"A secret in my family!" she answered, her gaze intensely focused on the task ahead. "I need to be close to it, ideally between twenty to fifty meters!"
She believed her attack could kill the beast, but she lacked a concrete plan on how to get close enough without being torn apart.
"It's stronger and more stable than the others we've encountered," Elias observed, his voice low and measured. "This one isn't decaying even though the stench is similar." Another thought was building in his mind as he studied the creature's movements.
'This is it—the moment I can truly build experience. I was right not to retreat home. I should get accustomed to this reality now.'
"It's bound and can only roam about forty to fifty meters from those buildings," he added, gesturing toward the dilapidated structures.
Elias took a step toward the beast, but Sasha grabbed his arm and pulled him back sharply. "Wait! Tell me the actual plan first. I don't know how to do this—I need to know what happens after you do whatever you're planning to do!"
She was visibly panicking. Elias placed his sturdy stump on her shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. "Calm down. Take a deep breath!"
They both inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, three times in unison. The ritual seemed to center them both.
"The plan is..." Elias began, his voice steadier now, "I will push and pull it with my ability, keeping its attention fixed on me. You get into position—I mean a good position—and then unleash your magic. Simple enough."
"But what if you're overwhelmed?" Sasha countered, her brow furrowed with concern. "What if something unexpected happens? What if another beast attacks while we're vulnerable?"
That gave Elias pause. She had raised a valid point. "Use your device to scan for any nearby beasts," he suggested.
"There are none in the vicinity," she confirmed after checking the small instrument in her hand.
"Then consider this—if there are others nearby, they would have responded to this one's roars unless they are intelligent enough to hide. And if they're hiding, it's because they fear this creature as much as we should."
The duo continued planning while the beast roared and attempted to attack them from a distance, straining against its constraints but failing to reach them. Finally, Elias stepped forward to draw its aggression.
He sprinted ahead, coming to an abrupt halt the moment the beast sprang up. "Gravity Force: Hard Push!" A powerful invisible wave slammed into the beast, causing it to stagger backward. It recovered quickly and leaped toward him with frightening speed.
"Force!" Another gravitational slam hit the creature. It staggered and tilted, nearly losing balance.
A protective barrier formed around Elias just as the beast reached him, but the impact was still tremendous. The barrier cushioned the blow, sending him flying backward, but the pressure against his chest forced the air from his lungs.
Though now out of the beast's immediate range, Elias could see it was about to be pulled back by the chains that bound it. He extended his hand, straining as he invoked, "Gravity Pull!"
Elias stood his ground, muscles tensing as he pulled against the beast while the chains simultaneously tried to drag it back. To the creature, this conflicting force was advantageous—Elias was inadvertently helping it resist the chains, allowing it to step forward.
But then a flash of light caught its attention.
Ten meters to its side stood Sasha, dressed in her distinctive black uniform and flat umbrella hat. Her hands were spread wide, moving in a clockwise motion as trails of slithering lightning created a perfect circle in the air before her.
The beast sensed danger. It lunged toward her with deadly intent but was suddenly yanked upward, violently pulled away from the girl by Elias's gravitational manipulation.
Sasha completed her circle, her right arm reaching into its center until her shoulder disappeared into the crackling energy. Numerous tendrils sparked from the circle, weaving into her hand to form a concentrated lightning attack.
"Piercing Ring Lightning!" she called out with newfound confidence.
She released the attack. Moving at true lightning speed, before the beast could reach Elias due to his continuous pull, the electric spear arrived at the creature. There was no explosion, no dramatic impact—just the precise tip of the lightning piercing into the beast's body, disappearing inside its flesh.
Elias's gravitational pull broke at the moment of piercing. He stumbled backward, panting heavily before turning to witness the aftermath. There were no explosions as he had expected; instead, the beast's body glowed from within, lightning coursing through its flesh and bones with devastating efficiency.
A mournful groan escaped the beast's throat as the black chains pulled its failing body back toward the building it had originally burst from.
Sasha stared at her handiwork in wonder, confidence building within her. She had done this. She had released that power. She was killing this formidable beast.
Elias reached her side, and together they observed the creature's demise. It didn't even jerk as it was being incinerated from the inside out—all its tendons and synapses fried beyond recovery. From within, its organs turned to ash, leaving only bones and outer skin, which themselves crumbled at the slightest touch.
"That's incredibly dangerous," Elias said as he turned to Sasha, noticing the smile spreading across her face as she gazed at her handiwork.
"I'm strong!" she whispered, almost to herself.
"Yes, you are," Elias agreed earnestly. Her face beamed with pride, and Elias could almost visualize her confidence meter filling to capacity.
As the beast died, the chains began retracting. "Those chains—they're valuable. Let's take them," Sasha called out.
He directed his Gravity Force toward the chains and pulled, feeling immediate resistance. Something heavy at the other end was set to retract them.
Elias entered the building cautiously and traced the origin of the chains to a hole in the ground. At the end, they were attached to a massive boulder in a long hole.
"We need to destroy that boulder to free the chains," he called back to Sasha.
"I need to rest first. That attack exhausted me." Elias nodded in understanding. He kicked at the chains, manipulating them until they wrapped securely around a sturdy pillar to prevent them from being pulled completely into the hole.
Several minutes later, sparks danced across Sasha's fingertips. Lightning tendrils snaked toward the black chains, electricity conducting along their entire length.
"We need to destroy the boulder, not the chains!" Elias reminded her with urgency.
"I know what I'm doing," she replied calmly. "I'm disinfecting the chains since we'll need to handle them. Also, didn't you notice there was no odor in the air after the beast's death? My lightning burned away any contamination."
"Oh!" Elias realized he too had been hesitant to touch anything for fear of contamination.
The black chains heated up, smoking slightly before she deemed them safe. Then, a more powerful lightning bolt struck the boulder, shattering it. Elias used his Gravity Force to pull the chains free and gather them together—approximately 150 meters in total length.
"This is money right here," Sasha said appreciatively. "We need to stash it away for later retrieval."
Using his Gravity Book, Elias created a stone structure within one of the sturdier buildings nearby. They carefully hid the chains inside before sealing the location.
They searched the area thoroughly, listening intently and using the scanning device to check for threats. Finding no apparent danger, they moved forward cautiously.
"I've been meaning to ask you some questions that keep slipping my mind," Elias said, his eyes tracking the shafts of light filtering through holes in the dome above their underground city.
"What's the significance of being the first to open the gate and enter this place? And I'm still curious how you acquired your Brand Skill so quickly. Also, you seem to be in such a rush to come here—why? You only Awakened a little over a week ago. Given the dangers we've already faced, you really should have taken more time to train properly before attempting this."
Sasha forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "We want to establish a noble family line," she replied. "That's why I might seem impatient."
Elias's eyebrows rose skeptically at her response, but before he could press further, they both ducked into a broken house for cover. Sasha's device was blinking rapidly—something heavy was approaching from behind them, from the direction of the gate they had entered through.