Amon told all of the others everything he found out on this day, from each monster he saw to the beach, the shadow, and the tentacle.
While the other three were simply listening to the information Amon told them, Leon was completely different. Amon knew this state of Leon so well.
He sat there, asking nothing, only staring; sometimes he made fast movements with his hands. He turned them, tempted with his fingers, or entangled his fingers into each other.
After 20 minutes of sharing information, Amon was done with how the contract forced him. He shared all the new information he got with everyone, and now it was the turn of the others.
"If nobody has anything against it, I will take on this job." Leon suggested with his hand raised.
All of them were pleased with it. Thessias only thought that he could not lie about the information and would sit besides the two of them, watching if one made a wrong move, a move she would correct.
Bruna walked away alone; she sat towards the wall of the tunnels and sat there while looking at the ceiling. Krampus sat next to Thessia, and Leon started with his explanation.
"First, take a look at his map; it's the one you and Bruna drew; we marked the important places."
Amon took a look; he didn't know how, but somehow they managed to find something to mark a few places. Red lines were pinged over the map; the way led deeper into the tunnels.
"And did something more than this happen? I know you, in normal circumstances, would not need a day to walk one kilometer into a tunnel system. What was it that held you back?"
Leon remained silent as he heard Amon's question. The only thing he did was point in a direction; in this direction, there was a tunnel leading around the corner. Amon did not want to get up and go there; he directed his Qi through the ground and searched everything that came after this corner.
He detected a hueg body; he let his Qi flow from the earth into the deaf body of whatever lied there; its head was smashed; in its torso were two giant holes and a sign of many whiplashes.
'Krampus seemed to be stronger than I expected. But that does not have to be bad.' Amon thought.
The monster was many things but not weak; he knew this type of monster was a 'Young Giant'. This monster was not as powerful as the Giants' even mightier version, a Titan. But strong enough to kill an inexperienced as well as experienced mage.
Facing this monster without thinking and damaging it to this extent means that someone has power and knows how to wield it, or how to turn into a beast and rip his enemy apart.
Krampus seemed to be the second type of person, but a strong person, no matter if the person is a barbarian, knight, or pirate. If they fight along with you, then you have to fear nobody.
"I see. I think that we have to plan our next steps. Which part do they know and which does not?" Amon asked as he gazed over at the two of them.
Krampus and Thessia noticed that the attention switched to them; Leon, however, was faster than the two of them and asked for them.
"Pretty much everything that we have on our map and maybe a kilomerter more, this is what they are trying to remember, but I think that we have to work our way through here with your magic and the bit of information they have."
"If we do this, then I need regular breaks if I am filled with this much information all the time. I can't concentrate anymore, and if this happens, I am out if it comes to fighting. You should still remember what happened last time, Leon."
In the moment Amon said so, Leon remembered a time when he, Roxanne, and Vlad were trapped in a dungeon. Amon also let his Qi flow and threw the walls and ground the way he did today, but after one time, everything was alright. Amon passed out in a matter of seconds and was unable to even talk.
Of course, back then Amon's capabilities were much less, and now he has found a way to calm his brain down using a special breathing technique where he circulates his Qi in a way that helps him consume a lot of information in a short time. This was also the reason why Amon could often react to things much faster than others.
"In this case, let's rest for now, calm down, meditate, and eat. You must be hungry. We did not spend 24 hours today with each other, which means that we don't have to tell each other one lie and one truth about ourselves."
Amon was thankful that Leon suggested this; he was exhausted and needed to rest. He fought today against many monsters and people. He needs to meditate and think.
"Wait, could you not get it already? I want to talk about something." Krampus said that in the moment, Amon wanted to stand up.
He glanced at Leon. They used an old strategy of theirs; their gazes were enough for them to communicate a little.
Silenc fell until Amon's voice echoed through the tunnel: "Bruna, come here; there is something to talk about."
Bruna walked towards them; she was unsure of what would come next and made sure she sat between Amon and Leon. This was not her favorite place, but she still did not want to come too close to Thessia. She was afraid that Tessia could not harm her anymore, but the memory of how she screamed at her reminded her of the times when she still worked for Baron. A man she still wanted to take revenge on, but right now she was not in a position to ask for something this personal.
That Amon and the others had a reason for seeing this man's head lying in dirt and shit was not known to her.
On Thessia's face was a mixture of confusion and anticipation, seeable; she had a glimpse of what Krampus wanted to talk about, but knowing was something different from thinking.
"Leaving these tunnels through the portals is no option, which means no option for you three."
"What do you mean with that Krampus?" Amon said his voice was louder than he would have expounded himself, but this sentence could only mean one thing, and this thing proved right the way he, Leon, and Bruna expounded it to be.
"In order to get through the portal, you need to give the portal a drop of your blood, a hair. Or something from your body, and if this part of the body comes not from an elf, your organs get squeezed and limps crushed, in short, a trap that would kill you."
Krampus gaze was fixed on the ground; he could not look at them. Thessia, however, gazed right into the faces of the three and talked.
"In short, we wanted to kill you with this portal, but Krampus seems to not be able to do it." Thessia said.
"It means that if he hadn't been, you would have brought us straight there, knowing that we would die." Leon said. His voice was dark and deep; Amon too did not seem pleased about it, and Bruna began to question whether sitting between the two of them had now been a smart or dubious idea.
"And what do you want to do now? You can't attack me or hurt me. Or your friend will lose everything he ever loved and achieved, something like his wife." With her nose high and each word filled with more arrogance, Leon seemed to burst and say, "Yes, I can't kill you, but I can make your race suffer more than you think, and I know ways to kill you without breaking the contract."
Thessia did not know what it was, but something changed. In Leon, it seemed as if his face was about to darken, and Amon kracked one thing of his after the next. Bruna remained unchanged, but at the same time, she radiated an energy that spoke for her; it was as if she could read that she was full of hate and disgust.
Crash!
"AHH!"
The rock that was one of Thessia's left shattered with no sign of how it happened. Amon stood up, reached out his hand, and spoke, "You know this wife that I love so much is much cruiser than I am, but I swear if you dare to lay a finger on her with bad intentions, I will wipe out your family, clan, village, whatever, and you won't be able to know how it happened."
A hand, a hand that crushed the rock beside her, without her knowing how, came nearer with each one of Amon's stepps, but then he stopped to everyone's surprise and said, "But your friend there saved you for now; don't make the same mistake again, understood. As a punishment, both of you have to answer all of our questions now, and if we filter only one lie out of them, your fate is doomed, do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand." Krampus said he was not waiting for Thessia to respond.