The Fuse

"Isn't it amazing?"

Noticing that everyone had been stunned by the skeleton behind him, which looked as though it had been forged from metal, Mercer picked up a steel hammer that had somehow been left on the ground nearby.

Then he raised the hammer and struck the skeleton several times with all his strength.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The crisp impacts undoubtedly proved that metal was striking metal—the kind of sound only metal could make.

Even more incredible was that Mercer's blows had just left several deep dents in the skeleton.

Yet, under everyone's watchful eyes, those dents vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Even though it isn't my first time seeing it in person, I still find it unbelievable!"

As she spoke, the female researcher in a white lab coat walked up to the metal skeleton. "Let me borrow that hammer!"

"Be my guest!"

The female researcher took the hammer and smashed it against the metal skeleton more than a dozen times with tremendous force, producing a rapid series of crisp metallic clangs.

Only after both her hands had begun to go numb did she return the steel hammer to Mercer, panting.

"Without a doubt, this is a metal. It just isn't on any periodic table of elements known to us!"

Another researcher, who had approached at some point, stared at the metal skeleton and examined it carefully for a while before looking up at Major Cohen behind him. "Major, we need more research equipment and more researchers!"

"Preferably a group of paleontologists as well..."

The female researcher cut in. "These metal ores really do resemble some kind of prehistoric monster. I suspect they may be some kind of dinosaur... Though I don't think any dinosaur skeleton on Earth could be made of metal, bringing in paleontologists