No Meaningless Moves
There are no meaningless moves in a fight.
A battle of bodies is a battle of minds.
It isn't enough merely to see where your opponent is striking, or simply to react. Everything that moves must have a reason, and if you stop to think, you can tell whether that reason is sound.
Variables might be impossible to predict even an inch ahead — but what mattered was that, even so, I could fully control what was in my hands.
Every detail of the black bear Orsonero was already moving inside my head.
It used those massive forelegs to seize enemies, tear them apart, or crush them flat. Scrambling just to dodge the attack right in front of you was the mark of an amateur. I was thinking about how to deal damage between those lethal strikes.
I raised my greatsword.
The blade rose into my field of vision and pointed toward Orsonero. The motion was almost reflexive, and my mind settled into calm.
Driving this edge into that huge, hardened body — that was the goal. I held onto it and funneled every circuit of thought into a single line.
Orsonero reared up. It stretched out a foreleg and brought it down on me in a crushing blow.
KRAAAANG—!
The hard earth couldn't take the weight and erupted upward. But all that remained in that spot was a faint afterimage.
I slipped under its body with light, fluid footwork. In that razor-thin near-miss of a motion, I thrust my greatsword out and carved a line across its hide.
I stomped the ground once and launched myself forward, scoring its hide again before it could fully rise.
Shhhk — the keen edge of the greatsword parted fur and scraped leather.
But the impact wasn't enough.
Orsonero whipped its body around as if to swat me from its side. Even a glancing blow would be fatal.
"Hup…"
I sprang back and yanked the greatsword's hilt all the way to my hip. Then I drove out a twin slash, leaving an X-shaped wound across the bear's body.
Warm, red blood sprayed past the hide — but the wounds were little more than scratches. I tightened my grip on the greatsword.
So this blade can't tear its hide like paper.
Then I simply needed more force.
I kept up the acrobatics. With Just Guards I deflected claws that met my edge, and I used the gaps between attacks so that no hit landed clean. What I couldn't forget was that I was in the middle of a bet right now. Taking it down safely was fine, but pushing a little harder and finishing fast was the right call. Even so, I regulated my breathing so I wouldn't run short of air. I never moved in haste; I controlled the tempo and rode Orsonero's flow.
The moment I got dizzy, this tightrope walk would be over.
I raised the greatsword again.
The essence gauge was full.
The single most important way to shorten a monster hunt was managing your essence gauge well.
I slid the greatsword straight into its scabbard and let the essence's power flow into it. But I didn't draw it yet.
Orsonero's claws came down to crush me. I rolled clear of the long nails, keeping the blade stubbornly sheathed — a setup for a decisive strike.
There were plenty of trees around. I deliberately planted myself in front of one and waited for Orsonero to come.
Still whipped into a frenzy by the Snow Woman's cry, Orsonero charged me with foam at its mouth. For charging in so mindlessly and simply, it was going to pay a proper price.
Its claws came screaming toward me. I threw myself sideways and planted one hand on the ground.
KRAGAGAK—!
Its claws punched into the tree.
I pressed into the smooth earth, put power into my hips, and dropped even lower — flat against the ground. The greatsword's scabbard rose toward the sky. Braced on both legs, I set my hand on the hilt. The essence made the greatsword shudder violently.
And just like that, I drew and drove it upward.
All the essence energy that had been locked away poured out at once.
Crouching Dragon
Iai Slash
A vertical cut rising from the earth. Following the line drawn toward the sky, the essence's power chewed through hide and tore it open. It didn't just bisect the bear's hide — it sent the high branches of the tree raining down in a shower of wood.
Orsonero's body buckled under the crushing impact and toppled backward. But it still wasn't dead.
Without sheathing the greatsword I'd drawn, I spun and set my stance. I drove the blade forward into the vertical wound and shoved it deep, then ripped sideways, widening the gash into a horizontal tear.
————KRAAAAA!
Orsonero let out a sound of pure agony.
It's over now. There's nothing a wounded beast like this can do. Exhausted to the end, it'll just collapse.
I pulled the greatsword free of its wound and settled into my stance.
Maybe because every nerve had been locked on a single point, I never noticed something coming at me.
————AAAAA!!
KRAAANG—!
Something slammed into me and my body was flung sideways. I went airborne and crashed into a tree.
"Ghk—!"
A shock that made my mind go blank. I hit the ground and sprawled face-down, feeling my breath catch hard in my throat. The pain was so severe I couldn't even breathe properly.
I rolled my eyes and took in the situation.
It wasn't the black bear. Every last nerve of mine had been on the black bear. This was another monster barging in.
It had climbed onto the wounded black bear and was savagely tearing at its throat. Orsonero, already a wreck, could only take it. It tried to shove the attacker off with its forelegs, but the other creature's strength was greater — it was impossible.
…A saber-toothed tiger. A Sabeltiger.
Did it come all the way here after hearing the Snow Woman's cry?
I could see the saber-fangs ringed in frost. Its other blades — its claws — were pinning Orsonero's legs down hard.
This was no ordinary Sabeltiger.
That was an Elder Species Sabeltiger — the Named Blade Shabeltiger.
So a Named Blade has shown up here. That'll make for good materials.
I forced myself upright. While the Sabeltiger was still fixated on Orsonero, I needed to recover as fast as I could.
I got careless.
Barely holding onto consciousness, I scanned my surroundings.
Pina — where is she?
Then someone yanked me hard.
"…Alice-nim!"
"Ah."
Pina dragged me behind a tree and carefully hid me there.
"Are you all right?"
I nodded.
"…It's just been a while."
Pain was never something you got used to. Even fighting Disastro, forcing my body to move through it had been so hard. But inside that pain, anger and competitive fire rose together.
Who the hell do you think you are, hurting me?
All I'd allowed so far was a single ambush. Even that had been more of a collision — it ached, but I wasn't bleeding.
"M-maybe we should just head back? You don't have to push yourself."
"No."
I pulled my hand free of Pina's.
I'd taken plenty of hits doing hunter work. Never a serious wound — just scrapes. Even so, whenever I got those, Pina always looked terribly worried about me. This time the situation was a little worse. She watched me with eyes full of concern.
"…Do you absolutely have to take it down?"
Of course.
Paying back what you've been given is only proper, isn't it? I might not owe the black bear much — but from the saber-toothed tiger, I'd received plenty. Paying this pain back several times over would feel damn good.
…Maybe something was wrong with my head too. Honestly, running would have been fine — and yet I didn't want to leave this situation. Without meaning to, I found the idea of fleeing shameful.
"No matter how much you hate it, you don't have to push yourself like that. Please don't overwork yourself."
Overworking?
No. I shook my head. This didn't even count as overwork. It was simply what a hunter was supposed to do.
"It's nothing."
I knew. The wounds this body carried weren't the kind made by something as small as this. If this body's original owner were here, she wouldn't run.
I exhaled slowly, calmly. I never let the breath out in a rush. Then I stood and took hold of my greatsword. The pain settled, and my head grew clear again.
"…Now I only have to kill one more."
I peered out from behind the tree.
Orsonero was being savaged so badly by the Sabeltiger that its life was hanging by a thread. The Sabeltiger itself was so worked up it seemed to see nothing else, literally shredding Orsonero's hide to ribbons.
My eyes flashed as I locked onto it. Taking two of them down at once. And if it was an Elder Species — even better.
You're the one who's going to get torn apart by my hands. Spit out some good materials for me.
General Gero was waiting for good news.
That good news, of course, meant the royal troops reaching the outpost first and winning the bet against the princess.
"Princess, what do you think will happen?"
"Hmm."
Adelaide touched the corner of her mouth.
"I rather think I'll win. Though I'm sure the General expects to win himself."
Adelaide shrugged.
"I believe in my hunter."
General Gero smirked inwardly at Adelaide's words. No matter how capable a hunter claimed to be, could just two people keep pace with eleven? Gero thought of Evan.
Evan was a formal knight of the royal house. A hardworking knight who had met a hunter and, through endless training, kept refining himself. And he followed orders well. If it was the Evan Gero knew, he had no doubt of success.
…And so, when Gero spotted the royal troops far out on the plateau, he couldn't hide his smile.
Adelaide blinked at the sight of the soldiers.
"…Surely those are our troops?"
"It would appear so."
Gero said to Adelaide,
"Doesn't this look like my victory?"
"…Hmm."
Adelaide broke into a cold sweat inside.
Am I actually going to lose? I never even considered the possibility of losing. Alice, where on earth are you and what are you doing?
Adelaide crossed her arms and tapped her own arm with a fingertip. Gero watched her and gave a small laugh.
"Haha. At this rate, as planned, we can put the soldiers to—"
Then Adelaide frowned and stared at the troops.
"Hold on."
"…What is it?"
"There — do you see that?"
At Adelaide's words, Gero looked over the soldiers again.
"Their condition seems a bit… off."
The soldiers had not returned in victory. They were supporting one another, walking in covered in blood. Even Evan, the knight Gero trusted, was being carried on another soldier's back.
"…What in the world—"
What kind of monster appeared out there?
Gero blinked.
Adelaide quickly hid her earlier anxiety and put on a mischievous smile.
"General Gero — my hunter has not returned yet."
So the bet is still on, then?
Gero ground his teeth.
This princess — who does she think she's mocking?
The princess chuckled and then stretched out a hand.
"We ought to treat the wounded at once."
They were the kingdom's own soldiers who had been hurt — and yet somehow, the princess couldn't stop smiling.
"Looking rather fine, aren't we."
"…You mean the soldiers, Your Highness?"
Adelaide shook her head.
"I was speaking to you, General."
Gero clenched his fist tight.