( Yuuki's POV )
After promising that we would recover their stolen treasure, the entity inside Neira became thoughtful and gave me one last look.
Ninulneda: Our treasure is being guarded by an invincible creature, no matter how many soldiers we send against it, no one was able to recover the beads, but if the ruler of the sky acts, perhaps things will be different.
Yuuki: [ Nothing is invincible, we will recover your treasure, and the name is Yuuki, by the way. ]
Ninulneda: I will give you one last chance, humans. Prove that you are not like those in the order.
Neira: ah Ninulneda has left us.
Through the words of their goddess, the Porpos-kin placed their trust in us, and Nimni was assigned to be our guide and support in the mission to recover the priestess's beads, he accept with delight.
Upon leaving the city of the Porpos-kin, we headed towards a cave along the coast near the city; that their treasure was found so near and yet so far seemed an unusual punishment, why would the order choose to torture the Porpos-kin specifically in that way?
The place was a bit cramped for me in my current form, so I reverted to my human form, which of course surprised the newest member of the group.
Nimni: wow Mr. Yuuki, you can transform your body?
Yuuki: One of my many abilities.
Upon entering the cave, we heard the sound of water droplets hitting the ground in a serene way, Ninulneda said that an invincible monster was in this cave, so I tried to accurately detect the presence of that creature, With some hope, that thing will take breaks to protect the beads.
While I was busy with that, Nimni ran excitedly to the front of us and picked up something that looked like a pearl with markings that looked like fingerprints carved into it.
Nimni: Ah! The beads if the Maiden.
Liu: Really? This is the impossible mission you described.
When Nimni said that the beads had been found basically at the entrance of the cave, we were all confused, but Nimni quickly clarified things.
Nimni: The priestess's beads consist of hundreds of beads, we were collecting the beads in the cave and we thought that the only ones left were the main beads kept by the monster.
Yuuki: Take us there then, let's finish the job.
We started following Nimni and the deeper we went into the cave, the more monsters we encountered, but nothing that wasn't too much of a problem, Liu's curiosity about the order's actions grew with every step, and he had to question Nimni.
Liu: You said these beads have no value outside of the porpos-kin, so why would the order bother stealing them?
Nimni: We have no idea; we didn't understand when the order started talking about their one true way, but we weren't hostile, We were very surprised when they took the beads of the maiden.
Yuuki: Many theories come to mind, but I think everything will be clear when we find the beads.
I had the enemy's presence pinpointed and it hadn't moved an inch since we entered the cave, avoiding confrontation was not an option; I was planning to fight from the beginning, but it would have been nice to get through without delay.
Yuuki: We are getting closer, the enemy is right in front of us, be prepared.
We reached a large section of the cavern and above us we heard a clanking sound, the chief of the cavern was walking on the ceiling and when it fell in front of us with great force we were able to get a good view of the enemy.
The invincible monster was a kind of giant crab; its shell was something that looked like a dome and was black in color; it didn't have pincers but it did have insect mandibles that looked capable of cutting a man in half with ease.
Liu: Hey, that presence, I remember it, that's a renegade!
Yuuki: Renegade? What's that?
Seig: A monster from another world that passed through a Gateway, they can only be defeated by someone from another world, no wonder you said this monster was invincible.
Yuuki: Then it's Cougar and my turn again.
The giant crab opened its mouth and it was so big it almost looked like a crocodile, if half of the crocodile's body was just its mouth.
A big attack was coming but before the battle started I extended my fist to the side, pointing it towards Cougar, who was clearly confused by my gesture.
Cougar: What are you doing?
Yuuki: A greeting or ritual for allies in battle. Just go with it.
Cougar mimicked my gesture and when our fists collided the giant crab released a burst of fire, a peculiar ability for a crab to have.
Before we were touched by the flames, we used Soru to dodge. Cougar was naturally quick on his feet, so with my training, he learned that technique quickly.
We both attacked from the sides of the crab, Cougar using his claws and me with my bare fists, The shell proved to be quite difficult to break, and the crab immediately showed that its defense wasn't all it had; that thing spun its body like a top to put us at a distance.
That worked against Cougar, who had to back away to dodge the attack, but I jumped high and used a Ki burst; it was the same size as the first time I used this technique, I suppose this only grew in size and power with consecutive uses, which was good; I didn't want to create a collapse in this place.
I spun in the air and then fell at high speed, I hit the top of the crab with an axe kick, and the impact this time left a crack in the creature's shell.
The duration of my technique increased each time I used it, and I was able to throw a Rankyaku kick before the effect wore off.
I wanted to cut the creature's jaws, but my attack only left a cut. It doesn't matter because at that moment I thought of a new way to use my technique.
I moved next to Cougar and extended my fist towards him again.
Yuuki: Hey Cougar, let's try this again.
Cougar was somewhat confused by my request in the middle of the battle, but he did it anyway, When our fists collided, I activated my Ki burst and concentrated most of my power where our fists were connected, as I expected, a second Ki current formed around Cougar.
He knew what my technique could do and we both went on the attack again; I grew scales and claws on my hands to use a combined attack, using our claws, when the crab opened its mouth, we used a cross cut, leaving an X mark with black Ki, we cut the ligaments that allowed the crab to open its mouth, we appeared on either side of the monster and with some powerful blows to its sides, the crack in its head opened completely and the creature's blood and entrails came out, the thing was finally dead.