It was the night of the day I arrived in Xillia, the second Uruk City.
After sending Harold off to persuade the Head of Uruk, I rested my body in a building that had been lent to me.
As expected, the building offered to me, who was here on behalf of Carlos, the Head of the Fontana family, was a fine one.
I ate a feast with food from around Uruk while admiring the beautiful building and furnishings and then went to bed.
I was sleeping soundly when my slumber was suddenly interrupted.
An abrupt disturbance.
There was a loud thud and a tremor.
I felt a tremor as if an earthquake had occurred, and I jumped up instantly.
"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
From the moment I felt the tremor, I heard a very loud voice.
I wondered what was happening.
Maybe this was no ordinary earthquake.
That's when I thought about it.
"Hey, Ars! Are you awake?! He's here!"
"Baito-nii, give me a status report. What's going on?"
"A Titan. The Titan we fought last time is still alive. That Titan came out again!"
"Titan? That Atmos Warrior? Didn't we drown him in the pond and defeat him?"
"I don't know. I thought so too. But it's definitely him that's rampaging outside this building right now. There is no possibility I could have mistaken his appearance."
"Alright. Let's move. I'm assuming they're already awake, but please make sure."
"Okay, I'm on it."
My brother came into the room with such force that he could have burst through the door.
He told me a shocking fact.
That giant is still alive?
'No way,' β that's all I can say.
At that time, we had definitely drowned the Titan. We even stayed until sunrise to see if it would come back to the surface.
But then I realized something.
The sound of the Titan struggling to get out of the pond in the dark gradually faded away, and when I heard no sound of water at all, I concluded that the Titan was dead.
But I hadn't seen the body with my own eyes.
Could it be that it had survived the Barca army and was still alive today?
That's strange.
That doesn't seem right to me.
No, it's not that it's strange that the giant is still alive.
It was my fault for not checking for the body even if I was going to be forced to go to the depths of the pond at that time.
There might be a possibility that the submerged Titan survived for some reason.
But still.
It's strange that the Titan is here.
Not only did he survive and return to Xillia City, but its existence was unknown until today, and then it showed up here on the very night I arrived.
It's crazy no matter how you look at it. Too coincidental.
He screwed us.
Harold had set us up.
He used his compromised position to get us to stay in this town and then played his trump card at the perfect opportunity.
The existence of the Atmos warriors.
The most powerful warrior who can even fight an army by himself.
A being with power on par with the Head of the family... and Harold threw that creature here to eliminate Barca and me.
"He got us there, with his loyalty to Uruk. I really shouldn't have trusted him. However, this isn't the time to be impressed with his devotion to Uruk."
Maybe this was the plan all along.
The fact that we tried to make Harold out to be a double agent.
Perhaps he thought that we would use him in that way.
He might have been waiting for Fontana's army to come crawling in at the beck of a "call for help from a traitorous Uruk knight."
"It can't be helped. I guess I'll have to fight."
Well, in that case, it'll be quicker.
I'll just do what I have to do.
I decided to refocus my objectives and headed towards the giant that was still beating the ground loudly.
β»γβ»γβ»
"Wooooooooooooo!"
"Hmm? Eh? Are they already fighting? Wait, so Baito-nii's leading?"
I got ready and went outside to check out the Titan.
As usual, it was only hiding his waist, and the rest of his body was completely uncovered.
It was as big as ever.
It seemed to be three times the height of an adult man, and his head was about halfway up the wall that was being built by [Wall Construction].
"But you look a little different than before. Did you lose weight?"
However, I felt something strange about the giant's appearance.
He was tall and the way he was swinging the log around was terrifying.
But I didn't feel as much pressure as when I had met him before.
Normally, if I were to see Baito-nii and the soldiers fighting a Titan, I would have immediately rushed in to help them. But I didn't this time, since there wasn't as much pressure.
This was because my brother and the soldiers around him were not lagging behind the humongous man.
It seemed to have gotten thinner.
He no longer has that same muscularity and beauty of Greek sculptures.
It gives the impression that the muscles have become emaciated and the body has shrunk by a size or two.