"Before that, what is the nature of your Brand Skill? And its replenishing speed!" Elias asked the heavy and hidden question.
She stared at him before she said, "You surely love asking personal questions to someone who doesn't know anything about you!"
Elias was taken aback at first before sighing, "I'm from Six Leaf Clover Country. My father was reported dead after a deadly mission. My mother worked odd jobs like cleaning, hauling rubbish before she got a job at a restaurant cleaning dishes. That was while she was raising me.
"Thankfully, I'm good at school, hand-to-hand fighting. I gradually attracted attention and got a scholarship and sponsors. Because of me she doesn't need to work again, so she focused on other important things.
"I participated in some contests and tournaments where I won some and lost some."
Elias sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. The sun was indeed setting within an hour or so.
"I awakened a powerful talent dubbed forbidden. Too powerful for Six Leaf Clover to handle. I was shoved into a shuttle and sent away to a place called Red Horn to detonate. Kaboom."
He looked her in the eye. She believed every word he said even though she expected he hid some things.
"I activated the talent and it began consuming me..." Elias showed her the stump. "My whole body would have gone in an instant, but I resisted. A moment was all I wanted and..." he pointed at his left hand, missing pinkie.
"I somewhat hardened my left hand and cut off my right hand to escape. I was propelled away due to that and found myself in your paradise forest!"
"You cut your hand off? I thought..." she trailed off.
"Hehe. If I didn't, I would have been atomized. But you see, it still pains me that I lost it. I'm the greatest Fist Fighter that I know. Basically, my hands are my glory, and now one is gone."
"Ha. Arrogance. But your rage is warranted when the other hand gets injured."
Elias lay on his back, staring at a particular hole in the ceiling. "It's not arrogance. It's a fact. I never lost a fistfight, only against those with larger brute strength than mine."
"You are in Five Leaf Clover. Here, Martial Arts make a living. We have three Noble Families that built their power around Martial Arts. The greatest of them, Buddha Family, are basically Fist Blessed. They absolutely use no weapons."
'I defeated a descendant of that family. They are weak without their Talent,' Elias thought. "I guess I would have met my match if I was raised here."
"Definitely," Sasha said before she smiled. "I'm glad you didn't call home. I think you are a good guy and reliable. You are basically my backbone for this exploration."
"Of course, I'm your bodyguard. What can you do without me!"
"Hmm. We all know you too are training your talent in this exploration." She sighed, "Piercing Ring Lightning replenishes an hour after every use. But I can't just use it every hour due to straining and my muscles' numbness. At most, I can use it five times before I must stop or I will burn myself."
"You have four more uses then!" Elias said. "How big is the Brand Pool?"
"Ah. I think about one-seventh of my total talent energy."
"Then, if you exhausted your talent energy before using the Brand, would that affect the Brand release?"
"No. But I can siphon energy from the brand anytime."
"Good. I guess that is the only attacking Brand you have now."
"Yes. The other one is internal."
Elias was silent before he said, "We will go for the kill, but you don't need to wait until it is a perfect shot. Just ready, aim, and shoot as long as it is at the beast."
"Alright. But can you really face it? I mean, its roar alone is dangerous."
"Of course. I'm not stupid." Elias stood, eyes scanning around before he walked back toward the gate.
Minutes later, he came back with a large, hard boulder. "Only Talent with physical power can exchange blows with a calamity beast. My power is not like that."
He deposited the boulder before he went and gathered many more, bringing only those that were very hard and solid.
The boulders were rolled toward the alley entrance, and Elias stood before the alley.
Lightning was on Sasha's fingertips. Still worried but not wavering in her decision. "Nothing beats true experience!"
Sasha's eyes met with Elias's. They were not hesitant but just sinking in the reality before them. Death is possible, being maimed, getting infected—all were within the realm of possibilities.
She brought out a blue bottle filled with translucent thick liquid. Elias stood before her as she commenced to rub it on his face, hand, head, and neck. Then she made him swallow a solid substance.
She proceeded to do the same to herself. Then another bottle with dust, which she sprayed on their flat hat, uniforms, including their boots and trousers.
This reminded Elias of the liquid he had soaked in at that Facility before he was sent to Red Horn. Now that he knew more about Calamity Beasts, he understood—Red Horn would have killed him if he was not subjected to that treatment.
Elias didn't wait for her to cap the dust bottle when he walked and stood behind the giant rocks he had deposited, facing the beast head-on.
It was murky black, with legs like a horse's hind legs including the hooves. It stood almost bipedal, but hunched, its body uneven with a large torso from which protruded three layered ribs, each as thick as a baby's arm, contorted and jutting outward like jagged spears.
Its head was a grotesque mess, akin to a massive branch that had been violently broken and squeezed, leaving numerous sharp, splintered remnants pointing in all directions. Where eyes should have been, there were only hollow, shadowed recesses that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
Elias saw no arms, no proper head with mouth or eyes, just that twisted amalgamation of dark matter and bone-like protrusions. It was unnaturally still—not breathing, not moving—yet its presence filled the space like a vacuum. Heavy chains were firmly wrapped around its torso, legs, and misshapen head in multiple loops, tightened to the stone wall behind as if whatever had captured it feared it might escape even in this dormant state.
There was something deeply wrong with it. He stood 10 meters before the alley, and the alley stretched 75 meters long, yet he felt nothing. The overwhelming feeling of dread that had almost made them soil their pants earlier had mysteriously vanished along the way.
Was it the liquid, the pill, or the dust Sasha had given him? Absolutely not. Elias felt no danger, and he knew this absence of fear was false—a deception that made his instincts scream louder than any visible threat could.
He tapped his stump on his thigh, alerting Sasha behind him without looking back. Her calm voice, too calm, said, "I notice."
He took a deep breath. Gravity Force rippled from him, passed through one giant rock, and as it came back, Elias strained and used Launching Skill, one of the numerous high variations of Push.
The rock first floated, pulled toward him, then shot forward into the alley.