His vision is growing blurrier by the second.
Perhaps because he has lost too much blood, his body won’t take strength properly anymore.
The metallic stench of blood pooling in his mouth is getting on his nerves again.
Damn it.
Cursing inwardly once more, Garou stares at the opponent in front of him.
"Get up."
It’s the face of that detestable monster, ordering him around as if nothing were wrong.
Shit.
Not only is its technique superior, even its basic physical ability is far behind his own.
Stamina, attack power, defense, speed—everything.
If it were some muscle-brained idiot like Tanktop Master, who fought on brute force alone, maybe he’d have a chance.
At least, if the bastard were in his current state, letting his guard down and completely looking down on him.
For some reason, this thing had been keeping him alive from the very start, even though it could have killed him in one blow.
Maybe not a chance to win, but at least a chance to escape.
But.
"Gyaaaahhh!!!"
"You’re dull."
Garou’s mind was starting to fray.
This bastard was absurdly far removed from some muscle-headed brute.
His fist cut through the air, and then a sharp pain sank heavily into Garou’s abdomen.
It was exquisite control—drawing out just enough damage to avoid killing him with each strike, while still inflicting pain that would make him flinch in the next instant.
He was adjusting power that could smash a building in one hit down to the level of folding a mosquito’s wings in half.
And more than that.
Where and how should he stab to make the opponent feel extreme pain?
Or.
How should he strike to inflict how much damage where?
How deep should he pierce which pressure point to paralyze what area, and to what degree?
Where and how should he move to get closer to victory?
In the split second of each attack, he calculated every single thing and broke, tore, and smashed precisely.
It was insane skill, enough to make him silently click his tongue in awe.
KWAANG!!
"Ghk...!"
This was probably even above that damn old man.
With that assessment, Garou was sent flying again.
He crashed into a tree standing behind him, smashing it to pieces, then rolled across the ground once more.
"Damn it... at least one decent hit...!"
About four minutes had passed.
In that long-yet-short span of time, he hadn’t managed to land even a single proper blow.
In effect, he had been beaten one-sidedly.
He, who had even taken down an S-Class hero, looked like this now.
What the hell was that monster?
He couldn’t even begin to guess.
This was impossible to beat.
But.
That damn bastard.
That monster that approves of heroes—something that should not exist.
He would never accept it.
As he forced himself back up, he clenched his teeth.
He drew one leg back and bent the other forward.
He extended one arm and held the fingers of his other hand in front of his face.
He took up the stance of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist] once again.
Right after that.
Hearing the unpleasant grinding sound of teeth scraping against teeth, he lunged.
He lowered his body and charged as fast as he could.
Remembering the movements of watchdog man from before, he rushed in on all fours.
He used both arms like forelegs to kick off the ground.
He contracted the muscles in both legs as much as possible, then exploded forward in a single burst.
He sprang.
"Kraaaah-!"
BANG!!
"Kuh...!"
Again.
Again, the bastard’s body seemed to twist left and right, and his fist was already smashing into Garou’s jaw.
He couldn’t predict the next move.
In fact, prediction itself was becoming useless.
Even if he predicted and prepared, the attack came from somewhere else entirely.
His body, lifted by the blow to the jaw, felt weightless.
Then the bastard sprang up from below.
His fist was already shooting toward Garou’s abdomen.
Garou immediately brought his hand to his stomach.
He took a defensive posture, ready to block or deflect.
But.
KWAANG!!
"Puhk...!"
Out of nowhere, a downward smash came flying in from above and slammed into Garou’s back.
He felt something break with a sharp crack as he plummeted toward the ground.
But before he even hit the earth.
TUKWAAANG!!
"Kehk!"
A dizzying impact struck his abdomen.
It felt as though his entire brain had been shaken once.
His back bent like a bow, and he was sent soaring upward again as if he’d been launched.
KWAANG!!
This time, as if struck in the side, he bounced away lightly like a ball dropped on the ground.
Before he could even groan in pain, a fist with razor-sharp momentum drove into his other side.
"Kuhk...."
Garou’s body was helplessly flung the other way again.
But there was already another fist waiting there, poised to strike.
In the midst of it, he twisted his body and threw out a roundhouse kick, but before his leg could land, his solar plexus caved in first.
"Kheuk...."
He went limp and crashed back toward the ground.
White flashed past him, slicing through the air in an instant.
Before he could even properly register it, the impacts swept through Garou’s entire body.
[Five-Strike Shattering Collapse Fist]
Tutada! Tutadadada!! Tutatatata! Tutata!!!
KWAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!
Every pressure point in his body was smashed as he collided with the ground.
The earth cracked where Garou’s charging body had struck it.
Thick clouds of dirt rose up, and in the middle of them, Garou bounced and rolled out.
He tumbled through the dirt three times before finally lying sprawled on the ground.
"Ghh... ugh...!"
Gulp!
Blood surged back up his throat and spilled out.
He didn’t even have the thought to wipe the blood dripping thickly from the corner of his mouth.
"Damn it... too... strong...!"
He had said he wanted to fight a dragon-level monster.
He never said he wanted to fight a monster.
It was over.
His consciousness flickered like a lightbulb losing power.
His pressure points had been destroyed, and neither his arms nor his legs would move.
Even when he tried to rise on sheer willpower, his body remained completely paralyzed.
"So then."
That damn lizard bastard approached.
Despite his massive, heavy-looking frame, not a single footstep could be heard.
"Is that all the strongest monster amounts to?"
"...D-don’t... make me laugh... shut up...!"
"I’m not joking. At this level, anyone could become the strongest monster. Even that new monster I just hunted."
"...Grr... shut up!!"
He shouted as if screaming.
But it only made noise.
The monster hunter seemed displeased and frowned.
"...Be glad you’re human."
"I’m not huma-"
The moment he tried to deny it.
An invisible pressure and killing intent stabbed into him.
Those red eyes gleamed viciously, staring sharply this way, and whispered.
"I don’t like it when my food is noisy."
"……………!!!"
It eats monsters?
Come to think of it, he had heard of it before.
That one, listed in the Hero Association’s records too.
Its appearance and strength didn’t resemble what he’d heard or seen in the slightest, but there was only one monster with such a bizarre habit.
"Monster... hunter...?"
"...Still a mystery. Who came up with such a cringeworthy, embarrassing name?"
Garou knew of the existence of the monster hunter.
Of course he did. Wasn’t it one of the most famous monsters around right now?
A monster with strange habits, slaughtering other monsters indiscriminately, and even with a history of killing humans.
So he’d thought it would be some blood-mad butcher.
"Well... whatever. Stay unconscious for a while. My anger’s cooled off anyway... when you wake up, you’ll be at the police station."
"Kuh! Damn it...!"
Garou struggled to respond somehow.
But.
His body wouldn’t move.
He couldn’t fight back.
The narrow, upright rod flying toward him looked like it was in slow motion.
Garou instinctively sensed it.
If that hit him, the martial artist in him would be finished.
He wouldn’t die, but a pain worse than death would surely come.
From then on, he would be forever drowned in helplessness as the weak one.
Ridiculous.
Was this really how it ended?
No.
No.
Get up.
Get up, Garou.
He widened his bloodshot eyes.
He forced his unmoving right arm to move.
Get-
TUKWAAAAAAANG!!!
".........?"
Once, a sound like a cannon exploding tore through the air.
He snapped back to his senses.
The blow did not land on the back of his neck.
Something had struck the monster hunter and shoved him back a long way.
By what?
"...Tough scales. The strike went in shallow too."
Step.
Step.
The footsteps approaching felt as heavy as mountains.
With every step taken.
He became more and more certain who the owner of that familiar voice was.
"Well... it’s been a while, my disciples."
Silver Fang.
The S-Class hero ranked third, a monster at the pinnacle of martial arts.
The founder of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist].
And.
The damn old man who expelled me.
Forcing his blurry eyes open, Garou looked up at Silver Fang.
"Cough! The most annoying old man... showed up..."
"You’re in a terrible state. So, have you enjoyed your little monster game all this time? Garou. Have you realized just how miserable becoming a monster truly is?"
"...!! Grr, damn old man...!"
"The monsters around here have already been taken care of by Genos, so now I can focus entirely on you lot in this moment... brother."
"Yeah. We’ll finish them with our own hands. Starting with the monster hunter."
After him came the master of Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist, Bomb.
Two masters who had reached the peak of martial arts, here to take down just me?
And they were targeting me while I was weakened...
...No.
Wait.
Did I hear that wrong?
Disciples?
You lot?
"...Disciples? Me? Of whom?"
"So you really have cast off your humanity completely. To think you’d casually try to kill a fellow student from the same dojo... Yes. Was life as a fully fallen monster satisfying?"
"Old man. You’re saying that guy is one of the ones I beat up...?"
Ridiculous.
Garou immediately denied Silver Fang’s words.
There was no way one of those pathetic losers had been such a lunatic-level expert.
There was no way anyone would become explosively stronger just by turning into a monster.
They hadn’t had the skill or talent for it.
More than that.
He had never even seen that monster hunter use [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist].
He had only mixed together all kinds of strange martial arts like a haphazard stew, then linked them together smoothly as if water were flowing...
"...A flowing movement?"
He hurriedly turned his head toward the monster hunter.
Standing before Silver Fang and Bomb, it took up a familiar stance.
One leg drawn back, the other bent forward.
One arm extended, the fingers of the other held before its face in a bent shape.
"...That’s a much better movement than when I taught you."
"........"
The monster hunter displayed a near-perfect stance of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist].
Its restrained momentum, its softness, its atmosphere.
Not a single thing about it matched that literally monstrous appearance.
For a moment, Garou thought Silver Fang’s face had stiffened even more.
It was that high a level of mastery.
One thing was certain: at the very least, it was far above his own current level.
At that sight, Garou lost his words.
"No matter how I think about it, I don’t get it. Disciples? Sorry, but I don’t know who you are. Same goes for the one next to you."
"...So even your memory has been lost to becoming a monster."
"No, my memory’s perfectly fine. I just have no clue who you are at all-"
"Don’t be shaken, Bang. He’s already a monster who’s committed murder. Even if he remembers, we can’t let him go."
".........I see. Thank you, brother."
One man had cast off his humanity and now hunted heroes under the name of a monster.
Another had already become a monster and even committed murder.
Just what.
Was I.
As an adult, as a master.
So terribly wrong?
What about me had led them into ruin?
As the one who taught them.
And as the one who protected them.
Where had I gone wrong?
...Before they are taken by someone else, I must at least end this with my own hands.
Steeling himself once more, Silver Fang also took up the stance of [Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist].
"Come! I’ll personally discipline these troublesome disciples with these two hands!"
"So who the hell are you!!"
The two shouts overlapped.
And the three figures shot from their places.
"[Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist]!"
With a thunderous roar, they collided all at once.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register