved far enough away, we commenced the operation.

「Hah!」

「Awooo!」

Fran hit the titan with her intimidation skill right as Urushi taunted with his howl. The titan didn’t get intimidated at all of course, but he certainly recognized getting hit by our mana.

「Roooooooooorgh!」

「He noticed us.」

『Good, he seems more aggressive than the other one.』

「Woof!」

The titan saw Fran and Urushi and dashed over, trampling the town underfoot. His large stride made him faster than Sarthe’s titan.

『Urushi, watch out!』

「Woof woof!」

We didn’t even need to attack, and the titan just kept ramping up the speed of his chase. At this rate, we should be able to lead him outside the walls in less than a minute.

We continued provoking him, paying close attention to his outstretched hands. Then, just as he was a few steps away from reaching the walls……

「Ruuuuuaaaaaargh!」

「He crouched?」

「Arf!」

『W-What the hell?』

The titan suddenly bent down to the ground, which slowed down his charge. He flexibly reached his right hand out, digging into the ground with his claws.

I had been imagining the rigid movements of the titan at Sarthe, so I never thought he could be so dexterous.

When the Scholz titan got back up, he raised his right hand above his head before our astonished eyes. His stance looked like a pro-baseball pitcher. No, he really was attempting a throw.

「Ruaagh!」

『…!』

The titan launched debris at us just like the previous one. But unlike Sarthe’s titan, which relied on raw strength, the titan threw debris cloaked with dense mana. The power was on a completely different level.

Moreover, the speed was incomparable too. As soon as he swung his arm down, the countless boulders were already in front of us.

I quickly stored the ones on course for a direct hit, and smacked the surrounding rocks with my telekinesis.

However, I spread my telekinetic net too much by emphasizing range, so I couldn’t stop their huge momentum. That reduced their speed somewhat, but most of the rocks penetrated through my telekinesis and flew past us.

Fran and Urushi knocked down some of them, but only about ten at most. The rest of the rocks rained down on the soldiers behind us.

They took the full brunt of the rain of boulders thrown from a height of more than 200 meters. At this point, it practically looked like a meteor shower.

Shikimi created a wall of land magic that caught some of them before shattering. Izario also seemed to have repelled some with his divine sword, but it was far from a perfect defense.

In the end, about ten of the rocks crashed into the second division, killing or injuring over a hundred of them. Several soldiers were simply crushed, others were sent flying into the air like dead leaves.

「Ruuuuooogh!」

『He’s going for another throw!』

「We’ll protect everyone! Urushi, full speed!」

「Grr!」

I considered regrouping with the second division to fortify our defenses, but Fran thought otherwise. Instead, she wanted to strike at the titan and interrupt his motion.

Urushi charged toward the titan’s huge arm, which was already raised.

「Haaah!」

「Gaaaah!」

『Kanna Kamui!』

My spell hit the titan’s arm, but this wasn’t enough to break it. It seems he concentrated mana on the arm to mitigate the damage.

However, he did pause the throwing motion in order to regenerate. That’s when Fran unleashed her slash while riding through on Urushi’s back.

After a high-pitched clash of metal against metal, a frown appeared on Fran’s face.

「S-So hard!」

『Seriously?!』

Even without Sword God Transformation or Brilliant Lightning Rush, we had Urushi’s full momentum on our side. Our slash should have considerable power behind it. The same technique cut halfway through the Sarthe titan’s arm.

However, the Scholz titan’s concentrated mana armor apparently gave him an extraordinary amount of defense. To our surprise, we were barely able to cut one-tenth of the way through.

「Urushi! Once more!」

「Woof!」

Urushi turned around for one more go at the titan, but the giant’s arm was already back into motion.

「Ruuuuuuurgh!」

『No! We’re not in position to store it!』

「Haaah!」

「Grrrr!」

Fran and Urushi cast spells to interfere with the titan’s movements again, but they dispersed upon reaching the iron-hard arm. For the second time, the titan released a barrage of rocks from his grip at super speed.

But they flew straight downwards.

With the tremendous crash, the countless boulders slammed into the ground at the titan’s feet. He completely missed his target.

「Master, did you do something?」

『Sure did! A little telekinesis.』

All I did was wrap my telekinesis around the titan’s hand. Though lacking in power, I was able to interfere with the titan’s action for a split second.

And that split second was enough.

When playing catch, beginners might sometimes accidentally throw the ball too late. That means it bounces before reaching the target, or worse, goes straight into the ground.

That’s what happens when you don’t release the ball at the ideal point.

I used my telekinesis to delay the opening of the titan’s hand right at that moment, thereby disrupting the release point.

I wasn’t sure how effective my telekinesis would be against the titan’s immense physical strength, but it worked like a charm.

Now that I think about it, you don’t want to exert too much force when you throw stuff. Rather, it’s actually important to keep your fist a bit loose. Therefore, even my relatively weak telekinesis managed to interrupt the throwing motion very effectively.

The titan didn’t understand what just happened, but it seems he instinctively knew Fran interfered somehow.

「Ruuuuurgh!」

『Just look at that stare! Bet he thinks of us as real enemies now!』

「Bring it on!」