"You want information, huh," Xandra muttered while thinking about it for a short while. After a few seconds of thinking, she looked on Dante right in the eyes and calmly replied.
"If it is some information you want regarding the monster, I have a lot of it."
"Though, it's nothing more but some trivia about it."
There was no need to withhold information, especially when they were about to face it. It was better for Dante to know a lot about it as he might be able to help them face their problem.
Dante then nodded and waited for Xandra to explain everything regarding the monster. As even though he saw its appearance, it might be hiding something that had the capability to take down a couple of Kryftis.
He wouldn't want to face such an ability without any information about it. After all, if he wasn't cautious enough. It might bring damage to his body and Roshan, which would be something he'd rather avoid.
"The gigantic monster we are facing is known as Gigantis Akantha. It is somewhat of a powerful monster, one whole level beyond that of the Kryftis."
"I don't know how such a monster was able to enter the marathon test. Since while the training officers wanted to see their recruits' limits. It would be stupid to send something that was almost improbably for recruits to defeat."
Xandra said while sighing to herself as fighting against Akantha was near suicidal. The reason why she wanted to hold on while fighting against the monster was simple. She was buying time for the training officers to intervene and save them.
"So you were buying time, thinking that the training officers might help you."
Dante furrowed his eyebrows as numerous thoughts regarding Xandra's words passed through his mind. And what she had said might be correct. The training officers might be watching them.
But, he doubted they would intervene until death fully embraced them.
'Despite having low attributes in terms of instincts and many more. I have a strange feeling of being watched. The one watching isn't even trying to hide it.'
'Is this a warning of some kind? Or a reassurance? The one watching might be trying to tell that there's nothing to be fear since the one watching from afar would intervene if something happen.'
'Though, I can't depend on instincts that are only average. I might be wrong, so I need to be careful.'
He then shook his head as there was no need to think much about it. The only thing he needed to focus on was the problem before him.
"Gigantis Akantha are defensive and powerful monsters. They have thorns protruding from their hardened backs. Their shells are extremely thick that even bullets wouldn't be able to make a dent on it."
"For normal humans to defeat them, a heavy or explosive ordinance must be prepared."
"But, while they are incredibly hard to kill. That doesn't mean they have weakness."
"The Akantha have many weakness though there are two main ones amongst them. They are the most easily exploitable ones. They are mainly the front and the eyes."
"The only part of the body covered in thorns are its back, meaning that its front is expose. It can be easily penetrated by guns, but that doesn't mean that it would be easy to defeat them. They know of this weakness and mostly cover themselves using the ground."
"In itself, they are tough creatures to fight against."
Xandra concluded her explanation about the Gigantis Akantha. From her words, they were tough, and their weaknesses were heavily defended against.
Dante understood that it would take a lot of effort for a chance to appear. But even then, a chance was a chance. And there was something he was curious about.
"The head of the monster was barely moving. Why can't you hit its eyes?"
Upon hearing his words, Xandra's face turned red, and she was a bit embarrassed. She slowly looked into Dante's eyes and quietly replied. "T-That was our fault. I don't use guns that much, so I can't hit anything small and move."
"The others, well… It's their first time holding rifles."
"They were simply taught how to turn off the safety, reload, and fire."
The corner of Dante's eyes wrinkled after hearing Xandra. It was dangerous for those who hadn't trained enough to hold guns to try firing them in a heavy situation. They would become prone to accidents, and it wouldn't be a surprise for someone to die in the marathon test.
'What were they thinking. Don't tell me this is also part of the test.'
Untrained individuals with rifles were more dangerous than trained individuals with rifles. It was because of their unpredictability and their chance of having accidents regarding guns.
A weapon must have weight. Otherwise, the lives in front of it would lose their worth.
"So that's why you haven't manage to blind the slow gigantic monster. This is becoming more complicated, the more I think about it."
Dante turned his gaze at the recruits, looking at him with a hint of cautiousness and fear. It seems that they were now becoming fearful of him, which was something he didn't mind at first. But, at that moment, the situation became different.
They were untrained people with a rifle in their fingers.
He might have to watch out for his back during the battle if he doesn't want to die in some random accident.
"Are you okay?" Xandra asked as she noticed Dante's gaze becoming colder and colder.
'It looks like she didn't think of the accidents the weapons might bring.'
'Or she knows of it, but simply accepts it as normal. The common sense of this world is different from the former one, after all.'
'Life might not be so precious in this world.'
Dante kept thinking to himself before answering Xandra's worry.
"I'm okay. I was just in a bit of a trance, trapped under by thoughts."
"In any case, is there something more I should know about the monster?"
He asked, wanting to change the subject. There might be no more information regarding the Akantha, or so he thought. He was wrong when Xandra nodded in agreement.
"The higher the class of monsters. The harder it would be to fight them."
"Not because they are strong, but their strange abilities instead."
"The Akantha has the ability to shoot its thorns outwards in a 360 direction. But it would only do this if it is threaten with death."
Xandra explained the last thing that Dante needed to know.
He nodded after hearing her as this was actually a piece of important information. If he had gone out against the monster by himself, he might fall for it without any prior information.
So he was thankful for Xandra providing him with the information he needed.
"Thank you for the information, Xandra."
"While I'd like to talk regarding our strategy. It looks like we'll have to stop discussing here. After all, Roshan is about to arrive."
The bushes began rustling as a pale white monster emerged out of them. It was a Gigantis Kryftis, the first minion of Dante, Roshan. From the looks of it, Roshan had a lot of fun while being chased by the monster.
"Prepare yourselves for the inevitable."
Dante said with a smile while pointing his rifle in the direction where Roshan came out from.