Tsubaki spent the first half of the following day simply finding the materials that she would need to enact her plan. What she was looking for could be found in most hardware or sporting good stores, but she was confident that nobody among the survivors would be interested in these niche goods, as they would generally be counterproductive to the survival of anyone that owned them.

Once she had acquired her materials, she went back to her safehouse, checking her maps. She had seen the snake on the road the night before, and used that information to determine its most likely nest for the day. There were only so many buildings in each part of the city that could house it, after all.

After Tsubaki found her possible targets, she hurried to investigate them. If she gave it another day, the snake might move again, and she would need to start her scouting all over again. Thankfully… she had an easy way to tell if it was hiding in a particular building, as long as she avoided the other monsters along the road.

There were a total of three buildings large enough to house the snake in the area that Tsubaki had seen it traveling to. When she arrived at them, all she needed to do was use the pipe bombs that she had confiscated from the school group previously. By throwing one deep into a second story window, she would create a shockwave that the snake wouldn’t be able to ignore if it was there.

At the first building, she lit and threw her explosive, ducking behind a nearby street corner. She could hear the explosion, and feel the faint vibration that managed to reach her from it. Then, she counted a total of thirty seconds. If the snake was in there, it would have to respond within that time period.

When thirty seconds passed, and there was no sign of her target, she simply moved on to her next target building. Staying any longer would just invite unwanted guests to find her. Thus, she moved to repeat the process with the second building several blocks away.

In the second building, there was a response almost immediately after the pipe bomb exploded. The ground shook as a massive, black head emerged from one of the windows, scanning the area. Tsubaki knew that it could see her, even if she just barely peeked out to confirm its presence. However, the serpent didn’t leave its nest.

That was how it hunted. It didn’t care if someone was outside of its nest, not unless they inflicted actual pain on it. Only then would it leave its nest. Otherwise, it was happy to devour any monsters or people that recklessly entered.

Tsubaki smiled when she saw that the serpent pulled its head back in. No doubt it was adjusting itself to be ready for a nice meal if she entered, but she had no intention of doing so. Instead, she entered the adjacent building and began to climb the stairs, getting out of the way of any other monsters that would be drawn by the noise. Let them be the snake’s meal.

As for Tsubaki, she climbed to the roof of the building she had entered, scanning through the open windows to look for her target. It didn’t take long to find large splotches of blurred colors where the snake had camouflaged its body.

With a node, she pulled out the equipment that she had brought and took aim. This was a simple paintball gun, with an effective range of a hundred meters, more than enough for her to hit her target. She steadied her aim, and began pulling the trigger, letting small green beads fly out.

It was hard to tell if the snake even felt the paintballs hitting its side, the green paint splashing out to cover a small area each time it hit. Tsubaki covered as much of the snake as she could through that open window, before scanning to find another spot she could shoot.

Soon, she felt the ground shaking, and immediately fell to a prone position. On the street, a large rat appeared, its body nearly as large as a car. It had been attracted by Tsubaki’s previous explosion, drawn out into thinking that it could find some survivors for an easy meal.

Tsubaki reached down, gently lifting the lid of a metal can she had set next to her. She lifted her head just high enough to watch the rat approaching the building. When its nose poked through the door, sniffing for danger, there was a sudden rush of motion.

Tsubaki quickly stood, grabbing the can and throwing it with all her might. At the same time, the serpent’s head emerged like lightning from the open doorway, engulfing half of the rat all at once. There was a brief struggle as the rat tried to fight back, but the snake continued to swallow more of it. Meanwhile, the can crashed into the building above the snake’s head, spilling its contents downwards.

This time, she didn’t wait to test the serpent’s patience. Tsubaki abandoned both her paintball gun and remaining ammunition, turning and running to the fire escape to jump to the opposite building. There was no telling if her last action would trigger the serpent’s ire, so she couldn’t take the risk. Either way, she had achieved her goal for the day.

She made her way back to her safehouse, taking a quick rest to ensure that she was ready for the night’s events. After her rest, she made her way back to the area where she knew the snake to be hiding, and found that the building she had shot from earlier had been demolished. Clicking her tongue, she chose to enter the building that she had already confirmed to be safe earlier in the day.

This building had a good view of both the snake’s current nest and the surrounding area, so Tsubaki made her way to the top floor, finding a spot to wait in between a pair of windows. She closed her eyes, ignoring everything else to just wait for twilight to come.

When she heard the crow’s call, she knew that it was time to hunt. A smile surfaced on her face, and she kept waiting. The paint that she had used earlier in the day was bioluminescent. In other words, the snake would be glowing in the dark wherever it moved now, making it the perfect target for the crow.

Of course, the paint could simply be washed off, but she was certain that the snake wouldn’t have that level of intelligence. So, she waited, and soon heard a second caw. This was Tsubaki’s signal, the indication that the crow had identified its prey.

She turned her body, leaning into the window and aiming her rifle. The light had not entirely faded, and she could make out enough to target a being as large as the crow. When she caught sight of her targets, the serpent shuddered, its glowing head pausing for a moment as the crow swept down onto it. So it has some resistance… good to know, but not enough.

She had caused the two giant beasts to fight each other. As long as the crow continued its psionic attack, it would surely win. The crow seemed to realize this as well, letting out another caw as soon as it saw the snake coiling up to strike.

Tsubaki’s rifle was loaded, aiming at the back of the crow’s head. After its third caw, when the serpent finally fell limp, it moved in to pick it up by its body. She waited for that one moment when the crow’s body would be still, trying to pick up the immense weight of the serpent.

As soon as its head stopped, she pulled the trigger. She didn’t wait for confirmation of the kill, immediately ducking back behind the wall. A bird’s bones were naturally hollow, so the crow’s skull shouldn’t be as hard to pierce as that of other animals. Still, even with armor piercing rounds, she wasn’t confident that she had killed it in one strike.

Sure enough, there was a screech of pain, and Tsubaki felt a throbbing heat in her head, causing her to wince and grip her forehead. As soon as it passed, she took a deep breath. She grabbed her rifle and turned, finding the crow staring in her direction from just outside the window.

On pure instinct, she pulled the trigger, the bullet rocking back the bird’s head once again. Its eyes flashed, but it had lost sight of its target with the second shot. Worse, its brain had been rattled too much, leaving it dazed. Tsubaki took advantage of this to load a third bullet, aiming for the underside of the creature’s throat.

The third bullet shot out, piercing a hole into the crow’s throat. This time, Tsubaki didn’t try to fire another bullet, and ran to the innermost room of this floor. She knew that she had dealt a lethal blow, and now she needed to make sure that she survived longer than the crow. As long as she achieved that goal, she would have passed her trial.

The building shook along with the gurgled cries of the giant monster outside, its talons tearing into the walls. She could feel the tremors when it shoved its head into the window, but didn’t dare to make herself visible. All she could do was wait, and hope that it wasn’t able to make it far enough into the building to reach her before its injuries got the better of it.

She heard the chaotic sounds outside slowly dwindling over the course of the next ten minutes, before a loud crash signaled to her the death of the crow. Only then did Tsubaki poke her head out, gradually moving to investigate. She was certain that the crow was dead, but still needed to confirm that the snake was motionless.

Outside, she found that the crow had actually landed on the snake’s body, the two of them lying in a heap on the ground. She nodded her head with a smile. Cici, just to make sure. They are both dead, right? She asked, grabbing her rifle again in case Cici said an answer she wasn’t expecting.

The crow had torn through almost half of the floor to get to her, but that also made it incredibly easy for her to aim at the targets below. The crow is, indeed, dead. Cici said, Tsubaki immediately aiming at the snake’s head. There was no sign of movement, leading her to believe that the snake might be faking it. As for the snake, it is technically still alive, but was rendered comatose by the multiple psionic shocks. If it’s not treated within the next few hours, it will be braindead.

Tsubaki let out a brief sigh when she heard that. End the simulation. A smile spread across her lips when she sent that message. The world around her went dark, and she felt the familiar visor on her head again.

Tsubaki pulled the visor off of her face, setting it aside and sitting up. She always felt a sense of accomplishment when she completed one of her trials, and this was no different. In fact, this time may have been even more satisfying because of the fact that she had no ability to bring her powers into play, whether she wanted to or not. From the beginning to end, she was only a normal person, relying on what was in her surroundings.

Additionally, this was her first time holding such a trial in an urban setting, which made it all the more challenging for her to adapt in the early stages. Despite all of this, she managed to complete her trial in a single run. In the back of her mind, she began to think of how she could have made the trial more difficult for herself, but shook her head.

If she had been in a wilderness setting, she wouldn’t have had access to the firepower necessary to take down any of the giant monsters, nor the ability to expose them to the crow’s power. If she had added more powerful enemies, conventional firearms wouldn’t have been effective at all.

Perhaps the only way she could have made such a trial more difficult would be if she had made it a conspiracy instead. A trial where the only ‘monsters’ were the Stalkers, and she had to identify their leader through context clues without being uncovered. That could have been a national event, and it would definitely have been more difficult. However, it would have also taken her months to complete a single run, and it would rely more on her investigative prowess as opposed to her fighting instincts. Because of that, Tsubaki didn’t particularly feel like it was a suitable trial.