Ging's pupils trembled, his expression shifting dramatically.
The barrier that had suddenly appeared wasn't thick, but it stopped his sword, a blade capable of cutting through anything.
How was that even possible?
"Roar!"
Tyranitar let out an angry roar, his right fist glowing with a fierce orange-red aura, like a wild beast ready to strike.
His cold eyes burned with rage, focused solely on taking down his opponent.
The punch almost connected just moments ago!
Ging's eyes widened, but he couldn't dodge in time and took Tyranitar's powerful punch head-on.
It was pure brute force versus combat skill.
"Bang!"
The punch hit like a massive cannonball from the side, forcing Ging's body to curl up like a shrimp before flying backward.
He slammed straight into the rock wall beside him, embedding himself deeply into it, causing the wall to crumble under the impact.
Enduring sharp pain, Ging suddenly realized why he'd been a step slower.
It was because of that rock barrier that had appeared out of nowhere!
His speed had slowed down!
Normally, his speed would be enough to cut through such obstacles, but right after teleporting, something felt off.
Even a slight change in his body could be detected with his strength.
Everything was fine before... until that strange rock blocked him.
Ging's face showed uncertainty, but he was increasingly convinced that his speed was being affected by the enemy.
Indeed, his speed had dropped slightly because of the rock barrier's effect.
If he had teleported away earlier, he wouldn't have been slowed down.
But he had thought he could use the enemy's line of sight to cover himself and get the jump on them, so he waited until the rock fell before teleporting away.
Still, even without that slowdown, his sneak attack wouldn't have done much damage to Tyranitar.
"Ahem!"
Ging gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the pain twisting through his body, though his face betrayed his agony.
Tyranitar's brute strength had landed a powerful blow right to Ging's waist.
Even with Ging's strong defenses, he couldn't withstand it.
A large hole appeared where the punch struck, with bits of rock and mud spilling out from the impact.
Ging's body, which had once glowed with a bright golden light, now appeared much dimmer, clearly reflecting his weakened state.
Though his right waist was the main area of injury, it wasn't the only place hurt.
His vital organs inside the torso had taken a serious hit as well.
The protective layer of his body had been broken, and the force of the punch had deeply affected his insides.
In simple terms, Ging was suffering internal injuries; many of his 197 organs had been damaged by that powerful blow.
'Damn it! I should've been more careful!'
Ging thought bitterly, regret flashing across his face.
He realized he'd been too reckless, focusing so much aura on his knife that he left himself vulnerable to that punch's strange effects.
Despite being the leader of the Stone Giant race and the most knowledgeable among them, Ging admitted to himself that he still hadn't been cautious enough.
In their harsh world, survival boiled down to two things: strength and caution.
You either had to be incredibly strong or extremely careful.
Only those with both qualities could truly make it here.
Reflecting on his mistake, Ging acknowledged that relying solely on surprise attacks wasn't enough, especially since his opponent's strike had unexpected properties.
Thankfully, he still had time to recover, but delaying would only make things worse.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, an orange-red figure suddenly appeared before him, charging straight at him.
Ging's eyes narrowed, and he gripped the nearby rocks harder, but even those tough stones crumbled under his grasp like fragile tofu, leaving behind clear fingerprints and piles of stone dust.
Gathering his remaining strength, Ging calmed his thoughts and slipped into a focused, almost dreamlike state.
In an instant, he vanished.
At the same time, Tyranitar, like a raging bull, wrapped in a fierce orange-red aura, slammed his steel body into the stone wall with a thunderous crash.
In an instant, the solid stone wall that had been standing tall crumbled to the ground, and the force of the impact turned countless rocks into dust.
A powerful aura surged through the stone, wildly destroying everything nearby, sending lime particles flying through the air.
Larry furrowed his brow and glanced over at Ging, who was huddled in the corner of the cave, ravenously devouring a gem.
'Had he used his teleportation ability again?'
Ging had just been by the rock wall, but in the blink of an eye, he appeared in the far corner of the cave, clearly teleporting once more.
'Had he not used teleportation earlier when Tyranitar was about to strike, only to be forced to use it later?'
Larry frowned but then relaxed.
If he wasn't mistaken, Ishigami's teleportation likely had a cooldown or required a lot of aura each time, meaning it couldn't be used repeatedly in quick succession and needed brief intervals between uses, much like a cooldown in a game.
If Ishigami could teleport continuously without breaks, it would be incredibly powerful.
Compared to that, Ishigami's teleportation was less impressive than that of Psychic Pokemon like Gardevoir, whose teleportation didn't require much downtime and could be used almost nonstop until their aura was depleted.
For top-tier Psychic Pokemon like Gardevoir, as long as they didn't teleport over long distances constantly, their slowly regenerating aura was enough to keep teleporting almost endlessly.
In the game, mana regeneration outpaces consumption, allowing Gardevoir's continuous teleportation.
Still, teleportation itself was a potent ability, and Ishigami having it made him formidable.
If this were a different Nen user with their Nen beast, they might have teleported right to the Nen user and attacked directly, potentially ending the fight quickly.
But unfortunately, Ishigami couldn't read the situation and didn't realize that if the Nen user was eliminated, the Nen beast would vanish too.
Plus, the Nen user it faced was itself, so even a sneak attack through teleportation wouldn't work.
After all, the legendary and fantasy beasts on its body weren't exactly pacifists.
After glancing at Ging a few more times, Larry shifted his focus back to the pile of things in front of him.
At first, Larry thought these were just ordinary diamonds with an especially beautiful shine.
But judging from Ging's frantic actions, it was clear they were far from simple.
Right now, Ging was gulping down one gem after another, barely catching the fragments that fell to the side.
He didn't even pause to pick them up, he just swallowed them eagerly, like someone who hadn't eaten in centuries.
Using his Illustration ability, Larry learned that these "gems" were actually ore transformed by the diamond elves from regular rocks, prized for their stunning appearance.
Each gem was more beautiful than the famous seven beauties of the world.
The higher the rank of the diamond elf who transformed it, the better the quality.
These gems carried rich earth aura, which could boost the chances of rare minerals appearing nearby, and they were the perfect food for stone giants.