Showerhead recoiled in terror, its head spraying a chaotic mix of corrosive liquids in every direction.
Garou merely leaned aside, slipping through the barrage at impossible angles. In the blink of an eye, he was standing right before it.
"I'll take your sprayer."
**Crack!**
Garou's hand-blade sliced cleanly through its neck like a hot knife through butter. Showerhead's head tumbled across the floor, rolling until it bumped beneath Great Eyes's floating soft couch.
The headless body staggered, green fluid gushing wildly before it collapsed with a wet thud.
The last remaining monster—One-Horn—felt cold dread seize its entire being.
Without hesitation, it turned and attempted to flee.
Its body shifted again, twisting into a spiraling drill as it tried to burrow underground.
"Running?"
Garou's silhouette flickered like a phantom, materializing directly in front of the spinning drill.
His right hand spread wide, and he caught the drill's point with precise, perfect control.
A shrill metallic screech tore through the cavern as Garou forced the rotating drill to a complete stop with raw strength alone.
"N-no… don't kill me…"
One-Horn reverted to its original form, its dozens of eyes trembling with absolute terror.
Garou said nothing.
His left hand formed a knife-hand strike—and he drove it into One-Horn's abdomen.
When he withdrew his arm, what came out wasn't organs.
It was a writhing, oily-black mass.
The core energy that kept One-Horn's immortal body functioning.
"UAAAAHHHH—!!"
One-Horn's scream stretched into a shrill, inhuman wail as its body shriveled rapidly, collapsing into a dry, twisted husk.
Garou looked at the black mass squirming in his grasp.
Then he crushed it with a single decisive squeeze.
The monsterization energy surged into his palm wound, crawling up his arm like burning poison.
Dark purple lines spread across his face—
—then receded just as quickly.
But his aura grew darker, deeper, far more dangerous.
A complete break. A full ascension.
Garou had stepped cleanly into Dragon-level.
**Clap, clap, clap.**
Great Eyes applauded softly as it lowered its floating cushion.
"Splendid. Truly splendid. To break your limits at the edge of death… You indeed possess potential comparable to His Majesty Orochi."
Garou spat a loosened tooth. It hit the ground and left a small crater.
He glared up with disdain.
"The guys you arranged were too weak."
Great Eyes smiled.
"Then I shall prepare a worthy opponent right away."
A chilling alarm blared inside Garou's instincts—too late.
The ground beneath him split open.
**BOOM—!!!**
Five massive claws coated in jet-black scales erupted from below, seizing him in an unbreakable grip.
The strength behind them was overwhelming—enough to make every bone in Garou's body creak violently.
The one who struck was Orochi himself.
Hidden in the lower level, the towering monster—over a hundred meters tall—was formed from countless intertwining, ferocious serpents woven into a humanoid shape.
As Garou's consciousness began to fade, he heard Great Eyes whisper with delighted anticipation:
"Go, Garou…
Let me see whether you can achieve nirvana again… under the King's fangs."
**Upper level of the Monster Cavern.**
Kaito stood at the edge of a fractured rock shelf, a vein pulsing on his forehead.
He stared down into the bottomless abyss beneath his feet, then turned toward Saitama—who wore his trademark clueless expression.
Kaito's mouth twitched.
"Brother Saitama… this is your idea of good navigation?"
He shouldn't have trusted Saitama's confident claim:
"I'm great at directions."
"Ah… haha…" Saitama scratched his gleaming bald head. "Um… maybe we should've taken the right path at that last fork?"
"The last fork was thirty minutes ago."
Kaito's expression went flat.
"And at that time, you said, 'Trust me. The air on the left feels fresher.'"
Behind him, Do-S stifled her giggles behind a hand, her black eyes sparkling with mischief.
Kaito sighed.
He had originally planned to surprise those two little sisters—Do-S and her partner.
To do so, he'd even used his senses to hide the presence of their group and refrained from scanning the research institute's location so the two cunning women wouldn't detect him.
Yet here he was… wandering a labyrinth half a day because of this walking disaster of a guide.
"Forget it." Kaito rubbed his temples.
"Relying on you for directions is even worse than believing Zoro never gets lost."
He stopped mid-grumble, ears twitching.
A faint whooshing sound drifted from the distance—fast, approaching rapidly.
"Someone's coming," Kaito murmured.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than two figures appeared like specters on the stone bridge across the cavern.
It was a suspension bridge stretching across a vast subterranean void.
Beneath it raged a dark underground river, its waters crashing violently as the echo of a hidden waterfall roared through the spacious cavern.
"Where did these little thieves crawl from?! How dare you trespass on Lord Gale and Lord Inferno's territory! You're courting death!"
"Hmph! Perfect timing—we could use a warm-up. We'll offer your corpses as tribute!"
The figures who appeared were none other than the Ninja Village's elite assassins—
The top pupils of Sonic the Supersonic:
**Gale Wind** and **Hellfire Flame**.
Standing left and right, their murderous intent surged as they mistook Kaito and his group for unlucky wanderers.
But the moment their eyes swept past the unremarkable bald man and locked onto the cold-faced man standing behind him with folded arms…
Time stopped.
"K–K–K–KING?!?!!"
"Why the hell is he here?!"
Their expressions morphed instantly—from ruthless arrogance to soul-crushing terror.
Their pupils shrank to needle points.
They didn't hesitate.
They didn't speak.
They didn't even look at each other.
**Instinct overrode everything.**
**Monsterization—NOW!**
Gale Wind's body swelled violently, bluish-black scales covering his skin. His legs twisted into reverse-jointed beast limbs built purely for speed, his aura skyrocketing.
Hellfire Flame ignited, enveloped head to toe in tangible crimson fire. His hair rose like burning steel quills as heat waves blasted outward.
The instant their transformations completed—
They didn't roar.
They didn't threaten.
They didn't even breathe loudly.
They turned around and ran.
In fact, they exploded into motion, fleeing at several times the speed they'd arrived—two streaks of green and red light shooting toward the abyss behind them.
They fled so fast that afterimages hung in the air like phantom echoes.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why is King HERE?!"
"We're finished! Done! We can't stay in the Monster Association—we need to escape NOW!"
At that moment, both Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame desperately wished their parents had given them extra legs at birth.
Meanwhile, Saitama—initially bored out of his mind—suddenly perked up when he saw them transform.
His dead-fish eyes widened with hope.
Like a dying man spotting water in a desert.
"Ha! Monsters!" Saitama pointed at the fleeing streaks, his voice booming with excitement.
"King! I'm gonna go fight monsters! See? You *were* right about the way—we found our target!"
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