Somewhere underground in Z City.
Monster Association headquarters.
And deeper still, somewhere inside it.
“...The monster hunter.”
A monster with a round pink body, its appearance reminiscent of kagami mochi.
Gyorogyoro.
Sitting motionless in a special chair, eyes closed over his single large eye.
He repeated that now-famous name.
Normally, this was supposed to be time set aside for meditation, to empty the mind. But right now, his head was full of tangled thoughts.
As the Monster Association’s operations chief and second-in-command, there was too much to think about.
And all of it was because of one single existence.
“...If there had been a chance like this, we should have lured him in when he was still low-rank.”
A red-scaled lizard monster.
Thanks to the Hero Association’s exaggerated cover-up and his own exploits, Gyorogyoro had once taken a little interest in him.
Just a little.
That was all.
If it was luck, then fine. If it was skill, then it might be worth extending an invitation to join the Monster Association.
But before long, even that small amount of interest vanished.
After he killed a C-class hero who was practically no different from a B-class, there was little news of him beyond the fact that he had taken down one low-rank monster.
There was no way to tell whether that was luck or skill.
On top of that, City A, which had been presumed to be his area of activity, had turned into a mess a few days ago.
In the end, Gyorogyoro concluded that the guy had probably been caught up in the destruction of City A by the dragon-level monster Vaccine Man and died there.
So he had planned to forget about him entirely.
He had only been wasting attention on a mere low-rank monster, after all.
...That is, until contact with the informant he had placed on Maguchi Mountain in N City was cut off.
“...To think he survived.”
Had he only survived?
After evolving a step further and sharply reshaping his once round, soft appearance, the creature had already risen from low-rank to high-rank.
In only a short time, he had eaten a high-rank monster close to demon-level that had ruled the mountain.
He did not stop there.
Against the monsters of Maguchi Mountain, he carried out a merciless slaughter that nearly wiped them out entirely.
He devoured more than several dozen monsters in a single day.
Even high-rank monsters of the same level swarming him together could not stand against him.
He even overwhelmed three A-class heroes who had suddenly shown up.
With nothing more than a high-rank monster’s body, he displayed power and deeds that were practically demon-level.
Of course, the massacre of the monsters and the defeat of the three A-class heroes were also covered up by the Hero Association... but the monsters who needed to know had already heard.
Rumors spread in an instant.
As a result, among both humans and monsters, the name of the oddity who hunted monsters and ate them began spreading day by day.
And naturally, that caused a major split in opinion within the Monster Association.
Whether to recruit the monster hunter into the Association, or dispose of him.
He was clearly an oddity among oddities, one who was friendly toward humans.
On the contrary, because he was hostile to monsters and ate them, some argued they should eliminate him quickly before he grew any stronger.
And the opposing view was this:
He was still a monster in the end, so if they could somehow win him over and bring him to their side, their forces would definitely increase.
Since he had already risen to a stage close to demon-level, they argued that he would certainly be able to handle lower-end S-class heroes.
For several days, that argument had gone back and forth within the Association.
Then, in the middle of all that, whatever the hell he had done outside...
He suddenly evolved yet another step into demon-level and revealed himself, bringing them to this very situation.
“....................”
Voices calling for his death had grown louder within the Association, citing his ideology and rate of growth.
Especially Homeless Emperor, who was fanatical about it.
He was going berserk, insisting that the monster had to be killed by the will of the stars.
...As expected.
They should have paid attention to him from the beginning.
It would have been better to get him under their control early, manage him thoroughly, and raise him properly.
Failing to see his potential was clearly their mistake.
Gyorogyoro had already driven explosive monster growth countless times through his many experiments.
But the monster hunter’s growth was different.
A type that hunted and devoured something, then grew stronger by that amount.
There was no way to judge his limits carelessly.
His speed might be relatively slow, but his potential was unquestionably deep.
It was like a bottomless well, so deep that there was no way to see where it ended.
Perhaps someday, he might even surpass Orochi, the completed ultimate life form.
“............Hmm.”
Usually, there were two ways to check the bottom of a deep well.
One was the orthodox method: go down to the bottom yourself.
The rope used to secure the body would have to be very long.
And the other was...
To smash the well itself to pieces.
He dropped the assumption that the creature might not reach dragon-level.
That guy would definitely become dragon-level within two weeks at the latest. Gyorogyoro was already certain of that.
“...I’d rather save Kiri-Saking or Busho for now... Since a battle with the Hero Association isn’t far off, I’d like to keep them in reserve.”
Anyone below high-rank was basically trash.
At the very least, they needed to be demon-level to possess the kind of power that could actually fight S-class heroes.
Even then, Tatsumaki the Tornado of Terror would probably sweep them away like a wave washing over ants... but below her, there would definitely be some level of real combat.
In that sense, Kiri-Saking, with power in the upper ranks of demon-level, would definitely be a useful asset.
However.
The problem was that unless they were at least upper demon-level, they would hardly be able to provoke the monster hunter at all.
Beyond the hell that came close to death, one ascended to the next stage... That was the conclusion Gyorogyoro had reached through countless unethical experiments.
The Monster King, Orochi, was his success story.
“....................”
Yes.
Gyorogyoro had already decided to grow the monster hunter stronger than Orochi.
And whether it was before or after that, he would definitely take him.
Come to think of it, wasn’t he headed for C City right now?
That worked out nicely.
Thinking that, Gyorogyoro spoke to one of the giants standing beside him.
“Gouketsu. When you next go to invade C City, bring more demon-level monsters with you. Pick out only the useless ones yourself.”
So this was...
A small gift, given with a bit of sincerity.
“And if you run into the monster hunter, make sure you capture him alive and bring him back. You can try persuading him if you want, but that probably won’t work on him. There’s no need for him to keep all his limbs intact.”
“...So you’ve decided to go that route after all.”
“Why? Do you have a complaint?”
“No. I don’t have any particular complaint. I was interested in him myself. But... I’d like to ask why you chose me. Weren’t there others desperate to bring him in?”
“Well, there’s the matter of force. Most of those guys are below high-rank, and unless they’re around upper demon-level, they probably won’t be able to handle him. Losing a useful demon-level asset would be painful. And...”
Gyorogyoro fixed his four eyes on the giant with his one large eye.
“...Yes. I thought you were the best fit. The monster hunter is clearly using highly skilled martial arts as his main weapon. That might be nothing more than child’s play to you, but... as an elite martial artist yourself, it might be good to smash him with your own martial arts once. Just don’t kill him.”
“...Understood.”
After the brief reply, the giant left the room with heavy, thundering steps.
Unless the monster hunter had already fought and beaten one of the strongest dragon-level monsters, there was no way he could leave even a scratch on Gouketsu.
He was a first-rate monster, and a first-rate martial artist.
One of the Monster Association’s strongest.
He could not lose.
The monster hunter had shown demon-level skill in a high-rank body.
That alone was impossible.
There was no way a body that was clearly only high-rank could contain that much power.
If he had psychic powers, it would make sense, but according to the information gathered so far, he was pure physical type.
Pure flesh producing demon-level power.
But the body holding that power was definitely high-rank.
He had no idea how such an incompatible force was being stored inside him, but it was clearly a possibility.
But this time was different.
There was no way a demon-level body could produce dragon-level skill.
The difference was simply too overwhelming, too impossible to bridge.
Unless that guy learned some kind of psychic power from somewhere, he would not even be a match.
So.
He would make him experience hell thoroughly, and let him grow.
That was the first step.
He did not consider the possibility that the monster hunter might not endure it.
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