Dinner was cooked instant noodles.
Not the kind just soaked, but cooked together in a pot. This made the noodles tastier, more refreshing, though it felt like the portion size decreased somehow.
Unfortunately, there were no eggs or vegetables, which would have improved the taste.
Well, dinner was that simple.
After everyone agreed to Kaito's battle plan, they quickly took care of personal matters after dinner, then put on their protective suits and gas masks, and armed themselves with their respective guns, weapons, and knives, preparing for battle.
Regarding Shinshui's protective suit, several had been found in the armored vehicle. However, as they were sized for someone 1.6 meters tall, wearing it on Shinshui required tying it with ropes to make it fit.
This way, it wouldn't look baggy or hinder her movement.
Well, it was the only option for now.
Even though they weren't afraid of virus infection, they still didn't want to get the disgusting blood of mutated creatures on them during battle.
"Momo, Shinshui, you two will be responsible for collecting crystals. The location is below the heart. Stab it with a knife. If there's a crystal, dig it out. If not, move on to the next."
"Oosuki Chiyo, Mikoto, you two will fight and also protect Momo and Shinshui."
"The rest, Kamado-san..."
After assigning tasks to everyone, they emerged from the shelter.
After closing the steel door, they reached the villa's garden.
Sure enough.
Even here, they could hear the roars of some mutated creatures outside.
The good news was that they weren't nearby, but in a slightly more distant area.
Perhaps they had been here before, but since the people had left, they didn't come back.
"Phew... let's go!"
They didn't take the armored vehicle, choosing to walk instead.
Kaito led the way with a flashlight. After walking about 2 kilometers, they found ten mutated dogs on a ten-lane road, struggling with ten abandoned cars.
Shining the flashlight, they could clearly see a corpse inside one of the abandoned cars. It had been dead for who knows how long, but it was attracting the mutated dogs' attention.
Even though it wasn't fresh, rotted beyond rot, it might still be food for them.
"Grrr..."
It wasn't a normal bark, but a low growl.
When the mutated dogs were illuminated by the flashlight, they immediately turned around. Seeing fresh food, they started howling, attracting mutated creatures from the surrounding areas.
...
Cats, rats, deer, rabbits, and other common animals all appeared.
Whatever appeared in the forest was here.
Even small creatures like rats and cats had now mutated to the size of ordinary pet dogs, truly terrifying.
"Let's do this. Attack with guns first. If that fails, use your abilities at the cost of physical and mental energy."
Kaito drew his gun and fired directly. A mutated rat running towards him was easily killed with a headshot.
The remaining mutated creatures also swarmed forward.
There seemed to be many, but they were scattered.
The women began aiming and firing, but their aim wasn't great. With the mutated creatures moving so fast, hitting them was a matter of luck. As they got closer, they had to resort to using their abilities to attack.
As for Kaito, he didn't use any abilities at all. He was using his gun throughout, firing and quickly reloading magazines.
When he ran out of magazines, Shinshui and Momo, who weren't fighting, would quickly take new magazines from their backpacks and toss them to Kaito.
Click...
Loading a new magazine, Kaito started shooting at the fastest cats and rats.
While shooting, he constantly observed the surrounding mutated creatures, assessing their strength.
In conclusion, as long as someone supplied him with ammunition, he could single-handedly suppress all the mutated creatures here.
'Not as strong as I thought... no, it's that there aren't that many.'
'Now that I'm continuously shooting mutated creatures, will more from further away come...'
Sure enough, just as everyone thought the battle was ending, more mutated creatures appeared in the darkness. Their glowing red eyes were terrifying.
Amidst this, a series of "thud, thud" sounds hinted at something big approaching.
"Hey, hey, isn't this tiger... a bit too big?"
Third-grade?
No, probably fourth-grade?
A tiger about 2.5 meters tall and 7 meters long, the size of a medium truck, appeared.
Its fur was pitch black, and its claws and teeth were terrifyingly long.
Without a doubt, one bite could crush thick steel. Especially its claws...
Damn, the road crumbled with every step it took. How many tons was this?
Even a truck full of stones wouldn't have such destructive power, right?
Well, at least this big tiger had terrifying claws!
"Kaito! Should we retreat?"
This big tiger appeared like a boss. Akina and the others couldn't help but panic.
It seemed everyone had an inherent fear of 'giant things'.
Like facing a snake.
Regardless of the type, people are afraid of snakes.
And a tiger the size of a truck was even more terrifying. Tigers were already fearsome; one this big was unimaginable.
"No... but all of you, tighten the formation and be ready to run at any time!"
"What about you?"
"Me? I'll go see if I can take down this tiger."
A fourth-grade tiger?
A first-grade Kaito?
No matter how you looked at it, Kaito was no match for this tiger!
Anyone in this world would run upon seeing this tiger, unless they had many people with heavy weapons.
But!
Kaito had abilities!
He had even put two shields on himself capable of defending against missile bombardments, and a third shield capable of defending against large missiles!
It was precisely because of these shields that he was almost drained. He had rested for a while to recover before coming out to hunt mutated creatures.
"In ancient times, there was Wu Song who fought a tiger."
"Today, there's Kaito with a slide tackle."
Well, it didn't rhyme, but...
Kaito actually threw his gun aside, formed a long, straight rock sword with his ability, and charged forward...