An assistant burst into my room without even knocking.
"Mr. Hisacage!!"
I nearly fell off my chair.
"What?!"
"You've been assigned a new mission!"
"Okay, okay. Give me a second."
A few minutes later, I arrived at the MHA headquarters.
The High Elders were waiting for me.
One of them held a report.
"Good morning, Kyoren."
"What's the mission?"
The elder slid the report across the table.
"We've received reports of fifteen to twenty monster sightings in a nearby village."
I shrugged.
"Sounds normal."
"It would be."
The elder folded his hands.
"Except every scouting team we've sent has lost contact."
That got my attention.
"So who's coming with me?"
"No one."
I blinked.
"What?"
"You're going alone."
"Seriously?"
The elder nodded.
"You're stronger now, Kyoren. Consider this a solo mission."
I let out a sigh.
"Fine."
By afternoon, I had arrived at the village.
The streets were quiet.
Too quiet.
No people.
No animals.
Not even birds.
A cold breeze swept through the empty roads.
Something felt wrong.
I crouched down and focused.
The same way I had learned in the Prison Maze.
Listening.
Smelling.
Feeling.
Then I sensed something.
A battle.
Not far away.
I immediately sprinted toward it.
Through the trees.
Across a field.
Over a broken fence.
And then I stopped.
There was blood everywhere.
A massive puddle of monster blood stained the ground.
The metallic smell filled the air.
For some reason...
my body reacted before my mind.
I dropped to one knee.
And drank.
The blood tasted strange.
Powerful.
Familiar.
When I finally looked up, I froze.
Thirty monster corpses.
Thirty.
Scattered across the battlefield.
Every single one dead.
My heart began to pound.
That was impossible.
I was supposed to be the only human who could kill monsters.
Then who did this?
I slowly stood up.
The wind stopped.
Then I sensed something.
Someone was approaching.
Not a monster.
Not a hunter.
Something else.
I turned toward the forest.
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
And the moment I saw them...
my blood ran cold.