Her hands sweated as if they had been plunged into the sea, the sound of the ants walking made the eardrums of both of them feel like an uncomfortable tickle. They did not look at the people who encouraged them in their native language, nor at the leaders who seemed attentive to every movement of their bodies.
Among the people, the priestess clasped her hands in front of her waist, serious, but also confident in the abilities of the two.
With a nod of the head, they quickly fitted their hands into the straw glove.
Now fitted in, the natives approached them, together with the leaders and the priestess herself, crossing their arms with those of Elisa and Shaphira, beginning to dance in their own language.
The pain of the stings, like receiving thousands of gunshots to their hands, did not stop. The ants' claws pierced the skin of both, injecting small amounts of Renkai Energy, like a poison that would not turn them into demons, but would be just as agonizing.
To try to distract their minds from the pain, they began to sing along and dance with greater intensity. The veins on their temples and arms looked so exposed that they seemed ready to burst through the layer of skin.
Every second, every circle they made in the dance was like an eternity that lasted hours, days, years.
Small, insignificant drops of blood accumulated inside the glove. Elisa saw this as an opportunity to try to improve her technique.
She tried to focus on transforming her blood into a protective layer, but the ants destroyed it with increasing ferocity.
Yet, each time she felt more exhausted from the pain, more exhausted from dancing, from feeling the hot sun of Brazilovia burning her skin, each time she felt her mana running out, her body, as an instinct of protection and survival, slowly began to form a more resistant layer of blood.
Shaphira observed the techniques applied by her sister and did the same. The Renkai Energy that was applied and removed to further increase her body's durability made the tissue of her skin more fragile before the impetuous bites of the bullet ants. But as the endless minutes passed, it caused the Renkai Energy in her body to begin transforming her body, not actively, but passively.
The pain gradually diminished, not only because of the adrenaline of the moment, but because of the changes that mana began to make to the bodies of both.
After ten agonizing minutes, most of the natives stepped back and began clapping in congratulations. The leaders calmly led them to a bench and removed the gloves, causing small pieces of skin and flesh to fall from Shaphira's gloves and layers of blood to come out of Elisa's.
Both were panting, their eyes hovering over their arms, which were covered in wounds and a pain that would last for the next few hours.
But as a reward, the couple held each of their hands with a firm but gentle grip, saying that both were very welcome in that land.
Minutes after the ritual.
Elisa fed on the blood of some animals that had been hunted by the natives, desperation clearly visible on her face, and Shaphira tried to maintain her calm in meditation, but with the pain and the sensation of Renkai Energy trying to consume her consciousness, it was very difficult.
Hours later.
After recovering, they were in a hut that a family had shared, trying to endure the sensation of nausea, burning, and a fever that made their heads throb with every step they took.
Suddenly, a boy entered the small, cool room, offering a sip of ice cold water from a nearby stream. Both forced grateful smiles and drank the wooden cup in one gulp.
And at the same time they asked for the location of that stream.
When they arrived, if shame were to stop them from anything, it would be foolishness. They parted with their clothes and entered that cold, but perfect water.
The icy liquid passed over their wounds like a remedy that made them forget the pain for a moment, and when that water passed through their throats, so in need, it was like receiving a divine blessing.
Water is perfect.
In contrast to that relief.
When he returned, that sharp eye opened, abruptly asking about the origins of the man's murmurs. Slady, grinding his teeth, ordered the serpent to be silent, for now he had all his damned time to help her free herself.
As he crossed the shadowy spaces of that place, the snake did not stop asking him who "they" were, to whom he was so devoted.
He replied that she was not worthy of knowing anything, his cane striking hard against the ground.
Thus, Medusa fell silent, merely ordering him to do his work.
After crossing the darkness, an enormous space expanded before him.
A luminous cave covered with Renkatas, revealing all, or a portion, of the body of the Bestial Destroyer.
And there, in the depths, there was a portal that supposedly held the rest of Medusa's body. Beside it, a structure meters and meters high that was meant to pull that remainder.
The cave trembled with the movements, and soon the snake twisted itself so it could face him, its eyes shining like lanterns behind Slady.
With a laugh, she lamented that the man would walk for kilometers until reaching the end. She would even leave him alone, but she wanted freedom as soon as possible.
Then, with thunderous delicacy, her tongue reached the man's body, covering him with saliva, but in seconds bringing him to the top of the structure.
Coughing, he wiped the slimy liquid from his body and sat on the wood, thoughtful about how he could move forward.
He knew her plans. Medusa wanted freedom to dominate all of humanity with her absolute control of Renkai Creatures.
He remembered when he awoke on that island, the sensation of weakness, of failure, and the frustration of no longer having his former knowledge.
His fist clenched at that memory.
But, like the threat of a prison and an opportunity for freedom, that snake offered him a chance to obtain knowledge gradually. Perhaps not the kind he once had, but something new.
Alchemy was not something that interested him, but with what he had, it was the closest option to recovering his former power.
That structure he was now producing was humble, a small step from his peak, the first minimally technological creation he would make.
He felt that something terrible would happen if he gave freedom to that snake. But he had no choice. Only one thing remained for him. To kill that being with the knowledge he obtained.
But Slady could not stop to think about the girls. He missed their presence, but he could not put them in danger again. Not anymore.
If before he had no reason to hurry, now he did.
Rising once more, Slady demanded that Medusa give him the maximum number of books on alchemy that she had. In return, she would have him for as long as she wished. His dedication would be entirely focused on her.
With a malicious smile, the serpent commented on her lack of understanding of the man's sudden motivation, but said she loved the deal.
She began to quickly pull her great body into the portal, leaving a huge hollow in the luminous cave. In a few moments, her coiled tongue brought countless books to the ground.
Hearing the sound of the books hitting the floor, Slady, with almost a smile forming, said that he did not know the source from which the snake obtained so many books, but that he greatly appreciated the favor she had done for him.
Slady would probably remain in that place longer than he would like.