Chapter 124 Presentation and a.n.a.lysis
Lauren looked like she would be squealing right now, but her mouth was covered by an amused Queen Mother.
As for Alex and Alina, both of them stood together as they waited for the arrival of their allies.
"Woosh~" Sounds of woos.h.i.+ng wind could be heard as 7 costumed people descended from the sky, landing in front of Alex.
It was a good thing that their meeting spot was devoid of other people, as Alex felt that civilians will flock around the newly arrived Heroes.
"So, you are the Travelers huh. Its nice to see you all." The one who said these words was a gangster-looking man in front of the Heroes.
He was wearing the stereotypical biker gang jacket, which just made his overall appearance intimidating. This man was currently extending his gloved hand towards Alex, as if he wanted to shake hands with him.
The fangirl squeal that Alex heard behind him basically confirms to Alex that this gangster man was the Pantheon Hero Tetra.
"…It"s nice to see you too." Alex managed to say as he shook hands with Tetra. "I appreciate you and your allies accepting our offer."
"Well, Heroes should always be helping one another." Tetra said as he gave Alex an impressed smile. "There is no sense for us to reject you, especially when the villains plan to target a newbie Hero"s civilian ident.i.ty."
By this point, Alex saw Tetra becoming somewhat angry after saying these words. Alex chose to not comment on that, as he realized that villains finding out secret ident.i.ties seems to be a sore point to Tetra.
"Well, with the numbers that we have here, I think defeating Glacia, Mafioso, and that new Villain Team is possible." Tetra said as he looked at Alina.
"Hm?" Tetra suddenly tilted his head as he looked at Alina. "You are Khora, right? Have we fought each other before already?"
"What do you mean by that?" Alina suddenly replied as her body suddenly tensed.
To Alex"s panic, he saw that everyone around him were all tense, with the SHA Heroes staring at the conversation between Alina and Tetra with alert expressions on their faces.
"Well, 30 years ago, I remember fighting someone." Tetra commented as he cupped his chin. "That opponent of mine uses a Katana too. Are you that person?"
The Heroes behind Tetra could not help but drop their jaws when they heard his ridiculous comment.
Even the fangirl Lauren could also not believe what she heard.
As for Alex and Asteria, they were both covering their mouths as they tried to not laugh.
"30 years ago? Really?" Alina could not help but snort as she looked at Tetra.
"For your information, I am just 18 years old." Alina said as she ignored the giggling by her companions. "There is no way that I could be the person that you fought 30 years ago..."
"Oh right, I forgot about that." Tetra said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that…"
"Um, are you all right?" Alex said to Tetra as he calmed himself down. "Maybe you are already getting too stressed with the Hero work…"
"Yeah that could be the case." Tetra replied as he grinned at Alex. "Maybe I am getting too old for this already."
To Alex"s surprise, he found himself grinning back at Tetra, as if they were sharing an inside joke. "You, an old man? Wow, if that is true, then you are one ripped old man."
"Want to see my workout routine then? You are free to see it."
"Hehe, maybe later, after the operation."
"Now we"re talking."
"..."
*********************
"...…" Everyone who saw the conversation between Alex and Tetra were suddenly gobsmacked as they realized that the two were already on close terms already.
"Should Alex be really that friendly with another Hero?" Alina muttered to Asteria as Alex and Tetra started to share more and more jokes with each other. "It feels somewhat weird."
"Maybe you are just jealous that Alex has his own "bro" now." Asteria said as she giggled lightly.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Alina said as she hissed at Asteria. "You think I feel jealous now?"
"Bros before h*es, right?" Asteria said as she shrugged her shoulder. "Maybe Alex will be affected by that quote too."
"Asteria. I am not a h*e, and that Tetra definitely will not be Alex"s bro." Alina said as she glared at Asteira. "That will not be happening."
"Of course I am sure that you are not a h*e. However, I am pretty sure that by the end of this day, those two will be best buds." Asteria said as she pointed to Alex and Tetra.
"I guess you are right…" Alina said as she let out a sigh. "But that is good for Alex, right? He also needs some male presence with him, since his Companions were all girls…"
"Well, as long as Alex does not compromise our Main Mission, then he is free to do anything that he wants to do!" Asteria said as she plopped on Alina"s head.
"Well-" Alina"s words were cut off as she saw Tetra and Alex high-fiving each other. "Sigh, I"ll break up their conversation now. We still have more important things to do."
Alina then approached Alex as she noted him of their current state.
Sufficed to say, Alex and Tetra looked somewhat embarra.s.sed as they rubbed the back of their heads.
"If you want to go buddy-buddy, just do it later." Alina said as she gripped Alex"s shoulder tightly. "You can both talk about cars, sports, and girls later. For now, let"s focus on the mission, okay?"
"Okay…" Both men said as they cowed under Alina"s glare.
"Wow, she"s so cool." One of the SHA Heroes murmured. "Maybe we can invite her to an all-girls hangout sometime too?"
"…." Alina chose to ignore what she heard as Alex and Tetra started to official talks.
*****************
"So, you know me as Tetra already." Tetra said as he pointed towards himself. "Well, anyone will know who I am even if I do not introduce myself."
"..."
Tetra ignored the somewhat awkward stares given to him as he pointed his fingers at the SHA Heroes behind him as he introduced them with their names and abilities.
"Her name is Magical Girl." Tetra said as he pointed to a beautiful woman wearing a magical girl costume. "She"s a Ranger Type that can shoot pink beams, and she is also a Domain Type with her Area healing ability."
"h.e.l.lo!" Magical Girl said as she gave Alex a knowing grin. "It"s nice to meet you all." She said these words with her eyes not leaving Alex at all.
"….." Alina crumpled the water bottle that she was holding as she realized that this Magical Girl is intruding on her territory.
"Hey, calm down girl." Asteria said as she saw Alina"s reaction. "We don"t have time for that now. Main Mission first, right?"
"....."
"Then this guy right here is Steel Bloke." Tetra said as he patted a guy wearing a set of medieval armor. "He is basically a Summoner Type, as he can summon medieval weapons which he can equip and use. The one that you see right here is his normal weapons. The cooler weapons like a battering ram will be available later."
"…" Steel Bloke did not say anything at all, as he only gave a small nod in greeting. The other Heroes took it in stride, as if they already knew that this is going to happen.
"As for this guy, you can call him Rocket." Tetra said as he ruffled the hair of a young-looking guy, who was wearing welding goggles and construction vest as his costume. "He is a Builder Type with his ability to create Rockets with varying purposes. This also makes him a Ranger Type, as his Rockets are all h.e.l.la powerful long-ranged weapons. And when I say powerful, its powerful. Just believe me."
"…h.e.l.lo." Rocket meekly said as he bowed his head down. He then did not say anything more as he fiddled with his rocket launcher.
"…So next one is the Deporter." Tetra said as he pointed at a wiry woman with curly hair. Her costume consisted of a bright yellow suit filled with dizzying imagery. Alina could not help but get dizzy as she stared at Deporter"s costume."
"Deporter is a Reacher, as her power needed close contact if she wanted to affect her enemy." Tetra said as he specifically did not try to touch Deporter. "Once Deporter touches an object or person, that object or person will be blasted away, with speeds that depend on Deporter"s whim. This makes her effectively dangerous in close combat. See this costume of hers? It is meant to distract an enemy so that she can get close and touch them."
Alina definitely believed what Tetra said about the costume. Eve Asteria herself complained about Deporter"s dizzying costume.
"And this guy right here is Minotaur." Tetra said as he clasped the shoulders of a muscle-bound dude whose costume was a tight-fitting latex suit and a cow-head.
"He is a s.h.i.+fter, with him able to turn into the Minotaur told in the myths." Tetra said as he gave Minotaur a clap on his shoulders. "You can say that he is a lite version of Myth, as he can only turn into one mythical monster. But still, turning into a Minotaur is pretty great too."
Alina narrowed her eyes as she took note of Myth, who seemed to be a famous Hero too.
"Being mentioned under Myth"s name is a great honor for me." Minotaur replied in a deep voice. "She"s my inspiration, you know."
"Oh, so those steamy Myth fanfictions that you read are your inspirations too?" Magical Girl said as she giggled at Minotaur. "Those fanfictions are quite… inspiring, in a sense."
"You!" Minotaur flushed as if he was a deer caught in the headlights. "Don"t talk about that here!"
"Hehehe…"
"Shut it guys. We need to focus here. We are in a mission, and you need to be alert!" The one who said these words was the sixth and final SHA Hero in the room.
Alina looked at the speaker, at the same time that Tetra pointed at him.
"This guy right here is the leader of the SHA Hero Division here in Grand Point City." Tetra said as he swung his shoulders over a man wearing a red cape and a skintight costume. "You all know him as Might. His power is the standard super strength, flight, and powerful laser blasts. That makes him a Strongman Type, a Mover Type, and a Ranger Type."
"It"s a pleasure to see you, Travelers." Might said as he gave a slight bow to Alina and the others. "You have my heartfelt appreciation for what you did against Glacia yesterday. And now that she has escaped, I wish that our cooperation will bring her back to her proper place."
"Well, as long as we all work properly together, we can do this a.s.sault mission without any repercussions." Alina said as she pressed her body near to Alex. She did not stop there as she placed her chin on Alex"s shoulder, displaying a somewhat affectionate posture.
"...." Sufficed to say, Alex was somewhat surprised by this, but he managed to stay composed.
Alina did this PDA as she saw the glint on Might"s eyes as he was talking to her. Alina already knew what Might could be thinking this time, so she immediately showed him that she"s not interested in him.
"Well, since you introduced yourselves, I guess it is time for us to introduce ourselves then." Alina said as she separated from Alex. She then gripped her sword tightly as she said,
"My name is Khora, and my ability is small-scale Chorokinesis. In simple terms, small-scale Spatial Manipulation. My attacks that you saw on the video last night was me slas.h.i.+ng through s.p.a.ce itself. I have more tricks that I can do with s.p.a.ce, and I can display some of it later, especially to those who dare offend me."
Alina said the final sentence while looking at Magical Girl directly. Even now, this Magical Girl was still sending knowing looks to Alex, even after Alina showed her closeness to him.
Maybe it is time for Alina to take some real action.
"Oh, and I am Eldritch." Alex hastily said, as he saw Alina"s irritated face. "I can transform into a tentacle monster that can shoot destructive blasts. I can also summon 7 small creatures which I call Sprites, which I can use on battle."
Right on cue, the 7 Sprites appeared behind Alex, with them landing on his head.
"You can call me Dryad." Queen Mother said behind Alex. "My power is Phytokinesis, which allows me to summon, control and manipulate plant life around me. That is all."
"...."
Now that they were done talking, the only one left was Lauren, who looked like she was about to faint from nervousness as everyone stared at her.
She had to take some deep breaths to herself before saying,
"Um… My name is Laur- Signum, and my ability is to summon Mathematical Symbols that I can stick on my opponents. These symbols can um…"
Lauren then continued her nervous ramblings as she tried her best to explain her abilities.
Alina could only silently cheer for Lauren as she waited for her to finish.
"…And that is all." Lauren said after 5 minutes of her wandering speech.
Alina could not help but silently applaud for Lauren, as she could see that Lauren was nervous talking to her idols.
"Okay, now that we all know each other"s capabilities, it"s time for us to talk about our enemies and start our a.s.sault against them." Tetra said with a wicked glint in his eyes. "Hahaha, with all of us here, those guys will have to designate this day as the worst day of their lives!"
Even if Tetra sounded extremely convincing, Alina was not sure if the ensuing fight will be that easy.
Their opponents have Travelers too after all.