Kai suggested a coordinated attack: Kujo and Zano would perform a distraction mission despite the difficulty of evading the creature's attacks, while Loki and I would attempt to reach its eye. We tried for half an hour, during which many of us were injured, but the creature remained unmoved. Then, the Kujo leader intervened with all his might, facing the creature with an unprecedented toughness. Though the creature crushed the leader's hand, he managed to hinder its movement momentarily. I seized this opportunity to strike its eye with my knife. The creature stopped moving and fell. Finally, after this tremendous effort, the cave behind it opened. It seemed the creature was guarding something more significant than mere jewels.
We found a large chest, which only a giant Kujo could carry, containing jewels retrieved from the Dojo. Additionally, we discovered a strange black box, which I took to uncover its purpose later. The box had a slot for a key, but we couldn't find the key itself. We returned to the Dojo colony with our wounded, including the leader, who was gravely injured. Without the leader, we wouldn't have been able to defeat the creature. It appeared he wouldn't survive his injury despite being given mana pills, which have minimal effect on the Kujo. His loss shook our ranks, especially among the Kujo, as he was immensely strong and would have significantly contributed to our war against the Mojo.
Despite the leader's death, the Kujo still followed the queen's orders, seemingly fulfilling the leader's final wishes. Zano mourned the leader's death, despite not having spent much time with him, showing deep respect. I, too, felt sorrow but knew such losses were inevitable in this war, and we couldn't forget our goal. The queen asked me to handle everything from planning to unifying forces because the Mojo creatures had learned of our plans, thanks to the eye-creature, eliminating our element of surprise. We anticipated a fierce battle with potentially more casualties than just our leader.
We sent several spies to the borders of the Mojo kingdom to observe and learn their plans. Kai proposed uniting the Kujo and Dojo forces, pairing each Kujo with a Dojo. Despite the Dojo being smaller, they were nimble, while the Kujo were massive and powerful. It was a brilliant idea, but difficult to implement since the Kujo were not accustomed to watching out for their partners, which could lead to Dojo being crushed, an outcome we wanted to avoid. We assigned each Kujo a Dojo to assist him, and during combat, the Dojo would protect the Kujo's weak points. This strategy seemed better. After several attempts and training sessions—Narou training the Dojo and Zano training the Kujo—they finally managed to unify their forces. A glimmer of hope appeared at the end of the tunnel, and I began to taste victory.
I decided to return to my team on Earth to reassure our families, as our absence had been prolonged. Upon returning, Loki and Zano headed to their homes while I left Kai and Narou in the other world to continue preparations. I went to see my mother and found her asleep, exhausted. I covered her and returned to my room. I took out the box I found in the Mojo hideout, which I hadn't told anyone about, and attempted to open it but failed. It seemed to require a special key. I was certain this box was significant, so I hid it in my room and went to sleep.
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