In an instant, the torrent of sand completely filled the mouth of the newly smashed tunnel, about to swallow Saitama whole.
But facing a sand wave that could devour everything, Saitama didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped forward into the flood—one step, then a second, then a third… His speed grew faster and faster, until he turned into a red afterimage surging upstream!
The sand-and-grit torrent—enough to collapse steel fortresses—slammed into him, yet it couldn't push him back even half a step, couldn't even slow him down. He simply pushed through that destructive wave and charged straight toward the sandworm's gaping mouth—an abyss opening wide.
The sandworm seemed to sense the threat. It snapped its maw shut, those layers of rotating razor teeth like a gigantic grinder, ready to pulp any intruder into meat paste.
But in the instant before its jaws fully closed, Saitama's figure had already slipped into its mouth.
To those outside, all they heard from within the tightly sealed mouthparts was a dull cracking sound—like a massive glass tank being smashed apart.
Splurch—!!
The sandworm's mountain-sized body went rigid. Every movement stopped at once. The violent red light in its eyes rapidly dimmed, then died. Its incredibly hard dark-purple hide quickly lost its sheen, turning gray and lifeless.
Next, its enormous body began to collapse from the inside, as if it had lost all support. With a rushing cascade, it slumped and crumbled, ultimately turning into countless grains of ordinary sand—devoid of any life aura—burying back into the deep pit. Only a few fragments of mutated chitin remained as proof it had ever existed.
With the giant sandworm reduced to common sand, the strange disturbance beneath the pyramid finally came to a complete stop. The violent shaking ceased as well, leaving only the devastated altar cavern and the deep crater Saitama had punched open.
Strange and Wanda worked together again, casting spells to re-hide the exposed pyramid beneath a powerful illusion barrier, making it vanish from the desert once more—so it wouldn't be discovered, exploited, or used by ordinary people or other forces.
Carrying the fatigue of battle and the relief of success, the group boarded the Quinjet hidden behind the dunes. The engines roared to life, lifting vertically, quickly slipping into the clouds as they headed back toward North America.
Inside the cabin, the atmosphere relaxed a little. Clint checked his bow and arrows. Peter tinkered with his temporarily malfunctioning web-shooters. Wanda and Strange spoke quietly about what to do with the Dark God Book afterward. Saitama sat by the window, watching the sea of clouds racing past below and the landmass slowly coming into view, his expression as flat as ever.
Just as the Quinjet was about to settle into steady cruising, the internal comms suddenly rang sharply, shattering the cabin's calm.
A low, stern voice came through the speaker—it was S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.
"Listen. I don't care where you are or whether the mission's finished—you need to change course immediately and head to New York for support!" Fury spoke fast, the urgency in his tone leaving no room for argument. "Ten minutes ago, Manhattan saw a massive outbreak of anomalous creatures! Their forms resemble octopus tentacles, highly aggressive and corrosive. Cause unknown, but their energy readings share similarities with the dark-dimension energy you've been dealing with. We suspect residual dark forces—leaked energy or surviving agents—are at work. The military and conventional forces can't handle it effectively. We need your professional response—now!"
(End of Chapter)
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