Go Big To Go Home: A Kaiju-Fighting Isekai LitRPG (Book 1 Complete!)

"A Level factory," Mikayla parroted. "So. They capture monsters and sell the right to kill them?"

"Precisely," Nya hummed. "It's not an

inherently

illegal business. My parents buying opportunities like this was how I got my first few levels. But holding captive monsters within the bounds of a city demonstrates a flagrant disregard for the safety of people and property.

That

is highly illegal,"

A roar drew their attention to the largest of the pens, which had almost two dozen men crowded around it. It was occupied by what looked like the unholy offspring of a goat and a bear, with a thick, shaggy pelt that might have once been cream-coloured, an elongated face that ended in massive, gnarled horns, and hooves that had been sharpened into lethal weapons. It was crouched over the corpse of some other monster, which had been shredded to the point that it was unrecognisable and was in the process of being devoured.

"Are they making them fight for sport?" Keldryn's ears flattened as he glared at the cheering, laughing pirates.

"Seems like," Mikayla hissed, staring nervously at the hulking steroid-goat. "What is that thing?"

"It's called a Dahu," Nya explained. "It's rare for one to make it to a high tier, but when they do they're always very dangerous because they have a natural talent for using powers with long-term growth options. It makes them popular for level factories,"

"The kind of build that's weak at first but becomes OP in the lategame, huh? And we're looking at the end result of that grind. Yikes," Mikayla nodded. She squinted, and managed to focus enough to use the ordinary version of Identify on it.

[CLOUDCRUSHING DAHU - TIER 12]

"I have no idea what you just said,"

"Sorry, just trying to fit it into my frame of reference," Mikayla hummed, then took out her phone and snapped several pictures of the monstrous menagerie. "Even if nothing else, this is enough evidence to get the guard called in right?"

"Running an illegal level factory doesn't prove that they murdered my mother. We need to keep looking, or they'll get off too lightly," Sekki asserted. "We won't find any evidence in here, too many people. Let's find an office or something," He was already making his way back through the door they'd used to enter.

They searched the - thankfully deserted - corridors, taking full advantage of liberal Scans to make sure they weren't about to run into anyone.

"That's odd. This way," Sekki frowned after the most recent Scan, already charging ahead.

"What is it?"

"This one man hasn't moved at all since he came into range. I think he's guarding something. If something's important enough to be guarded, I want to know what it is,"

Within moments, they were crouching behind a corner, shelter afforded by a line of lockers, and eyeing a yaoguai guard who was standing outside a door.

Mikayla drew breath to ask something, but Sekki pressed a finger to her lips. Nya gently tugged them both backwards, slipping past them and pressing a hand over her Core Controller to stifle its glow.

While the guard's head was turned away, Nya's kusarigama flashed outwards and wrapped around his neck. She yanked, and it tightened.

The guard tried to scream, but choked. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the ground.

Mikayla winced because that had been much more brutal than she'd been expecting. "Is he dead?"

"Who cares? He's not in our way anymore," Nya shrugged, already making for the door.

The door turned out to be locked. "Do we need a key?" Keldryn was already crouching to search the guard.

Nya used her blade to slice open the locking mechanism. "No,"

There was the beginnings of a loud creak as the door swung open, and Mikayla hastily grabbed it. A quick inspection told her the cause. "The hinges are worn out. Let's open this very gently,"

"Excellent catch," Nya praised her as they entered the study.

It was large and spartan, though what furniture was there seemed falsely ostentatious, with gold accents that were bright and looked painted on, and a rug that smelled of mildew. It was the home of a poor man trying to look rich. One wall was dominated by a floor-to-ceiling glass window, overlooking the warehouse floor full of caged monsters. They were right above the pen containing the Dahu, like a private viewing platform for pit fights. They could see the Dahu pacing irritably and casting glances in their direction.

Sekki sniffed around, taking the lead as Mikayla very gently closed the door behind them. "There's only one man's scent in here, but it's everywhere,"

"Where's it freshest? Would that tell you what he touched most recently?" Nya guessed.

Sekki cast her an irritated look, and she raised her hands apologetically. "Right. Apologies. Do your business,"

"Scan," Mikayla whispered, searching the room for anything magical. Unfortunately, nothing particularly interesting was revealed.

Keldryn, ever the practical one, had gone straight for the desk, opening the drawers and grinning. "I've got books,"

Mikayla joined him. "Perfect," She flipped one open and inspected it, then frowned. "I think this is a ledger. But all the names are in a cipher,"

Sekki cursed, searching the rest of the room. "Copy it anyway, we can set the code breakers on it,"

Mikayla nodded and started photographing each page.

"This looks like a journal," Keldryn was sorting through the other half-dozen books. A piece of paper fell out of one of them, and he snatched it, scanning it.

His eyes widened. "Hey. Look at this,"

Mikayla peered over his shoulder. It took only a few seconds to scan enough of it that she realised what they were looking at. "Oh shit. Oh,

stars,"

Sekki snatched it out of their hands and scanned it. His already dark visage grew positively murderous as he processed what the letter said. ". . I see. Mikayla, copy this," He thrust it at her, and she obliged with a wave of her phone.

As soon as his hands were free, Sekki ripped a pillow off the armchair and screamed into it. The words were too stifled by the cloth for Mikayla to make out, but she doubted she was missing anything.

Nya took her turn looking at the letter and her eyes widened. "Oh my . . . I doubt we'll need anything else, but keep looking, just in case. More evidence couldn't hurt,"

Sekki put the pillow back and nodded. "I agree," He heaved out a ragged breath, a rictus of control settling over his features. "We should -"

There was a creak as the door swung open behind them. Startled, Mikayla looked up to see an equally surprised man hesitating in the doorway.

In a flash of light, a gun appeared in his hands. But in the second it took for him to put his finger around the trigger and fire, Keldryn was tackling him, sending his aim wide. The gun spat out a blast of light that left a scorch mark on the wall, but fizzled right back out of existence so that the man could turn his attention to the foxkin straddling him.

Mikayla's eyes widened took the opportunity to snap off an Identify with her phone, sparing a second to glance at the result before stuffing it back into her pocket.

[SHUTE KRASNOV - LEVEL 49 - HUMAN]

That was a pretty distressing power gap, and there wasn't enough space in the room to use the Blessing of Teamwork. And if they deployed their Armour Cores at full size, it would make a massive mess and alert the full complement of Wave Carvers. She guessed they'd have to hope that four against one would be enough to overcome his strength.

Wait, they'd been training for this just last week.

Shute, once he'd gotten his arms in position, threw Keldryn off him with enough force that the ranger bounced off the ceiling. Keldryn hit the ground, rolled and acrobatically twisted back to his feet, lashing out again with his wrist blade - only for Shute to catch his arm. He hauled himself upwards, shoving Keldryn to the ground at he did.

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"Raid Battle tactics!" Mikayla shouted, summoning up her Sword and Shield. She charged, knocking Shute back into the doorway and standing protectively over Keldryn as he scrambled backwards.

A burgundy Armour Core wrapped around Shute's body, and he swung a haymaker at her that she caught on her shield. He gripped it and tried to shove past her, but Mikayla kept him pinned, strafing back and forth, her Shield being dismissed and resummoned in a slightly different place every time he tried to grip it.

"Circulation of Stamina, lass," Nocturnus whispered in her ear as chunks of her Health were smashed away with every blow.

"I got it, I got it," Mikayla retorted, marshalling her energy and trading her Stamina to restore her Health. Fortunately, no one commented on her slip.

"You think a bunch of kids can get the drop on me? I'm a Kaiju Coast veteran, I've eaten tougher than you for breakfast!" Shute roared. He slammed a foot into the ground, and waves of ice spread from the point of impact, wrapping around Mikajla's boots and freezing them in place. She stumbled, and he took advantage, shoving her to the ground with both hands.

An arrow flew across the room and struck his chest. "I'll give you one chance to surrender and come quietly," Sekki warned him.

"Little boy thinks he's a policeman. Cute," Shute retorted as a hardlight spear appeared in one hand and a large net in the other. If the situation had been any less dire, Mikayla would have nerded out over witnessing a real-life gladiatorial spear and net that looked straight out of Ancient Rome. (Well, a trident would be more accurate but

that wasn't relevant!

)

Keldryn had Ghastreaper out, the skull-like spear feinting to the right and then swinging forwards, but Shute's reflexes were too fast. He deflected the blade and then, when Keldryn was overextended, threw a kick that sent him crashing into a nearby bookshelf.

The chain of Nya's kusarigama wrapped around Shute's arm, and she tried to drag him off-balance. But his Stats were too high and he resisted the pull, dragging her towards him by spinning on his feet instead.

Mikayla caught her by holding out an arm, and Nya took the reprieve, letting her Huntress' Embrace collapse into Mana-dust.

With a flick of his wrist, Shute threw his net towards them, then charged after it. But Mikayla had been ready for that. She channeled more Mana into her Oaken Protector - [MANA: 2201/2250] - and let it swell into a wall, its attack-attracting function causing the Net to collapse uselessly against its bulk.

Shute's spear went into her Shield - and pierced straight through, the barrier only buying her just enough time to jerk her head sideways. The spearhead punched

through

the Black Knight's helmet and left a bloody cut on the side of her face. Mikayla swallowed a scream. That had almost taken her eye out.

"An Armour Penetration effect?" Nya sounded worried.

Shute cackled. "Have the little delvers never fought a real criminal who knows how to fight Guardsmen before? You should have stayed on the surface!"

. . was that a local pop culture reference? Huh. So that was how it felt to be on the other side of making a reference no one understood.

"Fight, lass! Feint right!" Nocturnus goaded her.

Mikayla obliged, sidestepping and bringing up her sword. Shute's spear whipped back and whirled around - "Left and shield bash!" - only to slide straight past her helmet as she jerked in the other direction and slammed her shield into his chest. It felt like trying to tackle a concrete wall, but despite the Level gap he was still knocked backwards a bit. The training she'd devoted large chunks of the past few months to kicked in and she delivered an upwards slash that carved chunks of burgundy light out of Shute's Armour.

His free hand grasped her shoulder and ice started spreading from it with shocking speed, crusting over her arm. On instinct, Mikayla jerked away - "No, lass, press the attack!" - and it was too late to correct her mistake, because Shute delivered a crushing uppercut that lifted her feet off the ground and knocked her back.

Fortunately, Nya, now glowing with the accumulated energies of Sekki's buff magic, swooped in to intercept the follow-up. Shute's spear was knocked aside from its stab at Mikayla's throat, and his head snapped back when Nya's fist met his chin.

In her other hand she conjured a dagger, one that glowed with sickly green light, and tried to drive it through Shute's Armour and into his chest. But his hand caught her wrist.

"Firestarting Punch," Mikayla whispered to herself, setting her hand ablaze and using it to loosen the ice encrusting her left shoulder.

She looked up just as Nya was slammed to the ground, pinned by the pirate with one hand. He conjured his Spear back again and raised it, aimed at the back of her neck.

She didn't have anything strong enough to stop him. When Many Hands Wield One Blade might work, but if she was wrong then Nya would find herself missing a throat.

So instead Mikayla channeled Mana into her feet, triggering Heel Propulsion, and used the burst of speed to shoulder-check Shute, launching herself towards the window that overlooked the Dahu's pen and taking him with her.

The window exploded around them.

Shute let out a strangled squawk, limbs frantically flailing.

Mikayla's eyes widened as she started to fall.

The Dahu looked up and she could see the hungry excitement in its eyes. It was already tensing, ready to jump up and snap the morsel she'd delivered to it out of the air. There was something grotesque about seeing what was ostensibly a big, weird goat look so eager for blood and meat.

And then the chain of a kusarigama wrapped around her arm and hoisted her back into the air. Nya groaned with exertion, but successfully dragged Mikayla back in through the broken window.

Her sigh of relief was drowned out by an agonised scream, and the four students looked through what was left of the window to find that Shute had been caught by the Dahu.

It had its jaws around his waist and was beating him against the ground. His screams were interrupted by a sickening

crack

, and then the Dahu's jaws closed all the way, taking most of Shute's midsection into its gullet and leaving the rest of his body in two pieces on the ground.

[YOU HAVE EARNED XP POINTS FOR KILLING A HUMAN!]

[LEVEL UP! CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 29!]

". . Well. That could have gone worse," Mikayla breathed, forcing her racing heart to quiet.

"That was not subtle. We ought to depart before someone else comes to investigate," Nya asserted, her tail twitching nervously.

"Let them come. We still don't know which one of them wielded the blade that killed my mother," Sekki snarled.

"I appreciate your desire for revenge, but it is not practical to feed the entire syndicate to monsters. We should take the evidence we have and call for backup. Let the watchmen round up this lot,"

"Guys," Keldryn called, a note of warning in his voice.

"What's wrong?" Mikayla checked, tuning out the brewing argument.

"Something's happening to the Dahu!"

Violent shivers were running through the monstrous goat's body. Its tail suddenly ballooned outwards, quadrupling in size until it had become a massive, thorny bush. The Dahu howled in pain and rolled onto its back, its ribcage seeming to swell, stretching its skin so tightly across its bones that bloody tears spontaneously erupted through the fur.

"What? What is happening?!" Nya shrieked, backing away.

"Oh, shit. Oh starring hell. I screwed up," Mikayla winced.

"It's the Kaiju's Clutch," Keldryn realised.

"Exactly," she grimaced. "That bozo came from the Coast. He's a carrier of the sickness. The Dahu just ate contaminated meat,"

Sekki hissed. "Meaning?"

"Meaning it's starting to turn into a Kaiju,"