Lyon didn’t bother making an elegant entrance.
He simply launched himself forward.
Thump!
With a single push from his legs, he crossed the distance between him and the giant worm in less than a second, and before the monster could react, his fist was already buried in its side.
BAM.
The hit sounded dry and heavy, like he had punched a wall instead of flesh. The worm’s entire body jolted.
GROOOAAAR.
"Shut up," Lyon said, without a hint of emotion.
BAM.
BAM.
BAM.
Lyon started hitting it again and again without stopping, each punch sinking deeper into the monster’s grayish skin. And the people still left on the street, the same people who were supposed to be running away, stood there staring with their mouths open.
Because something didn’t add up.
The girl wasn’t standing on the ground.
She was standing in the air several meters above it, with nothing under her feet, as if there was an invisible floor made only for her.
"I-Is she floating?!"
"How is she doing that?!"
"She’s a hunter! She has to be a hunter who uses magic!"
The people began muttering through their panic, pointing upward. Because to them, that was the only explanation.
But then they looked a little closer and realized that this supposed magic-using hunter wasn’t using any spell, any beam of light, or any flashy explosion.
No.
She was beating the monster to a pulp with punches and kicks.
Crack!
One of Lyon’s kicks split one of the worm’s rotating teeth in half.
"Magic?" someone muttered, confused. "What kind of mage fights with her fists?"
Lyon didn’t even notice the debate happening below, because he was focused on something else.
'I have to end this,' he thought, dodging one of the monster’s tail swipes with a small jump in midair. 'The sooner I kill it, the sooner I can—'
The worm opened its mouth, and a thick yellowish stream shot out from inside it, flying straight toward him.
"Incoming acid," the voice inside his head warned in a calm tone. "And there are civilians behind you. A lot of civilians who, by the way, should be running and are absolutely not running."
"I noticed," Lyon said through clenched teeth.
Lyon didn’t have time to dodge and let the acid keep flying toward the people, so he did something else.
Lyon bit the tip of his finger.
Tick.
A drop of blood welled up, and he flicked it forward with a quick motion of his hand, sending it into the air in front of him. Then he suddenly opened both hands, and the blood drop expanded, stretched, multiplied, and spread out like a thin sheet covering all the space between the monster and the people below.
FLASH.
A red, semi-transparent, glowing barrier formed just in time. The acid slammed into it head-on.
Tssssss.
The yellow liquid hissed and bubbled as it hit the red wall, melting and sliding off to the sides without touching anyone.
"Did you see that?!"
"She made a shield! She’s definitely an elite hunter!"
"LET’S GO! You can do it! Finish it off!"
The people started cheering, shouting and celebrating every hit as if they were in a stadium.
A vein popped on Lyon’s forehead.
'What…?' he thought, one eye twitching. 'Are they seriously not going to run? Why are they just standing there clapping like this is some kind of show? Are they idiots or what?! There’s a giant worm spitting acid! Run!'
But the cheering only got louder, so Lyon decided to ignore it.
'I don’t have time for this...'
The worm, wounded and furious, rose up again to attack, opening its mouth full of broken teeth.
But Lyon had already moved.
Thump!
Lyon kicked off the air and flew backward, creating distance. Then he joined both hands above his head and dropped into a dive.
VRRRM.
Lyon fell like an arrow, straight toward the monster’s head, with both fists locked together in front of him. The worm tried to close its mouth to protect itself.
It didn’t make it.
CRAAACK.
Lyon tore through the monster from one side to the other. His entire body passed through the worm, entering through the head and bursting out the other end, ripping apart flesh and organs along the way.
SPLATCH!
A spray of blood and guts shot out in every direction, and Lyon was soaked from head to toe.
The monster stayed still for one second.
Then, slowly, its enormous body collapsed to one side.
WHUMP!
It fell dead among the ruins of the store, never moving again.
Silence.
For a moment, the only sound was the rain falling.
And then…
"SHE DID IT!"
"SHE KILLED THE MONSTER!"
"SHE’S AMAZING!"
The whole street exploded into celebration. People jumped, clapped, and shouted with excitement, as if they had actually won something.
Lyon, still drenched in blood and slime, landed next to the worm’s corpse and gave it a small kick with his foot to confirm that it was really dead.
It didn’t move.
'Good. Dead,' he confirmed. 'Now—'
"HEY! YOU! THE HUNTER!"
"THANK YOU! YOU’RE OUR HERO!"
Lyon looked up.
And saw that the people, instead of keeping their distance, were now walking toward him with smiles on their faces and their phones raised, getting closer and closer.
Lyon’s blood ran cold.
'No. Not a chance.'
And without saying a single word, Lyon turned around and ran.
"W-WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"
"WE WANT TO THANK YOU!"
But Lyon was already gone. He ran so fast that in a matter of seconds, he vanished between the streets, leaving behind the crowd, the celebration, and the monster’s corpse under the rain.
"You know?" the voice inside his head said while he ran. "This would be a lot easier if you just used your wings and flew. You’d get to the other side of the city in no time."
"No," Lyon answered flatly, jumping over a wall.
"I’m just saying—"
"I said no," he repeated, sharp and final. "I’m not using those things in this form. Period."
The voice sighed, but didn’t insist.
Lyon kept running, leaving behind the buildings and the lit-up streets, until the concrete turned into dirt and the streetlights turned into trees.
A forest on the outskirts of the city.
Only then did he stop.
Lyon went deeper in until he found a small river with running water, and without thinking twice, he started washing himself.
"Ugh," he said out loud, scrubbing his arms hard. "This stuff is disgusting..."
The worm’s blood was thick and sticky, and the slime had gotten everywhere. Lyon splashed water on his face, on his white hair, on his neck, trying to get rid of that horrible smell.
And while he did that, he stayed in his girl form.
The voice noticed.
"Hey," it said, in a teasing tone. "Question. Why are you still a woman? There’s nobody around anymore. You could go back to your male form whenever you want."
Lyon froze for a moment. Then he kept washing himself as if nothing had happened.
"Because I’m bathing outside," he answered. "And if by some chance someone shows up and sees me naked…"
He paused.
"I’d rather be mistaken for a female pervert than a male one."
The voice laughed.
"You’re the worst."
"I’m practical," Lyon corrected.
Lyon finished rinsing himself off and stayed there, sitting beside the river, wringing the water out of his soaked jacket.
And then, suddenly, something clicked in his head.
Lyon froze.
Slowly, very slowly, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.
That same phone he also used as his wallet.
The one where he had everything.
His cards, his money… absolutely everything he needed to…
To buy the console.
The console he had not bought because the store had been destroyed.
And his phone, because he had gotten into the water with it to wash himself, no longer worked.
Lyon stared at the phone in his hand for a long time in silence.
Then he lifted his face to the sky, letting the rain fall on him.
"...This day," he said out loud, with a calmness that was honestly terrifying, "could not possibly get any worse."
◇◆◇
Back in the city, where the attack had taken place, it was still raining, but now the area was packed with people.
Police had cordoned off the entire zone, and a large group of hunters had arrived at the site to investigate what had happened. They walked through the rubble, examining the damage, the enormous crater in the ground, and the corpse of the giant worm lying off to one side.
"Seriously…?" one of the hunters muttered, crouched beside the monster’s body. "Someone actually killed this thing with their bare hands?"
There were no weapon marks.
No burns from elemental magic.
Nothing.
Just blows.
A little farther away, a tired-looking hunter stood at the center of the scene, surrounded by his two assistants. He had a particular ability: he could summon a ghost capable of drawing in the air, recreating scenes in the form of a hologram.
"All right…" the hunter said, while the ghost floated beside him. "You all saw what happened. Tell me step by step. You. What did you see first?"
Some of the witnesses who were still there began explaining what they remembered, and as they spoke, the ghost drew silhouettes of light in the air, recreating the scene.
The figure of the monster emerging from the ground.
A small silhouette standing in the air, beating it.
The red barrier.
The final blow.
The investigator narrowed his eyes, analyzing each silhouette carefully.
And when it was over, he let out a long sigh.
"It’s her again," he said tiredly. "No doubt about it."
One of his assistants, the taller one, crossed her arms.
"The suspicious hunter?" she asked, frowning. "The one who hasn’t registered?"
"The same one," he confirmed. "She walks on air, creates barriers, and has monstrous strength. It all matches."
The other assistant, the shorter one, frowned in confusion.
"Okay, I don’t get it…" she said, annoyed. "If that girl is running around the city killing monsters like some kind of hero, saving people and all that… why the heck doesn’t she register as a hunter? She’d be famous and they’d pay her a ton."
"Obviously she’s not registering," the taller one answered without hesitation. "Because she’s probably doing something illegal. Honest people don’t hide."
The shorter one looked at her, not very convinced.
"Something illegal?" she repeated, irritated. "We’ve been tracking her for months. And every incident where she appears ends the same way: with a dead monster in a place the Association didn’t reach in time. If she were a criminal, wouldn’t she have done something bad by now? So far, all she’s done is save people."
The taller one opened her mouth to answer.
"It’s only a matter of time," she finally said. "Sooner or later, we’re going to find something suspicious about that little shrimp. I guar—"
"Hey," the investigator interrupted them in a low voice, without fully turning around. "Don’t say that kind of thing out loud."
Both assistants blinked.
"Why?" the taller one asked.
The investigator nodded toward the side.
"Because you’re giving material to the reporter standing right in front of you."
Both girls turned their heads at the same time.
And there, just a few steps away from them, was a young woman with a small notebook in her hand, writing at full speed.
When she noticed the three of them staring at her, the reporter looked up and gave them a timid little laugh.
"Ah, no, no…" she said, waving one hand while still smiling. "Don’t mind me. You can keep talking, really. Pretend I’m not even here."
The taller assistant narrowed her eyes.
"Step away," she said sharply. "This is still an active investigation scene. It could be dangerous."
The reporter pouted, but raised her hands in surrender and took a few steps back.
"Okay, okay…"
However, she didn’t leave completely. She stayed lurking nearby, just close enough to keep listening while pretending to look somewhere else.
"That woman doesn’t get it…" the shorter one muttered, annoyed.
"She’s a busybody," the taller one added, giving her a look of contempt. "An unbearable busybody."
The investigator, meanwhile, was no longer listening to them. He had stayed there, staring at the crater in silence, going over everything he had managed to gather about the suspect so far.
She could walk on air, had speed far beyond normal, and was capable of creating barriers out of nothing.
And in other incidents, she had done even stranger things: she had entered burning buildings to rescue people without hesitation, then left without asking for medical help for her own injuries.
'How does she never need medical attention? Does she have some hunter acquaintance with healing powers treating her in secret?' the investigator thought.
But that wasn’t the only thing that didn’t add up.
No matter how much he tried to follow her trail, find where she lived, or track her through the security cameras all over the city…
He always failed.
And not just in any way.
The cameras stopped working exactly five minutes before she passed through any area.
Always five minutes before.
As if someone were protecting her on purpose.
'There’s no way she’s doing that alone…' he thought, frowning. 'Walking on air, creating barriers, evading every camera in the city with perfect precision… no one can do all of that by themselves. Unless…'
The investigator went still.
'Unless she isn’t alone. Maybe she belongs to a group. A group of mercenary hunters working in the shadows. That would explain the cameras and the erased trail.'
And then something else occurred to him.
'Wait… if she belongs to a group like that, and she’s strong enough to kill monsters like these on her own…'
The investigator’s eyes opened slightly.
'What if she’s the leader? What if she has subordinates who erase her trail while she does the dirty work?'
Because otherwise, it made no sense.
It was impossible for someone to operate in such a large city for so long and remain completely unnoticed.
Impossible for one person to do it alone.
The investigator let out a long sigh and rubbed his face with one hand.
"You two," he said to his assistants. "Stay here. Keep checking the scene."
"Where are you going?" the shorter one asked.
The investigator started walking toward the Association’s cars, his hands in his pockets.
"To talk to the guild leader," he replied. "This is getting too big to keep ignoring."