Chapter 38: The Lizardman
Shuichi Iguchi greedily gasped for air, completely exhausted.
He and his tribe managed to hold off the first attack from those ice mages, but it was only a matter of time before they came back, and when that happened… they were doomed.
Looking around, he felt like he could have thrown up. All around him were the frozen remains of his fellow warriors, pieces of them falling off due to how bitter the frost was. The survivors were already clearing the shallow parts of the lake from their bodies, and the civilians…
It wasn't right. They were caught completely by surprise. These humans simply showed up, froze the lake, and launched their attack. It was mere luck that the soldiers who were on-duty were able to evacuate anyone in time, while the rest of the troops armed themselves.
But that just ended up sending more lizardfolk to their deaths.
This wasn't supposed to happen, damn it! The Demon King's communication mirrors were supposed to have arrived already, but something was holding them up. Was this attack not an isolated incident? Were the rest of the territories under enemy attack, as well?
"Sir! There's something coming over the horizon!"
Shuichi looked over to where his subordinate was pointing, to see that, up in the sky, there was a dot. And judging by its size, it was approaching their home, and fast.
"Get all non-combatants to the shelters!" the lizardman yelled, as he gripped his sword. "And prepare for a possible attack! They could already be back, for all we know…"
He hoped it wasn't them, but if it was… they'd be ready.
"Why are we the ones delivering this?" Rin asked.
Neito Monoma rolled his eyes, as he explained the situation once more. "Lieutenant Yaoyorozu gave us a direct order from Midoriya: Deliver these giant-ass mirrors to the lizardfolk and inform the local governor of the Lacus Lake of what's going on with the big-ass alliance against –"
"- the Enlightened Evil, we get it," Rin. "I was asking why us, specifically?"
"Aw, what's the matter?" Bakugou asked. "Too pooped out for any more adventures?"
Neito could agree with Bakugou's sentiment there. Despite the fact that, thanks to Hatsume's newest skyships, they could now travel through the entire continent in a matter of days, the things they've experienced here in the last few months were honestly kind of draining.
In less than six months, they had participated in multiple battles against the Todoroki Empire, experienced several near-death experiences at the hands of the Special Region locals, broke into the most dangerous prison ever, took down some murderous mercenaries, fought the Demon King, and we're now going on missions trying to prevent the literal end of the world.
And all of that with just about two weeks worth of vacation sprinkled in the mix!
So, yeah, Neito could understand that the squad was starting to get a bit drained. Bakugou may have been the most vocal about it, but it's starting to affect the others, too. At least Neito had Itsuka with him most of the time, so the drain wasn't as bad for him. Wait a minute…
Yaomomo has Todoroki, and Kirishima has Ashido. Meanwhile, Bakugou, a married man, is the most cranky out of all of them. Was there perhaps some sort of spectrum based on the distance between two partners, and how it affects their mood? Yaomomo and Kirishima are usually close to theirs, followed by himself and Itsuka, all of the bachelors within the SREU, and then dead last was Bakugou, whose spouse was in a whole other dimension. That… actually made sense.
It would also explain why Kaibara and Tsuburaba were such obnoxious menaces. They're always the ones who want to get laid, but to no avail. Constantly working without having any sort of meaningful relationship, or even sex, is bound to get them to act up. And since Awase and Rin are always close to them, it's begun to rub off on them, too, as seen by Rin.
I wonder if General Aizawa would listen to what I have to say…?
"I'm just saying that I'd rather be back at the Collibus Hills. You know, the only place where there seems to be nothing crazy going on?" the zoologist said. "I mean, do you have any idea on why the only place that is completely normal in this world is the place with the magical portal?"
"Probably the same reason why the area surrounding it only has flora and fauna identical to the ones native to our world," Bakugou reasoned. "It's been deemed the safest place?"
"You mean the place that was a literal war zone twice?" Kirishima asked.
"I guess so," the demolition expert said. "Though, I have to admit, I kinda hated that it did that. It made me half-expect that the rest of the world would be on the same kind of standard, instead of having to deal with oversized mushrooms, plants with eyes, and talking animals."
"Don't forget about the bioluminescent butterflies, four-winged birds, man-eating plants, reptomammals, animorphs, reptobirds, racist wildlife, and various other creatures that could be considered offenses in God's eyes," Rin said. "Or, at least, so I've heard."
"Yeah, I was about to ask about those," Kirishima said. "I do remember seeing some four-winged birds back at Usagiyama's place and man-eating plants at Uwabami's, plus Melissa told me about a racist antelope once, but those other ones sounded a bit made up."
"...I may have interviewed some of the people migrating towards the Collibus Hills," the zoologist said. "There are a lot of animals out here that we haven't seen yet, and given their descriptions… I would be happy if I never saw them for as long as I live."
Ah, well, that explained to Neito why he found Rin crying, "WHY WAS THAT BIRD WEARING A SUIT AND TIE?! AND A HAT?!" that one time. Poor dude must have heard some wild things.
Then again, Neito would probably have slowly begun having a mental breakdown if he earned a degree in some kind of science, only to have the irrefutable laws of said science to be casually broken in front of him on multiple occasions by this world. It would be the equivalent of Kaibara being a geologist, and then seeing a rock talking to him: Completely mind-shattering.
"Did you have to remind me?" Bakugou groaned.
"Well, I'm sorry, I can't help that I'm here!" Rin waved his arms. "It's not my fault that Yaoyorozu decided that this was a fitting punishment for being there while her boyfriend got corrupted!"
Oh, right. After their battle with the Emperor of Flames, Yaomomo has asked Neito what exactly he and the other boys took Shoto to during their night out in Japan, back when Princess Fuyumi was addressing the UN. Unfortunately, they took him to see a showing of Avenue Q…
On their way back towards the Collibus Hills, Momo asked her boyfriend what exactly he meant by "saucy puppet shows" back when he was confronting his father, and well…
"So, is your world also racist towards demi-humans?" Shoto asked.
"What? No!" Momo said, trying to explain that one musical number from the show to her boyfriend. "They were being racist towards other people! Demi-humans don't exist here!"
Shoto nodded. "So… "Chinese" isn't some kind of monster?"
Momo smacked her own face. "No! Rin is Chinese, you've met him!"
"But… he looks just like you."
Momo's face went pale. "SHOTO! That's racist!"
"Huh, so the song was right. I guess everyone's a little bit racist…"
"SHOTO, NO!"
"I was telling you, you should have taken him to see a Marvel movie…"
"That would have overloaded his brain!" Rin argued.
Bakugou laughed. "Oh, and singing "The Internet is For Porn" wouldn't?!"
"Wait, is that why she sent you here?" Kirishima asked.
"Kinda. Apparently, since Kaibara and Tsuburaba were the main offenders, they're getting the harder mission. But since I was there and didn't stop them, I stuck with you guys."
"Wel, I wasn't in Japan at the time, but given the context clues, I'm assuming that Bakubro also knew about it," Kirishima said, as Bakugou nodded. "What about you, Monoma?"
Neito looked back at the redhead. "What about me?"
"How did you get relegated to this job? Didn't you tell Yaomomo about what happened?"
"Oh, I did, but only once she already found out," the blond said. "And since I didn't do anything to stop them, my punishment is to oversee this mission, and by extension, you idiots."
"I see…" Kirishima said. "Wait, then why am I here? What am I getting punished for?"
"Oh, I don't know, how about abandoning your post in the middle of hostile territory to get laid, and making everybody worry about you for over a week?" Bakugou said. "Just saying."
"Hey, Mina is a treasure, and I will defend her until the day I die!" Kirishima barked. "And besides, it wasn't all that bad. We managed to rescue you and fight that angel, didn't we?"
"True, which is why you're here and not serving out whatever punishment the two Monsterfuckers are getting," the ash-blond said. "Anyways, how long until we –?"
THWIP!
"AHH, WHAT THE HELL?!" Neito screamed. It happened so quickly, that there was more surprise than there was pain. Looking down at his shoulder, he could see that there was an arrow sticking out of it… and he was beginning to black out…
He could feel himself losing control of the skyship, as the others yelled and Bakugou quickly scrambled to try and steer them out of the flurry of arrows that were now flying through.
He was getting… so… sleepy…
When Neito opened his eyes, he was surprised to see a giant lizard next to him. No, wait, they were kneeling on two legs, they were clearly a sapient species. Looking down, he could see their hands over where the arrow was on his body, glowing. Healing magic…
"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOU GUYS' PROBLEM?!"
Looking up from where he was laying down, Neito could see Bakugou yelling at a bipedal reptile in clothes, a lizardman, with green scales, and some sort of purple, feather-like hair going from the top of his head down towards his back, like a spiky and upright horse's mane.
"We apologize!" the lizardman said. "We thought you were –"
"You thought? YOU THOUGHT? There was clearly no thinking going on there!" Bakugou kept shouting. "It's a miracle you didn't scratch the skyship's paint job, much less kill any of us!"
"Come on, Bakubro, you know you're just exaggerating now –"
"SHUT IT, SHITTY HAIR!" Bakuogu yelled at Kirishima, before turning back to the lizardman. "You're lucky the communication mirrors survived that landing, you know that? If Midoriya found out that you shattered his magic items, it'd be your ass on a silver platter, not mine!"
"Alright, Bakugou, knock it off!" Neito called out to him, as he stood up. His shoulder still hurt like hell. "You scared him thoroughly. Now, I'm assuming you're the governor of this region…?"
"Ah, yes, that's right," the lizardman said. "I'm Shuichi Iguchi, chieftain of the lizardmen, and governor of the Lacus Lake region, with the power vested in me by the Demon King."
"Great. Well, I'm Neito Monoma, the guy who's in charge of this mission. We were sent by your Demon King to deliver these communication mirrors, and to send you a message."
"What sort of message?" Iguchi asked.
"A call to arms. Some group calling themselves the "Enlightened Evil" is planning to end the world, and most of the nations on this continent are rallying their troops, including Daemonium. So, I suggest you report to your nearest military base quickly," Neito explained.
"While we would heed the call to arms under normal circumstances, we can't right now," the lizardman said. "Our homes are under attack by humans with ice magic."
"Of course…"
"Hold up, did you say humans with ice magic?" Bakugou asked.
"Yes. We thought you were them. That's why we launched our arrows at you."
"Did they have light hair, wear winter clothes?!" Bakugou pressed.
"Uh, yes! Why? Are they the Enlightened Evil?"
"Yeah. Geten's faction, maybe even the big man himself."
"That would mean that they've already begun their campaign," Neito realized. "They've already deployed their forces, to take down each of the nation's pillars, their support structures."
"Including you guys," Rin told the lizardman chief.
"What do we do?" Iguchi asked.
The strategy was fairly simple, but given the limited time they had, it was good.
According to the info Iguchi gave his team, Geten and his posse, while strong, liked to play with their food a little too much. They decimated the majority of the lizardman's fighting force before Hiryu and the others showed up, but left without wiping out the rest of the warriors and the civilian population. Geten had left to let them squirm before putting them out of their misery.
The team's zoologist knew that these Enlightened Evil guys were bastards, but this was just insulting. The Himuras were beaten by the Emperor of Flames, and while he understood them wanting revenge, that didn't make it right for them to become the same bullies towards the lizardmen. But thankfully, their arrogance would be their downfall.
As the least combat-oriented member of the team, Hiryu was the one sent deep into the forest, to act as a scout and contact command the second he spotted Geten and his minions making their way towards the village again. While they did catch the lizardfolk off-guard with their first attack, Monoma had predicted that they would reach the lake the same way as last time.
The marshlands of the Lacus Lake were surrounded by several forests and swamps, and having an army march through them would be way too time-consuming. Knowing what they did about ice mages thanks to the Todoroki family, Monoma knew that they would either use their ice to either decimate the woodlands, or to create platforms to move above them.
It ended up being the latter.
Hiryu had heard the familiar sound of ice being created out of thin air long before he even saw the bastards. The second indication that they were heading his way was when the air got colder and the small pools of water around him began to freeze. And then, he saw them.
They were moving on frozen slides and floors, which moved through the marshlands. The figures matched the description of the Himuras they were given by the youngest Todoroki, and judging from their direction, they were heading right towards the Lacus Lake.
"Phantom Thief to Long Weizi, the enemy is on the move. Over."
"I read you, Long Weizi," Monoma's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie. "Follow the enemy and notify me once they breach the perimeter, and be sure they don't spot you. Over."
Hiryu nodded. "Understood. Over and out."
Eijiro took a few deep breaths, as he waded through the water.
Monoma had just received the message from Rin that the enemy was on their way right now. If they played things the same way as they did last time, then they would freeze the surface of the lake, not just to allow themselves to walk, but to also slow down the lizardmen.
However, things would play out differently this time around.
The lake was huge, but the edges of it were also shallow. Like, shallow enough for Eijiro to be in the water, but for it to be unable to reach up to his shins. The modus operandi of these guys was to freeze the center and deep areas of the lake, thus setting the rules of the battle.
However, they didn't bother with the edges of the lake, because anyone could wade through them. Not only that, but given how massive the lake actually was, it would be a waste of mana to freeze the whole thing, even if it meant catching anyone deep enough in the water.
Monoma's plan was basically as followed: Keep to the sides of the lake, where Geten and his lackeys wouldn't see them, while Iguchi and the rest of the lizardfolk stood at the far end of the lake, armed to the teeth, as to keep the Himuras distracted. Once the ice mages passed the SREU and headed straight for the lizardmen, go from behind and blast them.
Well, that's how it ended. The original plan was more, well…
"Okay, everyone, here's the plan: We'll sneak behind the enemy lines, and shoot them from the back. And remember, they're dangerous, so use extreme prejudice," Monoma said.
"You want us to be racist towards them?" Eijiro asked.
The blond soldier shook his head. "I've made that same mistake myself, but no. "Extreme prejudice" means killing them as violently as possible; I just said it to sound cool. I expect to see the amount of actual prejudice coming from you to be non-existent."
"Oh, okay."
Yeah, in all honesty, the final plan was much more detailed.
The artificial redhead snapped out of his thoughts as the air around him got a lot colder. Looking out towards the top of the lake, he could see people coming out of the woodlands.
White hair, winter outfits, ice magic… it's them, alright.
The water in front of them immediately froze, and they walked forward like it was a bridge. At the other end of the lake, Eijiro could see Bakubro signaling him to move forward now. Slow and steady, as to not make any splashing noises, the two of them got closer to the ice.
It made Eijiro on-edge. Even through his boots, he could feel the biting cold. No wonder the lizardmen got creamed during the first attack. As the two soldiers reached their respective side of the ice platform, Eijiro pointed towards it, and then towards the Himuras.
Bakugou shook his head. That was a no on getting themselves up to the ice platform. Alright, it was probably for the best to keep their distance. For all they knew, Geten could still manipulate the ice underneath them, and skewer the two JSDF soldiers to death.
Nodding at Baugou's signal, Eijiro lifted up his assault rifle, aimed, and…
Shuichi swallowed, as he watched the cold ones return.
So far, Monoma had predicted their movements correctly. They didn't even bother to hide their presence, they just froze the lake again and marched. They probably thought that their last attack was so demoralizing, that Shuichi and his people would have just given up.
That wasn't entirely false. Sure, it was demoralizing, but they wouldn't just roll over and die. The lizardfolk would fight to the last man, and now with the help of their newfound allies, they had an actual chance at winning. Speaking of their new friends, Monoma was still adjusting his arm.
"How are you feeling?" the lizardman chief asked.
"That arrow has pretty much made using my right arm useless until I can get back to Kodai, but I can still use magic with my left," the blond human said. "After the opening salvo, I should be able to snipe the majority of these guys. They just need to get close enough…"
"And if Geten manages to evade all of your ranged attacks?"
"Then I guess Bakugou will have no choice but to use his secret weapon…"
Geten could almost feel a smile creeping up on his face.
Their first campaign against the lizardfolk was a huge success. Seeing all those pathetic creatures charging towards him with their weapons, only to collapse into pieces from the cold of his ice magic… it made him feel something deep down inside. Perhaps happiness?
No, he would feel true happiness when the Todoroki Empire was nothing more than a frozen wasteland. When all of those within its borders were reduced to nothing more than cold statues, forever asleep, and yet never allowed to decay and move on to the afterlife.
Joining up with Kai Chisaki and the rest of the Enlightened Evil was an excellent play on his part. They would be more than happy to send him any support, should he request it, and all he needed to do was take out a few of their measly enemies for them. But not only that, none of them cared to interfere with his goals. After all, none of theirs interfered with his.
Honestly, he couldn't care about the specifics of their goals. The Enlightened Evil was a marriage of convenience, and once Midoriya, Hatsume, and Todoroki fell, the divorce would arrive. But until then, Geten and his followers would enjoy plunging those who dared oppose them into their hellish blizzards. Such as these lizardmen, who were just standing around.
Perhaps they realized that it was futile to fight. That would make sense. After all, most of their forces were decimated a mere couple of hours ago. Geten would have enjoyed freezing all of them back there, but his followers needed to regain their strength. It was sad, but they simply weren't as powerful as he was. Not that these pitiful reptiles would ever know the truth –
BLAM!
One of his followers suddenly fell, dead and bleeding.
BRAKA-BRAKA-BRAKA-BRAKA!
More of that thunder erupted, and more of his servants perished. Whatever this noise was, it was causing his people to die. Was this the lizardmen? How were they doing this?!
One more of his followers fell, but the way they fell… it was almost as if something pushed them. And… was that a hole in their back? Turning around, Geten saw two humans, both of them carrying some sort of metal things, where the noise was emanating from.
It was them! They were the ones responsible for this!
"YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS!"
"Welp, guess he noticed us," Bakubro sighed.
Yeah, that was a bad sign, in Eijiro's opinion. On the flipside, though, they managed to mow through the majority of this guy's goons. Monoma's opening shot was enough to get them off their game, and then the wide attack from him and Bakugou took care of most of them. The only ones that were left were now Geten himself and a couple of the surviving henchmen.
BREEAM-POW!
And since Monoma was now sniping the small fry with Aoyama's lasers, it meant that Geten was Eijiro and Bakugou's priority. "Alright, dude, what's the name of the game?"
"SHOOT THE FUCKER UNTIL HE DROPS!"
"Works for me!" Eijiro smiled with a thumbs-up.
BRAKA-BRAKA-BRAKA-BRAKA!
"FAC GLACIES: PROTECTOR!"
Aw, crud. Geten manifested some sort of ice shield to protect himself. Eijiro would have been worried if it wasn't for the fact that the shield was actually pretty nice. Was that a flower pattern? He could make a killing using his ice as art! No, wait, focus! Gotta take down the bad guy!
"Okaaay… do we have any other ideas?" Eijiro asked.
"Yeah, DODGE!"
SHIIIIINK-BOOOM!
The two Japanese soldiers did so, and right on time, too, as a flurry of ice spikes shot towards them, freezing the nearby water in the lake and creating a cool mist in the air.
"This fog…" Bakugou muttered. "Shitty Hair, I have a plan."
"Lay it on me!"
This fog was an unexpected side-effect, but no matter.
The cold didn't affect Geten, he had a natural immunity. But for those simpletons who dared assist the lizardmen, it would cover their bodies until it chipped at their flesh –
BANG!
Geten recoiled in pain as he felt his shoulder give out. What was that?! There was something lodged in his upper arm, he could feel it. Quickly summoning his ice, Geten placed it on his wound to stop the bleeding, and give him some relief, but he still couldn't move his arm!
"Aha! I knew that silhouette was you! Couldn't hide in your fog!"
Geten looked up to see that red-haired bastard, no longer carrying his massive weapon, but rather, a smaller one. "You… How could you survive the mist unscathed?! TELL ME!"
"Oh, believe me, I'm not unscathed," the redhead said, showing off his frost-covered arms. "I had to drop my assault rifle due to the pain, but my hands can still hold smaller weapons!"
"You insolent… GLACIES GLADUIS!" Geten summoned an ice sword on his still-working arm, and pointed it towards his foe. "You shall not receive a quick death from my magic."
"Oh, you're gonna stab me with that thing? I'm honored," the green-wearing man said, before pulling out a small knife. "There, now we can both do melee, it's a fair fight."
"BASTARD! YOU MOCK ME!" Geten roared, as he charged at the human. The cretin jumped back from the swing of his sword, moved to the left, and just stayed there. What –?
BLAM!
Geten could feel something warm escape his throat. Oh… it was blood. His blood. Looking behind him, he could see the blond human, holding his weapon, as the frost covered his hands. As he collapsed down to the frozen floor, he could hear the red-headed one speaking.
"You underestimated your opponents. You treated the lizardfolk like flies just because you had better firepower than them, but you also attacked them without warning. That shit was unmanly. We figured it would be fitting if you died to the very same unmanly tricks."
How dare they…? Geten tried to summon a final spell, to send this place into an eternal blizzard, but… he couldn't… he was just so tired, and everything was going black…
And then… Geten felt colder than he ever had.
The ice began to clear up a few days later.
Bakugou had suggested using his magic to speed up the process, but Neito vetoed it. They didn't want to cause an ecological disaster bigger than the one Geten already had.
In the span of those few days, the communications mirrors were set up, and they were able to report straight to the Demon King's place. The reports that Geten was defeated came in, and Midoriya notified Iguchi that the army would be coming in to fortify the Lacus Lake.
Overall, it was safe to say that the mission was a success. The frostbite from Geten's magic was still eating away at Kirishima and Bakugou's hands, and Neito still couldn't feel his right arm. A quick visit to Kodai would make them all feel right as rain. It was time to go.
"I can't thank you enough for your help," Iguchi said.
"Not a problem. Just be sure that the next time you see something flying towards you, make sure it's an enemy before you try and shoot it down, okay?" Neito asked.
"Ha-ha! Of course! We'll see you on the battlefield!"
Neito nodded, as he stepped into the passenger seat of the skyship. Rin was the only one who still had both of his arms unscathed, so he was in charge of driving them back to base. As the skyship took off and the lizardfolk waved at them good-bye, Neito was thinking.
He was thinking that, when this was all over, he would take Itsuka somewhere to relax and unwind. He wasn't sure where yet, but wherever it was… there would definitely be no snow.
Momo and her team stepped out of the LAV, as they silently stared at the marvel of naval warfare that was now sitting in the docks of Portus City. Looks like when Fuyumi said the Self-Defense Force would have the Empire's support, they weren't joking.
She could hear Awase gushing about how this was a modified JS Muroto ship from behind her, but Momo was more interested in how this thing managed to get through the gate. Did the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force bring this thing in pieces and then assemble it? That was the most likely answer, given it would be hell to carry it all the way to Portus.
"Lieutenant Yaoyorozu?" Momo stopped staring at the colossal ship, as she noticed a bulky man wearing a captain's uniform approaching her. "Captain Yawara Chatora, reporting for duty."
Momo wasn't prepared for him to salute her. "Uhh, I'm pretty sure you outrank me."
"That may be true, but you have far more experience dealing with the Special Region, and, if I'm speaking frankly, having the Hero of Musutafu seems a bit wrong to me."
The black-haired woman rolled her eyes at that. She figured that was the title the Japanese public gave her. Moving on from that, she examined the ship, and… is that…?
"Hey," Denki Jiro greeted Momo, giving her a casual wave.
Author's Note: One bad guy down, plenty more to go. Now, for the comments.
Shin: Okay, I am familiar with SNAFU, but I'm not too sure if there is any Japanese military jargon (I looked it up, and so far, I found nothing). If Bakugou is gonna say anything, it's gonna be his standard array of f-bombs and curse words. The whole "Kurogiri is Oboro" thing may have been hinted at by me across the story, yeah, but they were few and far between, so I don't blame you for not picking up on it. Ryukyu's gonna show up a few chapters down the line from now, so look forward to when that happens.
valkrus: Alright, I fixed the typos. With that out of the way, regarding your question, Flect Turn (along with the rest of the Enlightened Evil) are self-serving individuals, with most of them only working with Chisaki because of his influence. But that doesn't mean they're stupid. They're fully-aware of what he wants, it's just that they believe, one, Chisaki won't backstab them until their big enemies (Midoriya, the Todorokis, etc) are all taken care of, and two, Chisaki won't backstab them until they get what they want. Will the lich honor their bargain? Well, you'll find out as you keep reading...
Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…
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- Ernalore