Lifting his head, Sonny eyed the person who had just entered the room. The clock on the wall showed it was two in the afternoon, and despite the closed window, it felt like the sun was blazing through, filling the room with an oppressive heat.
"Sorry to bother you, but your name is Sonny, correct?"
The visitor was a woman. Greeting with a hulky voice, she approached his bed without bothering to sit. She stood there, gazing down at him. Her gaze was cold. It made Sonny uncomfortable.
Tilting his head slightly, he asked, "Who... are you?"
"Ah, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself."
She pulled out a business card and handed it to him.
"My name is Anna Cross, the chief of the Monitoring Division. I'm sure you've heard of the Hunting Guild Association."
Of course, he had.
The Monitoring Division was a branch under the Hunting Guild Association, tasked with overseeing Awakened individuals, whether they were registered Hunters or not. Given that Awakened were far more powerful than ordinary people, they operated beyond the reach of regular law enforcement. To handle them, only other powerful Awakened were appointed.
Apparently, the woman claimed to be the chief of that monitoring department.
Looking closer, she appeared to be in her late twenties. He had expected her to wear the standard black jacket that signified a high-ranking official, but instead, her neatly pressed, wrinkle-free suit gave off more of a teacher's air, which made him relax, if only a little.
Still, her orange tie was rather flashy for her white shirt. He mentally deducted a few points for that.
Remembering her earlier words, Sonny frowned then asked:
"What does the Monitoring Division want from me?"
"It's nothing serious. As a victim of that 'accident,' we just need you to give a statement and recount everything you saw."
As she spoke, Anna pulled something from her pocket. Then, as if recalling something troublesome, she clicked her tongue and shoved it back.
"Right. I forgot you can't be around smoke. Apparently, you were found at an abandoned construction site, covered in bruises. No major bleeding, no life-threatening wounds... you got lucky. Still, it's bad for a patient to be inhaling cigarette smoke."
She seemed regretful.
Was this really the kind of person who headed the Monitoring Division? Sonny thought worriedly.
"I see. You're talking about a monster that escaped from the Tower, correct?"
The blonde nodded.
"Yes, unfortunately. I assume you already know about the concept of an 'Impact.' When a floor isn't cleared for too long, the Tower spits out a few monsters to destroy a city or two... you know, to motivate humans to enter and climb it. Basically, an Impact is an artificial disaster, though it feels no different from a natural one."
She paused before continuing, her tone turning more serious.
"But this wasn't one of those so-called artificial disasters. The unconquered floor had already been cleared by the Assault Squad. After the subjugation, though, a monster managed to slip out of the Tower and slaughtered the Defense Squad stationed outside."
"Furiataurs are monsters native to the mid-floors of the Tower. It's well-known they never leave their floor, let alone head down to the lower levels. So yeah, it was a shock to see one break out. They're also a serious pain in the ass, unless you're a high-ranking Awakened, you can forget about even scratching their hide, much less killing one. And in this case, most of the Assault Squad were either critically injured or killed during the 71st floor raid. For that matter, over 70% of them were wiped out during the subjugation."
Hearing that, Sonny almost fell out of his bed.
"Wait, what did you just say?! More than half of the Attack Squad were wiped out in a single floor?!"
Anna nodded grimly.
"I'm afraid so. It's no wonder the 71st floor remained unconquered for so many years. Sacrifices are inevitable and people were bound to perish in the process.. But this was bigger than any of us could have anticipated," She clicked her tongue bitterly as though recalling something that upset her greatly.
Sonny was stunned by the grim revelation.
No, there wasn't a single person on the planet who wouldn't be shocked by what he had just heard.
'More than half of them died? Is that for real?'
The Assault Squad was composed of the country's most powerful Hunters, with the weakest being B-ranked Veterans, all under the command of the Saints. It was a force capable of toppling the entirety of North America and with the Dragon Saint, Jin Rosenkrantz, leading them, they could bring down continents.
And yet, more than half of them had been wiped out, as if they were nothing more than disposable pawns.
He couldn't say he was surprised. Being a Hunter was known to be an incredibly dangerous job, where death could come at any moment. In fact, most Sleepers didn't survive their first venture into the lower floors.
But for high-ranking Hunters to fall like that... It made him uneasy.
Just how brutal were the high floors?
Before he could dwell on it further, Anna Cross coughed lightly and continued,
"I suppose we can call this a heavy loss for humanity. Not only that, but now we also have to deal with a monster that escaped the Tower. Fortunately, the destruction is more manageable than expected, but we can't afford to let that thing roam free. Do you remember anything before you lost consciousness?"
"Yes, I do."
"Tell me everything you remember. Don't leave anything out."
Sonny recounted everything truthfully, except for the strange, hallucinatory last words he thought he'd heard.
"So, you lured it into the abandoned construction site and trapped it under a pile of steel rails?"
"Yes."
"And after that...?"
"I think I blacked out. And when I came to, I was here."
Anna Cross remained weirdly silent after his explanation. She seemed to be troubled by something.
Actually, it was Sonny who burned the most with the need to know.
"How did I end up in the hospital? Did the high hunters manage to kill that godforsaken creature?"
"Well… about that…"
Anna awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
"By the time the Monitoring Division and the Loki Guild arrived after being briefed by the survivor..."
The Loki Guild. A super-massive force and one of the top ten in the country. With the other Guilds crippled by heavy losses during the 71st floor subjugation, they couldn't respond. Seizing the chance, the Hunting Guild Association had requested their assistance.
Coincidentally, the daughter of the War God, Jin Rosenkrantz, was also a member of that Guild.
Sonny swallowed hard. "What… happened?"
"...When we got there, there was nothing. The only thing we found at that abandoned construction site was you. There was no trace of any monster or the Furiataur at all."
"What?!"
An unbelievably, shocked look appeared on Sonny's face.
No. That was not right at all! He was absolutely certain that he had faced the Furiataur in that abandoned construction site. He was absolutely certain he had buried under a pile of steel rails. He was absolutely certain he had stabbed its injured right eye with nothing but a crowbar. He was absolutely certain the hulking beast had been slain.
So what did she mean by "nothing was there?"
'Could it be that it somehow escaped?'
As that ominous thought emerged, his body immediately became filled with goosebumps.
Seeing his shocked expression, Anna Cross couldn't blame him. It was understandable. She let out a long sigh before explaining.
"It's hard for us to believe too. If there had been any inconsistencies in the survivors' testimonies, or if we hadn't received confirmation from the DCA, or if there had been no traces of the monster's blood at the scene, we would have assumed it escaped. But luckily, that's not the case. And so far, there have been no reports of any further destruction either so it couldn't have ran away or else, someone would have seen it and reported."
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
A few years had already passed since she reached the rank of Master and joined the Monitoring Division. She could confidently say that she had witnessed and experienced pretty much everything during her tenure. However, this kind of situation was a first even for her.
Was it possible for a monster to leave the Tower on its own and if so, was it possible for a Dreamless to slay it?
This question has been weighing on her mind for a while and she had even asked Guilds in other countries for an answer, but the end result was nothing worthy to speak about.
That was why ...
"After investigating the scene, this is what we have been thinking...."
The division chief carefully explained her theory.
"A Furiataur is a powerful monster that only dwells in the mid floors. And it goes without saying, that the monsters in the mid floors are much stronger and intelligent than those in the low floors. Considering most Sleepers find it difficult to deal with low floor monsters, it's ridiculous to think a Dreamless would be able to kill one from the mid floors even if it was severely injuried, you see. However, it would be more plausible if it was slain by an Awakened."
They had to consider all the possibilities. Even if the odds were low, they had to confirm them all. The division chief of the Association deliberated, and then deliberated for some more, and finally reached a conclusion.
Anna Cross carefully studied Sonny's reactions as she continued on with a faint smile.
"We… suspect that you, Mr. Sonny, may have experienced an Awakening."
'Awakening? Did she just say Awakening?!'
Sonny's eyes widened.
To awaken, one had to receive the Black Tower's blessing and a message that confirmed the change.
Often known as 'Awakening,' this phenomenon unlocked the dormant power within a person, called an Origin.
An awakened's potential was determined by the rank of their Origin.
For example, someone with a Level 1 Origin could rise to become a D-rank Hunter, someone with a Level 4 Origin could become an A-rank, known as Master, while someone with a Level 5 Origin had the potential to reach S-rank status, commonly known as a Lancer. However, a person with a Level 0 Origin would be unable to advance beyond the E-rank, known as the rank of Sleeper.
Of course, this wasn't an absolute rule. There had been rare cases where Sleepers surpassed their limits. A prime example was Lancer Irene, famously known as Blood Reaper.
Simply put, the potency of one's Origin could determine their rise to power, enough to shake the very foundations of the living world.
'In this case, an inexperienced Awakened managed to kill a Level 3 Fiend Bull. If that's true, then it's possible his innate ability devoured the creature's body, which would explain why only blood traces were found on the scene.'
A monster of that caliber would trouble even experienced B-rank Hunters, let alone a Dreamless.
However, if someone could slay such a beast while unconscious… just how powerful could they become?
To prepare for this unlikely possibility, Anna Cross classified the incident as top secret, ensuring everyone involved kept their mouths shut.
This was also why Sonny now found himself isolated in a hospital room, tended to by some of the nation's finest medical practitioners.
Anna Cross's heart pounded with growing excitement.
'Could England really be on the verge of gaining a second Saint?!'
What if England were about to claim another powerhouse that were said to rival a nuclear warhead in sheer destructive power?
So far, there were fewer than twelve people in the world who could truly be called 'global calamities.' One of them obviously was the War God, Jin Rosenkrantz. Then, there was the Sword Emperor Liu Minghao, the Dragon Saint Cassandra d'Arc and the Serpant Witch and so on.
Confirming whether the patient before her had awakened was a trivial matter.
Impatiently, Anna Cross strode to the corner of the room and retrieved something from the briefcase she had brought with her. The blonde division chief then approached the bedridden Sonny with a unfamiliar device in hand.
Sonny narrowed his eyes.
"What is that?"
Anna Cross answered with the practiced smile of an overworked salary worker.
"It's a Parameter Slider. I'll be using it to check your Soul power, if you don't mind of course"