"Ono!"
Yamada Kenichi roared.
His eyes were bloodshot from anger and anxiety.
The young team member named Ono, the junior who had shyly asked him for advice on how to confess to a girl he liked just a few days ago, was now pinned by a heavy concrete slab with both legs, his face filled with pain and despair.
And Takahashi, with a sneer that belittled everything, was slowly stepping down on him with his massive foot.
Time, at this moment, seemed to slow down infinitely.
Yamada Kenichi's mind went blank.
Run away?
Dodge?
These thoughts didn't even form in his mind.
Who am I?
I am Yamada Kenichi.
I am a police officer.
I am the commander of this desperate team.
I... absolutely cannot, and absolutely will not allow myself, to watch my comrade, my brother, be so cruelly murdered in front of me!
"Bastard—!!!"
A rage from the depths of his soul overwhelmed fear, overwhelmed reason, overwhelmed the biological instinct for survival.
Yamada Kenichi furiously hurled the empty pistol in his hand at Takahashi.
Then, in an almost suicidal stance, he charged his weathered body into the gigantic Monster!
He didn't know what he could do.
Perhaps, his desperate charge would be nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot for Takahashi.
Perhaps, in the next second, he would be easily crushed into a pulp.
But he had to do it.
This was his final defense of justice as a police officer.
This was his final protection of his comrades as a commander.
"Your opponent is me! Takahashi!"
This was his, Yamada Kenichi's, last, and proudest... duty!
"Captain!"
"Captain Yamada!"
The police officers lying on the ground around him cried out in horror.
They wanted to stop him, but the pain from their injuries pinned them to the spot, leaving them only able to watch their commander charge towards that certain death.
Takahashi noticed the figure rushing towards him.
A more cruel smile appeared on his twisted face.
"Oh? Officer Yamada, what touching camaraderie. Do you want to go to hell with him? Alright! I'll grant your wish!"
Takahashi grinned ferociously, abandoning the young police officer beneath his foot, and his huge fist tore through the air, smashing down towards Yamada Kenichi's head.
Destruction was imminent.
Before the fist even arrived, the heavy wind pressure had already slammed into Yamada Kenichi's face, making him gasp for breath.
It was all over.
Yamada Kenichi closed his eyes, accepting his fate with resignation.
In this final moment of his life, no images of his past flashed through his mind; only a gentle figure appeared.
"Goodbye... Mieko..." He silently uttered his wife's name in his heart.
He had promised her he would return home safely after every mission.
This time, he would break his promise.
However—
One second, two seconds, three seconds... The anticipated agony and death did not arrive.
The entire world suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
The sound of the wind disappeared.
The Monster's roar disappeared.
His comrades' cries of alarm also disappeared.
All the noisy sounds were instantly stripped away, replaced by a steady yet oppressive heartbeat, thumping like a war drum.
"Thump... thump-thump... thump-thump-thump-thump-thump..."
This heartbeat, as if possessing a calming magic, instantly smoothed away all the fear and desperation in his heart.
What... happened?
Yamada Kenichi slowly opened his eyes.
Then, he saw the most shocking and reassuring scene of his life.
A tall back, clad in a plaid shirt, had appeared in front of him at some unknown point.
That huge fist, capable of easily flattening a police car into scrap metal, was now halted in front of him, mere inches from his nose.
And what had stopped it was a hand.
That hand had casually gripped the Monster's fist.
The Monster's fist could no longer advance an inch.
"!?"
An expression of shock and disbelief appeared on Takahashi's twisted face.
He felt as if his fist had been frozen in place.
No matter how he exerted all his strength, he couldn't make it move forward an inch!
"Who... are you!?" he shrieked, his voice filled with terror.
The figure did not turn around.
Everyone present could only see his long golden hair, gently swaying in the breeze, and the three striking scars on his face when he turned his head slightly.
This image... this legendary image... The surviving police officers simultaneously recalled a name that resonated like thunder.
KING!
The Strongest Man on Earth!
Lin Mo ignored the Demon Level Monster's hysterical roar.
He didn't even fully turn his head, merely tilting it slightly, glancing at Yamada Kenichi, who was almost collapsed on the ground behind him, with the corner of his eye, and said in an approving tone:
"That was really cool, officer."
This simple sentence, however, seemed to carry a calming power, instantly relaxing Yamada Kenichi's taut nerves.
And just as Lin Mo turned his head back, an invisible but mountain-heavy pressure suddenly filled the entire world!
Takahashi, who bore the brunt of it, felt his soul tremble.
The world before his eyes began to spin, his eyes rolled back, and he was about to lose consciousness.
But Lin Mo wouldn't give him that chance; the hand gripping Takahashi's fist slowly tightened.
"Crack..."
A sound of bones shattering rang out, and Takahashi's seemingly indestructible fist was easily crushed in that man's hand!
"Ah ah ah—!!!"
The intense pain made Takahashi let out a bloodcurdling scream!
He tried to pull his hand back, but found it was as if welded in place, completely unable to move.
Lin Mo's face was devoid of any expression; he stopped procrastinating, slowly raised his other hand, and clenched it into a fist.
Then, under everyone's gaze, he seemingly lightly pushed it forward, striking Takahashi's massive chest.
Immediately after—
"Boom—!!!!!"
The horrified expression on Takahashi's twisted face was forever frozen.
His body, the instant it touched Lin Mo's fist, disintegrated into flying mud, and was then completely vaporized by the subsequent shockwave.
[Terror from a Demon Level Monster, Energy Points +2000!]
Lin Mo slowly retracted his hand, dusting off non-existent dirt from his hands, as if he had just done something trivial.
Behind him, Yamada Kenichi was utterly frozen in place, his mind blank.
He looked at the man, still facing away from him, with his tall figure, then at the empty street ahead, and at Ono, who was lying on the ground, saved... After a long time, he finally found his voice, muttering in a dry, awe-filled tone:
"This... is..."
"S-Class Hero, Rank 6..."
"The Strongest Man on Earth... KING..."