At the center of the Human World, in the Gourmet Plaza, a massive screen was broadcasting the battle between the Four Heavenly Kings and the Four Beasts.
Thirty billion people were crammed into this super-sized plaza, their eyes glued to the images on the screen.
In their eyes, this was the moment that would determine the survival of humanity.
Just then, the Four Beasts in the live broadcast suddenly burrowed into the ground.
Seeing this, the crowd erupted in cheers.
"Did the Four Beasts run away?"
"Haha, we won!"
"Long live the Four Heavenly Kings!"
However, the broadcaster in the footage quickly shattered their illusions, his voice urgent: "What we just witnessed were actually four clones cultivated by the main body of the Four Beasts. There has only ever been one Four Beast. Right now, the main body of the Four Beast is likely heading straight for the World Plaza. Please evacuate as quickly as possible."
His words caused the plaza to fall silent for a moment before erupting into chaos. Cries, screams, and shouts filled the air, creating a deafening uproar.
Setsuna stood atop a tall building at the edge of the plaza, watching the chaos below and shaking his head slightly. Even if the goal was the evolution of all humanity, this level of organization was too crude. Packing so many people together like this would inevitably lead to numerous deaths from stampedes alone.
Setsuna leaped into the air, landing at the center of the plaza. His right hand slammed into the ground like a hammer.
"Vast Knocking!"
In an instant, all thirty billion people in the plaza were knocked unconscious through pressure point strikes.
If Jiro had used this technique, every living creature on the planet would have been anesthetized. Setsuna didn't possess that level of power, as he could only perform the technique on a limited area, and it only worked on beings significantly weaker than him.
Even so, the sight of thirty billion people being instantly knocked out was immensely shocking, and easily misunderstood.
IGO staff members shouted angrily, "What are you doing? Are you trying to get them killed?"
Setsuna replied calmly, "Instead of wasting time saying that, you should hurry up and evacuate everyone."
He knew the plot, after all. Even if humans were eaten by the main body of the Four Beast, they wouldn't die immediately. They could be saved as long as the Four Beast was defeated in time.
But if they died in a stampede, they would be dead for good.
Setsuna punched the ground again, shattering the earth. He grabbed the emerging main body of the Four Beast and hurled it far beyond the plaza's boundaries.
Only then did the main body of the Four Beast finally reveal itself to the crowd. It was a giant, Hulk-like creature whose body could reshape itself like putty.
The Four Beast rose from the rubble it had crushed, tilted its head back, and spewed vast clouds of green mist.
The green mist spread rapidly, covering the entire central area of the Human World, and then began to fall as a poisonous rain.
The broadcaster was still reporting in real-time: "The main body of the Four Beast is spewing the Illness Rain. Without an antidote, humanity will perish within an hour. But don't be afraid, everyone! Master Chef Yuda knows how to create the antidote. All the excellent chefs will surely assist Chef Yuda in saving the world."
'A chef who can't save the world isn't a qualified chef. This really is a world centered around gourmet food,' Setsuna thought, feeling too exasperated to even comment. He frowned at the poison staining his clothes, 'Seriously, don't they know I hate poison the most?'
Setsuna shot towards the Four Beast like a cannonball. The colossal monster, thousands of times his size, crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact.
Setsuna then landed hundreds, if not thousands, of punches in an extremely short time. The ground cracked like a spiderweb, and the stratum sank dozens of meters in an instant.
However, after landing over a thousand consecutive blows, Setsuna realized the Four Beast was actually laughing. It didn't even fight back, seemingly mocking the weakness of Setsuna's attacks.
Seeing Setsuna pause, the Four Beast grinned ferociously and extended a giant hand. Its shadow covered a hundred-meter radius as it slammed down with the force of a collapsing mountain.
Setsuna instantly burst with energy, transforming into a golden streak of light. He shot through the gaps between the beast's fingers in an instant. The ground where he had been standing moments before collapsed violently, the shockwave sending stone debris flying a hundred meters high.
Before the dust could settle, Setsuna flashed to the top of the Four Beast's head.
His right fist tore through the air with a sonic boom, striking like a meteor. With a dull, heavy sound, the Four Beast was once again pounded deep into the ground.
"Energy Cannon!"
Setsuna crossed his arms, forming a diamond-shaped frame. A concentrated beam of energy continuously shot downwards from his position.
The roar of the blasts was unending. The ground trembled and shook incessantly, as if struck by a magnitude 8 earthquake.
The Four Heavenly Kings, who had rushed back from four different directions, watched in shock.
Someone was fighting the main body of the Four Beast before they had even arrived.
"It's Setsuna!" Toriko recognized the figure pummeling the Four Beast immediately.
"You know him?" Sani asked.
"Yeah, he saved me last time I ventured into the Gourmet World," Toriko replied.
"As expected of him. He's gotten even stronger," Zebra said, his eyes burning with intensity.
"You know him too?" Coco was surprised.
"Yeah, I lost to him during the Hunter Exam," Zebra said, his eyes fixed on the battlefield. Seeing Setsuna, who had been dominating the fight, suddenly get sent flying, he quickly joined the fray. "Let's help him!"
"Meteor Noise!" Zebra gathered sonic energy above the main body of the Four Beast, and a meteorite came crashing down.
However, the Four Beast's body seemed to act like water, swallowing the meteorite whole.
In the next second, the meteorite shot back out from within its body.
Zebra had no time to dodge and was sent flying by his own attack.
The other three Heavenly Kings were horrified, 'This monster could absorb energy-based attacks and reflect them back.'
"Hair Fist!" Sani intertwined 200,000 strands of his hair into a giant fist that hammered down.
The Four Beast remained motionless and spat out a stream of poison. The venom crawled up the hair strands towards Sani, who screamed and fell from the sky.
"Sani!" Toriko rushed forward to catch Sani, his brow furrowed in concern, 'Were physical attacks also ineffective?'
At that moment, Setsuna appeared before the four of them and said gravely, "The Four Beast's body has a mud-like structure. Ordinary physical attacks lose about 95% of their force upon impact."
The four of them felt stumped. Energy attacks got reflected, physical attacks had 95% damage reduction, and judging by the poisonous clouds the monster was emitting, ordinary poison attacks probably wouldn't work either.
Setsuna continued, "I'll take the main offensive role. You try to influence it using the power of your appetite."
"You'll take the main offensive role?" The four were surprised. Setsuna was indeed strong, but hadn't he just said pure physical attacks were largely ineffective?
"If ordinary attacks get their force dissipated, then make the force penetrate its interior. Destruction Knocking." Setsuna flew in front of the Four Beast and aimed a strike at its chest.
It was like a steel needle piercing into its body. The Four Beast, which had remained unfazed despite the earlier beating, finally roared in fury and began chasing Setsuna madly.
"It actually works!" The Four Heavenly Kings' eyes lit up, and they hurried forward.
The four of them simultaneously summoned their Appetite Demons. Demonic apparitions materialized behind them, grinning fiendishly as they restrained the Four Beast. The demons drooled almost humanly, as if discussing how to devour this prey.
The Four Beast struggled incessantly. Seizing the opportunity, Setsuna moved in and launched a continuous assault on the spot where he had implanted the internal force.
"Million Knocking."
Setsuna's punches were so fast they left no afterimages. Each strike drove the internal force, concentrated like a steel needle, deeper into the Four Beast's body, relentlessly approaching its core.
The Four Beast roared in despair, but it couldn't change its fate. It could only witness its own death, until finally, its entire body exploded, transforming into a massive mountain of meat.