A lone being walked quietly along the road of a seemingly abandoned town. He was clothed in all black: boots, jeans, and a hoodie that covered his entire face.
The town itself was all but destroyed. The buildings were dilapidated, the roads were covered in cracks, and any vehicles to be seen were charred black, crushed, and partly melted.
A small breeze swept by, ruffling the person's—no, man's—hood. He stopped walking, then looked up.
That smell... Mo. Ten of them, most likely wolves.
He glanced around quickly, noting his surroundings, then began to jog towards a tall building with all its windows absent.
I can set an ambush—
Hissss!
A pillar of black and gold exploded out of the building's ground floor, collapsing the entire thing in a huge cloud of dust and rubble. It rushed forward at breakneck speed, tore through the space the man had occupied, and snapped its large jaws shut.
As it sped along, it pulverized the road beneath it, carving deep grooves through the asphalt. Rubble flew whenever its body clipped another building, and a wrecked vehicle was tossed aside before the creature finally came to a stop hundreds of meters away.
The pillar's head began to rise, and a large forked tongue flicked out from behind its golden jaws. It continued to rise until its head was over ten meters in the air, and a low hiss rolled out from its throat.
The creature was a colossal snake, its body covered in glistening armoured scales patterned in alternating gold and black.
Its head swiveled around as it realized it had failed to capture its prey.
...So the wolves will have to wait. Now I have to deal with a Titanoboa.
Standing atop the monster's head in perfect calm was the man, the very prey the snake had been aiming for.
Barely sensed that one, he thought as he raised his hand and sighed.
That was a pretty bumpy ride.
In seconds, the jagged-edged, cross-shaped scar on the back of his hand reddened.
In an instant burst of red, a shortsword appeared in his raised hand.
The Titanoboa suddenly froze, and its eyes rolled upward to him.
"This will hurt," he whispered, plunging the blade into one of the snake's coal-black eyes.
A primal roar erupted from the monster's maw, and its entire body shook. The Titanoboa whipped its head violently, launching the man towards a tall house.
So dramatic. I've had worse.
He tucked his legs in, twisted through a somersault, and planted both feet against the wall. The instant he touched it, he kicked off.
The wall cratered beneath his boots, cracks racing outward as he launched himself back towards the Titanoboa.
The monstrous snake was thrashing around wildly, its massive body tearing up the street. The man shot towards it—
Its head whipped around.
...Ah.
He crossed his arms just before its snout slammed into him.
He went flying towards the asphalt, bounced once, and landed on his feet. Without wasting a second, he kicked off into a tight backflip over the monster's thrashing tail and caught himself on one hand. The tail came sweeping back. He pushed off his palm and vaulted over it, landing on his feet.
This won't be easy, he thought as he dodged two more wild attacks from the Titanoboa's massive, undulating coils.
He slid beneath a raised coil, rolled away from another as it crashed down, and found an opening right before it slammed its tail into the ground. He kicked off the asphalt in a powerful leap and landed in a parking lot several meters away.
It's too big to engage in melee, he thought as the snake shrieked and looked around wildly. Its armour will take too much effort to break, and its only weak points are the belly and the head.
The man glanced around quickly, noting a convenience store across the street, then waited for the snake's tongue to come out—
My smell is crazy potent, after all.
All its attention shifted to him.
Its massive body bunched up in seconds, and with a loud hiss, it launched itself at him.
He immediately leapt to the side, covering the distance to the convenience store in an instant. The Titanoboa wasn't intent on letting him go, though, and redirected its charge in an instant to follow him.
The man jumped up to the store's sign just before the monster tore through the storefront a fraction of a second later. He dropped himself onto its speeding tail as it passed through, loosening his body and grabbing onto a large scale.
Due to the force, his body slammed into the tail, and he lowered his head further to avoid the falling rubble. Suddenly, the segment he was riding whipped to the side, destroying the rest of the building and dragging him through steel rods and solid concrete.
Ow.
He raised his head and took stock of his surroundings, then let go of the tail, sending himself flying through the glass of an abandoned high-rise building.
He hit the floor hard, then rolled to his feet. He took off running, vaulting over desks and flipping over anything that got in his way. A burst of red flared from his hand, forming a large mallet that he hurled at the glass wall ahead.
He took in the sights and sounds around him, and time seemed to slow down as he began to think.
Buildings on both sides... the snake is thrashing below... a ricochet.
Time returned to its usual flow as the object he'd thrown smashed a considerable part of the glass wall away.
With a powerful leap, he exploded forward towards the opposite building. He twisted through a flip, landed on the wall, then took off running downwards at an angle across it.
He burst off, leaving behind a web of cracks, hit another wall, and launched himself back towards the Titanoboa. He struck its body and kicked off one of its scales, shooting towards another building.
From there, he repeated the process, ricocheting between the surrounding buildings and the Titanoboa's thrashing body.
He would hit a building, burst off, attack the snake in the space of a second, and jump away again. With each attack, he left behind cracks in its scales and red swords lodged in the gaps between them, working his way across all forty-plus meters of the Titanoboa's body.
With one more jump, he landed in front of the monster. He leapt again as the snake opened its mouth to shriek and stabbed a red sword through the roof of its upper jaw.
He let inertia turn the stab into a flip and landed on the monster's snout. His fingers pierced the thin scales there as it gave another guttural roar. It thrashed around more violently than before, slamming its head into the road and rolling around.
Nearby buildings fell whenever its massive body swung around, and the road quaked from each consecutive body slam.
The man gritted his teeth and strengthened his one-handed grip as he was shaken in every possible direction. When he got the chance, a stiletto burst out of his free hand.
In that moment, his back was slammed into the ground. He coughed and groaned as the snake raised its head high—
"Die."
He slammed the needle-like stiletto into the monster's head, and it sank in up to the hilt.
He felt the blade penetrate something soft.
Its brain, he thought as he let himself get thrown off.
He bounced off the asphalt, rolled for a few seconds, then took off at a brisk jog.
I don't need to be around as it goes through its death throes, he thought as he reached up to smooth his hair out of his line of vision. I'd be endangering myself. And now my body aches...
At some point in the battle, his hood had fallen off, revealing a black mask with red accents covering his nose and mouth. Jagged white teeth decorated the mask.
His hair was dark, with blue roots and tips. His skin was dark tan, but his most defining features were his eyes: black sclera with ruby-red irises.
He kept walking, regardless of the tremors and crashes behind him caused by the dying Titanoboa.
He took a deep breath as he reached the town square, then froze.
"...Come out," he growled.
From the far-off surroundings, rooftops, and behind vehicles, numerous humans emerged, each wearing black leather outfits.
As soon as they appeared, one started clapping, and another picked it up. Soon, the only sound that could be heard was applause.
"Incredible!" a loud voice boomed from above.
The masked man glanced up to see a large brown man jump from the roof of the building in front of him. His landing created a crater, and he walked out of it like he had come down the stairs.
The masked man noted his wild red hair, thick, cable-like muscles, and a mouth that split unnaturally wide across his face, its corners nearly touching his ears.
"To think a shortie like you would take down a Titanoboa. Amazing!"
The masked man blinked.
The person in front of him was over seven feet tall, while he was five foot nine.
The giant laughed loudly as five more people landed behind him.
His laughter eventually died down, and his lips parted in a toothy grin.
"Your reputation isn't for show, I see. That's good. This hunt would've been boring otherwise."
Twenty-five people. Twelve Mutas, including this guy, and thirteen unknowns. What a hassle.
"...Not gonna say anything?" the giant frowned. "Don't go looking down on us, monster. We aren't brainless Mo who attack without strategy."
The masked man's gaze hardened.
I need to take care of the ones behind me first, instil some fear into them, then gradually break down their formation.
"Tsk. How annoying."
The giant raised his head and took a deep breath. Then he bellowed:
"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! OUR OBJECTIVE IS SIMPLE: HUNT DOWN AMON! ANYONE NEARBY, WE HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH AMON! COME QUICKLY OR YOU WON'T GET A SHARE OF THE BOUNTY!"
He looked down at the masked man—Amon—for a moment. Then he smirked.
"Don't tell me you're waiting for us to attack first? How kind. And foolish."
The redhead's body began to grow, his clothes ripping to give way to his expanding flesh. His skin took on a darker sheen, and before his transformation was complete—
"TAKE DOWN THE MONSTER AMONG MEN!"
Amon vanished.
The transformed man slammed his scaly arms into the asphalt, and when he looked up, he involuntarily shivered.
One of his subordinates had been slammed into the wall of a building so hard she had become the bloody centre of a massive web of cracks.
And the one holding her up...
was Amon.
"Hunt me," he muttered as he dropped the woman and turned.
His hand tightened.
"You wish to hunt me?"
His scar began to glow a dangerous red, and the air around him shimmered. With a burst of red from both hands, clawed gauntlets came into existence around his forearms.
He took a step forward and lowered his body with a deep growl.
"Let's see if you can back those words up, shall we?"