[Ding! Activated C-Class Hero Saitama's Talent: Normal Punch.]
At this moment, King felt a shocking change occur in his body. It was different from the previous increase in physical strength, it felt as if some kind of shackle had been broken.
'Is this the feeling of breaking the limiter?'
Saitama's Normal Punch was indeed just an ordinary punch, but that was based on the foundation of his body having broken the limiter.
At this moment, King felt this marvelous sensation for the first time—transcending everything.
Bang and Bomb before him, and even Elder Centipede, seemed like mere children.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for activating Hero's Heart.]
The system notification sound was drowned out by the King Engine. At this moment, King's eyes were extremely calm, as if nothing could cause a ripple in his heart.
Normal Series: Normal Punch!
Rumble!
King threw out an unremarkable punch, the terrifying power instantly causing Elder Centipede's head to be destroyed in the explosion, and subsequently, his thousand-meter-long body completely turned into ash.
Shiny spikes were left on the ground, proving that Elder Centipede had once existed.
[Ding! Mission complete, killed Elder Centipede. Reward: 1 million Talent Points.]
[Obtained A-class rank 27, Smile Man's Talent. Do you wish to use Hero's Heart to fuse?]
[Learned King's exclusive skill: Ultimate Purgatory Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon.]
'Hero's Heart?'
King looked at the newly appeared skill in the system, but since there were others present, it was not the time to study it.
"To think he killed that monster in a single blow... As expected of the strongest man on Earth."
"King, thank you for your intervention."
A look of admiration appeared on Bang's face. This was his first time seeing this strongest man act.
"It is nothing. If you don't mind, I have a friend in Z-City. Let us go to his place to rest for a while."
King suddenly remembered that Saitama's house was in Z-City's ghost town. Although Bang and Bomb were powerful, they were getting on in years. They had just used a very energy-consuming dual technique while battling Elder Centipede, so they needed to rest right now.
"That would be good. After all, we are getting old. These old bones of ours really cannot take much more tossing about."
Regarding Saitama, Bang was naturally no stranger to him. He had once invited him to the dojo to practice martial arts, attempting to pass on his mantle. However, he quickly discovered the man's extremely immense physical strength, so he later abandoned that idea. Come to think of it, they could be considered old acquaintances.
—
At the Hero Association headquarters, although the drones could not capture the specific battle process, the final scene of Elder Centipede turning into ash was recorded.
"So strong! Even Elder Centipede..."
Maria covered her mouth in disbelief, her eyes filled with shock and admiration.
"Whew... As expected of King." Jess let out a long sigh of relief.
A while ago, because of the Monster Association incident, there was a huge uproar among the masses, and the reputation of the Hero Association had plummeted. Many even began to believe that the world was about to be destroyed by monsters, causing everyone to feel endangered for a time, and the crime rate soared.
However, King's intervention this time, instantly taking out a Dragon-level monster, could be said to have greatly boosted human morale.
Even if the enemy possessed powerful monsters, the Hero Association also possessed its own top-tier combat power.
"This matter must be reported to the higher-ups immediately, this is a great opportunity to save the association's reputation."
—
Z-City, Ghost Town.
At this moment, Saitama's house was bustling with activity. Bang and Bomb had bandaged their wounds, while Genos was cleaning up.
After being thrashed by King in a game for over a dozen rounds, Saitama was practicing his skills alone.
...
'Hero's Heart? Greatly enhances combat power. What exactly is this?'
After King sent everyone away, he finally had the chance to check the reward the system had just given him.
When he was fighting Elder Centipede, he had activated Saitama's Normal Punch, and then inexplicably activated this Hero's Heart.
[Hero's Heart: Fuses talent and bloodline power, unlocks genetic locks, transcends human limits.]
"What?!"
King's pupils constricted slightly.
'Breaking the limiter!'
King's body couldn't help but tremble.
In One Punch Man, only Saitama had relied on himself to break the limiter, leaping to become an invincible existence.
'Is it because I used Saitama's Normal Punch? That's great!'
King was extremely excited, then immediately asked, 'What conditions must be met to complete the final breakthrough?'
[Ding! Hero's Heart progress must reach 100% to complete the breakthrough. Fusing talents and completing assigned missions can increase progress.]
[For every 10% increase in Hero's Heart, a skill will be unlocked.]
'What a loss. If I had known, I would have used all my previous Talent Points to redeem talents.'
King patted his thigh in regret, thinking back to the millions of Talent Points he had before. Although exchanging for S-class talents was a bit difficult, he could have exchanged for quite a few below S-class.
[The Talent Trial Cards used by the host and existing talents can all be fused into Hero's Heart. Do you wish to fuse them?]
'Will fusing them affect their usage?' King asked cautiously.
After all, Undying Body and Fighting Spirit were his strongest trump cards.
[You can retain five talents.]
'Fuse.'
King did not hesitate any longer. He knew the great battle with the Monster Association was imminent. Having experienced the battle with Elder Centipede, he knew there was still a considerable gap between him and the peak of Dragon-level.
Furthermore, even among the peak of Dragon-level, there were differences in strength. For example, Orochi could probably easily crush Elder Centipede. Although Orochi was also a peak Dragon-level existence, many considered his true strength to be infinitely close to God-level, having already reached the semi-god level.
[Ding! Starting to fuse talents.]
[Fused B-class Rank 1, Fubuki's Talent, Hero's Heart progress increased by 0.3%.]
[Fused S-class Rank 17, Puri-Puri Prisoner's Talent, Hero's Heart progress increased by 0.5%.]
[Fused S-class Rank 16, Metal Bat's Talent, Hero's Heart progress increased by 1%.]
[Fused S-class Rank 8, Zombieman's talent, Hero's Heart progress increased by 3%.]
...
'What the hell! S-class talents only give this much? When will I ever accumulate enough progress?' King was speechless.
Even his two best trump card talents only gave less than 5%.
[Fused Dragon-level Monster, Geryuganshoop's Talent, Hero's Heart progress increased by 3%.]
[Fused Monsterization, Hero's Heart progress increased by 5%.]
[Ding! Hero's Heart progress reached 14.6%, unlocked skill: First Layer Liberation.]