Jin feels as if he's been holding his breath this whole time, waiting for and listening to his daughter's response through and through... more than that, he feels his heart rate sky-rocketing to no end. He sits there clenching his fists really tight on his knees. not making a single inch of...
- Alright, where do I begin...
Jin holds his hands together, looking down and trying to gather all the courage he needs to do this.
- ... You ever notice those colorful dusts coming off your fur coat when you charge up your power ?... It's because...
According to the truths that he learned...
- Anything for you, sweetie.
... Later, that afternoon, in a small room that Jin rents for him and his daughter...
- So... it's your birthday. I figured it's the only time I can really talk about this with you.
The mammoth would try his best not to sound too serious and make the wolf pup...
- Oh don't mention it, dear.
The boar pets on Galaxy's ears a bit more, as the father and daughter take their leave. Now with Galaxy's birthday present, a brand new sword, with the grip made of Jin's tusks and horns.
The two head back to the inn. For now, without a home, this is the best place...
- Never in my life have I seen anything like that before. You're quite a cut above the rest, young man.
The elderly boar is certainly impressed with Jin's use of magic, mixed with traditional forging techniques and modern tech, in the creation of the sword. And he did it all by himself.
- And...
Jin proceeds to weld the pieces together with the sunlight and moonlight, constantly switching back and forth between melting and hardening them into each other, effortlessly finishing up the creation : a sword made for Galaxy.
For the final touch, the colors, he conjures nebula clouds and...
- Oh, no prob dear.
The boar blacksmith gives Galaxy a grandmotherly smile while resting her hands on her waist.
Jin looks around the place a bit to get himself familiar with it. The shelves to keep the materials, the forge, the anvil, the trough of water, and the workbench.
Then he cracks his...
Later, after lunch ; at the workshop near the gate...
The sounds of the hammer blasting through the metals on the anvil, and the sounds of metal melting, boiling in the forge... truly the best music to his ears.
When the two arrive, they see an aged female boar but with quite a long tail, almost...
- Purple... blue... alright, noted. Will get to it real soon. Love you sweetie.
Jin slightly raises his trunk and gently kisses on Galaxy's forehead, while petting her ears more.
- You've always mean so much to me, kid. In so many ways I'd never imagine... and all in a good way, no less. I'm...
- Real soon, sweetie. We'll talk about it over lunch.
Jin gently pets the wolf's ears and takes her to the inn that they came to when they first arrived at the town.
The menu is just as minimal as ever, but it'll have to do.
Jin sets the plate of food near his daughter.
- Alright, so...
He...
- ... I mean, we were just exploring, but you got a point. Still, best not to just throw your life away, y'know. I'm not too fond of seeing our number reduced further with each day pass. We're all holed up in this town now, and you're one of the few that can actually fight. Not that I blame the...
Ragna definitely did NOT see that coming.
Did Yaru just literally chew on a piece of that... that worm thing ?
He covers his mouth and feels all of his fur coat standing up. Almost turns around to vomit too. He manages to hold himself back, but looks like he's trying to pull himself out of a...
Ragna slightly narrows his eyes as he proceeds through Yaru's explanation, while at the same time trying to pick up details that sound rather... significant, to him. Specifically the word "sacrifice".
It's so hard to keep a straight face when Yaru just says it so painfully, yet plainly, blunt...
Ragna listens to Yaru, occasionally looking at the python-sized worm-like monstrosity. He's definitely not sure if he's hearing Yaru correctly, but he's rather certain that his ears are working just fine, all the loud noises of gunshots and explosives from the "scout" earlier in the forest...
Despite the team obviously capable of handling themselves against the monsters, Jin still feels that it's simply when the objective is to make them stop moving and/or kill them dead. Keeping them alive and studying them, on the other hand, is a different story. He doesn't want to judge a book by...
- I'm pretty certain you'd be totally fine with a python-sized worm, full of mouths and fungi on its body, wiggling around in chains. Not me though. Not anyone else though, that's for sure... besides, the chains might be tough enough to keep it pinned down, but, unless you literally plan on...
When in full view, the worm at the size of a python still disgusts the other three pretty bad, but given how badly injured it is, they just have to trust in Yaru's magic to keep the slime sturdy enough so it can't break free, at least too easily.
They also see several gaping mouths along the...
- This fucker ain't stopping for no-one. Ragna, flash-freeze the slime, see if we can hold it down to buy some more time.
- On it.
Ragna steps up, following Jin's new idea on how to do this. The dragon throws his whole body weight on his two paws as he pushes them towards the ground, and...
As soon as the blue slime floods out to pin down the monster's vines and roots into a sticky, gooey mess. However, its resistance against the slime is still plainly problematic, as a few vines somehow dislocate and reallocate themselves to the top of the tree, thus not coming in contact with the...