I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this, and to my awesome supportive friend who wrote that review, thank you! I'll still write for Tokyo Ghoul, and who knows, I might try Elden Ring or Harry Potter out sometime.

Anyways, without further adieu, I present to you chapter two! Thank you, and please enjoy!

The earthquake that destroyed the Ida household had been far more destructive than the city of Musutafu had been prepared for. The electric grid within the city and outward had been severely damaged, water treatment centers and other facilities used to serve the public had been compromised. Hospitals became overwhelmed with the amount of patients being transported into their care units; many of which were transported there by people who had reported that they had found them in their homes during the earthquake.

With many families having become homeless and in need of care and services, the city of Musutafu once again relied on their pro heroes and the hero academy to open their doors to those who were in need. After having made his way home to check on his mother, Deku was relieved to see that his house had been spared during the earthquake, and that Inko Midoriya had been asleep during the entirety of the catastrophic event.

With the Ida household and Goblin Slayer staying with all the other people of Musutafu on campus grounds for the night, Deku found himself hardly getting sleep. Having nightmares and jolting awake at the slightest sounds outside his windows, the shooken boy found himself primarily on his cellphone, where he made sure to keep up with the group chat that Ida had made for Class 1-A to keep up with one another.

Deku:If anyone needs to come over to crash for the night, feel free to let me know privately. My house was spared, thank God, and I don't see my mother having an issue with helping you guys out.

Bakugou:stfu, your house wasn't effected??? Wtf, my room was a shithole when I got back home! All my clothes and drawers were thrown all over the mf place, smh…

Ida:Must be nice.

Bakugou:shit. I'm sorry Ida, didn't mean any disrespect.

Ida:It's fine, just count your blessings everyone. For instance, I'm thankful that the school turned the Unforeseen Simulation Joint Facilty into a shelter. It almost feels like we're camping out here; it's nice to be out here, now that we're nothing having to deal with any hazards or intrusive villains.

Toru:What?! They put your family there?! No way! I'm over by the waterfall! Wby?

Ida:Really? Me too! I can't see you though, and I'm pretty close to the fall itself.

Bakugou:lmao, ya no shit you're not gonna see her, genius.

Denki:lol I get it

Jiro:stfu Denki, you too Bakugou. This isn't the time for making light of everything.

Kirishima:I agree. It's completely unmanly to insult someone while they're down. Smh Kacchan, smh.

Bakugou:stfu, you used to be an asshole too

Kirishima:no u

Tsuyu:Come on guys, this group chat should be used to keep communication with one another. Let's not fight or cause discord here. Ribbit.

Bakugou:why tf did you type 'ribbit'?

Tsuyu:it's a force of habit, sorry.

Denki:lol

Jiro:Denki, stop tying 'lol'. It's annoying and insensitive.

Denki:kk lol

Momo:To add on to what Deku was saying, and to keep this chat in order, I think it's important to check on one another. Also, my parents' estate is open for any and all of you to come here with your family members. There's plenty of space and supplies here, and we have our own solar-powered generators here, so if you need anything, please, make use of me.

Denki:lol, 'make use of me'

Momo:Don't be a creep.

Jiro:Denki, you're acting more stupid than your usual self… Did you fry your brain again or something?

Denki:lol ya, kinda. I needed to charge my phone, and my laptop, and my microwave

Jiro:And since the power grid is screwed, I'm assuming you used your quirk to power those things… All at once, I'm assuming as well?

Denki:lol ya

Bakugou:you're stupid lmao

Mina:Hey speaking of 'creep' Momo, did you or anyone else get in contact with Mineta? I'm surprised he hasn't typed anything yet.

Shoto:I blocked him a while ago, so I just assumed that he was here in the group chat already.

Momo:Yeah, I blocked him too. He kept trying to send me 'sexy' pictures of himself, gross.

Toru:Same.

Tsuyu:Me too.

Kirishima:RIP

Ida:Last I heard of him, his family's home got demolished in the earthquake as well. So I'm assuming that he's either on campus, or taking shelter with extended family, or something else.

Bakugou:I'm sure he's in the restrooms right now, doing gross shit.

Momo:Ew.

Denki:lol

Jiro:istg Denki, stop typing that

Denki:kk

Jiro:thank god

Bakugou:speaking of gods… Ida, any word on uhhh… That guy?

Ida:You mean Goblin Slayer?

Bakugou:Uh… I guess? Wasn't he passed out and shit when we took him to the campus?

Deku:You mean when I carried him there myself?

Bakugou:ya whatever, you know what I meant.

Ida:Not quite sure. He's still recovering in the medical bay, I think. But hey, speaking of him being there, I'm seeing a lot of people here who are dressed in fantasy attire; like, a lot, a lot. Most are okay, but some are injured.

Jiro:Fantasy attire??? Like, cosplay?

Mina:I love cosplaying!

Ida:I want to say not, actually. They're wearing authentic looking clothes and armor that one wouldn't usually use in cosplaying. From what I've heard so far, and with the ones I've spoken to, they all speak Japanese and are just as confused as we are to see them.

Deku:Wait. You don't think that them being here has anything to do with what happened at the end of our gay session, do you?

Tsuyu:Gay session???

Deku:I'm sorry, that was a typo. I meant to type, 'game' not 'gay'.

Bakugou:Ya sure you did, lol

Deku:Don't be rude, Bakugou.

Momo:Midoriya, what did you mean by that?

Deku:We were playing Dungeons and Dragons at Ida's house a few hours ago, and there was this part where some magic orb of unfathomable energy ended up becoming unstable, and it consumed our characters. Before we could finish the session, that earthquake stopped us from continuing, and well, the rest is what we know now.

Kirishima:Woah, so you think you guys caused it by accident? That's messed up.

Ida:That would be highly unlikely, Kirishima. But at this point, I really don't know what's logical and what isn't. I've seen a few people dressed in mage attire making lights and other spectacles appear in their hands while conversing with one another. Might have seen some clerics and elves here too.

Toru:Oh wow, that would actually explain a lot then. I saw this one girl who I thought was a student here dressed up in a cool looking white outfit and carrying a staff.

Jiro:Did she have blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin?

Toru:I think so? She had blond hair and pale skin; not so sure about the eyes though.

Shoto:Not sure how to feel about you guys being open to the idea that some of your 'original characters' merged from their fictional worlds into ours. Sounds stupid, ngl

Momo: Sorry Ida, I'm going to have to agree with Shoto on this one. I can't bring myself to believe that you five somehow caused all of this by playing some role playing game.

Kirishima:Hear me out guys, I just had an idea

Toru:Oh??? What kind of plan???

Bakugou:better not be stupid

Kirishima:shush, Kacchan. My plan is super manly! So, you know what movie, Jumanji? Not the new ones, but that old one? To OG one?

Shoto:You're not serious, are you?

Mina:I've only seen the new ones. Why, what's your hypothesis?

Shoto:don't call it a hypothesis, please

Momo:you saw the old one, Shoto?

Shoto:Yea, my dad made me watch it with him a while ago. It's a good movie, don't get me wrong, but Kirishima is about to say suggest playing the game through to its end, so that it'll somehow magically fix this shit show

Kirishima:It can't hurt to try, right?

Bakugou:Hey dumbass, the basement was destroyed. Do you think that a board game with all those pieces and paper sheets would survive that? Besides, that idea sucks bukakae

Momo:Bakugou stop being vulgar please.

Toru:If it makes you feel better Kirishima, I thought your idea was clever.

Kirishima:Thx u, I'm glad some1 sees greatness

Denki:lol

Deku:I've tried calling Ochako, she hasn't responded to any of my calls or text messages… I hope she's okay

Momo:I'm already looking into Midoriya. My father sent some detectives to investigate everyone else who hadn't accepted the group chat… Including that little creep, Mineta.

Bakugou:Who?

Jiro:ffs Bakugou, don't pretend you don't know who Mineta is!

Bakugou:I'm not pretending. I seriously don't know who that is

Deku:He was Willow last night. He goes to school with us??? Purple balls on his head???

Bakugou:Oh lmao, him. Ya, hope he's okay I guess

Deciding that he wasn't getting anywhere with the group chat at the moment, Deku decided to exit out of his messages and silent their notifications. Not wanting to read back-and-forth banter that was slowly de-escalating into arguments, Deku opened up his internet browser and began reading up on the news; to update himself on what was going on throughout Japan.

After an hour or so of staring blankly at the dimly lit screen of his cellphone, Deku soon found himself drifting off to sleep. Just when his heavy eyelids closed shut and he started to snore lightly, he felt his phone vibrating within his hand; alerting him that he was receiving a phone call. Ignoring the line of drool that had trailed down from the corner of his mouth, Deku's blurry vision made out the silhouette of Ochako's contact picture.

Feeling a sense of dread that something was wrong, Deku's exhaustion immediately took a backseat to his newfound sense of alertness. Accepting the call, Deku sat up shirtless from his bed; his fan blowing warm air onto his already sweaty body as he raised the speaker of his phone up to his ear. "H-Hello?" Deku asked nervously with a tired voice, as he raised one hand up to wipe his eyes.

"D-Deku…!" Ochako answered back with a trembling voice, and it soon became apparent to Deku that she had been sobbing and was still crying. His once tired eyes became widened, and Deku was already up and out of bed as he started to get dressed with the phone still pressed up against his ear by his shoulder.

"O-Ochako?! What's wrong? A-Are you okay?!" Deku asked with a concerned and anxious voice, as he slipped one leg into his turquoise-colored costume the moment he got it out of his closet.

Needing a moment to calm herself down enough to speak coherently enough for Deku to understand her, Ochako sounded as though she was on the verge of hyperventilating before finally mustering up enough serenity to explain her situation to the panicked young man. "M-My mom and dad, t-they were s-su-supposed to be working tonight at one of their construction sites… I-I think they said it was the site in Haibori Woods…?" Ochako muttered tearfully more so to herself than to Deku, and paused for a moment before following up with, "Y-Yeah… Yeah, i-it was where that bomb went off a while ago…"

Unnerved by the memories of having almost been caught in All For One's trap, along with being reminded of Lady Nagant, and what he recalled Hawks telling him during that night. Saddened and even more anxious, Deku pressed his back to the wall of his bedroom and let out a sigh while momentarily moving the phone from his mouth, so that Ochako didn't have to hear just how nervous the idea of returning to the Haibori Woods made him.

"D-Deku? A-Are you there…?!" Ochako asked in a desperate voice, which was enough to motivate Deku into pushing his own qualms aside in order to be the emotional rock that she needed.

"Y-Yeah, yeah! I'm here, Ochako, I'm here," Deku replied back reassuringly, after having brought the phone back up to the side of his face to once again speak into its microphone. "Alright, uh… I'm assuming you've already tried calling them… D-Did you try getting a hold of the cops? T-They might be able to get in contact with the right pro-heroes to help us find them your parents…" Deku asked with a hesitant tone. 'So much for those detectives Momo sent out…'

Although he hated sounding like a coward, the truth was that unlike what they've been taught at the hero academy, and even through their internships, none of them were trained to conduct search-and-rescue operations, especially in dark and forested areas where their vision would be greatly hindered. And if there were any injured civilians, then they would need medical personnel there to assist them anyway.

"I-I tried! I-I really did!" Ochako answered back with panic in her voice, and started to breathe heavy and shallow breaths. "T-The operator t-told me t-that there weren't enough cops to g-go check on them, a-and all the pro heroes and their s-sidekicks are already responding t-to all these… I don't know?! T-These monsters; m-monsters coming from the ground, from the sky, f-from goddamn everywhere, Deku! W-Why is this happening, why?!"

"H-Hey! It's going to be okay, alright? J-Just try and take it easy, Ochako; I'm going to check that place out, okay?" Deku said reassuringly in a calm and patient tone, before waiting a few moments to allow Ochako to once again compose herself before speaking once more. "It's okay, I just… I just wanted to assess the situation before we go in blind…" Deku muttered quietly into the phone, as he suddenly found himself becoming worried over the part of Ochako's panicked venting, when she mentioned there being monsters.

"D-Deku…?" Ochako called out in a horrified voice.

"Y-Yeah?" Deku replied back with as much confidence as he could muster, all while finding himself beginning to wonder if Goblin Slayer's appearance and the earthquake had been somehow linked to their session of Dungeons and Dragons. It was a very absurd thought and seemed impossible to think of as an actual possibility, but without much else to contradict his developing hypothesis, it was all Deku had to work with for the meantime.

"… I'm really scared right now. I-I don't know what I'd do if… I-If my parents-"

"-We're going to find them tonight, okay? I promise you, I'm not going to stop looking until I find them, and I'm gonna bring them home to you, okay? That's a promise…" Deku told her with a confident voice, all while silently kicking himself for possibly giving the desperate young woman false hope. 'Shit… What if they're already dead…?! I don't think Ochako would ever be able to move on from that…' Deku thought to himself, before emptying the contents of his school bag on his bed, so that he could begin filling it with supplies that would help him search for Ochako's parents.

"Y-You think so, D-Deku…? Y-You really think we'll find them, a-and they're going to be okay…?!" Ochako asked with a hopeful and desperate voice, while also sounding as if Deku's promise had been enough to quell her tears.

Placing a flashlight and a pack of spare batteries, along with a flare gun and a medkit he kept in his closets for emergencies, Deku answered back, "Your parents are smart and resourceful, just like you Ochako… I know they're going to be okay," Deku said reassuringly once again, silently praying to whatever god was out there that he would end up actually being right, and that he wasn't just talking out of his ass.

For the first time in his life, ever since he first became enrolled into the lifestyle of one day becoming a fully fledged professional hero, Deku had to actually force himself to ignore the many fights happening within the city. All around him as he leapt through the air as quickly as he could managed with his quirk, Deku had to watch pro heroes and villains alike team up together, in order to stop the greater threat, that were the monsters that the young student recognized from when he researched the subject of mythological fantasy monsters, the night prior to coming over to Ida's house.

'All it took to finally unite both heroes and villains was the apocalypse happening… God, that makes me angry,' Deku thought sarcastically to himself, as he felt outraged that it took something so drastic to do what should have been done long ago. '… Oh God, I hope it's not the apocalypse happening right now; I shouldn't have thought that- I take it back, I take it back!' He suddenly scolded himself, as part of his superstitious side couldn't help but to fear the idea that he had just jinxed himself.

Although Deku never considered himself to ever have once been superstitious, he couldn't help but start to actually believe in what Ida had theorized, and soon enough he couldn't help but to start to conjure up his own insane theories as he made his way across the metropolitan battlefield below. And just as Deku was starting to second guess his own hastily drawn-up theories, he once again sensed that he was in immediate danger.

Thinking that danger was waiting for him below, Deku decided to stop his falling by using his quirk to levitate high above the city below; a perfect spot that allowed the seven-foot assailant that had been tracking him for a few kilometers to swoop in from above him. Hot-tears began swelling up in his eyes the moment he felt a pair of large talons penetrate his shoulder muscles and bone from behind him, and let out a cry of agony as he felt two razor-sharp claws tearing away at his chest.

Having only a second to look up at his attacker, Deku was horrified to see that a petite and feathered woman with her slender breasts and womanhood exposed had been what was attacking him. It wasn't the fact that her blue-and-pink colored appearance that frightened him, nor was it the fact that she a stark-naked harpy with her claws and talons dug into his body; what terrified Deku was the feral look in her black-and-yellow eyes, as she screamed bloody murder at him.

Feeling himself getting carried away while writhing in pain as he could feel the harpy's claws rip through his flesh as they made their way toward his jugular, Deku knew that he had to act fast if he wanted to get out of that situation alive. Although he hadn't been expecting to sacrifice his fingers this early into the night, before his actual mission could begin, Deku had no other choice but to lift his right hand up towards the toned muscular abdomen of the harpy's midriff above him.

"-D-DELAWARE SMASH-ngh-!" Deku roared out with a painful stutter, before breaking his finger as he used his quirk to fire a concentrated blast of wind pressure from his gloved hand. Had he perhaps more time to activate his full cowl, Deku wouldn't had had to resort into causing more bodily harm to himself, but it got the job done.

Hearing the harpy letting out a painful yelp, along with feeling his green hair getting sprayed with what he presumed to be her blood, Deku let out another excruciating cry, as he felt the harpy's claws rip out of his back shoulder muscles, and out of his chest.

Feeling his back getting lighter, Deku was too busy trying to stick his landing rather than checking to see if he still had his backpack, as he fell toward a large patch of dried-up grass. Bracing for impact, Deku used the last of his stamina to use his weakened floatation quirk, which ended up saving his life at the cost of him losing all of the air from his lungs.

Seething in pain, Deku rolled over onto his back, and stared up at the cloudless summer-night sky. Realizing just how dangerous and unprepared he was for how hostile it had gotten outside, Deku immediately thought of Ochako, who he was starting to believe wasn't ready to step foot outside the safety of her own home. Groaning under his breath, Deku could hear the distant sounds of sirens and various noises of battle in the distance, as he sat up from the small crater his body had made upon impact with the dry grass-ridden ground beneath him.

Needing a few moments to collect his thoughts, after he had started seeing stars from getting up too fast, Deku muttered something sarcastic under his breath as he reached around over his shoulder to grab a hold of his backpack strap. A moment of confusion came over Deku, and in that moment he nearly forgot just how much pain he was in, and was too busy trying to grab a hold of a strap that he knew should have been there.

That moment of confusion soon gave way to an overwhelming sense of dread that made its way to the pit of his stomach. "Oh c-crap…!" Deku muttered out loud, as he stumbled up to his feet before trying to survey the surrounding area for where his backpack could have gone. Seething in agony, Deku felt the humid summer heat stinging away at his open wounds, and even though it was night time and the temperature wasn't too unbearable, it still didn't help but given the fact that Deku was struggling to see through the fields of dry grass that surrounded him.

After about five minutes of actively backtracking and calculating where his backpack could have gone, Deku finally found his favorite school bag by the shore of a canal leading back to the city; ripped to shreds, covered in muck, and with all of its contents flowing down the current of the water. Realizing that even if he took the risk of getting an infection from swimming in the canal to get his phone, there was still a high chance that his phone was beyond saving.

Not one to give up despite the odds against him, Deku leapt into the two-meter deep concrete canal, and began to swim as quickly as he could down current. Seeing his phone and flashlight just out of reach and about to travel underneath a dark concrete tunnel, Deku took a large inhalation of air through his mouth before submerging himself underneath the surface of the murky water.

Unable to see through the dark, Deku was forced to feel around with one hand outstretched in front of him. Feeling around blindly while trying to focus on maintaining his body's equilibrium with a limited supply of oxygen, Deku remained calm despite feeling himself getting pulled deeper into the canal. Feeling as though the water current was picking up and it was growing more difficult to move properly, Deku tried not to think too much on it and remained focused on searching for either the flash light or his phone.

The moment he felt the metal handle of his flashlight and pressed down on the button to see what was wrapping around his ankle, regret for ever having gone down into the canal hit Deku hard. Panicked and feeling some oxygen escaping through his lips, Deku's green eyes widened as he pointed the flashlight down at the twenty or so black-tentacles that were wrapping themselves around his arms, midriff, thighs, and up past his ankles.

No longer caring whether or not he got his cellphone or not, Deku's brilliant mind immediately thought of the fastest way to save himself, without further risking the possibility of drowning before he could escape from the tunnel. Activating his full cowl at twenty percent, Deku didn't risk trying to test whether or not he could physically pull himself away from the tentacles, and instead decided to solve both his problems by raising his free arm up as best he could.

Creating a blast of air pressure that caused a jet of powerful water to shoot out where his hand had caused the underwater shockwave to begin with, Deku watched as the concrete tunnel above where the tentacles were pulling him toward crumbled before completely collapsing. Through the water and crumbling walls around him, Deku could hear an ungodly screech coming from the opposite side of the collapsed tunnel that he had created, originating from whatever had tried pulling him to his doom.

With the tentacles around his body no longer connected to their host, Deku was able to wiggle himself free before crawling up the debris of concrete and dirt, before digging a tunnel through the Earth above where the canal tunnel had been broken. The moment he broke through the surface of the Earth, Deku coughed up a mouthful of water and mud and started to gasp for air as he flopped onto a patch of wild grass.

Feeling his heart racing inside of his chest as the glowing pink traces of his quirk's full cowl began to fade away from his body, Deku made sure to pull off whatever severed tentacles that were still wrapped around his limbs and torso as he got back up to his feet. "Ugh, uh, ah… T-This isn't going well for me…" Deku muttered to himself with exhaustion starting to take a hold of his heavy limbs, as he felt his wounds stinging even worse than before he hopped into the dirty water of the canal.

Looking down at one of the shiny black tentacles that had tried pulling him into the unknown, Deku found himself becoming unnerved by the discovery he had made. Along the sides of all the tentacles he had pulled off of his body, all of them had blood-red eyes that were staring back at him with hatred in their slit-shaped pupils. Feeling himself becoming more and more unnerved and anxious the longer he stared back at the lovecraftian horror beneath him, Deku found himself completely unprepared the moment he heard a whistle coming from behind him.

"Oi, you! Human," a gruff and slightly high-pitched feminine voice called out behind him, which made Deku immediately jump in his skin. Turning around while expecting to be suddenly attacked by another mythical creature, Deku was met with the sight of two large dark green-skinned hobgoblins standing at eight feet tall and wielding what looked like the same sort of rifles that police used. Standing between them appeared to be a light green-skinned goblin woman with wide thighs and surprisingly busty breasts, standing on top of a pile of various goods that she had collected within a wheel barrel.

Staring back at the short-stacked goblin woman, whose yellow eyes stared back at him with a hint of annoyance in them, Deku couldn't help but be surprised at just how human the black-haired creature appeared to him; completely contradicting what he thought he knew about goblins from when he researched mythological creatures, the night before playing that faithful session with Ida.

"… Oi, keep staring at me chest with those puppy-dogs of yours lad, and I'll have to charge ye by the second," the goblin woman said with a bitter tone in his voice, to which immediately snapped Deku out of his perplexed state.

"O-Oh God, uh- I-I wasn't staring at your chest, ma'am! I-I, was just-"

"-Yeah, sure human; that's what that's all say," the goblin woman retorted with a scoff, and shook her head while her muscular hobgoblin guards grunted menacingly at the shaken-up hero. "Anyway ya little perv, I ain't here to shame ya; I am one hot piece of ass, so I don't blame ya for yer wanderin' eyes," she said half-jokingly, before shaking her hips playfully at Deku before hopping off of her hoard of treasures, so she could walk her over to him.

"I was in the area, heard a rumbling from the ground there, and decided to check out what was going on; it's what anyone with a business sense like me would do!" She said with a sly smirk beneath her button nose, and let out a little chuckle as she noticed Deku didn't catch what she was implying. "… I was going to see if ya were dead, lad, so I could pay my respects to ya by seeing what ya left behind; I mean, it's not like ya were gonna be needing it if that was the case, right?"

"I… I guess so?" Deku replied back nervously, while still trying to understand why the goblin before him was trying to talk to him, rather than immediately telling her armed guards to gun him down. His danger sense wasn't going off, so there wasn't any intention of them hurting him. Knowing that he was safe for the moment, Deku gathered his wits before asking, "So, uh… Who are you? W-What do you want exactly?"

Smiling with a brief look of relief washing over her face from what Deku could tell from staring down at her, the goblin woman cracked a wider smile before bowing down crudely. "My name's Rytte! I'm a bit of an entrepreneur, and quite experienced in dealing with you hero types, and do my business by uh… Ya know? Picking up things that people aren't going to be needing anymore, fixing them up, and trading them for money and other goods," Rytte explained, to which made Deku frown a bit from hearing.

"… You mean 'looting'?" Deku asked with a disapproving tone in his voice, which of course made the merchant goblin roll her yellow eyes upon hearing.

"I'm not hurting anyone, and quite frankly I consider myself more an opportunist who sees potential in objects that would otherwise be lost to nature," Rytte argued back in a slightly bored tone, as if what she had just said was something she had explained countless times. "Besides, this 'looter' you see before ya very eyes lad is someone who has a nose for business… And a nose to smell the neurotoxins of a 'dark-tentacles' beast coursing through those infected wounds of yours…"

Feeling the color draining from his face, Deku looked away from the very serious expression on Rytte's face and turned his attention down to the claw marks he had in his chest. The young student felt his stomach turning from the sight of his bloodied wounds beginning to decay, and the flesh around the claw marks quickly turning black and rotten.

Seeing the look of absolute horror upon realizing the situation he was in, Rytte took a moment to walk back to her stash of goods. "Luckily for ya lad, little ol' me found ya before Death could…" The goblin woman snickered at her own sense of morbid humor, before turning back around with a glass bottle filled with a pink liquid sloshing around inside it.

"Did a bit of bartering with a group of alchemists before stumbling upon a nice stash of treasure just up north from here… Some scholarly-types who would just LOVE to get their mitts on the ichor they could extract from those tentacles of yours…" Rytte said with an greedy look dwelling in her yellow eyes, as she swished around the concoction within the glass bottle for Deku to stare at. "This little number right, a full restoration potion that'll fix ya right up, could be yours, lad. And all it'll cost ya are those dark-tentacles… So, what do ya say, lad? Care to trade?"

Immediately without giving it a second thought, Deku found himself kneeling down to collect the severed dark-tentacles of the beast that had tried murdering him, all while doing his best to not stare at all the blood-red eyes that were glaring at him as he picked their limbs up. "F-For all of these, right?" Deku asked nervously, while anxious over the thought of either succumbing to his wounds, or dying to being poisoned by what was supposed to be an elixir sold to him.

"That's right lad, just drop them off in that ol' wheelbarrow over there, and I'll be handing this off to ya," Rytte instructed with a nod of approval, as she gestured with her thumb over to where her other treasures were being kept. "And don't think about getting brave either! My boys there are going to be keeping an eye on those hands of yours, human… And so will I!" The small short stacked goblin warned with her sharp teeth glistening in the moonlight, as she and her hobgoblins monitored Deku as he dropped the tentacles off into the wheelbarrow.

"I'm a hero in training… I-I wouldn't steal," Deku muttered in his own defense, and began turning around before catching a glimpse at the logo printed along the side of the wheelbarrow. "… 'Uraraka Construction Company'…!" Deku read under his breath, and instantly felt his heart skipping a beat as he whipped around to stare desperately at Rytte's perplexed eyes. "Hey! W-Where did you get this from?!"

Raising a thin eyebrow that was barely visible through her straight cut-bangs, Rytte frowned a bit at how scared Deku sounded and found herself feeling bad for him. Without bothering to extort him further, Rytte handed the frightened boy the powerful elixir before answering his question.

"Ya know how I told ya about how I found a lot of my loot from the woods just up north? Well, I got that wheelbarrow there; I believe it was, uhh… An area where you humans were… Building something? I couldn't tell, I never seen steel being used as support beams before," Rytte explained with an unsure look in her yellow eyes, which grew more concerned after seeing Deku's eyes beginning to swell up with tears. "Hope ya didn't know any humans there… That place was a real blood bath by the time we got there."

"… My friend's parents were working there; t-they were contracted out there to build something for the city; I-I don't know the details exactly," Deku explained with dread coursing through his trembling body, as he felt himself getting lightheaded. "Y-You said 'humans', a-and I don't think that they were allowed to have guns there, s-so… W-What did you see exactly? W-Was anyone wearing shiny vests or hard-plastic helmets?" Deku tried asking with a dwindling sense of hope in his voice; hoping deep down that none of the construction workers who were civilians, more specifically, Ochako's parents.

Shaking her head after recalling the memory that was still fresh in her mind, she turned her attention away from Deku to focus on her hobgoblin guards. Speaking in a tongue that Deku had never once heard of, Rytte conversed for a few moments with her colleagues before turning back to stare back at the young hero's emerald-green eyes.

"We only explored the surface area, ya see, so take what we say with a grain of salt, ya?" Rytte said as a way to tell Deku not to get his hopes up, for what she was about to tell him next. "Like I said, when we got there it was a bloodbath; there was a bunch of you dead humans with these metal weapons that shoot lead out the ends, and some others who were wearing quite flamboyant outfits," Rytte explained, to which Deku chalked up to her trying to convey to him that she only saw the corpses of cops and pro heroes, which didn't exactly make him feel any better about the situation.

"… But as far as the description you've given us, uh… H-Hold on," Rytte said, as she excused herself to once again confirm something between herself and her two guards. "Right, right… Orcblog, my friend over there on the left, was the only one who ventured down a bit into that tunnel where all those humans died outside of," Rytte said, which prompted Deku to look over his shoulder to be greeted by the aforementioned hobgoblin waving a hand at him.

"A tunnel…? What kind of tunnel?" Deku asked cautiously with a frown, as he felt himself getting immediately ready to avenge the deaths of those who died at the hands of whatever beast had taken their lives.

"Spiders. Big, black, hairy ugly things, about, uh… This big?" Rytte replied with an unsure look in her yellow eyes, as she raised her hand up to demonstrate just how large the aforementioned spiders were. Realizing that the goblin was trying to tell him that the spiders were about half a meter tall, Deku found himself losing some of that vigor he had moments ago.

"… Anyway, the spiders ain't gonna be your only issue, lad. Like I was saying, Orcblog was stupid enough to try to take a peek past all the cobwebs inside the tunnel, and nearly got his head rippped off by the drider who was keeping captives inside that there tunnel!" Rytte exclaimed with a disappointing tone in her voice, as she gave the guilty looking hobgoblin in question a dirty look. "'Only gonna take a wee peak,' my green-arse ya did!"

While Rytte was muttering under her breath about how worried she had been, Deku's vision started to blacken as he focused more on that word she mentioned. "I'm sorry, what's a… What's a 'drider'?" Deku asked with a dry chuckle, as he couldn't help but find it absurd at just how insane his night had been so far. That, and the neurotoxins in his blood were beginning to make him lose some of his higher brain functions; something that the three green-skinned creatures took notice of.

"A 'drider' is half-human, half-spider; cursed by their god for their betrayal, or whatever they did to piss that sod off, and are now unable to reproduce, so they use spiders as their minions and surrogate chi- I don't know, lad! I ain't a walking encyclopedia, and I sure try to avoid them, on account of them being about five-meters tall, and all of them having a taste for goblin-flesh!" Rytte replied back with an exasperated tone, before snapping her fingers.

Catching Deku before he could fall backwards and slam the back of his head against the ground beneath him, Rytte's hobgoblins made sure to hold him while she walked over to where they were keeping him steady. Taking the elixir from Deku's weakened grip, Rytte bit down on the cork of the bottle before pulling it out and spitting it away. "Bottom's up, lad," Rytte said in an urgent voice, as she reached over to part Deku's lips apart, before pouring the full-restoration potion down the dying boy's gullet.

Being held up so that his feet were still touching the ground, it only took a few seconds before Deku felt the fog in his mind clearing up. Letting out a relieved groan, the pain that had been plaguing Deku vanished, and soon he was able to stand on his own. "Woah… T-That actually worked…?!" Deku muttered under his breath, as he felt around his chest and the back of his shoulders to find that his wounds had disappeared.

Looking down at the hand he had used to fight off the harpy, the boy was surprised that even his broken finger had been fully healed, without even a trace of soreness left for him to feel. "Wow…! D-Do you have any more of those left? I could use some more supplies; I think I'm going to need whatever I can get my hands on!"

Surprised to hear just how motivated Deku was to put himself in danger again, Rytte couldn't help but to let out a chuckle as she shook her head to herself. "After everything I just told ya, ya still want to toss yourself into a pit of spiders?! Are ya daft, lad?!" The short goblin woman asked with a shocked look in her yellow eyes.

Smiling confidently like how All Might would do in that very situation, Deku stood proudly with his fists resting on his hips while displaying an aura of confidence that the short stacked goblin before him only saw in heroes who were about to get themselves brutally killed in the bowels of a dungeon. "There's a chance that there might be survivors being kept inside that tunnel, and as a hero-in-training, it's my job to investigate it, and to try and at least rescue them!"

While the hobgoblins standing behind Deku were stricken with awe at the bravery and heroic energy being displayed before them, Rytte herself was letting out a sigh of worry. "… All right, all right 'hero', I get it… I'll tell ya what, just because I like ya vibe, I'll give ya whatever I can spare, and escort ya to where ya need to go. I can't go with ya down the tunnel, but I can make sure that you're prepared for it," Rytte explained, after making sure to reinforce the part of her offer that meant that she wouldn't directly help search for the civilians who were or weren't being kept within the drider's lair.

Surprised at just how generous the goblin before him was being with him, Deku decided to keep the stereotypes he read about her race to himself, and instead smiled back at her before bowing down at the waist in front of her. "Thank you very much; anything you can do and provide will be appreciated, and help me help those who are in nee-"

"-Yeah, yeah, honorifics and whatever lad; I don't do the sentimental shite that you humans are fond of," Rytte interrupted with an uncomfortable groan, before snapping her fingers together to signal for her hobgoblins to get a move on. "Come on lad, if ya serious about saving those poor bastards, then we best be on our way!" Rytte called out with a bit of cynicism in her gruff voice, as she and her guards began making their way back toward the heart of the Haibori Woods.

With all eyes off of him, Deku's shoulders relaxed, and his heroic demeanor dwindled at the thought of what would await him at those accursed grounds. "R-Right; I'm coming," Deku called back in a neutral voice, and began to follow behind them with his eyes scanning around at all the wild grass surrounding them.

Ochako's parents, the lost civilian contractors, and the lives of the heroes and law enforcement officers who had lost their lives to horrible creatures made Deku shiver, and the overwhelming sense of dread he felt earlier came back to the pit of his stomach. '… What if Ochako tried leaving her house to meet me there? What if… What if she didn't…' Unable to finish that thought, Deku let out a stressful sigh and did his best to push back all the negative thoughts he had to the back of his mind.

Underneath the dark starless night, and far away from the cries of sirens and an ongoing battle for survival between the people of Musutafu and its invaders, Deku's mind had nothing to distract himself from the fear of everything falling apart around him, as he followed behind the goblin merchant and her two armed guards.

The only thing keeping Deku on the path he was on was the promise he had made to Ochako; one way or the other, he was going to find her parents so that they could go back home to her, or at least Deku would be able to give her closure if the worst had already happened.