The brief respite was over. The serenity of a day off and the bizarre interlude with Fubuki were now filed away as pleasant memories. The alert about Garou, the "Human Monster," had lit a new kind of fire under King. It wasn't the panicked flame of fear, but the steady, hot burn of urgency.
As he strode into the familiar desolation of Z-City, his mindset was different. This wasn't practice. This wasn't about getting a feel for his powers. This was a resource acquisition mission, pure and simple.
"Tiger-level threats are the priority," he muttered to himself, his voice a low rumble that blended with the wind whistling through broken windows. "Maximum points for the time invested. Anything weaker... is just noise."
His new standard operating procedure was brutally efficient. He moved with purpose, his King's Eyes passively scanning the environment, his enhanced senses pinpointing the faintest trace of malevolent intent. The system's map was his GPS, and he was following the brightest red blips.
When a pack of three wolf-level creatures—jagged, insectoid things—scuttled out from a collapsed storefront, he didn't break stride. He simply looked at them, focused his will, and let the King's Aura - Lv. 3 do the work.
THUMP.
The pressure wave hit them like a physical wall. Their chittering cries cut off as one, their simple minds overloading with a terror so absolute it was lethal. All three froze, then simultaneously exploded into bursts of dissipating energy and gore.
[Wolf-level Threat: Razor-Mantis Pack - Status: Terminated]
[BP Generated: +1,350]
[Total BP: 6,070]
He didn't even slow down. "Efficient," he grunted, the points tally a satisfying chime in his mind.
His real targets were the larger, more resilient threats. He found a Tiger-level monster that was a shifting mound of molten rock and magma, lurking in a crater that had once been a subway entrance. It roared, hurling a glob of superheated stone.
King's King's Eyes flared. He saw the trajectory not as a line, but as a series of possible outcomes. He didn't dodge; he took a single step to the side, the magma ball passing harmlessly by his shoulder. He charged, his right arm sheathing itself in the brilliant gold of King's Armor. He didn't aim for the core; his pre-cognitive sight highlighted a fissure, a weak point created by its own volatile energy.
His punch wasn't a wild haymaker but a precise, armored lance. It sank into the fissure, and the resulting chain reaction made the monster implode before erupting in a shower of cooling rock and sparks.
[Tiger-level Threat: Magma Core - DEFEATED]
[Bonus BP for Weak Point Exploitation: +2,400]
[Total BP: 8,470]
The grind continued. A giant, winged Tiger-level beast was dispatched by a leap that showcased his new Agility, followed by an armored punch that shattered its spine mid-air. Another pack of Wolf-level monsters was erased with a thought. The BP counter climbed steadily, satisfyingly.
9,100... 11,300... 14,880...
After reducing a particularly durable crystalline scorpion monster to glittering dust, he finally paused, leaning against a crumbling wall. He was breathing heavily, not from exhaustion, but from the adrenaline of focused, relentless combat. He pulled up his status.
[Total BP: 17,250]
A good haul. A very good haul. It was time to see what his efforts had earned him. He navigated to the [LEGEND SHOP], his eyes scanning past the abilities he already owned. He needed the next logical step, the thing that would elevate his fighting from "competent" to "masterful."
Then he saw it, glowing with a more intense light than the foundational skills.
◙ High Combat Instincts (Adaptive)
- COST: 20,000 BP
- An advanced evolution of basic combat protocols. This ability does not grant knowledge, but rather an adaptive intuition for battle. The user's body and mind will learn and adjust in real-time, developing personalized counters, predicting complex attack patterns, and seamlessly integrating all other abilities into a fluid, unstoppable combat style. Effectiveness grows exponentially with battle experience.
King's breath caught. This was it. This was the difference between knowing how to throw a punch and understanding the art of the fight. It was the bridge between his raw stats and true skill. It would make his King's Armor, King's Eyes, and physical power work together not as separate tools, but as a single, unified weapon.
"Twenty thousand..." he whispered, a hungry gleam in his eyes. He was close. So close. Just a few more high-yield targets.
He looked out over the ruins, no longer seeing a desolate wasteland, but a field ripe for harvest. Every monster was a stepping stone to this prize.
"Alright," King said, pushing off the wall and cracking his neck. The King Engine gave a low, purposeful growl, a sound that promised not terror, but imminent and total obliteration. "Let's finish this. I have an upgrade to buy."
-
While on the lookout for more monster's to hunt King's enhanced senses, sharpened by the King's Eyes, screamed a warning a split-second before his ears registered the sound. It was a faint, whistling shriek, multiplying rapidly. His head snapped up.
A cloud of glinting, metallic projectiles—dozens of them, like a volley of arrows forged from scrap metal—was descending upon him. There was no time for his aura, no time for a grand stand.
His body moved on pure, honed instinct. His Agility, boosted to superhuman levels, took over. He didn't just dodge; he flowed. He twisted, sidestepped, and weaved through the deadly rain, the King's Eyes painting ghostly trajectories in his vision, showing him the safe paths between the shrieking metal. A razor-sharp shard grazed his jacket sleeve, tearing the fabric but failing to even scratch the hardened skin beneath. Another embedded itself in the concrete where his foot had been a moment before.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
The barrage ended as suddenly as it began. King stood amidst a circle of quivering metal arrows, his chest heaving slightly, not from fear, but from the explosive exertion of the dodge. His gaze, sharp and focused, tracked back to the source.
Hovering about fifty feet in the air was the attacker. It was a Tiger-level monster with the sleek, muscular body of a human archer, but its head was that of a vicious hawk, with cold, intelligent eyes and a cruelly hooked beak. Large, feathered wings, spanning nearly twenty feet, beat the air with powerful, rhythmic whooshes, keeping it aloft with effortless grace.
"Well, well," the monster rasped, its voice a dry, scraping sound. "A nimble one. Most of my prey just becomes a pincushion. This is more interesting." It notched another scrap-metal arrow into a bow made of what looked like sinew and bone. "I am Talon, the Sky Reaper. I've been waiting in this desolate place for a worthy human to test my aim on. Your flesh will be a fine meal."
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - Status: Hunting]
[BP Generated: +300]
King didn't waste breath on a reply. This was a new type of problem. A ranged attacker with the high ground. He focused, flaring his King's Aura. The pressure wave rolled out, making the air shimmer.
Talon merely let out a derisive caw, its wings beating harder to steady itself against the psychic onslaught. "A intimidating presence! Impressive! But intimidation is useless if your foe is out of reach, little ground-walker!"
It's too far, King thought, his mind racing. The aura's effectiveness weakens with distance, and it's intelligent enough to resist the fear.
Talon loosed another arrow, this one aimed not at King, but at the ground directly in front of him. King sidestepped, but the arrow exploded on impact, not with fire, but with a burst of concussive force that sent him stumbling back.
"HRMPH!" He grunted, his Vitality absorbing the worst of the blast.
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - Status: Amused]
[BP Generated: +150]
"This is no good," King muttered. He needed to close the distance. With a burst of his enhanced Agility, he kicked off the ground, launching himself toward the base of a half-collapsed building. He scrambled up the side with terrifying speed, his fingers finding purchase in cracks and exposed rebar.
"Trying to reach me?" Talon mocked, lazily drifting backward, maintaining its altitude advantage. It fired three arrows in quick succession. King's King's Eyes flared, and he moved like a squirrel, leaping from a windowsill to a crumbling ledge, the arrows shattering against the wall where he'd just been.
He reached the roof, a flat expanse littered with debris. He was now only about thirty feet below the monster. This was his chance.
He focused, and the King's Armor flared to life around his right fist. He channeled all his new Strength into his legs, crouched, and prepared to leap.
But Talon was ready. The moment King tensed his muscles, the monster's eyes gleamed. "I think not!"
It beat its wings violently, shooting another twenty feet higher into the sky, well out of any conceivable jumping range. At the same time, it unleashed a full volley—a dozen arrows fanning out to cover the entire rooftop.
King cursed under his breath. There was no dodging this. He crossed his arms, and the King's Armor spread into a wide, shimmering shield over his torso and head.
TING! TING! CRUNCH! TING!
The arrows hammered into his defensive aura, each impact sending a jarring vibration through his arms. One arrow, sharper than the rest, pierced partway through the golden energy before fizzling out, making King grunt with effort.
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - Status: Dominant]
[BP Generated: +200]
[Total BP: 17,900]
He was expending energy just to defend, while the monster was safely out of reach, taunting him. This was a battle of attrition, and Talon held all the cards.
"You see?" Talon called down, its voice dripping with condescension. "You are powerful, ground-walker. But power is meaningless if you cannot apply it! You are a beast in a cage, and I hold the key!"
King stood panting on the roof, his golden armor flickering. He was losing BP just by maintaining his defenses. He needed a new strategy, and he needed it fast. Staring up at the circling predator, he knew one thing for certain: he couldn't win this fight by playing the monster's game. He had to change the rules.
Running. It was the oldest instinct he had, the one that had kept him alive through countless misunderstandings. But this wasn't a panicked flight. This was a tactical retreat, a calculated maneuver. As another volley of scrap-metal arrows peppered the ground at his heels, King poured on the speed, his enhanced Agility carrying him through the ruins in a blur.
"Running away?!" Talon's mocking caw echoed from above. "I knew you were just another frightened animal! The legends of King are greatly exaggerated!"
The monster beat its wings, following with lazy, confident strokes. It was enjoying the hunt, its ego inflated by King's apparent retreat.
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - Status: Confident/Hunting]
[BP Generated: +100]
King didn't reply. His mind was a whirlwind of calculation. I can't reach it. My armor is useless if I can't make contact. The aura isn't strong enough at this range... but what if I get closer? Not to punch, but to...
His King's Eyes scanned the debris field he was sprinting through. Chunks of concrete, twisted rebar, a shattered marble column—all of them potential ammunition. The idea was absurd, but it was the only one he had.
I need it lower. I need it stunned. Just for a second.
He wove between the skeletal frames of old cars, using them as cover. An arrow sheared straight through a rusted door, missing him by inches. He needed the perfect spot. An area with plenty of rubble, and a clear line of sight.
He found it: a small, open plaza dominated by the collapsed facade of a bank. The ground was littered with head-sized chunks of granite from the fallen pillars.
"This will do," he grunted, skidding to a halt in the center of the clearing. He turned to face his pursuer, his chest heaving not from exhaustion, but from controlled adrenaline.
Talon hovered at the edge of the plaza, its hawk-like head tilted. "Finally accepting your fate? A noble gesture, to die in the open."
King remained silent, his body coiled. He focused inward, not on the expansive pressure of his aura, but on condensing it. He thought of the Binary Brawler, of the Taxi-Crusher. He thought of the sheer, primal terror he could evoke. He was going to put everything he had into a single, psychic blast.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, and then he unleashed the King Engine not as a warning, but as a weapon.
It wasn't a thump. It was a BOOM.
The sound was so deep, so vast, it felt less like a noise and more like a physical force slamming into the world. The very air in the plaza vibrated. The fine dust on the ground jumped. The windows in the surrounding ruins, what few remained, shattered.
Talon's smug confidence evaporated. Its wings faltered. The intelligent, calculating light in its eyes was replaced by pure, animalistic terror. It wasn't just hearing a heartbeat; it felt like the heart of the world itself was screaming its doom. It let out a shrill, panicked shriek, its flight pattern becoming erratic as it lost altitude, dropping almost fifteen feet in its stunned state.
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - Status: Mortally Terrified/Stunned]
[BP Generated: +1,500!]
NOW!
King didn't hesitate. His King's Eyes had already identified the perfect piece of rubble—a jagged, twenty-pound chunk of granite. In one fluid motion, he bent down, his King's Armor flaring around his right hand and arm, not for defense, but for power. He scooped up the rock, pivoted with the force of his entire superhuman body, and hurled it.
It wasn't a throw; it was a launch. The granite projectile tore through the air with the sound of a cannon shot, a golden streak of armored energy guiding its path.
Talon, still reeling from the psychic assault, had no time to react. The rock, empowered by King's Armor and his immense Strength, slammed into its left wing with a sickening crunch of bone and tendon.
The monster shrieked, this time in genuine agony. Its wing folded at a grotesque angle. Its hovering grace vanished, and it began to spiral out of control, crashing down onto the plaza in a heap of feathers and shattered pride.
King was already moving. He crossed the distance in three powerful strides. Talon looked up, its beak opening to plead or curse, but King gave it no quarter. His golden fist descended.
CRUNCH.
The fight was over.
[Tiger-level Threat: Talon, the Sky Reaper - DEFEATED]
[Bonus BP for Tactical Adaptation & Environmental Kill: +3,000]
[Total BP: 22,500]
King stood over the dissolving monster, his armor fading, his breath misting in the sudden quiet. He hadn't won with overwhelming power alone. He had won with strategy. He had used his enemy's arrogance and his own diverse toolkit against it.
He looked at his BP total. 22,500. More than enough.
A grim, satisfied smile touched his lips. He had the points.
-
The rush of victory over Talon was immediately followed by a cold, analytical after-action report in King's mind. He stood amidst the settling dust, the dissipating feathers of the Sky Reaper a stark reminder of his own limitation.
That was too close, he thought, his breathing steadying. I got lucky. If my aura hadn't stunned it, if my throw had been off by a few inches... He clenched his fist, the memory of his powerless leaps and desperate dodges fresh in his mind. I can't let that happen again. Power means nothing if you can't deliver it.
With a focused thought, he pulled up the [LEGEND SHOP]. The glowing interface was a map to his future strength, and he knew exactly where his next destination lay. His eyes found the prize immediately.
◙ High Combat Instincts (Adaptive) - COST: 20,000 BP
"Time to evolve," King murmured. He selected it and confirmed the purchase without a second of hesitation.
[BP: 22,500 -> 2,500]
[Ability Acquired: High Combat Instincts (Lv. 1)]
The sensation was not a download of knowledge, nor a surge of power. It was subtler, deeper. It felt like a key turning in a lock within his subconscious. The world didn't change, but his perception of it did. The positions of the rubble around him, the way the wind currents moved, the potential energy in his own stance—it all coalesced into a web of intuitive understanding. He knew, without knowing how he knew, that if an enemy charged from his left, the most efficient counter would involve a pivot on his right foot, using that specific piece of rebar as a lever. It was an instinct for optimization, for turning every variable in an environment to his advantage.
But his work wasn't done. The fight with Talon had exposed a critical weakness in his arsenal. He navigated back to the shop, his new instincts already guiding his search, filtering through the abilities with a ruthless sense of practicality.
Close-quarters power is covered. Defense and perception are covered. Now... range.
He scrolled, and several options glowed with promise, each a potential solution to his aerial—or simply distant—problems.
◙ Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon (Manifested)
- COST: 250,000 BP
- Fires a devastating beam of concussive energy. Power scales with user's Resonance stat. (Not the planet-destroying version of legend... yet.)
He dismissed it with a mental sigh. A dream for another day.
Further down, he found more affordable, foundational ranged abilities.
◙ Kinetic Blast Projection
- COST: 15,000 BP
- Launch a focused blast of pure kinetic force from the palms. Effective range: 50 meters. Damage scales with Strength.
◙ Seismic Clap
- COST: 12,000 BP
- Clap hands together to generate a powerful, wide concussive wave in a cone. Excellent for crowd control and knocking agile foes off-balance.
◙ King's Authority (Projected)
- COST: 18,000 BP
- A more advanced and focused application of the King's Aura. Allows the user to project a single, tangible pulse of intimidating will that can physically strike a target at a distance. Power scales with King's Aura level.
King's eyes lingered on each description. Kinetic Blast was a precise sniper rifle. Seismic Clap was a shotgun, perfect for what he just faced. King's Authority was the most intriguing—an extension of his greatest natural weapon.
He looked at his remaining BP: a paltry 2,500. It wasn't enough for any of them. But the goal was now crystal clear.
"A Seismic Clap would have ended that fight in seconds," he mused aloud, his voice a low rumble. "Or a Kinetic Blast to shatter its wings from a distance."
The path forward was no longer just about getting stronger in a general sense. It was about specialization, about patching the holes in his combat capabilities. He had the foundation. Now he needed the tools.
He closed the shop interface, the images of the ranged abilities burning in his mind. The grind had a new, specific purpose. The memory of Talon's mocking laughter would be the fuel.
"No more flying out of my reach," King vowed, turning his gaze back toward the heart of the ruins. The King Engine gave a low, determined growl. The hunt was back on, and every point earned was a step toward ensuring that no enemy would ever hold the high ground against him again.