In search of the monster village (part 3)

She awkwardly stabbing at the stones pressing against her stomach with a small knife she had to hold with the tips of her fingers just to have enough reach.

"...it wouldn't be just some other random rank B monster, right? In the first place, most rank B ones would not try to mess with an Earth elemental... but what if...? Ah...! That's right, I can check on them just a little bit! Life detection!"

The girl, close to a mental breakdown, mumbled and gasped in realization before reactivating the Skill that turned off when she got hit.

[!][!] [!]

"..."

Since her head was lowered, the indication markers appeared at the very top edge of her vision – two basically on top of each other with one to the side.

"...the wolfman tribesman that stayed in the same place... the brightest one must be the Earth elemental... and the third one..."

Lesia gulped down her saliva and trembled.

"...it must be the new monster! That boy died anyway...!"

She cried out, shaking, acting as if she didn't try to use him as bait anyway.

*WHAM* *CRACK* *BOOOOOOM*

"...ukyah...!" *thump*

Suddenly, following a thunderous roar, something massive slammed into the ground right next to Lesia's spot, and the tremors it caused knocked the small knife right out of the girl's hands, making her let out a pitiful squeaky sound.

"...uuuuu..."

As she was now, her options spent – at most, she could try to scrape off her skin and try to use her blood as a lubricant... or bite off her tongue and at least die on her own terms.

[Earth elemental's uncut heart (Epic)]

"...eh...?"

When Lesia was shimming around trying to rip the skin on her arms, she ended up moving her head in a more obvious way than she intended to – but instead of getting any unwanted attention, she ended up gazing at the enormous piece of rock that crashed next to her tree – with a Status window revealing it to be a rather shocking item.

"...w-wait, what...?"

Lesia repeatedly blinked, staring at the uncut Earth elemental heart that, at that moment, appeared as an unremarkable large rock.

How powerful is a creature capable of tearing out an elemental's heart? The raw power necessary for it would require at least a rank A monster – something like Elder Elemental, Titan Hydra, Undead Golem, or one of the Angels.

And none of those monsters were previously spotted in the area!

"Just what is...?"

Lesia gulped down her saliva, feeling fear taking over and robbing her of control over her bowels, and slowly – very slowly - raised her head to look her death in the eyes.

"Last time, I told you that it was your only chance. It appears you haven't believed me."

"!!!"

What she witnessed was a black-haired boy pinning down a muddy clay-like humanoid figure clawing the ground with its wobbly appendages – desperately trying to make its way towards the Elemental's heart.

"Góryaaa...! Góryaaaa!"

"?!?!"

The muddy figure raised its head that split apart into a mouth, and a familiar – although much quieter – roar came out of it, shaking Lesia to her core.

Because speaking about cores – the clay humanoid was nothing more and nothing less than the Earth elemental's core stripped of its stone armor and separated from its heart.

When in that state, it was easy for a scene with a Class like Tamer to bring even the powerful Elemental under their control...

...or to kill it for good as the clay core had one severe weakness that Earth elemental's complete form lacked – when exposed to fire, its tremendous regenerating ability was sealed...

"No. Do you think it would be possible to keep your kind at bay if they start to think I'm lenient? Gemstone creation – fire."

*krk*

In response to the monster's wails, the black-haired boy shook his head and used a skill that created a red crystal on top of his palm.

[Fire gem (Rare)

Skill: Fire burst (300% of user's MAT)

One time use]

"!!!"

A glance at the red crystal gave speechless Lesia access to its item description, making her eyes bulge out of their eyesockets.

What kind of broken Skill was that?! Since when did a weak Skill like Gemstone creation could do something like that?! The advanced Skill guidebook listed it as something not worth putting effort into getting and leveling up because no matter what, the gems it creates are always lesser ones, are created at random with no way of controlling or predicting what kind will come up, and all last at most 30 minutes before disappearing!

BUT THE GEMSTONE IN THE BLACK-HAIRED BOY'S HAND WAS NONE OF THAT!

HE EVEN SPECIFICALLY CALLED FOR THE FIRE ONE, AND A FIRE GEM APPEARED!

No...

Wait...!

In the first place, wouldn't the boy's position suggest that he was the one to defeat the Earth elemental?

But then he had to be the one to...

"...!"

Lesia trembled and hurriedly glanced back between the boy holding back the clay core of the Earth elemental and the ripped-out Eath elemental's heart.

"Góryaaaaa! Gór... góryaaaa!"

The clay core cried out, trying to change shape and slither its way out of Zorey's grasp, but for some reason, it could not showcase that ability to its fullest and failed.

"As I was saying. I gave you a chance, and you fumbled it."

The black-haired boy shook his head with a cold expression and put the red crystal up to the mouth-crack in the clay core's head.

"Gó...! GÓRYA...!"

*crack* *WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

The monster flopped around and howled in desperation, but the black-haired boy crushed the crystal, unleashing a fire spell right in the monster's face, cutting off its screams.

After a few seconds, the fire daded, and what was left was the black-haired boy sitting on the clay core baked into a humanoid-shaped brick.

*UMPH* *WHAAAAM* *CRUNCH*

The black-haired boy wasn't finished just yet and raised his fist only to drop it down on the defeated creature's head so hard his arm unleashed a shockwave before the monster got shattered into fine pieces.

*crack*

"...!" *plop*

As if confirming the death of the beast who created them, the stone bindings pinning Lesia to the tree crumbled down, which resulted in her ending up on the ground in the puddle of her own... fluids...