Chapter 97: Two known hunters

Once the twelve S-rank warriors from Arden entered the dome, some by displaying their exceptional skills and others by forcing their way through, they decided to split up.

The order came from their leader, the pink-haired woman,

"Make two teams. I don’t give a shit about your classes or whatever other distinctions you people like to brag about. Head in different directions and clean up the residuals. Morbis and I will investigate whatever the hell is causing those tremors across this desert." She narrowed her eyes, sweeping her gaze over the assembled warriors. "And one more thing. Nobody talks to Balendhall’s hunters any more than necessary."

The command was absolute. The twelve warriors had learned the hard way what happened when someone questioned their leader’s decisions, so nobody dared offer an objection.

Within moments, the group dispersed, leaving only the pink-haired woman and her trusted right-hand man behind.

"Are you sure about this, Mei?" Morbis asked, glancing toward the vast expanse of sand ahead. "Will the two of us be enough? We’re heading straight for the largest source of disturbance in this entire area."

Mei grinned, seemingly unbothered by the concern in his voice. "Who cares? I’ve been looking for a real challenge ever since I awakened. Maybe this is finally it."

She turned toward the man standing beside her, whose entire figure was concealed beneath a brown cloak, and eyed him with undisguised amusement.

"If you’ve already shat your pants under that cloak, you’re welcome to leave."

Morbis offered no response. He merely stared at her from beneath his hood, refusing to entertain her provocation.

Mei grinned wider and nodded approvingly. "Good. Now, follow me."

Without another word, the two launched themselves forward, accelerating to their maximum speed as they raced across the desert.

"Huh?!"

Barely half a minute later, they came to an abrupt halt, their feet digging into the sand as they stared at the spectacle unfolding in the distance.

Something enormous was soaring through the air.

No, soaring wasn’t quite the right word for what they were witnessing.

"It’s a dragon... and something is forcing it toward the sky." Morbis’s voice carried an unusual note of disbelief. Whatever he was seeing, it had clearly caught even him off guard.

"Is that... a person?" Mei murmured.

Her eyebrows rose as she strained to make out the tiny figure in the distance. Despite the considerable gap separating them from the spectacle, she could just barely distinguish a human silhouette gripping the dragon by its horn and hauling the enormous beast upward.

"Captain, I’m detecting multiple mana signatures ahead." Morbis’s report pulled her attention away from the bizarre sight.

Mei reluctantly tore her gaze from the dragon and concentrated on the area ahead. Only then did she notice the dense concentration of magical energy gathering in the distance, close to where the dragon had been launched into the air.

"Come on."

They accelerated once again, rushing toward the source of the disturbance.

This time, however, Mei struggled to maintain her usual pace. Every few moments, her gaze drifted back toward the human figure relentlessly beating the dragon as both descended toward the ground.

The dragon barely looked capable of fighting back anymore. Its enormous body was battered, and whatever strength it had possessed seemed to be rapidly draining away.

Yet Mei’s experience told her that, in its prime, this creature must have been a genuine calamity, the sort of monster that could inspire terror simply by making its presence known.

And yet, someone has reduced it to a punching bag...

Mei couldn’t suppress her grin. Whatever awaited her ahead, this place was already proving far more interesting than she had anticipated.

"There!" Morbis called out.

Without waiting for a response, he veered toward one of the flying monsters circling a vehicle and a lone woman standing nearby.

His brown shroud rippled around him before hardening, its surface condensing into a formidable mass of defensive energy as he launched himself at the creature.

"KHIK!"

The monster shrieked and twisted aside, evading his attack with surprising agility.

Before Morbis could adjust his trajectory, hundreds of feathers shot from its body, each one transformed into a deadly projectile that tore through the air toward him.

"Tch!"

Clicking his tongue, Morbis swept his hardened shroud outward, forming a barrier between himself and the incoming barrage.

The feathers struck in rapid succession, producing a series of sharp impacts that reverberated through the desert.

Despite the shroud’s impressive durability, the enhanced projectiles managed to damage its surface, leaving visible marks across the material.

"For fuck’s..."

Morbis abruptly cut himself off.

The instant he lowered the barrier, a pair of enormous talons appeared directly in front of his face, their curved claws gleaming as they descended toward him.

His instincts screamed at him to move. Morbis hurled his shroud in opposite directions, forcing the hardened material between himself and the incoming claws.

*CLANG*

The improvised defense barely managed to redirect the attack in time, but the creature’s elongated nails still grazed his shoulder, tearing through his clothing and leaving a painful wound behind.

"Shit, Captain! This thing is fucking A-rank at the very least!" he shouted, twisting away from the monster before turning toward Mei.

Unfortunately, his captain was hardly in a position to offer assistance. She was already engaged in combat with a monkey-like creature whose movements were anything but ordinary.

"KUKUKUK!"

The monster let out a strange, mocking laugh before leaping into the air. It jumped once, then again, each successive leap carrying it higher than the last.

By the time it launched itself toward Mei, it had gained enough height to bring a powerful kick crashing down toward her head.

Mei grinned and surged forward to meet it.

The monkey’s kick struck her body, only for its leg to pass straight through her as though she were nothing more than an illusion.

In the same instant, Mei reappeared above the creature, twisting her body as she brought her own foot down toward its head.

"Huh?"

Her attack missed.

The monkey had shrunk its body at the last possible moment, slipping beneath her descending foot with an ease that bordered on absurdity.

Mei began to fall toward the ground, but the creature immediately enlarged itself again, stretching its limbs to their original proportions as it attempted to intercept her before she could land.

Once more, Mei’s body phased through its attack.

She touched down beside Morbis without so much as losing her balance, then straightened and studied the creature with renewed interest.

"A monster with combat intelligence and such a peculiar ability..." she murmured. "Yeah, A-rank at the very least. Possibly higher."

Her eyes narrowed as she watched the monkey grin at her, its body bouncing in place as though the entire encounter were nothing more than an entertaining game.

Mei had fought enough monsters to recognize the difference between an ordinary beast and one capable of adapting to its opponent.

This creature possessed both intelligence and an ability that made landing a decisive blow considerably more difficult. Underestimating it would be a mistake.

Her gaze soon shifted toward the other hunter nearby, and recognition flickered across her face.

"Balendhall’s newest S-rank..." she muttered. "Looks like she’s holding her own pretty well."

As Mei observed, the monster Hannah was fighting had already been pushed to the brink of death.

The enormous snake had repeatedly attempted to coil its body around Hannah, using its immense size to restrict her movements before delivering a fatal strike.

Whenever that failed, it resorted to spitting venom so potent that it could melt through an ice pillar with frightening ease.

Yet not a single attack had managed to land.

Hannah’s nimble footwork, inhuman reflexes, and combat experience had allowed her to evade every attempt on her life.

She moved with a precision that left the snake struggling to keep up, exploiting every opening while refusing to give the creature even a moment to recover.

After enduring such relentless pressure, the beast was finally beginning to lose its composure.

"HISSS!"

With a furious hiss, the snake lunged at her once again, its jaws opening wide as its forked tongue shot forward, carrying a deadly dose of venom.

Hannah charged straight toward it.

Rather than retreating, she slipped past the incoming tongue with a slight adjustment to her trajectory.

The attack missed her by a narrow margin, and she continued forward until she was almost alongside the creature’s enormous head.

Then, in midair, she abruptly halted her forward momentum.

Her leg snapped out, striking the air with such force that a shock wave erupted from the point of impact.

The invisible blow slammed into the snake’s head, forcing its long neck to bend violently to one side and leaving its vulnerable underside exposed.

Hannah needed no second invitation.

She twisted her body, hardened her elbow, and brought it down with devastating force against the exposed section of the creature’s neck.

CRACK!

The sharp sound rang across the battlefield, followed by the heavy thud of another beast collapsing into the sand.

"Fuu..." Hannah exhaled as she landed, her boots sinking slightly into the loose ground.

Sweat glistened across her forehead, and her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath.

This was the third beast she had taken down, and despite the relentless fighting, she had somehow managed to avoid sustaining a single injury.

DOOOOOM!

A tremendous shock wave erupted from somewhere to her side, stirring the sand and drawing her attention toward the source.

Hannah turned her head, realizing that someone else was fighting nearby. Of course, she had never truly been alone in this place, but these new hunters were much like her who actually were struggling against whom they fought.

I know her...

That was Hannah’s first thought when she caught sight of the woman’s brightly colored hair and distinctive fighting style.

The pink-haired warrior had just delivered a powerful kick to the monkey-like creature, sending it hurtling across the sand before it crashed to the ground with a heavy impact.

Even from a distance, Hannah could tell that the blow had inflicted considerable damage.

Her eyes lingered on the woman for another moment as recognition settled into certainty.

It was the leader of the Arden hunters.

°°°

A/N:- Long Chapters since I want to wrap things up soon.