BOOM—!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, an unbelievable sight unfolded before them!
The ground directly beneath Ryuu and Fubuki suddenly caved inward, and a split second later, a chaotic thicket of jagged, rocky spikes erupted violently from the earth!
"Hmm!?" Ryuu's eyebrows shot up.
Without wasting a breath, he pivoted on his heel and swung the dagger in a wide, fluid arc. A circular wave of brilliant green energy expanded outward, forcefully shattering the incoming spikes into dust.
Seizing the brief opening, Ryuu leaped away, carrying Fubuki smoothly to another untouched patch of ground.
But Vaccine Man wasn't about to let up. With a face contorted in pure malice, the behemoth stomped its massive feet over and over again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In an instant, the entire area transformed into a deadly zone of subterranean thorns. Hundreds of massive spikes ruptured from the concrete, chasing after their silhouettes like an advancing wave.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Ryuu darted across the battlefield, carrying Fubuki as he continuously evaded the onslaught. As he moved, a slightly bizarre thought crossed his mind.
This spike-eruption ability... it really does look exactly like Cho'Gath's Rupture from League of Legends...
In the original manga, Vaccine Man had never shown an ability like this. But after a quick afterthought, Ryuu understood. In the canon timeline, Vaccine Man had been instantly vaporized by Saitama the second he entered his final form, never getting a chance to show off his full arsenal.
Maybe the author of One Punch Man just played a lot of League of Legends, Ryuu amused himself.
Shaking off the idle thoughts, Ryuu focused back on the battle. He had no interest in discovering whatever other tricks this giant monster had up its sleeve. Before the creature could flex any more abilities, he was going to cut it down.
With that decided, Ryuu looked down at the woman in his arms and asked, "How are you holding up? Can you fly yet?"
Carrying Fubuki was severely limiting his mobility and preventing him from going all out.
Fubuki instantly caught his drift and nodded firmly. "I can manage."
After a few moments of rest, her psychic reserves had recovered just enough. While she wasn't in any condition to fight, maintaining basic flight to stay out of the way was entirely doable.
With a soft glow of psychokinesis, Fubuki broke free from Ryuu's grip and soared into the sky, safely rising above the reach of the erupting spikes.
The moment his hands were free, Ryuu spun the dagger. A cutting wheel of green energy erupted outward, flattening the surrounding spikes into gravel. Then, instead of retreating, he pushed forward, blitzing straight toward the towering Vaccine Man!
"Hehehehe!!!"
Seeing Ryuu rush him, Vaccine Man let out a dark, raspy laugh and kept stomping the ground. But the trail of exploding spikes constantly bit at Ryuu's heels, never quite catching him.
The distance between them closed rapidly.
The next instant, a savage gleam flashed in Vaccine Man's eyes. It unhinged its massive jaws and unleashed a concentrated torrent of twisting, lightning-like azure energy, attempting to swallow Ryuu at point-blank range!
At this distance, dodging was completely out of the question.
But Ryuu hadn't planned on dodging anyway. Gripping the dagger with absolute force, he executed a thunderous frontal slash!
A monumental wave of green energy roared to life, instantly parting the incoming azure plasma right down the middle before engulfing the monster's colossal, hideous frame.
Up in the air, Fubuki's face lit up with joy. Did he get him?!
But a second later, her smile froze.
As the green light dispersed, Vaccine Man's towering form still stood firmly in place, completely unscathed!
Ryuu noticed the lack of damage and frowned. That previous strike had carried his absolute maximum output, fully infused with the steel-cleaving mastery of a Sword Master. Yet, it hadn't left a single scratch.
As if to rub it in, Vaccine Man bared its fangs in a hideous grin, and its massive tail whipped through the air like a steel beam, screaming toward Ryuu!
Ryuu raised the dagger to parry.
CLANG—!
The collision generated a sharp, metallic screech, sounding like two industrial steel plates smashing together. The monster's current durability was mind-boggling.
Ryuu's heart sank slightly.
Vaccine Man let out another raspy, booming laugh. "Do you finally understand the evolutionary divide between us, you foolish human?"
"You are absolutely, fundamentally incapable of harming me!"
The moment the words left its mouth, the monster's tail blurred into a dozen overlapping afterimages, raining down a relentless barrage on Ryuu.
Ryuu's arm moved at hypersonic speed, swinging the dagger to deflect the blows.
CHING! CHING! CHING!
Sparks flew wildly across the clearing. Ryuu successfully parried every single strike, but the raw, kinetic force behind each blow was too massive to completely neutralize. He was forced backward step by step, his boots carving deep trenches into the earth.
BOOM—!
The accumulated momentum finally broke through his guard, and Ryuu was violently blasted backward, skidding across the debris.
"Hawkeye Mihawk!" Fubuki cried out, her face draining of color.
The tide of battle had completely turned. After its transformation, Vaccine Man's offensive power and defensive scaling had reached an absurd tier. It looked as though Ryuu was finally hit with a wall he couldn't overcome.
But just as Fubuki's mind began to spiral into panic, Ryuu smoothly stabilized his posture, entirely unfazed.
He slowly reached his hand over his shoulder. Then, as if pulling a weapon out of thin air, he drew a magnificent, massive black broadsword with a golden crossguard.
"Very well. I recognize your strength," Ryuu said calmly.
"To show proper respect to a worthy adversary, I shall use the World's Strongest Black Blade to grant you your burial."
Fubuki dazed in utter confusion.
Vaccine Man, too, was momentarily stunned.
The World's Strongest Black Blade? What did that mean?!
Don't tell me... he still hasn't been using his full strength this entire time?!
As the two of them struggled to process the gravity of his words, a rapid succession of system notifications exploded inside Ryuu's head.
[Ding! Current role-playing completion rate +10%!]
[Ding! Current role-playing completion rate +10%!]
[Ding! Current role-playing completion rate has reached 60%. Status threshold met! Congratulations to the host for once again obtaining a portion of Hawkeye Mihawk's power.]
BOOM—!
In that singular moment, an ungodly amount of power flooded his core, and a vast, breathtaking sequence of memories raced through his mind once more!
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