Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1500: [Stigma] of the Cat

*Bing-Bong*

Wait a minute...isn’t this our 1500th Chapter?

|It is.|

So...why are we doing a normal Chapter for this? Shouldn’t we be doing like...a big reveal, a huge storyline-shifting plot reveal, or something like that for something this momentous?

| Technically I should be doing a contest or getting art done. And I’m already having the latter done by our go-to. She’s just busy.|

Depression?

| Bills. |

Same thing.

|Anyways, I do have a special announcement at the end of this. Don’t worry.|

Fair enough...

*Bing-Bong!*

Meanwhile, in the underground area...

"Whoa!"

"That’s...new."

"Wait, when was Antonio able to do that?!"

[Okay, this feels...weird,] Antonio commented in a voice that was somewhere between a predatory growl and a housecat’s meow. [Oh, this feels really weird!]

While a [Stigma] and a [Regalia] were functionally the same in the sense that they coated the user in a layer of energy, they differed in two major ways.

Firstly, and most obviously, they used completely different power sources.

[Regalia] used aether, while [Stigma] used [Chaos].

The second, and slightly less obvious, difference was how these energies circulated around the body.

[Regalia] worked on an external basis, meaning the aether would flow from inside a warrior’s body to the outside, merge with external aether, and form an armor that was perfectly tailored to the individual summoning the [Regalia].

On the flip side, [Stigma] worked by channeling [Chaos] from the outside and merging it with the body of the warrior, causing it to change.

When Olstenna and Alice activated their [Regalia], the two of them looked like fully armored warriors that were ready to charge straight into battle like knights of legend.

In contrast, when Antonio activated his [Stigma] for the first time, he looked...a lot like a kaijin, actually.

Antonio’s arms had become more swollen and developed wicked huge claws like those of a demonic jungle cat, and his eyes became more cat-like, while a strange hood resembling a tiger’s skin had somehow manifested and merged with his existing flesh. Not only that, but the man had somehow grown a strange segmented tail that looked to be heavier than a mace.

In a weird way, he looked like a more fleshy version of those weird muddy jaguar warriors that were currently assaulting them.

Speaking of which, the moment that Antonio and the others had finished getting ready for battle, a noticeable shift in their behavior had occurred.

The mud warriors were originally focusing more on Olstenna and Alice since they were the more obvious threats.

In their eyes, Antonio and Harriet didn’t matter since they were weaker, especially since the latter was just a healer.

However, the sudden condensation of [Chaos] around Antonio awakened a primal sense of danger from the mud warriors and caused them all to direct their focus on the transformed cat-man.

[Oh...that’s not good.]

Once Antonio had finished his transformation, all of the mud warriors charged at him like they were vultures picking at a carcass.

[Crap!]

^Huh...^

Alice and Olstenna, on the other hand, were left flabbergasted by this sudden change in behavior.

^Wait, why are they focusing on Antonio so much? Is this a [Chaos] thing?^ Alice asked the others.

Both Olstenna and Harriet simply shrugged in response.

[Can you guys talk less and help me out more?!] Antonio called out while using one of his newly strengthened arms to block a pair of obsidian dagger strikes. [I’m still horribly outnumbered here!]

After crying for assistance, Antonio exerted a bit of effort and pushed back the pair of mud warriors that were trying to stab him, just in time to deal with three more attackers that had pulled out heavy-looking axes from out of thin air and were about to swing them down hard on his head.

[Screw off!]

Before they could even have a chance to catch flesh, though, Antonio swung around back and slammed his heavy mace-like tail into the three of them.

It was at this moment of contact that Antonio immediately understood why the mud warriors had suddenly shifted their attention to him.

[Wait...what the hell am I feeling now?]

[Chaos] flowed from his body and directly into the muddy warriors, causing their mud-like bodies to suddenly ripple and deform in ways akin to a boiling pit of bubbling tar. Seconds later, the mud warriors exploded into a shower of slime, muck, and pure disgust. At the same time, the jaguar masks that were their true bodies exploded into dust.

Needless to say, these first few casualties enraged the remaining mud warriors that were still alive and caused them to act in an even more reckless manner.

However, Alice and Olstenna were now more than ready to assist their beleaguered friend.

^Heh, I guess there’s more than one way to skin a cat,^ Olstenna commented as he launched a burning punch to the jaguar mask of one of the attacking mud warriors.

The mask was destroyed on impact, causing the mud warrior attached to it to suddenly explode into an equally disgusting shower of mud and slime.

^Unfortunately, that is a trick neither of us are proficient in,^ Alice added while using her scythe-like [Astra] to quickly decapitate a pair of mud warriors with one slash, before following it up with several other slashes that broke the masks into several clean pieces.

At this point in time, the trio should’ve taken out about half of the mud warriors that were being sent in to kill or capture them; they weren’t sure at this point and honestly didn’t care, but that didn’t seem to be the case. When the trio of warriors extended their senses to this room and the hall beyond it, they noticed that the number of enemies hadn’t been decreasing. If anything, it had been increasing.

Not only that, but they could sense that there was a weirdly dense source of energy coming from beyond the doorway the enemy warriors were coming through.

^Okay, who wants to bet that these weird mudfuckers...muddyfuckers...are probably the result of a weird Aether Treasure?^ Alice asked before throwing her scythe-like [Astra] forward, embedding it into a mud warrior armed with a club and then leaping in such a way that the scythe’s handle pressed forward and bisected them.

Understanding Alice’s intentions, both Antonio and Olstenna followed suit.

^I’m going to guess that it was that creepy dude who led us here earlier,^ OIstenna suggested as he opted to wreathe his entire body in black-and-purple flames and charged forward, tackling into several mud warriors at once as he did.

[I feel like that’s a bit of a no-brainer,] Antonio agreed while finally getting used to his newly mutated form and proceeding to rush forward while slashing through several of the mud warriors at once. [I’m just wondering if that guy is even mortal.]

^Hey! Wait for me!^ Harriet cried as she simply followed in the destructive wake of her friends.

Surprisingly, it only took a few moments for the trio to break through the mud warriors and come out the other side to see exactly why more and more of them seemed to be coming out of the ground like wild weeds. Evidently, that euphemism was more accurate than anticipated.

^Alright, you malicious muddy bastards from the bowels of hell,^ Alice cursed, the [Chaos] coming off of Antonio affecting her speech pattern to be surprisingly more verbose than usual. ^Just who the hell you think you...what the everloving fuck?^

^Ah...I see we’re going with body horror...again.^

The hallway that the group had busted into was more or less stuffed to the brim with mud warriors wearing stone jaguar masks and armed with various forms of crude weapons that seemed to radiate a bloodthirsty feeling. Then again, that was probably due to the weird-looking guys directly behind the mud warriors.

[Oh. It appears the jig is up. ]

[Lovely. Lovely!]

[Quit your squawking!]

^What the fuck...^

Directly behind the mud warriors was a trio of warriors that seemed to have bird heads, or at least what the others assumed to be bird heads.

Olstenna, Alice, Harriet, and Antonio had met bird Bloodliners before, so they knew exactly how the features of bird aetherbeasts mixed with human features.

These bird warriors, however, looked as if their heads were more like bird masks that had been merged with their flesh and given superficial features that attempted to make them look more organic. This attempt, however, just made the masks look like they had nested within the depths of the uncanny valley.

Running their eyes over the trio, they could figure out these three were supposed to be caricatures of a macaw, a peacock, and a hawk.

Taking a closer look at the beaks of one of these masked weirdos, they could see a weird goop dripping from the side of it...a goop that was the same color as the mud warriors.

It didn’t take Alice and the others too long to realize how these bird-masked freaks were summoning these mud warriors.

^Well, I feel significantly sicker than before,^ Antonio joked in an attempt to shield his mind from the disgusting realization before him.

^Well, no need to worry about getting ill. You won’t have to worry about nausea once you’re dead.^

^And there’s the butler...^