The interior of the enchanted cart was cramped, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a blade. Sitting across from Rei and Dell was a seasoned party of four: a gruff dwarf, a hulking wolf-beastman, a sharp-eyed female elf, and a human woman.
The wolf-beastman snickered, crossing his massive arms. "Great. Looks like we've got two kids aboard. This is supposed to be a high-risk zone, not a daycare."
"Hope we don't have to babysit them when things get hairy," the elf added, her eyes lingering on Rei's blindfold.
"They're just kids. Leave 'em to their antics," the dwarf grunted, though he didn't look particularly friendly.
Dell's face flushed red. "Hey, you want to fight, flea-bag?"
The wolf-beastman stood up, his head nearly hitting the roof. "Sure, kid. Let's take this outside. I'll show you how we handle pups in the wild."
Rei didn't move. He didn't even lift his head. "Drop it, Dell."
"But Rei—"
"Drop it." Rei's voice was quiet, but it carried a weight that made Dell freeze.
"Uhm... Okay," Dell muttered, sitting back down.
The coachman said "We are starting now everyone sit carefully"
As the cart started moving, it moved past the walls into the danger zone, Rei sensed many monsters each monster was gigantic since Rei could only sense the toe of a monster and not the entire foot, As the cart moved further Rei sensed not just one two but almost an entire sea of monsters surrounding the cart.
As the Cart was moving the elf leaned in, her voice dripping with mockery. "Look at this creepy one with the blindfold. You trying to look cool, kid?"
"Yeah, way too creepy," the beastman agreed.
Rei ignored them. He pulled a book from his pack. To the others, it looked like a stunt, but Rei was focusing his Qi to sense the very molecules of the ink on the parchment. He was studying Kyrokart, the official language of the Houlhart core continent. It was similar to the Zeltrise he knew, but more refined.
"You don't have to act like you're reading, kid," the human woman said. "We all know you can't see the pages."
Rei ignored her too, his mind cataloging grammar structures—until the cart suddenly lurched.
The blue runes etched into the walls flickered and died. The hum of the enchantment vanished.
"What's happening?" Rei asked, standing up.
"The enchantment... it broke!" the coachman yelled, his voice cracking with terror. "We need to turn back! Now!"
But it was too late. Without the masking spell, the "Dead Zone" roared to life. Through the windows, Dell saw shapes that defied logic. The dwarf turned on the coachman, grabbing his collar. "You fool! How did the enchantment break? We're in the middle of a monster sea!"
"I don't know! This hasn't happened in a century!"
CRUNCH. A massive shadow fell over them. A monster's foot, the size of a city block, slammed down. The cart's emergency physical barrier flared to life, groaning under the weight.
"Everyone out!" the coachman screamed. "The barrier won't hold another hit!"
The party of four didn't hesitate—they shoved Rei and Dell roughly aside to scramble for the door first. Rei felt a surge of cold annoyance. Can't anything just go smoothly for once? "Dell, let's go," Rei said.
They stepped out into a nightmare. Rei could only sense the "toes" of the creatures nearby because they were too massive for his range to encompass.
"Rei..." Dell's voice was trembling. "They aren't just monsters. They're the size of mountains. We can't fight these... we have to run!"
The "pro" adventurers were already curled on the ground in terror, their bravado gone. Rei didn't spare them a glance. He used his wind magic to lift himself and Dell high into the air.
"Dell, be my eyes," Rei commanded. "Tell me where to go."
"Straight! Go straight!" Dell yelled over the roaring wind.
As they flew, Dell navigated them through a forest of moving legs. "Left! Make an arc now!" Rei banked hard, his cloak billowing.
"Watch out! A fist is coming from the right!" Dell screamed.
"Revolving Wind Wall!" Rei roared. A massive tsunami of spiraling air erupted, forming a shield so dense it repelled the mountain-sized fist just enough for them to slip past.
"Another one from behind!"
Rei gritted his teeth, spinning mid-air. "Revolving Inferno Wall!" A wall of white-hot flames disintegrated the monster's knuckles on impact. But Dell gasped. "Rei, it's regenerating! It's growing back instantly!"
Infinite regeneration? Fine, Rei thought. I'll just take the steering wheel. "Dell, lead me to one of their heads."
"The head? Are you crazy? Go up... way up!"
The air grew thin as they ascended. Rei manipulated the oxygen around them to keep them from passing out. Finally, he sensed a massive chin, then a nose, then a forehead. He slammed his Chaos Scepter onto the creature's skin.
"You're mine now," Rei whispered.
He sent a massive surge of high-voltage electricity directly into the monster's brain, paralyzing its nervous system. Then, he sent a secondary thunder pulse, seizing control of its motor functions. Below them, the mountain-sized beast groaned and turned, swinging its fist at the other monsters.
Rei steered the titan like a puppet, forcing it to clear a path toward the city.
Inside Aurion City, the alarms were blaring. Citizens screamed as a rogue titan marched toward their "unbreakable" barrier. "We're all going to die!"
The barrier keepers stood at their posts, sweating. "The barrier will hold... it has to hold!"
Then, as the monster loomed over the gates, the crowd went silent. Two figures were standing on the creature's forehead. A boy in a red-and-white cloak and a teenager with glowing red tattoos.
Rei leaned over the edge, his voice amplified. "Hey. Let us in."
The barrier keeper stared, his jaw hitting the floor. He fumbled with the controls, opening a small gap in the shimmering wall. Rei and Dell hopped down, and the monster, released from Rei's control, slumped over, paralyzed.
A high-ranking official approached them, his knees shaking. "We... we need you to come with us... for... some questioning... please..."
Rei straightened his cloak and adjusted his blindfold. "Sure. Let's go, Dell."
"Yeah," Dell grinned, looking back at the smoking ruins of the monster path they had just carved. "Lead the way."
From afar Researcher's Wells along with his 2 companions saw Rei's actions he was the one who had made the enchanted cart lose control to see if Rei could get out of there safely.
Wells said "I had not expected him to take control of a monster to fight other monsters to get out of there, he certainly exceeds his reputations and is worthy to be considered my rival"
one of his companion asked "what's next researcher Wells" Wells smiled ominously and said "I need to see his upper limit, that's if he has any to make a masterpiece that can destroy him"