"Mana Beasts?" Damon asked, confusion flashing across his face.
The girl stared at him with a perplexed expression.
"Everyone knows what mana beasts are. What are you..." She suddenly paused, a flicker of realization flashing across her pale face. "Did you... lose your memories?"
The question struck Damon like a hammer.
'Was it really that obvious? It's not like I was particularly trying to hide it... but still.'
He lingered for a moment, hesitating whether he could trust the girl, but decided it couldn't do him any harm, at least not right now. Besides, the more he learned about the world around him, the higher the chances of his memories returning would be.
"Yes," he replied stiffly.
The girl blinked a couple of times, as if she'd asked the question without really believing it, before she finally nodded.
"I see... that explains things. Mana Beasts come from animals who became woven with mana, which caused them to undergo sudden changes. In short, they are very strong monsters."
Damon nodded, then asked another pressing question.
"What's mana?"
If there was any color in the girl's face, it would've drained in that moment.
"Seriously? It's why we're all here in the first place. It's what sorcerers use to weave spells. You really don't even know that much?"
She paused only for a moment, not even giving him enough time to reply before she continued.
"Either way, we need to move. Soon, two dozen mana beasts will be prowling through the whole arena. They use low-grade beasts for the purpose of entertainment, but to non-sorcerers... it's like fighting a bear with your fists. You don't want to meet them head-on."
Damon nodded, soaking in all the new information. His mind raced as his head whipped in every direction, thinking of the next step.
"There!" he suddenly called out, pointing toward a direction where a small mountain was now visible through the scorched forest. The black smoke still lingered, but the wind was strong enough to clear the air quickly.
The girl hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"Let's go."
They rushed toward it, the pressure of time like a physical weight on their backs.
The burned forest crunched beneath their boots, the sound echoing through the silence.
Soon enough, the scorched trees opened up and revealed a small mountain, if you could call it that. It was more like a pile of massive rocks—large and higher than most two-story buildings, but smaller than Damon expected.
"We should—" Elise began, but her magenta eye suddenly widened as she grabbed Damon's arm and pulled him to the side.
Whoosh!
An arrow flew past, right where Damon had stood a moment earlier, and struck the wall of rocks before them.
As they turned, they saw a single person hidden behind the cover of a tree that somehow remained untouched by the earlier fire.
The man wasted no time pulling another arrow on his bow, raising it high before—
SMASH!
A massive hammer crashed into him from behind, crushing his skull and killing him in a single blow.
From behind the archer, two figures stepped forward—both massive men, identical in features. One wielded a massive hammer while the other dragged an enormous greatsword across the ground.
"Haha, this fool! Did you see that, brother? He did not even see that coming!"
"Focus, you moron! We got two more enemies before us!"
Damon tightened his grip on his weapon as he stared at the pair of twins before him.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the arena.
[Announcement! Phase Three will begin now.]
Damon's eyes widened.
'What? We barely started moving. It hasn't even been five minutes, let alone twenty!'
Then he saw the surprised expression on the twins before him, and it hit him.
They'd lied.
The twenty minutes had been a lie from the start. A false sense of security designed to catch them off-guard. To make better entertainment for whoever the hell was watching them.
'They're toying with our lives.' It was a cruel realization that made his blood run cold.
But before he could dwell on that thought, Elise's voice suddenly cut through the silence.
"Run!"
The girl wasted no time, turning into a sprint. He didn't question it—the girl knew more than he did, and so he followed after, with the pair of twins following shortly behind them.
They curved around the mountain of rocks, creating a large gap between them and the attackers. But as they took another turn, they met a dead end—rock walls curved across the path on one side with the other being buried under scorched trees.
'What now?' Damon's mind raced. He took a quick glance at Elise, but her expression was unreadable, almost as if she wasn't bothered by the dead end. But he had no time to think as the twins arrived just a moment later.
"Would you look at that? Two cornered mice!" one of them called out.
But in that moment, a massive monster landed right on top of the other twin, crushing him into a pulp of flesh and blood.
It had four limbs an a hand, and stood at least four meters tall. Black fur covered its body, and massive claws extended from paws large enough to engulf a human torso.
Damon's blood ran cold.
The beast twisted, its claws flying straight at the other twin.
The man lifted the hammer just in time, but the impact sent him flying into the nearby rocky wall.
'This... this is a low-grade mana beast?!'
"What now?" Damon asked, hoping Elise had a plan after running all the way here.
"We kill it," Elise said.
Her timid demeanor was gone, replaced by the confidence of a trained fighter. Her single magenta eye glowed brighter, that otherworldly luminescence intensifying with each moment.
The beast's head snapped toward them, its red eyes fixing on prey.
Damon raised his sword, his shoulder screaming in protest.
'We're about to fight a monster that just crushed a man like an insect.'
He scoffed.
'This is insane.'
And just as his thought finished, the beast charged.