The Navy has always struggled against the Kaiju. For one thing, our ships and submarines just can't keep up with the monsters' speed. For another, our current naval detection tech can't even pick up their trail. It wasn't always this bad—back when the first-generation Kaiju showed up, the Navy could still chase them down. But ever since the Level 2 Kaiju appeared, their skin evolved to absorb electromagnetic waves and other detection signals. The moment they hit the ocean, it's like they've gone invisible—no matter how hard you scratch your head, you won't even get a whiff of them.
While human technology was advancing, the Kaiju were evolving too. (And don't ask stuff like, "Kaiju are huge and move super fast, shouldn't they mess up ocean currents and be easy to spot?"—Look, I've already done my best to patch up the plot holes in the original story, this is my limit...)
That's when the special Kaiju Monitoring Network project got put on the agenda. Scientists analyzed Kaiju blood and found that the monsters give off radiation when they're active—so if you can track the radiation, you can find the Kaiju. This monitoring network was a real MVP for a while: for ten years, it helped humanity chase down every Level 2 Kaiju with pinpoint accuracy and rack up some pretty epic wins.
But of course, there's always a catch. The monitoring network worked so well that the Global Unified Command Against Monsters decided to slash the budget. "If we can spot Kaiju the moment they pop up, why keep so many Mecha Hunters on standby?"—So the number of active mechs dropped hard. That’s why, when Level 3 Kaiju made their debut, they gave humanity a giant slap in the face. Survival of the species is a brutal arms race—fall behind, and you’re toast.
Right now, humanity worldwide is pretty much stumped when it comes to tracking Level 3 Kaiju. The Hunter Organization's science team is frantically working to upgrade the monitoring network, but it’ll take a while before it’s up and running. That’s actually why the Western powers rushed into action—they knew if the new network came online and people realized there was a whole Kaiju party going on, the Global Unified Command Against Monsters would be more than happy to drop a couple of neutron bombs on the place.
Everybody loves a good one-and-done strike.
The battlefield’s always changing—make one wrong move and you’re done for. That’s why the Western powers had no choice but to act now.
Even though their move was a bit rushed, it still paid off. The massive Kaiju cut through the waves, and the five people—including the middle-aged guy—stood on its back, finally looking relaxed.
"We're out of visual range now—we're safe." The middle-aged man weighed a hard drive in his hand. "With this, we've at least broken even. I bet both the United States and the EU will offer a pretty penny for it. That Deputy Director must've already been dragged out, so we can lay low for a while. The locals probably haven't gotten a clear shot of us yet, so there's still plenty of room to maneuver. The team designing the sixth-generation Mecha Hunters is deep inland in Eastern Europe—attacking them won't be easy, so we'll need to plan carefully."
While the group was deep in discussion, a young man named Pound suddenly turned to look back the way they’d come. The sea stretched out endlessly, nothing in sight—but Pound murmured, "Someone’s on our tail."
"Huh?" The mage, clutching his giant chopstick staff, blinked and looked around. "I don’t see anything."
But Pound was certain. "No mistake. The sea fog’s blocking the view, but there’s a helicopter trailing us from way off. My detector doesn’t lie."
The middle-aged man frowned at this, then told the mage, "There shouldn’t be any device that can detect Kaiju. Maybe it’s just a routine patrol out here. Let’s change course and see what happens."
With the order given, the Beast Control Trio sprang into action, steering the Kaiju to shift course from southeast to due east. After the turn, Pound reported that the pursuer had vanished from his detector’s range. Everyone trusted Pound’s system, so they relaxed. But before long, Pound spoke up again: the pursuer was back on their tail.
"No way… Is the radiation too strong because we’ve got five Kaiju bunched up together?" The middle-aged man thought for a moment, then ordered, "Spread the Kaiju out!"
The other four Kaiju scattered like torpedoes in a fan pattern, putting several kilometers between each. But the pursuer wasn’t about to lose them—he just kept following, slow and steady. The middle-aged man started to get a bad feeling and snapped, "Speed up! Shake him off!" The Kaiju surged forward, churning up waves, swimming way faster than the fastest sailfish on Earth.
But the pursuer was like stubborn chewing gum—disappearing for a bit, then popping right back up.
The middle-aged man was starting to lose it. "Who the heck is this? How are they even doing it?"
Up in the endless sky and sea, a helicopter cut through the air at top speed. Its windshield had been ripped clean off, leaving the cockpit wide open—ordinary folks wouldn’t even be able to keep their eyes open in that wind. But Jill Young, sitting in the pilot’s seat, wasn’t relying on sight anyway. She looked totally focused, like she was listening to an English exam audio track back in high school. But this time, she wasn’t using her ears—she was using her nose.
Ever since Jill’s Insight Technique leveled up, all five of her senses had gotten a serious upgrade. The vast sea was full of dazzling spots of light, making her vision pretty much useless, but her sense of smell was totally unaffected. In nature, smell is a big deal—male monarch butterflies can sniff out a female from over ten kilometers away. Sounds wild to humans, but that’s just because our noses have gotten lazy over time.
Insight Technique reawakened Jill Young's abandoned five senses, giving her a nose way sharper than any regular human. Sure, that's a far cry from a monarch butterfly, but don't forget—Jill's got another ace up her sleeve: Five Senses Resonance.
Resonance Mode: Super Smell, Level Two!
The wind whipped at her face, bringing a million strange scents. But Jill’s nose zeroed in on just one—once she caught the trail, there was no shaking her off!
This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Click next page to keep reading the good stuff!
"Can't this busted plane go any faster?" Jill Young slapped the dashboard and patched into the wireless: "Hey, it's the Queen. Those royal brats just passed Melekaiok and are speeding toward Palikir. You guys need to hustle and catch up, and figure out how to refuel ASAP. If we lose them because the plane runs out of gas, just wait till I get back—I'll show you how I clean up!"
With Jill Young leading the charge, the chase was on. The escapees tried every trick in the book, while the pursuers crashed headfirst into every obstacle just to keep up. The Westerners tried all sorts of tactics, like diving underwater for a while before resurfacing, and it actually helped—for a bit. But soon enough, Jill was back on their tail. Time flew as both sides played their games. Night fell over the sea, storms whipped up, making things tough for the trackers. But no matter how rough it got, they still hadn’t lost the trail.
Of course, there were always a few freeloaders in the back whining that Jill Young didn’t have any proof and was just "chasing shadows"—making a big show out of nothing.
A day later, the Kaiju pack showed up briefly near the Solomon Islands—serving those doubters a slap in the face, Buddha Palm style. The command staff burned the midnight oil, convinced the Kaiju must have a nest in the Southern Hemisphere. The Australian Navy scrambled to block every possible route and took care of all Jill Young’s supplies. She was like an F1 driver—racing to each supply stop, grabbing what she needed, maybe squeezing in a shower, then back on the road.
It was a wild chase—rain or shine, both sides threw everything they had into it. But as they headed south, the temperature dropped. Past Australia’s southern tip, cold winds picked up and the nights got longer, making tracking way harder. After a bunch of meetings, the command staff sent out bad news: "Looks like the Kaiju are headed for Antarctica."
Antarctica—even in this world, it’s a place humans can barely touch. Regular troops can’t do squat there, and everyone was worried about how this chase would end. Plus, it was the middle of polar night—pitch black all the time. If those Kaiju hid in the blizzard, there’d be no way to catch them.
Cost finally came up with an idea. "Queen, your main job is recon. As long as you can pinpoint their exact location, we’ll hit them with long-range strikes—nukes if we have to. Got it?"
"Alright, enough with the speeches. I'm already on the Antarctic continent—send your people over here, pronto!"