8 Preparation

Hero Association

A tense air surrounded the conference room. Occupied by Sitch and a few other executives were going through the newly presented report on the battle on City Z. The screen in front of Sitch flickered with three figures, discussing the same matter.

The people on the screen were the highest-level executives and donators of the Hero Association. Sitch gave them a detailed report on the situation of the Monster Association.

With the abduction of the executive's son and preparation for the rescue, Sitch put forward all the plans.

Finally, several pictures of the mutilated corpse of the Centipede, along with statements of two S-rank heroes and other A-rank heroes, came on the screen.

"We can delay the matters related to King's rank for the moment. Focus on rescuing the child. People will lose faith in Hero Association if we cannot protect our own." The people on the screen gave their verdict.

After the online conference was over, Sitch focused on the people around him.

"Let's gather all the S-rank for the meeting. We need to prepare in advance if we are raiding Monster Association hideout." With that, the preparation for the raid started.

...

King returned to his room from Z-city. He took a much-needed bath. Although he was able to remove the blood of Centipede, the smell was still lingering in clothes.

Coming out of the bath, he received a message for gathering at Association.

King took on his usual clothes and a cap.

Just out of curiosity, he called for the attribute panel.

[Body under construction... Try again later]

'What about my status Panel?'

[Body under construction... Try again later]

'So, I am just waiting for my body to update.'

Getting no answer from the system, King left the apartment.

For no reason, Kind decided to take public transportation to City-A. He changed transportation two times, and it took him four hours to reach the Association.

...

In one of the conference rooms of the Association, S-rank heroes gathered to plan for the raid.

Child Emperor produced a tall hologram showing internal layers of the Monster Association hideout.

Amidst the discussion, Amai Mask entered the room and showed dissatisfaction for not inviting him.

"KING IS HERE..."

Followed by two black suit guys from Association, King entered the room as well.

Being the center of attention of everyone in the room, he didn't feel any distress or emotions.

Amai Mask stopped his ranting and moved to the side, "Since King is here, I will take my steps back. But I will take part in the strike. It's not negotiable." Amai Mask makes a quick exit from the room.

King went on and took his seat. Nobody complained about him being late. Just a few minutes ago, they were all watching the aftermath of the monster in Z-city.

"Mr. King going against such monsters alone is not safe. Like you, Drive Knight went alone and currently missing. We should fight together." Child Emperor took the initiative to ease the situation.

King nodded, acknowledging Child Emperor's words.

Child Emperor then briefed on the plan. The plan was to split the force into two groups. The first was the underground strike team and the second surface support team.

Every S-rank hero got assigned a different route to enter the Monster Association hideout.

...

King decided to follow the plan for the moment. He may be the only one who had sensed the monster hiding beneath the layer of Monster Association.

On his way out, he found Silverfang and Bomb in the lobby. He discovered Genos and Silverfang were not included in the plan.

Under the request of Bang to enter the layer through his route, he agreed to let Bang and Silverfang tag with him.

...

Z-city

Entering the city, King sensed the bald guy was already inside the hideout, "What a coincidence? Should I move alone too?"

But he discarded the idea, "At least not now. I will take action on my own when something big happens."

Soon after, Silver fang and Bomb arrived accompanied by Fubuki and Genos.

"I think you guys shouldn't mix up with others. I will be back after leaving a message." King said. As Silver fang and Genos weren't in the group. It was better if others didn't know for the moment.

King left a quick message to one of the heroes and returned to join the group.

"There is quite a lot of monster in this area. It will be good if we clear them up before entering underground." Due to the system currently being under under-construction, he couldn't get any points from the monster. They didn't interest him that much.

But due to the situation, he needed to clear them, and fast as well.

"You guys be aware of the surrounding." leaving this sentence behind, King jumped on top of the buildings.

The monsters started appearing from all around the building and underground. Bang, Silver fang, Genos, and Fubuki took action immediately.

The monsters appeared, toppling the buildings and roaring their lungs out.

Then another sound started echoing in the surrounding. It was loud and pounding.

DUM... DUM... DUM... DUM...

King skillfully controlled his ability of King Engine to cover the entire area. Boosting perception with attribute amplification and activating SSK mode to make the Engine more effective, he unchained his powers.

A magical, awe-inspiring, and heart-chilling scene appeared in front of heroes and monsters.

Hearts of the monsters started exploding like fireworks, spraying blood in the air. It created a bloody spectacular in the streets and left behind blood stains and corpses of monsters.

"This works even better. Even Demon threat level monsters got blasted." his mouth curled up into a smile. He jumped back down to meet with the shocked gazes of his group. "Let's go. We don't need to waste too much time with these foot shoulders."

...

"Looks like the welcome party have arrived," Child Emperor licked his lollipop. He was a little anxious due to King leaving without noticing him directly, 'Does he think I'm just a child after all.'

The monsters started to appear from around and surround the group of heroes.

--Just then

DUM... DUM... DUM... DUM...

"What's that sound?"

"Is that what I think it is?"

A spectacular display of bloody fireworks followed the sound.

The A-class heroes felt their chests tighten. Subconsciously they took a few steps back. Some felt their legs go numb.

The S-class heroes felt goose bumps just from hearing the sound.

"This is indeed the sound of King's Engine." Atomic Samurai confirmed, "It looks like he was always holding himself back."

The display of power boosted the confidence of the support team even further. Everyone looked up to King for strength and abilities. Nobody wanted to lose face in front of a figure like King.

The heroes marched forward with excitement and oozing battle intent.

The Monster Association was not the only one with monsters.

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