Sensing that the human before it had actually shed that thick tortoise shell, Carnage Kabuto—now able to smell flesh—went even wilder, roaring as it pounced.
The swollen teal muscles rippled in rhythm, endlessly fueling the powerful body with near-limitless stamina.
The shattered fist healed in moments as new flesh threaded it back together. Drooling thick saliva, Carnage Kabuto hurled a brutal punch straight at King.
The fierce fist-wind brushed his cheek; King's expression didn't change—he simply kicked out.
Bang!
A sonic boom detonated. Carnage Kabuto flew back faster than it had come, slammed into the hyper-alloy wall, and slowly slid down.
King had deliberately held back; though he could have killed it in one shot, he had no intention of finishing Carnage Kabuto so quickly.
At this point in the plot, finding such a durable punching bag was no easy task.
King glanced at his skills list. The recently acquired Energy Control lay quietly inside.
He had tested it only once, yet the power of manipulating energy had already surprised him. Even with most of its might stripped away, it had nearly killed Carnage Kabuto.
He leveled a finger at the monster. Golden energy surged and, in the blink of an eye, formed a three-meter-wide sphere of power.
Using his new Passive, Precise Control, King dialed the orb down to mid-Dragon Level, curious what different intensities of blast would do.
With a thought, the sphere shot forward, trailing destructive ripples as it locked onto Carnage Kabuto.
The monster instinctively sensed danger, but in Ashura Mode, only bloodthirsty battle-lust remained—dodging was out of the question.
Leg muscles fired; the colossal frame shot forward like lightning, ramming head-on into the energy sphere.
Violent energy swirled as Carnage Kabuto roared, its tough hide and muscle grinding against the sphere's force.
It hammered punch after punch, shattering chunks of the orb. Fists blackened, skin melting, yet it still refused to retreat.
"Die—die—die—die—die—die—die!!!"
After a frenzied barrage, it actually smashed the sphere apart.
King was plainly dissatisfied; the orb's control needed work—higher density, lower dissipation.
"Not bad—you blocked one. How about ten?"
Furious energy gathered behind him, condensing into ten golden spheres that hovered in the air, all locked onto the battered monster.
"Go."
He pointed. The ten spheres swarmed Carnage Kabuto; pillars of golden light stabbed skyward, obliterating the specially built zone in an instant.
A thunderous blast split the air. Amid the dense golden glow, a mangled form was hurled out and slammed to the ground.
Carnage Kabuto was now a wreck: its lower body gone, its upper half shredded, organs spilling from gaping wounds.
Still in Ashura Mode, sprouting flesh wove frantically, trying to regenerate the ruined frame.
King nodded; the damage was decent—just ten mid-Dragon orbs had been enough to kill a peak-state Carnage Kabuto.
Frankly, House of Evolution's final product wasn't a heavy hitter among Dragon-levels; even with Ashura Mode, it barely scraped into high-Dragon.
In the source story, Super Alloy Black Light soloed it in fifteen minutes; most S-Class Heroes could beat it. Only a few oddballs failed—like Metal Bat, who had to stack fighting spirit to keep raising his attack.
Without that mechanic in the simulation, he was beaten to death in ten minutes.
Watching the still-roaring monster, clearly not regaining its sanity, King shook his head in resignation:
"Greedy little glutton—let me give you something bigger so you can go out happy."
He raised a hand and condensed a sphere dozens of meters across, nuclear-level devastation swirling inside.
After repeated compression, it shrank to fist size, now unstable, warping and flickering.
Without hesitation, as Carnage Kabuto neared full recovery, King stuffed the orb into its mouth and sprinted away.
His speed was absurd; within seconds, he'd cleared a dozen kilometers before turning back.
Boom—boom—boom!!
A heaven-shaking golden pillar stabbed skyward; the blast wave shredded the clouds, the earth quaking beneath.
"Whoa—Dragon Peak level orbs don't mess around."
This time, forget Carnage Kabuto—House of Evolution itself was vaporized.
Pity he still hadn't found the upper limit for combat orbs; the beetle was simply too weak to survive long enough.
King sighed, called the Hero Association to clean up, and walked away.
Meanwhile, back at Hero Association headquarters, Tornado—finally calmed—sat sulking in a chair.
Hearing that in barely any time King had wiped out another evil group called House of Evolution, she snapped.
"Damn Scarface—hogging all the jobs! No way I'm letting that guy leave me in the dust!"
Knowing she couldn't beat King in raw power, Tornado resolved to outdo him everywhere else—number of monsters handled, who'd bagged more Dragon- and Demon-level disasters—whoever finished faster.
King had never agreed to any contest.
But in Tornado's eyes, being worthy to compete with her at all was a blessing from eight lifetimes of luck!
...
(End of Chapter)
[Throw some stones]