"Save the envy for later. Look there."
Zed pointed to the horizon. Scorch marks and shattered Rock Drum shells littered the ground—evidence of a brutal skirmish. "Only Bishokukai's GT Robots could bulldoze through these herds."
Toriko and Sunny tensed. "We need to move. If they reach the Jewel Meat first…"
The group surged forward, entirely bypassing the Swamp of Antiquity and Devil Athletics. Their shortcut spared them hours of detours, delivering them swiftly to the base of the Regal Plateau's gargantuan wall—a sheer 3,000-meter monolith piercing the clouds.
"Take the others up. Tatsu and I have this."
Sunny nodded, his hair strands lifting Komatsu, Rin, and the rest with ease. Zed, Erina, and Hisako mounted Tatsu, whose claws bit into the cliff face like molten daggers. The Devil serpent ascended silently, scales grinding stone to dust.
Heavycliff Cave loomed along the walls, its maw exhaling a metallic stench. "Stay quiet," Sunny warned. "Disturb the Heavycliff Caves, and we'll have a swarm on us."
In the original timeline, the Regal Mammoth's thunderous descent had provoked the cave's inhabitants. This time, Tatsu's predatory aura kept the rodent dwellers subdued—their primal instincts recognizing a greater threat.
The Regal Plateau's interior unfolded like a graveyard. Bones—some as large as skyscrapers—crumbled underfoot, their porous surfaces glittering with mineral deposits.
"A bone wasteland…" Erina whispered, her God Tongue recoiling at the lingering musk of decay.
"All the Regal Mammoth's work." Zed kicked a rib fragment the size of a car. "A Kilometer-Class Beast consumes entire ecosystems. This plateau's creatures evolved rapid breeding cycles to offset its appetite."
He knelt, brushing sediment off a fossilized skull. As a Saiseiya, Zed had memorized every ecological report on the Human World's zones. The Regal Plateau was a case study in balance—a dance of gluttony and regeneration.
Erina stared at the pristine skeletons littering the Regal Plateau. "How does a kilometer-tall beast spit out bones? Shouldn't they be… digested?"
"Regal Mammoths have unique biology," Zed explained. "Two trunks—one ingests the food, the other expels the waste. Their 'stomach' is in their nasal chamber. No excrement, just… leftovers."
As he spoke, Tatsu hissed, venom spraying from its fangs onto a nearby skeleton. The bone sizzled, followed by a guttural shriek. A creature hidden beneath the remains writhed, dissolving into acrid smoke.
"Stay sharp. This plateau's ecosystem thrives on ambush predators." Zed's voice was calm. "But with Tatsu here, nothing touches us."
The Devil serpent's scales rippled, each acting as a sensory node. To the group, it was a living radar—untouchable.
Guided by Zed's heightened perception, they tracked the Regal Mammoth's seismic footsteps. The ground trembled violently as they neared the plateau's edge.
"It's close—"
A laser beam sliced through the fog, obliterating a nearby hill. GT Robots—Bishokukai's mechanized hunters—swarmed the terrain. Among them loomed a pink GT Robot towering dozens of meters high, its plasma cannons trained on the Regal Mammoth.
To the mammoth, it was a gnat. To the humans, a skyscraper.
Before the others could react, Zed's arm blurred. A crescent of darkness—Black Slash—arced through the air, cleaving the GT Robot in two. The machine exploded, shrapnel raining like metallic hail.
"Just a normal strike," Zed murmured, lowering his hand. His Gourmet Cell-enhanced physique rivaled divine weaponry, rendering even a barehanded strike lethal.