Hello there, my readers! Here's an early update for you since the next weeks are going to be hell for me because of school. Anyway, this chapter, aside from being longer, is also more action-packed than the last one, so i hope you enjoy it!
So, let's go with the response.
To Exodus12345:Oh, don't worry about that, i only said that because in canon the Monster Association attacks all cities, and in this fic E City is a more important target (sightings of the Fighter of the Outskirts and monsters posing as heroes), so they'll send many more troops there. But we'll get there when we get there. The only spoiler i'm willing to give now is that Gloria and Caroline will be fine (Phoenix Man is also a very smart guy, so he'll figure something out).
With that done, i think we can begin!
A week and a half passed and Shinko had just finished training.
He was setting up to go and do some shopping (mainly food and water). He was going to put a shirt on when Nark slithered towards him.
"SSShinko! There'sss a ressscue missssssion given by the Hero Assssssociation:it seemsss that a gang of monssstersss hasss captured sssome citizens and wantsss a lot of money for them!" the pale snake monster told him hurriedly.
Shinko gasped and said "Really!? Where is this gang located?"
"Thisss map will ssshow you" Nark said as he vomited a piece of folded paper.
Shinko carefully unfolded it and it was, in fact, a map.
It seemed to indicate that the gang was located in an underground complex in D city.
Shinko froze for some seconds, the memory of the robbery he commited clear in his mind, but Shinko snapped out of his stupor when he saw Ariol approaching, with Gaia on his head.
"We are also coming with you since Monoculor thinks there's something wrong with those monsters" the demon level said as Gaia waved at him.
"Ok then!" said Shinko as he waved back.
Then they both sprinted towards their destination, Shinko standing just behind Ariol (and forgetting to put his shirt on).
Nark watched them go and expelled the dust from his eyes.
"Does Shinko know that Lamia and Sandscale are here?" Beetle-Roach asked the snake monster as the former approached him.
"Nope, ssshe sssaid ssshe wanted thisss to be a sssurprissse after all" Nark answered honestly.
"Huh, you're way less snarky with her around..." Beetle-Roach mused as he turned around.
"I guessssss that'sss the effect ssshe hasss on me" Nark said as they made their way back to the hideout.
After some time, he asked with a grin "Wanna crack a cold one?"
"Sure! Just let me call the boys!" Beetle-Roach answered with a grin of his own.
X X X
"Well then, we reached our destination!" a voice said from D city's countryside.
A group consisting of 9 heroes was currently facing a vault door connected to a hill.
Said door was then torn from its hinges by Mizuki, who was the only B class in the group (since the rest of them were C class heroes).
"Done! Now we can rescue the hostages!" Mizuki cheerfully said, but as she turned Mizuki saw that the other heroes were mostly talking to themselves.
"Geez, why did that B class had to tag along with us?" "I bet she wants to steal our points, i'll never make it into B class!" "If this is an underground complex, we can go two by two and leave her alone. That way our problems will be solved!" she heard them say.
Mizuki pretended not to listen at their discussion and truthfully she didn't even care:she was there to save the hostages and to get even stronger.
After all, her training was giving results:her muscles became bigger and the weights were showing more cracks than before, not to mention that her stamina, speed and strength were absurdly growing.
She took a deep breath as she looked into the darkness, where monsters were definitely lurking, while the heroes behind her were sorting the groups and boasting their strength.
This is what happened before they entered the complex, since then a mid hour passed.
Mizuki had been roaming there for that exact time.
Now she was standing alone in a barely lit, empty hallway made of concrete, her muscles on the ready, while numerous bruises and bleeding wounds adorned her body.
She, along with the rest of the heroes, made a horrible mistake in counting the enemy forces:they thought that they would face a mediocre number of monsters (10 or so), but Mizuki stopped counting at 20 monsters she had killed and many more were still coming at her.
Still, she wasn't scared in the slightest.
She heard footsteps ahead of and behind her, she turned her head and 6 monsters came at her.
Mizuki turned to the ones behind her and punched the first one, destroying his upper body, then she swung her other arm like a hammer and the second monster met the same fate.
She kicked the third monster, but groaned as the other monsters attacked her back with their claws.
As Mizuki felt more blood run down her back, she turned to her opponents and began punching very fast, meeting the monsters' blows.
After some time the three monsters fell dead on the floor and Mizuki stood up, even more blood running down her arms and stomach.
The weights on her body cracked even more as her muscles swelled to endure the pain.
'Damn it, i underestimated them' she thought as she walked foward.
The monsters in the complex were mostly wolf level (surely stronger than average), but tiger levels could be found as well.
She sighed as four other monsters jumped at her from the sides.
'These ambushes are really starting to get on my nerves' Mizuki thought venomously as she used her legs to get close and sweep the obnoxious opponents at the same time.
The tactic proved to be effective as the monsters laid dead.
'How are these monsters even getting stronger?' Mizuki thought, but her head snapped foward as she heard a noise.
Mizuki sprinted towards the source of the noise and she greeted by gunfire.
She couldn't avoid the shots because of her closeness, but she could raise her arms fast enough to protect her face.
The bullets crashed against her arms, legs and stomach, but they could not pierce her muscles.
Still, this didn't stop neither the bleeding nor the pain.
Mizuki groaned in pain as the two monsters could be seen better:they had vibrant green skin, rotound heads with spikes on top and were dressed in tactical suits.
"How the hell could this bitch survive that! I swear, these heroes are getting on my nerves!" one of them shouted.
"Yeah, the monsters we captured are way shittier than we thought" the other agreed.
Mizuki was definitely getting sick of them, so she sprinted foward, despite her body's protests.
The first noticed this and dropped his gun as he unscathed two scimitars and jumped right at her.
Mizuki was faster as she fully squatted to give her jump more power.
Then she propelled into air, the action causing the weights on her legs and the the concrete to break under her muscles' prowess.
Mizuki kneed her opponent in the stomach, the monster not even realizing that he had been hit because of her speed, but still puking blood.
Mizuki finished her opponent by slamming her fists on his head, successfully cracking it and sending the monster dead on the floor.
Then, with an arc, she vertically swooped her leg to the other monster's head.
He whipped out another gun and began firing, but his efforts were futile as Mizuki's leg cleaved his body in half and made another crack in the concrete.
She stood up as she looked at her fortified, but still bleeding, legs.
Mizuki felt pride in knowing that she was going to catch up to Shinko (in rank that is), but on the other hand she didn't feel too surprised since in fights she used her legs more than her arms.
With a renowed feeling of determination, she punched the steel door of its hinges and stepped onto the next room.
The new room was much larger, hence the need of concrete pillars, and well-lit.
The latter really helped to see the hulking monster at the centre of the room:the mysterious being presented some of the characteristics of some of his cronies (the spikes on his round head being sharper), but he was 6m tall and his skin was ruby red.
"Finally a hero arrived at my lair. I'm Chalato, leader of the Chatara gang!" the monster loudly proclaimed.
'Another criminal-turned monster, but at least this guy used to be a B class criminal...' Mizuki thought as a bead of sweat runned on her forehead, but quickly regained her composure "I don't care, where are the hostages?!" she shouted.
"Feisty, huh? Those weaklings are some floors downward, but you'll have to beat me to get there" the monster laughed and took a step foward. Mizuki put herself in a battle stance.
The battle was about to begin.
Chalato threw himself foward and prepared an attack, but Mizuki, even if surprised by the monster's speed, could retaliate with a punch of her own.
This proved to be an effective tactic as the punch was partially deflected and Mizuki ended up glancing the blow (even if it still hurt).
From there the two opponents jumped around the arena, Chalato on the offensive and Mizuki on the defensive, glancing blows that HURT.
'This guy...is definitely a demon level' Mizuki thought in desperation.
This was not the time for dreadful revelations as Chalato used her distraction to his advantage, scoring a full hit on her.
The powerful blow hit her on the stomach and she was sent skidding on the concrete.
As she came to a stop, Mizuki saw Shinko cheering her on in her mind. She remembered the times they trained in the previous weeks. These memories gave her strength.
Althought shakily, Mizuki stood up to the red brute and glared at him.
The latter smiled and charged, Mizuki doing the same.
Now the match changed a little:sure, Chalato still had the upper hand, but Mizuki was now on the offensive, striking the monster with punches and kicks and deflecting all of his attacks.
Sure, this put a lot of stress on her injured body, but she would ignore all of the pain if it meant she could succeed.
Meanwhile Chalato was getting annoyed as his attacks were being deflected and the feeling that her continued blows were starting to hurt.
"STOP FIGHTING ALREADY AND DIE, YOU BITCH!" the monster shouted as he threw his punch foward.
Mizuki decided to meet the attack with one of her own, throwing a powerful punch with her left arm.
The two punches clashed, creating a shockwave and cracking concrete all around, while the muscles on Mizuki's arm swelled and broke the weight with a loud crush (and gushing out more blood).
The monster growled and prepared himself to spout some other stuff about 'how much he was pissed', but Mizuki didn't want to have her ears talked to death.
So she jumped high and punched the monster between the eyes with her right arm.
The amount of power behind that blow caused her arm muscles to shatter the other weight as well.
Plus, that blow knocked the monster down, making him land on his butt (that, however, was also thanks to the monster's own distraction).
He put himself on his feet, growled, and began transforming without saying anything:his muscles bulged and became bigger, veins appeared on his body and his back went into flames.
As he roared, Mizuki felt a bit overwhelmed:not only had the monster become stronger, but her bleeding body was getting tired.
As the blood started taking its toll, she felt dizzy, but her determination didn't waver, because the hostages depended on her.
Mizuki wouldn't be able to defeat this monster, but at least she would fight and stall until...
...something came crashing through the ceiling and Chalato was torn apart.
Even with the dust, debris and guts covering everything, Mizuki could already tell who this 'someone' was.
X X X
"Just how big is this place!?" Shinko shouted as he run in the halls of the complex.
Gaia was currently on Shinko's head and Ariol was right beside him, scanning the area for any threats.
Finding the complex was easy enough, Ariol pointed the right hill to Shinko and he smashed into it with his foot (he also noticed an iron vault door, being torn from its hinges, lying on the grass beside the hill).
From there it became frustrating finding the right way, especially since there were no monsters (or heroes) he could ask direction to.
"Calm down, at least we're making 'progress', as in you and me smashing this place..." Ariol said half annoyed to Shinko, but he shared his human partner's annoyance.
"You know what? Why don't you simply land really hard on this floor? You'll go down way faster and find the hostages!" Gaia suddenly said from the top of Shinko's head.
"That's a good idea!" Ariol and Shinko said at the same time.
So the latter did as he was told and pierced several floors.
After the fifth one Shinko felt like he landed on something squishy, but he couldn't see it due to the dust he created.
So he walked past the cloud of dust and, to his surprise, found Mizuki.
He couldn't see her weights, but he didn't care because her body was a bleeding mess of wounds.
So he sprinted at her, nervousness being the dominant emotion within Gaia and Shinko's minds.
The relief on Mizuki face warmed Shinko's heart, but it froze again as she fell on her butt, shaking in deep pain.
Shinko arrived in front of her and Gaia put herself on Mizuki's thighs.
The latter was surprised, but Gaia was the monster Mizuki trusted the most out of the ones who followed Shinko, so she remained put.
The small monster put her paws on Mizuki's muscled stomach and began glowing.
Nearly at the same time, Mizuki's entire body began to heal:the bruises were fading, the cuts were closing themselves and the bullets shot out of her body.
"Woah! This is amazing!" Mizuki said as she looked at her healed body, but then her stomach began to grumble noisily.
"Well, my healing powers have to take something from your body to repair it so..." Gaia said to a flustered Mizuki, while Shinko was giggling softly.
"You can eat this if you want" a new voice said.
Mizuki almost gasped when she saw Ariol drop down the hole with a backpack. He tossed it to Mizuki and the latter was surprised to find sandwiches in it.
"Thanks, but where did you find them?" Shinko suddenly said.
"Around the the lower floors" Ariol answered simply.
"Ok" Shinko said as Gaia and Mizuki ate the sandwiches, looking very cute in the process.
"Anyway, i have to check this complex to find information about a certain monster Monoculor is worried about. Gaia, please come with me" Ariol said and Gaia runned up to him.
Just as they were gone, Mizuki now remembered why was she there in the first place. "Oh no! The hostages!" Mizuki exclaimed and shot up from her sitting position.
She sprinted to the far left side on the room and found a metal door.
Mizuki easily tore the door from its hinges and went to the corridor, Shinko following her.
After a downward staircase the two heroes were in front of a vault door.
"Well, i'm going to check if Ariol and Gaia need any help..." Shinko said as he made his way out of the corridor, but was stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder.
"What!? We're doing this together, Shinko!" Mizuki said to him, before adding "After all, you defeated that monster!"
Shinko shrugged and said "Sure, but who made her way into this place, fighting countless monsters and sustaining a lot of injuries? Who found that monster and fought it, also becoming stronger in the process?"
Mizuki sighed, since Shinko had a good point, and said "Ok, but i'll still say that you participated! So you're not stalling your rise in rank for me!"
"I assure you, that wasn't in my plans! I'll get in A class in due time, but if you insist..." Shinko said playfully.
Mizuki laughed softly and ruffled his hair "I believe you, but don't slack off instead of doing hero work!" she said also playfully.
Shinko nodded and ran off, while Mizuki tore the vault door and the hostages started cheering upon seeing her.
X X X
"So tell me, who is behind this operation? Because i don't believe that 20 average humans could suddenly turn into monsters at the same time" Ariol said to the small monster he had a foot on.
While that was happening, Gaia was scanning the surroundings to identify any incoming threat and so far, none seemed to show.
"R-really, i already told you that i don't know the detail very well! Please let me go away before the heroes bust in here" the monster pleaded.
Ariol laughed and said "Don't worry about those dim-witted humans. I can handle just about anyone they sent here" then he turned serious and continued "Now tell me what you DO know then, i'm sure my boss can find a use to whatever information you give me" Ariol looked like he finished, but then added "Oh, and i'm not getting my foot off you, i don't want to chase you again"
Ariol could very easily out-run and catch the monster if it ever tried to flee, but that would be a really boring exercise.
"Fine, but if you find this info bullshit, then know that an inmate told me that:not long after we were captured by those humans, some of them started turning into monsters! Eventually, not a single human was left among them and then they asked us to partake in a string of kidnappings. I didn't get to see the whole thing though, since by the time i was captured they were done with their operation" the monster said, afraid for his life.
"Has your friend told you how they became monsters?" Ariol asked, toning his voice in order for it to be the right level of threatening.
"Yes, he said those humans ate some sort of squirming purple blobs-" the monster was talking, but then was crushed by a furry claw, which tore through the concrete.
"That is where you stop talking, and this is where you die!" an overgrown, bipedal mouse said as he jumped out of the hole to attack Ariol. He easily blocked the fist of his assailant and twisted the mouse's arm, making him grunt in pain.
The wind elemental was not really fazed by the monster, it was definitely a tiger level and he could very well fight him off.
"Big brother, watch out! Another one coming from behind!" Gaia shouted as a horn shaped emerged from behind Ariol, ready to skew the demon level.
Ariol blocked the other blow with his arm-blade, sending the horn monster flying, and punched the oversized mouse's chest at sound breaking speed.
His muscular back exploded noisily, sending broken bone shards and chunks of flesh sprawling behind the corpse.
'What amateurs these goons are. If you want to make a sneak attack, at least learn some more advanced stealth' Ariol thought as he watched the horn monster getting up and muttering something about his 'partner' (presumably the mouse).
His eyes widened, however, when yet another part of the floor was melted and a humanoid monster with a shower-like head came out. This monster, along with the horned one, were too close to Gaia for Ariol's liking, making his worry spike in intensity.
"GAIA!" Ariol shouted as his mind went into overdrive and lanched himself to shield his little sister from the monsters. But something else happened:just as the horned monster lauched himself aganist Gaia, a stream of acid instantly melted him.
That stream came from the shower-headed monsters, who in turn raised his hands up.
"Wait! Do not attack! I am on your side!" the monster frantically said as he waved his arms up and down.
"Why should i even entertain the thought of believing you?" Ariol said as he put himself in a battle stance, Gaia close to his back.
The only thing stopping him from cutting the monster was a paw on his knee "Please big brother, let's hear him out. He saved me after all!" Gaia said cheerfully.
Ariol sighed and then said "Fine, tell me who you are and anything you know about this situation. Be clear while you say it"
"Ok! My name is Showerhead, a monster capable of shooting numerous liquids, and the gangsters trasformed into monsters by eating the monster cells" Showerhead said absent-mindedly.
Ariol raised an eyebrow and asked "Who gave these 'monster cells' away? And how are they made exactly?"
Showerhead said "A monster named Petrolic Wraith gave these cells to these humans in order to-" but he was interrupted by a thrown concrete chunk, which slammed in his thorax.
Showerhead shouted in pain as his metal-like chest showed a large web crack and Ariol was frozen by the monster's name.
'Petrolic Wraith...why do i have to even hear about you again?' he thought in exasperation, but snapped out of it as he heard some heavy steps.
"Well, look who was going to rat us out. I honestly didn't think you turn your back on us, but i'll make sure that you won't let you get another chance" the perpetrator said as he stepped away from a column:he was a bipedal, muscular bug with rocky skin.
"Shit" Ariol said as he grabbed both Showerhead and Gaia. He then took off, but immediately after that, the bug-like monster started punching the ground, thus generating heavy tremors which shook the area Ariol currently was in.
Luckily those tremors (and the damages they would bring) wouldn't affect the areas where Shinko and Mizuki were.
But Ariol was not so lucky, as he tripped over a small chunk of concrete and fell.
He rolled his body so that Gaia wouldn't get hurt, but in doing so he let go of Showerhead, who was now a good six meters away.
"Guys!" Showerhead said as he straightened up, the ceiling between them gave out, creating a thick wall of debris.
Now Ariol had lost their only lead and Showerhead may have lost his way of escaping.
'Damn it!' Ariol thought bitterly, but then turned to his little sister and asked "Are you ok?"
"Yeah" Gaia answered half-heartedly "I'm sorry that i couldn't detect these monsters sooner"
"Don't worry sis, everyone makes mistakes once in a while" Ariol said cheerfully, in an attempt to cheer his sister up "We'll get another lead, i'm sure of it!"
Gaia nodded, feeling a little better and said "Let's get to Shinko then!"
Ariol obliged and took off.
X X X
It was a late evening in the ghost town.
In Shinko's apartment the Wastelanders (including the new additions) were all present.
Mizuki was there as well, since both Ariol and Shinko urged her to participate to this meeting (at least they gave her the time to dress up in a more casual attire).
So there she was, looking flabbergasted at Sandscale Dragon (who greeted her with a blank stare) while Shinko was tightly hugging Lamia as her tail wagged uncontrollably.
"Lamia! Sandscale! I didn't know that you guys joined too!" Shinko said excited.
"I wanted to make this a surprise, but you were busy training and Monoculor sent me to do all kinds of tasks" Lamia said as she pouted, while Sandscale nodded in acknowledgement.
"We have more mouths to feed, therefore we needed more supplies" Monoculor saod as he looked at their direction, then continued "Now be quiet, Ariol is about to start"
Ariol nodded "As we made our way in the complex, Gaia and i interrogated a monster about how the entire gang turned into monsters. After a brief moment the monster was killed and we got ambushed by three stronger ones. As i defeated one of them, the other monster known as 'Showerhead' defeated the other one and took a friendly stance towards us, even though we just met. He explained the events in more detail, saying that the gangsters turned into monsters by eating 'monster cells' provided by Petrolic Wraith. He would have continued, but he was knocked out by a bug-like demon level. Because of said monster Showerhead got separated from us" Ariol said seriously.
"We don't know if he's alive, but i think it's quite unlikely" Gaia added.
Everyone in the room was silent their blood so cold it could turn into ice, but Shinko broke the silence by asking "Who is Petrolic Wraith?"
"A very nasty demon level, he's the reason Belphomet and i had to live separated" Monoculor said hollowly.
"He was also responsible for a vicious attack in D city a year ago by amassing a large army of...tar blob-like monsters. The Hero Association put a stop to his attack, but his death wasn't reported by any hero, bringing the association to classify this information, so it's fine if you didn't know. I only know about this only because of my connection with Darkshine" Mizuki said apologetically to Shinko, but then turned serious "On top of that, the Hero Association has classified him as a possible dragon level"
"That makes it better" Monoculor said sarcastically as he sighed, then turned to Shinko "This could be an extremely dangerous mission, so you'll be needed. Tomorrow we will start to investigate Z city's underground, so take as much sleep as you can" he said seriously.
"I never fought an opponent like Petrolic Wraith, this will be interesting" Sandscale said as he turned to leave.
"Don't get cocky, lizard. I'm not going to clean after you" Ariol said venomously.
"Still angry of your losses, aren't you?" Sandscale Dragon said as he turned away, while Ariol was fuming.
"Hey Mizuki, aren't you going to your home now?" Shinko questioned, looking at her.
"Who said i'm going anywhere? I'm joining you guys, so i'll have to sleep here" Mizuki replied confidently.
Shinko jumped a little "But i only have two futons, and i'm not letting you sleep on the couch" he said seriously, dead set on treating her decently.
"Don't worry, i'm already used to it" Mizuki said.
Shinko would have said something, but Beeline interrupted him "We have a spare futon in our hideout, we'll get it in no time!"
The two young heroes were satisfied with Beeline's solution and stopped their arguing.
After all, the next days would be definitely tiring.
And that's it for this chapter, packed with a lot of stuff if i say so myself:Monster Association shenanigans, Mizuki power-up (because she has to rise in rank, but the time when she'll defeat a demon-level is still far) and the Wastelanders getting some new additions.
We also introduced the the most important OC villain, Petrolic Wraith (he's not going as central as Psykos, but he still has an impact on the characters).
Anyway, i hope you liked the chapter and until next time!