Chương 9: 09 - Monsters
The concept of an adrenaline surge wasn't unique to Earth.
There were many races with similliar types of hormones—I myself have caught glimpses of such a thing being utilized in battle.
Adrenaline increases the efficacy of the physical body's circulatory system and dampens the nervous system's sense of pain and discomfort.
Essentially, it was a battle drug for fight or flight situations, albeit one that was natural to the body.
Viltrumites themselves however, do not have adrenaline.
We never evolved such a hormone on Viltrum, and we never cared to artifically induce it into our bodies when we could.
Because we never needed it.
A drug that dampens your pain may sound beneficial on the surface, but it usually results in reckless actions fueled by turmoiling emotions.
That goes against every tenet of the Viltrum Empire.
Besides, what would we need that for? Every Viltrumite has to go through harsh training that significantly bolsters their pain tolerance to a suitable enough level before they can even be called an adult.
I was certainly no exception—even as my training was cut short due to the collapse of the Empire and all.
Yet, as I gazed down at the unconcious man who had just surpassed human cabalities, a thought occured to me.
A mere Terran could lift all that just with some adrenaline—to put it into the perspective of human society, it was like witnessing an ordinary ant worker lift a whole battery, a negligble thing for something stronger, but infinitely impressive for an ant.
As a Viltrumite, how large or a hysterical strength boost would I get from such a thing...?
It might just be the one thing that changes the tides of a battle...
"H-Hey!" The boy called out again as I glanced down at him. "Why are you just...standing there? Can you h-help my dad..."
Ah, I almost forgot.
With a nod of my head, my body quickly vanished in a blur of speed, only to reappear just a few seconds later.
"What—"
"Huh!?"
An armed policewoman and a medic abruptly found themselves on a different side of the battlefield as I blurred before them.
"Do your jobs." I calmly said as I pointed at the unconcious man and his emotional children.
The medic was to ensure the man wouldn't die, whereas the armed policewoman had to ensure the rest wouldn't die from a thug attack.
There was the slightest period of brief hesitation between them as their brains were still processing the sudden change in environment, but they quickly adjusted as the medic ran over to the unconsious man and started questioning the children of what had happened to him.
I stared at the policewoman for a few silent seconds to trigger the mysterious intimidation factor before turning my back and levitating to the sky.
My ears twitched a bit as I heard the approaching rumble of a beast, the Rhino throwing cars around to cause mayhem as if deliberately trying to draw out someone.
I quickly made my way to the scene but stayed just far enough for no one to notice, then I calmly sat on a streetlight pole that had been slightly bent.
The scent of blood and gunpoweder permeated the asphalt roads as the Rhino threw a dilapitated truck towards the nearest gathering of police officers, completely disregarding his own men that were nearby.
In response, the police didn't hesitate to light the streets up as they shoot at him like the firing squad that they were, only for their bullets to uselessly bounce off against the Rhino's metallic armour, the ones that slipped under the steel shell facing a similiar fate as his skin turned out to be equally as tough as his armour.
"Stand down, Aleksei!" A policeman shouted as held a cone-shaped sound-amplifiying object near his mouth.
Apparently, Alexei Sytsevich was Rhino's true identity. I already knew beforehand since they kept prison records for any Rogue that has lossed against the law.
In response, the Rhino merely snorted before he released a rumbling roar. "Where is he...where is Spiderman!?" He shouted furiously. "The slippery bastard that ruined my life, where's he!?"
Even amidst the defening gunshots resounding through the street, Rhino's voice carried a loud cadence that was hard to ignore, much less not hear.
The policeman with the sound-amplifiying object was about to respond with some restraining bullshit but was quickly stopped before he even had the chance as the object was pulled out of his grasp via a thread.
"Your life was already long ruined before we met, big man!" Spiderman responded as his feet landed on a streetlight, his right hand gripping the pole beneath him for balance as his other hand held the sound-amplifier, which Add informed me was a megaphone, a name that doesn't make much sense considering it didn't even look like a regular phone.
"SPIDERMAAAAN!!!" The Rhino roared as if he had his guts out, his feet kicking back against the ground in a manic charge as the floor beneath him shattered and cracked from the sheer pressure.
"Woah!" With a haste leap and a web shot out to pull himself up, Spiderman just barely evaded the charge, the streetlight he once stood upon completely being uprooted from the ground as the Rhino crashed against it then broke right through a solid wall of bricks.
"Slow down, would you!" Spiderman quipped as he shot a web back, launching himself to the Rhino's back before he clung to the metallic armour and slammed the megaphone down against the back of Rhino's thick skull.
"RAGH!" The Rhino gasped out a growl of air as his head was pushed forward from the impact, only for him to use the momentum as he leaned forward and dug his thick fingers deep into the ground.
Rhino then did a move straight out of one of those Terran wrestling shows Clark had me watch, his legs pushing his entire body upward before he rolled forwards with speeds uncharateristic of a Terran his size.
"No—" Spiderman's web simply wasn't fast enough to pull him out as he was forced to endure meeting the earth in a downright brutal crash, the Rhino's entire weight stomping down on him hard an audible crack resounded loudly.
A defeaning, almost despairing silence occasionally broken by the unstable exhales of the Rhino preveiled through both the police officers and thugs alike, a shocked expression marring their facial features.
Did he...did he survive?
The silence continued as a policeman gulped in despair, only to get elbowed by one of his comrades, conveying the fact that they were the police and not Spiderman, so don't suddenly lose hope, damn it!
"Ha." The silence was finally broken, but not by Spiderman. "Hahaha...HAHAHA—GAH!?" The Rhino's maniacal laughter was suddenly broken as his body shot just the slightest upward, as if he had heart attack.
"Gaa...hah!?" Nonsensical growls continued to crawl out of the Rogue's mouth as his chest shot upward each time, as if pushed by something.
"HA—What!?" The Rhino was lifted up into the air.
Spiderman was there, his knees scraping against the cracked floor to the point of severe bleeding, his costume torn apart in the chest and abdominal area.
The lower portion of his mask was completely removed, exposing his brilliant white teeth that continued to part as exhales of warm air came out, his chest going up and down as his heart beated with the intensity of a roaring tiger.
"I...just..." Barely audible words crawled out from his tongue before his face broke into a grin. "I JUST GOT HERE, DAMN IT!" He then performed what Add called a german suplex against the Rhino, the ground utterly cracking as Rhino's skull met it with a loud crack.
The Rhino's sharp-tipped helmet proved to be a double edged blade as his upper body seamlessly dug into the earth, parting it like a cheese under a hot kitchen knife.
Ha...
Spiderman stumbled backwards as leaned back against the wall, his arm grasping his beating heart as he released a few hot exhales.
!!!
A web shot out from Spiderman's wrists as he evaded.
Using his hands to catapult himself out of that self-made crevice, the Rhino launched his thick legs towards Spiderman's direction.
—CRASH!
The ordinary brick wall couldn't hold out as the Rhino broke out and shattered it with ease, his feet quickly landing to the ground as he stumbled out back into the road.
Rhino spun back like a hurricane only to be met with a chair that had been promptly thrown at him. He easily dispatched it with a backhand, but then his vision was compeletly covered in white as Spiderman shot a web to his face.
Using the web attached to Rhino's face, Spiderman used it to propel himself forward to deliver the big man a heartfealt two-legged kick to the jaw, another crack resounding in the air.
He then spun back and gave Rhino another kick for good measure before a web pulled him to the side, his feet and hands landing to the wall.
"Grah...SPIDERMAN!!!" Rhino's voice couldn't possibily be muffled by mere webs as he ripped them out with his hands.
Taking the opportunity, Spiderman quickly covered the exposed parts of his costume and mask with spider silk before dropped down to the floor with a straight posture, staring back at the enraged Rhino.
"Are you a Pokemon or something? Is my name all that you can say now after you got abused in prison?" Spiderman attempted to provoke but was only met with laughter from the larger Rhino.
Rhino's laughter continued to grow more and more deranged before it abruptly stopped.
He then grabbed a single brick from the floor, and...
Bashed it against his own head!
"Huh?" Spiderman looked baffled.
The Rhino continued to slam the brick against his head over and over again like an insane person as he gasped loudly.
"Eh...are you okay?" Spiderman asked, now genuinely concerned as he seemed to feel that he was out on broad daylight abusing a mentally ill suicidal person.
"OKAY!?" The Rhino promptly threw teh almost shattered brick towards Spiderman as he sported a barely concealed manic grin.
"I'M REALLY OKAY, HUH!?" He shouted as Spiderman dashed to the right, evading the thrown brick. "You seriously ruined my life, Spider-bastard!" The Rhino again said, now with a slightly restrained tone.
"Really?" Spiderman voiced out as he evaded another thrown object before choosing to climb up another wall for a better vantage point.
He stared back down at the Rhino, noticing the faint signs of his veins across his bulging muscles, which seem to be of a bluish-purple hue.
Is he on drugs?
"Yes, you did, dogshit!" The Rhino barked back. "My son...he sees me as a monster now, damn it! Because of you!"
"And you know the worst thing...?" He cursed as he stepped forward, seeming to not entirely be there mentally speaking.
"I...I don't think he's w-wrong..." For a split second, it seemed he was going to have a panic attack but that was quickly surpressed as the Rhino slammed his head against a car.
Using the same car, he threw it in the direction of the police.
"No!" Spiderman quickly jumped down and shot a web that rapidly travelled through the air and attached itself to the backside of the car, and using a streetlight pole for support, he pulled back the momentum, letting the car crash onto the floor just a few feet away from the police officers.
"I got you!" Emerging from behind Spiderman, the Rhino shouted excitedly as he slammed his two palms together in a thunder clap.
"Huh!?" But Spiderman's mushed remnants were nowhere to be seen, the webslinger having already long anticipated this to be a trap.
"You really like throwing cars around, huh?" Spiderman whispered to Rhino's ears as the much larger man slapped the side of his head in rage, but the annoying Spider had also dodged that.
"Stay put, damn you!" The Rhino grunted once more as he turned around. "If karma's a bitch, I'm a pimp!"
"What are you even talking about?" Spiderman asked back as he used a web to throw a nearby bike at Rhino, who was completely unmoved as he tanked the hit.
"I don't know even anymore..." The Rhino then started laughing. "I just want to kill you!"
This guy was completely out of it...
Spiderman readied his fists, straightened his posture, and prepared for another bout.
But the Rhino just stood there, unmoving as he stared at Spiderman.
He seemed to mutter something under his breath, something that Spiderman couldn't hear.
The Rhino then began to...vibrate? His whole body started twitching and convulsing abnormally, as if there were worms and maggots crawling under his skin whilst eating him alive.
The Rhino's eyes dimmed as the the slightest hint of light left his bleak gaze.
"Haa..." The large man released a sigh as his hands crept up to his face, his fingers gripping upon the corners of his helmet.
He then took of his helmet as it dropped to the asphalt road with a loud clang, revealing his nightmarish face.
It was severely disfigured, the entire left portion was covered in bulging bluiesh-purple veins, almost looking like fleshy vines.
Accompanying those bulging veins, were fungal growths resembling parasitic mushrooms, all of which seemed to be rooted deep into his skin.
On the other hand, his right side seemed to have experienced a severe case of both rot and burns as it was completely covered in withering blisters with vague movements pulsating under his freakishly pale skin, as if there were living parasites feasting upon his flesh.
His hair was bleached grey and seemed to be in very poor condition, his teeth shared the same sentiment as it was rendered in a disgusting yellowish colour, but the teeth themselves grew abnormally long and sharp.
And his eyes, they were entreched in a purplish hue, the pupils changing to resemble a blooming purple lotus as the whites of his eyes were completely replaced by inky black voids with bloodshot blueish-purple veins.
"sPIdERmaN...!" The Rhino growled out as the very last vestige of humanity left him, the corners of his mouth curling up into a mutated grin. "I...sEE yOu!"
"Wh-What the hell!?" Let alone Spiderman, even the policeman and the majority of Rhino's goons were taken aback.
Majority.
There were a few, not fresh recruits like the rest, but Rhino's old friends, the ones who escaped prison alongside him.
They were all wearing different animal masks, yet as the sight of their extremely mutated leader came into view, they too dropped their masks and readily abandoned their last shreds of humanity.
All of them, they were even worse that the Rhino, much worse.
The Rhino still looked human, albeit twisted, but these mutated individuals showed inhuman animalistic features.
Some had eyes replaced by two parasitic mushrooms, some had maggots actively comming out of their pores, some had cat-like whiskers that were covered in gelatinous substances.
Some even looked like animals wearing human makeup.
But all of them, excluding the ones whoe were too inhuman, had the same kind of eyes and blueish-purple veins as the Rhino...
Spiderman felt goosebumps as he witnessed this disturbing scene, his Spidey Sense was blaring like an alarm, it was as if he was under the gaze of his natural predators.
Natural? What part of these guys were natural!? If it weren't for the policemen on the side, he would have contemplated falling back and letting someone like Superman take care of this.
"W-What on Earth happened to all of you!?" Spiderman asked, now realizing that he was no longer fighting against the Rhino, but something else.
A Monster.
"SPIDERMAN!" They all, including the Rhino, chanted unanimously at the same time. "Join us!"
"Join!"
"Us!"
"Join us!"
The mutated thugs screamed out in joy, as if expressing their love to the women of their dreams as they all rushed toward Spiderman's direction like mind-controlled zombies.
"NO!" The Rhino screamed out as every single mutated thug froze over, their bodies rendered completely still. "Spiderman...is...mine!"
With that, the mutated thugs turned over and started to target both the policemen and their supposed comrades who hadn't yet abandoned their humanity.
"HehEhHehE!" The Rhino laughed a boisterous one filled with mania and insanity as he drew near.
Spiderman wanted to quip, but suddenly didn't feel like being any more humourous under the Monster's gaze.
"What happened, Aleksei?" Spiderman asked with genuine concern. "What...made you like this?" Spiderman asked before he gazed at the mutated thugs. "Look at your friends...they..."
"They have joined the embrace." The Rhino spoke lucidly, as if controlled by another entity. "And you too shall join us, doesn't that sound nice?"
"Not at all, damn it!" Spiderman jumped back as he cursed the Monster.
The Rhink blinked a couple of times before breaking into a fit of hysterical laughter before abruptly freezing, his face showing only an unbroken grin. "Then I'll show you."
He then reached up to his head, his fingers clasping onto the corners of his mouth.
The Rhino then started to pull them apart, his teeth growing even more sharp and pointy as they no longer resembled human teeth, looking more like a shark's jaw.
The Rhino's tongue flopped out, it was long and bulging with blueish-purple veins.
It then started to grow.
It grew, and it grew, and then it's saliva hardened into a thick carapace of mucus.
It grew to a size bigger than the Rhino's own head, the tongue now transformed into...a Rhino's singular horn.
The Rhino's skin peeled off, replaced by a layer of shiny carapace, resembling metal. His eyes now looked to the side, like a herbivore as they lost focus. His ears drooped down and became animalistic. His teeth gnashed around his tongue-horn, as if his head had become a mere hilt to a mighty sword.
Through this whole process, the Rhino's body had grown and grown, now truly becoming a giant, a goliath. His armour fell down, disfigured and bent all over as it could no longer fit his bulging form, replaced by a new layer of metallic carapace.
The Rhino had tranformed into a true Rhino...if you could call that horrifying thing a Rhino. Indeed, it looked more like a deranged humanoud hercules beetle.
The Monster spread his arms wide before it proclaimed. "I AM THE—"
—BAAM!
It's head completely exploded into thousands of fleshy fragments as I threw a simple dime in its direction.
With an anti-climactic thud, the Monster collapsed onto the ground, it's corpse bloodied with green liquids.
A deafening silence took over once again as I calmly descended from the sky and sat on top of the pulsating corpse, apprasing the Monster that Rhino had transformed into.
Then I glanced toward to the mutated thugs, who all froze and fiercely trembled under my cold gaze.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" I glanced at the cops. "Shoot them, now."
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực