After I finished changing my suit, the gorilla continued its usual movements.
It moved.
And moved.
And moved.
However, before it could even show itself, I had already predicted its surprise attacks multiple times unlike earlier, when I had been dodging blindly.
I hadn't appreciated the Orca Medal that much before, but now that I was facing an enemy that distorted my visibility, it was a huge deal.
Something even my Hawk couldn't keep up with was a huge annoyance.
That's why the sound it was creating became a massive advantage in this fight.
"You really want to enter shock town, huh?" I said.
I caught a brief opening and lashed out, using the Eel Whip to coil around its arm. The moment it tightened, I activated it, and electricity surged through the line.
"WRRAHHHHH!" The gorilla let out a thunderous roar as the volts tore through its system.
This one was tough to crack, all right. At this level, it should have collapsed or at least frozen as its muscles locked up from the sudden rigidity. Instead, it grabbed the whip. Using what little resistance it had left, it swung my body and hurled me sideways.
This one's a fighter alright.
I retracted the whip, and it vanished from my sight once more.
Too bad that trick won't work anymore.
You're way too visible to me now.
"There!" I shouted, hurling the whip toward my seven o'clock.
I felt it catch on something within the smoke. Just like before, I cranked the voltage to the maximum and unleashed hell upon it. A massive roar erupted from the haze.
Projectiles fired back at me in response, but I simply bent my knees and shifted my weight, leaning backward as time seemed to slow. The hostile attacks sliced through the air, passing by without touching me.
Without letting go, the gorilla began shaking violently, trying to fling me off. This time, unlike before, I held on. I let my body fly with the motion instead of fighting it.
After that last attack, I understood.
This bastard is getting weaker. The decoys aren't appearing as frequently anymore. This is turning into a battle of endurance and whoever collapses first loses.
That aside, I needed to stabilize myself. I couldn't keep getting dragged around like this.
Luckily, alongside the Praying Mantis and Cheetah Medals, I still had the Elephant Medal with me right now.
Using the chance while I was being spun around, I adjusted my rotation and tightened my grip on both whips. Once I had the right position, I yanked hard and launched myself toward the gorilla, my feet glowing green as power surged through them.
"The Kamen Rider Express coming through!" I shouted. "Time to give you some mighty critical strike!"
My feet slammed into its body, and the whips disconnected at the same time. The gorilla was sent flying, crashing into a nearby rock and shattering it on impact. It collapsed to the ground, shaking as it tried to rise.
The smoke was starting to thin. I knew I had to drain whatever strength it had left. Swapping the medals of my feet, I scanned through my belt.
[𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕚]
[𝕌𝕟𝕒𝕘𝕚]
[ℤ𝕠𝕦]
Reactivating my whip, I wrapped it around its body.
"█ █ ████████ ████!"
An unrecognizable roar burst from its throat. A distorted cry, like a last-ditch attempt to stay on its feet. Even as its power spiked in desperation, my footing held firm.
I stayed planted, pouring more electricity into the whip and shocking it without mercy.
"Just go to sleep already!" I shouted, staring at its weakened state. "I still need you alive to find out whether the missing people are still in one piece!"
…
…
…
After nearly a minute that felt like an eternity, the gorilla finally collapsed, unconscious. I approached cautiously and checked its pulse, making sure it was still breathing.
When I felt it, I let out a breath of relief.
An annoyed groan slipped from me.
"That was easily the most annoying thing I've faced so far."
Physically, it was weaker than the Unique Shuuki and those giant Shuuki's I'd fought before.
But this one actually forced me to think, to adapt with every move it does.
Thankfully, it was finally down, fast asleep, its body scorched and smoking from the repeated shocks I'd delivered.
"Good job." A woman's voice sounded from behind me. "Looks like you managed to capture it."
Isadora stepped closer, her gaze moving from me to the gorilla, the young man we had rescued still slung over her shoulder.
"Honestly, this thing was a huge pain to fight," I said, kneeling down and poking the unconscious beast. "I didn't think an animal that ate a peach could turn this strong."
"I think this one's a special case, to be honest." Isadora shrugged. "The real question is how it managed to eat a peach in the first place."
As Isadora and I continued talking, the gorilla's body began to emit smoke again. I noticed it immediately and squared up, but Isadora reacted very differently. She doesn't even look bothered in the slightest.
She glanced at me and shook her head, gesturing for me to let it happen. I hesitated for a split second but gave in and followed the boss's lead.
The smoke rose and gathered into a cloud above us, its shape slowly forming into something like a clam.
"So… what's that supposed to do?" I asked, still staring at the smoke cloud.
"See for yourself," Isadora replied.
The smoke parted, opening like a gaping mouth. What emerged was unconscious people, tumbling out one by one, landing on the ground with no sign of waking.
I looked closer and realized the faces matched the description and physical appearance of the missing people from the village.
...
.....
...Okay
That solved my immediate problem, I guess?
A weight lifted from my body as I examined them, carefully checking and confirming their vitals.
If I'm being honest, it felt strangely anticlimactic. After all that tension, all that worry… it ended quietly. Still, relief outweighed everything else.
For a moment, I had half-expected this to spiral into some another mess for us to deal with.
Then, as the people finally finished emerging, something else caught my attention. The gorilla's body began to shift, its massive form slowly shrinking until it returned to the familiar size I remembered from when I first saw it.
"This is what I'd call a real mission complete," Isadora chuckled.
"Yeah," I chuckled back.
Still… there was one glaring problem left.
How the hell were we supposed to get these people back and turn this damn monkey in without making it look like we did the kidnappings?
"Don't worry," Isadora said, nodding to herself. "I've already got a plan for that."
I deadpanned.
If anything, hearing that only made me more nervous about whatever she was about to pull.
"Don't look at me like that, Hideo," she shot back, glancing at me. "I'm not going to do anything stupid. We're just gonna put our acting skills to a test"
Then, out of nowhere, she took out a flip phone and snapped it open.
That thing look way too familiar—
Wait a second.
Isn't that my old phone from elementary school?!
I mean, it is 4G, so it could still work for calls but still.
"My grandmother used to say that a good reception is the greatest treasure in the world," she said as she punched in the number.
"You don't even have a grandmother, woman. Also, where did you even find that phone?!"
"Shhh — I'm calling, alright?"
The phone beeped, waiting for someone to pick up.
"Hello? Is this the police? Yes, I'd like to—"
========
========
Unknown POV
Current Location: Somewhere in Mato
I let my bare body float on the water.
Closing my eyes, I smiled as the gentle sound of the stream blended with the soft splashes I made.
"Baths really are the best~"
I felt liberated. Being nude and not wearing any speck clothes made me feel free, as if there were nothing I could not do, my snake hair fanning out across the surface of the water.
It was normal for me to feel this way.
I might be destined to bring ruin to humanity itself, but I am still a god and I deserve to live as one.
"Shikoku."
A voice called my name from above. When I looked up, I saw a tall, dark-skinned woman with antlers standing atop a raised platform, her gaze fixed on me.
"Mmm? Oh, it's just you, Jouryuu." I chuckled. "Want to join me up here? It feels pretty good, you know."
She only shook her head in response, silently refusing the offer.
Too bad.
Oh well, it's a lost for her.
"Do you need something?" I asked.
"Nothing urgent," Jouryuu replied. "I just wanted to ask about your progress."
She must have been talking about the Defense Force and that particular duo running around here in Mato.
"There's not much to say," I replied, lifting my bare body slightly from the water. "The humans I've seen so far are quite interesting, though far weaker than I expected. Still, we haven't seen their leaders in action yet, so that's something to consider."
Despite my curiosity and my duty to observe the humans we are about to clash with. They would never match the oddity of that pair, that man wearing a suit and the red-haired woman.
Especially the woman.
I knew she wasn't human even without being near her. What was stranger still is that she wasn't a Shuuki, nor a being like us.
She was something else entirely.
A being outside our current understanding.
That alone should have put me on full alert. Instead, it drew my attention in the opposite direction.
Stepping out of the water, I slipped into my kimono and walked beside Jouryuu as we left the bath.
"I already told you that the red-haired woman is a non-human anomaly," I said, glancing in her direction. "But the man with her is similar. Though not on her level, despite being human."
I could perceive their auras clearly.
The masked woman possessed a complex, layered presence multiple magnitudes of color intertwined within her, with red overwhelmingly dominant over the others.
But the man… the man in the suit was different.
He carried only a single aura.
Purple.
It was faint, almost fragile, yet unmistakable. Weak though it was, I could feel it without a doubt a thin presence tinged with a subtle shade of violet.
"It must be connected to those metal things they use to transform," Jouryuu said, commenting on the aura I was sensing.
"Yeah, probably," I shrugged. "That said, their power not being related to peaches is something worth looking into."
Even so, I could already feel it.
I could feel the hostility radiating from those metal circles they used.
It was as if they wanted to devour us whole.
To be honest, that sensation made me a little excited.
Something so small dared to challenge a god like us?
I was genuinely looking forward to teaching those two some lessons regarding manners.
As we entered the main chamber, Jouryuu and I fixed our eyes on the tall figure perched atop a rock, his posture radiating boredom.
"What are you up to, Rairen?" I called out.
He snapped back to attention at the sound of my voice.
"Oh. It's you two," Rairen replied in a uninterested tone. "Nothing. I just feel like fighting."
With that, he rose from his seat. When his feet hit the ground, the land trembled slightly, and a cocky grin spread across his face.
"So," he said, cracking his knuckles, "what do you say we deal with those Obsoletes already?!"
"I already told you not yet."
"Huh?!" He scoffed. "Look at those Obsoletes! I could stomp them flat and wipe them out on my own!"
"Do you really want to defy Taikyoku-nee?"
"..."
At the mention of that name, he fell completely silent.
Also, I'm the one tasked with this, so you'd better not ruin the flow of our plan with your thirst for battle.
"Just wait, Rairen. Hold out a little longer. I'll let you have your fun," I said calmly. "You'll get your fill destroying those funny little humans."
I continued, a small grin forming.
"The humans will know us," I declared, "and they will never forget us."
Because we are the beings who will destroy humanity and life itself.
Because we stand above all of them.
We are the Eight Thunder Gods.