One Punch Man: Attitude Adjustment
Chapter 23: Distant Hope
"Hold the line!" Amazoa shouted, her armor covered in monster blood of various colors.
The Heroes fought side by side against the horde of monsters, but the advantage in numbers pushed the Seven Heroes and one martial artist to just outside the entrance of Spade's compound. They were cut, bruised and some were starting to feel exhausted but they all kept fighting hard. Amazoa, Nordic, Crossing Guardian and Master Wing took the brunt of the monster's assault while the others stepped back to provide whatever support they could.
"Cover your eyes!" John Burn's shouted.
Reaching into his back pocket, John pulled out what looked like a flawless necklace of pearls. He tossed them into the air and then used the holographic display on his watch to make them explode into multiple small flares that joined to make a blinding flash. This left a handful of monster incapacitated long enough for the A-Class duo to eliminate them with well-trained teamwork.
"Cover your wha...ohh god I can't see!" Nordic screamed, covering his eyes after looking directly at the flash.
Being blind left Nordic open for a human-sized, plastic green army-man to waddle over and try to stab him in the back with a trench shovel. Luckily, the monster was stopped by a cross-bolt hitting it directly in the forehead. As Bushwhacker stood behind his mentor with a confident smirk, Nordic rubbed his eyes and finally noticed the dead monster behind him.
"Huh...?" Nordic said, taking a moment for contemplation. "You see that sidekick? I can beat these monsters when my eyes are closed!" He bragged with a hearty laugh.
"But...I...I...oh forget it..." Bushwhacker said, letting his friend enjoy his moment of "glory".
Tennis Tammy was down to her last set of tennis balls, she managed to pick up a few from the ground as she tried to constantly stay on the move. Ice cold fingers brushed her back, making her turn and swing her racket. She actually knocked the head off a Zombie Elvis Impersonator, making it roll on the ground a few feet away.
"Hands to yourself gruesome." Tammy said, unable to resist the urge to strike a sassy pose.
She went from confident to horrified in a split second after realizing the severed head was still alive and moaning. The body was also still standing, slowly walking like Frankenstein towards the frightened Hero.
"Umm...umm..." Tammy muttered, her eyes darting back and forth between the body and head. "Go Away!"
With a shrill cry, Tammy ran up and booted the Zombie in the side of the skull to avoid it's teeth. Soccer was never her sport of choice, but she still kicked hard enough to launch it across the power plant. She quickly turned to face the body, but was surprised to watch it frantically walk past her to retrieve the head.
"Alright shorty..." Mr. Olympian said, squatting down to a grapplers position to face off with a living Lawn Gnome. "Just you and...aahhhh!"
The gnome's red, pointy hat made him come up to Mr. Olympian's knees. This made him overconfident and unprepared for the small monster leaping onto his face. He tried to pull the Living Lawn Gnome away, but the monster's hand was firmly tugging the Heroes ear. The Lawn Gnome pummeled his face with punches and kicks that were more annoying then painful.
"Stupid...little...owww! Cut it out!" Mr. Olympian shouted.
After finally pulling the monster away, Mr. Olympian noticed a Sphinx wearing a Russian Cossack hat flying overhead. This gave him a devious idea, waiting until just the right moment to throw the Lawn Gnome like a football. The tiny monster flailed in the air for few seconds until the Sphinx swooped by and swallowed him hole. Mr. Olympian's hands went into the air, he started to celebrate like a quarterback who threw the game winning touchdown. But as he looked up again he realized that feeding the Russian Sphinx also got the flying monster's attention. He tried to run away, but the monster quickly landed in front of Mr. Olympian and left him terrified by it's towering presence.
"W-W-Wanna ask me a riddle?" Mr. Olympian whimpered, recalling something from mythology book he read in middle school.
A savage roar was the only response before the Russian Sphinx smacked the Heroes right side with a simple swing of it's paw. Mr. Olympian skipped and rolled on the pavement, he desperately tired to get up as the monster approached. He was still on hands and knees as the Russian Sphinx stood over him, ready to crush the unfortunate man under foot before sinking it's teeth into the tendered meat. Instead, the monster was left crying in pain before stumbling over. Mr. Olympian turned his head and saw Master Wing, standing with a blood soaked left arm after using his Eagle Claw technique to disembowel the rather large monster.
"Can you still fight?' Master Wing asked, offering his cleaner hand.
"Yeah...I think so..." Mr. Olympian groaned as he accepted the help and stood up.
"Good, don't let your guard..." Master Wing said before an unexpected interruption.
A large, dark green vine wrapped around Master Wing's torso and yanked him away. Mr. Olympian tried to grab the martial artist but missed by only a second. The vine pulled Master Wing towards a fifteen foot mutated sunflower with seven thick, root like vines protruding from it's base. The monster proved to be strong, Master Wing struggled to break free as the vine held him over the sunflower on top of the monster that opened up into a terrifying maw with multiple row's of bone shredding teeth.
After channeling his strength, Master Wing made the vine burst once he managed to break free. With a graceful flip, he changed his bodies trajectory. As he came down to the ground, he used both hands formed into eagle claws to split the Killer Sunflower down the middle. Green fluid covered his tang suit, the monster died after a few moments of twitching on the ground.
Master Wing only had a moments rest before being assaulted by a crazed Metal Head with a body that was covered in steel. As he dodged guitar swings, The Bespectacled Worker watched from a safe distance with a pair of binoculars. He found a nearby hilltop that allowed him him to view the entire fight power plant. He was confident at first but with the Heroes split up and the ones left outside facing staggering odds the executive was left in a state of dread.
"Please...please make it..." The Bespectacled Worker mumbled as he kept watching.
The small group of Heroes would have likely been dead long ago if not for their teamwork. Nordic smacked a giant mosquito off his sidekick's back, Crossing Guardian cleaved a floating Tiki Head in two just before it was going to headbutt John Burns. Tennis Tammy even managed to land a well placed Triple Shot into all three faces of a Chimera. This gave Amazoa an opening to jump on the monster's back and plunge her sword into the center of it's spine.
After facing wave after wave of odd and/or terrible creature, the Heroes were finally starting to see the end. The last monster stood in front of them all, a twenty-foot member of the Seafolk that seemed to be a highly evolved form of an Anglerfish. It had the same hideous face, terrifying set of teeth and luminescent lure with a red glow attached to it's head. It also had a muscular, bipedal body that was covered in blood-red scales and stood over seventeen feet tall.
Nordic thought he could take the monster on by himself and was kicked away without much effort for his mistake. John, Tammy and Bushwhacker hit the Anglerfish but their ranged attacked did nothing more than bounce off the monster's durable skin.
"Crossing!" Amazoa called out to her partner.
Without even looking, Crossing Guardian knew what Amazoa had in mind. They both leaped into the air, planning to bring their weapons down on both sides of the monster's neck. The Anglerfish was able to block with it's forearms, grunting in pain as the A-Class Heroes weapons slash the skin and dug into the bones. The double team maneuver left the monster open for Master Wing, he moved like a blur as he jumped. His clawed hands carving the monster's torso before he landed a knee into the center of the it's jaw.
After staggering for a moment, the Anglerfish recovered and immediately rushed the group of Heroes to satiate it's blood-lust. With equal speed and strength, the concrete around them was torn apart while the Heroes did their best to avoid being stomped and smashed. Tennis Tammy and Bushwhacker tried to run, but were caught in the impact of the Monster's fist smashing into the ground. Master Wing and the A-Class duo moved faster than most could follow, each of them moving around the monster as they avoided the rampage while looking for another moment to strike.
"Well...?!" John Burn's said to Nordic, who was standing back and watching the fight unfold. "What are you waiting for?!" He said with clear agitation.
"Be quiet!" Nordic replied in protest, a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek as he watched the fight. "I just...need the right moment to jump in..." He said just before the Anglerfish turned away. "Like right now!"
After winding up his arms a few times, Nordic used an underhand toss that launched his hammer at the back of the monster's head. He was cocky at first, but that feeling turned to pure terror as the monster was able to instantly turn around and catch the hammer just before it made contact. The monster stared at Nordic with murderous intent until a sudden, horrible pain in the left leg made the monster roar in agony. Crossing Guardian landed a blow with his Ax, chopping into the monster's left calf. Before the Anglerfish could react, another blade piece the collarbone after Amazoa jumped onto the monster's back. A massive, clawed hand tried to reach the shoulder to grab Amazoa, but the arm stopped and went limp after Master Wing finished the monster off. He used the opening provided by the others to jump onto the shoulder a plunge his entire arm into the Monster's temple. This instantly shut down brain activity, the master's arm was coated in blood and brain matter after the monster dropped to the ground hard enough for the impact to echo.
"Well I'll be damned..." John Burn's said, staring at the dead Anglerfish. 'I thought you were just a dumb, but that turned out to be quite the distraction." He said while patting Nordic on the back.
"Yeah...distraction..." Nordic said, realizing everyone was looking at him. "Just like I planned all along, good job following my example everyone." He said with boisterous laugh, taking full advantage of the misunderstanding.
Master Wing wasn't convinced, but let the braggart have his moment while he inspected each corpse to make sure they were dead. The others used the hard fought peace to regroup and check for injuries, John Burns used the moment to get a relieved hug from Tammy. From a few miles away on a convenient hilltop, The Bespectacled Worker observed the entire battle with Spade's henchmen and monsters using a pair of binoculars.
"Excellent." The Bespectacled Worker thought, watching the Heroes gather. "Now they can move in and help the others."
Amazoa was ready to lead them to the inside of Spade's compound. But the group stopped when ghostly, high-pitched laughter rang throughout the air. Everyone was on guard, standing back to back in a circle as they listened to the supernatural chuckle.
"Dammit! We must have missed one." Nordic said.
"Should we check the bodies?" Tammy asked, the echoing laughter giving her goosebumps.
"No...we wait." Master Wing said, eyes carefully scanning the area as he spoke. "I can feel a malicious intent in the air. This creature is likely a true predator, waiting to see if we would fall or survive hurt and exhausted."
"And now that we're tired and lower in number, the beast will enjoy picking off easier prey." Crossing Guardsmen said, a somber tone in his voice as he sensed the violent aura.
Both men were correct, one monster had stayed in the warehouse that the first wave came from. It watched from the shadows, letting the others creatures be foolish enough to fight the Heroes head-on. Now it was his turn and the creatures instinct pointed out the best target. John Burn's noticed something rushing at him in a blur of motion, he raised his pistol but would not have been able to fire in time. Instead, he was shoved out-of -the-way by Amazoa; her shield protecting them from the monster's slash.
"Thank you my dear." John Burns said with his signature charming smile. "I'll be sure to..."
"No time for talking!" Amazoa said, not even noticing John's attempt at flirting. "We must deal with this fiend!"
After failing to kill the first target, the monster jumped back and prepared for a counter attack that never happened. The Heroes grouped together, standing in a line as they faced the newest monster to arrive.
Standing over nine feet tall, the monster body was lanky and thin. The hands and feet were woven out of straw, the legs were covered with a pair of tattered brown overalls. The torso was covered by a dark green, long sleeve shirts with multiple holes chewed away from the fabric by moths. A black, torn clock was wrapped over the burlap sack that completely covered the monsters head. The face on the sack looked like it was drawn by a child with a marker, with a big circles for eyes along with an uneven smile. The scarecrow carried a long, medieval scythe with a thick blade that was already stained with blood.
"I...is that the grim reaper?" Mr. Olympian asked, his hand shaking as he pointed at the monster.
"This monster...it stands out among the rest." Amazoa said before looking at her partner. "Demon?"
"Possibly." Crossing Guardian replied, tightening the grip on his Ax.
After laughing again, the Reaper Scarecrow rushed forward. The C-Class Heroes were smart enough to back up and let their stronger allies fight, but the monsters was formidable. It moved with superhuman speed and grace, bending and twisting it's body in every angle and direction to avoid the Heroes attacks. Fierce cuts and strikes followed every dodge the monster made, keeping the Heroes on constant edge.
The Bespectacled Worker could not keep up with the movements, but he could tell that Amazoa and the others were being pushed bac. Even Master Wing had to carefully avoid the monster's scythe, making the executive worry about them being able to succeed. His train of thought was interrupted by his phone. He expected it to be the Bearded Worker again but was filled with relief when he heard who was calling.
"B-but aren't you on the way to...well yes, there is another crisis going on." The Bespectacled Worker confirmed.
"Do you require assistance?" A calm, soft toned voiced asked.
Professionalism told the executive he should decline the offer, letting the caller focus on the bigger threat. But looking through the binoculars again and seeing the Heroes under his care struggle forced The Bespectacled Worker to change his mind.
"Yes...we do." The Bespectacled Worker reluctantly said.
"Understood."
A cyborg hung up the phone. Like Jackson, most of his body was replaced with cybernetics but this mans body was much more advanced. He also had paler skin, and a head of shaggy blonde hair.
"Master, my scans were correct. Other Heroes are fighting nearby." The blonde cyborg said with utmost seriousness.
His Master was looking the other way, looking up at the full moon poking out from the clouds in the night sky. His caped flowed with the breeze as The Master turned to face his disciple.
"Ok...might as well get the closer one first." The Master replied with no enthusiasm.