For a moment the world seemed to stop.

The three humans, the two tamed monsters, the tens of titan-class monsters - even the mist itself - became completely still.

They all just stood there, stunned out of their mind.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Then the sound of an enormous explosion resounded thorough the area, followed by a shockwave that stirred the mist as it blew past all the beings still unable to grasp the situation.

That attack, that beam - it was pure insanity, it was nothing like all the previous golden beams that killed so many Sloth soldiers in the past days.

It was far, far stronger, far more horrifying... and the destruction that they've brought couldn't even be compared.

"...it's over..."

Shanks's weak gasp was perfectly audible in the heavy silence that befell the area.

The rat-faced man himself almost fell off the blue griffin slowly descending towards the earth.

...the thing was, he wasn't looking back trying to see through the fog to confirm with his own eyes what the sophia skill had already told him...

No.

He was looking forward, in the direction where the titan-class monsters were coming from.

Why?

*THUMP*

"%¤¤{±¤±£`{_"

Because the outrageous monster that dwarfed all the others stepped out from the fog and its bellowing roar made the stomachs of all the living churr.

As if that was a command, all the stagnant up until then titan-class monsters restarted their mad charge towards the first defense line.

"...that thing is even taller than the tower of Patience..."

Shanks spoke unable to pull his eyes away from the creature whose height could only be compared to the skyscraper's from Zombie's previous life, he didn't even notice the beasts passing below them.

"Hurry! We need to bring that thing down as soon as possible!"

Mary sounded as desperate as Shanks was feeling but instead of giving up, she dodged the oncoming titan-class monsters - which all looked like toddlers compared to the gigantic monster sluggishly making its way towards them.

"Hey! Kind sir! We have no time to waste! Shoot that thing's legs as soon as you're ready! Blueberry, try to hold on for a bit longer! We can't back out now!"

But she didn't just end on that, she jumped toward her griffin and the rat-faced man and once she grabbed onto Blueberry's healthy front paw she pointed at the gigantic beast with a single tremendous golden eye taking up three-quarters of its face.

"It shoot its once per wave beam just now, right? We have to make it fall!"

The urgency in her voice was commendable but it completely didn't make sense to Shanks.

"What is the point anyway?! Look at this!"

He emerged from the depths of despair just to turn around and point at the tens of monsters running straight ahead through the first defense line and into the second defense line and not being shot at since the artillery no longer existed.

"We've failed! Without the artillery, the monster wave will break through!"

He spat out angrily and looked away with a bitter expression.

"You're talking some bold things for someone who doesn't even have the right quest active!"

Mary shouted back to him and pointed her index finger at her right eye.

"Once that thing showed up I got an emergency quest telling me to kill it - that emergency quest stopped the -Final frontier- quest's timer!"

"...!"

She exclaimed urgently, pointing at the overwhelming monstrous beast, causing the rat-faced man to flinch and stare at her wide-eyed.

"So what you're saying is...!"

He gasped.

"That if we just incapacitated this abomination - but not kill it - we will gain time to hunt down all the other titan-class monsters that passed us! The artillery is gone but the mist is still working! It will confuse them, right?! There is still hope for us!"

Mary grasped Shanks by the armor and shook him up with eyes glowing not with the light of the skill but with the strong conviction and the will of iron.

"...if it's like that, then your plan might work... If you didn't receive the message about failing the quest... We still have all the Sloth soldiers on our side...!"

The rat-faced man gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his beloved weapon.

"You try to cut its tendons, I will shot at its ankles and knees, and if those injuries won't be enough, Mika should be able to knock it off balance with her Justice's punch!"

Mary's hope was highly contagious and got Shanks rearing to go back into action.

"Right, that idiot... where even is she right no..."

"DIE YOU BASTARD!"

Mary's words got interrupted by a blood-curling shout.

"What, in the name of the system?!"

"Oh, for FUCK'S SAKE!"

The two of them shouted - Mika still somehow minding her manners while Shanks showed that he spends too much time around the potty-mouthed Lairs - and looked toward the direction it came from just to witness the tiny, ashen-haired dot pulsating with a blinding red light while flying upwards towards the colossal cyclops's head.

"WHAT IS THAT IDIOT DOING?!"

It was hard to say who hurt their throat more shouting at the young girl who didn't even glance at them - though it was hard to say whether she actually even heard them in the first place considering how much the air had to be howling into her ears due to the speedy ascend.

"If we don't coordinate our attacks, that thing will never...!"

Mary gritted her teeth, glaring at the faraway Mika but then...

...the unthinkable happened...

Mika ended up not reaching the cyclops's head, her jump only allowed her to reach the monster's chest, which was already an insane feat - so instead of punching its head, the ashen-haired girl naturally settled on punching the chest...

*CRUSH*

"¿«$€•

The horrible sound of bones getting smashed into splinters and of flesh getting ripped apart resound and the enormous beast cried out in pain as its chest caved in and it lost its balance and begun falling back.

"Dear system...!"

Shanks gasped staring at the miracle happening right before his very eyes.

"She did it! Now we can start hunting the monsters that...!"

"Wait! Look! What is she doing?!"

Mary breathed out and relaxed but then felt Shanks's hand on her shoulder, as the rat-faced man pointed her in the ashen-haired girl's direction.

The berserk girl wasn't stopping her attack at all...!

"I GOT YOU!"

Luckily for Mika - but unluckily for everyone else - thanks to how the monster was falling down, she found herself in a perfect position to punch right at, or rather right through, its giant eye - and she was going to take that chance!

Her body was glowing with a more intense light than ever before.

"NO! YOU IDIOT! YOU WILL RUIN EVERYTHING!"

Mary cried and jumped down so that she could launch herself at the ignorant girl without hurting Blueberry.

But before she could do that, the falling gargantuan titan-class monster's golden eye begun glowing...

"IT CAN SHOT THAT BEAM AGAIN?! MIKA! RUN!"

Shanks was the first to realize what was going on and he shouted as loud as he could but it changed nothing...

*«.¡¤•±€£•}^%¡}¿«».±€¥_±|•±*

The golden beam shot right up, tearing through anything that got in its way without exception.

*CHOMP*

Wait... what...?

Chomp...?!