The man's expression darkened slightly. Flesh began to surge from his wrist, and in an instant, a huge, grotesque arm of bloody flesh bulged into existence.
It slammed down on the stone with a boom!
But the stone did not budge!
He frowned, then saw that the blow had stripped away the stone's surface, revealing what lay beneath.
"...It's solid metal?"
For a moment, even he was at a loss.
He knew they had to be down there, and this metal boulder had to be the key.
But they had destroyed the mechanism they had used to get in, so he could not enter the same way.
He had tried to smash the stone outright, only to discover it was not stone at all... It was iron.
Even with his strength, smashing apart a chunk of iron this size was hardly realistic.
At most, he could dent it.
After thinking for a while, he jumped onto the iron block and sat down. "If they went in, they'll have to come out. That's fine. I'll wait here..."
Then he looked around and frowned.
There was nowhere nearby to shelter from the sun. That was going to be a problem...
Tetsu no Sosuke and Shinobu Kocho knew nothing of what was happening outside. They followed the passage and soon came upon a door made entirely of metal.
Tetsu no Sosuke's eyes lit up. "Another one of these."
"What is it?" Shinobu Kocho asked.
"A door... But doors like this are extremely heavy. Even I wouldn't be able to push it open," Tetsu no Sosuke said. "There should be a hole in it for a key, though. I can... Huh? Where's the hole?"
Tetsu no Sosuke examined the door closely, but he could not find a single opening.
There was not