“KAIYO, RUN!” Hana ordered her. Lifting off the ground, she faced the monster with a heated mien. Her fists clenched up, ready to fight.

“But what about yo–”

“Shut it. You don’t have experience in fighting monsters. That’s why you came to this place to begin with. Leave it to me, okay!”

Hana wasn’t allowing her to respond; she swiftly grabbed Kaiyo by her clothes and threw her behind with one hand. Kaiyo let out a small yelp of surprise before being caught by Sen as she landed. She was only able to lift Kaiyo like that due to her Sense. I wish it's gonna be that easy to deal with this thing.

“GRAAAAR!” The Bearwolf didn’t allow them to assess the situation correctly. It bared its teeth and swung its muscular body at her. The Bearwolf outstretched one of his paws in an attempt to hit her. However, Hana had enough time to prepare for the attack.

Due to the violent nature of the Bearwolf and its vulnerabilities, it lacked battle comprehension. It was still brutally strong and nimble, but it usually threw itself at its target without much of a plan.

The monster also wasn’t used to being hunted by other creatures and monsters, so it was cocky by nature. Anything smaller than itself was viewed as an easy target.

“Eat shit, monster!” Hana quickly dodged the monster’s confronting paw and dove to the right, leaning against the brick wall. The monster shook his head with a growl when it landed. It looked confused where she went.

Because the monster only viewed creatures as heat patterns, it didn’t have any way to identify or distinguish one person from the other.

“Everyone run to the next tunnel, except for you, Baru!” Hana demanded, taking advantage of the monster's disorientation.

Without another thought crossing her mind, she felt power surge through her fists as she ran unswervingly at the vile creature. The Bearwolf swung its head to meet her, only seeing a blob of heat coming its way. Because it couldn’t comprehend the thought of anything so small doing much damage, it stretched its paw out, dismissing any signs of danger.

Ha! Rookie, eat my fist!... “Crunch!”

Hana felt a few bones in the monster crack on impact when she landed a hit on the chest. The air in the monster was knocked out and its body was sent hurtling deeper into the tunnel.

Hana lifted her fist in triumph. Hell yea! That was honestly a lot easier than I thought. Maybe I’m underestimating myself.

“D-did you beat it?” Hono gaped in astonishment.

“Yeah, looks like it. I guess there’s no need for you guys to run. Honestly, it was pretty easy to read.” Hana puffed her chest out.

Turning away from the tunnel, she delightfully strode to her friends. It is weird, though. I expected a little more of a fight. Hell, I fought tougher monsters in the city than this… In any case, it didn’t matter. Hana was just grateful that it wasn’t too hard.

“Alright, well, I guess the other tunnel is definitely the way out of here–”

“Hana…” Kaiyo's eyes widened, her face turning white and pale.

“It's okay, Kaiyo; no need to be scared anymore, it’s gone. It was pretty close to you, though, so I understand why you’re so–”

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“GRRRR……” A low growling sound arose behind her. She felt, once again, the hot, putrid breath of the bearwolf. Her neck gave a shiver of dread.

For f*ck's sake…

She whipped her head around to find the monster staring maliciously at her. It opened its large serrated mouth and lunged. Move, move, move! her mind told her in a split second. Sadly, it was far too late. She didn’t have time to dodge or attack…

...

“CLINK!”

A sharp metal sound erupted in front of her. Was it over? Was she dead? She didn’t feel any pain, so what happened–

“Are you going to stand there like a chicken, god damn it…” Ayame grunted. Hana opened her eyes to see Ayame blocking the bearwolf's attack with a katana.

“Well?” she asked. “Don’t let me regret this, snowhead!” she rumbled. Ayame pushed the bearwolf aside with her sharp sword. The monster snarled in pain as it licked its chops from the wound of the sword. “I SAID GO!” she exclaimed to them.

“I’ll help!” Hana got herself off the ground, ready to fight once more. “You can’t kill this monster on your own.” She wasn’t about to let someone who didn’t even have Touch outdo her. Her ego was too large for that.

Ayame swung her shimmering sword at the monster with precision honed from hours of practice and failure. Although it was a perfect attack, the monster had finally adapted to their movements. It reared back, narrowly dodging the assault, only a few of its hairs being sliced off in the process.

It's getting used to our movements. Although they have lots of flaws and are unaware of human danger, that doesn’t mean they’re stupid. They obviously learn from their mistakes and try to improve their strategy. It’s weird that monsters are so intelligent. It is fascinating to think they all started to appear and mutate from one meteor. They truly are alien life forms.

Hana attempted to unlock her sense yet again and attack the monster. However, Ayame had different plans. She grasped her fist before Hana could attack. “hu?–”

“I said leave this battle to me!” Ayame raised her voice, although she kept a low, threatening tone.

Her expression took aback Hana. She wasn’t surprised by her brash words, but yet, this time, it felt different. Pure hatred and resolve hid behind Ayame’s pupils—those of a killer.

Something tells me I should listen to her…

“Listen to me, snow heads.” Ayame cast a glance at Sen and Hana. “I mean it when I say it. Leave this to me, okay… you guys go ahead. I’ve killed more of these than you can think of, and I suggest you don’t get in my way,” she muttered, her pupils shrinking to the size of a grain of rice.

“Hmph,” Sen murmured amusingly. “Well, if you insist, it would be rude to decline your generous offer.”

“But, Sen, she won't be able to handle the monster–”

“Hana, trust me, she’ll be alright; call it a feeling...” Sen looked oddly calm about the situation.

How can he be like that? What does he know that I don’t? But he hasn’t been wrong yet.

“HAHAHA– Yeah, I don’t think we should waste our time on such a weak monster like that. Let the blue-haired chick deal with it.” With a nervous chuckle, Baru turned around and sprinted away in fear.

Weak monster, my ass, tsk, this guy. I doubt he even has Touch at this point.

With a loud roar, the Bearwolf attacked again, but Ayame’s swiftness was far superior. She dodged the attack and let out a volley of small slashes at the monster, cutting deep wounds on its flesh with each strike.

The monster fell back next to the brick wall, panting. Ayame didn’t hold back. She swung her sword as the monster staggered in pain. But before her sword could hit it, the monster dodged with its powerful hind legs, making her sword slice the wall behind it.

Her attack was so strong the wall shook, and a few chucks of brick came loose.

“For the last time, I said go! I'm not doing this to help you. I’m doing this for myself!!”

“Huh? Don’t think you’re going to have all the fun, is,” Genkai grinned, unsheathing his own sword. “You guys go! Me and my sis got this.”

With reluctance, Hana gave a small nod of appreciation. Deprived of another question, everyone else started running back to the other tunnel, leaving behind echoes of yowling and pieces of bricks falling from the walls.

...

“That THING is scary!” Hono whimpered as they ran.

“I’ve never seen them before; I thought they only lived deep in the forest or in the mountains?” Hyo remarked.

“It’s true. They only live in forests and colder climates. But that isn’t relevant right now. All we have to focus on is getting to the other tunnel. I’m not sure why they decided to help us like that. But let’s not make their actions go in vain,” Sen asserted.

Running as hard as she could, Hana glanced back for a moment.

Those precise slashes, the sheer swiftness, and pure strength behind her attacks weren’t normal. Ayame was skilled beyond anyone she’d seen in her life. And Genkai... well, she wasn’t able to judge accordingly. But something told her he wasn’t just a weak clown like he made himself out to be.

Just who are you guys?