The sudden mass appearance of monsters.
At long last, we managed to scramble the heroes into action and minimize the damage.
No. We only thought we had succeeded.
"One-third of C City... including the Super Fight venue... has been completely wiped out."
"The Demon Cyborg was defeated by some monster during a series of engagements and withdrew. Estimated Disaster Level: Dragon. The current status of that monster is unknown."
"According to the investigation, with the exception of a tiny amount, everything—buildings and all—was ground down into dirt...."
Literally.
By something of unknown origin, one-third of C City had been erased whole.
The gray cityscape of tall buildings had become a plain where only fine dust could be stepped on.
The remains of buildings had been ground so finely they could no longer even be found, mixed in with the soil.
And the asphalt that had covered the ground had all melted away and been crushed into powder, vanishing.
Fortunately, the destruction did not reach the shelters, so there were no casualties... but the damage was astronomical.
Even if it was less than the unprecedented case in A City, the foundation itself had been reduced to dust, so reconstruction would clearly take a long time.
And the money required for it would be enormous.
The outcry from civilians who had lost everything, including their homes, in a single day was growing worse.
That was because the part of C City that had been blown away happened to contain a large number of residential districts.
What kind of monster had rampaged there, and how, to cause this disaster?
Even if they wanted to know, there was nothing left to examine, so it seemed impossible to determine.
And yet.
By sheer chance, one thing was found.
A camera hidden inside a white wall that had broken off and been buried.
Ironically, a hidden camera installed in a women's restroom became almost the only piece of evidence.
After enhancing and cleaning up the footage, the scene of what happened finally came into view.
Tukwaaaaaaang!!!
The giant in the video shattered a high-rise building with a powerful punch.
From within it, a lizard-shaped monster sprang out and unleashed a spear hand.
He dodged.
And counterattacked.
Kwaaaang!!!
He let it flow away.
And counterattacked.
Kwakwaaaang!!
The shockwaves born from the collision of power and power mercilessly tore the surroundings apart.
A video that captured, with shocking clarity, a brutal battle with not a single inch of give, and C City being ground down in between.
The shockwave from a single fist brought down buildings, and the wind generated by a swinging leg whipped violently through the area.
Monster and monster.
No, to be exact.
It was a fight between a dragon-level monster and a dragon-level monster.
"Unbelievable...."
Even among dragon-level monsters, there are clear differences in strength.
If some can be killed one-on-one by an S-Class hero, there are certainly monsters that require three or more heroes just to make a fight out of it.
Those two were the latter.
The two monsters displayed martial arts so highly refined that even a layperson could tell at a glance.
Gouketsu, the martial artist who had previously been believed dead.
And.
The monster hunter who appeared a little over a week after the battle with the Sea King.
They had said he would reach dragon level in at most four weeks, maybe as soon as two.
Ridiculous.
They were wrong by a mile.
At just one week, that guy was already dragon level.
They had listed him as Disaster Level: Demon in the Hero Encyclopedia, but now they would have to submit a correction request.
Whatever had happened, his appearance was completely different from before, and the aura he gave off was on a different level as well.
Amid the flurry of destruction wrought by their collisions, the wall of the restroom where the camera had been hidden was finally blown away, and the footage ended.
Further investigation based on the location shown in the video revealed fragments of flesh that appeared to belong to Gouketsu, along with several footprints that seemed to be from a theropod.
In the end, the monster hunter's victory and survival became the most likely outcome.
The higher-ups in the Association naturally went into a frenzy.
A hero hunter was troublesome enough, but this was on an entirely different level.
There had already been many who argued that this was the true crisis facing the Earth in the prophecy, and now that the guy had rapidly grown into a dragon-level threat, those voices only multiplied.
Their argument hardened into certainty and began circulating within the Association.
They immediately contacted the S-Class heroes and informed them of the situation.
However... the monster hunter's trail had already been cut off long ago, and no further trace could be found.
"...Tornado of Terror searched the area again, but it seems he had already gone too far away for her psychic power to catch him...."
"Atomic Samurai came up empty too."
"Even Metal Knight's technology couldn't detect him. What in the world...."
By this point, unless that monster possessed an extraordinary concealment ability, it no longer made sense.
In the end, they couldn't even find the lizard's tail.
"...Gouketsu was defeated."
He had watched the entire fight from beginning to end.
He had first been shocked that the battle was even able to be fought on equal footing.
Then he had been stunned when Gouketsu used techniques he had kept hidden until now while the monster hunter simultaneously used psychic power.
And in the end, when the final blows from both sides collided and the fight ended with the monster hunter's victory.
"..........."
He could only remain silent.
The intermediate-ranking monster standing beside him, Phoenix Man, was the same.
No. Then, with some difficulty, he opened his mouth and asked.
"...Didn't you say he was top-tier Demon?"
He didn't need to hear the rest to know what came next.
Why is he Dragon?
Feeling cold sweat trickle down, Gyorogyoro barely managed to speak.
"...I didn't know. I didn't know he'd be that strong."
Putting aside where he had learned psychic power from, even after winning against Gouketsu, that guy still had some room to spare.
He had barely used his unique [Super Regeneration], for reasons unknown.
In the end, it was clear that the current monster hunter was far stronger than Gouketsu, who had been an executive of the Monster Association.
And that wasn't all. Seeing him copy techniques after watching them and mix them together with all sorts of martial arts was enough to make anyone click their tongue.
He might have talent that far surpasses Orochi.
There would be no chance of him falling behind that.
And so.
Even as cold sweat ran down his back, at the same time...
"...This is it."
He could not look away from that figure.
That was the kind of monster that could leap over yet another wall and become the ultimate existence.
He could already glimpse a fragment of a possibility greater and more superior than the category of Dragon-level Disaster.
The Hero Association had its own monsters.
Blast, Tornado of Terror, King.
But.
This guy might be able to surpass even those monsters by a wide margin.
Even his direction of growth was limitless.
Raise his defense, and he could gain an indestructible body.
Raise his speed, and he could move faster than light.
Give him more martial arts experience, and he could reach the ultimate technique.
Train his psychic power, and he could become an esper even more monstrous than he was now.
Everything imaginable could be seen in that guy.
If they could get their hands on him.
It was obvious that everything would be as good as over.
"...Even if we have to half-kill him, we have to bring him back."
If they could just get him inside the Association, then after that they could slowly train him using Orochi.
At the very least, Orochi still held overwhelming superiority for now.
So they would crush him by force, dye him in their colors, and at the same time continue to grow him.
If one day they even fed Orochi to him and completed the monster, then wiping out humanity would be over in a single day.
Even if the Monster Association lost and all their plans were ruined, they would still have to seize him.
"...Should we use Elder Centipede?"
Right now, within the Association, the one best suited to dealing with him was unquestionably Elder Centipede.
With Gouketsu gone, Ugly President was naturally not even worth considering, and Nyan would probably be taken down in an instant without dealing any real damage.
Haguki? It would be lucky if he wasn't torn in half and killed.
Homeless Emperor's energy blasts were relatively useful, but his true body was vulnerable to ambushes.
Evil Natural Water was... not only impossible to control, but somehow he had a feeling it would be helplessly swallowed up.
Flame and Wind of the Blazing Wind were fast, but their damage was weak, so if they attacked, wouldn't they just get counterattacked?
As for Pochi and Black Sperm, they might be able to face him head-on... no, maybe even have the upper hand... but they were both too risky to send out.
Losing Gouketsu was already a painful blow, so they couldn't afford to send anyone out carelessly and have them die.
"Phoenix Man, can you secure the hero hunter without Elder Centipede?"
"...I think it depends on the situation. It would be better to have him, I think."
"...Hmm."
It wasn't easy to give up on Garou either.
The monster hunter clearly had the higher potential, but Garou's latent ability was no less impressive in its own way.
What was the most efficient way to get both of them?
After thinking hard for a while, Gyorogyoro finally made his decision.
"Phoenix Man, lure the monster hunter to the hero hunter's hideout. Use any means necessary."
"...You want to make them fight each other? One side would be too overwhelmingly strong."
"The result between those two doesn't matter. If the heroes gather after seeing that battle and the two of them end up in danger of being brought down, then we shift our attention to Elder Centipede and snatch them away."
"...Then we'd better hope the hero hunter drains as much of the monster hunter's strength as possible."
"That should probably be fine to some extent."
Well, unless the monster hunter evolved yet again in the middle of it.
"Grrr... uuuuu...."
The red scales melted away into skin, then tore apart again as white scales began popping out in between.
Armor-like plates started covering his entire body, and grotesque protrusions rose here and there.
His build swelled rapidly, and his eye level climbed higher than ever before.
And then.
Pain more intense than ever before washed over his entire body.
"Kraaaaaaaah!!! Kuaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
His mind went blank in the torrent of power that kept breaking and rebuilding his body over and over.
Every incandescent bulb in his brain lit up and went wild.
His claws grew longer, and his tail lengthened.
His muscles expanded anew, and the energy within his body began to increase enormously.
A single dragon howled beneath the indifferent moonlight.
[Name: Terribly Ferocious Lizard Monster]
[Alias: Monster Hunter]
[Disaster Level: Dragon]
[HP: 13000/26000]
[ST: 15000/30000]
[AP: 10000/20000]
[SP: 16000/32000]
[MP: 10051/20102]
[Allocatable Points: 0]
[Skills (20/25): [Super Instinct] LV9, [Quiet Steps] LV8, [Sharp Claws] LV9, [Strong Teeth] LV9, [Tail Severing] LV4, [Hardened Body] LV8, [Super Regeneration] LV9, [Stealth] LV6, [Shock Absorption] LV7, [Might] LV8, [Instant Acceleration] LV6, [Body Transformation] LV8, [Tracking] LV3, [Warp] LV6, [Strong Acidic Body Fluids] LV2, [Energy Blast] LV1 (NEW), [Psychokinesis] LV6, [Stronger Detection] LV1, [Density Control] LV1, [Indomitable Will] LV1]
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