Noen looked at the dense, dark treeline and felt a wave of pure, unfiltered skepticism. "What? Every little kid knows that the Island of Death was wiped out decades ago," he said, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and annoyance. "The US military leveled it with a targeted bomb. It's supposed to be a flat pile of ash."
"I know..." Ignaz muttered. He hunkered down, running his fingers through the dark sand. "Something really doesn't fit here. Should we maybe head onto the island and—"
"NEIN!" Noen's shout was so loud it made a few nearby people jump. "Are we in a bad horror movie or what? When was it ever a good idea to walk exactly into the place that's creepy... or dangerous? Like, ever?"
Ignaz blinked, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Uhh..."
"Exactly." Noen marched over to Ignaz, gripped him by the shoulder, and physically hauled him back toward the frozen water. He spun around to face the shivering crowd. "Everyone, listen up! We are staying right here on the water and waiting until the government or whatever shows up, got it? We stay as far away from that island as humanly possible."
A chorus of relieved murmurs broke out. Nobody wanted to find out why the island was back. The group began to trudge back out onto the ice, heading toward the broken, tilted silhouette of the plane. "Let's get back inside the aircraft," Noen said, starting to climb the jagged ice stairs Olivia had conjured earlier.
"And what if something explodes?" an elderly woman called out from the back of the line. "The engines were on fire!"
Noen looked at Ignaz and gave him a knowing grin. Ignaz sighed, but he caught the vibe. "Hey, you! Sir!" Ignaz waved over the elderly Tank from before. "Could you help me shield off anything that is potentially dangerous? We need to make sure this wreck stays stable." The old man nodded firmly, his amber aura flickering back to life. "Of course."
At the US Magic Beast Defense Department:
A man wearing a bowtie and holding a stack of papers sat down at the table for two.
"Sooo..."
"We don't recognize this beast. It looks like a weird combination of a blue-eyed Orc and a Ghostly. Only, you know, giant-sized," said a woman already sitting at the two-seater table.
"Are any Beast Slayers on their way yet?" the man asked, sipping his coffee.
"No. We don't know yet if this thing is actually strong or just big. If it's just big, we can send people from our own ranks..." she said, typing on her laptop. "And if it is strong, we'll have to rely on independent high System-Rank owners, whether we like it or not." She sighed. "I don't know, what do you say? Risk with potentially low costs—but maybe very high costs—or safety with guaranteed very high costs?"
The woman turned her laptop and showed some rough sketches of the giant magical beast. The man pondered. "A completely new beast... that doesn't happen often." He took another sip of his coffee. "I would send some weak Beast Slayers from our own ranks, so to speak as fodder, to find out where the weak points are and what powers we are dealing with."
The woman grinned and turned the laptop back to herself. "Then we'll do it that way... Beast Slayers... speaking of which, have the new ones already received their hypnosis yet?"
"The CEH?" "Exactly."
"All set. After all, you never know, right?"
"True."
Back with Noen and the others, the atmosphere inside the broken fuselage was thick with dread. A few passengers were peeking out of the jagged windows, watching the massive beast move back and forth, its silhouette blocking out the sun.
"W-What if it comes over here?" Noen asked, his voice tight with tension.
"No idea. We'll just have to hope that doesn't happen," Ignaz replied, currently busy reinforcing the protective shield around the exposed engine. "Help will be here soon."
Noen pulled his knees up to his chest, hesitating for a second before speaking. "Hey... you, Ignaz?"
"Yeah?"
"You said you're bound to Gantz just like I am," Noen said, watching Ignaz sit down in the seat next to him. "What did you mean by that?"
Ignaz took a deep breath, his eyes wandering toward the ceiling of the plane. "I'll tell you that another time." He swiped his hand through the air, opening his system interface and clicking on a tab labeled Quests.
Noen leaned in, squinting at the glowing screen. "How can you click on Quests? I don't see that. So far, I've only gotten one achievement from a quest I couldn't even see beforehand."
"You unlock those once you've gathered a bit more LP," Ignaz explained without looking up.
Ok, another reason to push my limits, Noen thought to himself.
"Speaking of which, Noen," Ignaz said, turning to him. "I heard you have a Title, right?"
Noen nodded with a sarcastic yawn. "Jap. The Absolute Zero. Yippee."
Ignaz looked at him intensely. "And you know that when you have a Title, you get a Buff?"
Noen snapped his head toward him, his eyes wide. "Say what now?"
"Open it up," Ignaz commanded. Noen swiped his hand through the air, and his glowing blue interface flickered into existence.
[System-Class: Noen]
[Title: The Absolute Zero]
[Role: 0]
[STR: -49.5 / 0]
[AGI: -46.5 / 0]
[END: -50 / 0]
[VIT: -50 / 0]
[FOC: -45 / 0]
[AFF: -50 / 0]
"Now, click on your Title," Ignaz said, leaning in closer. Noen tapped the shimmering text. A secondary menu slid out with a soft chime, but it was frustratingly vague.
[Title: The Absolute Zero]
[Buffs: ???]
Noen let out a long, heavy sigh. Ignaz did the same, rubbing his temples. "Your system is truly bizarre," Ignaz said, leaning back into his seat, sweat dripping off his forehead. "Its really just a weird gigantic question mark."
Noen gave a weak, lopsided smile. "You can say that again."