The Starving Earth Dragon Appears
As the moon set and the sun rose once more, a heavy silence settled over the whole of Angolo.
Every preparation was complete.
Breakfast was no longer the meager fare of days past, but a solid, proper meat meal.
It might well be the last feast any of them would ever eat.
I looked around. The faces of the people were grim and resolute. In that mute, solemn atmosphere, spoons moved without a word. It was the kind of mood where you could barely tell whether the food was going into your mouth or your nose.
Pina, too, stopped mid-bite and let out a low groan.
"Uugh…"
"Pina, what's wrong?"
"I can't seem to get the food down."
Really? I think it's pretty good…
I lifted my spoon, scooped up a well-cut piece of meat, and said,
"Eat slowly."
"Okaaay…"
Pina forced the meal down bite by bite. The pressure was probably making it hard to swallow. Even so, she had to eat. You needed a full stomach to put out real strength before a hunt — and when the opponent was a Supreme-grade monster, every single step of the process had to be flawless.
After the meal came a brief stretch of personal maintenance, a last quick check that nothing was missing. I didn't have much to prepare. My body and my weapon were enough.
I asked Pina,
"You're sticking with Matillo again this time?"
"Yes, I think so. He asked me to help when he fires the Dragon Bane."
Pina would be serving as gunner for the Dragon Bane alongside Matillo. Honestly, I was a little jealous — getting to fire a weapon like that.
She finished her final check, slung her bag over her shoulder, and stood up.
"Heave-ho—. All set. Let's go."
"Alright."
We opened the door and stepped outside. The inn corridor was packed with other hunters and buzzing with noise. Then a familiar figure caught my eye — Capello the cowboy, the hunter who'd helped us take down the Schiagua, was walking past.
Capello spotted me somehow and tossed a greeting our way.
"Oh, Alice, Pina."
I returned the greeting to the easygoing cowboy.
"Capello."
"Ah, hello."
Capello nodded, then lifted the bow in his hand and said,
"A little tense, huh?"
"Yeah."
I nodded. Even I wasn't free of nerves. But I believed we could take it down.
Capello grinned and pressed his cowboy hat firmly down on his head.
"Let's give it everything."
"Don't die."
"Please be careful."
"Yeah, thanks. See you on the other side."
With that, Capello quickened his pace. Pina and I followed after him.
A great many people had gathered at the assembly point in the center of the outpost — soldiers in full armor, and the 10-captains among them. At a glance I could make out Guido and Lucas. Their visors were down, so I couldn't see their faces, but their different builds and the differently colored plumes fixed to their helmets made the 10-captains easy to tell apart.
Guido stood with his arms crossed, radiating confidence. His red plume swayed in the light breeze. Beside him, Lucas wore a blue plume and was checking over the soldiers' gear.
As I passed, Guido looked my way and turned his gaze on me. The center of his visor locked onto me.
"You're here."
"Yeah."
"…This is a joint operation. Don't go tossing me aside like last time, alright?"
Apparently being sent flying that day still rankled him. I snorted a quiet laugh and shot back,
"If it gets dangerous, no mercy."
"I've got a feel for how to handle monsters now. I won't get in the way."
Guido raised his visor with a gauntleted hand. We traded looks — those distinctive blue eyes of his meeting mine.
"…Don't die. Let's meet again alive."
He said it offhandedly, then lowered his visor again and turned his back on me. Watching him, Lucas gave a small smile.
"Worried about her, are you?"
"…What, isn't worrying natural? It's a dangerous operation."
Guido answered belatedly, looking a little flustered. Lucas shook his head at him.
"Worry about your own hide instead of fretting over other people."
"Hey—!"
"Who's the one telling who not to die here?"
Lucas said it mischievously. He wasn't wrong, of course. Newbies always had to be careful.
I spoke toward the bristling Guido.
"You be careful too. See you alive."
Guido, who'd been in full rant mode at Lucas, nodded calmly as if none of it had happened.
"…Yeah."
We mixed in among the crowd and waited for the departure. Since Pina and I were hunters, we passed the soldiers and walked over toward the hunter contingent.
Master Hunters Oflo and Kyle stood at the very front of the hunter group, just as the 10-captains did among the soldiers. Twin swords rode on Kyle's back; a staff rested in Oflo's hand. They wore gleaming armor that, like Fiore's, looked to be crafted from high-grade monster materials. Compared to the mid-grade gear of the other hunters, the difference in standing was plain at a glance.
Pina and I tried to blend in somewhere in the middle, turning our heads this way and that as we wondered where to stand. Then Oflo, who'd spotted us fidgeting among the hunters, came over and said,
"…Alice."
"Hm?"
"Come up front."
"Uh…"
The front row's a bit much…
I wasn't keen on it, but Oflo's steady gaze and the eyes of everyone around us left me no choice. I was more or less herded out to the very front, and somehow ended up standing shoulder to shoulder with Oflo and Kyle.
Looking out for me because I'm a Master Hunter (provisional), is that it?
I gave a small wave back toward Pina, who was standing right behind me. Her face was so tense I hoped it might help her loosen up a little. At that small gesture, Pina managed a soft smile.
Watching us, Kyle leaned in with his good-natured grin and whispered,
"Looks like we'd better put on a good show, junior."
"Y-yeah… we should."
Oflo narrowed his eyes at us.
"Kyle. You worry about yourself."
"Whaaat~? Me again?"
"I'm telling you not to let your guard down too much."
"I'll have you know I'm plenty tense, even if I don't look it."
Kyle's fists were clenched tight. Even for Master Hunters, a Supreme-grade monster was not an opponent whose defeat anyone dared guarantee. It was a foe you had to meet with everything you had.
Oflo looked at me and said,
"Show us what you can do."
"…Alright."
I dipped my head slightly, then faced forward. I was ready to live up to those expectations. After all, I'd once been a person who lived and breathed this game — Hunter Land.
Killing Disastro is something I already have mapped out in my head… but how it'll go in reality is another question. I clenched the hands clasped behind my back.
Before long, the prince appeared. Melchior stood before us with Biopia and drew every eye. After clearing his throat twice, Melchior cast his gaze over us.
"Your attention, please."
I watched Melchior with a calm expression. He met my eyes for a brief moment, then swept his gaze across the crowd once more.
"We depart shortly. Is there anyone who still needs more time to prepare?"
No one answered. Their silence was affirmation enough. Melchior smiled faintly and nodded.
"We now go to face a great threat. From our reconnaissance, the battlefield will be a ruined fortress in the wasteland. We do not know why this creature has appeared. We do not even know why so many monsters have crossed time itself to reach us. But we will find our answers. This battle is the first step."
Melchior clenched his fist.
"Hold on to hope. Cartadia has endured this long because of the strength of every one of us. Now is the time to show that strength once more. Believe. Trust the comrades beside you and fight. Overcome your fear. Advance with resolve."
With Melchior's words, everyone began to move. We were emptying the Angolo Outpost. We would not return until Disastro was dead.
The ballistae and cannons were hauled by tamed lowest-grade monsters provided by the Association. The Amargamos that usually pulled carts now dragged the cannons and ballistae along, with their assigned hunters sticking close so the beasts wouldn't wander off the path. Matillo's Dragon Bane was likewise moved by monsters. A single Amargamos was enough for a ballista or a cannon — but not for the Dragon Bane. It was so heavy it took at least six of them. Ballista bolts, cannon shells — all of it was left to the monsters' strength.
The troops marched behind them. Melchior and the royal scribe Biopia were joining this fight as well. Because both of them had less stamina than the hunters and soldiers, they rode atop a passenger Amargamos. The reason they insisted on coming along was almost certainly to witness this historic moment with their own eyes. The notebook and pen in Biopia's hands left little doubt. Recording a war like this was vital for the nation's power. The mere fact of having slain Disastro would let the kingdom flaunt its strength. For Melchior, this was a battle he could not afford to miss.
Dozens of footprints were left across the wasteland. A movement of this scale sent the surrounding monsters scattering out of the way. Of course, if any of them picked a fight, I was confident I could step up and kill them on the spot. Wouldn't mind a few showing up as a warm-up before we faced Disastro.
Accounting for the Amargamos's stamina and the army's rest periods, the estimated arrival was two days out. Setting the siege engines in place once we got there would take another half day at least. That was the nature of battle — the preparation itself was terribly tedious, and then once it started, it was over in a flash.
There's a saying for that, isn't there? That the winner of a war is decided before it even begins. That the finest victory is the one you secure in advance. Which is why grinding out the foundation for certain victory before the fighting starts is so important. We had laid that foundation thoroughly. And yet the irony was that even so, we still could not guarantee a perfect win. Facing death, the creature would thrash and struggle with everything it had.
But we could not let it slip away. Not if this land — this ruined Cartadia — was ever to know peace.
The ruined fortress.
It hadn't collapsed entirely, so there were still several places where cannons and ballistae could be mounted — but its condition was dire. Melchior stood atop the half-destroyed fortress and looked down over the ground below. A cracked earth choked with sand and dust. In Melchior's eyes, it took on a different shape.
"…Ah. So this is Sperita."
This had been Cartadia's eastern fortress of Sperita — a massive defensive wall raised to hold back monsters and enemy armies. Now that form was broken, and nothing remained but these shabby ruins. As a prince, looking upon the fallen face of his own kingdom made his heart ache.
Biopia, who had finished surveying the area, approached Melchior as he lingered in the afterglow atop the fortress.
"Your Highness, are you all right?"
"…Yes, I'm fine. How do things stand?"
"The cannons and ballistae are being installed on the fortress tiers that are still intact. The Dragon Bane has been placed against the collapsed wall beside this ruined section."
A massive anti-colossus siege gun built by a craftsman who had once been a Master Hunter. Because of its crushing weight, its position couldn't be adjusted — it had to be set facing a single fixed direction. And it held only one shot. That made it the single most important weapon in this battle.
Melchior looked down at the Dragon Bane standing alone beside the fortress.
"Landing the hit is everything, then."
"The bombardment position is right ahead. There — where the soldiers have planted the flag. Shall we change the orientation?"
Melchior looked at the flag driven into the center of the wasteland below.
"No. That will be sufficient."
"Yes. And, Your Highness."
"Is there another report?"
"Not exactly."
Biopia held out her hand to the prince. Melchior tilted his head but reached out anyway. What she pressed into his palm was a piece of candy.
"Have this, at least, and ease your mind a little."
Looking at the candy wrapped in its small shell, the prince gave a short laugh.
"…You really are a scribe. Thank you."
He peeled the wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth. The worries and anxieties crowding his head seemed to clear away at once.
"We begin once every weapon is in place."
All that remained now was the fight. Rolling the candy around in his mouth, Melchior let out a breath. Then he looked down at the hunters and 10-captains standing in the wasteland below the fortress. They were the ones who would lead this battle.
Among them, a head of white hair stood out. Melchior quietly watched Alice. For this fight she had put on clanking armor, and she stood with her greatsword planted in the ground, staring out beyond the horizon.
Noah approached her.
"…Alice."
"Ah, Noah."
Noah was still bothered by what she'd said to Alice the other day.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
Fortunately, Alice didn't seem to be dwelling on it.
"More importantly, Disastro's the problem."
"Yeah…"
Noah smiled bitterly. The situation was so urgent there was no room to dwell on anyone's past. The only thing Noah could be sure of was that Alice desperately wanted Disastro dead. It showed even now. From Alice's eyes as she stared beyond the horizon, killing intent poured out in waves.
Soon the scribe's shout carried from far off.
"Preparations are complete—!"
Every weapon was in place. The hunters would have to stand with their backs to the siege engines, defending them as they clashed with Disastro. But Disastro was nowhere to be seen yet. There was no need to simply wait. They would call the creature themselves.
Rumble— scrape—.
A massive gong, hung from a frame, was hauled swaying across the wasteland. The soldier holding a mallet tipped with a thick wad of cloth swallowed hard. With a soft rustle, everyone fitted on their prepared masks and goggles.
"Th-then… I'll strike it—!"
The soldier's arms trembled, then he put strength into both hands and swung the mallet.
CLAAANG—!
The gong shuddered and cast its enormous sound in every direction. It swayed slowly back and forth, ringing on and on.
"H-hiiik—!"
The soldier who'd struck the gong dropped the mallet at once and fled. The gong's voice gradually faded, and the wasteland fell endlessly quiet.
Gulp—.
The sound of someone swallowing carried through a mask. Where? Where would it appear from? Everyone scanned their surroundings.
Then, from beyond the horizon, a sand-laden wind began to blow — gentle at first. Sand stuck to the goggles skittered sideways. The sandstorm that had come from far away slowly swelled, and before long it began to swallow the sky.
Rrrrumble—.
The sound of the earth turning over rolled through the ground. Legs shook as if in an earthquake; bodies swayed. Hunters and soldiers who lost their footing staggered. Something hidden beneath the earth was drawing steadily closer.
At last a vast maw surged up and swallowed the gong in a single brutal gulp. Realizing it was not a living thing, the enraged monster thrust its long body high into the sky and roared.
A single roar shook the earth and set the sand trembling. Overwhelmed by that cry, everyone clapped their hands over their ears and dropped low. With one roar, the monster forced the world to revere it.
Having thrust its body up onto the surface, it soon lowered its head toward the things on the ground, opening and closing its mouth again and again. Drool dripped from its jaws as it panted — revolting and grotesque beyond measure.
From the makeshift command post below the fortress, Melchior watched it and murmured, almost hollowly,
"…That is a true monster."
The Starving Earth Dragon, Disastro.
The starving monster had appeared.