Chapter 2
"Loyalty! (Chungseong!). This is Corporal Yan Verkut."
"Yan...! No, I mean, I'm Second Platoon, Third Squad Leader Dandel! Pleased to meet you!"
"Sir, you're my superior, so please feel free to speak comfortably..."
"S-Sir! Second Lieutenant Dandel Klaus! S-Sorry!"
'Why's an officer bowing and scraping to a noncom?'
After calming down the terrified second lieutenant-who knew what rumors he'd heard-and sending him on his way, Yan gazed at the huge cavern in front of him.
"To think the colossus burial site was in a place like this."
Colossus.
A titan of absolute invincibility that no military weapon can oppose.
The breakthrough power to clear in one stride trenches that took years to dig, and the overwhelming firepower to fire continuously while carrying armor and assault guns.
Just as battleships rule the seas, colossi dominate the land-such was their presence on the battlefield.
If it has a single flaw, it is that the weapon was not made by humans.
Humans can forge the armor that wraps the colossus and the weapons it carries, but the technology to create the skeletal frame and mana core at its heart exists neither for humans nor for elves.
To build a new colossus, one must excavate the frame from ancient ruins, as Yan saw before him now.
"I-I'm Gix Martin, chief of the dig team... P-Please see that no harm comes to my crew..."
The dig-team chief, even more nervous than the second lieutenant he'd just met.
Terror overflowed on the face behind his glasses, yet Yan felt inward relief.
Fewer tasks lay ahead now that he was dealing with someone who didn't spit curses.
"Clear the convoy truck! A knight's down!"
"Over here! We're short-handed! Anyone, just one person, come help!"
Something unexpected seemed to have happened.
The nearby perimeter looked well handled by the quick second lieutenant, so Yan went into the ruin to help on that side.
"Ah! Thank you for coming! As you can see, the knight here... Eeek?!"
The dig-team member handing over the fallen knight recoiled in horror when he spotted the brand on Yan's shoulder and toppled backward.
"P-Penal Corps?"
Criminals-only those guilty of first-degree felonies-are conscripted into the Penal Corps as bullet-catchers.
Among civilians the notion had twisted into the belief that they were little more than a band of killers.
'Well, I am a criminal. Looking at the rest of them, that's not exactly wrong.'
Thinking that, Yan silently studied the face of the fallen knight. Some kind of toxic reaction had turned the skin black; the man moaned softly.
They hastily slung him onto a stretcher, and two soldiers carried him to the convoy truck.
"Are there traps in the ruin?"
If a new hazard had been found, the ones sent in would be Penal Corps like himself, so Yan checked first.
"Huh? N-No, it's not that... It's because of this fellow."
Reassured by the polite, formal tone, the dig-team member raised a hand and pointed at something.
"This is...?"
A colossus on its knees. Not a bare frame, but fully clad in armor.
A unique design never seen in the Empire or the Elf Kingdom.
Instead of plate armor like a knight's, it was wrapped tightly in countless pieces of every shape.
Some looked like dragon scales, others like beast fur.
"We've never seen this configuration before. Most colossi we find are corroded down to the frame, but this one is almost pristine..."
Behind the speaking dig-team member, medics were signaling. They'd sent a code: the knight was beyond help.
"Was he the only knight to board this unit?"
"No. Two others rode it earlier. There was no reaction then, but today, suddenly..."
A colossus that kills its rider.
Yan slowly raised his head and looked at its face. Two softly glowing eyes seemed to stare straight back.
'You're next, prey?'
It felt like the titan was speaking to him.
"Hey! If the escort's done, get over here and give us a hand!"
"Yes! Coming right away!"
The dig-team member who'd been talking bustled off. Unaware his conversational partner had vanished, Yan lingered as though spellbound.
While he stood transfixed-
"Excuse me."
"Hm?"
At the voice calling him, Yan turned around.
It had sounded like a woman.
When he looked, the owner of the voice was quietly regarding him.
'Who is she? I've never seen her before.'
Thinking that, Yan studied the woman for a moment.
She barely reached his chest. Jade eyes barely distinguishable from the whites. Hair bleached to white.
And a face as beautiful as a doll's, yet utterly devoid of emotion. The battlefield had not prepared him for beauty like this, and for an instant he could find no words.
"Are you lost? I can fetch the person in charge..."
Collecting himself, Yan spoke.
Her coat was the same as the dig-team's, so he assumed as much.
"Ren. My name."
"Ah... Yan Verkut. Corporal."
Taken aback by the abrupt introduction, Yan was still puzzled when the woman-Ren-spoke.
"Answer to your question. All this time I was lost, but now I've found it."
"Pardon?"
"My path. I just found it."
"Ah... I see."
They say half the dig-team's not right in the head. Seems true enough.
Thinking that, Yan bowed slightly and turned to leave. But a small hand caught the hem of his coat.
"Ren! Where are you?! Where'd you disappear to?!"
At the shout, the woman quietly hid behind Yan.
"The person the chief was looking for-wasn't that you?"
"They're not looking for me. They're after the knowledge I uncovered."
"I... see."
'I've picked the wrong person.'
He looked down in a daze, but the face gazing up at him remained expressionless.
Eyes wide, she simply asked,
"I was waiting. Aren't you going in?"
Waiting? Who? The colossus?
"If I go in there, won't I die too?"
When he asked, Ren shook her head.
What makes her so sure? Had the other knights heard something from her?
Harboring doubt, Yan replied.
"I can't. Colossi are off-limits to anyone but knights; entering without permission is punishable by firing squad."
"Firing squad? Death?"
"Yes. And as you can see, I'm not the sort you want to get close to."
So saying, Yan showed the Penal Corps brand on his uniform shoulder.
Most people would recoil or flee in fear.
Yet the girl showed no such sign. She tilted her head, puzzled, then spoke again.
"Wrong. If you stay out here, you'll die soon."
"...Pardon?"
What, some sort of mental illness? Had she seen those piles of elf corpses on the way?
Thinking that, he reached to brush off the hand gripping his coat-then saw Ren's finger pointing somewhere.
"There."
Following her finger, Yan looked.
It seemed to be the original entrance of the ruin-now only rubble. Drawn by her pull, Yan examined the debris.
"Is this... an altar? This flower, that pattern..."
A rare flower that you'd be hard-pressed to find even two of, even if you searched the whole forest.
It was laid out almost like a bouquet.
Beside it, a small wooden plaque.
A sword pattern entwined with vines.
The instant he saw it, Yan felt as if all the blood had drained from his head.
"The seal of the Elf Kingdom..."
After muttering that to himself, he surveyed the excavation site once more.
And that brief survey lasted only a moment.
As he quietly fed a live round into the rifle slung across his back, Yan muttered in resignation.
"Shit, it's a trap."
The moment he said it-
Peeeuuu!
A beam of light shot up from the forest, accompanied by an ear-splitting sound.
Mana-light shifting through yellow, red, blue-
It was an elf flare.
Soon, footsteps followed.
Thud.
That earth-shaking sound brought dead silence to the dig site, where excavation had been in full swing.
"W-was that... a colossus?"
"They said no knights were being dispatched here today..."
The newly arrived second lieutenant stammered, trembling.
Anxious murmurs rose here and there; soldiers who sensed danger adjusted their rifles and took up watch.
Thud-
"Colossus confirmed two kilometers north-northwest! All hands to battle stations! Evacuate the dig team!"
"It's a colossus! The elves' colossus is here!!!"
The moment the new second lieutenant shouted, the excavation site turned into pandemonium.
"Fall back! Everyone fall back!"
"Grab the gear! Without it we can't dig this sector-move it!"
"Damn it, how did they find us so fast!?"
"They said this was just escort duty-what the hell is this!? Are they really attacking!?"
Some screamed at the drivers to get the convoy trucks moving.
The chief of the dig team ran around trying to save the equipment.
Green conscripts panicked at the sudden assault; the site slid into chaos.
- Humans who dared raid the Creator's holy ground! Leave none alive!
"Screeee!!!"
"Humans! Kill them all!!!"
The colossus charging with fury, followed by goblins.
With that firepower bearing down, the troops here had no hope of holding the line.
Especially the colossus leading them-
Once that thing appeared, the battle was lost.
Bang! Bang!
"Scree!?"
After dropping two incoming goblins with his rifle, Yan looked back and saw Ren still staring at him with that blank face.
"This way!"
The goblins that had come with the colossus were spraying bullets like mad. He grabbed Ren's hand and ducked into a cave, but the situation was hopeless.
"Everyone with a weapon, arm yourselves! The knights will be here soon-hold out till then!"
- They're fleeing into the sanctuary! Surround them!
"Screeee!!!"
The machine gun mounted on the colossus roared; the convoy trucks parked at the site exploded one after another.
There was nowhere left to run.
After butchering the troops outside, the goblins ringed the cave mouth and advanced slowly inward.
"An Imperial soldier dies an Imperial soldier! I'll fight to the end rather than be taken by the elves!"
The second lieutenant who had shouted that opened up with his machine gun toward the cave entrance.
Ratatatat!!!
"Scree!?"
"Scree! You humans, stop your-"
Yan's rifle bullet punched through the goblin's head mid-sentence.
"Screeee!!!"
The unexpected resistance made the goblins hesitate at the cave mouth, buying a little breathing room.
"Why isn't the colossus attacking directly?"
"The frame's inside. They want it intact."
While people muttered, Yan's mind slipped; his legs buckled.
"Sergeant?!"
"I'm... fine. Keep watch. Take my rifle."
Even as he said it, his body wouldn't obey. He'd come straight from a hellish trench battle this morning.
Dragging that exhaustion into the next operation had pushed him to his limit.
'I can't fall here, not like this...'
His mind was clear, but his body wouldn't follow.
That only made him more frantic. Then the white-haired woman he'd seen earlier approached.
It was Ren.
"She's still waiting. If you don't go in, you'll die."
"Waiting? That's nonsense-"
As he lifted his head to retort, Yan froze.
"That one... its head's higher than before...?"
What he'd dismissed as instinct or illusion was now undeniable. The colossus that had knelt with head bowed was now looking straight at him.
"I can... pilot that thing...?"
"Yes. You can. Only you."
The answer came without hesitation; Yan stood up.
"They're pushing in again!"
"Out of MG ammo?!"
"This is the last belt!!"
The suppressive fire died away as the last rounds hit the ground.
If things kept up, dead was dead either way.
He had no choice but to gamble.
"Fuck it!"
He sprinted toward the colossus.
Climbed the ladder and dropped into its cockpit.
Not an Imperial interface-an unfamiliar layout.
A red light washed over him from somewhere and swept across his body.
[Genetic verification complete. Initiating new-user registration.]
Characters he'd never seen in his life filled his vision.
"Hey, how am I supposed to read-huh?"
Yan asked Ren, who had followed him right up to the cockpit-
but when he turned, she was gone.
"What the-where'd she go...!?"
Then pain lanced through him.
"G-gahh?!"
With no warning his body twisted in agony; he couldn't move.
Something foreign pressed against the back of his neck.
Something had been driven into his body.
"You never said anything about this...!"
He nearly lost consciousness several times from the horrific sensation of his flesh being torn and his spine gouged.
[Initiating procedure for user consciousness synchronization. Initiating first connection in 3.... 2....]
Crackle! Fzzzt!
"Grrrrrrrrr!!!"
But the cockpit itself wouldn't allow even that, forcing him to maintain consciousness through the stimuli pouring out from every corner.
[First connection complete. Initiating neural network connection. Access in 3.... 2....]
Fzzzzzzzt!
"Aaaaargh!!!"
A surgery performed without even proper anesthesia.
Every time he saw the blood splattered across the cockpit, he felt his guts freeze.
How much more time passed like that?
"Huff... huff..."
Through his dimming consciousness, he heard an emotionless voice.
[Control procedure complete. Synchronization rate stable. Switching to emergency power. Glaepnir. System activation.]