S-City never truly slept. Neon signs buzzed above greasy windows. The sidewalk pulsed with the slow tide of night-crawlers—off-duty guilders, back-alley hustlers, bored students with nowhere to go but the next promise of trouble.

Nikolai let his shoulders sink into the cracked vinyl booth, content to listen as Brian’s laugh thundered over the clink of bottles. Brian always filled a room—big hands, big voice, grin bright as the city’s electric glow. He waved down the server, barely noticing how she giggled and rolled her eyes.

Alexei nursed his whiskey, scarred fingers tapping a steady beat. He never relaxed in public, not fully, but his eyes were less cold tonight, softened by the way Brian never stopped talking.

Brian stretched, leaning back with a satisfied sigh. “Shit, man, feels good to be out somewhere that doesn’t smell like monster guts or paperwork. You remember that job in Westline, Niko? The damn cave hunt? Thought I’d never get that stink out of my boots.”

Nikolai smirked. “You’re the one who fell in. Didn’t stop you from buying street food after.”

Brian grinned, unashamed. “Man’s gotta eat. Besides, what’s a little monster blood for flavor? Right, Alexei?”

Alexei snorted, rare amusement breaking through his stoic mask. “Don’t drag me into your stupidity.”

Nikolai let himself relax. Here, he wasn’t the patriarch or the next negotiation. Just another bastard with a drink and old friends. For a little while, that was enough.

Their laughter faded into the bar’s noise, a warm shield against the world outside.

‘Brian has no clue… the scariest monsters are drinking with him right now…’

“So, how’s the family?” Brian asked, eyes searching. “Heard you’ve got more women than sense these days.”

Nikolai chuckled, not denying it. “They keep me on my toes.”

Alexei’s mouth twitched, almost a smile. “You let them, anyway.”

Brian leaned in, voice dropping. “You look better than last year, Niko. Not so dark and moody, even Lisa became happy after meeting you. So, whatever you’re doing, keep it up. But don’t let all that marriage crap change you.”

Nikolai met his gaze, steady. “I won’t.”

A sudden screech echoed from outside. Rubber on pavement, then a scream of terror and fear.

At first, a man’s grunt, then several women.

‘Damn it…’

Nikolai was on his feet, Alexei’s hand already at his sidearm. Brian moved with them, with no hesitation. The trio pushed through the crowd, spilling toward the windows.

On the street, chaos had erupted—someone had already pulled the fire alarm, crimson lights pulsing.

A body lay on the ground, covered in blood, causing everything to collapse. Nikolai couldn’t help but sigh. The young man, barely an adult, convulsed with a bite mark in his neck.

‘A vampire…? No… that pattern is different!’

Something lashed out of the dark. Wet, scaly, not quite any monster Nikolai recognised, but big and hungry. The beast cut off the kids’ scream, replaced by a choking, gurgling sound as claws closed around his throat.

His death shatters the peace.

Nikolai’s thoughts snapped into focus, instincts cold and hard. There would be no hiding this attack. The treaty was broken—no more fragile balance. S-City, and everyone in it, was about to burn.

He looked at his friends. “Ready?”

Brian bared his teeth in a fierce grin. “Been waiting for a good fight all week.”

Alexei just nodded, eyes locked on the monster as it dragged its victim into the open.

“Calm Down! I’m with the SSS!” Brian called out, his hand holding a cool black hammer, the size of his huge body.

‘He’s joined the main company… I see.’

Nikolai followed behind as they rushed into the alley where the monster vanished.

“Hey, Nikolai, did you know?!” Alexei whispered, asking about Brian, who led their charge.

“No way!”

‘This is fucked…’

***

They pushed through the tangle of gawkers and rubberneckers, Brian’s bulk clearing a path without effort. Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance, but no police uniforms had shown up yet—just panic and the rising stench of blood.

The alley stank. Garbage, piss, and now something coppery and sharp. Nikolai’s boots splashed through a shallow puddle, sticky with the victim’s lifeblood. The boy’s corpse twitched as Brian checked for a pulse, then shook his head.

Alexei carried a gun for some reason.

But it looked different from normal guns.

Alexei swept his gun across the shadows, jaw set. “There—movement, on the wall.”

Nikolai followed his gesture. Something pale and slick clung to the bricks.

A long body with patchy scales and dozens of crooked, glinting eyes. It peeled away from the wall with an abnormal maw splitting wide to reveal teeth layered in uneven rows, each slick with red.

“What the fuck is that!?” Brian muttered, lifting his hammer.

‘Mutant?’

Nikolai’s eyes narrowed, unable to recognise the monster by sight, but his nose could smell it… several types of blood and flesh.

This creature was neither normal nor natural.

“Can you smell it, Alexei?” Another whisper.

“Y-Yeah… it’s like a patchwork of monsters.”

The creature let out a wet, guttural shriek. It lunged, impossibly fast, scraping sparks off the concrete as it charged.

Brian met it head-on, swinging the hammer in a brutal arc and smashing the monster. Bone and ichor sprayed, the beast howling as the blow smashed part of its head in.

Another shape dropped from the fire escape. Its body was shorter, broader, and covered in milky green slime. Alexei fired, bullets sparking off bony plates, but two more monsters slithered from the mouth of the alley.

Nikolai gritted his teeth, raising his fists and watching their numbers multiply. The largest of the pack hung back, eyes fixed on Nikolai—smarter than the others, waiting.

Brian barked a laugh, already coated in the thing’s blood. “I guess I found my workout for the week!”

Alexei barely blinked. “Focus, or you’ll be the warmup.”

The alley narrowed with movement—six, seven, maybe more, slick bodies writhing between dumpsters and broken crates. One hissed and lunged for Nikolai’s throat; he ducked, fists smashing cartilage and eye sockets, spraying black blood across the walls.

The monster’s corpse slumped at Nikolai’s feet, twitching, black blood pooling in the alley’s trash-choked gutter. The next beast lunged—jaws snapping, claws reaching for his chest. Nikolai dropped the knife, rolled his shoulders, and drove a fist straight into the thing’s face.

Bone crunched. His knuckles split the monster’s jaw, sending teeth and ichor spraying. The blow knocked it sideways, crashing it into a heap of broken crates. Another snapped at his ankle, jaws closing on air as he stomped its skull flat.

Brian’s hammer came down with a thunderous crack, crushing another mutant from above. He laughed, wild and ferocious, spinning to block a third. “Watch your left!”

Alexei’s pistol sang, spitting burning metal that sizzled in monster flesh. But even as their numbers thinned, more kept crawling out—some with too many limbs, some with none, all hungry, all wrong.

One tackled Nikolai against the wall, claws raking his side.

Nikolai grabbed its throat and slammed it into the bricks, over and over, until it stopped moving.

The entire situation became wild; the more they fought, the more often monsters appeared, possessed by him.

He ducked under a sweeping claw, hooked an arm around the creature’s neck, and squeezed until its spine snapped with a wet pop.

A screech overhead.

The biggest mutant dropped, limbs folding out like knives.

Nikolai met it head-on, fists raised. He caught its first strike on his forearm, pain lancing through bone, then punched straight through its throat, splitting cartilage and flesh. He ripped his fist free, black fluid coating his arm up to the elbow.

Brian fought beside him, hammer spinning in wide, deadly arcs. Alexei’s gunshots echoed sharp and sure, dropping the fastest of the pack. Still, the alley was chaos, monsters crawling over corpses, jaws snapping, ichor spraying over brick and skin.

Nikolai grinned, teeth bared. His body sang with violence—blood, pain, raw adrenaline. This was what he knew best: the sound of fists on bone, the world narrowing to survival and the promise of another day.

Somewhere behind them, glass shattered—someone else, braver or more foolish, was trying to get a look at the carnage. Sirens and distant, frantic shouts filled the air. Nikolai’s breath steamed in the cold air, the stench of monster blood burning in his nose.

The biggest mutant reared back, wounded but furious. It lunged, claws flashing, and Nikolai moved to meet it, catching its arm, twisting until the bone snapped, then slamming his elbow down to finish it.

Black ichor splattered his face.

The beast fell twitching at his feet, but he could feel more of them gathering at the alley’s mouth, eyes glittering in the dark.

Brian wiped his hammer clean against his pant leg, grinning wide. “You seeing this, Niko? We’re not done yet.”

Alexei reloaded with a practised snap, eyes scanning the shadows. “More coming. I count at least ten.”

The street outside erupted in more screams, no longer contained to a single alley. The monsters were spreading fast. Nikolai wiped blood from his mouth, adrenaline still humming.

He turned to Brian and Alexei, voice grim.

“This is just the beginning. S-City’s not going to sleep again tonight.”

A roar echoed from deeper in the city. Nikolai’s heart hammered in his chest as the next wave of monsters poured out of the dark, hungry for blood.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep