Zhang Haoran and his entourage were leaving the hotel after packing their bags when they noticed an enormous fire raging in the distance.
“What’s going on over there? Quite a large fire it seems.”
Zhang Haoran tilted his head in confusion.
The bodyguards quickly took out their phones and began calling contacts who might know more.
“There’s been a villain attack on the parliament, resulting in the deaths of many lawmakers. To make things worse, the gate collapsed, causing an S-rank monster to appear.”
The first bodyguard to get the information reported it immediately.
“So these people can’t even protect their own legislative institutions? Haha!”
Zhang Haoran, who had been disappointed due to his son’s loss in a tournament, now scoffed loudly, finding fault with South Korea.
“Since ancient times, the Eastern people have had their fair share of outstanding individuals, but when looked at as a group, they fall short. Perhaps it’s better for them to be embraced by the greatness of China.”
Zhang Yichen flattered Zhang Haoran, trying to lift his mood with well-chosen words.
Despite how transparent these actions were in front of Zhang Haoran, a master of political acumen, the sight of his handsome son speaking this way did somewhat soothe his spirit.
The parliament where the villain was holding hostages.
Now, half of it was in ruins and ablaze.
No, it wasn’t just the parliament; the entire area had become a sea of flames.
A brilliant red heat ray emitted from Shaks’ hand swept through the troops stationed in front of the parliament, consisting of soldiers and police.
Without the durability buffs visible in a status window, the ordinary humans were torn in half at the slightest touch.
“S-someone save me…”
One soldier crawled on the ground, pleading.
He had lost his lower body, his intestines spilling onto the dirty asphalt.
“Damn it! Where did such a monster come from…!”
Not even the heroes who rushed over upon hearing about the gate collapse were an exception.
In front of Shaks, A-rank or lower heroes were almost no different from ordinary people.
Those without proper defensive gear were torn apart by the claws or beak-like appendages of Shaks.
Heroes wearing their full-body tight costumes were especially vulnerable to his attacks.
“Earthlings are fools! Daring to enter combat with mere scraps of cloth covering them!”
Shaks had no understanding of the heroic aesthetic.
He simply couldn’t comprehend why humans clad in such thin fabric dared to fight against him when they should have been wearing steel armor.
“What strength could this Dark Knight possibly possess to fight the likes of those on equal footing?”
The rookie B-rank hero, ‘Ice Cream Man,’ could hardly believe what his eyes were seeing.
The battle between Shaks and ‘Dark Knight’ was on an entirely different level.
He could barely make out their movements from the residual images left in the air.
The laser beams fired by the monster, aimed at ‘Dark Knight,’ obliterated everything around, including people, cars, and buildings, leaving nothing but scorched halves and spreading fire.
“Is this an S-rank monster…?”
Limited to B-rank, all ‘Ice Cream Man’ could do was focus on survival and rescuing lives.
Shaks’ blazing red heat ray carved another swath through the city.
The beam was something only armored A-rank heroes could withstand, leaving everything else in its path incinerated.
The B-rank ‘Ice Cream Man,’ not even at A-rank, threw himself to the ground just in time to narrowly evade the beam.
“Phew…”
He felt utterly powerless, verging on despair.
A young girl then entered his field of vision.
A cute young lady with cat ears and a tail.
She wore an academy uniform with an unusual belt strapped around her waist.
“Ah, no! You don’t belong here! This isn’t a place for students!”
Mistaking Isiah for an idealistic young hero-in-training, ‘Ice Cream Man’ shouted, recalling his own youthful naivety.
This was a hell-like scenario where even B-rank heroes like himself were struggling just to stay alive.
Courage like hers wasn’t appropriate in such circumstances.
The girl stopped in her tracks and manipulated a mechanism on the buckle of her belt.
“Meow!”
The catgirl adopted a peculiar stance, and her belt emitted a luminous glow.
【Transform】
A high-pitched mechanical sound from the buckle soon followed.
Particles, seemingly appearing from nowhere, began attaching themselves to the girl’s body, forming an elegant suit, transforming the frail girl into a fully-armored warrior.
【Gareas】
Amidst the burning city, the interdimensional warrior ‘Gareas’ had returned.
The suit had a sleek, sophisticated design, with sharp features around the eyes, giving an impressive and strong appearance.
The armor covering her whole body looked robust enough to repel any kind of attack.
With arms crossed in a unique posture, the warrior announced:
“Transformation complete.”
The mechanical voice of a woman, oddly synthetic yet somewhat catchy.
Isiah could now speak through the built-in emission device in her suit, which had taken some practice to get the hang of after a long period of disuse.
Feeling the immense power radiating from every inch of her transformed body, she trembled.
At this moment, she felt able to accomplish anything.
‘Dark Knight’ barely managed to plunge the Dragon Sword into Shaks’ body after catching up to him, then twisted and withdrew the blade with a flick.
『Critical Hit』
“Gghk…”
Shaks’ chest was pierced with a large hole, and he glared at ‘Dark Knight.’
With claws that resembled a savage beast’s talons, Shaks swiped behind him, reading ‘Dark Knight’s’ movement pattern and predicting his next attack.
“Oh no…”
‘Dark Knight’ habitually swung for a ‘neck slash’ whenever he saw an attack, and Shaks’ prediction was correct. His claws slashed across ‘Dark Knight’s’ body.
However, they only cut through a swirling cloud of black mist.
“Too close.”
Shinnoda managed to mistify himself just 0.01 seconds before the attack landed.
The slight delay caused by the cooldown after using ‘neck slash’ allowed the mist transformation to occur a bit late.
“I see. Moving behind me takes you a moment to prepare your next technique.”
Even that tiny less-than-a-second delay hadn’t escaped Shaks’ attention.
“…”
Shinnoda bit his lips.
“Damn. Even for an S-rank, this regenerative capacity is ridiculous.”
Just five seconds ago, the gaping wound in Shaks’ chest had already healed.
Also, Shaks wasn’t just fighting ‘Dark Knight.’ Even as they fought, he was still being bombarded by A-rank and B-rank heroes.
‘What am I missing?’
Despite inflicting what should have been fatal wounds multiple times, the damage was repaired almost instantly.
Even though he was dealing with an S-rank opponent, Shinnoda had to assume something was off about this monster’s ability and needed to rethink the solution.
At that moment, his eyes caught the ground rippling like the surface of a lake.
The city was covered with shallow red liquid.
This liquid was siphoning off red energy from those who had collapsed due to wounds.
‘This is a victim-energy absorption field!’
Having large numbers of people involved turned out to be counterproductive.
The powerless attacks from non-A-rank heroes were actually aiding the monster.
‘The weak should be excluded from the battle.’
“Get out. You’re just in the way.”
‘Dark Knight’ used the ‘neck slash’ technique to get close to the weaker heroes, warning them near their ears.
They initially resisted when he told them to leave, but ‘Dark Knight’ simply incapacitated them and threw them far away from the field.
“Dark Knight! We should join forces to defeat the monster! What are you doing? Have you no conscience as a human?”
S-rank hero ‘Invincible,’ arriving via helicopter, was deeply dismayed at ‘Dark Knight’s’ actions and reprimanded him sternly.
He believed the priority was to fight off the monster together.
“There’s a victim-energy absorption field on the ground. Heroes below A-rank are just hindrances.”
‘Dark Knight’ demonstrated the existence of the field by stomping his foot, producing a ‘splash’ sound.
“Ah, you’re right. My apologies for misunderstanding.”
‘Invincible’ looked sheepish, then decided to assist ‘Dark Knight’ in removing the weaker elements from the fight.
“Hold on, I’ll help.”
‘Dark Knight’ silently nodded in agreement.
‘Invincible’ gave a slight nod in return, clearing his throat to prepare for the use of a skill.
“An enemy that absorbs energy from their attacks, A-rank and lower should leave the battlefield!”
A roar resonated across the city, audible to everyone.
It was one of ‘Invincible’s skills originally designed to pull aggro from monsters but easily repurposed to relay information to allies.
As everyone knew about ‘Invincible’s roar, A-rank and lower heroes quickly retreated.
“Now, this should be enough.”
“Good.”
The approving glance from ‘Invincible’ made ‘Dark Knight’ acknowledge his decision positively.
