As the golden beam reached the heavens, piercing through the fog and clouds alike...

*CRUSH*

Mika's body smashed into the ground, causing an explosion and a crater five times larger than when Mary slapped her for hurting Blueberry.

...?

"What...? Why is she there...?!"

Shanks gasped looking at the dust settling from the crash site to his right.

Just a second ago Mika was right in the path of the beam, but now she was more than a few hundred feet away from the humongous titan-class monster shooting it...!

There was no logical explanation, even sophia has drawn blanks as for the reason of such occurrence.

"Arion, no!"

Still, the answer that the rat-faced man was looking for was right by him.

Just a few steps away, the brown-haired girl was embracing the swaying black wolf, that was getting skinnier and skinnier as the orange light was fading from his body.

"Skwee! (Brother Arion!)"

Even Blueberry flinched and screeched in panic and almost threw the rat-faced man off.

If before Arion was large but terribly skinny, now it looked like there weren't any muscles on his bones at all - the wolf had become a literal skeleton covered with skin and mangled fur.

In Mary's desperate embrace, Arion was shivering, barely able to stay conscious.

"You idiot...! Why did you do that?! Your curse isn't removed yet!"

Mary cried desperately, gently hugging the trembling wolf.

"R...aor... (The quest... she cannot die...) ...raor, raor... (...with titan-class monster running around, you won't be safe...)"

Arion growled weakly resting his head against the girl's neck and closed his eyes.

"...! You idiot...! I would be fine! I swear if you're going to die I'm never going to forgive you...!"

Mary's shoulders shook and she gritted her teeth.

"Skwee! (Brother Arion, don't give up!)"

The griffin encouraged the wolf, walking closer so that she could also support Arion.

"..."

"Ugh... why am I here...?"

Shanks was looking at the two in shock so he didn't even glance at Mika crawling out from the crater she created herself, groaning in pain while holding her head.

The rat-faced man was staring intently at the wolf, or rather at the color of the light that the wolf was giving off.

Orange.

It was completely normal for monsters to have the light produced by the skill be colored in many different ways depending on the monster's species...

...but...

If it wasn't just a coincidence - there was a skill that both produced the orange light and had an effect that could explain how Mary got transported such distance without losing any of her speed and momentum...

"You... wait, what...? But how?! That's impossible...!"

Shanks gasped staring wide-eyed at the wolf.

"You...! Just now! You used jaws of gluttony! You devoured the space between Mika and yourself...!"

The rat-faced man raised his hands to his forehead in disbelief.

Jaws of gluttony were said to be able to devour everything that the user desired - as long as it was of a high enough level that is.

It was the most powerful and the most fearsome skill out of the repertoire of the gluttony-based skills.

...and coincidentally it was also the skill that only the purest-blooded direct descendants of the progenitor of the Gluttony family could inherit and manifest.

It was something that a mere monster could never recreate.

"..."

Arion opened his pained eyes and glared at Shanks without making a single sound.

"...!"

But that was enough for an answer to the rat-faced man.

"A curse... you've mentioned something about a curse...! Oh, dear system, you meant the curse of starvation...! But that means he's not just some wolf, he's a...!"

Shanks put his hands down from his forehead and covered his mouth in utter shock.

"It's not a good time to have an in-depth talk about your allies, kind sir."

Mary frowned and leaned past the trembling black wolf just so she could glare at the rat-faced man.

"...you're right..."

After a moment of hesitation, Shanks nodded and clenched his rifle.

"Arion, do you think you will be able to stay on Blueberry's back by yourself?"

Mary turned back and asked her wolf that seemed to be barely breathing.

"Skwee! (That's right!) Skwee! (It will be okay, brother Arion, I will carry you to safety!)"

Blueberry nodded vigorously.

"...raor... (...sure...)"

Arion responded with a faint groan that might as well be a sigh.

"...raor... (...ow...)"

It was clear that he was in no state to move by himself - even when Mary let go of him for a moment so he could get closer to the blue griffin, the weakened wolf almost immediately plopped to the ground and whimpered in pain when Mary caught him again.

"What was that?! Hey! Was it one of you who messed up my attack?!"

Mika's annoyed complaint was so out of place that for a second none of the other defenders reacted to it.

"I had it! Whoever it was, they have just messed up everything! UGH! It really looks like only I, the Justice's Wrath, truly understand the severity of what's going on here!"

The ashen-haired girl, still glowing red with all her skills active, groaned and shook off the soil from her armor and faced back towards the twitching humongous monster trying to get up.

"Hmph! One more hit will be enough for that villainous monster!"

She added, clenching her fists - and got mana instantly coiling around them - ready to deliver the final blow she spoke about...

...and mess up the last chance they've got at successfully completing their quest...

"Skwee?! (Supid human! How dare you?!)"

Blueberry spread her wings and screeched furiously - her wound wasn't bleeding anymore but it was making it hard for her to walk.

"...that ungrateful brat...!"

Mary twitched and her body begun glowing pure white.

"..."

Shanks simply clenched his fists and his body begun glowing with an icy-cold pale blue light.

The presence he suddenly started to give off was truly overwhelming. Even though the rat-faced man made sure to not select the tamer and her two monsters as the skill's targets - just being close to him made others feel the insane pressure.

"YOU. DON'T YOU DARE TO MOVE UNTIL I WILL ALLOW YOU TO."

His voice sounded completely different than before, it was like the echoes of the system messages were reverberating through it, but not quite - something was slightly off.

And the one that he directed those words...

"...! Wh-what do you think you're doing?! Stop it! I'm the one who is in the right!"

Was of course the ashen-haired girl who turned into a completely unruly overpowered menace.

"I should have used the active ability of the right to rule on you long ago."

Shanks scoffed and turned away from the girl who suddenly became unable to take even a single step.

"Let's take Arion to safety and then start hunting down the runaway titan-class monsters before that thing gets back up."

Shanks said - already back to using his normal voice - and motioned at the gigantic monster in front of them with his chin.

"...yeah, now I'm starting to see why you will make for a great ally later on..."

Mary breathed out and muttered to herself.

"...excuse me, so I'm not your ally now...?"

Shanks blinked and shook his head.

"Don't mind that, I just remembered one of my dreams. Let's go with your plan, kind sir."

The brown-haired girl smiled and gently picked up the trembling weakened black wolf.