75
Ch.75 Reinforcements
D-City had consistently reported that there was no abnormality in the city, with its S-rank heroes and mayor stepping forward.
But the moment its insides were forcibly pried open, the rotten, crumbling flesh beneath was revealed.
The strangest among them all were the recent alarm activation records.
"647 monster alerts across D-City recently…?"
"Even without any properly activated alarms, if there are that many, doesn’t that mean monsters are present in every district?"
Currently, D-City is displaying alerts that monsters are appearing in every district.
Just as Yoo Anna’s claim that D-City might have already become a nest for monsters was gaining traction, Kage manipulated the server and connected to D-City’s surveillance cameras.
[The government bastards are gonna have something to say again… If they hear a hero arbitrarily use the master code.]
"Handle it. You’ve done it before."
Most of D-City’s surveillance cameras were broken.
Unclear whether deliberately disconnected or simply damaged, the screens were filled with noise.
Only a handful of screens remained intact enough to make out shapes.
Human blood, black and smeared across the ground, and pristine white buildings.
Humans running somewhere suddenly burst apart, and insect monsters erupted from their corpses.
[What the hell was that just now?]
"Infected humans?"
It was a horrifying sight.
Insects tearing through human bodies—likely parasites that had evolved by feeding on nutrients inside humans.
The insect monsters, now familiar with the sound of flight, headed somewhere in unison.
Insects chasing something spat acid in sync.
A black shadow flashed past at blinding speed, exploding grotesquely in various places.
"...Huh?"
Too fast for the cameras to capture.
But to the W-City heroes, that attack pattern was all too familiar.
Then, on another screen—one of the few still functioning—countless insect monsters flew like fighter jets, and the distinct ripple of telekinesis spread through the air.
Insects rained down, followed by a storm, fire, and lightning that engulfed the screen.
Through the mechanical eyes of the cameras, the end of a city was witnessed.
[Oh God…! Oh God…!]
[Save me, save me!]
Humans who knelt begging for salvation were bitten apart by insects, burned by flames, and died.
Amidst buildings flying apart from the vibrations of a powerful core, the noisy screen flickered and died.
One by one, the screens went dark, and something black revealed itself.
[Oh God…]
What appeared on the screen had no definite form.
Or rather, it had too many forms—impossible to define as any single thing.
Like the darkness of the sea, it encroached over the city, and with every movement, the world on the screen crumpled and unfolded like thin paper.
Endlessly shifting between countless monster forms—one moment an insect, the next a dog’s silhouette, then a bird, then an indescribable mass of tentacles.
And when its scream was transmitted through the surveillance cameras as noise, the dissonance reached even the superpower humans beyond the screen like a shared thought.
Death—a howl that desired nothing else.
Humans, torn apart by insects bursting from their bodies under the incomprehensible waves of death, exploded, leaving dark red stains across the city.
In a situation that could only be described as hell, the heroes fell silent.
"Is that… the Black Cat?"
Countless monster forms, supernatural abilities—judging by those traits alone, it had to be the Black Cat.
The same creature that napped cutely in W-City was now rampaging through D-City.
And it seemed to be enjoying itself.
Tearing apart the city and humans as it played.
"Wh-what the hell is happening here?"
"Since when was D-City in this state?"
"That’s the Black Cat, right? That thing…?"
"...Judging by the joint movements, it’s definitely the Black Cat. At most, three days—no, two days ago."
Yoo Anna answered the heroes’ hushed questions.
When they had contacted D-City, Vector, D-City’s S-rank hero, insisted there was no problem and even showed Yoo Anna a live feed of the city center.
A pristine white city, children playing happily, citizens who seemed content—as if there had been no recent monster attacks.
And now, in just a day, it had turned into this.
Could it be… That this time, the Black Cat really—
"Did the parasites eat away its brain, erasing the part that wanted to protect humans…?"
"Don’t be stupid. If that were the case, it would’ve gone berserk in W-City first."
"Maybe it didn’t go because it was infected—maybe it went to D-City to exterminate the parasites?"
"That’s too optimistic."
"Optimistic…? Not really, looking at D-City’s situation."
Either way, the blurry surveillance cameras provided too little information.
Amidst the uneasy heroes, two S-rank heroes spoke different words that carried the same meaning.
"They need reinforcements now."
[Reinforcements are needed… No, investigators.]
It was decided that S-rank heroes would be deployed to the already crumbling city.
The objective: assess the situation and suppress the monsters.
Rescuing survivors was not part of the plan.
***
Thump…
Thump…
With every pump of the heart, no, the core, monster blood filled its entire body.
The instinct for slaughter and destruction, flooding its mind, made the destruction wrought by its abilities exhilarating.
The excitement of play, the satisfaction of savoring delicious food.
But D-City was small.
Like a single lonely radish in a tiny dish.
The tilted bell tower swayed under telekinetic waves, the bell letting out broken, dull chimes.
[I won’t forgive this, I won’t forgive thiiiiis! My city, everything I had…!]
How many times had the sun and moon risen and set?
The creature that had tried to stop me from killing and consuming the infected humans eventually realized its human form couldn’t stop me and transformed into its current state.
It no longer resembled a human.
A mass of black, glossy-shelled insects fused into a single form.
A conglomerate of parasites using human brains and hearts as core components.
The evolved parasites flowed like the creature’s swinging arms, surging and receding.
[What will you do if you can’t forgive me?]
Its form was disgusting but not threatening.
A storm of insects—weaklings banding together were still weaklings.
Pulling the shape of a bird from its ever-shifting body for just a moment, I released a shockwave that sliced through the air, sweeping the insects away.
It struggled desperately to block my abilities, but my output was superior—having fed on the rotten flesh of the infected.
Hundreds of thousands of insects, a force that would’ve been a Despair-class threat against humans, died too easily to a single blade.
Tearing apart its telekinesis, I laughed.
[In the end, even your monster form is just imitating a Despair-class monster.]
Neither human nor a proper monster.
Overwhelmed by the difference in power, it howled, exuding a strangely familiar emotion.
[Why… Whyyy?! Why do you keep ruining the plan?!]
Despair, curses, resentment.
Emotions are too foreign to come from a monster’s body.
[Why are you doing this to me, why?! Haven’t you realized yet?! You’re just an experiment, you can’t possibly understand our noble purpose!]
[Aren’t you just an experiment too?]
[I… Am a god! The messiah who will save this world!]
[How stupid. A monster can’t save humanity.]
The chittering of insects and the laughter of multiple monsters intertwined into dissonance.
Kreeee! Amidst the distorted air from clashing telekinesis, I tore space apart and unleashed my ability while mocking it.
It abandoned the air to withstand lightning, then formed an exoskeleton to resist flames.
Then, how about ice this time?
The breath of a snowy mountain—insects touched by the ability froze and shattered.
The insect horde, connected to the core, recoiled in fear of death.
And then, like exploding humans, they scattered.
[Hm?]
What emerged from within was the S-rank hero’s core, mimicking a human form once more.
Now almost entirely replaced by monster flesh, its multi-layered eyes glittered as it activated its ability.
Parasites rained down under the overloaded ability’s wavelength, and its exoskeleton split with a crack.
It unleashed powerful telekinesis, seemingly to block me from reaching the insects.
"Grrrr…"
Had it realized it couldn’t win against me and changed tactics?
The insect swarm was a decoy—it had been strengthening the core inside.
And even strengthening the core was a ruse—it had been implanting parasites into the insects.
The core was buying time, planning to leave D-City and spread elsewhere to build new nests.
"I will return…! This is a trial! The god will be reborn!"
Not a bad—no, an excellent decision.
If it succeeded in establishing itself in another city, it could secretly bring ruin like it had done to D-City.
I hadn’t expected something this enraged to choose escape over battle.
[I underestimated the parasitic monster’s nature.]
For a brief moment, I considered how to deal with the core and catch all the insects.
What came to mind was Kage’s ability—isolation fields and Electress’s omnidirectional discharge.
Should I mimic it? Form a giant cage like an electric field.
The moment I thought it, the two abilities I envisioned covered D-City.
"Wh-what is this…?!"
Kwa-rrrum! Lightning bullets shot from the sky like spiky hailstones, piercing the fleeing insects.
Then, a faint-colored veil enveloped the entire city.
Flimsy enough that even a Disaster-class could tear through—but the weak insects couldn’t penetrate it.
Soon after, something like a massive shell smoothly pierced the veil.
Kwaang! The shell landed on the ground, transforming into an armored figure gripping a spear-like projectile.
"Perfect timing… A hero cannon? Who came up with this nonsense?"
"Pretty sure only you could’ve survived that."
"Doesn’t matter. The fact that it matched your arrival speed makes this creation worthwhile."
Kur-rrum! A brown-skinned woman landed with a thunderous sound, stretching her legs, and a knight who conjured shields.
Two S-rank heroes from A-City.
"Well then, is the opponent one Despair-class and Code: Baal, or… Just one Code: Baal?"
Whooosh! As Kage clenched his fist, the isolation field covering the entire city rapidly compressed, shrinking to the size of a single district.
The infected humans still hiding within were forced toward the center.
Seeing this, Number 3 shed his monster exoskeleton and shouted at the heroes.
"The enemy—the enemy is the Black Cat! The Black Cat did this to D-City!"
"Help us, Kage! Electress!"
"Kill the Black Cat!"
"Save us!"
Number 3 and the infected, mimicking humans, rushed toward Kage.
Feeling the situation shift rapidly, I bristled with tension.
I didn’t expect this… Fighting two—no, three S-rank heroes… Might be tough.
"Oh? Vector, you’re alive?"
"Th-that thing is strong. The whole city is like this because…?!"
"Electress, protect us…?!"
At that moment, Kage reached out and grabbed Number 3, while Electress pointed a single finger at the infected humans.
"Guh…?!"
"Kyaaah!"
The two heroes’ abilities trapped the core in a confined space while lightning pierced through the infected humans.
Electress, having burned a group of humans in an instant, blew smoke from her fingertips and spoke.
"Look at them. They’re so convincingly human."
"Good thing we came in person. A softie like Starlight would’ve hesitated to kill them."
"Guh, ah, aah… Aaaaah!"
Kage glanced at Electress and twisted his clenched fist.
Crunch, crunch—like crushing something underfoot, the isolation field tightened, and the core lost its human form.
Its head crumpled, and the pile of parasites at its feet bubbled like boiling oil.
"Go wild, Electress."
"Don’t order me around!"
"Sa-save me, save meee!"
"Y-you murderer!"
Kwa-rrrum! A streak of lightning began sweeping through the infected humanoid.