"It worked?!"
Seeing the four-legged serpent suddenly stiffen, Masata felt a surge of excitement.
Sure enough, every Quirk had its own irreplaceable role.
But that sense of relief lasted only a moment.
Jiro's Quirk couldn't be sustained for long. As the sound waves faded, the serpent shook its massive head, clearly disoriented—but far from defeated.
"Take advantage of it while it's vulnerable—finish it!"
Since the creature was completely unfazed by the heat of magma, Masata had no choice but to rely on brute force.
"Heaven Dog!"
His arm burned red-hot like molten iron. This time, instead of clenching his fist, Masata flattened his hand into a blade. Propelled by explosive magma pressure, he lunged forward at terrifying speed, slashing toward the serpent before it could fully recover.
"Zzzzz—!"
The crimson hand-blade collided violently with the pitch-black scales.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling spectacle—only the sharp hiss of moisture being instantly vaporized.
Masata's expression darkened.
This strike gave him a much clearer understanding of the monster's defense.
His most powerful attack could barely pierce its scales.
Still, under the immense kinetic force generated by magma propulsion, the blazing hand-blade finally cut through the armor and plunged into the creature's body. Superheated magma flooded inside, mercilessly destroying organs and burning away its vitality.
"Hiss—!!!"
The four-legged serpent snapped awake from the agony. Its massive body writhed violently, thrashing several meters in every direction before flinging Masata away with brutal force.
BOOM!
Masata failed to fully elementalize in time. He slammed hard into a towering tree—one so thick it would normally take three people to wrap their arms around it—shattering the trunk before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Masata! Are you okay?!"
Yaoyorozu Momo shouted anxiously.
"Ahem… I'm fine."
Masata spat out a mouthful of blood, wiped it away, and forced himself upright. His gaze immediately shifted toward the cave entrance he had sealed earlier.
The dark-red lava had already cooled and turned black, fusing seamlessly with the cliff face. Under normal circumstances, nothing should have been able to break through it.
Boom!
Just as that thought formed, the mountain wall trembled violently again.
From the hole carved open by the four-legged serpent, creatures of all shapes and sizes began to pour out in a grotesque flood.
"Damn it…"
Masata clenched his teeth. He had focused too much on the serpent and neglected the larger problem. And now it was coming back to bite him.
The wounded four-legged serpent grew even more ferocious. Its triangular eyes were bloodshot, and its thick tail smashed repeatedly against the ground, further tearing apart the already devastated terrain.
"Momo! You handle the hole! I'll deal with this oversized earthworm!"
The serpent was far beyond what the others could handle alone. In terms of size and strength, it was clearly the strongest creature here—possibly the apex monster of this experimental base.
"Leave it to us!"
Yaoyorozu answered immediately, her expression resolute.
She signaled to Kurosawa Yoru and Chacha, distributing the thermal weapons she had just created. Then she lifted the machine gun she had produced earlier, aimed it at the cave opening, and opened fire.
"Da-da-da-da—!"
The muzzle flared continuously as bullets stitched together into a deadly stream, mowing down the monsters pouring out of the narrow passage. Most creatures lacked sufficient defense, and the confined space amplified the killing efficiency.
A few thick-skinned monsters managed to charge through the barrage—but Chacha and the others were waiting with grenades. Explosions echoed as those creatures were torn apart before they could advance.
Mina darted through the battlefield with terrifying agility, her high-concentration acid splashing across enemy bodies. White mist billowed as flesh corroded instantly.
"Jiro! I need your help!"
Jiro's sonic attack had proven effective earlier. Masata needed her to restrain the serpent again so he could finish it decisively.
Jiro steadied herself and slammed her headphone jack into the ground, preparing to unleash another soundwave.
But the four-legged serpent had learned.
Its triangular eyes locked onto her—the source of its earlier disorientation. With terrifying intelligence, it drove its claws into the ground and twisted its massive body in an unnatural motion.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished beneath the surface.
"…Huh?"
Jiro froze in confusion. Sound waves propagated poorly underground—there was nothing she could do.
"It ran?!"
Masata felt a surge of frustration. Nothing was more infuriating than an enemy disappearing right as you prepared your finishing move.
He stomped the ground repeatedly, creating pools of lava across the battlefield—but there was no sign of the serpent.
Chasing it underground was possible, but the situation near the cave entrance was deteriorating rapidly. Masata couldn't abandon the others.
Although many monsters had been eliminated, they were only a fraction of the total. More than a dozen were already on the field, and even more continued to pour out relentlessly.
Yaoyorozu's firepower was reaching its limit. No matter how fast she produced weapons, consumption far outpaced creation. Her fat reserves were nearly exhausted.
Once the ammunition ran dry, the situation would turn catastrophic.
Masata immediately turned back, preparing to reinforce their line and seal the hole for good.
"Get out of the way—NOW!!!"
Jiro's panicked scream suddenly cut through the chaos.
Masata turned instinctively—and saw a massive, reeking maw lunging toward him.
The four-legged serpent erupted from a magma pool beneath his feet, bursting upward in a perfectly timed ambush.
Its jaws opened wide, razor-sharp fangs filling Masata's vision. A flash of cunning gleamed in its eyes.
Before anyone could react, the serpent clamped down.
Masata's upper body vanished into its mouth.
Its jaws snapped shut violently, leaving only Masata's lower half standing on the ground.
"MASATA!!!"
The battlefield froze for a split second.
Shock rippled through everyone. Gunfire faltered. The monsters seized the opening and surged out of the cave in greater numbers.
In that instant—
The situation became unimaginably dangerous.