The girl walked back to her team on unsteady legs, processing what had just occurred with a weird expression of both respect and horror.
Roran caught her shoulder, steadying her. "You okay?"
"Two hits, or was it one…" she said, voice distant. "My beast is supposed to be Resistance based and it just... came apart like it was made of sand."
"Did you learn anything from up close?" Roran asked, genuinely curious despite knowing the answer was probably depressing.
She laughed without humor. "Yeah… That we're nowhere near his ceiling. Not even a bit close."
Roran nodded slowly, his own assessment matching hers. He'd hoped sending the beast underground would reveal something about the mantis's limitations, would show some strain or a difficulty in control that could be exploited.
Instead it had demonstrated the mantis could counter even earth element based beasts as easily as it had countered fire, could manipulate stone with the same casual efficiency it had shown with water.
