Everything in Sight
Noah rose from the stone pedestal.
"Stay here for the night. I'll let the others know."
Pina asked carefully, "Is that really all right?"
"We're all hunters. We look out for each other."
"Wow — thank you!"
Pina beamed and took Noah's hand. Noah found herself rather fond of the girl.
Alice's supporter. She'd never met her in person — only heard the stories. She'd wondered whether Alice had finally found a decent partner, and it turned out the girl was adorable and sharp as a tack. So Alice had an eye for people after all.
She's doing well.
Noah thought back to the day she first met Alice. The One-Eyed Luga-lac — looking back now, had that thing been the start of the Anomalies? Whether it had appeared because of the distortions or simply aged into existence on its own, she would never know. But she was grateful for it. Without that monster, she never would have met Alice.
Not that she ever wanted to meet one again.
It was Alice who had saved her from that creature. A girl who'd lost her memories and wandered the flooded woods of Antico with a single purpose: kill monsters. She'd seemed so mysterious back then. She still did. Alice was an extraordinarily mysterious person — so much so that Noah still couldn't begin to grasp who she really was.
And now that same Alice was taking royal commissions from a princess, had become the hero of Antico after stopping an ancient-species assault, and was out here on the front lines surveying the Anomalies. No hunter in their first year had ever racked up achievements like that. And she seemed more grounded than before. The old Alice had always looked a little short on emotional room to breathe. Now she felt like someone genuinely walking the path she wanted.
Pina must have taken good care of her while Noah was gone. At first, having Alice trail after her all the time had made Noah feel like a mother bird…
She was a little jealous, honestly. But she was grateful to Pina all the same.
"…Hey, Pina?"
"Ah — yes? What is it?"
"I just thought we could talk for a bit."
Noah gestured. She wanted to speak outside, away from Alice. Alice, who had laid out her bedroll in a corner of the ruins, tilted her head at the two of them.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing. Just going to chat for a minute."
"Mm. Okay."
Alice figured the two of them had simply hit it off, turned her back, and closed her eyes. Noah smiled warmly at the sight, then stepped out of the ruins with Pina.
A chill wind blew, free of sand. Noah rubbed her arms.
"It's a little cold."
"It is…"
From behind, Pina wrapped the blanket she'd been wearing more tightly around herself. Noah pointed up at the sky.
"You know, the stars look a little different here."
"…They do?"
"I'm not really into astronomy, so I couldn't say for sure, but…"
Noah gazed up for a moment, then spoke without preamble.
"Two nights ago, maybe? We were out surveying. That night, one of my friends sleeping over there — she used to live in the capital — looked up at the sky and nearly jumped out of her skin. I thought there was a monster or something. But when I looked up, no monster. Just really pretty stars."
"…Is she afraid of stars?"
"Heh. No. Though I guess a star falling on your head would be pretty scary."
Noah's voice dropped low.
"She said she could see the sky over Sperita."
"…Sperita's sky?"
That was a deeply unsettling thing to hear. Wasn't that as good as saying this place was Sperita, the capital of Cartadia? Pina shook her head, looking uneasy.
"Come on… no way. This place isn't even in the same location."
"Right? It's a little scary to think about. If what she saw really was Sperita's sky… then this wasteland is Cartadia."
"……"
"And if this is Cartadia — is it the future, or the past?"
Noah's words carried a heavy weight. Pina swallowed hard. If this was Cartadia's future… that meant the death of every hunter.
"Well, don't think about it too hard. Just let it be. Cartadia's still standing, after all…"
"H-haha. Right."
"Though who knows when it'll fall."
"That's way too pessimistic…"
"I'm kidding."
Noah stuck out her tongue and grinned.
"How was Alice?"
"Alice-nim?"
"Yeah."
"Alice-nim is… perfect. She seems like someone who could take down any monster. She's given me that much confidence. She's killed dozens of them and never once complained it was hard. And… she pulled me out of hell. You know, I used to be terrified of monsters. Stronger than me, bigger than me, more powerful… they scared me so much. But not anymore. Being next to Alice-nim, I realized monsters are living things just like us. This time I even played bait myself…"
"Bait? Alice made you do that?"
"Oh, it was safe. She stayed right beside me the whole time. I'm just saying I never could have done it before. Anyway — she's that amazing!"
Pina smiled brightly. Then her expression dimmed, and the smile faded.
"But… the perfection is only on the hunting side. Do you know, Noah?"
"Know what?"
"That Alice-nim… really, truly hates monsters?"
Noah touched the corner of her mouth.
"Of course I know."
"It wasn't just ordinary dislike. The Alice-nim I saw… it felt like she wanted to wipe the entire species off the face of the earth."
Noah blinked, turning the words over. Had Alice's hatred of monsters really run that deep? Thinking about it, she hadn't actually watched Alice hunt all that many times — a handful at most. Maybe the things Alice had always hidden in front of Noah had finally come out in front of Pina.
Pina went on.
"She used a Luga-lac Essence."
"Ah… that Essence. So she's putting it to good use. You mean the Berserk?"
"Yes. She used it, lost her reason, and turned a monster into paste… so badly you couldn't even tan the hide."
"Lost her reason, huh."
Noah had heard of people like that. Using a Luga-lac Essence made you easy to agitate. The ones who went completely berserk like the Luga-lac itself were the ones already full of rage. When they used the Essence, a berserker was born.
"…I knew it."
So she really had lost something to monsters. Once Noah thought that, everything clicked into place. Alice had lost her memories to some great shock — but the fury toward monsters had never left her. And somewhere along the way, mixing with other people, the Berserk had laid her insides bare.
"……"
Then what kind of hell had Alice been through? The most plausible answer was the Flame City of Crete. Ten years ago, an upper-grade monster — an Elder Corasius — had appeared and slaughtered everyone. There were no survivors. Even the Master Hunter stationed there had died, from what she'd heard.
…But there could have been a survivor the hunters never knew about.
Noah nodded, then turned her back.
"Pina. I need a favor."
"What is it?"
"Help Alice… not die."
"…Of course. I'm Alice-nim's supporter."
Pina said it with absolute confidence. Noah looked at her and smiled faintly. She was truly glad Alice had found such a good supporter.
When Pina and I woke up, we parted ways with Noah's party right away. I'd meant to wait for the two of them to come back from their talk outside, but the bed had been more comfortable than expected, and I'd fallen asleep almost immediately. I was a little curious what they'd talked about, but I didn't press. If they wanted to tell me, they would.
Noah finished packing and left the ruins.
"All right. This is where we split."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. See you later in Angolo."
Noah was going to report the appearance of a legend. A Supreme-grade monster. Those things existed on a completely different plane from the low-grade, mid-grade, and upper-grade monsters we'd faced so far. Just by moving, they threatened the world — and the moment you became the target of their hostility, survival was something you had to give up on. They were living proof that this world was unfair and terrible: things that choked the life out of humanity simply by existing.
Every Supreme-grade monster I'd ever seen was like that. Their existence itself was a calamity. Beings that had broken free of the food chain, beyond any control. And among them, the Starving Earth Dragon was especially dangerous. So it had already shown itself. I'd thought the world might give me a little more time — but the world was never that kind.
I ran my hand over the ground. In the dry, cracked earth, a single withered blade of grass was growing. Pina suddenly asked me a question.
"What do you think?"
"Hm?"
"About… that monster Noah mentioned."
I thought for a moment. Disastro, the Starving Earth Dragon. In the language of this land, its name meant "calamity." No monster in existence fit that word better. Disastro was a creature consumed by endless hunger, grinding everything living around it into nothing. Wherever it moved, nothing remained. It was the monster most perfectly suited to this barren, dead land.
I answered Pina at last.
"If we don't kill it, we die."
I knew its savagery, so I spoke coldly. This wasn't a game. I was alive. Pina was alive. Noah was alive. And so was the monster. It would never sit still waiting for the player to show up the way it would in a game. It would act on its own. Once it finished devouring the monsters of this wasteland, we would be next. The prince, Biopia — all of them would end up in its jaws and die. This time, even I wouldn't be able to protect them.
So we had to kill it before it came for us.
What kind of preparation did it take to kill a Supreme-grade monster? Don't think like a game. Consider everything available.
Artillery? With cannons, it would be much easier. Fighting Alberoelva had taught me just how powerful bombardment could be. A hunt that would have dragged on for ages had been cut dramatically short thanks to the cannons. Against monsters, raw, stupid force was exactly what you needed. But could we haul heavy, massive cannons all the way out here? It would be nice if we could… but it was far too difficult.
Pit it against other monsters on purpose? Hard. Most monsters wouldn't even register as a threat to it. Surviving long enough to get eaten would be the best they could hope for. You'd need at least an upper-grade Elder Species to even stand a chance.
Rally the Master Hunters? That was the most realistic option. A group of Masters would actually be useful.
But more urgent than Masters was my own gear. For weapons, the Bloodhorn Greatsword was the only one worth anything. Reinforced with materials from the ancient Alberoelva, it had reached something close to upper-grade quality. But the rest of my weapons, forged from Ekriki materials, wouldn't even scratch Disastro. The powder explosions would be little more than an itch — and I doubted the blades would even bite into its hide.
My armor was genuinely pathetic. The Luga-lac Armor wasn't bad, but it was only serviceable against mid-grade or lower upper-grade threats. One clean hit from a strong upper-grade monster — let alone a Supreme-grade — and a fatal wound was all but guaranteed. I'd beaten the ancient Alberoelva only because I never took a direct hit. If I'd slipped up and eaten a solid strike, Antico might have fallen right there.
Going after Disastro like this was suicide. Being swallowed was an instant-death pattern, sure — but even just colliding with that elongated body would kill me from the impact alone. I had no desire to die to something that wasn't even an attack, like some power-up cliché.
I reached a conclusion and told Pina.
"The survey's over."
"…What? Already?"
"From now on, I'm only killing monsters."
Thinking about it, it was kind of infuriating. The things I was supposed to hunt were being eaten by that thing instead. Sure, it was doing what it needed to survive — but for me, hunting was just as essential as eating. There was no such thing as a hunter's life without the hunt.
"Y-you're going to fight that monster? You can't!"
"No."
"Whew, thank goodness… Then what are you going to hunt?"
"Everything I can see."
"…What?"
"I'm going to kill them all. Kill them all and turn them into gear."
"I think Alice-nim might be a monster herself. Maybe you're the real calamity?"
This kid and her jokes. I smiled faintly at Pina's words, then reached up and rested my hand on the greatsword's hilt.
Might as well start with that one over there.
Pina flattened herself against the ground. She wrapped the blanket around her body so she wouldn't be seen, blending into the wasteland earth like part of the terrain itself.
Alice-nim really is incredible.
Through a gap in the blanket, Pina watched Alice hunt. It was clearly a monster she'd never seen before — and yet Alice butchered it without a moment's hesitation. She attacked, but she never allowed an attack to land.
Clang—!
"Ah, she did it again."
Flowing Water. It wasn't even surprising anymore. That technique of catching a monster's strike and letting the force slide away — Alice performed it as freely as breathing. Could she really see attacks like that coming?
Pina stared hard at the monster, wondering if she might ever manage the same. The creature Alice was fighting now was a Formico — a vicious antlion. It usually hid underground, then surged up the instant something passed overhead to snatch it away.
Kiiiii—!!
A high, tearing roar split the air. The Formico scraped furiously at the earth with its massive jaws and horned forelegs, burrowing in.
Ant Dive.
Rrrrrumble—!
The ground shook violently as the Formico moved. Then it erupted from the earth, jaws first, lunging to shear Alice in half —
"Obvious."
— but Alice's greatsword was already waiting.
Crunch—!
A perfectly timed counter. The Bloodhorn Greatsword crushed through the jaws and drove straight into the skull.
Watching, Pina shook her head. How was anyone supposed to copy that? Using her own body as bait to land a single decisive blow. Without absolute certainty, it was something no hunter should ever attempt. If her read had been even slightly wrong, Alice would have been the one dead on that ground.
Was it an attack that courted death itself? And if she did die like that… would Alice's face look relieved?
Pina shook her head hard. She never wanted to see that.
"Come on. Let's do this."
She steeled herself and stood up. She'd given up on talking Alice out of it. No matter how hard she tried, Alice was clearly going to face that colossal monster. So she would help. After all, Pina was Alice's supporter.
She wanted Alice to live a long time. She didn't want her to throw her life away on nothing but rage toward monsters.