"Boom… Boom… Boom… Boom…"
The roar of the Emperor Engine echoed through the entire space.
KING.
He had moved from the very back of the crowd to the very front at some unknown point.
He simply stood there silently, blocking the path between the monster and the energy core, his stern face still devoid of any expression.
But everyone felt that the surrounding air seemed to have solidified due to his presence.
The rampaging Foul Glutton also seemed to sense an unprecedented threat.
It stopped its advance, countless murky eyes fixed on this human in front of it, letting out a low growl.
"KING…" Snake muttered to himself, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
He had also been injured by the aftershocks of the battle and could barely stand now.
He naturally didn't believe the "3888" data measured by that mask; he had watched the live broadcast of Deep Sea King being defeated by KING.
He was just a little curious how KING would deal with such a troublesome monster, whose physical and conventional energy attacks were almost ineffective, and which possessed terrifying corrosive abilities.
However, what happened next completely overturned everyone's understanding.
KING didn't use any fighting techniques, nor did he even assume any combat stance.
He simply slowly raised his right hand, his palm aimed at the enormous monster.
"System, use [Energy Blast (Dragon-level)]." Lin Mo calmly gave the command in his mind.
He naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to engage in close combat with the monster; not to mention its terrifying corrosive ability, he couldn't even defeat a Demon-level monster in a fistfight.
The next second, a tiny, almost invisible golden light spot quietly emerged in his palm.
Immediately after, this light spot rapidly expanded, compressed, and expanded again at an incredible speed.
Suddenly, a pure and vast energy fluctuation erupted from KING's body!
"That posture is…!" Dark Flame Dragon Swordsman's pupils contracted sharply.
"It's coming!" Snake clenched his fists, holding his breath nervously.
"Th-this is what?" Child Emperor's pupils suddenly constricted.
The precision instruments in front of him instantly blared with an ear-splitting overload alarm, and the energy detector's readings directly broke through the peak.
Everyone's hearts were in their throats.
The threat felt by the Foul Glutton also reached its peak.
Its primal instincts screamed at it, telling it that if it didn't act now, it would completely disappear the next second.
So the cornered beast erupted in its final frenzy.
"Roar—!!!"
A mournful roar echoed through the sky.
It opened the enormous mouth on its abdomen, and all of its dark green viscous liquid instantly poured into its mouth like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
Its massive body visibly shriveled, and all of its corrosive power was compressed together without reservation.
A deep green energy ball, over three meters in diameter, radiating an aura of filth and death, began to form in its mouth.
It intended to use its strongest attack to counter the terrifying golden light sphere!
However, facing this world-destroying attack, KING's eyes showed no change.
He simply gently pushed forward the dazzling energy ball in his palm.
The golden Energy Blast left his hand without making any sound of air being torn.
Almost at the same moment, the Foul Glutton also spat out its all-or-nothing foul energy ball.
One gold, one green, two energies with completely different auras, instantly collided under the gaze of all.
The anticipated earth-shattering explosion did not occur.
The moment the golden light bullet touched the green energy ball, there wasn't even a second of hesitation.
It directly devoured the green energy completely.
The energy ball, which condensed all the power of the Demon-level monster, failed to even create a ripple and silently disappeared into the golden light.
And the golden light bullet's speed did not diminish in the slightest, striking directly into the Foul Glutton's massive body.
Everyone clearly saw that the moment the light bullet touched the Foul Glutton's body, its mucus, which was said to corrode everything, began to disappear.
Under the shocked gaze of all the heroes, it didn't even let out a scream.
Its countless fearful eyes, along with its entire body, completely dissipated into the air.
The entire process lasted less than two seconds.
When the all-penetrating golden light finally struck the back wall of the research institute, leaving a circular hole, everything was over.
The light dissipated, leaving only an empty passage.
The terrifying monster, which had left several A-Class Heroes helpless and was rated as a Demon-level disaster, vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed in this world.
In the air, even its nauseating sour smell disappeared, replaced by a fresh scent like after a spring rain.
Dead silence.
Absolute dead silence.
Snake, Dark Flame Dragon Swordsman… all the A-Class Heroes who had just been fighting fiercely were now wide-mouthed, looking at the figure slowly lowering his arm.
"Purgatory Matchless Exploding Heat Wave Cannon, huh…"
Dark Flame Dragon Swordsman's lips trembled as he recalled KING's ultimate move circulating online.
After an unknown amount of time, Child Emperor finally reacted.
He glanced at the instruments that had turned into ruins, then at the unharmed KING, and a flash of lightning went through his mind.
He slapped his head, letting out a cry of sudden realization:
"I understand! So that's it!"
He rushed to KING's side, looking up, his small face filled with excitement:
"Now it seems this backup one definitely has design flaws I didn't know about!"
He looked at KING, then pointed in the direction Saitama had left, and said loudly:
"It simply can't measure overly powerful heroes!"
"3888? What a joke! The energy reaction from that attack just now, if converted into a numerical value, would be enough to make any measuring instrument explode instantly!"
"My design is not perfect enough! I must go back and redesign it, to create a machine that can truly measure your power!"
Child Emperor's words were filled with a dedication to science and a deep regret for not being able to measure KING's true strength.
And this "reasonable" explanation instantly made the other A-Class Heroes "understand."
So that's it, it wasn't that KING only had 3888 combat power, but that the backup mask had a flaw?
They looked at the figure who remained silent, not even bothering to turn his head, their hearts filled with incredibly complex emotions.