The Tiger Monster

(Sun Yao)

The real big one was coming.

The blue pillar linking the wormhole blazed even brighter against the night sky. The ten-minute deployment time meant the invader this time would be far more formidable than the stone golem from earlier.

Bang!

A heavy object fell from the wormhole, and the roof slab let out a shattering groan, cracking open with a visible fissure. After the dust settled, a tiger-like monster with bull horns stood there.

It was powerfully built, with a fierce glint in its eyes. Its back bristled with sharp steel spines like a porcupine, giving it a savage appearance straight out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas… but strangely, its tail looked fluffy, almost soft to the touch.

What was most troubling was its size—it was a full head larger than the stone monster from this afternoon. Its imposing presence was overwhelming. At my current height of just over one and a half meters, I had to crane my neck just to look up at it.

“Wait! Isn’t this a bit much for a rookie like me?”

“Miss Sailuno, this is Yang Yan. I know your identity, so I’ll skip the introductions. I’ve read your file from the Association and I understand your magic. Have you thought of any attack methods?”

Yang Yan’s calm, well-organized voice came through my earpiece. Surprisingly, she wasn’t as irritable as she’d been during our first meeting. Had that fiery attitude earlier just been reserved for “fat otakus”?

“…Not yet. Is it possible to just throw the monster off the roof?”

“It looks heavy and strong, so that might not work, but let’s try it first.”

“Alright, then I’ll—wah!”

The tiger monster attacked first. It swung a massive, clawed palm down at me. I leaped back just in time, and the air conditioner unit where I’d been standing was crushed into a flat, useless scrap of metal.

Sigh, what terrifying strength. So those fluffy muscles weren’t just for show.

“Ha!”

I raised my magic wand, pointing it at the tiger monster. The ruby glowed faintly, and a thickened mana film appeared over its body.

“ROAR!”

A deafening tiger roar erupted, but the monster couldn’t shake off the film I’d coated it with. Then, the mana film swelled into a huge bubble. The tiger monster lost its gravity inside the sphere. Finding no support, it could only “dog-paddle” helplessly in the center of the air. But it quickly twisted its head and opened its mouth toward me.

Huh?

“Watch out!”

At Yang Yan’s warning, I relied on instincts honed by years of gaming and threw myself sideways. A golden lightning bolt shot from the monster’s mouth, illuminating the night sky. It pierced straight through my thickened bubble and exploded against a neighboring building, blasting through several floors with violent energy.

Was that for real?

Even from this distance, I could feel the heat of the blast ruffling my hair. My heart pounded against my ribs. What would have happened if I hadn’t dodged?

“Don’t worry too much, Sailuno. That kind of monster lacks endurance. It’s still a living creature. Even if it fires again, it won’t reach that level of power.”

Comforted by Yang Yan’s assessment, I coated myself with a mana film as well. According to Ziye’s analysis, forces outside the bubble couldn’t interfere with the inside unless the bubble itself broke from the impact. As long as the film was intact, I wouldn’t get hurt. It was like the “shield gauge” common in action games.

The bubble was quite resilient. During the afternoon magic tests, the Association girls had to put in quite some effort to pop one. So, it offered a solid defensive layer against regular physical attacks.

“So this is what they call a ‘new application discovered in battle’?”

Ziye’s guess had been right.

Yang Yan added, “To this monster, it might just be like plastic wrap, but it’s still useful… Be careful.”

The tiger monster panted and lowered itself. Yang Yan’s experience was correct—that last attack was its “big move,” and it had consumed a significant amount of its energy. According to typical game logic, with my opponent weakened, it was time for me to counterattack.

But…

“Uh, do I just have to go up and brawl with it?”

“No, your physical strength doesn’t support close combat. Plus, any force you exert from inside the bubble would likely be absorbed by the film. If you wanted to punch the monster, you’d have to break your own shield first.”

Then I’d better stay back.

The tiger monster had already figured out my magic. Seeing me wave my wand, it tried to dodge… but my magic had no trajectory. As long as it was in my line of sight, it couldn’t escape being wrapped in a bubble. It was a versatile magic—it just lacked any actual lethality.

“…I’ll just throw it off the building then!”

I lifted the hem of my dress and rushed forward, kicking the bubble with my boot. My physical strength might not have transferred through the film, but the collision between my bubble and the monster’s bubble sent the sphere floating off the rooftop and into the night sky.

“Bye-bye, Mr. Tiger!”

Pop—

The bubble burst.

The tiger monster fell from about fifty meters, cratering the plaza below. Though the fall was brutal, the monster managed to scramble up and roar at me with renewed fury. That height would have been fatal for a human, but for a monster of this caliber, it was just a bruise. Not surprising, considering the wormhole that dropped it was over ten meters above the roof to begin with.

“Its hide is too thick!”

“Careful. It’s agitated and becoming more aggressive.”

Even without Yang Yan’s warning, I could see the rage in its eyes. But I still needed to get down there to finish the fight. I formed a multi-layered air cushion to act as a staircase and leaped from the thirteen-story roof.

Unexpectedly, the tiger monster turned its back to me mid-air. The steel-spined hairs on its back stood up like a formation of spears.

Oh no.

Instinctively, I sensed danger. The next second, those sharp spines shot out like heavy arrows, creating a rain of lethal projectiles. But I was still falling and had no way to dodge…

“Hey! Don’t underestimate me!”

The instant I swung my wand down, the incoming rain of needles turned into a sea of tiny bubbles. Rather than letting a single large bubble take all the hits, I coated each individual needle with its own bubble to cancel its kinetic force.

The tiger monster roared in frustration at its failed ambush. I wasn’t as relaxed as I appeared, though. Creating so many individual bubbles at once had drained a massive amount of my mana, leaving me lightheaded, as if I were starved of oxygen.

“Sailuno, I have a question.” Yang Yan seemed to notice something. “If your film and bubbles can isolate internal and external forces, how can you stand on the street like this?”

“…What do you mean?”

“What about the friction with the ground? What about gravity?”

“…I—I don’t know, but I’m standing here just fine.”

Had the force-canceling property not worked exactly as I thought? No, that wasn’t it.

—Light and air—what do they have in common?—

Ziye’s words flashed through my mind, and I felt like I’d finally grasped the truth. The truth about my magic.

“…Maybe I’m actually pretty strong?” I muttered.

My muttering reached Yang Yan’s ears. “You’re bragging before you’ve even dealt with the monster? Focus on how to finish it off.”

“No, that’s not it… Miss Yang Yan, does this tiger need to breathe?”

“It’s a biological-type monster, so of course it needs to breathe.”

“Then I have an idea to test!”

The bubbles coating the steel spines burst over the tiger monster’s head, and the arrows that had been aimed at me fell back onto the beast. The furious tiger dodged, then let out a roar as it sprang up a building’s wall, evading the spines while raising its claws to strike at me.

I raised my arm to block, and the impact sent me flying backward. I crashed into a fire hydrant, shattering it and flooding the street with an artificial rain. It looked messy, but I wasn’t hurt; the full-body bubble film had absorbed the blow perfectly.

The tiger monster, having finally landed a hit, seemed emboldened. Golden lightning crackled in its mouth, its claws flexed, and the steel spines on its back slowly began to regrow.

But I looked at the water ball trapped in my hand and found the answer I needed.

“Sorry, Mr. Tiger. Looks like I’m going to win this round!”