"…." Facing Saitama, Sweet Mask suddenly felt his confidence evaporate.
Saitama, meanwhile, strode straight toward Do-S. "Hey. Let them go."
Do-S's brows pinched together. The baldy looked plain enough, but an uncanny pressure was rolling off him, prickling her skin.
Gulp. She swallowed—only for Saitama to lift his hand and say, "First step is to knock everyone else out, right?"
He didn't need to say it—Do-S's thralls were already charging Saitama.
"Mm. If I control my strength, it should be fine. Let's do one-millionth power…" The instant the controlled heroes reached him, Saitama's arm flicked.
Smack—smack—smack—smack—smack!
In a blur, the dozens of attackers slammed into the walls, neat and tidy.
Sweet Mask's brain shorted out.
Impossible… absolutely impossible…
He could have slaughtered them all in an instant, then gone for Do-S—but if he did, they would absolutely die, or be crippled for life. Saitama had only left them seriously injured. That delicate control over force made Sweet Mask fold in grudging awe.
Do-S, too, got the message. Right—this baldy… there was no way she could match him.
She spun on her heel to run.
"Ah! That strength—!" Saitama's face changed.
Crunch!
As if some great maw had shut, Do-S was swallowed whole. Loping out of the dark came a colossal hound, pitch-black from nose to tail, a miasma of shadow leaking off its body.
Saitama stared up at the comically oversized dog, dumbfounded. "What do you even eat to get that big? Also, letting a large-breed dog roam like this is pretty irresponsible."
Sweet Mask's mouth twitched. That's the part you're focusing on? The real headline is that this thing's sheer size and aura screams Dragon-level, isn't it?
…Wait. He's never looked tense once. Is that Saitama's secret to getting strong?
While that thought flashed through Sweet Mask's mind, Saitama curled his fist. "Okay then—sit."
In the next beat, he appeared over the Dragon-level monster—Overgrown Rover—and brought his fist down. The impact cratered the floor; Rover, along with the concrete beneath, collapsed straight into the depths, smashing through who knew how many levels. Saitama dusted himself off and stepped back into the corridor without a scuff.
"Alright. So, Sweet Mask, you—" Saitama turned—only to find Sweet Mask gone. Atomic Samurai's three disciples were gone, too.
"Huh?"
Wait… don't tell me…
He peered into the yawning chasm Rover had punched open. No way, right? Did they all fall?
As it happened—yeah, exactly that.
When Rover got hammered down, the sudden collapse took the others with it. Still, they were A-Class heroes; staying alive wasn't the issue.
Saitama's surprise faded into a sober look. This… was—
Dozens of serpents burst up from the depths. They were "snakes" only in the loosest sense—each a warped, gene-spliced abomination. The moment they anchored their jaws into the broken edges, something far larger levered itself up from below.
A single face loomed—each feature the size of a person.
Orochi.
"Heh-heh-heh… I don't know how you wandered down here, but you're clearly no trash to be ignored," Orochi said, eyes narrowing in curiosity. "Tell me—who are you?"
"Ah, I'm from upstairs. You guys were making so much noise I couldn't sleep, so I came to check."
In Saitama's view, the line between "monster" and "human" often came down to whether you could talk things out. If the other side could communicate—and wasn't randomly hurting people—he couldn't be bothered to pick a fight.
"I see. A surface-dweller… interesting." Orochi's eyes glinted. "From you, I sense something that stirs me. You're strong—so strong I wonder if you can awaken emotions that have slept within me for ages."
"You mean you don't have feelings?" Saitama scratched his cheek.
"Hahahahaha! Correct! As the ultimate lifeform, the natural nemesis of humanity, I—"
"Yeah, I don't need the rest," Saitama cut in, bored. "It's always the same speech—worked up over yourself, super interested in me, but I'm not interested in you. 'King of this,' 'ancient weapon,' 'final evolution,' 'sealed away,' 'strongest in the universe'—what's the point? What's the difference? 'Ultimate lifeform' or whatever—doesn't matter if one normal punch can take you out, right?"
Orochi's ecstatic grin froze, stone-cold. He stared at Saitama, voice flat. "Is that so? You look down on me. Don't worry—no matter how many powerful foes you've faced, now you will witness the strongest—"
Bang.
One second.
In the next instant, Orochi's body began to fall apart.
He stared, dazed. "Just now… what did you do?"
"Just a normal punch," Saitama sighed.
Watching his form unravel, Orochi actually smiled. "So this… is fear. Thank you… nameless… baldy…"
"Hey! Don't call me baldy!" Saitama barked, but the remains were already tumbling into the abyss.
He let out a long, helpless breath, then turned back the way he came. "Man, I'm tired. So boring. I'm going back to sleep."
(End of Chapter)
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