Despite being directed by the psychic and using his own heightened senses to find a path it still took Garou hours to traverse the Monster Association base. Now that he was beginning his transition into a monster proper he was gifted with abilities beyond what he had as a human. Night vision to help him see in the low lighting, adaptive lungs to help him breathe in the dank air and through consuming the flesh of his enemies he was able to recover his strength at an exponential rate.

And speaking of enemies a large reason for why it was taking so long to get to his destination was because he kept encountering monsters. If he wanted to Garou could outrun, avoid or just blitz them with ease and while he did do the latter he also took the time to consume them to build back up his energy reserves.

~You’re…wasting…time~

Garou having just finished annihilating and consuming another patrol tossed a bone aside and wiped his lips.

‘Better I recover my strength now instead of being caught flat footed when I get to Tareo.’

At this point Garou was sure they know he’s in the base but the fact that they were sending low level monsters after him meant that his identity was still intact. Or they were foolishly underestimating him still thinking that he wasn’t a ‘monster’ or something. Either way that won’t stay the same forever and he’ll need to be in the best shape to weather whatever they send at him while protecting the kid.

~Thought you…wanted revenge…on Royal Ripper~

As the thought entered his mind Garou paused, he could picture the smug grin despite the voice only having the bare minimum of emotions in it.

A vein pulsed on the side of his head as he snapped “shut up!”

Garou started moving and once again marveled at the changes he noticed in himself. At the moment he had recovered enough strength to surpass what his full strength a mere two days ago was. Garou felt confident that his current self would be able to put up a proper fight against Watchdog Man if not actually beat him. He wouldn’t be challenging the freak anytime soon though, at least not until he became a fully realized monster.

Garou skidded to a stop as he arrived at a platform that has several stairs leading into three different locations and about half a dozen tunnels dotting around it.

‘Where do I go?’ he waited several moments before ‘hey you’re allowed to talk now.’

Still no reply and the Hero Hunter clicked his tongue before sniffing the air. Eventually he picked up the faint scent of sweat, piss and fear that seemed to pervade Tareo’s current physical and mental state like a permanent marker. With that Garou entered one of the tunnels disconnected from the paths only to come to a dead end.

“This place doesn’t make any damn sense!”

Another big reason why he was taking so long had to do with the layout of the Monster Association itself. Not only was the place vast but that vastness was compacted in a series of maze-like corridors, winding staircases and puzzle-like platforms. A normal person could literally spend weeks if not months traversing the place and never find a way out. It was a tedious and annoying thing made tolerable by having the psychic give him directions. With her also keeping tabs on Tareo it made Garou take the opportunity to recover instead of bulldozing his way through and further alerting the base to his location.

But now the psychic has gone radio silent which could mean a few things from the range being exceeded to whoever keeping her captive getting wise to what she was doing.

“Tch, so annoying” he cocked his fist back and slammed it into the wall knocking a hole through it and the wall behind it.

‘I’ll just make my own path’

Meanwhile…

“It’s time to wake up~”

The boy fluttered his eyes a bit “mommy?”

Why did she sound so weird?

“Noope~” replied the voice causing Tareo to finally looking into the bandaged face of Royal Ripper who was inches from his face “good morning~” the monster sang.

Immediately the memories of the night prior crashed into his head breaking his calm, sending his heart rate skyrocketing and causing a scream to tear from his throat as he skittered as far away as he could until his back hit the wall.

“Fufufufu~” Royal Ripper chuckled darkly reveling in the boy’s abject fear his eyes dancing with dark delight “it seems you’ve had a good night’s sleep. It’s good that you’re well rested Tareo~” he raised his blades “I want you to last as long as possible~”

At those words Tareo’s brain finally came to a startling realization ‘I’m going to die.’

Intellectually he already knew he was on borrowed time but he always thought hoped really that it wouldn’t come to that. Subconsciously he thought that he would be saved just like in those TV shows. But now that he is confronted with the reality there is only one thing Tareo could think of to do.

“WAAAHHHH, SOMEBODY SAVE ME!”

He attempted to duck around Royal Ripper however the monster easily saw through his ploy and simply blocked him with one of his swords.

“Your screams are exquisite” the monster shuddered “but I don’t want anyone else to hear them but me. Now come here, let’s go to my room.”

Royal Ripper managed to the use his blades to force Garou out of the cell.

“NO, I DON’T WANNA! HEROEES HEEEELP!”

Suddenly he found his back flushed against the monster’s legs with two blades crossed against his chest just under his neck.

“I wouldn’t struggle too much if I were you, as you can see my ‘hands’ aren’t very delicate~”

“Urk!” that put an end to his struggles however he still shuddered as tears ran down his face.

“Fufufu, no one knows you’re here boy. There are no heroes coming to save….”

When Royal Ripper suddenly trailed off into silence Tareo looked up to see the monster staring ahead in shock. Tareo looked in the same direction only to see-

“YOU!”

The yell filled with malice and murderous intent caused Tareo’s heart to skip a beat and again look towards Royal Ripper who suddenly pushed him aside and leapt forward like a bat out of hell.

“I killed you!”

“Oof” Tareo landed heavily on his side and looked to see who Royal Ripper was attacking only boggle at the sight “huh?”

“I chopped you up!” yelled a furious Royal Ripper as he desperately swung his blades cutting through the stone work and leaving deep marks in the ground.

‘Huh? But there’s no one there.’

“How did you survive!? GAROOOOU!”

Tareo watched on in astonishment and confusion as the mad monsters swung his blades at nothing but the walls and thin air.

‘Is he fighting someone invisible?’

Royal Ripper suddenly jerked his head away and swung his blade cutting a hole through the walls.

“I’ll kill you!”

And then Royal Ripper was gone following after his invisible enemy leaving Tareo sitting on the ground wondering to himself ‘what just happened?’

~Run!~

The moment the thought ‘run’ entered his mind like a shout Tareo’s body moved before he was even became conscious of his body’s actions. His feet carried him down a long tunnel. Tareo ran even through the low lighting and dank air he ran. After spending an entire day underground his body adapted enough for those to not be as much of an issue as they were the day before. Not that those things mattered when his survival hung in the balance. Unfortunately as he came upon a corner voices reached his ears causing him to stumble.

“What’s with all that ruckus?” one of them questioned

The second shrugged “dunno but didn’t Royal Ripper come this way?”

“Ugh I don’t want to deal with that guy he gives me the creeps.”

“What if he’s fighting that intruder Gyoro Gyoro told us about.”

“Then it sucks to be them.”

Finally two monsters turned the corner and immediately caught sight of him causing him to freeze up in fear.

“Hey who’s that, a human?”

“Ain’t that the kid that was with Royal Ripper yesterday? He’s still alive?”

“How’d he escape?”

Tareo froze up in fear and uncertainty even as the two monster continued their back and forth.

“Doesn’t matter how he escaped let’s just get him.”

Their approach finally caused a reaction “U-UWAAAAAH!”

*Boom*

Suddenly the wall behind Tareo exploded causing the boy to take cover as small debris rained down on him. Meanwhile the monsters were just as startled but unlike Tareo they saw who did it.

“Y-you! You’re the intruder!”

The other monster got into a battle stance “this is our chance to impress Gyoro Gyoro!”

“Wait doesn’t he look like-”

Tareo barely saw a shadow fly over him accompanied by a brief rush of wind before…

“UAGGH!”

The brief screams were accompanied by wet squelching sounds and Tareo bore witness to the second bloodbath in as many days. This time however his terror and disgust at the sight was overshadowed by another emotion, pure relief and happiness.

“M-Mister!” he exclaimed with tears of joy at seeing the man not only alive and unharmed but also the fact that he was saved from the monsters.

“Kid, you’re still alive” spoke his savior as he glanced over his shoulder at him with his heterochromatic eyes.

There reunion was then interrupted by the arrival another and unfortunately familiar monster “there you are!”

“Eep! Tareo scrambled away as Royal Ripper appeared from down the corridor behind them.

“You thought you could run away and with my prize Garou~?” the monster spoke as it dragged its blades along the ground cutting a line as it stalked forward.

Garou for his part straightened up and tilted his head with a thuggish “huuuh?” as he regarded the monster with veins of anger bulging on the side of his head “run away? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Enough talk!” Royal Ripper exclaimed as he launched at the man “now DIE!”

Royal Ripper flew past Tareo and swung his blade only to watch in dismay as Garou caught the blade in his bare hand without even attempting to dodge or block. Then with a simple flex he crushed the blade to pieces in his hand causing Royal Ripper to stagger back. Looking at his broken blade arm in shock to seeing Garou’s visage with half his face shadowed stirred something within the monster’s heart.

‘W-what is this feeling?’

As Garou cocked his fist back Royal Ripper finally identified the emotion he was feeling in that moment, genuine fear.

“A-Aaah!” the monster yelled in panic stabbing his other blade forward.

*Snap*

However just as before Garou did not attempt to dodge or deflect, he merely backhanded the blade shattering it with his fist before punching forward with his other.

*RIP*

The sound of ripping bandages and tearing flesh were sounds accompanying Royal Ripper getting his head punched off by Garou. It wasn’t over yet however as Garou’s outstretched fist shifted to three fingers curling outwards into a clawed shape.

Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist

Royal Ripper’s body including his head was cut apart into chunks. Garou hardly spared the corpse a second glance before he turned to the boy cowering in the corner.

“Still cowering huh? What’s the point of giving you advice if it’s just going in one ear and out the other?”

“B-but they’re monsters…”

“Excuses” he gruffly dismissed before began walking away.

“W-wait where are you going?”

“I did what I came here to do so now I’m getting the hell outta here. You can do whatever the hell you want.”

Tareo knew exactly what he should do and after swallowed before scrambling to his feet “wai-wait for me!”

“No” he stated picking up the pace “you want to follow along then move your ass and keep up.”

Tareo did as he was told and now that he was relatively safe and accompanied by a familiar face his curiosity got the better of him and he began to rattle off questions.

“Mister, do you know your way around?”

“Something like that.”

“There are a lot of monsters here w-wouldn’t it be better if we found a hiding spot?”

“They already know I’m here and I’ve been coming across patrols more frequently” he clicked his tongue “tch, they must have a monster capable of tracking my location.”

“T-then won’t more monsters come for us!?” Tareo exclaimed in alarm.

“Exactly so you better follow my instructions if you don’t want to end up dead kid.”

Tareo swallowed before he took note of Garou’s condition and for a moment his current self got interposed with how he saw him back in the city and he shuddered.

“Mister…are you okay?”

“What kind of stupid question is that?”

“It’s just…the last time I saw you…” he trailed off as Garou came to a stop by a T-junction.

Peeking out from the corner to look both ways Garou was quiet for a moment before he replied “you saw me getting killed” and as he spoke he turned to look directly at the boy.

Tareo panting a bit from the effort of running as well as the adrenaline nodded.

“Well take a long look brat” he spread out his arms “you saw me getting cut up into pieces but I’m still whole. It’s not a miracle that’s the power of a monster.”

“A…monster…? But you don’t…”

“Let me ask you something. Do I look human to you?”

Tareo looked to the man standing before him for a long moment as he mulled this over and at first he was going to say yes but the more he glanced at Garou the more he saw that there was something off about him. Take away the blood and grime covering his body as well as the discolored bloodshot eye he seemed perpetually stuck with and he could see the other more subtle discrepancies. The sharpened teeth and longer nails were the most obvious however Tareo felt that the dangerous air he exuded became more pronounced.

‘It feels just like the other monsters.’

Having basically been paraded around by Royal Ripper Tareo has the unfortunate experience of being stared down at by monsters and he could feel that to a degree as Garou stared down at him. He ducked his head in response causing Garou to snort before his expression turned sharp.

“Oi, go hide over there” he ordered pointing to the other side of the large corridor.

The boy carried out the instructions without asking any questions asked. Garou himself cracked his neck and knuckles before speeding around the corner to find three monsters. His sudden appearance startled the trio however the closest one, a giant humanoid mouse monster, reacted by swinging his fist at him. Garou easily blocked it with a claw strike eliciting a shocked expression from the monster.

“Hrm!?”

Garou smirked.

Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!

“Aagh!?”

Even as the giant mouse’s body is cut apart Garou was already avoiding a spear tip or rather, as he found when sidestepping the charge, a monster who had a head shaped like long pointed horn. A head Garou grabbed at the side and slammed his knee into.

“KUAK!”

The monster’s face caved in as it flew off into the wall.

*PSSH*

Garou leapt out of the path of a shower of water doing a corkscrew flip that turned into a spinning kick right into the side of a monster that had a literal showerhead for a head.

“Argh!” the monster cried out as it slammed into the wall with part of its head cracked.

As Garou landed his gaze was momentarily caught what he thought was water actually turning out to be sulfuric acid partially melting the stonework of the ground.

‘These guys are a bit better than the fodder I’ve been facing up until now’ still not a threat to him but decent enough that they weren’t killed in a single shot.

He now regarded the three monsters more closely and his eyes were immediately drawn to the mouse whose wounds were regenerating before his eyes.

‘That one’s going to be annoying.’

“Hero Hunter Garou” Supermouse replied as his flesh knitted together and healed “so what Bug God said is true” his gaze went to the cowering Tareo “you’ve sided with the humans.”

“Careful, he’s stronger than he looks” Unihorn cautioned as he spat out a tooth and glared at him with his misshapen face.

“He somehow knew about our ambush, hid his presence and caught us off guard” Showerhead informed as he twisted the large dial on his chest.

Garou scoffed “I’ve got better things to do so let’s just get this over with.”

At his provocation Unihorn snarled “you impudent little- die!”

The monster then began a series of front flips using his horn as a basis and picked up enough speed to turn into a flying saw blade heading directly towards Garou who remained where he is.

“You fool, my horn is the hardest in the world!” Unihorn bragged “it’s absolutely unbreakable!”

So confident he was in his horn and assured of his victory that Unihorn was absolutely flabbergasted when Garou caught his horn in the grip of his hands. The ground beneath him the only thing not sturdy enough to take the force of the monster’s hit and so cracked under Garou’s feet.

“W-what, impossible! You caught my horn!?”

“I’ll give you one thing, this horn is pretty tough. Even I’ll have a hard time breaking it” a nasty grin spread on his face “but what about the rest of you?”

“Wha-UAGH!”

Before Unihorn can finish he coughed up a mouth full of blood as the tip of Garou’s foot impacted his gut launching him upwards with the force of canon and sending him crashing into the ceiling where his body was implanted.

He remained unmoving.

“Unihorn!” Showerhead shouted before leaping forward “have a taste of these unknown chemicals!”

As the chemicals poured from Showerhead’s faucet face Garou began to spin his palms in a circular motion dispersing the chemicals without it ever even touching him. Garou continued by striking out his hand towards the center of Showerhead’s face. The last thing the monster saw was the visage of a massive snake opening its maw before Garou’s hand smashed through his head out the other side. Showerhead only gave a brief death throw before going limp.

“You’ll pay for that!” yelled Supermouse as he charged at the not-so-human monster.

With his hand still stuck through the monster’s head Garou immediately threw it at the charging mouse monster who backhanded his ally’s corpse away only to receive a reverse roundhouse kick to the face.

*Crunch*

Supermouse’s head was destroyed with force of a thunderclap sending the monster’s body careening through a nearby wall and from the sounds of it didn’t just stop at that one wall.

“That’s convenient” stated Garou as he looked at the sizeable holes made through several walls that happened to be going in the direction they need to go in.

‘I didn’t want to draw any more attention to me but it looks like they’re too preoccupied with something else to send any of the heavier hitters after me.’

That’s good for him because he couldn’t fight (at least to full capacity) and protect Tareo at the same time.

Speaking of which he turned to the kid who was looking at him awestruck “hey kid, how long are you going to just sit…there…” he trailed off as his eyes widened in shock.

‘H-how the hell did that get there without me noticing!?’

“Kid I’m going to need you to remain calm and don’t make any sudden moves” Garou spoke with a wariness that was uncharacteristic of him.

“Huh?” Tareo grunted in confusion only to flinch.

*Drip*

The sound of liquid splashing on the ground just inches from his feet as well as the sound of heavy breathing emanating from above made Tareo comply.

“Good, now take slow steps towards me. That’s it, nice and slow.”

Tareo did so no drenched in cold sweat.

*GrOwL*

The slow, nail biting sound was accompanied by a glow and a feel of heat on the nape of his neck. Against his better judgment Tareo turned his head to look behind him and his heart stilled as he found a set of six glowing eyes looking down at him. They belonged to a massive creature whose height seemed to encompass the entirety of the corridor. It took all of Tareo’s willpower not to scream at the sight of it.

“You idiot don’t look at it” Garou hissed.

The creature had drool, smoke and a soft glow emanating from its partially opened maw.

After what felt like an eternity Tareo finally made it to Garou’s side and hid behind the larger man’s frame.

Garou himself gritted his teeth ‘this is exactly the kind of shit I was avoiding.’

And he could feel it, possibly because he’s at least part monster as his body was blaring warning signals in his head. Accelerated heart rate, tightened skin and most importantly a seeming wave of pressure washing over him it felt like he was in the presence of a dangerous predator. Usually such a feeling would excite him, egg him on to face the challenge and overcome it. Even now his blood was boiling and his synapses firing on all cylinders.

FIGHT!

ADAPT!

OVERCOME!

Yet such thoughts came to a halt at the whimper of the child standing behind him.

So internally shaking his head he banished the thoughts ‘can’t do that. I have to avoid a fight while the kid’s still here.’

“Keep behind me and don’t look at it” Garou gritted out “now shuffle back, nice and slow.”

The creature seemed to stalk forward a bit however it made no further reactions as it watched them slowly make their way towards the newly made hole.

‘So far so good’ Garou thought as they made it into the next corridor ‘have to be careful, this thing isn’t attacking for whatever reason so its best not to provoke it.’

And something in his gut told him that this thing was literally looking for an excuse to go wild. Like a landmine sitting patiently waiting for something anything to set it off.

‘Sorry but I’m not looking for a fight right now.’

Unfortunately as they made it near to the second hole something completely unexpected happened.

*Crumble*

In the perpetual silence of the area the sound of stone crumbling echoed particularly loud and a moment later something fell from above. Garou recognized it as the horned monster he planted on the ceiling with his attack a while ago.

‘Oh shit!’

Before the corpse even impacted the top of the monster’s head Garou was already reaching for Tareo. When the body did hit the creature opened its maw and a massive ball of plasma formed practically acting as a miniature sun in the gloom of the area.

For a moment he was awestruck ‘what the hell is thaaat!?’

His awe only lasted for a split second however as his body kept it moving. With Tareo grabbed by the collar of his shirt Garou began sprinting away at top speed.

*KABOOM*

The blast punched through several walls and exploded consuming everything in a 50 meter diameter. Luckily Garou was fast enough to get them away from the explosion and hide himself behind some rubble a familiar voice entered his head.

~What is wrong with you?~

‘Oh you’re back’ Garou thought releasing Tareo.

~Well don’t sound too overjoyed~

‘Thought you got done in or something’ he mentally shrugged yet it was true.

~I leave you alone for a few minutes and you manage to piss off one of the Monster Association Cadres!~

‘That thing’s a Cadre?’

The subject of their conversation was looking to and fro for them however had a hard time finding them amongst the falling debris.

~Rover is an unruly guard dog but he’s been trained enough to follow simple commands. As a way to limit any casualties he was given instructions to only attack unless provoked~

‘They just let an overgrown mutt wander around the place?’

~He was guarding the path leading to my prison~

Garou frowned at that.

~It seems my jailor became concerned with how close you came to possibly freeing me and took precautions~

‘Is that why you suddenly went radio silent?’

~It is but don’t worry I am fine…relatively speaking~

Garou chose not to comment on that ‘I need to get out of here.’

Unfortunately as he thought this the dog caught sight of him peeping from the covers and opened its mouth to form another ball of energy. With a curse Garou once again dodged another blast using his body to shield Tareo from the force of impact before hiding behind the veritable curtain of debris raining down. He then kicked a particularly big rock to another corner of the room and the noise made Rover let loose several more blasts.

~Don’t bother trying to outrun him. He has your scent and won’t stop chasing until you’re eliminated~

‘That’s just fucking great!’ how the hell was he going to fight that thing and protect the kid?

~You distract Rover and I will guide Tareo to safety~

Garou didn’t think twice and shoved Tareo forward “get the hell out of here kid.”

Tareo understandable fearful tearfully asked “b-but where am I supposed to go?”

“Follow the voice in your head” he answered as he kept his eyes on Rover “doesn’t matter to me but you find your own way out of here.”

“W-what!? I can’t do that!”

“I don’t care!” Garou snapped “you’ll only slow me down and put me danger trying to protect you. For once stop being a burden and solve your own damn problem!”

Tareo hesitate only long enough sniffle before turning tail and running. As he ran he let loose a sobbing cry that immediately alerted Rover to his location.

‘Dammit!’

As Rover opened his maw once more Garou caught its attention with a shout of “HEY!” he slammed into its front paws and launched several attacks.

As he finished off his attack Garou couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction at managing to get the drop on the monster only to freeze as he came face to face with a bright ball of gathering energy.

‘So close’

So close that he could literally reach out and touch it. So close that it was unavoidable and Garou could do nothing but stare death in the eyes. Yet before the energy was slammed into him he still managed to raise his arms in across block. It hardly made a difference as if he was hit by the force of gravity multiplied by tens or even hundreds and lit on fire. Garou was being continuously crushed and burned in a repeated cycle that had him genuinely believing he was about to die. His life flashed before his eyes with a million thoughts, he felt sensation leave his body making it numb to the searing crushing pain and gradually Garou’s consciousness grew darker as he slipped from the mortal coil.

‘NO!’

And just like that his mind was forcibly refocused just as his seemingly long journey to the bottom concluded with a heavy explosion. Garou on the other hand ignored the pain, the cuts, the burns and his own agony as got to his feet.

‘I’ve come too far to get killed by some mutt.’

Parts of Garou’s suit were burned off though through his partial monsterization the ‘suit’ was in fact like a second skin. Underneath it his ‘inner skin’ had bleeding cuts and burns all over with blood dripping onto the ground. Garou spent a few moments doing some breathing exercises to get himself under control all the while he contemplated his current situation.

‘I thought I was stronger than this.’

And it was this thought that made Garou realize that he had yet to come across an opponent that could give him a proper challenge in this state meaning that while Garou knew that he was definitely stronger than he was before he didn’t actually know his limits. He wanted to find those limits but couldn’t because of Tareo’s presence and now that he wasn’t there to slow him down…

‘Isn’t this a perfect opportunity?’

The thought made something click within Garou’s mind and a grin revealing shark-like teeth split his mouth. His clawed hands clenched into fists and he straightened his posture just as Rover came sniffing around.

‘Yes, this is a perfect opportunity.’

Rover despite being naught more than a mere animal was still a disaster level Dragon monster, one of the Monster Association Cadres.

“Hey you overgrown mutt!” Garou shouted.

From his spot on the elevated debris Rover’s head snapped towards him and growled.

“That all you got?”

Rover as if sensing the challenge opened his mouth and fired a volley of energy blasts into the crater. Garou moved to dodge them even managing to outpace the resultant explosions that rocked the area. Rover wasn’t idle either managing to pick out his form and run along the side of the walls whilst firing shot after shot making sure he had the proper vantage points.

‘This is what I’ve been waiting for!’ Garou thought as the adrenaline coursed through his veins.

Unbeknownst to him his wounds were healing at an accelerated rate in response to his adrenaline rush. Not that it mattered since Garou had already dismissed his pain and injuries as a non factor. His will alone would have been enough to carry him through this battle as it always did.

After multiple explosions Rover eventually halted his attacks. Having lost sight of Garou Rover landed at the bottom of the crater searching for a body.

*Tack*

Rover’s head swiveled to the side only to find it was the sound of random debris shifting.

“Hey shitty Dog!”

The sound of the voice had Rover diverting gave only to have its head forcible snapped to the side by Garou’s flying kick. As his foot made contact Garou used Rover’s head as a springboard to leap away with a second kick. The extra force had Rover stagger a few steps but was otherwise unharmed and proceeded to launch another energy blast at Garou who pushed off a wall. However instead of dodging he launched himself at the energy ball but at a trajectory that saw him sailing under it to the ground just below Rover’s maw where he launched himself fist first under the monster’s jaw.

*CRACK*

Garou’s uppercut managed to launch both him and Rover away with the dog monster doing a back flip that saw it landing on all fours. Hardly fazed by the attack the monster began gathering energy once more for another shot. Garou himself ended up flipping mid air to have both feet planted upside down on a patch of overhanging stone work before once again shooting himself forward with tremendous force. Garou noted that Rover waited until he had already launched himself before firing.

“You damn mutt!” Garou shouted as he raised his hands.

Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!

“AAAAHHHHH!”

Garou yelled as he intercepted the energy ball mid air and for a moment the two clashed however…

“Don’t!”

The blast began to veer off course.

“Get!”

Garou successfully redirect the blast away sending it to a nearby wall behind him.

“Carried Away!”

*BOOM*

The explosion set off behind him added to his momentum as he was sent careening towards Rover.

“Shitty Dog!”

And with a front flip Garou sunk both his heels into the top of Rover’s head.

*KR-RASH*

With explosive force Garou slammed into Rover sending both of them through the floor into another empty room.

With debris raining down on them Garou smirked from atop the downed Dragon level monster with only a two words of triumph “sit.”

Unfortunately his triumph was short lived as Rover sprang back up knocking him off and began to shake the debris off like water.

‘That was my strongest attack!’ Garou yelled to himself in shock and incredulity ‘and he’s literally shaking it off like nothing.’

For the first time since their fight started Garou felt a bit of apprehension creep in ‘so this is a disaster level Dragon.’

Rover wasn’t idle for long as he set his sights back on Garou and opened his mouth to build up more energy. By this point Garou was expecting this and immediately leapt away only the blast never came as Rover snapped his mouth shut and charge tackled Garou as he was helpless mid-leap. Garou cursed and raised his arms in a cross block just as Rover slammed into him sending them both through a wall into the next room.

This one was occupied.

“W-what’s happening!?”

“It’s Rover!”

“Is he fighting someone?”

“Who’s that with him?”

“RUN!”

The panicking monsters were ignored as Rover continued his charge, trampling the ones not fast enough to get out of the way until he slammed into another wall driving the air out of Garou. Rover wasn’t finished however as he chomped on Garou’s legs and proceeded to thrash about like a hyperactive dog waving around his chew toy. Garou could only cry out as Rover jerked his head to and fro while jumping around the room like bucking bronco. The pain of jagged teeth sinking into his legs, the building dizziness caused by the constant jerking force of Rover’s thrashing and finally the annoyance of the dog slamming him into everything as he literally ‘played around’ only served to fuel Garou’s anger.

“I am not your damn chew toy!” yelled Garou as he punched Rover in the snout.

This seemingly had an effect as Rover halted his thrashing only to rear up on his hind legs and fall forward to slam Garou into the ground. Before he can fight off the dizziness, pain and nausea he was once again faced with a massive ball of energy.

‘…doesn’t that look bigger than the ones before?’ Garou thought idly to himself feeling a pit form in his gut.

Not only that but it was also literally inches from his face!

“Oh…crap.”

Rover launched the attack and all Garou knew was pain.

~O~

*RUMBLE*

Tomoro and Saitama had just about finished loading the truck when the ground shook beneath them.

Neither seemed very bothered by this though Saitama was curious enough to ask “an earthquake?”

“Or something” Tomoro replied looking off in a certain direction with narrowed eyes.

‘Looks like Garou met Rover’ Tomoro thought as the ground stopped shaking.

“Should I investigate, could be the Monster Association up to something?” Saitama questioned having already dressed in his full hero uniform.

Tomoro shook his head “shouldn’t you be at the Hero Association right now?”

“Eh, it’s still early” Saitama shrugged.

“If you say so” Tomoro grunted just as another earthquake went off.

This one was much more violent and lasted longer. Throughout it all the two men stayed silent, Saitama glanced around with a frown as if he would find the source while Tomoro ignored it entirely.

“That felt serious, maybe I should check it out.”

“I don’t think it matters at this point” Tomoro interrupted.

“What do you mean?”

“Clearly this isn’t a natural earthquake.”

“Yeah and the Monster Association can be up to something.”

“No doubt but keep in mind they still have a hostage and no offense Saitama but uh...”

Saitama frowned but ultimately conceded “yeah I’d probably mess it up and get them killed.”

‘At least you’re self aware enough to admit that.’

“Besides it’s not like there’s anyone here to really be bothered by an earthquake.”

He says as he puts the finishing lashes on the table strapped to the top of the moving truck. For a moment both men stared at the culmination of their work which went much smoother than the day before on account of them knowing what they were doing this time around.

“You think it’ll hold?” Saitama asked.

“I’m not worried about it.”

“That looks ridiculous.”

Both men turned to find Do-S leaning against the building, her red and black eyes glaring at the two.

To her words Tomoro remarked “it doesn’t have to look good, it just as to work.”

Saitama nodded “thanks for the help by the way.”

“Hmph” the monster girl glanced away “don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“She has a point Saitama, better to be early than late for this.”

“Right” he began walking away before looking to Tomoro “you good to carry that thing by yourself?”

Tomoro scoffed before snapping his fingers for dramatic effect before the truck was enveloped in a purple glow before levitating.

“Yeah I think I’ll be fine.”

Saitama said nothing else as he leapt away towards City A.

Tomoro watched him disappear in the concrete jungle before turning to Do-S “I didn’t think you would stay the night to be honest, figured you’d leave in the middle of the night.”

“The Monster Association is most active at night. Some of the Cadres even take walks at night. I’m more likely to get spotted then than in the day.”

“If you say so” he said not convinced “have you given my proposal any thought?”

Do-S ignored the question “I’m just waiting for the perfect opportunity to leave.”

Tomoro almost laughed at her stubbornness “well if you happen to be here when the others arrive tell them I’ll be back soon.”

“Tch, whatever” she went back upstairs.

Tomoro took it as his cue to fly away.

As yet another more violent earthquake rocked the area Do-S bore witness to one of the dilapidated skyscrapers crumble in the distance seemingly in the wake of a force that washed over the area shattering all the glass in the nearby vicinity including all the apartment windows. The sight and more importantly the feeling it invoked caused a bead of sweat to roll down the side of her head. Glancing down Do-S was perturbed to find her body shaking lightly causing the monster to grimace and clench her fist.

‘I’ll wait until their raid. That’s when the Monster Association will be the most distracted. I can slip away without drawing any attention.’

~O~

‘That mutt sent me crashing through a lot of floors’ Garou thought as he craned his neck upwards at the multitude of holes above him ‘how deep is this damn place?’

It didn’t seem so long ago that Garou found himself bruised, battered and bloody fighting a stronger opponent. That was almost two days ago now and even after surpassing his previous limits he was once again faced with another obstacle…in the form of what is essentially a giant guard dog.

Really there’s only one thing to do.

‘I need to get back up there.’

Far from being dissuaded by the apparent gap in strength Garou was invigorated to bridge said gap and overcome it. No more running away especially now that he’s begun the process of turning into an actual monster.

‘Just need a bit more and I’ll break through’ he grunted as he dug his claws into the ground and began to lift himself to his feet. It was a process made laborious by what felt like several tons of rock sitting on his back.

“Oh? I was wondering who was managing to occupy Rover for so long.”

Garou froze at the voice before turning his head forward ‘I didn’t even sense him.’

“So the intruder turned out to be you Garou, excellent. You managed to live up to my expectations.”

Garou scowled at the large rotund cyclopean monster that was the Monster Association’s second in command. As the rocks began to lift off of him seemingly of their own volition Garou’s scowl became more calculated.

‘A psychic? Hmph feels like I’ve been coming across a lot of those lately.’

“Gyoro Gyoro” Garou began as he pushed himself up “you’re the one who sent those two bastards after me” Garou rose to his feet.

“Now, now I only told Bug God and Royal Ripper to watch you from a distance. I can’t be held responsible for how they handled that.”

“You think I-GRK” he began only for his body to suddenly freeze up.

‘What? I can’t move.’

“Resistance is futile.”

“You…” Garou gritted his teeth as he tried to move his body only to fail.

The psychic monster waved his threatening glare “calm down, I don’t wish to fight you Garou I just want to have a chat is all.”

Garou stared at him for a moment before his struggling became less visible “what do you want?”

“I must say your growth in such a short amount of time is astounding but right now you can only be considered a half monster.”

‘This is annoying’ Garou thought to himself ‘but if he wants to do a whole spiel I can use the time to recover and get out of this.’

One aspect of his transformation that Garou was finally starting to get a hang of was his regeneration. Before he could only use it after taking in calories from the flesh of monsters. After hours roaming and eating whatever monsters he came across Garou was full. Theoretically if he focused enough he can activate it with the calories he already possessed. Slowly but surely Garou’s injuries were being healed, he just needed more time to recover and Gyoro Gyoro as gracious enough to allow him that.

Despite his thoughts Garou still kept an ear on what the monster was telling him and his words managed to get some of his attention. Basically Gyoro Gyoro sees his potential and wants to teach him…or something. He wasn’t really paying close attention what with it mainly focusing on recovering.

“What’s that? You want to teach me psychokinesis or something?”

The monster leaned forward and while it’s face couldn’t convey the full range of expression its voice more than made up for it.

“What I will be teaching you is not Psychic powers or martial arts but the secret to monsterfication!”

He only had less than half of Garou’s attention but now he piqued his interest “secret to monsterfication?”

“Yes, through my expertise not only will it speed up the process exponentially but my methods will ensure a more efficient transformation.”

He then went on another spiel about the painstaking process of trial and error he had to go through in his studies to develop said methods revealing that the most successful method of monster evolution is to basically to ‘conquer death.’

“I’m sure you are very familiar with this as well Garou. From how Royal Ripper described it you were left in quite the terrible shape after your confrontation.”

A low growl escaped the half monster as he remembered the pain of being cut apart. He was about ready to be done with this farce when Gyoro Gyoro revealed another tidbit that had Garou’s eyes widen. Apparently throughout all the mounting failures of his experiments there was a success and it was none other than Orochi himself.

‘That means the so-called ‘monster king’ is actually just this guy’s science experiment’ that made him laugh inside ‘what a joke.’

“But you possess even more potential than Orochi. Your monsterfication is already underway and you are quite strong” the monster leaned forward yet again until he was in Garou’s face “so how about it? Join forces with me, become the new monster king and together we will destroy the heroes! I will realize your dream!”

This time Garou couldn’t help but let his amusement seep through along with his annoyance both in the form of a grin accompanied by a bulging vein on his forehead.

“Huh!? Are you screwing with me? Piss off with that shit, as if I need you to realize my dream.”

“You lost your right to refuse the moment I set my sights on you!”

“You know the one thing I hate are schemers like you. Sitting on the sidelines thinking that you’re above it all and directing people like pieces on a chess board. It pisses me off!” and as he glared at Gyoro Gyoro the vein in his forehead bulged with effort “I’m gonna put you in your place.”

The psychic monster chuckled in response to his words “your bravado is admirable but my psychic powers eclipse even those of Tatsumaki the Tornado of Terror!”

In response Garou took a step forward eliciting shock from the monster.

“What!?”

Garou continued taking measured steps forward, the smile on his face growing in direct comparison to the growing incredulity of Gyoro Gyoro.

“Impossible”

“If this is what the Tornado of Terror is capable of then I was worrying about her for nothing” Garou taunted as he raised a hand with a sadistic smirk.

“How are you able to move?” Gyoro Gyoro exclaimed in genuine surprise.

“Who knows? It could be my Fighting Spirit” he laughed “or maybe you aren’t as strong as you think you are.”

The psychic monster’s eye narrowed at his words and for a brief moment Garou could swear something else passed over his expression only for the emotion to be lost before even he could identify it.

“Your adaptability is extraordinary” Gyoro Gyoro conceded “since you’re like a wild beast putting you on a leash will be quite difficult. First I’ll start by disciplining you!”

And as he exclaimed this the psychic sent the surrounding debris hurdling towards Garou at subsonic speed.

*Crash*

Gyoro Gyoro’s eyes widened in surprise as the rocks seemingly disintegrated before they could even touch him.

“What?”

“You released your bindings the moment those rocks started floating” Garou admitted easily enough before scoffing “you can’t even multitask with those powers of yours and you want to raise a genius like me? Don’t make me laugh!”

*SMASH*

The floor beneath him broke apart under the immense pressure of a psychokinetic attack however Garou had already foreseen this and moved out the way.

“I was right your abilities aren’t anything special” exclaimed Garou as he grinned at the monster “you caught me off guard before but now I’ve figured you out. All I have to do is watch your reaction and I can avoid your attacks.”

As if to prove his point all the scattered debris suddenly converged on Garou’s position near the speed of sound in a mighty *Crash* however Garou merely back flipped away to land at the top of the pile of gathered debris in a crouch.

“You’re such a mediocre monster” he gleefully sneered.

Gyoro Gyoro remained silent for a moment before the rocks that were floating about him dropped getting a raised eyebrow from the half monster.

The psychic monster folded his arms “we shouldn’t be fighting right now.”

“Oh~ surrendering already? What happened to all that good shit you were spewing before huh?”

“Don’t you know the heroes will be here at any moment? I’m sure we can both agree that they are our mutual enemies at least so we should take it easy. You especially need to recover from your injuries if you wish to face them Hero Hunter.”

To that Garou let loose a harsh laugh filled with sadistic amusement “and there it is. You realize I’m not going to be someone who’ll roll over so you try to go back on your declaration. Sorry to say but you’re not weaseling your way out of this.”

“Hmph you misunderstand I simply want to conserve my stamina for the real fight.”

“I don’t care what your excuses are. You’re not getting out of this. If I get rid of you then the entire Monster Association will collapse” he lowered himself into a three point crouch and flexed his claws like an animal “time to hunt.”

In response Gyoro Gyroro huffed and rolled his eye “if you insist on being stubborn then fine. Lord Orochi you can take him~” he called out.

“What?”

Garou’s confusion was met with massive spikes erupting from the ground and enclosing in on him before he could even properly react.

“You-”

“Good luck~”

“Argh!” Garou groaned as he coughed up blood as he felt the thing gripping his body squeeze down with an ungodly amount of pressure.

Suddenly he was being pulled away from Gyoro Gyoro into a second room. It was there that he found the spikes to actually be claws and they were attached to the massive hand currently wrapped around his body in a vice grip. Said hand belonged to the Monster King himself who stared down at Garou with soulless glowing eyes. Garou’s struggle renewed with great vigor however no matter how much he tried he could not even budge an inch.

As this was going on the sound of gears turning permeated the area as the floors and walls shifted turning the large throne room into an even more expansive gladiatorial style arena.

“Ah, Lord Orochi don’t kill him he’s still useful.”

“…” the silent giant took one glance at Gyoro Gyoro before turning his attention to the struggling Garou before…

*CRUNCH*

“ARGH!” Garou screamed in agony as his bones audibly broke and practically vomited blood in the process.

Orochi released his grip and Garou fell to the ground in a twisted heap gurgling blood and with both his arms and a legs broken in odd angles. Yet still he continued to struggle something Gyoro Gyoro took notice of as the platform where his chair was seated was lowered and he got off to observe.

“You’re still going even after that?”

Audible cracks and grunts of effort can be heard as Garou seemingly forced his twisted body back into proper alignment including his arms which he raised above his head.

*Clench*

An audible pop can be heard as Garou’s spine is set into place and with a final grunt of effort Garou back flipped onto his feet.

“I wonder, where does this determination come from?” Gyoro Gyoro mused “though I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”

Garou completely ignored the talkative psychic as he silently glared at the true threat standing only a few feet away. Orochi did not speak nor did he move an inch. He merely stood there looking down at the half monster like a sentient monolith. Garou did the same meeting his unnerving stare with an unblinking glare from his hunched position. He did not even take a moment to properly spit out the blood and saliva he accumulated in his mouth. Rather he lets it dribble out like a cascading waterfall giving him the visage of a rabid animal.

*Twitch*

Garou’s eyes widened as he noted one of the horn-like protrusions on Orochi’s head wiggle before shooting out and extending towards him.

“…!”

*Crash*

In the blink of an eye the tentacle struck but Garou had dodged at the last moment however he underestimated its tenacity and by the time he realized it the tentacle had already changed position. It seemingly struck him in the gut before slamming him into the wall.

While this was happening Gyoro Gyoro provided commentary “the abilities of Lord Orochi’s horns were the first to be explored after his monsterfication. We discovered them to be tough yet flexible, fast and can extend to far distances. Perfect for dealing precision blows to small and quick opponents don’t you agree?”

As he finished Orochi’s horn tentacle was retracted however with one difference that Gyoro Gyoro noticed immediately.

‘What!?’ thought Gyoro Gyoro as he witnessed the now broken point of Orochi’s horn settle upon his head now the only imperfection amongst his ‘crown.’

From the dust of the initial impact Garou stepped out with the broken piece of the Monster King’s horn in hand.

“So what about it? As if I’ve never had someone try to impale me before. Hell one idiot even tried just a while ago” he held up the broken horn piece “it ended about as well for him!”

He yelled the last part before launching the horn tip at Orochi’s face like a javelin!

“Hrrm” a low growl-like rumble reverberated from the Monster King as all the horns on head extended to slap away the projectile and attack Garou.

The Hero Hunter yelled as his arms blurred deflecting the tentacles though it did not take long for him to abandon this approach and mount a strategic retreat. He ended up going up to the balconies where he picked up the chatter from several monsters drawn by the commotion were viewing the spectacle.

‘Perfect.’

With his mind set Garou blurred forward or tried to however no matter what the tentacles followed him. He only had a single moment after finally getting to the balcony to carry out his plan. Said plan was to literally rip the hearts out of the monsters and consume them. Said monsters didn’t even realize what had happened when Garou literally ran through them before they were enveloped by Orochi’s tentacles. Garou didn’t care, he ran with a handful of hearts and consumed them in large chunks as he continued to dodge the tentacles.

In the hours of him consuming various monsters Garou found that some parts gave him more calories to use than others. The hearts in particular would net him quicker bursts of recovery. As it was Garou consumed a handful of hearts and in a matter of moments following his concentration managed to fix his injuries and restore his energy stores. As a result his speed increased and combined with his erratic movements made it so that not even Orochi’s tentacles could properly keep up with him after a time.

Once Garou saw this he made his gambit, running along the walls and taking a flying leap towards Orochi’s head.

‘He used to be human so chances are he’ll have the same weaknesses.’

Garou did not expect for Orochi to suddenly mutate before his eyes, the humanoid façade of his face turning into a gargantuan mouth big enough to swallow a bus and filled with row upon row of razor sharp teeth.

“Whoa!!”

Luckily Garou was able to avoid being swallowed whole and landed a fair distance away. Turning back to the Monster King Garou’s jaw dropped at the sight of Orochi’s body seemingly unraveling into serpent-like creatures, mouths and claws. Despite resembling some kind of Lovecraftian horror Garou couldn’t help but give a little laugh of disbelief.

“Heh, first it was a monster dog and now it’s the king of the worms.”

Orochi seemingly in response directed its massive segmented mouth (as well as the mouths of the serpents) towards Garou before light began to shine from their collective maws.

‘Shit!’

*FWOOSH*

Concentrated beams shot out of Orochi’s various mouths spreading a tidal wave of fire that flash burned everything in the vicinity save for Gyoro Gyoro who erected a psychokinetic barrier to block the flames. Even Garou despite not being directly hit by them still ended up being engulfed in them due to the sheer amount being spewed from at least a dozen different mouths in various positions. The worst part was Orochi could track him meaning that he couldn’t hide in the chaos and the beams basically melt everything in direct contact so he couldn’t even hide behind cover.

The only course of action left for Garou was to endure the heat blasts whilst ensuring he didn’t get directly tagged by the beams.

Meanwhile Gyoro Gyoro continued to observe on the sidelines ‘he is able to survive superheated temperatures without issue.’

As distracted as he was with dodging the beams and powering through the flames Garou wasn’t so distracted that he didn’t notice when Orochi reformed his arm. Unfortunately despite perceiving it Garou could not get out of the way when the monster launched a punch directly at him.

*SMASH*

The fist came fast and created a shockwave that momentarily blew the flames away on impact. Yet beneath the fist Garou held firm his block despite the ground not being quite as sturdy as his body. Poor footing can be considered the primary reason for why Orochi managed to swipe his fist in an arc bypassing Garou’s block to send the half monster slamming into a wall on the far side of the arena.

“Lord Orochi is the ultimate being and someone far above your level” Gyoro Gyoro informed as he monitored the literal Garou shaped hole in the wall.

To the monster’s surprise Garou laughed even as he pulled himself through the hole “the ‘ultimate being’? Don’t make me laugh! You said it yourself your so-called ‘monster king’ is nothing but a glorified science project.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think” Gyoro Gyoro retorted “you won’t be able to defeat him. Just give up.”

“Hehehehe, not gonna happen” he gave a grin showing off his serrated teeth before tapping the side of his head “I figured out your movement patterns now. You won’t be able to land the same attacks on me twice. I’m turning this battle around starting right now.”

“You’re hardly in a position to gloat looking like that.”

By this he meant the fact that Garou was bloody, bruised, burnt and even broken in some places. He didn’t seem to mind this however because he made a breakthrough in the last encounter.

“Hmph, not a problem” then he clenched his fist and began to concentrate.

Almost immediately the wounds that littered his body, the burns, cuts, bruises and fractured bones began to mend themselves.

Within a matter of seconds Garou let loose a breath “good as new or well almost as new anyway.”

Gyoro Gyoro’s eyes widened he had already deduced Garou to have this ability. He saw from some reports that monsters looked to have been consumed and observed Garou himself consuming the hearts of a few monsters to regain his strength not even five minutes ago.

“This is unexpected” Gyoro Gyoro mused “you’ve made yourself to be quite the challenge despite only being a half monster but you are only prolonging the inevitable.”

“I’ll admit your experiment is pretty strong but strength is all he has. He doesn’t have that thing that would make him a true King of Monsters.”

“Oh? And what would that ‘thing’ be?” Gyoro Gyoro asked with genuine curiosity.

“Terror” Garou spoke.

“Terror?” Gyoro Gyoro echoed in confusion.

Devoid of wounds as he was Garou was still covered in dried blood and soot. It gave him the look of a shadowy wraith with only his gleaming serrated teeth and bloodshot eyes visible.

“He doesn’t have what it takes to inspire true terror” he continued with a sneer “because in the end he’s just a fake monster. Something you made in a lab and parade around as if it were the genuine article. I knew there was something off about you the moment I first laid eyes on you and now that I know the truth it makes so much sense. There is no ‘monster king’ just an illusion propped up for your own agenda. I refuse to acknowledge such a thing and I’ll prove just how ineffective your efforts ultimately are.”

And as he said this he settled into a stance with feet wide, hands forward and clawed fingers curled into claw strikes.

“Hmm, you certainly have a way with words Garou and your passion is noted however you are mistaken about something. Despite his laconic nature and beastly appearance Lord Orochi is far from a mindless behemoth incapable of thinking for himself.”

As Gyoro Gyoro spoke Orochi shifted back into a humanoid form and in a move that utterly shocked Garou he assumed the very same stance as him. More than that Garou could feel it wasn’t just some poor attempt at imitation either. Orochi actually knew what he was doing assuming that stance.

‘Don’t tell me he’s-’

“That’s right you are not the only fighting genius. Lord Orochi is capable of copying any move at a single glance, through prolonged observations can gleam the secrets of techniques and even predict movements through body language. Through fighting you Lord Orochi has grown again.”

‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Garou though as his mouth dropped a bit because what Gyoro Gyoro described was basically his own skill set.

Then for the first time since the battle began the Monster King addressed Garou directly “as you wish, I will bestow upon you Terror.”

Garou felt a chill run down his spine at the words however he swallowed any reservation “so you think you’ve copied my techniques? That’s laughable” he spoke as his stance switched a bit “but I’ll humor you. Thanks in advance for adopting a form that’s the most susceptible to my techniques.”

And he leapt at the monster king with Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist in his right hand and Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist in his left hand he yelled out

“I’LL MAKE SURE YOU REGRET IT!”

And as he closed in Orochi’s form partially collapsed with various serpents coming out to encircle Garou’s airborne form. All of these serpents had arms and all of them seemingly doing variations of the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist and Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist as well which only served to infuriate Garou further.

“OROOOOOCHIIIIIII!!!!”

~To Be Continued~