Crocodile Hunt
Crocodile Hunt
"Stardus!!! If you don't come out!!! I'll smash everything!!!"
Right in the heart of the city where a festival was underway.
What was happening there now was no longer a festival, but a funeral.
"Aaaah!"
Screams erupted from all directions.
Citizens caught in the sudden attack lay collapsed everywhere.
Boom— Boom—
Buildings, booths, streetlamps.
A monster approached, indiscriminately smashing everything in his path.
His entire body was covered in green scales; his name was Crocodile Man.
He had first appeared around the middle of the Original Work.
As I remembered it, he had been a scientist experimenting on crocodiles when some accident fused him with one. Something like that.
But that's not the important part. The important part is that the bastard isn't supposed to be showing up here.
It was not time for him to appear yet, so I had not even placed him on my priority-elimination list. Where the hell had he suddenly come from?
"Stardus!!! Why aren't you coming out!!! Are you too busy sucking face with Egostic!!!"
...Wait, was that why he had appeared?
Watching him work himself into a rage mid-sentence and smash everything around him was quite a sight.
"Hrrgh, nnngh."
Quite a few people lay on the ground groaning.
Most people managed to flee early enough, but plenty were still caught in the mayhem, collapsed and moaning.
This guy normally lives as an ordinary man but can turn into a crocodile monster whenever he wants, which makes him especially vicious.
Ah, if only he hadn't transformed, it'd have been a simple teleport, ambush, one bullet, done. I should have killed him instead of slacking off.
Anyway, the damage is already done.
He just popped out of nowhere demanding Stardus and raising hell...
Crocodile Man. This was probably the first time the public had ever seen him. Until now, he must have been living in hiding.
The Hero Association would later classify him as an A-rank villain. Honestly, I thought giving him S-rank would have been perfectly reasonable. The Association was generally far more generous when ranking villains than heroes, so I had no idea why it had assigned him only A-rank.
Anyway, this guy was a real pain in the ass in the original story.
His skin was covered in thick scales, rendering most ordinary physical attacks nearly useless.
A monster who can just brute-force tank bullets, bombs, and the like.
That made him an extremely difficult opponent for Stardus, whose only real offensive tool was super-strength. No matter how hard she hit him, he could endure almost all of it.
Especially problematic was his obsession with Stardus. He was the series' first villain who didn't simply cause random chaos but specifically singled Stardus out and called for her by name. Honestly, I'd taken a great deal of inspiration from him when I called for Stardus myself. And whenever I called, our justice-driven Stardus would usually come running.
Anyway, right now it's a crisis.
Some green-haired, spray-tanned gym bro who looked capable of a five-hundred-kilogram total across the big three lifts was trying to steal Stardus's attention from me.
No! Did he think I would let some green-haired NTR bastard steal my Stardus?
The timing was also terrible. He had launched his attack when it was extremely difficult for Stardus to respond. Because she happened to be here, returning to the Hero Association for Recognition Reduction would cost precious time. Everyone could die before then. What about all those people lying there groaning and bleeding?
Right. The odds that Stardus would charge in bare-faced without receiving Recognition Reduction were one hundred percent.
Absolutely not.
Anyone who had read the late-story arc "Revealed" knew that the world became hell for Shin Ha-ru after her identity was exposed. Malicious comments, terrorist attacks, and assassination attempts poured down on her like a waterfall. The abuse multiplied without end.
Right. I was doing all of this to make Stardus happy, so there was no way I could stand by and watch it all come crashing down.
So I had no choice but to step in.
But what if people started calling me an antihero again after this?
Then I needed an excuse—no, an explanation. And to provide one?
I had to start a broadcast before going in.
Haa. Honestly, at this point I did not know whether I was a villain or a YouTuber.
***
"Stardus!!! Still not coming out!!!"
Crocodile Man roared after knocking down everything around him.
He clenched his fist in anger.
His fist was practically the size of a human head.
"Fine, then I have no choice. I'll kill every last person here!!!"
Fist still clenched, he strode toward the collapsed rubble where people were trapped.
As Crocodile Man walked toward them, the downed people writhed, trying somehow to escape, but they were already battered and couldn't move a muscle.
When the shadow of his clenched fist finally loomed over them, they were frozen in terror.
"P-please, spare..."
"Don't blame me, blame Stardus!!!"
Just as he raised his hand to bring his fist down, and the people shut their eyes tight, sensing death—
In the sudden silence of the area, music started to play.
"Hm?"
Crocodile Man tilted his head.
A lively rock song completely at odds with the scene began to ring out.
As a noisy electric-guitar solo came from somewhere nearby, Crocodile Man turned his head.
And what he saw was me, standing on the rooftop of a building next door.
I stood on the rooftop railing, looking down at Crocodile Man.
To my right, a Bluetooth speaker set to maximum volume blasted the music.
I swayed to the beat on the rooftop. Nothing too vigorous—I merely moved with the rhythm and occasionally clapped along. A first appearance had to be flashy, after all.
And to my left, a camera hovering with telekinesis was streaming my appearance live to YouTube.
Should I greet them?
Alright, let's get into character one more time.
"Good day, everyone! We meet again so soon. I am Egostic, the true villain of this era and South Korea's public enemy. A pleasure!"
*
[Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic!]
[My porn has arrived]
[Is Mangostic a god? Is Mangostic a god? Is Mangostic a god?]
[bro really called himself a real villain and public enemy lmaooo]
[enemy of the people??? lol]
[Did he mispronounce true hero of this era?]
[Wasn't he the public's hero? honestly idk]
[lol opening's already hilarious why is he dancing lmaooo]
[No but where even is this???]
[oh isn't that the place where the green monster's attacking?]
[looks like it?]
[no but why the hell is this guy here too lol]
*
The Ego Bundle I'd brought from the underground base was still strapped to my back.
I rummaged through it and pulled out a wireless microphone. Let us see... pair it with the speaker? Done.
Before long, the music stopped and the speaker connected to the microphone.
I tapped the microphone once.
Tap.
Thud.
A heavy sound boomed from the speaker when I tapped the microphone.
Good, seems like it's connected.
"Aaah, mic test. Mic test."
When I spoke into the microphone, my voice blasted from the speaker beside me at an enormous volume. Ah, shit, my ears were going to go deaf.
Seo-eun had specially modified the speaker, so despite its small size, it produced as much sound as one of the massive speakers at a concert venue. Yes, they would hear this clearly from the street below.
I put the microphone to my mouth and addressed the crocodile bastard below. I considered using polite speech as usual, but no—the prick was annoying, so I dropped the formalities.
"Listen up, you crocodile bastard. You're surrounded. Surrender immediately."
Crocodile Man, who had been about to begin massacring civilians below, looked up at me and changed direction, walking toward my building.
Then he shouted a question at me. Why was that bastard so loud without a speaker?
"Who the hell are you!!!"
"I'm Egostic, the man you were slandering a few minutes ago, asshole."
"What!!!"
The crocodile-faced bastard squinted up at me, apparently nearsighted. After staring for a while and finally recognizing my face, he began shouting in fury.
"You bastard!!! You're Egostic!!!"
"Yeah, I'm Egostic."
"You wretch!!! I'll kill you!!!"
Then he suddenly charged toward me. The abrupt outburst caught me completely off guard. What had I even done to him?
More importantly, I was on top of a building. How exactly did he plan to reach me? Was he going to take the elevator?
Before I could even finish the thought, he jammed his hands into the building's outer wall and started climbing. Was this guy completely insane?
"Raaaaaaaaaaagh!!!"
"The hell are you doing?"
He climbed the building while roaring.
I simply stood and watched. He was climbing faster than an elevator, I would give him that. The building was not especially tall, so he would reach the roof soon.
"Raaagh!!!"
At last, he climbed all the way up.
When he landed on the rooftop, a heavy thud shook the building.
"You wretch!!! I'll kill you!!!"
"Can we at least try talking first?"
The moment he reached the rooftop, he charged at me. I easily avoided him with a short teleport directly behind him. There was no need to go far. I left the speaker on the ground and brought only the microphone and the Ego Bundle.
He looked flustered when his charge missed and I vanished. Had he not seen on the news that I could teleport? What was he doing?
He turned his head searching for me, so I repeatedly teleported behind him and stayed completely outside his field of vision. He became utterly confused. Had he always been this stupid?
Eventually, I lost patience and slapped the back of his head with my palm.
"What are you doing, you moron?"
This guy seemed a little slow...