A Land Full of Secrets
Hunting monsters is not all a hunter does. They also throw themselves into exploring the environments they enter.
The ecological changes of this land were one such subject of investigation.
With winter drawing near, the nights of the wasteland scraped at the cheeks with a wind sharp as a blade's edge.
Noah stood atop a cliff in the wasteland. She pushed back the black cloth that had covered her face and savored the wind, sweeping aside the hair whipped sideways by the fierce gusts as she looked down below.
This land was strange. It showed stark differences from region to region. Some places were barren wasteland; others, dense jungles thick with every kind of plant. Elsewhere lava flowed; elsewhere snow fell hard; elsewhere nothing but gravel…
It was a world where everything had been twisted out of place.
And that, too, stirred the spirit of adventure. Terrain so peculiar it could never be called natural. What was waiting for them out there?
Then someone approached from behind her. Light footsteps—human. Noah didn't raise her guard, only turned her head slightly.
It was one of the hunters exploring alongside her.
"…Noah. Still not asleep?"
"Ah, I just couldn't quite drop off. I was looking around."
Noah answered with a gentle smile to the fellow hunter who had called her name.
"This doesn't seem like an ordinary wasteland, does it?"
"Well, no."
In all her trips back and forth between Angolo Outpost and the wasteland, Noah had seen a great deal. Towers buried beneath the sand, shattered and collapsed; ruins gnawed away by time.
If only they could strip away all the sand, they might see those ruins whole.
Noah knelt slightly and ran her hand through the finely ground sand. It trickled down between her fingers.
"Really—this place is full of secrets. Isn't it a little exciting? What country do you think this used to be?"
Noah brushed the sand from her hands and stood again.
Ruins that had never appeared anywhere else. The fact that they had suddenly revealed themselves on this land… wasn't that connected to the Anomalies?
As the dust-laden wind approached, Noah pulled her hood back on—and Alice came suddenly to mind.
What was Alice doing right now? How many months had it been since she'd last seen her face?
If it was Alice, she was surely hard at work hunting monsters.
I hope we meet again—alive.
Noah turned and walked.
"Figuring this stuff out—that's what hunters do."
This was a land that stirred the thrill of adventure. Monsters never seen before. And shattered ruins. Any hunter would have their eyes light up at such things.
"Noah, you know this already, but supplies are running low. There's a limit to what we can scavenge here. This place is… just too barren."
"You're right. We should head back soon."
What if this had been Antico? Not just Antico—if it had been a place like Ampianura or Primavera, they could have camped far longer. Those places were all treasure houses of living, breathing ecosystems.
But this wasteland was barren. In Noah's mind, this place felt like a different world from the one they knew.
Looking at the collapsed ruins and the monster bones scattered everywhere, there was no such thing as hope on this land.
It was a land where everything had already ended.
Noah asked her companion,
"They're exploring hard on the other fronts too, right?"
"Probably. Master Hunters from all over have gathered, so there should be some progress, don't you think?"
Angolo wasn't the only outpost. Angolo was just one of the wasteland outposts established to conquer this vast land of Anomalies.
Both the kingdom and the Hunter Association had confirmed that the source of the Anomalies lay in this unexplored territory.
Noah had no idea what that source was.
Whatever waited for them at the end of this would be nothing ordinary.
But whatever it was, they had to bring it down.
Humans would do anything to protect their homes and their lives.
But that wasn't true of humans alone.
Monsters were the same.
———!!
Suddenly, a monster's roar echoed from far in the distance. Noah turned toward the cry that rang across the wasteland.
The great jungle of the unexplored lands.
Fiore examined a half-shattered stone statue as she spoke.
"This is a statue."
It was thick with moss and weathered by the elements, but one could still tell that someone had once carved the stone with purpose.
The presence of a statue meant this place had once been a civilization—some nation's domain.
…Had it fallen to monsters?
Judging by how far the weathering had gone, a long time had passed.
Fiore gently brushed the statue with a soft-bristled brush, inspecting it carefully. It was clearly meant to depict someone's face, but the damage was so severe that identification was all but impossible.
Fiore touched her lips thoughtfully.
"What on earth is this?"
"Just a statue, probably."
Another hunter who had been quietly watching from the side shrugged at her words. He was from Primavera, same as Fiore.
"They're all just old ruins, aren't they? Idol worship or something, I bet."
Fiore offered no reply. As he said, it was highly likely that someone long ago had worshipped some superstition here.
Even so, she raised a question of her own.
"But isn't it a little strange that people once lived on land like this?"
"True. The placement does feel a bit artificial."
This land was full of things that defied immediate understanding.
"The ground itself is a patchwork of different ecosystems stuck together… and the monsters are strange ones, too."
"Indeed."
Strange monsters was not quite right—it was more accurate to call them unknown Anomaly specimens. Ancient monsters appeared, of course, and research suggested monsters from the future were showing up as well.
Behind her, the hunter muttered,
"Maybe time itself got twisted."
"Time, you say?"
"Yeah. I mean, it's a completely ridiculous idea, but—what if something happened that completely tangled up the time of this land? What caused it, I couldn't begin to explain. What do you think?"
He shrugged as he spoke. Fiore glanced at him and answered.
"That sounds rather like a novel."
"Right? Maybe I'll write novels when I retire."
"You have no talent for writing, so no. For one thing, your handwriting is terrible. Write more carefully."
"That's harsh."
"Still… that was a rather sharp guess, for you. I think the same, as it happens."
Fiore agreed with him. Monsters were already appearing across the boundaries of time—so the idea that the land's own time was abnormal was hardly strange.
What mattered was the cause.
Fiore ventured a single speculation.
"Valoro."
"Hm?"
"What if there were a monster that commanded time—or rather, a god of that sort? What do you think would happen?"
"…Heh. Time, huh. Pretty abstract."
Perhaps, through the power of an Essence, there existed a monster that could command time. If such a monster existed, it would be fair to call it a true "god."
It might even surpass the Supreme-grade monsters that wrought natural disasters.
A chill ran down Fiore's spine.
If such a monster existed, then all of time would flow according to its will. One's own fate would be decided by another—and a monster, at that.
For a hunter who prized freedom, that was a deeply unpleasant thought. It would mean that all freedom was only the freedom of a bird in a cage.
Valoro thought for a long while, then shrugged.
"But if something like that exists… well. If it's a monster, could human bodies even stop it? That wouldn't be time—it'd be fate."
"Fate."
It was a thoroughly tragic notion. As Fiore's expression darkened, Valoro was quick to continue.
"But for us hunters, fate doesn't mean a thing, does it?"
Valoro grinned.
"We're free! This land full of Anomalies will end up being pioneered by our hands. And then everything will come to light—whether it's a god or a monster."
Fiore answered him.
"If it is a god, then yes—it would truly be fate. But if it is a monster… could we defeat such a being?"
"Why so gloomy? Have you forgotten how you became a Master Hunter?"
Fiore blinked at Valoro's words.
Her achievement. Facing the high-grade monster that had appeared in Primavera—Kaleidos of Myriad Flowers—alone, driving it back, and protecting an unprepared Primavera. She had not managed to kill Kaleidos, but saving an entire city with no preparation at all was enough of a feat to earn her recognition as a Master Hunter, rising from mid-rank.
The association head of Primavera's hunters had been dismissed over it, though.
Back then, Fiore had thrown herself into the fight without a second thought. She had held no certainty of victory—only the will to protect her home and her life.
"…You're right."
If the source of the Anomalies was a monster, then it, too, would eventually tire and fall. It would not be something that could not be killed.
And even if they failed… someone would appear afterward to carry on the will.
In the distant future, that is.
"Let us search for more clues, then."
"Sure—but shouldn't we get some sleep soon?"
"Ah, I've had rather a lot of coffee, so I can't seem to fall asleep. You don't mind, do you?"
"I didn't drink any…"
Valoro and Fiore pressed deeper into the great jungle.