CHAPTER 217: CHAPTER 217: PREPARE FOR BATTLE!

--Saturday, May 30, 2172

[Is it just me, or is the air in here better than outside?]

While Kai was speaking at super speed with Sage, Kamui Woods sent a telepathic message with a bewildered tone at the same time he extended his right arm to attack a spider. Everyone present nodded in agreement. The air didn’t just feel fresh and abundant; it even made them feel more energetic. At that moment, Shino sent a comment through a telepathic message.

[According to my armor’s data, the oxygen level in the air is close to 28%.]

[Is that why the spiders are so big?! Are they like dinosaurs?!] Tomoko asked with sparkling eyes. All Might quickly stepped forward and sent a telepathic message in a serious tone.

[Now is not the time for that. The spiders that came out are coming back.]

Upon hearing All Might, the group focused on the mental image, where they indeed saw that the spiders that had left were starting to return. Even the three ’super-powered’ spiders that had been chasing them earlier were now rushing toward the web at full speed, ready to crash into it head-on. Edgeshot, stretching his muscles a bit and recovering from the dizziness, sent a telepathic message while looking at Kai.

[Ryukyu just gave me a summary of the situation. Thanks for the help, Saito.]

[I won’t thank you. But I’ll give you something even better later, kid!]

Spinning around, Mirko landed a kick on a spider and sent a telepathic message with a meaningful smile on her face. Shino, Ryuko, and Tomoko instantly turned to look at Mirko with a hint of hidden caution in their eyes, only to find her grinning brightly with her hands on her hips. To no one did she seem like someone who was flirting. For some reason, though, this didn’t bring them the relief they expected and only made them even more cautious.

[There’s nothing to thank me for. More importantly, let’s move on—those spiders will be back soon.] After slowing down his thoughts, Kai responded in a flat tone. All Might nodded and commented.

[Saito-shonen is right; we have to move. I’ll lead the way, and Saito will cover the rear.]

[Don’t hog all the fun, All Might.] Mirko quickly replied with a challenging smile. Ryukyu, who was at the back, sent a telepathic message with a serious expression.

[Don’t forget that, in the last trap, the spiders caught you first, Mirko. If it weren’t for Saito, you might not even be here anymore.]

[Oh, that’s true. I owe you for that too, kid.] Mirko commented while looking at Kai, who was using a sword to take samples from the tunnel.

[I already told you, there’s no need to thank me.]

While collecting all the samples he had gathered—dirt, crystals, and more—Kai replied without much interest. Immediately after, a card appeared in Kai’s hand, decorated with golden aura script patterns. Besides the typical golden Aura Script pattern, the card had a golden vault door in the center, with magical chains crossing it and containment symbols spinning around.

"[Sealing Vault] On!"

Quickly, Kai placed the blank card on top of the pile of samples and announced loudly. As it activated, the card transformed into a beam of light that completely enveloped the small pile. Moments later, the light vanished completely, taking the pile of samples with it. When the light was gone, only a card remained, decorated with a golden Aura Script pattern and what looked like a simplified image of the small mountain.

With a swift motion, Kai took the card and approached it to his suit’s belt, which shifted to reveal a card case inside. Meanwhile, all the heroes present looked at Kai with slightly widened eyes. But the surprise was especially great among the Pussycats, since they had an idea of how Kai’s Quirk and skill set worked—and neither teleportation nor the card he had just used were among them.

(Can he reproduce anything he’s really familiar with...?)

For his part, All Might looked at the young man who stood up with his swords in hand and his panther at his side. He wondered what Kai must have become familiar with to be able to pull off something like that. But like a flash of inspiration, an idea came to All Might’s mind, bringing a bitter smile to his face.

(That explanation was only a half-truth, like most of what comes out of your mouth, isn’t it, Kai-shonen?)

[The spiders can get through the webs.]

Noticing that the three strong spiders that had been following them had just passed through the web and were dangerously approaching the tunnel, Kai commented in a serious tone. All Might quickly pushed aside any unnecessary thoughts, clenched his right fist, and ordered solemnly.

[Let’s move! Let’s try to get to the bottom of these tunnels!]

With All Might at the front and Kai bringing up the rear, the group hurried through the tunnel. Meanwhile, Kai silently began calculating the total aura cost of the [Sealing Vault] card, the latest card he had developed. The card was born from what he learned from the male Drider’s genome, theories he had about how Alcatraz worked, and, most importantly, his experiences with teleportation.

[Sealing Vault] worked by creating a Nen space capable of storing different things inside, becoming his first formal success in creating a Nen space. However, since it had been developed in a rush and on a very weak foundation, it still left much to be desired—so much so that it was more of a curiosity than a truly useful ability.

First of all, the card could only create a Nen space of about 5 cubic meters—smaller than the smallest car—so it couldn’t store anything too large. Secondly, the space could only contain inanimate matter; if he tried to store anything else, the card wouldn’t activate.

But even more important—and its biggest flaw—was that the Nen space was trapped inside a card, and if the card was damaged in any way, the Nen space would collapse, destroying everything inside. Additionally, the aura cost was high as well, with a single activation using up about 5% of his total aura capacity, and he could only activate it 10 times a month, with a maximum of 5 Nen spaces active at a time.

...

[Prepare for battle!]

As they hurried forward, All Might noticed that a large number of spiders in the mental image were gathering ahead, so he ordered in a serious tone, clenching his fists tightly and creating small shockwaves that rippled through the tunnel. At that moment, Kai’s voice echoed in everyone’s mind.

[None of them compare to the three that chased us before, but I’m marking the strongest ones. I’ll leave a red mark on them in the shared mental image.]

Upon hearing the announcement, Mirko flashed a huge grin as she crouched slightly and tensed the muscles in her powerful legs. Meanwhile, Edgeshot transformed his torso into something like a bandage, ready to shoot forward at the speed of sound at any moment. At the same time, Kamui Woods’ arms began to stretch out like tree branches.

For her part, Ryukyu, due to the limited space, only partially transformed—she kept dragon wings on her back, a tail, and scales on her arms and legs. While this form was weaker than her full dragon form, it was still much stronger than her human form.

"Texas Smash!"

All Might announced as he unleashed a powerful punch forward, creating a brutal shockwave that turned into a cannon of air, blasting all the spiders backward. Soon, the horde of spiders crashed into a wall and were crushed with great force, quickly exploding into a multicolored bloody mist that stained the walls.

But as if there were no end to the spiders, soon some managed to crawl out from among the corpses, while a new horde of spiders surged toward them. With a powerful roar, Salem shot forward, leaving an electric trail behind him, then began tearing through all the spiders in his path with ease.

"What did you feed that ’cat’...?" Kamui Woods asked in disbelief as he watched the devastation caused by the panther.

Ignoring the wooden hero’s shock, the Pussycats leapt forward, showing off a speed comparable to Mirko’s. Touching the ground, Ryuko manipulated the tunnel walls to create enormous spikes that impaled a great number of spiders, while also forming a kind of labyrinth that made it harder for the horde to advance.

Navigating through the labyrinth of giant, hardened earth spikes with feline agility, Tomoko and Chatora began fighting the spiders head-on, destroying one with every blow. Meanwhile, Shino extended her arms and started firing lasers at high speed, leaving charred holes in any spider that crossed her path.

"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!"

At that moment, Mirko shot into the labyrinth, exclaiming in annoyance, which snapped Ryukyu and Edgeshot out of their astonishment at the panther’s colossal display of power. After Kamui Woods, Ryukyu, and Edgeshot entered the labyrinth, Kai followed, leaping from spike to spike with great agility, but in complete silence, not making a single attack.

...

As they moved through the spikes Ryuko was creating along the way, the group "watched" with solemn expressions as the three powerful spiders drew closer and closer to their position. Suddenly, the spiders violently accelerated, bursting through the tunnel’s "ceiling," which caused a violent shockwave that sent them flying and destroyed all the spikes in their path, raising a great cloud of dust.

"Nebraska Smash!!"

In that instant, All Might’s powerful voice echoed through the cave along with a hurricane-like blast that swept away the entire cloud of dust and crashed head-on into the three spiders. Almost in sync, the heroes felt a brutal pressure fall upon them, nearly forcing them to their knees, while what looked like dark electric sparks began flashing all around.

Almost magically, all the heroes could clearly hear steady, calm footsteps behind them, prompting them to look back with shocked expressions. There, the heroes saw the enigmatic man in black armor walking calmly, surrounded by terrifying arcs of dark electricity and holding two jet-black Jian swords. The man was accompanied by his black panther, who had somehow returned to his side.

"Fall back. These things aren’t easy."

As the man passed through them, everyone could hear his slightly distorted voice, which, for some reason, now sounded full of authority—like a king giving orders to a commoner. Just then, a beam of energy shot out from where All Might’s hurricane had struck, arriving instantly in front of the man in black armor.

Without breaking his stride, Kai calmly moved his right sword, causing the massive energy beam to split in two and crash into the tunnel walls several meters behind. As the air swirled chaotically from the shockwaves, All Might landed to Kai’s left and spoke in a serious tone.

"Did my punch do anything to them?"

"Nothing." Kai replied concisely, which made the Symbol of Peace smile bitterly, unable to resist glancing over his shoulder at where one half of the beam had exploded.

"You’re getting less and less scientific every day, Saito-shonen. Now you’re cutting energy beams."

"The shonen thing is back, eh?"

Kai commented in a calm voice, which caused the Symbol of Peace to open his eyes slightly. Until Kai mentioned it, he hadn’t realized he actually hadn’t used it—probably an involuntary reflex born from his distrust of the boy. Without giving it any more importance, Kai spoke in a flat tone.

"It’s better if you don’t wear yourself out. Leave the fighting to me and Salem."

"I want to face those spiders and feel their power for myself."

All Might replied in a serious tone as he looked forward again, also choosing to let the matter go. Kai glanced at All Might and activated his black-and-white vision, confirming that the double outline around All Might’s silhouette was visibly fading—very likely an indicator that he was running out of ’fuel’—and then commented with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"If you want to burn out early, it’s no problem for me."

"..."

Hearing the comment, All Might couldn’t help but fall silent. He was fully aware of his situation. The last embers of One for All in his body were dying out, and every punch only sped up the process—to the point where it wouldn’t be surprising if they went out at any moment. With a solemn voice, the Symbol of Peace replied,

"I’ll do it anyway."

"Do whatever you want. I’ll leave you the one on the left." Kai said casually, no longer concerned with the stubborn Symbol of Peace.

At the same time, the three spiders stepped forward, emerging from the cloud of smoke and revealing themselves. The first one on the left was about 3.5 meters tall, with an armored body resembling volcanic rock, softly glowing red eyes, legs so thick they looked like columns, and a segmented abdomen that resembled a mountain.

The spider in the middle was a bit smaller and as black as night, but it had a sort of cosmic shimmer, like a starry sky. Its legs were long and thin like needles, each ending in a curved blade, while on its abdomen there was a strange pattern of twinkling stars.

The last spider was about four meters tall and seemed to have a metallic exoskeleton, with glowing red eyes like burning coals and a strange abdomen with metal tubes releasing steam that stained the surroundings. Meanwhile, from the spider’s mouth, a vapor emerged resembling that of an active volcano—so hot that it melted the ground it touched.

From the back, the moment the spiders revealed themselves, the Pussycats and the other heroes felt a cold chill that made their skin crawl and their hearts race. Even Mirko, the adrenaline addict, felt her legs tremble slightly in front of the terrifying spiders, almost as if her animal instincts were screaming at her to run as far away as possible.

At that very moment, the heroes felt an overwhelming pressure—one that completely surpassed the terror the spiders caused—fill the entire air. Standing between the Symbol of Peace and the three-meter-tall panther, Kai was suddenly surrounded by completely dark electric arcs with a faint purple edge, crackling violently.

As if they took it as a provocation, the three spiders let out high-pitched screeches that made the air vibrate and forced the heroes in the back to take a step back, then launched their attack. The mountain-like spider on the left struck the ground with one of its front legs, causing a violent earthquake that made the heroes lose their balance.

At the same time, the glow from the spider on the right increased exponentially, causing the temperature to spike so quickly that the walls began to slowly melt. Meanwhile, in front of the spider’s jaws, a sinister ball of energy started to form, giving the impression of compressed plasma.

Finally, the spider in the middle crouched slightly and let out a screech toward Kai. Almost instantly, in eight points around Kai, there appeared strange fluctuations, as if the very space was bending. Moments later, what looked like elongated spikes made of black webbing, patterned with glowing dots similar to those on the spider’s abdomen, shot out from the fluctuations.

The heroes in the back widened their eyes in disbelief as they tried to regain their balance in the midst of the brutal earthquake. Meanwhile, the Pussycats, gripped by panic, clenched their teeth and tried to leap forward to help Kai. But at that moment, everyone saw the man in the armor take a calm step forward, as if he wasn’t affected at all by the furious shaking.

To the heroes’ disbelief, that single step from the armored man was enough for all the web spears to graze past him, not leaving a single scratch. At the same time, All Might shot toward the spider that looked like a mountain, flipping in the air and launching a punch downward as he shouted with power.

"California Smash!!!"

As a powerful shockwave spread out from All Might’s blow, it was intercepted by another shockwave coming from the right. Confused, the heroes turned to look, only to see the spider that looked like a furnace rising into the air, completely surrounded by bluish electric arcs, while three of its left legs and part of its abdomen had vanished—almost as if it had been hit directly by a hypersonic projectile.

...

[Another spider with spatial abilities...] While dodging the web spears, Kai sent a message to his trusty assistant. [Let’s try to capture it, Sage.]

[Understood, master.] The beautiful fairy quickly replied, her lovely dress of light transforming into a female prison guard uniform at the same time. [I’ll do my best.]

[I trust you.]

Kai replied as he crouched down a bit. Using his terrifying super strength, Kai shot up into the sky, soon positioning himself right above the black spider. With his swords crackling with dark electric arcs, Kai spun gracefully in the air, then unleashed two colossal flying slashes while announcing in a flat voice.

"Electric Slash."

***

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