Gone.
Natsume-san stared at the massive, gaping hole plunging deep into the ground, a look of surprise on her face.
Although she had detected the opponent's movement immediately and swiftly coated the ground with a layer of solid ice, it hadn't been enough to hinder their actions, not even slowing them down for a moment.
Her peripheral vision caught something—Latin script scrawled on a nearby wall with a paint marker. Natsume-san hadn't studied Latin and didn't understand its meaning.
'So it's someone from the magic side.'
Seeing these inexplicable words finally confirmed her conclusion.
It wasn't just this suddenly appearing underground cavern or the silently standing stone giant; it all pointed to the emergence of a power different from that of espers.
Natsume Sonoko's gaze slowly lifted, just as the stone giant began to tremble violently. It seemed new trouble had arrived.
Not far away, the stone giant's eyes glowed with a crimson light, and its over-four-meter-tall body began to move.
The moment the stone giant took its first step, a dense hail of bullets already filled the visual field.
The muzzles of the Anti-Skill officers' rifles spat fire, chipping away and scattering the stone giant's bodily components in all directions.
But the stone creature possessed a powerful regenerative ability, quickly restoring itself even after being struck by these specialized rifle rounds, each with a kinetic energy exceeding thousands of joules.
It let out a roar like a wild beast, paired with its menacing charge, creating a sense of déjà vu, rather like watching a Hollywood blockbuster.
Completely ignoring the rain of bullets, the stone giant slammed its fists into the ground, sending violent tremors radiating outwards.
Losing their balance instantly, the front line of Anti-Skill officers immediately lost their footing and tumbled to the ground.
After the massive shockwave, the stone giant began to run, the initial reactive force even leaving two imprints over ten centimeters deep in the ground.
The giant's sprint was accompanied by intense tremors in the ground. The Anti-Skill officers' suppressive fire was temporarily ineffective, only allowing it to get closer and closer.
The strong vibrations didn't affect Natsume-san; instead, they made her focus even more intently.
Gathering a bit of moisture near her hand, and under Natsume-san's atmospheric control, a simple, reusable water cutter was completed.
Having subtly damaged some of the underground mall's water pipes, a large amount of water supplemented her supply, making the creation of her water cutter even more convenient.
It was somewhat different from her previous high-pressure air cannons. This didn't just require immense pressure; she needed to eject the water through a narrow aperture.
As long as the applied pressure was great enough and the nozzle small enough, the destructive power of the water cutter would increase dramatically.
At the same time, the clever Natsume-san had also mixed some fine sand and grit into the water. She'd heard this could significantly improve the cutting efficiency of a water cutter.
The idea was sound, and implementing it wasn't too difficult, but creating a narrow, stable aperture using air was the most troublesome part.
Still, in this relatively confined space, a method like the water cutter, with its lesser area of effect but concentrated destructive power, was more useful.
A thin, sharp jet of water shot out, striking the stone giant's foot and cleanly slicing through its ankle. The giant instantly lost its balance and crashed to the ground.
Within a very short time, the stone giant's ankle immediately began to regenerate, allowing it to stand back up.
"How many self-regenerating enemies have I encountered by now? So, nine times out of ten, there's a core inside controlling everything."
Natsume Sonoko didn't have particularly strong feelings about this type of regenerative enemy. Back when she had just become a Level 4, she had faced a giant, infinitely regenerating tentacle monster.
These monsters all shared one characteristic: they all had something like a core inside their bodies.
Alright, that was perhaps a bit of an overgeneralization.
The science side and the magic side couldn't really be lumped together, but Natsume Sonoko felt she probably wasn't wrong; at most, the method of destruction might differ.
Moreover, this stone giant had a recovery time of nearly two seconds, not instant regeneration.
Noticing this, Natsume Sonoko's internal assessment of the stone creature dropped another notch.
The sharp water cutter continuously sliced at the stone giant's legs, preventing it from rising, causing it to crash to the ground over and over.
Simultaneously, numerous high-pressure water jets sequentially cut into various parts of the stone giant's body, equivalent to performing a full-body amputation.
However, the results were far from ideal. Even slicing off its head resulted in immediate regeneration.
Just as Dr. Natsume was pondering how to perform surgery on this stone giant...
A heavy, impact-like sound echoed from the ground again, the familiar tremors feeling somewhat déjà vu.
'Could there be a second one of these monsters?' was Natsume-san's first thought. It seemed that illegal intruder hadn't given up on her yet.
If her guess was correct, who was fighting the other monster now?
This underground mall was quite large, and Natsume-san couldn't sense the commotion on the other side with her abilities.
Thinking this, Natsume Sonoko looked at the stone giant on the ground with a gaze tinged with annoyance.
'Looks like I can't waste any more time on this guy.'
Borrowing computational power from Reiko's side, the number of water cutters in the air rapidly increased, instantly enveloping the stone giant from every angle.
But as the number of water jets increased, so did the volume of air Natsume-san had to control. The air content in this underground street quickly decreased, enough to potentially induce altitude sickness in those with poorer constitutions.
Natsume-san noticed this too, but compared to her usual techniques, this was undoubtedly much more restrained.
'I'll pulverize your body in one go.'
Natsume Sonoko thought seriously, staring at the stone giant before her.
Based on Natsume-san's earlier observations, the stone giant needed one to two seconds to initiate bodily repairs.
The number of water cutters was sufficient now. Under Natsume-san's control, they could swiftly shift their cutting points, fully capable of dicing the stone giant before it could recover.
Like precise scalpels, countless tiny blades interweaved, slicing through the rock, instantly dividing the stone giant's body into countless granular fragments.
The formerly four-meter-tall giant promptly turned into a cloud of fine powder. Normally, this dust would have polluted the underground mall's air quality, but shrouded by the mist, it all gathered tightly in one small area.
"Taken care of."
The powder showed no signs of regenerating, allowing Natsume Sonoko to breathe a slight sigh of relief.
If it wasn't because she had destroyed the stone giant's core, then the level of destruction must have exceeded its regenerative limits.
At the same time, Natsume Sonoko hurriedly dispersed the concentrated air she had gathered; otherwise, everyone would start suffering from oxygen deprivation.
Glancing subconsciously at the Anti-Skill teachers not far away, she hurried off towards the direction from which the other tremors had originated.
'Not sure how to explain this to the Anti-Skill teachers, so it's better to act like I was never here.'
"Was that Natsume-san just now?"
Tessou Tsuzuri, who had inhaled some dust, said while coughing.
"The only one who can cause that level of destruction is a Level 5."
Yomikawa-sensei stared at the pile of rubble, agreeing affirmatively.
The lighting was somewhat dim, but Natsume Sonoko remembered the general location the tremors had come from. She just needed to head in that direction.
Dealing with this kind of monster required destroying most of its body in an extremely short time. If it were Misaka-senpai, handling this kind of creature might be a bit troublesome.
Generally speaking, earth attributes should counter electricity attributes.
However, by the time she reached the other source of the tremors, the battle there seemed to have concluded as well.
She didn't see Misaka-senpai or Shirai-san. Instead, she saw the spiky-haired high school boy, Kamijou Touma, and the girl named Kazakiri Hyouka.
"Kamijou-senpai, and Kazakiri-san."
Spotting her acquaintances, Natsume Sonoko immediately deactivated her invisibility.
The moment her feet touched the ground, Natsume Sonoko called out a greeting to the two of them.
"Don't come any closer, please!"
Noticing Natsume-san's approach, Kazakiri Hyouka almost screamed, covering half her face as she hurriedly hid behind Kamijou Touma, appearing hysterical.
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry, Natsume-san. Could you please wait over there for a moment?"
Scratching his spiky hair, Kamijou Touma shielded Kazakiri Hyouka behind him, speaking apologetically.
"I understand. No problem."
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Natsume Sonoko's steps halted abruptly. She nodded in response.
But, she seemed to have seen something else.
A faint purple glow emitted from beneath the broken skin of Kazakiri's cheek, along with a strange crystal emitting light. Beneath the surface was a hollow emptiness.
'So, this girl isn't human?'
"I see."
Natsume Sonoko wasn't particularly shocked. Nothing in this world surprised her anymore, especially since she had already noticed this girl was somewhat unusual.
Though, she was almost disappointed that no ninja with headbands had shown up yet.
Thinking of Kazakiri Hyouka's earlier hysterical state, unable to accept the fact that she wasn't human, inexplicably made the empathetic girl with the bun feel somewhat sad.
Kamijou Touma had just been about to tear his own clothes to cover the hollow spaces on Kazakiri's body, but when he turned back, he found Kazakiri's wounds were actually recovering continuously.
In just two or three seconds, the once horrifying wounds healed as if they'd never been there, and even the shattered glasses returned to Kazakiri Hyouka's hand.
"They're healed."
Kamijou Touma unconsciously reached out to touch Kazakiri's cheek, but his extended arm suddenly froze mid-air.
'That was close! A real disaster almost happened!' Kamijou hurriedly pulled his right hand back.
Kamijou Touma already knew that Komoe-sensei and Himegami Aisa, who had just transferred to his class, were both investigating Kazakiri Hyouka.
According to their findings, Kazakiri Hyouka was deeply connected to the AIM diffusion fields. Her very existence might just be a physical manifestation of the AIM diffusion fields. And since his right hand could erase all supernatural phenomena, he couldn't touch Kazakiri.
"Natsume-san, it's alright now."
Seeing that Kazakiri Hyouka had returned to normal, Kamijou Touma called out to Natsume-san not far away.
"Kazakiri-san, are you alright?" Natsume Sonoko asked with concern as she walked over.
Following Natsume-san's gaze, she also saw that Kazakiri-san had returned to her original state.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.