There was no S-Class presence to worry about.
The remaining three, no matter how generously you looked at them, were only A-Class at best.
Thanks to that, even in his bad condition, he had won fairly decisively.
Two down. One left.
And even the last one...
“Looks like you’ve run out of ammo. Am I wrong?”
“Tch...”
That proved that firearms alone couldn’t bring him down.
The gatling gun had come at him with terrifying force, but he had dodged most of the bullets and let the rest slide off.
As he started to get used to it, he was able to deal with the final barrage of rounds well enough.
Garou spun his sore shoulders, stiff from swinging the kendama he had stolen, and smiled.
In the middle of that, he didn’t miss the fleeting look of frustration that crossed his opponent’s face.
With a grin that seemed to split his face, the hunter looked at his prey.
“Honestly, the three of you working together was pretty good. But still!”
He lowered his body and kicked off the ground, charging in fast.
In an instant, the opponent’s figure swelled large right in front of his eyes.
One strike would end it.
Death Gatling sensed it too and drew his knife, his last resort.
“You side characters wouldn’t stand a chance against me one by one! If you were going to beat me, you should’ve brought an S-Class hero!!”
“Don’t be ridiculous...! We’re heroes too, fighting with our lives on the line out on the battlefield!! Look at me! I, Death Gatling, an A-Class hero, drove back the Hero Hunter! You have to understand that I did this to prove the value of our existence...!”
Before Death Gatling could even finish, Garou’s fierce outstretched fist surged forward like a silent, swift current.
It smashed the gatling gun blocking the way clean in two.
And before he could raise his guard, it collided with his empty face.
KWAANG!!
Death Gatling’s body tilted before he could even let out a proper death cry.
His body flew away in a smooth arc, like a wave carrying the force of Garou’s weighted punch.
And then.
Before even a split second had passed, he slammed into the ground.
He didn’t stop there, either. He was dragged along, grinding a straight line through about two meters of earth before finally coming to a stop.
In the rising cloud of dust, Death Gatling lost consciousness as if a light bulb had been cut off from power.
“I don’t give a damn about the pathetic circumstances of heroes. You’re the one who’s obsessed with rankings, aren’t you?”
In a flat tone, he tossed mocking words at the fallen man.
Secretly, he hoped he’d get back up.
...Though he had already passed out and couldn’t hear any of it.
Of course he wasn’t getting up.
Garou stared blankly at the collapsed Death Gatling for a moment, then shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Enough.
It’s not like I expected anything anyway.
I’ll just close my eyes for a bit and find a new hideout.
He had confirmed, like morning calisthenics, that his body could move properly through Hero hunting, so there was no reason to hesitate.
He’d recover a little stamina, then leave this place right away.
With that resolve, he turned and took a few steps before...
“...What. There’s another one? No. In this case... one of the guys who went to deal with the monster earlier?”
He felt someone approaching from behind, with no intention of hiding their presence at all.
He didn’t even need to turn around to know it was a hero.
The gap in power between ordinary people and heroes was clearly enormous.
At this level... maybe A-Class?
“Heh heh heh... what, are you angry because your comrades were taken down?”
“................”
No answer.
Well, whatever.
He spun around in an instant and kicked off the ground, moving along a path that curved smoothly like flowing water.
Toward the opponent’s empty abdomen, he unleashed a surprise punch that had hunted more than ninety-seven heroes.
KWAANG!!!
Adding the acceleration from his charge, he threw a punch that would drop most heroes in one hit.
Dust rose thicker than before.
He became certain it had landed properly.
If he hadn’t been knocked back by that, then he was quite skilled.
But since he couldn’t feel even the faint movement that should have come from the abdomen, it was already over.
Was he A-Class?
Didn’t matter.
That made 98—
“......Huh?”
The next moment.
The dust was blown apart in an instant.
And somehow, the situation hidden within the haze was revealed clearly.
The fist he had thrown had not pierced the hero’s... no, the being he had thought was a hero’s abdomen.
Instead.
A hand several times larger than his fist had simply blocked it.
“...What—”
“You.”
Jolt!
The instant he registered that cold, lowered voice, his instincts rang the alarm.
His whole skin prickled, and his pulse quickened.
His breathing turned ragged.
It felt as if a massive block of iron were pressing down from above.
A lizard monster, its whole body covered in white scales, was looking down at him with red eyes.
This was a clear red alert.
He was on a completely different level from the heroes he had just been fighting.
Demon?
No.
One level above that.
A being with enough power to shut down the functions of several cities.
dragon-level.
He sensed it in an instant.
“You’re the one who brought down the heroes?”
“...Ah, ah... what, so you’re one of those guys from that Monster Association last time.”
The Monster Association’s invitation he had received while hunting Metal Bat last time.
He had torn up the card, but they’d said they’d meet again... so this was it?
He was a monster, and he’d come all this way asking whether the one who hunted the heroes was him.
That made it clear.
Once he was properly certain of that, he could finally breathe a little easier.
Then this guy in front of him had just come to recruit him, right?
Damn bastards. If they were going to recruit me, they should’ve sent someone decent. Sending a monster like this is nothing but a show of force.
“...I got spooked for nothing.”
As soon as he realized the unpleasant fact that he had been intimidated, he kicked a stray pebble off to the side.
He had no intention of accepting anything, no matter what it was, because he was going to become the absolute evil everyone feared.
Swearing under his breath, Garou said,
“Can you answer my question?”
“...Huh? Of course it was me, the Hero Hunter—”
He had completely misread the situation.
Suddenly, the massive, muscular body that had seemed so heavy vanished from his field of vision.
BOOM!!!
“Pukaaaah?!“
A dizzying impact slammed into his abdomen.
He twisted at the last moment with a flash of reflexes to kill as much of the force as possible, but even so, the weight of the heavy blow surged through his stomach.
That one hit made him spit blood and sent him bouncing away, rolling across the dirt.
“Kh... ugh...”
“Why? You’re human, aren’t you? Why would you attack the heroes who work so hard to protect civilians?”
He pushed himself up, staggering, his arm coated in thick dirt.
Then he collapsed again, his strength giving out.
He had only taken one hit, and this was the result.
The sturdy body that had even endured the huge shape of the flying kendama was creaking now.
Damn it.
More than that.
He had lost track of the guy’s movement for an instant.
How did a body that big move that fast?
While his mind raced, Garou’s answer came out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Because, cough! Obviously. I’m a monster.”
He drove both trembling arms deep into the ground and bent his legs to lift himself up.
His body, which had felt light just a moment ago, now felt as heavy as lead.
Ignoring that, he straightened his bent knees and raised his lower body.
“Something the Monster Association can’t even compare to, something no hero can beat—!”
He planted his firmly extended lower body upright.
He put strength into his waist and forced himself straight.
Then, like his own conviction, he stood tall.
“I’m the strongest monster!!”
“................”
Why.
Why did it feel so familiar?
He couldn’t smell the usual scent of a monster.
There was no distinctive aroma that would stimulate the saliva in his dry mouth and whet his appetite.
This was definitely a human.
Someone who called himself a monster and brought down heroes who devoted themselves so much to civilians.
For what?
Feeling a strange sensation in his head, the monster hunter began to approach.
“There’s no such thing.”
“No, there is! There will be! I will become the absolute evil the world fears...!”
Then.
Come and knock me down first, strongest one.
Whether or not he heard those words was uncertain.
But he probably got the gist of it.
If you call yourself a monster.
Then I’ll just hunt you.
Repeating that in his head, the monster hunter lowered his body and charged.
Precisely toward a single target, with spear-like movements.
He rushed at Garou at a speed beyond the speed of sound.
“Tch...! Fast, as expected!”
Even faster than the watchdog man he had fought before.
He had at least been able to barely see Watchdog Man with his eyes.
But this guy...
For all his massive build, even with his enhanced dynamic vision, he could only make him out as a blur.
KWAANG!!
“Guh...!”
It looked like the guy was coming straight at him, but then a side kick flew in from the flank and slammed into his side.
Once again, dizzying pain tried to cloud his judgment.
With a roar of “Kraaah!” he steadied himself and threw a palm strike at the opponent, who had closed the distance.
Shuawak!
KWAANG!!
“Kuh!”
The palm strike he thought he had landed cleanly cut through empty air after hitting only an afterimage.
And then an elbow from somewhere he couldn’t even tell struck his solar plexus dead on.
He was knocked back yet again and rolled across the ground.
He grimaced at the bitter taste of dirt in his mouth and spat it out along with the blood that had already pooled there.
Before he knew it, the monster hunter was closing in on Garou.
“So this is the strongest? Even a dog passing by would laugh.”
He said it coldly.
“Get up. You don’t plan to go down this easily as the strongest monster, do you? I don’t know how many heroes you’ve tormented, but I’m planning to drive the fragments of pain they felt straight into that body of yours.”
“Tch...!”
Damn it.
What the hell is this guy!
He’s a monster, and yet he’s picking a fight with me for taking down heroes out of nowhere!
Grinding his teeth at the absurdity of it all, Garou forced his body up again.
No. He didn’t stop there.
The moment both hands kicked off the ground, both legs accelerated too.
KWAANG!!!
He charged in faster than before.
Reaching the opponent’s front in an instant, he flung dirt into his face and drove his right arm into the ground at the same time.
He leaned his weight forward and kicked both legs up into the air.
He supported himself on the one arm he had planted.
Spinning like a waterwheel, he bent his waist and legs into a bow-like curve.
Then he swung his left leg with all his weight behind it.
He countered.
He opened his right hand into a palm and rotated it.
Wrapping his hand around the swinging left leg like a snake climbing a tree, he unleashed a broad palm strike like a snake’s head.
KWAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
“Kkgh...”
This time, it was his solar plexus again.
But this time, instead of being knocked back, it only drove him backward.
Of course.
The destructive shock that circulated through his body via a specific pressure point made him collapse again.
Puhwaak!!
“Kgh... damn it...!”
His vision, along with his consciousness, was starting to blur.
It wasn’t just physical ability.
That side was superior in technique and situational awareness too.
More than anything, he was responding so naturally, as if he already knew Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.
I can’t win this.
Damn it.
Why the hell did some monster like this come out of nowhere!
And then!
“Why would a monster...! Get angry because a hero was beaten!!”
At Garou’s cry, which sounded almost like a scream, the monster hunter’s expression turned strange.
Familiarity and a sense of déjà vu.
He asked,
“...Then why are you, a human, calling yourself a monster and attacking heroes?”
To Garou, heroes were nothing but hypocrites.
To the monster hunter, monsters were evil.
Heroes only pretended to be cool and wouldn’t even help a single kid being bullied.
Heroes protected civilians from evil, even if it meant they themselves were brought low.
Heroes weren’t driven by some strong conviction, and they were weak enough that they couldn’t even bring down someone who called himself a monster.
Not everyone who got paid could throw their life on the line and devote themselves to others.
And yet they preached justice and peace.
When faced with an enemy they couldn’t beat and couldn’t retreat from, they chose resistance instead of surrender.
Heroes were trash. The more trash they were, the more unbearable it was that the masses supported them.
Heroes were heroes. Even in the most extreme situations, even in moments of crisis, their noble worth lay in the spirit that made them leap in to save people without hesitation.
And yet.
Why.
“Why are you, a monster, the one getting angry at a bunch of trash who only call themselves heroes?!”
“Why are you, a human, the one pushing yourself to the limit to protect people, and yet...”
It would be better if monsters were superior to heroes.
The false peace created by the heroes everyone believed in was what stained humanity with evil.
The Hero Association was corrupt.
And he had seen that most heroes acted for external rewards like fame and money.
So he had decided to become a monster and set things right with overwhelming force.
In a world with no room to breathe for survival, there would be no evil, no discrimination, no bullying, and not even war.
What the world needed was not unequal justice, but equal fear.
And yet.
A monster who approved of rotten heroes?
There was no way he could accept that.
“Kyaaaahhh!!!”
He had seen a human condemning a hero who fought with their life on the line.
He had seen a human trying to kill a weak human.
He had seen a human looking down on the very meaning of a hero’s existence, denying it, and calling it useless.
He knew heroes were not purely good beings, and humans weren’t either.
He knew that.
But.
A human calling himself a monster, looking down on heroes and directly tormenting them.
There was no way he could accept that.
KWAANG!!!
“Guhh!!”
Thud-thud-thud!
“................”
Yes.
It was a sense of kinship.
Looking at Garou as he rose again, he saw himself reflected in him.
So he was a lookalike.
Only the shape was similar, and the direction was the exact opposite.
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