After seeing her with their own eyes, Isis and Nymera both felt that calling the female Mizutsune "injured" was far too mild.
A more accurate description was that the female Mizutsune was barely clinging to life.
Her entire body was covered in burns, claw marks, and bite wounds. One foreleg and one hind leg were broken, making even basic movement nearly impossible.
Her dull gray finlike spines, nowhere near as broad and ornate as those of the male Mizutsune, were mostly gone. Judging by the torn edges, they looked as though they had been bitten off one by one.
A massive claw mark ran across her once-elegant face, leaving both eye sockets a mangled mess of flesh and blood. She had clearly lost both eyes.
Now all she could do was curl up in the filthy pool, using the current to ease her pain as she waited for death.
"How cruel..." Isis frowned and muttered under her breath.
She was now certain that the attacker who had killed the male Mizutsune and left the female in this wretched state was another exceptionally powerful Mizutsune.
The wounds on both Mizutsune made that clear.
If the culprit's sole aim had been to kill, she would not have thought much of it. After all, killing happened constantly in nature, whether for food, territory, or any number of other reasons.
Survival of the fittest was nature's most fundamental law.
But the wounds on the female Mizutsune showed that the culprit had gone beyond killing. This was torture for its own sake.
One more bite could easily have ended the female Mizutsune's life, just as the attacker had ended the male's.
Yet the attacker had deliberately stopped short. It had blinded the female Mizutsune, broken her limbs, and abandoned her in this filthy pool to linger a little longer.
Why, no one could say...
Perhaps Monsters, like humans, could produce murderers and madmen, exceptionally brutal creatures that took pleasure in cruelty.
"Let's assess the situation. If possible, we should eliminate that thing," Isis whispered to Nymera.
Nymera nodded, understanding what Isis meant.
It was not out of pity for the two Mizutsune. A Monster this vicious and cruel even toward its own kind would undoubtedly be even more savage when attacking humans.
Once the Guild learned about such a Monster, it would prioritize sending Hunters to slay the creature.
Even if Isis and Nymera Hunted it without prior authorization, they could submit a report afterward. Once the Guild verified the circumstances, the two Hunters would be spared any punishment.
Isis was weighing whether to give the half-dead female Mizutsune a merciful end or search the surrounding area for more clues when Mochi, keeping watch overhead, let out another series of sharp cries.
Nymera's expression changed. "It's coming! A Mizutsune is approaching!"
"Equip Ghillie Mantles. Take cover," Isis immediately ordered.
She and Nymera each ducked into a bush, masking their presence and concealing themselves.
Soon, the distinctive sound of a Mizutsune secreting slippery fluid and gliding through the trees and undergrowth echoed across the forest. The Hunters held their breath and waited in silence.
Both were curious. What kind of extraordinary Mizutsune could this be?
The female Mizutsune seemed less like she was recuperating in the pool than imprisoned there and left to die. She let out a series of terrified, mournful cries.
Before long, a figure slid out from among the trees. The Hunters concealed in the thickets watched with grim expressions.
What kind of Mizutsune was this...?
It had none of the grace or beauty associated with a Mizutsune. Nearly twenty meters long, the massive creature was clearly larger than an ordinary member of its species, and its body was covered in scars of every description.
Claw marks, bite wounds, breath scorches, and even traces of cannon fire overlapped across its body, leaving hardly a patch of unblemished hide.
Its scales had been destroyed and regrown so many times that they had completely lost their shimmering, iridescent colors. They had grown thicker and warped out of shape, like fingernails deformed by a viral infection.
Its limbs and long tail were far more robust than those of its kin, somewhat like those of a Hyper Monster, with muscles so overdeveloped that they verged on malformed.
Yet its eyes were the most striking feature.
The Mizutsune was blind in both eyes.
The right eye looked as though it had been sliced open by a blade, leaving a bloody, mangled mess. Much of the ornate finning around its head was missing as well.
The wound looked fresh, perhaps even inflicted during the earlier battle with the other two Mizutsune.
The left eye was an old wound covered in scar tissue. Its socket was an empty hollow, with no eyeball in sight. In its place burned a cluster of bluish-violet ghostly flame, like a will-o'-the-wisp.
Isis froze for a moment, then turned toward Nymera, who was hidden in another patch of scrub.
Nymera turned to look at her at the same moment.
Could this creature be...?
While the Hunters stared in shock and uncertainty, the gigantic, scarred Mizutsune plunged into the pool and roughly coiled itself around the female Mizutsune.
The Hunters' eyes widened. Was it... mating? No, this did not seem anything so "gentle."
The scarred Mizutsune relentlessly tightened its coils while mercilessly biting, tearing, and clawing at the female's body.
Isis and Nymera finally understood where the female Mizutsune's wounds and tattered finlike spines had come from.
This creature truly was twisted...
A sickening crack of shattering bones rang out. It seemed to be the sound of the female Mizutsune's ribs and spine breaking under the pressure.
Red, frothy blood gushed from her mouth and nostrils. Already on her last breath, the female Mizutsune let out a dying cry. Her long, slender neck slumped limply into the pool, and the last trace of life left her.
She was dead. Yet the blind, scarred Mizutsune remained coiled around the corpse, its limbs and long tail continuing to constrict until the body had been twisted into the shape of a misshapen burlap sack. Still, the creature refused to let go.
"I'm really going to be sick..." Isis tore off her Ghillie Mantle and stepped out from the bush.
If she had felt any lingering hesitation about breaking Guild rules by actively hunting this Mizutsune, the scene that had just unfolded erased it completely.
A Monster like this could not be allowed to leave.
The danger was especially acute because the island lay near a busy commercial shipping route. As a Leviathan, a Mizutsune was capable of attacking and destroying ships.
The loss of life from one large ship sinking would probably not be far below the toll from the village Nakarkos had swallowed.
She did not believe for a moment that this Mizutsune, having claimed the island as its territory, would simply ignore ships passing through the nearby waters. An attack was bound to happen sooner or later.
Ocean-going ships might carry defensive weapons such as Heavy Ballistae, but those would be nowhere near enough to deal with this creature. They would only drive it further into a frenzy.
The Mizutsune would then attack passing ships more aggressively and more often, perhaps even raiding coastal towns and villages and causing further tragedies. Of course, the creature's fate would be equally certain. Furious Hunters would eventually be sent to slay it.
So why couldn't she prevent those all but inevitable tragedies before they began?
She strode toward the blind Mizutsune, which still refused to release the corpse. Nymera silently shouldered her Bowgun and chambered a round.
Transparent bubbles of every size drifted through the air. A few tiny, inconspicuous ones burst against Isis's armor.
The blind Mizutsune suddenly whipped its head around and fixed its sightless gaze on the approaching Hunter.
The creature had sensed those two... familiar presences.
"REE-OWW!!" An eerie, spine-chilling screech brimming with endless rage and resentment echoed across Deserted Island.
Without the slightest hesitation, the blind Mizutsune opened its jaws wide and swept out a razor-sharp jet of water.
At the same moment, Isis raised her Large Shield and met the breath attack head-on.
"Tssss!"
The water blade swept across the Large Shield, leaving a glaring white scar on its surface. The tremendous impact sent Isis skidding back several meters, but she held her Defensive Stance firm.
"Good. You made the first move." Isis swung her Gunlance out, her steps quickening. "This time, I won't let you get away!"
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