One summer day, unprecedented swarms of vicious mosquitoes appeared and began wreaking havoc.
Maguchi Mountain entrance.
Three sets of footsteps grew closer as they looked up at the entrance to the hell that had turned into a den of monsters.
They were none other than three A-rank heroes dispatched to scout the mountain.
“...It’s gloomy even from the entrance.”
A-rank 8th, Death Gatling.
“So this is Maguchi Mountain...”
A-rank 27th, Smile Man.
“......A hell...swarming with monsters.”
A-rank “lowest,” Snack of the Social Circle.
As if to match their impressions, grotesquely twisted plants greeted them from the entrance onward.
It hadn’t always been like this.
Originally, this had been a mountain with a very peaceful atmosphere, an ecological park with beautiful scenery and a habitat for rare lifeforms.
But as more and more monsters began settling here, that changed.
You could tell just from the name.
If its old description had been “the peaceful green zone,” then now it had literally become “the land of monsters.”
The animals that once lived here had been exterminated to the point that not even a single sparrow could be seen.
Monsters, armed with brute force, had overwhelmingly won the struggle for survival, adapted, and established their own ecosystem on this mountain.
Because of that, all the villages around here had turned into ghost towns.
At least five monsters a day.
Sometimes as many as ten.
That was how many came down from the mountain every day.
Most were low-rank, but high-rank ones were often mixed in as well.
People with strength tried to resist, but this was before the Hero Association existed.
They were simply ravaged and defeated time and time again.
Looting, arson, murder, and in the worst cases, rape.
Weary of it all, people began leaving one by one.
And after everyone had gone, the area around Maguchi Mountain was completely sealed off at some point.
No one even thought to touch it.
There was no one living nearby anymore...
No. Since there was no one who would even approach it, there was no damage to speak of either.
With the place thoroughly sealed off, it no longer seemed necessary for the Hero Association to worry about it.
Besides, no one knew what kind of danger might be inside.
Sending someone into a place crawling with monsters was far too risky.
There had even been a proposal to dispatch S-rank heroes, but there was no telling whether dragon-level or demon-level monsters might be hiding inside.
More than anything, there was no merit in it.
...But then.
After Vaccine Man’s attack on City A, a reason to pay attention had appeared.
The reason was that, recently, the number of monsters on the mountain had begun to decrease.
It wasn’t just a matter of a few being weeded out and disappearing.
It was a drastic drop, obvious to the eye.
The reason couldn’t be determined.
But after capturing and confirming several monsters, it was clearly established that their numbers were decreasing.
For the Hero Association, this was a golden opportunity.
If they sent in S-rank heroes and wiped out all the monsters inside, it would be a huge publicity win.
Just reclaiming the land of death and filming animals and plants living there again would be enough to create an enormous effect.
However, there were still uncertainties.
Information. They simply didn’t have enough of it.
So, to assess the danger level, they needed a preliminary investigation.
These were the ones dispatched for that purpose.
“...Entering.”
Death Gatling was the first to move.
He had seen photographs of this place before it became the land of monsters.
...He did harbor a faint inferiority complex toward S-rank heroes, but this time he truly intended to do nothing more than investigate.
If he made a mistake here, reclaiming this place might become difficult.
He wanted to restore the mountain to the way it had been: lush, green, and peaceful, where plants and animals lived in harmony.
And also.
If there really was a demon-level or higher monster inside.
With this force, they might struggle to beat even one.
“Don’t let your guard down. We don’t know when a fight might start.”
“Yeah. I know.”
They thought the same thing.
That monsters might rush them in a swarm the moment they passed the entrance.
Or maybe they were lying in ambush somewhere.
Don’t relax.
Raise your weapons.
Stay ready.
They might leap out from anywhere, at any time...
...That was what they thought.
At least until they had taken only a few steps inside.
“...Strange.”
An unexpected, dreadful silence descended on them.
The air, soaked in silence, was eerily still and heavy.
Then came the dark cave ahead.
It was pitch-black, with no light at all, and the surroundings offered plenty of places perfect for an ambush.
...They had braced for a fight this time, but they didn’t encounter a single monster.
Even when they stepped out of the cave with heavy footsteps, there was still no encounter.
They couldn’t even hear the usual sound of insects and bugs.
Aside from the trees stained with a strangely unnatural color, it was hard to find any sign that something was wrong.
...If you excluded the unnervingly quiet atmosphere.
“......It’s so quiet it’s creepy.”
Smile Man muttered bitterly, gripping his kendama tighter.
“...Stay sharp. We don’t know what could happen when... though it’s too quiet for that.”
As they went deeper toward the center, expecting to meet monsters eager to tear them apart, they found nothing.
No growling from between the trees, no rustling from the bushes.
The air around them held only suffocating, oppressive silence.
“...Are there even monsters here?”
And so they walked for three full hours.
Aside from the bizarrely blue, purple, and red-tinted trees, they could not encounter a single monster.
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