"Freeze to extinction—straight from the abyss!" the dark sorcerer howled with manic laughter.
But in the instant before the massive ice spear could fire, a white figure appeared in front of him as if teleporting.
It was Saitama.
After dealing with the hellhound, he charged the chanting sorcerer immediately.
"What?!" The dark sorcerer's expression twisted in shock. He hadn't expected the enemy's speed to be this outrageous.
Still, he had absolute confidence in his defenses. In one breath, he activated every protective rune woven into his robe. At the same time, a thick dark ice-crystal shield—flickering with layers of cursed sigils—formed between him and Saitama.
"It's useless! An insect like you can't—"
Saitama's answer was, as always, his fist.
Normal Punch.
No glow. No energy surge. Just a simple straight punch.
Crack… pff!
The supposedly unbreakable shield—stacked with countless defensive spells—was pierced and shattered like papier-mâché. Saitama's fist didn't slow at all. It tore through every defensive aura triggered by the sorcerer's ornate robe and finally stamped into his chest.
The sorcerer's laughter froze on his face, twisting into pure terror and disbelief. A force he couldn't resist—couldn't even comprehend—flooded into his body, ripping apart everything that kept him alive. He tried to scream, but no sound came out.
In the next moment, he flew backward like he'd been launched from a siege engine, smashing through seven or eight massive ice pillars before slamming into the deepest wall of the cavern.
He embedded into it, leaving a huge spiderweb-shaped crater.
The ice-crystal wand in his hand snapped. The heart-gemstone dulled, then shattered. The light in his eyes rapidly drained away, and his life aura vanished completely.
With its power source gone, the enormous dark ice spear wavered violently in midair, then collapsed—breaking apart into chaotic energy that dissolved into nothing.
The core ice cavern fell silent.
The team began searching the stronghold.
In an ice chamber behind where the dark sorcerer had stood, they found an encrypted cold-iron chest. Strange forced it open with magic. Inside were documents, scrolls, and several items emitting dark fluctuations.
The text on the documents was ancient as well, but Strange could interpret most of it. His eyes swept over the contents—and his face grew darker by the second.
"They're collecting ancient power…" he said grimly. "They intend to hold rituals at multiple nodes simultaneously, then merge them into a massive summoning array—one powerful enough to tear open reality itself and let the dark demon god's true body descend."
He lifted a document and pointed at a marker on it.
"The Koraka ruins were one node. This icefield stronghold was another. And this next one…"
His finger landed on the following target.
"Africa. Deep in the Sahara Desert—an ancient pyramid. Supposedly, a pharaoh who possessed a fragment of divine power is buried there. His mummy, and the buried Sun Golden Scripture, contain an enormous amount of energy. The dark faction's next target is that place. They want to steal that power—maybe even twist it—so they can fuel their summoning."
There was no time to rest. A new crisis had already surfaced.
"Let's go." Saitama rolled his wrist. "To the desert."
From the extreme cold of the icefield to the blazing heat of the desert, the squad wasn't slowed much by the environmental whiplash. The Quinjet had excellent climate control—and Saitama's physique ignored temperature differences entirely.
(End of Chapter)
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