Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"We did it!" Ruby said excitedly once the dungeon boss fell dead. I started laughing loudly, and several of the others joined in, and we all collapsed tiredly on the ground. After a few seconds, we finally stopped.
"We really did it." Midoriya muttered with a satisfied smile as he clenched his fist. I saw that Melissa's gauntlet had almost completely broken.
"Of course we did. There wasn't even any doubt," Bakugou grunted, though I could see she had a smug look in her eyes too.
"I'm tired. I've been hit so many times, and I've been using my quirk this whole time. I want to get out of this dungeon, take a long, cold shower to get all this damn heat out, and then go to sleep." Jinx grunted as she stretched lazily.
" You, me, everyone," Ruby said with a tired smile. In fact, she wasn't the only one; the fight was finally over, and fatigue was starting to hit us hard.
We entered the dungeon in the middle of the night. We had gotten up early the day before to come to I-Island. If my calculations are correct, most of us must have gone almost 24 hours without sleep. Even with my constitution and breathing, after fighting for seven hours, fatigue was noticeable throughout my body.
The amount of Haki and Aura I had used during the fight was too much; even if I could keep pushing my body even further, I was tired both mentally and spiritually, if that makes sense.
"Very well! The dungeon boss is dead, which means the Gate to return home has opened once again. We have an hour to get out of here. It should take us at least 20 minutes to descend the tower. We'd better start now." I said with a groan of complaint.
" Ugh, I hate you. Just drop me in your shadow and carry me." Jinx said tiredly. Ruby looked at me hopefully.
"No, if I have to walk, you have to too." I snorted dryly. Ruby pouted. I rolled my eyes. "Let's go now. The faster we get downstairs, the faster you can rest," I said simply.
"Fiinnee." they grumbled simultaneously, lazily standing up. I stood up as well and walked over to the dungeon boss, letting my shadow envelop him before pulling him inside. I then approached his broadsword and shield, which still had the dungeon boss's arms attached.
I almost wanted to whistle in awe; at no point did he let go of his weapons. It was impressive. I gripped the broadsword and shield in my hands and blinked at how heavy they actually were.
I'd traded blows with him, but I thought most of the impact came from the dungeon boss swinging this giant bulk of metal around. But weighing it now, it must weigh at least 300kg, just for its sword. Impressive.
His shield, on the other hand, was relatively light—well, as light as a piece of reinforced metal could be. But compared to the sword, it must have weighed a fifth or a sixth of its weight.
Even so, I could tell I did more damage to his sword than to his shield. It's truly incredible.
I pushed the shield up and could almost feel the surge of energy coming from it. I blinked a few times before raising the shield and pushing my aura into it. The sun from the shield glowed brightly before exploding into fire.
"What the fuck-" "Izumi-" "What did you do now!" "Another monster!?"
Ignoring the screams, I looked at the others just to see how the fire seemed to flow into everyone present, including me. I felt a surge of renewal and invigoration, along with an increase in strength and the rest of my base stats.
I blinked a couple of times.
" Okay, this is amazing," I said with a wide smile. I looked up at the sky and saw that the light resembled the sun that had previously illuminated the cave. It had dimmed since we had killed the dungeon boss.
It served to illuminate everything around us, but it was nothing compared to how it lit up during the fight. It obviously didn't react to the use of the shield, so they were definitely not linked in any way. I suppose it was more connected to the dungeon boss.
"Oh my Goddesh! It's an enchanted weapon!?" Ruby asked excitedly, putting aside all her tiredness. "I thought it was a monster ability, but all this time it was the shield!? It's amazing!! " Ruby said as she appeared next to me and began to scrutinize the shield.
"Strength boost, speed boost, invigoration, fortification, defense boost, stamina boost, limited regeneration, and more. It seems to work on all allies and itself. If we're basing it off the dungeon boss, then the effect will last a few minutes, but it should be able to be cast again and again." Midoriya began to mutter as he also looked at the shield closely.
" Okay, I'll take it!" I said with a wide smile as I looked at the shield.
"Wait a minute! Izuku defeated that monster, too! That shield belongs to him!" Bakugou said while growling.
"N-now, Kacchan, I don't use weapons." Izuku tried to say awkwardly.
"That's not the point." Bakugou growled. I rolled my eyes.
"I don't plan on keeping it. I was thinking of giving it to Darkness," I said distractedly.
"Oh! That sounds perfect! She's been looking for a shield that's tougher than her, which is very difficult. This would be perfect!" Ruby said excitedly. "And not only that, it'll be able to create a better defense while also buffing her allies!"
"You want to give it to your damn pet!?" Bakugou asked incredulously, I looked at her, confused.
"I don't use shields," I said as if it were obvious. "As awesome as it is, I'd have little to no use for it. Darkness specializes in defense; it would suit her well," I said simply. Bakugou seemed to growl.
"First, you're an idiot for that. Second, it doesn't change the fact that some of it belongs to Izuku." I rolled my eyes.
"Can you keep the sword?" I said distractedly as I handed it to Bakugou. "If the shield had its buff ability, does your sword maybe have its knockback ability?" I said simply. Bakugou frowned and tried to grab the sword.
I laughed playfully as the sword almost fell to the ground from the weight, but to my surprise, Bakugou kept the sword in the air.
"This is a fucking piece of metal." Bakugou growled. I could see her eye twitch slightly. I rolled my eyes. I gripped the sword again with ease.
"Okay, how about this. I have all the monster essence stones in my shadow. I was thinking of taking some of the monster corpses with me. I can't take them all. Each one weighs at least 200 or 300 kg. I should be able to take 50 at most."
"I was going to split everything I get from that between the seven of us; you can have my share in exchange for the shield, the sword, and the boss's corpse." I said, negotiating with Bakugou.
"What?! There's no need! Without you, we wouldn't even be able to take any of that! We're fine with just the division! Kacchan, no-" Bakugou silenced Midoriya and frowned.
"The shield alone would be worth a lot more. What do you want the sword and the corpse for?" Bakugou asked. I snorted.
"The sword, I want to see if I can find a use for it. I don't think it would be useful for Darkness; it's too heavy for her to use well. I could use it myself, but it wouldn't be advantageous. I'm not into broadswords. I'll try to find a use for it, but if that doesn't happen, I'll sell it and split the money 7 ways. Once again, I'll give you my share." I said with a shrug. Bakugou seemed to consider it before accepting.
"And the boss's corpse?" Bakugou asked. I laughed lightly.
"Decoration. I'm going to leave it in my room as a trophy," I said honestly. Bakugou looked slightly puzzled as she blinked.
"Are we going to have a fire undead as decoration?" Ruby asked excitedly. Really, her priorities were in the wrong places, but I couldn't complain about that.
"Really, all this isn't necessary, I'm fine with giving the shield to Darkn -"
" Okay, we accept." Bakugou said as she extended her hand, interrupting Midoriya. Midoriya simply sighed in surrender. I snorted amusedly and shook Bakugou's hand.
"My respects, Pomeranian." I said playfully, Bakugou's eye twitched.
"Say that again, dog, I dare you." Bakugou growled. I burst out laughing.
"And we don't have any say in this agreement? We were involved too." Jinx interrupted mockingly. I looked at her mockingly.
"No," I said flatly. Jinx rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. "They'll already have a share of the money; the boss's resources are another matter. Nobody has any other complaints about that?" I asked anyway.
"None, my friend Miyamura! Although Dad may want some of the metal collected from the monsters! So I'd like to talk to him before you sell everything if possible!" Penny said with a smile.
"All right, anyway, we'll have to wait until we're in Japan to sell it unless we find a buyer on I-Island." I said with a shrug.
"I'm fine with that too," Todoroki said with a simple nod.
"Of course I am! Although I want to see that sword in action before I sell it!" Ruby said excitedly. Jinx snorted.
"Fine. I agree," Jinx finally said. I laughed lightly.
"Very well, then, it's time to descend! Just in case someone decides to come in and find us," I said with renewed vigor, throwing down my weapons and stepping into my shadows. The others nodded quickly, and once again we began to run.
We could feel that after a few minutes—I'd say around 6-7 minutes—the shield's effect finally wore off. We'd need to conduct more experiments to determine its duration and the optimal wait time before reusing it. But a reasonably general and broad buff lasting more than 5 minutes was incredible.
Along the way, I simply approached several mostly untouched corpses and placed them within my shadows. Also, this time, since I wasn't so focused on following the monsters around me and keeping my guard up, I could see the large streaks of Dust surrounding us.
I couldn't tell the difference between Dust of different quality when they were in such a raw state, so I decided not to take anything. I had limited space, and the corpses were already starting to weigh too much, although my movement rate didn't slow down.
Actually, it was both good and bad that my entire shadow inventory just so happened to violate the laws of physics. I could feel the strain of dragging several tons; in fact, my muscles were working overtime while supporting the weight.
But the weight only influenced me. If I were to weigh myself on a scale right now, my weight would still be my normal weight. So my steps were still as light as ever, despite the effort I had to make to move.
It was good, as it meant I wouldn't break everything below me by carrying so much weight in one place. The bad thing was that I couldn't use that weight as a form of attack. A 10-20 ton object falling on someone could be a good attack.
After about twenty minutes of running, we finally made it down the tower and reached the exit. The portal was completely open.
" Yay! Let's go home!" Ruby said excitedly.
"Yes! No more heat!" Jinx exclaimed happily. We all smiled and crossed the portal at the same time.
I blinked slightly as I felt the ground fade away, and there was nothing on the next step. Gravity seemed to suddenly shift to the side before I realized we were falling.
Ah... that's right, the portal was in the air. I started laughing out loud as I let gravity do its work and the wind hit me all over. I looked up at the sky, where the sun had already risen once again. The day had definitely begun. I felt a pang of discomfort remembering that I hadn't welcomed the sun like usual.
I could hear the others laughing loudly too, and some screaming with excitement. It was telling that no one panicked about starting to fall hundreds of feet in the air without a parachute.
"Hey! We have a welcoming committee!" Jinx exclaimed as she pointed at the top of the central tower. We all turned in the air and looked where Jinx was pointing.
As she said, there were a lot of people and several electrical equipment on what used to be the helipad.
"Dad!" Midoriya exclaimed with a delighted smile as he looked at All Might. He didn't even seem to notice what he had said, and the others were also focused on the people in the tower.
I looked once more at the top of the tower, looking at all the people present. There was All Might, David Shield, his assistant, and his daughter, Melissa. There was also Taylor for some reason, and Caitlyn was also there? Along with Viktor and Jayce, even Doctor Polendina was present. And some other people I didn't recognize.
Yes, it was definitely a welcoming committee for us. Which I found odd. I thought they'd be more concerned about the Gate. Either they had too much faith in us, or something had happened. Expect at least a few other hunters.
I quickly sensed the auras of everyone present, the strongest being All Might's and Taylor's. The others were nowhere near their level, except for one. My eyes lit up with recognition.
Oh, this will be fun.
"I guess it's time for a landing strategy!" I said playfully as I looked at the others as we continued to fall.
I quickly grabbed Ruby and Jinx in my arms; they clung to me without hesitation, and I promptly began to kick the air to steer us in the direction of the tower.
I could see Penny grab Todoroki in her arms and use her rockets on her legs, and Midoriya get on Bakugou's back and hold on tightly while the latter used her explosions to move through the air.
We finally reached the tower and landed as smoothly as we could on the helipad, in a small, hastily cleared area.
"Wassupp." I said playfully. Quickly, everyone surrounded us.