"Th-that guy's a monster!" Gale Wind whispered, face drained.
"I feel the same…" Hellfire Flame nodded frantically. "Phoenix Man thinks reviving us to fight him will help? He's dreaming!"
"No way! Impossible!" Gale Wind hissed. "That man is a monster. I know it sounds strange coming from monsters like us, but it's the truth."
Their condition was terrible. Saitama had punched them to pieces before; even though they'd been revived, the wounds still lingered. To be precise, their bodies were crisscrossed with damage—barely held together by some powerful force.
"Forget it—while they're duking it out, we run," Gale Wind muttered. For some reason, the moment he almost said "bald—" a nameless dread crawled up his spine, as if uttering those two syllables would summon the man to pulverize him on the spot.
"Right. Move—now," Hellfire Flame agreed.
Below, Saitama rolled his neck. With effortless punches and kicks, he sent the revived Undergrounders flying. Phoenix Man stood there, stunned.
As a Monster Association elder, he knew exactly what this place had been.
When Gyoro Gyoro led him around searching for a headquarters, they'd explored many domains—among them the Nether Realm and the sea. The Nether King and the Sea King had both refused to cooperate, so Gyoro Gyoro brought them to the Underground King's territory to seek aid.
Compared to the other rulers, the Underground King was deadlier—he could kill directly in dreams. In the realm of sleep, even the strongest S-Class heroes might not defeat him.
But when they arrived… the Undergrounders were already extinct.
Not defeated. Not badly wounded. Extinct.
That discovery had rattled them—then the truth sank in: someone strong enough to wipe out the entire Undergrounder race had appeared.
Even so, Gyoro Gyoro and Phoenix Man were… pleased. The former lair of the Undergrounders was now a perfect base site. They seized it easily and reshaped it into the Monster Association's nest.
As for the corpses…
They dumped them all into that pool.
"Heh. Even dead, you're still useful," Phoenix Man sneered. He felt victory in his grasp. So what if that baldy could swat Undergrounders aside? Could he keep it up forever? Naïve!
My revivals are unlimited. What are you—perpetual motion?
His confidence rang in his skull. He was sure he could deal with Saitama.
How long that confidence would last… was another matter.
Elsewhere, Gyoro Gyoro monitored the invading heroes. Annoyance gnawed at him: almost none of the monsters were stopping the S-Class advance. He'd already deployed Dragon-levels, yet somehow they hadn't intersected with the S-Class at all—as if obeying some absurd rule that made them miss each other.
Worse, his senses told him two Dragon-levels were already dead.
Those two Dragons operated as a combo and weren't the strongest, but Dragons were Dragons. Losing them so easily was infuriating.
Just then, an alarm blared. "What now?"
Gyoro Gyoro glanced at the panel, and his face darkened. It was the special-event alert—for things like… Phoenix Man's evolution.
He'd known Phoenix Man could evolve into Reborn Phoenix. He hadn't expected it this fast.
What enemy was he facing?
All the S-Class heroes he was tracking were accounted for. Did another S-Class breach their lines?
Damn it—several camera clusters were down; without them, he was blind and passive. He slammed a fist against the desk.
Back in the chamber, Reborn Phoenix was slack-jawed.
Saitama carved through the Undergrounders in waves—entering on one side, exiting on the other. The revived creatures could take one punch, but the second finished them every time.
And still!
"I've already revived them more than a dozen times," Phoenix Man thought, panic fluttering. "At least look tired!"
But now he understood the truth.
(End of Chapter)
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