Chapter 131: They just got away from me.

After a long meditation on his situation, Kai quickly ran to catch up with the voices that had gone beyond his perception range. At that moment, he conjured the [Trace] card between his fingers and aimed it toward the voices. However, instead of activating the card, he decided to be cautious and, in an incredibly serious tone, gave an order to his reliable assistant.

“Sage, I need to mark the things that are underneath. Help me with the calculations—I don’t want to fail.”

“Immediately, Master.”

Immediately after replying, Sage materialized a hologram in [In] state that depicted Kai’s pointing hand, slightly superimposed over Kai’s real arm. The blue-eyed boy quickly adjusted his position so they matched perfectly, at which point a predictive line pointing toward the sea appeared. Without waiting even a second, he activated the card.

“[Trace] On!”

With the card’s activation, it became an arrow of light that shot out in a straight line, following the predictive line perfectly. Moments later, Kai sensed that the ability had struck something and triggered. At that instant, he not only perceived the exact position of the creature, but also its weak points, which in a way allowed him to identify what he had hit.

(Its weaknesses are a spot under its abdomen and the upper joints of its 8 legs? Is it actually a spider?)

“[Eagle Sight] On!”

Curious, Kai quickly conjured a card that, apart from the golden Aura Script pattern, featured a pair of binoculars made of light at the center, with what looked like light-formed angel wings at the edges. He activated it right away, causing the card to transform into a pair of binoculars quite similar to the ones on the card—albeit without the wings.

The [Eagle Sight] card was a very interesting ability that allowed him to do only one thing: see a target clearly at a distance of up to 5 kilometers, ignoring any type of visual obstacle such as walls, fog, or darkness. In exchange, the binoculars could only remain for a maximum of 10 minutes. He could not move from his spot while using them, he could only use the card 20 times a month, and he had to already know what he wanted to focus on. If he used them without having a clear target, they would not work.

When he raised the binoculars to his eyes, Kai could see the creatures he had been following, which indeed were spiders. However, they had rather strange colors and shapes, and some were even monstrously large.

Leading the group was a spider the size of a large dog, which had dozens of eyes; from its enormous abdomen sprouted large amounts of webbing it seemed able to control at will. It was using that web to create a tunnel through which the entire group traveled beneath the sea, meaning that web must have had some very special properties.

Right behind, there was a spider at least three times larger, roughly the size of a horse, with a grotesque and bulky appearance. It had a disproportionately large abdomen and a powerful jaw that seemed designed for crushing, protruding from its body with an almost metallic look, despite being completely black.

On the bulky spider’s belly, there was a “small” one, about the size of an adult cat, bluish in color, with strange glowing patterns on its abdomen vaguely resembling an electrical circuit. It seemed quite hyperactive, never stopping its movement from one side of the bigger spider’s belly to the other.

The last two were equally strange. One was about the same size as the first and had a similar appearance, but its abdomen occasionally glowed softly, revealing its interior, where what looked like a liquid or gas was moving. Meanwhile, the last one, slightly bigger, seemed to be made of stone, with legs apparently designed specifically for digging and a smaller, angular abdomen, as though it were a rock.

“Sage, record their appearances. They seem to be related to their ‘quirks’.” While analyzing the spiders’ different traits, Kai spoke in a serious voice, to which the little fairy replied with an equally serious tone.

“It’s done, Master.”

“Let’s mark all of them in case they split up.” Quickly, Kai spoke in a low voice and summoned another Trace card in his left hand. At that moment, Sage created a new targeting hologram while speaking.

“The calculations are complete.”

“Perfect. [Trace] On!”

Wasting no time, Kai quickly lined up his position with the hologram and activated the card, never once taking his eyes off the spiders through the binoculars. Thanks to that, he was able to see how the Trace arrow hit the first spider directly. He watched for a moment, and upon seeing that it continued doing the same thing with no change, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Good. They can’t detect [Trace], so it’s quite likely they can’t detect you in [In] state either. Let’s mark them all, and then you can go analyze them.” Kai commented with a smile, without taking his eyes off the spiders. Sage nodded seriously.

“Understood, Master. The moment you give the order, I’ll head out.”

After Kai nodded, he activated Trace cards one after another, managing to mark all the spiders. At that point, he signaled his trusty assistant, who shot off at high speed and dove into the sea without leaving a single ripple, while he continued to observe everything through the binoculars.

As Kai expected, the spiders did not notice Sage analyzing them. After a few minutes, the beautiful fairy reappeared before him with a radiant smile on her face, at which point she showed him the data she had collected via a hologram. It not only displayed all their physical data, but also their “quirks”, or rather an estimation of them.

“[Geological Manipulation], [Gas Generation], [Electrification], [Biological Storage], and [Web Master]?” Upon reviewing the data, Kai muttered under his breath, prompting Sage to nod and explain in an upbeat tone.

“That’s right, Master. Though for now, it’s just our best guess, based on their physical data, quirk factors, and what we saw on the island, it’s very likely those are their abilities. The one that looks like a rock is probably responsible for the earthquakes, the one with the glowing abdomen is the one that created the explosive gas, and that bright little one was the one responsible for the electromagnetic emission.”

“Then I guess the scientists are all inside the spider with the metal jaw.” Kai commented thoughtfully, glancing at the data. Sage nodded.

“Indeed, Master. I was able to detect human remains and those of several other species inside it. Also, since it seemed like it was somehow ‘storing’ these remains, I deduced that its ability was [Biological Storage]; it’s transporting the remains and the genetic information of its victims.”

“But that doesn’t answer the question of why there was one corpse and one survivor…” Kai murmured pensively, unable to understand the reason behind that. After a moment, he simply shook his head and added with some resignation.

“Well, there’s no point in worrying about that now if I can’t figure it out. For the time being, we’ll just wait until they reach their destination to get more information. By the way, are the girls on their way?”

“Yes, Master. I managed to get in touch with Sentinel a little while ago, and they’re now on a high-speed maritime transport headed this way.” Sage responded to her master’s question. After thinking for a moment, he looked at her and spoke, just as the binoculars vanished from his hands.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea for Mirko to see me walking on water. I’ll have to get myself a bit wet. By the way, is there any land nearby where I could wait for them?”

“There’s a small stretch of land a few meters across about 10 kilometers from here, off to the west.” Sage answered, pointing west, prompting Kai to shake his head and remark.

“10 kilometers is too far. It might raise suspicions. Better to play dumb here.”

Right after he spoke, Kai withdrew his aura from the water, causing him to fall into the sea. Salem could only protest with angry meows. Seeing the drenched cat, which grew bigger and began swimming, Kai couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then spoke as he began floating on his back.

“Hahaha, don’t be such a crybaby, Salem. Come on, hop onto my chest.”

Though annoyed, Salem quickly accepted his master’s invitation and shrank down before climbing onto his chest. That marked the beginning of a relaxed wait, floating in the sea while being gently rocked by the waves, which failed to move them from their spot. Meanwhile, Kai lost himself in thought about what to do next.

(What are those spiders? Biological weapons? Animals with quirks trained for combat or something else? I really have no idea. Besides, they're way too strong. Just that group of five would be more than enough to kill the current All Might and give me a lot of trouble. If there's an organization powerful enough to create something like this, we're beyond screwed—we're practically dead.

(But if that were the case, why do things so stealthily? Are they being cautious about All Might...? That could really be the case. All Might Prime was a beast and could take down all five spiders without too much trouble. And since no one knows he's weakening, it makes sense. But why take scientists who show no trace of being special in any way? Too many questions and far too few clues.

(The question is, do I tell them or not tell them what really happened? On the one hand, if I tell them, I’ll only alert the heroes and the government ahead of time, which could be potentially dangerous right now—especially given my current lack of knowledge about what’s really going on. If this is something that’s supposed to appear in the future, I could be poking a hornet’s nest and making things worse for all of us.

(Plus, there’s the fact that neither the Pussycats nor Mirko noticed anything. It’s highly likely that without me, they wouldn’t have realized anything was off, which reinforces my belief that this is something that would only surface in the future, giving the ‘protagonist’ time to grow and confront it. But then again, there’s no guarantee reality will be so ‘convenient’, and it could also be that attacking early would let us destroy the threat prematurely, while it’s still ‘weak’.

(Mmmm… There are good arguments both for and against saying anything, and with next to no information, I can’t be sure which is right. For now, I should buy some time. Whatever they’re doing, they’ll need the spiders to reach their destination before they can start. So it’s better to gather information on my own first, then decide what to do. Besides, it’s not like we have many options when facing something that can afford to send five ‘mini All Mights’ just to kill a handful of scientists….)

Soon, a speedboat with a streamlined design and police insignia approached the spot where Kai was calmly floating. On board were Mirko, the Pussycats, and three police officers—one at the controls and two who appeared to be support.

“Kai! Are you okay? What happened?” Seeing Kai floating on the water, Ryuko cried out, worried. Kai raised a hand and responded in a calm tone.

“I’m fine. They just got away from me.”

“They got away from you…?” Tomoko asked quietly, sounding full of disbelief. But just then, Kai discreetly winked at her, which quickly made her realize there was more to the story.

“For now, get in and tell us what happened.” Shino said seriously as she looked at Kai, who nodded and swam to the boat, climbing aboard effortlessly. At that moment, Mirko asked, staring at him intently.

“So, what did you find that made you cause such a ruckus?”

“A lead on the scientists. The stories about the monsters were true—something attacked them.” Kai answered casually, pulling a notebook from under his shirt. The expressions of those present grew tense, but Kai continued speaking.

“I found some spiderweb traces along with the notebook. The webbing dissolved quickly on contact with air, so I followed it and managed to spot a couple of what looked like giant spiders moving through the water. But they noticed I was there and fled, leaving me behind. For now, it’d be wise to keep watch on the island and the nearby waters in case they come back.”

“How many of those ‘spiders’ did you see?” Mirko asked, her tone incredibly serious. At that, Kai took out his phone, quickly searching for something as he replied.

“Luckily, my phone started working again once I got away from the forest, so I managed to snap a few photos.”

After speaking, Kai showed his phone to the heroes. On it was an underwater image of the rock-like spider and the one with the glowing abdomen, slightly blurry as if they were swimming at high speed. It was a small bit of Sage’s incredibly reliable handiwork, given that his plan was to sow some doubt without offering anything too explicit. At least until he could gather more information and decide whether to advance or retreat based on what he discovered from then on.