He’d almost died in a miserable, pointless way.
Was this the second time now?
Even though the girl had already disappeared, he couldn’t take his eyes off the direction she’d been in.
He could only stare blankly.
“...Was that a human?”
Come on.
That was a human?
Wasn’t that more like some kind of living natural disaster?
How was he supposed to beat something like that?
No, before that.
How was anyone supposed to survive something like that?
Really, the only answer was to run like he had just now...
“......Haa.”
A long sigh escaped him, carrying all his tangled thoughts.
Honestly.
There was Vaccine Man, who had turned City A into a ruin.
There was the man who had blown Vaccine Man apart with one punch.
And there was that girl from just now.
Once again, he was forced to face the fact that this world was overflowing with monsters beyond all standards.
He had thought he’d gotten stronger in his own way.
He had crossed the wall of tiger-level that had once seemed so far away.
He had struggled, sure, but he had defeated a mid-to-low-rank tiger-level monster.
He had been savoring the reward for that hard-fought victory, his emotions running high.
...No.
He should think about it differently.
It had reminded him once again of this cruel reality.
He had almost let his emotions carry him into another mistake.
Surviving a whole week after seeing all three of them had definitely been a miracle.
He had gotten stronger.
But he was still the kind of small fry that could be swept away at any moment.
That hadn’t changed.
Could he really hold out for even three seconds against those beyond all standards?
No chance. Absolutely no chance.
At least, not right now.
But.
He could see it.
A tiny, unmistakably shining fragment of possibility.
That he might be able to reach the level of those extraordinary monsters.
Instinct told him so.
There were countless strong beings in this world who surpassed common sense.
And because of that.
Because there were so many of them.
He could become strong too.
He didn’t know how far he could go.
But if.
If there was a limit line for him.
Maybe he could at least reach that far.
Get up.
The natural disaster was already gone.
If he had thought it through.
Then he had to act.
First, he would hunt down every monster in J City.
Unlike before, when the earlier slaughter had nearly driven him mad.
This time, maybe because he had narrowly escaped death a second time, his head had gone strangely cold.
He was so calm it surprised even him.
Right.
He didn’t have confidence anymore.
Confidence that he could lose himself and rampage.
So....
Meanwhile, the operations room liaison chief of Section 6, Busho, felt like crying.
“There’s nothing here! We came all this way and it was a total waste again! Does that monster hunter even exist?”
“P-please calm down a little...”
“Huh? Do I look like I’m in a position to calm down right now?!”
The second-ranked S-Class hero, Tatsumaki, had suddenly stormed into the operations room and was firing off words like a machine gun.
She had received information that the recently revealed tiger-level monster, the so-called “monster hunter,” had been spotted again.
So they had asked her to go out, and after all that, it seemed she’d only ended up with a wild goose chase.
“I mean, I came because you said there was one, didn’t I, Tatsumaki...”
“If I can find it, the rest is easy! Total cake! But it’s not here! Why does it vanish every time I go looking for it after a sighting report comes in?!”
He couldn’t exactly say he didn’t understand why she was angry.
Every time a sighting came in, she would rush out and spend the whole day searching for the thing, only to come back empty-handed.
Red-scaled lizard monsters were just too common.
There was no doubt that all those reports about “a red lizard monster spotted” had played a huge part in her constant wasted trips.
The monster groups she happened to run into were all just small fry from her perspective, too.
From her point of view, it was understandable that she’d be furious.
More than anything else... the monster hunter was only tiger-level.
And low-rank at that.
They were mobilizing her, someone treated as the Association’s secret weapon, just to find a guy like that.
No exaggeration, it was like deploying a strategic weapon to find a slightly pretty baby lizard.
“Enough, Tatsumaki.”
“...Hmph!”
The third-ranked S-Class hero, Silver Fang, came over and stopped Tatsumaki.
She paused for a moment, then snorted and flew off somewhere with a huff.
Only then could Busho finally breathe a sigh of relief.
...That was, until Silver Fang spoke to him.
“So, that fellow... the monster hunter, has he still not been found?”
“......Ah.”
After a brief silence, Busho looked over Silver Fang’s face.
There wasn’t much different about him from usual.
And yet.
That was exactly why it stood out.
He was holding something back. Hiding something.
There had to be something behind that unnaturally calm expression.
Making that assumption, Busho absently ruffled his own hair.
It felt strangely itchy.
Right.
Of course.
He was probably the one most troubled by the monster hunter.
“...Yes. There are so many monsters with similar appearances...”
“.........I see.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
With those words, Silver Fang clasped his hands behind his back and moved away from the staff member.
Hiding his unease.
Hiding his anxiety beneath his face.
He walked down the hallway.
A bitter feeling showed on his expression.
An unheard-of monster had used Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist during combat.
And not just used it, but with a level of skill close to actual combat mastery.
He would have preferred it if it had just been a coincidence, a movement that happened to look similar. But according to the testimony of someone who had experienced that power directly...
From footwork to attack techniques to defensive techniques.
Everything had been almost perfect.
That was what they said.
And as the founder of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, and as the master of the dojo...
...it forced him to imagine a possibility far too cruel.
“........”
There were still many of his old disciples he couldn’t contact.
That fact was making him increasingly restless.
If, truly.
If the worst possibility he was thinking of was real.
“...What should I do?”
As he walked the hallway, he suddenly thought of his older brother.
He recalled the time his brother had set him straight when he was going astray in his youth.
By the time he left Association headquarters like that, Silver Fang still couldn’t shake himself free of his thoughts.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register