Facing All Might's question, the old man's expression was a little stiff.
"Endeavor and the others went in first, and all the hostages have been rescued, but they still haven't come out. Maybe they're looking for 'ghost'?"
Although he said that, it was obvious that even the old man himself didn't quite believe it. His face was full of worry.
"In that case, let's go in too."
All Might didn't say much about Endeavor and the others going in first. After all, in his opinion, Endeavor and the others were just doing their duty. This was the kind of awareness a pro hero should have.
The group from U.A., led by All Might, pushed open the door of the castle. Everyone couldn't help but shiver, but All Might, who was walking in front, frowned, because he had a familiar feeling. It felt as if his wound had suddenly worsened?
No! The wound hadn't worsened, but it gave him the illusion that it was worsening, as if he was being constantly drained of power after being injured by "All For One" before. However, the feeling this time was just a little weaker, and you wouldn't notice it if you didn't pay close attention.
"All Might?"
At this time, Midnight, who was standing behind him, suddenly called out to All Might. After all, the other party had been standing there since he walked in, which seemed a little strange.
"Nothing, do you guys... feel that something is a little strange?"
"Strange? A little. For some reason, it feels a little cold. This place is really bizarre..."
'They didn't notice it? It's probably pointless to say it out loud and will only affect morale. I'll just be on alert myself.'
All Might, whose mind went through a circle in an instant, smiled and nodded.
"It might be a little bizarre, but don't worry, because I am here!"
With his usual smile and a thumbs-up, the people who were a little nervous because of the bizarre atmosphere couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. No matter what, All Might was by their side.
After walking for a while, they encountered "Draco-Tooth Warriors." Before they came in, everyone had been told about these guys. With All Might leading the way, it could be said that they didn't waste a minute and ran toward the front. And just as they reached the third floor, a sudden high temperature surprised them all, because as expected, this should be the effect of Endeavor's flames.
And then, when they arrived in front of a big door, everyone subconsciously swallowed.
Although there was no evidence, their intuition told them that this was their next destination.
"Be careful, everyone."
After All Might said that, he pushed open the door of the room and then his eyes widened.
"Endeavor?!"
A few minutes ago...
Ever since all the hostages were rescued, the advancement speed of Endeavor and the others had begun to slow down. It wasn't because of the enemy. Although the enemy's strength was indeed increasing, and even Draco-Tooth Warriors that couldn't be defeated alone appeared (limited edition Ancient Dragon Bones), with everyone's cooperation, they still didn't cause too much of a hindrance. And when they arrived in front of the door that was clearly different from the ones before, Endeavor and the others were also a little nervous.
"This should be where 'ghost' is, right?"
"Yes, as expected, he should be inside, so... everyone must be careful. The last of those skeleton monsters that appeared were very difficult to deal with. If there are a lot of them inside, we'll retreat first and wait for support."
Endeavor's expression was very serious at this time. Although as No. 2, the thing he wanted to do most was to defeat All Might, as the leader of this operation, he had the obligation to ensure the safety of his companions. Through the previous probing, even if the number of ordinary Draco-Tooth Warriors was large, they could at least retreat safely, but the special individuals mixed in were something that even he would need some effort to deal with, instead of just taking them down with one move like before.
And everyone also nodded in agreement with Endeavor's command.
"Alright! I'm going to open it!"
At Endeavor's nod, "Fourth Kind's" four arms pressed against the big door.
"Rumble~ Rumble~ Rumble~"
With the sound of rocks rubbing, the huge stone door was slowly pushed open, and they finally saw their target this time.
The empty hall was empty, and "ghost," who was sitting on what looked like a throne, was resting his head on one hand and not moving at all, while behind him was a bizarre pale blue glow.
"Have you finally arrived? It's a little longer than I expected."
And just as Endeavor and the others were observing the hall, "ghost," who was sitting there, spoke first. The hoarse voice, coupled with the bizarre atmosphere of the castle, made people feel very strange.
"A guy who's just playing a ghost!"
With a cold snort, Endeavor stepped out of the crowd.
"'ghost'! What exactly do you want to do? To occupy the hero headquarters! Do you arrogantly think that you can defeat all the 'heroes' by yourself?"
"What do I want to do? I just want to show you! Show more people the 'truth'!"
With the hoarse voice, Lancer pulled out the lance that was stuck next to him and slowly stood up. At the same time, an ominous aura began to spread from his body.
"Everyone, be careful! 'ghost' is about to make a move!"
The flames on his body flared up fiercely, and Endeavor's expression also became extremely serious, because he felt something familiar yet unfamiliar on the other party. It was something he had seen more than twenty years ago when he was just a "hero intern"...
"Careful? Does being careful have any meaning?"
As if to mock them, although the lance he was holding was huge, Lancer speed was not slow at all. The lance, shining with cold light, charged toward Endeavor and the others without hesitation.
If he was holding an ordinary long spear, Lancer explosive speed could have hit many people the instant they lost sight of his figure, but a lance couldn't do that, as its size and weight were there. However, his charge was more imposing.
The atmosphere, which was already heavy because of the bloody aura, now had a fierce momentum because of his charge.
"Fourth Kind," as the vanguard, was the first to appear. He swung his fists, trying to grab Lancer long spear, and "Best Jean," who was serving as support in the back, was not to be outdone. Hundreds of threads bypassed the huge stone pillars and wrapped around the other party.
'It worked!'
When he saw his threads touching Lancer armor and long spear, a hint of excitement appeared on his face, because as long as he touched the enemy, his threads could automatically wrap around them. This time was no exception, but his excited expression didn't last long before he found that something was wrong. The speed at which his threads were being consumed seemed a little too fast?
But even though his limbs were wrapped in threads, the other party's movements did not stop at all and still charged toward them with an extremely fierce momentum.
He gritted his teeth and pulled!
"Twang... twang..."
With the sound of the threads being pulled taut, his face instantly changed dramatically.
"Snap~ Snap~"
A cracking sound that was even louder than the sound just now. The lance, which was made of steel, had already stabbed toward "Fourth Kind."
"Hah!!"
"Fourth Kind," who shouted loudly, grabbed at it with all four of his arms. The special brass knuckles on his hands sparked countless sparks the instant they touched the front, and then...
"Slash~!!"
The lance actually hit the other party's shoulder without any hesitation. With countless splashes of blood, the tall "Fourth Kind" was actually sent flying.
"Bang!!"
Slamming fiercely into the wall, he spat out a mouthful of blood, but just as he was struggling to get up, a light suddenly shone under his feet.
"What is this..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his body began to disappear, and then he gradually appeared next to the throne, but unlike before, he was now tied to a stone pillar...
"Come on! Let me see your strength, but the fate of the loser... hehe."
With the hoarse sneer, everyone looked nervously at "Fourth Kind," whose four arms, two legs, and abdomen were trapped by light circles.
But at this moment, Lancer suddenly kicked backward.
"Heh."
With a mocking voice, Edgeshot looked at the cracked short sword in his hand with a grim expression.
"Let's all go at once!"
"Boom~!!"
Along with Lancer taunt, the flames on Endeavor's body burned fiercely.
Because of the special nature of his quirk, Endeavor rarely collaborated with other heroes. His quirk was very powerful but difficult to control. He could easily injure his teammates if he was not careful. But at this time, looking at the bizarre "ghost" in front of him and the restrained "Fourth Kind," everyone knew that this was not the time to worry about friendly fire.
Edgeshot and Best Jean were the first to make a move. One harassed Lancer with high speed, while the other set up a large number of thread traps. Although these traps couldn't control Lancer, they at least provided him with some hindrance.
During this time, he did try to manipulate the somewhat tattered cape behind the other party, but unfortunately, his quirk didn't react at all.
And the flames on Endeavor's body burned more and more fiercely. As for Lancer, he was uncharacteristically not attacking him, but instead attacking Edgeshot, who was constantly harassing him.
This made everyone feel relieved but also doubled the pressure, especially for Edgeshot, who was the target.
Although the speed at which the other party swung his weapon was not fast, the opponent seemed to be able to predict his position at any time. The lance always appeared in the direction he was moving. This bizarre way of dealing with him had made him graze the opponent's lance several times. It could even be said that if it wasn't for his "quirk" being good at dodging, he would have been hit long ago.
"Get out of the way!!"
Endeavor's quirk was "flame," which was called the "strongest fire quirk" by the Hero Association. With his continuous development, the original "flame" was now called "Hellflame." This was because the power of his flames would double when his emotions fluctuated extremely, such as now...
The dazzling crimson flames, with Endeavor's movements, turned into several curved blades and flew toward Lancer. At the same time, with his hands waving, a large amount of flames began to spread along the ground toward the other party. And when the flames spread to Lancer feet, he raised his arms in an extremely exaggerated manner. The surging flames turned into a terrifying tornado that completely surrounded Lancer. That terrifying flame tornado even melted the ground, and Edgeshot, who had dodged after getting Endeavor's warning, was full of emotion.
As No. 5, he had collaborated with Endeavor several times, but this was the first time he had seen such terrifying flames. After all, this terrifying high temperature was enough to kill most people.
"Endeavor, 'ghost'..."
"It's okay. Although I can't precisely control it, I can still retract the flames before the other party's life signs disappear..."
Before Endeavor could finish his sentence, the terrifying flame tornado suddenly expanded and then actually exploded.
"Retract? That's really arrogant. If you don't have the resolve to kill me, then how can you possibly win against me?"
"Fire Wall!!"
As soon as Lancer words fell, he charged again, and Endeavor did not hesitate to erect a fire wall and then lunged to the side. And Edgeshot, the moment Lancer broke out of the flame vortex, had already charged toward him.
"I see you!"
From the very beginning, Lancer eyes, which were blocked by his helmet, had been trying to find Edgeshot's trajectory.
Although Lancer didn't want to admit it, the other party's quirk was too good at dodging, and he was wearing heavy armor. The option of forcibly grabbing him had long been ruled out, so he simply used his "quirk," which he had almost never used before.
No matter how fast the other party was, they couldn't escape his sight and aura lock, so when the other party came to harass him again, Lancer grabbed the other party's wrist. Then he held the other party's arm with one hand and twisted it fiercely. In just an instant, Edgeshot felt his body spin uncontrollably.
"Bang!!"
Edgeshot's situation was even worse than Fourth Kind's. After all, his body's ability to withstand a blow was not as good as the other party's.
Then Lancer directly dragged him and threw him toward the "pillar" behind him. The pale blue light circles directly locked his limbs, neck, and abdomen.
"Now there are two of you left."
The emotionless voice was chilling and also gave Endeavor and Best Jean a huge amount of mental pressure. Best Jean's expression was even more grim. He had already discovered that his quirk, which he had strengthened with countless efforts, was completely useless against an opponent with crushing power, so...
'Run! I'll hold him off!'
Looking at Best Jean's hand gestures, Endeavor's expression instantly became extremely stiff. He didn't expect that there would be a day when he would have to run away, and at the cost of sacrificing his teammate.
His rationality told him that he should follow Best Jean's suggestion at this time. After all, all of his abilities were built on "flames." When the opponent could ignore his flames, then his other moves probably wouldn't have any effect either. However...
"All Might and the others should have arrived. Just hold on a little longer!"
Although Endeavor was一心 (all heart) on surpassing All Might, this also meant that he had a deep trust in All Might. After all, a person would want to surpass someone who was stronger than themselves, but saying this now was more of self-comfort. It had been almost half an hour since they last returned to the exit, and they had no idea what the situation was outside.
And Best Jean was stunned for a moment when he heard Endeavor's words. Then he touched his hair.
"Endeavor, I've always wanted to say this, but is there muscle in your brain too?"
"Same to you. A guy who's not good at frontal combat at all still wants to be the rear guard, hehe~"
The two of them seemed to be bickering, but their eyes were constantly staring at the strange enemy in front of them, because the other party had not attacked since the very beginning. They wouldn't think that the other party was waiting for them, so there must be a trap!
If Lancer knew what the two of them were thinking, he would probably die of laughter. After all, the reason why he hadn't made a move was because he was controlling the Draco-Tooth Warriors inside the castle to avoid All Might and the others.
This wasn't because Lancer was giving them face. He just didn't want to waste his magic power, even though the source of this magic power was being drawn from them.
That's right, it was impossible for Lancer to construct a large-scale magic ritual with his magic power, so he took a clever approach. Everyone in this building would have their life force drained, but Lancer was not a certain seaweed head. He had specially created a safety measure when setting up the ritual, for example, if the life force was below a certain level, it would not be drained. Although all of them were not weak, and in the Type-Moon world, they could probably beat a group of ordinary magicians, the problem was that they had no idea how to deal with something they had never encountered before.
Even someone as strong as All Might could only passively accept the effects of the ritual.
And because of the arrival of All Might and the others, Lancer also decided to change his plan slightly. He deliberately slowed down his attack speed to wait for All Might. Now that the actors were about to be in place, he would no longer hold back.
"Snap~!"
He stomped his right foot fiercely, and at the same time, he squeezed the end of the spear under his armpit and held the spear shaft with both hands.
The blood aura, under his deliberate control, gradually covered the spear shaft.
This unconcealed blood aura made the expressions of both Endeavor and Best Jean look extremely grim. The two of them had captured countless powerful quirk criminals, and some of them also had a similar feeling on their bodies, but they had never encountered an enemy like this before. The terrifying blood aura had almost materialized.
"'ghost'... how many people has he killed?!"
It was like a question and also like he was talking to himself. The calm that Endeavor had been desperately holding on to was gradually collapsing.
But no matter how he reacted, Lancer movements showed no sign of stopping. The two of them planned to dodge at almost the same time, but they felt as if their bodies had been nailed in place...
'Move!!'
He roared in his heart, but his body didn't respond at all.
"Bang!!"
At this moment, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open.
"Endeavor!!"
Two hands directly pushed the two of them fiercely to the sides from behind, and All Might himself delivered a heavy punch to the long spear that was attacking him.
"Crack~!!"
The long spear, which was wrapped in blood aura, instantly became a twisted mess, and Lancer face, which was blocked by the helmet, showed a hint of a smile.
The final actor had finally arrived!