During the hours that the Hero known as Monster Mask was resting at A-City's Hero Association Headquarters, another individual had begun his own one-man assault on the Monster Association.
Garou, the Hero Hunter, had returned to the Z-City Ghost Town and quickly located the tunnel he'd exited the Monster Association from. Despite the ominous winds howling out from the passageway, Garou dropped into it and trudged through without hesitation.
"Let's get this over with," the Human Monster muttered to himself as the gray flames on his body dimly lit his path.
The Hero Hunter spent a dozen minutes making his way through the rocky tunnels without incident. As he walked, Garou was flexing his hands and tensing his brow while looking at his palms expectantly.
"Come on... How do I make those glowing bomb things? They'd be real useful right about now," he growled in annoyance.
After trying a few more things, including clapping his hands and snapping his fingers, Garou felt several presences approaching him. Clenching his fists, Garou focused his gaze further down the tunnel and saw dozens of monsters coming his way.
The instant the monsters could see Garou as well, they began to charge him. However, before any of these creatures could take more than two steps, Garou had reached them first and unleashed a blender of attacks, tearing, pummeling, and burning all the monsters to death in an instant.
Once all the monsters were slain, Garou took a moment to look at his hands, thinking aloud, "That was weird. I could hardly even feel those fuckers when I hit them... Is this what it's like for Monster Mask when he hits people...? Whatever. I gotta keep moving."
Picking up his pace somewhat, Garou began hurrying down the tunnel. However, the thought that he wasn't moving quickly enough entered his mind, and he stopped running just as quickly. For a moment, the Hero Hunter was in deep thought before he eventually walked over to one of the tunnel walls and placed his hand on it.
"It should be this way!" Garou yelled before throwing a one-inch punch into the wall, shattering it. This revealed another passage behind the wall, which the Human Monster entered and smashed through as well.
"WAAAAAA! NO! SOMEONE HELP!" Tareo's voice rang out through the halls of the Monster Association.
Within a cramped, square room, Tareo was cowering in a corner as Royal Ripper towered over him, leaving skin-deep cuts on the face of the young boy.
Of note was the fact that one of Royal Ripper's blades was not the same as before. The Demon-Level monster had borrowed an organic blade from one of its fellow Monster Association members and replaced the one Garou had destroyed earlier.
"Kukukukuku! Your screams are so sweet, Tareo," Royal Ripper commented while leaving a cut under Tareo's left eye.
Crying, Tareo pleaded, "Why...? Why are you doing this?!"
Tilting its head, Royal Ripper asked back, "Wwwhyyyy? What do you meeeeaaaaann wwhyyy? I'm a monster. That's aaalllllll the reason I need! Let me tell you a secret. I never cared about all this war stuff. I don't care about a new world. I don't care if monsters rule or not. All I care about is fulfilling my urge to kill! Do you see!? I'll use you to-!"
Suddenly, Garou, covered in gray flames, came crashing through the roof of the room, stopping Royal Ripper's monologue.
Realizing it was under attack, Royal Ripper spun around and began attacking the intruder. With how fast Royal Ripper was moving, it was only halfway through the monster's blade-thrust did it even recognize that the one it was attacking was, in fact, Garou.
However, Royal Ripper had no time to process this realization. As soon as the slasher monster's blade connected with the Human Monster's chest, the tip of the sword snapped off against his flesh.
Within that same moment, Royal Ripper began to feel an emotion its monstrous heart had nearly forgotten, fear. The gray, flame-consumed eyes of the Hero Hunter overtook the monster's attention for a half moment, allowing Royal Ripper to understand what its child victims must have felt when it stole their lives away.
Once the next half of the moment passed, all Royal Ripper could see was the Hero Hunter's fist. After that, Royal Ripper couldn't see anything at all as its life vanished.
Before Royal Ripper's beheaded body could even fall to the floor, Garou let out a second strike that utilized Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist, mincing the monster's body.
As the monster chunks splattered on the floor, Tareo cheered out through tears, "Uncle!"
"Come on, you shitty brat. We're outa here," Garou told Tareo without even turning to look at him.
The Human Monster then approached the room's sealed metal door and kicked it down.
As the pair stepped out of Royal Ripper's layer, Garou told his charge, "If any other monsters grab you on our way out, that's it for you. Beat that into your thick head."
"How... How did you know how to find this place, Uncle? And... Why do you look so weird right now?"
Glaring at the hallway in front of them, the Hero Hunter explained, "Because I'm a monster."
Just then, a pair of monsters turned the corner and saw Garou.
One of them asked, "What the-?! A Human?!"
"That must be the infiltrait-!" Before the second monster could finish speaking, Garou rushed them both and tore them to pieces before they even knew what had happened.
Picking up one of the monsters' severed arms, Garou held the limb over his other arm, allowing the flames coming off of him to cook it slightly.
After his rudimentary attempt at preparing the arm was done, Garou smelled the limb and commented, "Geh. All the meat here is garbage." Despite this critique, the Hero Hunter put the arm to his mouth and started chowing down.
Standing a few feet away in fear and disgust, Tareo asked, "Uncle...? You aren't really eating that... are you...? It... It's gonna make you sick!"
Within the time Tareo spent questioning his actions, Garou had scarfed down everything but the bone, tossing it aside as he responded, "Gotta get something in my stomach, kid. Food's food. You can't always worry 'bout where it comes from."
As he began walking through what was left of the corpses, the Human Monster told Tareo, "Alright. I got my revenge against that asshole with the swords, so I'm leaving. If you're coming, hurry up and keep your mouth shut."
While Garou continued to walk away, for a moment, Tareo hesitated. The puddle of gore in front of the boy petrified him initially. However, as memories of the horror of his captivity flooded back into his mind, the ugly boy forced himself to be brave and run through the blood and guts.
"Uncle, slow down! Are you sure you're okay? Royal Ripper stabbed you. Shouldn't we wait and hide until you're all better?"
Marching with Tareo following him, Garou replied, "It's fine. The fucker didn't even break my skin. 'Sides, even if he did, we'd have to keep moving. There's this one asshole with special powers that'll let him know where we are. If we stay still like idiots, more and more monsters'll just keep piling up on us. We're lucky so far. It looks like most of the pack are out doing other things, so they don't have as many guys to sent after us. We can just take the shortest route, and I'll crush whatever's in the way."
However, Tareo stopped running after this, as one more concern came out of his throat, "Uh, but, you see... There's another hostage here! A little boy like me!"
Only slowing down ever so slightly, Garou replied coldly, "Who cares?"
Breaking down balling, Tareo pleaded to his savior, "Please, save him too!"
Stopping and turning around, Garou explained, "Look, kid. I think you're getting the wrong idea. It's not like I came here to save you... or... What the Hell is that thing?!"
Hearing puddles splash onto the floor as the ground shook behind him, Tareo was about to turn around when Garou softly told him, "Idiot, don't turn around. Come this way, kid. Very slowly..."
Following his uncle's directions, Tareo began to slowly shuffle his feet forward as Garou continued to instruct, "That's right, keep moving... Nice and slowly."
Behind Tareo, Garou kept his eyes focused, looking for the slightest sign of increased hostility from the monster behind the boy. The beast was quadrupedal and stood roughly 12 meters tall. It was completely covered in black fur and had a head similar to a canine's, which was lined with three pairs of glowing red eyes. The creature had menacing claws and a fluffy yet gnarled tail. Despite its clearly monstrous origins, the Hero Hunter couldn't help but compare this creature to an oversized dog of some sort.
Once Tareo reached got behind Garou and was able to get a look at the creature, the young boy couldn't help but begin to sweat and cling to his uncle.
As some smoke began coming out of this monster's mouth, Garou thought, My heart is pounding, and my skin is crawling. That's a red flag for sure. This thing's freaking strong. Hmm... I've got this Kie stuff working, so maybe I can fight it...? No. Considering I've got the kid and we're in this thing's home turf, I gotta avoid a fight at all costs.
Garou then began to walk backward, pushing Tareo while telling him, "Shh. Stay quiet and start moving, but don't do anything to provoke it, and don't run. Take it slow, so we don't provoke this beast."
Once they were far enough away, Garou and Tareo turned around but continued to tiptoe, with the Hero Hunter commenting, "Alright, good. It's not coming after us. We'll be fine so long as it doesn't get hostile. That's right, big boy, just let us pass... Whew. So long as we keep putting distance between us and that thing like this, we can re-."
Before Garou could finish talking, he and Tareo had reached a corner. Walking out from around the corner was a muscular, humanoid mouse monster standing seven feet tall. Looking down, the monster immediately noticed Tareo, who had been walking in front of Garou by that point.
Cutting Garou off, Tareo screamed in fear, "They found u-!"
As Tareo spoke, the mouse monster threw a punch at the boy, which tore through the stone wall next to them. However, before the ugly kid could finish screaming or get hit, Garou instinctively reached his arm out to him. He had intended to grab Tareo and pull him out of the way of the monster's attack, but something else occurred instead. As the Human Monster extended his hand, a barrier of gray energy extended from his palm, forming a bubble around Tareo before the mouse monster's attack could land. Once the mouse monster's fist collided with this barrier, its hand not only broke but was nearly crushed.
Still moving reflexively, Garou pulled his hand back, pulling the bubble and Tareo with it. Once Tareo was out of harm's way, the barrier dissipated, and the boy fell to the ground behind Garou. Before the Hero Hunter could even process what he'd just done, a second monster arrived and shot itself head-first at Garou.
This monster's body was long, thin, and pearly. Its body looked to be made of interconnecting layers of metal, had natural shoulder pads and rows of eyes on its chest, upper arms, and head. The head in question was long and pointed as if it were a giant needle.
Despite the speed at which this spear monster launched itself, Garou managed to dodge the attack and redirected the monster's head into his grip, pressing it against his shoulder. As Garou's grip started to burn the monster, the Hero Hunter smashed his knee into its face, caving it in and killing the monster before it could even process the pain.
Immediately after the Human Monster killed the spear monster, Garou was hit with a blast of boiling water. The source of this stream of burning water was a third monster. It was also humanoid in appearance, had a body made from silver metal with black joints, circular pincer hands, and a showerhead where its actual head should be.
If Garou had been hit by this attack before he had grown accustomed to fighting Monster Mask, then he would have had to pull himself away from the water. However, after having gotten used to the intense heat of the Hero's explosions, the feeling of boiling water didn't even phase the Hero Hunter. As such, Garou pushed himself through the water and rocketed at the showerhead monster, using Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist to slice it apart.
As Garou did this, the mouse monster, whose hand seemed to have healed, was dashing for Tareo.
Shit, shit, shit! That bastard took out Unihorn and Shower Head in two seconds! I gotta take this brat hostage, or there's no way I'll survive! As the Monster thought this, it reached its healed, yet scar-covered hand, for Tareo as the boy screamed.
Moving on instinct once again, Garou turned to chase the mouse monster and trusted his hand at the creature. Once again, something he hadn't planned on occurred. As Garou jutted his hand forward, an orb of gray light formed in and got launched from his palm.
In the nanoseconds after the gray orb flew from Garou's hand, the memories of Monster Mask's exploding Light Balls crashed through his mind. Once these memories of blasts of light had concluded, Garou processed the fact that his gray orb was flying toward the mouse monster, which was only a few feet from Tareo.
At the same time as Garou threw out his attack, he shouted desperately, "TAREO! GET DOWN!"
Naturally, the unathletic boy wasn't able to react quickly enough to the Hero Hunter's warning, as the gray orb connected with the mouse monster's back.
Just as the Hero Hunter was about to let out a shout of despair at the blast that would end Tareo's life, the mouse monster was sent hurtling away. Instead of the explosion that Garou had anticipated, his attack seemed to have nothing behind it but pure kinetic energy. Within seconds, the mouse monster was out of sight, having been launched down the path Garou and Tareo had just come from.
As Garou sweated and let out breaths of shock and relief, Tareo nervously asked a question while pressed against a wall, "U- Uncle? What was that?"
However, before Garou could start to think of an answer, he and Tareo started hearing roars and squeaks of pain and panic. Eventually, the head of the mouse monster was flung back down the hall, landing at their feet.
Looking up from the poultry remains of the mouse creature, Garou remorsed, "Oh... Oh crap. I pissed that pooch off."
Walking out of the shadows that they had left it behind, the giant dog monster snarled at Garou. Suddenly, red lightning began crackling from the creature's jagged mouth.
Without a word, Garou turned and ran, grabbing Tareo by the back of his shirt to carry the boy. As Garou ran away, the Overgrown Rover formed a massive ball of red energy in its mouth, firing it down the hall. The blast was so large that it completely blocked off the hall, up to the fifteen-meter ceiling.
Managing to move quickly enough, Garou was able to turn the corner and avoid the lightning bomb as it collided with the wall instead. However, even though Garou managed to save himself and Tareo from being hit directly, the sheer explosive force of Overgrown Rover's Heat Bomb caused the entire structure they were in to shake violently. The vibrations were so great, in fact, that the Hero Hunter wouldn't be surprised if it was mistaken for an earthquake by anyone on the surface.
As the walls around them destabilized, a massive chunk of the ceiling fell onto Garou and Tareo. Fortunately, the Human Monster was able to use Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist to dice the boulder and protect both of them. At the same time, Overgrown Rover came crashing through the debris as if the stone were made from bubbles, continuing to chase them like the violent predator it was.
Once Garou, Tareo, and the canine creature had reached a more stable area of the halls, Garou tossed his ward forward as he turned to fight.
This thing... Those blasts kinda remind me of the bum fucker that shot me to kingdom come... Are they both Dragon-Level monsters? Garou hypothesized internally.
Sensing that Tareo's presence hadn't gotten any further away, Garou yelled, "The Hell're you standing there like a fucking idiot for? Get the Hell outta here! This is where we split up!"
Freezing up, the ugly boy squealed, "What?! But, Uncle, I can't make it on my own!"
"Tell it to someone who cares! I'm not here to babysit you, and you're just making everything harder for me! I've already saved your damn life twice! What more do ya want?! If you can't take care of yourself here, then you're dead!"
As tears started rolling down his face and snot began to drool from his nose, Tareo began crying in fear as he turned and ran from the Hero Hunter and Overgrown Rover. This got the pooch predator's attention, prompting it to prepare another energy bomb.
However, before it could fire the attack off, Garou yelled at the monster, "The Hell're you looking at!?"
The shout alone was not enough to fully pull away Overgrown Rover's attention, and he knew this ahead of time. As such, the Human Monster rushed at one of Rover's front legs and unleashed a flurry of strikes at the canine's ankle that combined Water Stream Rock Crushing Fist and Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist. Combined with his Kie, each of Garou's strikes hit hard enough to leave light burns, bruises, and cuts on the ankle, eventually leaving a burnt bald spot in Overgrown Rover's fur.
As Rover let out a deep yelp, Garou jumped back and asked, "How's that, huh? Bet it stings a-!" Garou's words were suddenly caught in his throat when he realized that the dog monster was about to fire another Heat Bomb, only this time, the distance between them was too small for him to escape.
Crap. Am I gonna die...? No! Do that shield thing again! As Garou processed his options, he remembered the barrier he made around Tareo moments earlier.
In desperation, Garou rushed at Overgrown Rover's snout, extended his hand, and tried to remember the feelings he had when he was protecting Tareo. Suddenly, another of those gray bubbles appeared from Garou's hand and wrapped around the front of Rover's mouth, just as it was about to fire its blast.
Excitement overtaking him for just a moment, Garou yelled out an improvised name for his improvised technique, "Dark Barrier!"
Once Overgrown Rover fired its Heat Bomb, it collided with Garou's barrier. For the first half-second of the blast, Garou felt his new technique hold up strong against this Dragon's attack. However, as the second finished ticking by, he felt his barrier begin to shake. Once the next second was done, the barrier had cracked and shattered. While this did hold back half of the Heat Bomb's destructive force, Garou was still sent through the ceiling by the explosion. On the bright side, the other half of the blast's power was thrown directly back into Rover's face, causing the beast to slam itself through the ground and into the next floor below.
Garou quickly recomposed himself and rushed to the hole in the floor his body made, looking down to see Rover, a floor lower than he remembered and shaking itself off. Wanting to counter-attack, Garou forced the emotions he felt when the mouse monster rushed Tareo back into his mind. As he did this, the Hero Hunter thrusted his palm forward as another of his version of the Light Ball formed in it, launching the projectile again.
After Garou's Light Ball flew out, it collided with Overgrown Rover's face with an audible thud. Like before, there was no explosion, only kinetic force that caused Rover's head to recoil before the orb dissipated.
Seeing that his attack had some effect on the monster, Garou began launching them at a rapid-fire pace while shouting, "How da ya like my Shadow Spheres, mutt!?"
Remarkably, Rover began to recoil from these Kie strikes, eventually retreating from the opening Garou was firing through.
"I ain't letting you get away!" Garou shouted as he jumped down through the holes, his blood boiling for battle at this point. This proved to be a mistake, though, for as soon as he dropped through the second hole before he could even actually touch the ground, Overgrown Rover rushed him, managing to slam its jaw shut as it bit down on his torso.
As Garou felt his chest get pierced by numerous razor-sharp teeth, he desperately began trying to make another Darkness Barrier, this time around himself. Unfortunately, as Rover began to violently shake the Hero Hunter, his ability to focus on the emotions he needed was impeded. It was only after Rover savagely threw Garou to the floor, fracturing the floor in the process, was he able to concentrate as his wounds began to heal.
Before Garou even had enough time to stand back up, Rover was firing another point-blank Heat Bomb at him. Fortunately for the Human Monster, he was able to react fast enough to make a barrier around himself by fully extending his hands to his sides.
The Dark Barrier once again absorbed half of the Heat Bomb's force, even as it shook the Monster Association base once again. However, this still didn't shield Garou from being blasted seven more floors down.
After he stopped being propelled through stone, Garou managed to force off whatever rubble was on him as he climbed to his feet and grabbed his chest in pain.
Well, that certainly hurt... but it wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be, Garou thought as he felt some broken ribs set themselves back into place.
Looking up, Garou was frustrated when he saw Rover looking down at him. The monster seemed to copy what he'd just done to it with his Shadow Spheres as Rover began to pelt Garou with a barrage of Heat Bombs.
Reacting quickly enough, Garou ran out of the blast's path, even as explosions covered and destroyed one floor after another. In order to avoid the blasts, Garou began running along the glassed walls. However, Rover began running across the walls as well, eventually catching up to Garou. Despite his attempt to throw out a counter-attack when it closed in on him, the monster's speed eclipsed his own as it batted him downward with one of its paws.
Landing amongst the explosions, Garou's speed was outperformed once again, as Overgrown Rover started encircling him with even more Heat Bombs as it continued to run along the wall. The cacophony of resulting blasts began to shake not just the entire Monster Association base but the surface above as well, causing buildings to shake as roads rippled like waves.
After blasting Garou down several dozen more floors, Overgrown Rover descended down to begin sniffing the rubble.
As Rover continued to search for the scent of its prey, Garou was sitting on the remains of one of the higher floors, looking down at his bestial opponent. Fresh smoke was still coming off of him as he rose to his feet, his glare intensifying as he stood.
Alright, let's see if Shit Mask's moves work any better, the Hero Hunter thought.
Leaping down, Garou torpedoed himself at Overgrown Rover as he readied a clawed strike that was being followed by gray streaks of flames.
"Taking me out ain't gonna be that easy, you shitty dog!" Garou yelled just as Rover looked up at him.
The Hero Hunter then bashed the top of Rover's head with an open-claw strike from the Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit, managing to dig his fingertips into the monster's skin and draw blood.
The force of the attack also slammed Rover's head into the floor, with Garou yelling, "SIT, MUTT!"
Despite this, the oversized dog got back up before Garou's momentum would even let him descend, literally shaking the wound off.
But... But I hit that bastard as hard as I could!" The Hero Hunter stammered as Rover immediately went to bite him again.
"Oh Hell no, not again! Garou internally panicked as he speedily surrounded himself in another Dark Barrier.
Snapping its jaw onto the Dark Barrier, Overgrown Rover started trying to bite through it like an overly aggressive dog with a new chew-toy. After half a minute of this gnawing only managed to put a few cracks in the barrier, Rover got fed up and slammed Garou on the ground, his shield withstanding being smashed on the floor. Just as Garou was about to consider dropping his Dark Barrier to go on the offensive again, Rover aimed a point-blank Heat Bomb at him for a third time.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" The Human Monster shouted in exasperation as he was hit with yet another of these explosions.
With his barrier already somewhat worn down, it wasn't able to absorb as much of the Heat Bomb as before. Because of this, Garou got blasted down another dozen floors before getting buried in more rubble when he finally stopped crashing. For a few moments, Garou was stunned as his head spun and he was seeing stars.
After taking a few moments to recover and clear his head, Garou thought, Damn dog sent me down to the lower levels. I gotta get back up there...
For a moment, Garou struggled underneath the mountain of debris he was under. After gathering his strength, the Hero Hunter actually managed to push the tons upon tons of stone off of himself.
"Oh. I thought you might need some help there for a moment," Gyoro Gyoro's voice rang out from the other side of the room.
Looking in the direction of the voice, Garou saw the psychic monster sitting in a large, bean-bag chair. At the sight of this creature, the Hero Hunter just glared daggers.
"Ooo, how intense you are. So, you're the invader, huh? I see you ran into one of our Cadres. Splendid. I'm impressed."
Cocking his eyebrow, Garou couldn't help but ask, "That thing is part of your brass?"
Raising its arms for emphasis, Gyoro Gyoro explained, "We respect strength above all other things here, and Overgrown Rover is one of the strongest monsters in the entire association. Honestly, you've met and surpassed all of my expectations, Garou. You not only survived Homeless Emperor but Rover as well. There are few creatures on this planet that could withstand such foes. I'm so happy."
Taking a step forward, Garou flared his Kie as he accused, "You sent your fucking goons after me. This whole mess is your fault!"
"Oh! Your powers as a monster have developed new abilities for you, it seems. That's enough of that, tho- GAH!" As Gyoro Gyoro attempted to lecture Garou, its main eye began to glow with a psychic aura. Garou felt the aura begin to wrap around and hold him in place for a second. However, it stopped just as suddenly as it came.
Once the psychic aura was gone, Garou collapsed to the ground and exhaled in pain through gritted teeth, as his Kie vanished and he felt as if he had just pulled every muscle in his body all at once. At the same time, Gyoro Gyoro collapsed like a puppet on cut strings into its chair, not making a single movement.
After a few minutes of Garou writhing in agony and Gyoro Gyoro not moving, the Hero Hunter was able to force himself back to his feet as the pain began to dull.
"What the FUCK was that?!" Garou shouted.
A second later, Gyoro Gyoro began moving its head and eye, seemingly unable to move the rest of its body, and retorted, "I could ask you the same thing. It's a good thing this was just... Nevermind. Garou, listen. Let's talk for a moment."
Still sore and hoping to buy enough time to regain his full range of motion, Garou replied, "The Hell do you want?!"
"I don't exactly know what that fire ability of yours is, but what I can say is that you seem to be on your way to becoming a monster. As you are now, I'd say you're somewhat more than half-monster by this point. Despite not being fully monsterized yet, you were able to withstand Homeless Emperor's Spheres Of Destruction and Overgrown Rover's Heat Bombs."
"I've had some practice tanking explosions," Garou interjected.
"Hmm, I see. Well, as you continue down this path, your overall strength will continue to skyrocket. As it stands, though, it's not quite enough. I, however, can raise you to into the ultimate monster in the world."
Gritting his teeth, Garou asked, "What? You're gonna teach me how to handle having a stroke like a champ?"
As Gyoro Gyoro regained some movement in its arms, it explained, "No, no. You misunderstand. I won't be showing you any secret techniques. Rather, I'll show you the secret of monsterfication and accelerate your growth into a monster. You must overcome near-death encounters numerous times as a Human, which will put an incredible burden on your mind and body. It sounds simple, but if you aren't careful to not exceed what is too much for you, you'll just flat out die. In addition, if you don't keep your will strong, your intelligence will start to deteriorate, and your strength will plateau."
Attempting to drag things out further, Garou commented, "Sounds like you've done a lot of research into this."
"Oh, yes! I've done countless tests on countless Humans and monsters until I was able to make this discovery. I even found a way to feed Humans an invention of mine called Monster Cells, which will give explosive growth to their power but also stunts any further development. Eventually, I found a man who had almost completely lost touch with his humanity while still Human. I trained him in the way I intend to train you, and that created... The Monster King Orochi."
Garou actually raised his eyebrows at that, which caught Gyoro Gyoro's attention as it continued speaking, "You, however, actually possess even greater potential than Orochi himself. In fact, as a result of your clash with my goons, you've broken through another wall into monsterhood. Your process has been slow so far, but it's been going nicely regardless. Listen to me, Garou. If you follow my training program, you could become a monster even greater than Orochi! Join forces with me and become the strongest monster in the world! We'll wipe out all Heroes from this world and make your dream a reality!"
Rotating his shoulder, he flexed his muscles for a moment and began attempting to reignite his Kie. After several attempts, his gray flames came back as he smirked in annoyance at Gyoro Gyoro.
"Welp, my body's working again, so you can piss off. I wouldn't be caught dead working with you, asshole!"
Instinctively, Gyoro Gyoro was about to try and grab Garou with its telekinesis once again but stopped when it remembered what happened last time. Instead, the monster grabbed the boulders from around the room and slammed them into the Hero Hunter, pinning him under the pressure of the psychically propelled debris.
"You seem to misunderstand. The moment you caught my attention, you lost the right to refuse!"
Even as his face was being pressed, Garou found the strength to seethe out, "Assholes like you tick me off more than anything! You're just a bunch of pricks looking down from their perch who think they own the world! I'll drag you down to reality!"
Chuckling, Gyoro Gyoro taunted, "Big talk from a trapped animal." However, just when the psychic monster said this, the Hero Hunter swiftly began smashing through the boulders that had been encasing him, turning them to dust almost immediately.
Flabbergasted, Gyoro Gyoro exclaimed, "You didn't even transform any further! How exactly are you getting stronger!?"
Grinning as thoughts of a bat-wielding teenager went through his head, Garou shot back, "The Hell if I know. Maybe it's just pure fighting spirit!"
His ability to adapt and mysterious powers both exceed all my expectations! Subjugating him won't be easy, Gyoro Gyoro thought as it lifted a larger, sharp Boulder over Garou's head.
Just as the Monster Association's leader tried to slam the boulder down on its foe, though, Garou flipped out of the way while cackling like a mad man. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, Garou launched himself forward, landing on top of the boulder.
While crouching on the chunk of stone, Garou glared and Gyoro Gyoro and declared, "Ha! Your psychic powers aren't shit! You can't touch me with them without killing yourself, and I'm too fast and strong for you to hit me with anything you could throw! The very idea that someone like you could cultivate me into a stronger monster is ridiculous! Maybe I should be teaching you how to be a real monster!? Hehehe. I really am lucky. Finding the brains of the Monster Association after getting shot down here. If I take you out, the rest will collapse soon after, and the world will focus on my arrival!"
Arching his back, ready to launch himself at Gyoro Gyoro, the Human Monster declared, "Time to start hunting."
However, just as Garou was about to leap into battle, Gyoro Gyoro explained, "I'm sorry, but no. The Heroes will be knocking on our door very soon, and I need to conserve my stamina. Besides, as you so eloquently put it, you're a bad matchup for me. With that said... Oh, Lord Orochi! Would you please handle this one for me?!"
As Garou felt the room shake, he was able to get out, "What-?" Before the massive clawed hand of Orochi smashed through the floor and clasped around him, with only his head still poking out.
"I wish you the best of luck!" Gyoro Gyoro stated pleasantly.
"You mother fu-!" That was all Garou could shout before he was pulled through the ground.
After being grabbed by Orochi, Garou found himself in an even larger room than the one he saw the mercenaries being tormented and interrogated in. However, unlike last time, Orochi was now standing. Even at the Monster King's full height, this colossal room was large enough for it to move comfortably, clearly being intentionally proportioned to its size. In addition, there were open halls lining the walls of this room with a few random monsters walking through them as if they were an audience for the king.
As Orochi stared at Garou with its emotionless, stone-like face, it was agonizingly crushing the Hero Hunter in its hand.
Suddenly popping out of a hole in the wall, still sitting in its beanbag chair, Gyoro Gyoro was perched on a balcony as it instructed the Monster King, "Ah, Lord Orochi. I still have plans for this one, so please don't kill him, alright?"
Giving him one final squeeze, cracking bones and tearing muscles, Orochi released its grip and dropped Garou to the floor.
After descending to the ground and stepping off of its chair, Gyoro Gyoro had walked over to Orochi's feet when it noticed Garou lift his arms up.
"You can still move? Where do you get that willpower from...? Actually, I don't really care. I'll be breaking it soon enough anyway," Gyoro Gyoro remarked.
Smashing his arms into the ground, Garou used the momentum to flip to his feet. Despite how badly his body had just been crushed, his partially monstrous physiology combined with his Kie already put him well on his way to recovery.
As the Human Monster stared down his humongous opponent, he noticed as one of the horns on Orochi's head began to form cracks. Suddenly, the horn started extending and moving towards Garou like some sort of oversized, high-speed snake while still attached to Orochi's head.
Jumping to the side, Garou avoided the horn as it pierced into the ground. However, the horn continued to extend and move after this, forcing itself out of the ground and chasing after Garou before his feet even touched the ground.
Just as Orochi was about to reach his abdomen, Garou reflexively created another Dark Barrier. While the shield did break when Orochi's horn struck it, the barrier still succeeded in deflecting the attack, much to the Hero Hunter's relief. After being reflected, though, Orochi's horn turned itself around and aimed for Garou yet again.
What the Hell was that? It wasn't a psychic barrier, was it? Gyoro Gyoro pondered after witnessing Garou's Kie shield.
Having just enough time to react, Garou used Bang's techniques to deflect the horn yet again. This only prompted Orochi to mobilize all eight of its horns. At the same time, the Monster King's mask-like face lifted up halfway to reveal a multi-layered jaw, filled to the brim with razor-sharp teeth. In addition, the Monster King's newly revealed jaw, as well as its eyes, began to glow with intense white light.
Astoundingly, Garou was just managing to parry them all, with Gyoro Gyoro commenting, "Impressive. When Lord Orochi first transformed, his horns were the first trait he developed. Nowadays, they're heavy yet fast and flexible, and he has complete control over them. They're quite formidable, yet you're able to hold your own... But for how long?"
Just as Gyoro Gyoro had said, Garou was begging to become overwhelmed by Orochi's attacks. The horns were getting in cuts on his arms and legs. Even the flames of Garou's Kie seemed to be doing nothing to deter the Monster King's attacks.
Just as Garou deflected four of the horns at once, the other four closed in on him as he was mid-motion. Instead of being skewered, though, Garou was able to move fast enough to erect another Dark Barrier. While the four horns did end up breaking the shield, they were also reflected off of it in the process.
Before Orochi could resume its attack, Garou had jumped at the Monster King, landing in the middle on one of its extended horns. The Hero Hunter then began rushing up the horn, clearly trying to get closer to Orochi's face.
Is he... getting faster too?! Gyoro Gyoro wondered internally.
At the same time, Garou was thinking, I can't win just by blocking and dodging. I gotta go on the offensive! This bastard started out as Human, so his weak points should be in about the same spots. I think I'll start with his eyes!
Just as Garou got near Orochi's face, though, each layer of the Monster King's revealed jaw suddenly extended towards Garou. As if like a goblin shark with multiple jaws.
Reflexively, Garou put up his Dark Barrier. As a result, Orochi's multilayered mouth was slowed by a few seconds before breaking through. Because of this, though, Garou was able to propel himself away before the bear-trap of a mouth could mince him.
Once he landed back on the ground and turned to face Orochi once more, even with everything he'd encountered up until this point, Garou was shocked by what he saw next.
Lord Orochi's body of interconnected mouths began untangling itself. While still ultimately connected at the core, Orochi had turned into a hunched over, bipedal, dragonoid/worm creature with a face made from overlapping mouths of razored teeth. Its arms and segments of its legs had unraveled into various snake-like dragons, each one still big enough to swallow Garou whole.
Chuckling in disbelief, Garou remarked, "First a feral pooch and now the king of worms? What's next today?!" Just as he said this, each of Orochi's new heads turned to face the Hero Hunter, each mouth beginning to glow with a baleful white light.
Oh, crap, Garou panicked internally as he started running.
Less than a second behind Garou's path were beams of lasers fired from Orochi's mouths, each one igniting everything they came into contact with. It took less than a full second for Orochi to stop directly pursuing Garou with its lasers, as it was immediately evident the Hero Hunter would be too fast. Instead, the Monster King started flailing its heads all about so the lasers would cover the whole room.
With the entire arena engulfed in lasers, even Garou's speed couldn't save him from being consumed by the flames. Even Gyoro Gyoro, who was standing underneath Orochi, had to keep up a psychic barrier to prevent the flames from getting at it.
However, the psychic monster quickly noticed that, while Garou was being kept pinned down by the force of the blasts of energy, he didn't seem to be taking any significant damage.
"So, he can even withstand this kind of heat? I wonder what exactly he went through when he said he's practiced tanking explosions?"
Instantly after Gyoro Gyoro pondered this, Garou started moving through the flames and lasers. Noticing that the Hero Hunter was moving, Orochi began to directly focus more beams on him while recoiling one of its arms.
Despite the added pressure, Garou was able to push through the beams of energy and jumped off of the ground, aiming himself at the hallways in the walls.
Once he landed in one of the hallways, Garou started sprinting, mincing any monster in his path with Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist and Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit.
As the monsters he tore through pleased with him, Garou was followed by one of Orochi's lasers, which served to decimate the hallway and incinerate the monsters' remains. As one laser pursued the Human Monster, Orochi's main mouth fires a beam going up along the entire wall Garou was running through, cutting him off and fully collapsing the infrastructure of that side of the room.
Just as the beams caught up with him, though, Garou threw up his Kie shield, protecting him from the indirect blasts. Unfortunately, at that moment, Orochi made use of its reconfigured arm, as it extended and through a downward punch targeted at Garou that tore through all the debris in its path.
As Garou laid buried in a mountain of flaming rock, Gyoro Gyoro taunted him, "You don't get it, Hero Hunter! Lord Orochi is the ultimate life form on this whole planet! The gap between your current power and his is just far too great to overcome, no matter how hard you try! You should just give up now!"
Instead of the quiet surrender that Gyoro Gyoro had expected from its trapped target, the monster began to hear jolts of rumbling coming from the rubble. It was as if a fist was repeatedly striking the bottom of the pile of slag, trying to put a hole in it. Soon after, Orochi and Gyoro Gyoro saw numerous gray orbs of energy, Garou's Shadow Spheres, punch through the rubble mountain and smash into the ceiling. Following only a second after this was a bring that appeared to be Garou, but with some noticeable differences.
The Hero Hunter's fingernails and toenails had been replaced with red claws. Both of his eyes had become bloodshot. On his forehead, the nubs of devilish horns had begun to grow. Lastly, on his back, the two arches of flesh that had appeared after Homeless Emperor's assault had morphed into a new form. Now, it appeared at first glance that Garou had grown a pair of angelic wings on his back. However, upon closer examination, one could see that these wings were completely made of meat, with even the feathers being flesh that had taken on such a shape.
Standing menacingly atop the burning stone wreckage, Garou had the appearance, to Gyoro Gyoro, of a fallen angel that had crawled its way out of Hell itself.
Orochi, however, was unphased, readying more lasers to blast Garou with. In return, Garou formed two more Shadow Spheres in his hands, let out the steamed breath of Abandonment. Simultaneously, the Human Monster unfurled his new wings and jumped from his perch.
The Monster King unleashed another maelstrom of laser breath into the air, and as Garou's wings began to flap, he started flying and maneuvering around each ray. At the same time as the Human Monster was avoiding these beams of death, he began firing his Shadow Spheres at Orochi. Having a much larger target than his opponent, Garou's attacks were all hitting their mark. Unfortunately, the Monster King seemed completely unphased by these attacks, and it became clear to the Hero Hunter that, without the same explosive force behind them, his Shadow Spheres lacked the same innately offensive potential as Monster Mask's Light Balls.
However, while this annoyed Garou immensely, he felt as if, as the exchange in energy attacks continued, creating his Shadow Spheres was becoming easier and easier. As the seconds went by, each Shadow Sphere started growing in size as they were being fired, going from the size of baseballs, to bowling balls, to bikes, to cars. Once the Shadow Spheres were large enough, the sheer kinetic force behind them was enough to start making Orochi flinch on impact.
In order to counter this, Orochi started focusing some of its laser beams on blasting the Shadow Spheres out of the air. This created enough of an opening in the wall of lasers for Garou to slip through and fly directly at Orochi's torso like a missile. Once he was close enough, Garou unleashed Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock with one hand, and Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist with the other.
After Garou unleashed his combo attack on the Monster King's torso, Orochi staggered slightly. As more blows landed, the Hero Hunter was actually managing to draw a slight amount of blood with his strikes. Unfortunately, any injuries Garou inflicted seemed to start healing as quickly as he inflicted them. Regardless, the Hero Hunter continued throwing out strikes, determined to do some real damage, until Orochi's tail snaked around at high speed and smashed him away.
At the same time as the tail struck him, Garou raised up his arms to shield his side. This innate reaction caused another Dark Barrier to form between the Hero Hunter and the appendage striking him. However, instead of being fully formed, only half a bubble had materialized. While this was faster to make, it did not absorb as much damage before being shattered, and Garou was bashed to the flaming floor.
Climbing to his feet with minimal injuries, Garou smiled and declared, "You're right, Gyoro Gyoro. This bastard is really strong. But that's all he's got! Brute strength! But I'm a martial arts genius! It'll be easy enough with my techniques to overcome the difference with just a bit of time! All this Monster King is, is just another stepping stone for me! Now... Fear me!"
However, as Garou had spoken, Orochi began to recoil its upper torso back into a more humanoid shape. Once it had finished recompiling its mass, Orochi took up a perfect stance from the Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock school.
As Garou tried to process what he was seeing, Gyoro Gyoro asked, "You didn't think you were the only genius, did you? If he sees techniques even once, he can copy them perfectly. Thank you for making Lord Orochi even more powerful, Hero Hunter."
For the first time this battle, Orochi spoke up, taunting Garou, "YOU THOUGHT I WOULD FEAR YOU?! I'LL DO YOU A FAVOR AND SHOW YOU WHAT TRUE TERROR IS!"
Gnashing his teeth and glaring psychotically, Garou cackled out, "Hahaha! So you're copying my techniques...!? Thanks for doing me a favor and using what I already know inside and out!"
Letting off a mighty flap from his wings, Garou took off at Orochi's face and started using Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit. In return, Orochi started unleashing Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock while also letting out some of the dragons from its limbs, each of which were unleashing Bang's techniques as well.
With a cataclysmic clash, the two competing for the title of the strongest monster began the next stage of their battle.
An hour later, the entire room had been reduced to flames, rubble, and dust.
Garou was beaten unconscious and was pinned against a wall, with two of Orochi's horns piercing his wings.
However, on the floor, there laid a single massive finger and a severed worm dragon from Orochi's body. Even though Garou managed to inflict this amount of damage, the Monster King's body had already regenerated the lost body parts.
With the fight over, Gyoro Gyoro moved its psychic barrier and walked closer to Garou, telling him, "You have such a strong willpower to fight and destroy all Heroes. Not to mention your drive to become a monster. Yet I detect no monstrous impulses from you. No murderous intent. Is it really so hard for you to let go of your humanity? Oh well. A pure heart is all the easier to corrupt by exploiting the contradictions within it. It will take a while, but in the end, I will thoroughly break your mind."
Looking between Orochi and Garou, Gyoro Gyoro postulated, It's always safe to have more than one ace up your sleeve. After all, the Hero Association must have its own hidden ace. Someone beyond the S-Class.
Meanwhile, on the surface of City-Z, Saitama was crouching and lifting up a manhole cover with one hand. Looking down the hole, with the streets around him having been shaken to pieces, the Caped Baldy started pondering.
Are all those earthquakes coming from somewhere down here?
Hey, everybody.
First off, thank you to everyone reading this story. I'm having a blast writing it and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the following it's getting.
Second off, I just thought this would be a good place to let anyone who is interested know that I am planning to start writing a fanfiction about the series Overlord. If anyone wants some input on what kind of story it will be, I'm holding a poll on my Profile Page where you can cast two votes amongst the four options for what you'd be most interested in seeing. (Poll closed and the story has begun to be published.)