Feelings of betrayal, shock, and anger surfaced at seeing the trap. Glaring at Elber angerly, Brigan spoke with a sharp edge to his voice. "Why?" Just that simple word alone spoke many meanings to it.

On the side, Elber flinched slightly before facing his head to the ground in reminiscing. "The suffering of this village can't be understood by an outsider. Why did I deceive you? Why did I steal the sword? Even if I told you, could you understand? Young Brigan, you don't know true hardship. I remember our first conversation still. The day we met, you were attempting to drink poison water. Your posture was relaxed the same as it was now. Any beast roaming around knows how to make surprise attacks. You had beyond a sheltered life. It was peaceful!!! So peaceful, you never heard of God Candidates or faced a beast invasion!!!" He expressed, starting softly before yelling vigorously.

"Why?" Brigan asked again just as sharply as before. Despite what Elber said, he didn't care for those things. What he wanted to know instead was the reason to stop him from helping. There was no reason to cause the problem to augment when preventing it was better instead.

Elber shot his own glare after hearing Brigan's response. "Why? I don't understand your question, and we don't have time. When everything has been settled, you can leave the village or choose to live here. For the cage, it is my only God Weapon but the strongest one there is. With it, you should be safe until nightfall. Whether it be those on the outside or inside, anything under an Extraordinary striking force has no ability to cause damage. "

After mentioning his last words, Elber left to head east where the village gates were located. Letting his anger slowly cease, Brigan sighed at Elber's kindness and stubbornness.

He wasn't the smartest person around, but even he could tell the happenings using the few signs there was. For instance, Elber just gave up his best defensive God Weapon when he was going to search for that shadowy figure he met last time.

This was Elber's kindness in trying to protect someone whom he deemed as free of hardships. He didn't want to see that kind of person suffer from the unjust reality presented to everyone.

Then was the mentioning of it being his only God Weapon. Since the shadowy figure had a blade God Weapon, Elber needed a way to fight back instead of only guarding. This was why he took the claymore God Weapon.

Last was Elber's stubbornness. Despite knowing that two is better than one, he still chose to shoulder everything on his own. Even offending those close and breaking the law didn't deter his beliefs.

Brigan sighed again as he watched the space where Elber's silhouette disappeared. "If you shoulder all the burden, how do I repay your kindness?" He whispered. A true friend didn't consider an act of kindness to be something as debt, but Brigan had his own morals.

Losing his parents and living alone, he made a promise to himself that any true kindness shown to him, he would definitely repay ten fold or more. It was a vow he made because he had wished to have experienced the same thing himself during his younger.

Stuck with nothing else to do, Brigan tried checking the cage for a way out. If he was to reexamine Elber's words, this God Weapon not only had the sturdiest defense ability for Ordinary God Weapons, but it also could be damaged or broken, provided the strength was strong enough.

Prior, during his fight with the water rabbit, he measured their strengths to be the same but with the water rabbit's defense being superior. Since it was a beast at the boundary for Ordinary rank beasts, he determined there was a chance his own strength could affect the cage.

To test his theory, he drew back an arm before thrusting forward with a twist, exerting his greatest force. "Delusion Twister!" He yelled the moment his fist made contact. By doing this, he was hoping to diminish the damage his hand received on impact.

Crink!

Bursting forward and straight, it was like a spiral as it caused the cage bars to crank and make grinding noises while vibrating.

But even so, there were only slight signs of being damaged. "It's hard!" He said after feeling the pulsating pain numbing his hand.

Deciding to endure, he initiated to perform another strike. And just when he got in position, a shadow engulfed the cage. Shifting his head, he spotted the water rabbit from before standing in an area that shone the sun's brilliance and letting it appear larger than its actual size.

No scratch that, he was wrong. The water rabbit had truly grown larger. The stare from its eyes was also more frightening than prior. Its dark pools seemed to devour the surrounding light.

However, there was another thing different. The attitude it showed when chasing the three running villagers was nowhere to be found. Instead, if it could kill using its eyes, Brigan would be dead. The hatred that it felt to losing against Brigan was that intense.

In fact, if Brigan made a guess, he would assume the purpose for it entering the village this time was to get revenge. And what gave it its boost of confidence was the larger size it now possessed.

"What do you want, sore loser? Can't you see I'm stuck in this cage? Don't give me that look, we can't fight even if you want too." He said nonchalantly, acting like nothing was wrong as he sat down crossed-legged while imitating the pose for gaining enlightenment.

"Patience! All things will come clear in time, old one. Learning to endure is part of life." He said wisely.

In truth, he was nervous at the moment. Being trapped made him feel handicap, and with the strongest enemy he fought to date nearby, it made the feeling heavier.

Did the cage really protect against anything below Extraordinary rank?

Crack!

Brigan felt the ground tremble as it leaped toward his direction. "Not good!" He panicked, jumping to the side farthest from the water rabbit.

Boom!

Like a tidal wave descending, the water rabbit blasted the cage from its position. Brigan, who was inside, felt the surge of liquid travel up his throat as he was tossed about like a bouncing ball.

Thinking quick, he used the momentum of the spinning and bouncing cage to turn it into a hamster wheel treadmill. While running, he sprinted in a dash to escape the upgraded water rabbit.

"How is fighting me now proving your strength? Are you afraid of me coming out?" He taunted to heal his injuries.

Cracking the ground to launch itself once again, it ignored Brigan's words completely. Only killing the prey existed in its eyes.

Left with no choice, Brigan wheeled the cage around before striking it in the same place the water rabbit would land. "Delusion Twister!" He shouted.

Boom! "Argh! Stupid Elber! He completely forgot how strong this thing is," He groaned while shooting daggers at the water rabbit preparing to launch another assault. "When I get out..." He paused seeing it already mid-flight again, "Dang! Stupid Elber! Stupid water rabbit!"

Once more, he let loose complaints as he delivered Delusion Makers and Delusion Twisters to the cage every exchange.

After a short while, five minutes passed of him running and trading blows before there was a loud snapping sound. With the noise, three bars of the cage fell off.

Boom!

The water rabbit landed on the now empty cage as it still glared hatefully at him. He, however, ignored the look as he grabbed two of the broken bars, and at the end of each one was a sharp point reflecting the sun's brightness. "You got your turn. Now you will become the punching bag!"