Chapter 45: But you just awakened

Yuto stood still for a brief moment, allowing the weight of what he was about to do to settle fully into his awareness, though not in a way that caused hesitation, more in the way one acknowledges the edge of something irreversible before stepping forward anyway. In a place like this, where danger seemed to exist in every breath of air and every shadow between stones, he could no longer afford to leave potential strength unused, not when survival depended on having every advantage available.

He exhaled slowly, steadying himself, not out of fear of the others, but out of a quiet awareness that what he was about to reveal would change the way they saw him. Still, that concern was secondary here, almost trivial compared to the necessity of what had to be done. Without further delay, he accepted the steel-plated beetle as his summon. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The corpse reacted at once.

What had once been a massive, heavily armored creature began to break apart in a way that was both unsettling and strangely fluid, as though its rigid form had forgotten it was ever meant to be solid. The thick plates that had once formed its protective exterior softened at the edges, then began to collapse inward, folding into themselves as if the structure were being unmade from within rather than simply dismantled.

A wet, unnatural sound filled the space as the entire body lost coherence, sinking into itself in slow, viscous waves. The transformation carried an almost organic wrongness, as though reality itself was struggling to decide what shape the creature was supposed to take.

Tami immediately stepped back, his expression twisting in clear discomfort as he watched the process unfold.

"Ew, ew, no, what is that," he muttered, continuing to retreat a few more steps as if distance alone could make the scene less disturbing.

Maya, however, did not move. She remained exactly where she stood, her posture steady, her gaze locked onto the transformation with an analytical stillness that suggested observation rather than revulsion. There was no visible disgust in her expression, only quiet focus, as though she were studying something unfamiliar rather than reacting to it.

Within moments, the liquefied mass stopped spreading. The motion that had once been chaotic and dissolving began to settle into a controlled stillness, and a faint system notification appeared before Yuto’s vision, confirming the summon had been successfully registered.

Then he summoned it.

The ground beneath the darkened mass trembled slightly, not violently, but with a subtle ripple that spread outward like a pulse traveling through stone. In an instant, the steel-plated beetle reformed.

The transformation reversed with sudden precision, as if time itself had decided to rewind only that specific sequence. Armor plates snapped back into place with sharp, metallic clicks that echoed faintly through the cavern, each segment locking together with mechanical certainty. Limbs reassembled in seamless coordination, joints aligning as though guided by memory rather than physical assembly.

Within seconds, the creature stood fully restored beside Yuto.

Its massive frame loomed over them once more, black armored plates catching the dim light of the cave, its presence heavy and unmistakably real. Though motionless, it was alive in the most immediate sense, its dark eyes scanning the surrounding space with a quiet awareness that suggested readiness rather than dormancy.

Both Tami and Maya reacted instinctively, jumping back a step as the sudden reformation completed itself.

"Yuto!" Tami snapped, his body already shifting into a combat stance out of pure reflex.

Maya’s hand moved to her blade at the same moment, her posture tightening as she assessed the threat in front of her without hesitation.

"Wait," Yuto said sharply, his voice cutting through the rising tension before it could escalate further. "Don’t attack it. It’s my summon."

They both hesitated, their eyes still fixed on the beetle, as though waiting for it to prove him wrong.

"But... you already have a summon," Maya said, her gaze briefly shifting toward Shiny, recalibrating what she was seeing.

Yuto nodded once, then let out a small, almost resigned sigh.

"Yeah," he said. "Well... I’m basically a menace now. I can have two summons."

The statement lingered in the air longer than he expected.

Tami blinked slowly. "Huh?"

Maya’s expression sharpened slightly, her attention narrowing as she studied him again, as though a new piece had been added to a puzzle she had not been aware she was solving.

Both of them looked genuinely surprised, though in different ways.

Tami frowned, processing it aloud. "You didn’t even become awakened that long ago, same as us."

Yuto gave a short nod. "Yeah."

"Then how are you progressing this fast?" Maya asked.

He rubbed the back of his head, his gaze drifting away from them for a moment as if searching for an answer that did not exist in any structured form.

"I don’t know," he said honestly. "It just... happened."

Silence followed immediately.

It was not the silence of disbelief or rejection, but something more cautious, more evaluative, as though both of them were reassessing what kind of person stood in front of them.

Yuto felt it without needing to look directly at them.

Maya’s expression had shifted subtly, her eyes holding a more measured focus now, as though she was no longer simply observing him but recalculating his value against an internal scale that had just changed.

Tami, on the other hand, looked caught between admiration and unease, like someone standing beside a path that was widening far faster for another person than it was for himself.

Yuto cleared his throat, intentionally breaking the tension before it could settle any deeper.

"We shouldn’t stay here," he said. "We need to keep moving."

He turned slightly toward Maya. "Come ride the beetle with me. It’s faster."

Maya nodded without hesitation.

Yuto lifted a hand as if to assist her, but she did not wait. Instead, she stepped forward and placed one foot onto the beetle’s armored leg, using it as a foothold, and in a single fluid motion climbed up its body with controlled balance, settling herself onto its upper plating without requiring support.

Tami shifted forward immediately afterward. "I’ll get on too—"

"No," Yuto cut in. "Three of us will slow it down. You’ve got your panther. Ride that."

Tami exhaled sharply through his nose, irritation flashing across his face.

"That’s not fair!"