Within a few minutes, the spaceship reached above the ground, sealing the giant hole as the roof automatically closed.
"The first part of the plan has been executed," Moj murmured as he exited the room hurriedly. "I should get back to the scientists."
Coming back to Saitama, he knocked on the main door and stood near the city entrance for a few minutes, waiting for Hape to open the gates.
He decided to give another knock after getting tired of waiting. But this time, he hit on the door a little bit harder, making a dent in its sleek surface.
"Oh," Saitama moved back and quickly looked around. "No one saw that."
Suddenly, Hape opened the doors. "There had been an attack on the city, so I was busy-"
Before Hape finished his sentence, he noticed the dent in the door. Amazed by Saitama's power, he spit out some saliva. "I was on my way back, you should've waited longer!"
Hape quickly glanced towards Saitama to finish his remaining sentence, only to find Marcus lying in his hands. "Marcus!"
Rushing towards him, Hape shouted, "He's not dead right?"
Tilting his head on the right, Saitama muttered. "Y-Yes."
Hape swiftly delivered a few slaps to Marcus's cheeks, hoping to awaken him from his unconsciousness.
After a dozen slaps, Marcus yelled, his voice filled with pain. "Oww, are you taking revenge for all the slaps I've given you when you overslept, Hape?"
Relieved to see Marcus alive and well, Hape let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Let's go to the hospital then," Hape pointed in the direction of the city. "I'll explain our situation on the way."
After a few minutes, they arrived at the hospital. Its exterior was imposing, a towering thirty-story structure adorned with gleaming glass windows and a colossal sign that illuminated the night with the word 'Hospital' in bold, bright green letters.
Hape quickly carried Marcus from Saitama's hands and led him inside. He then turned to Saitama and said, "Please wait outside. The mayor will arrive here shortly."
Saitama nodded and sat on a bench near the entrance. After another few minutes of waiting, the mayor arrived.
"Mr. Saitama, welcome back," the mayor gently greeted as he sat beside him. "Can you please explain to me what happened outside?"
"Some baldies and an Orc attacked us, but I took care of them," Saitama replied, gesturing with his right hand.
"Baldies?" The mayor furrowed his brow in confusion. "Could you please clarify what you mean?"
"Uhh..." Saitama looked around awkwardly. "They were giant creatures with a lot of legs."
The mayor started to laugh. "Perhaps they were centipedes."
"Oh," Saitama exclaimed, agape. "You're right."
"That was just a guess," The mayor smiled. "Since they attacked our city as well. Didn't Hape explain everything?"
After a slight pause, the mayor continued, "Huh... only an hour remains before the blue moon."
Sighing, he added, "This attack on our city was perhaps a way to distract us from whatever Arplesis plans to do tonight."
"This is just my speculation, however," The mayor's eyes turned sharp as he rested his head on the bench. "If you do not mind, can I ask you to check out the surroundings alone? Besides, I don't think there's anyone capable of assisting you in this city."
"Okay," Saitama stood up, preparing to run. "There are some things I want to ask them."
The mayor chuckled. "Then what are you waiting for."
Within the blink of an eye, Saitama dashed on the road, and within moments, he was out of the city.
"Should I go back to the crater?" Saitama pondered as he leaned on the giant entrance doors.
Without any further thought, he headed towards the crater. As he reached closer to his destination, he noticed bright yellow lights from a distance.
"Oho! A party!"
Soon, Saitama reached near the source of the yellow lights, a spaceship.
"Alien attack?"
The spaceship abruptly began to shake violently and disintegrated piece by piece until a large machine came into view.
The giant machine gleamed in gold and silver, adorned with heavy wiring of various colors.
Amazed by the scene, Saitama stood agape, staring at the machine. Soon, it released powerful gusts of wind, pushing Saitama back. Within the blink of an eye, a burning arrow appeared out of thin air, striking Saitama's head. On impact, it burst into countless tiny flares of fire, igniting Saitama's clothes on fire.
Panicking, Saitama blew small gusts of wind from his mouth in an attempt to extinguish the flames that threatened to burn his clothes.
But while he was busy doing so, his entire body became encased in ice.
Looking at Saitama's frozen body, Moj sighed in disbelief as he stepped out from behind the machine.
"Poor guy," he muttered. "I can't believe he found our invisible reactor without being exposed to the All-Seeing Sprinkle."
In his right hand, Moj held a captivating wooden bow adorned with blue stones, which shone like diamonds.
"At the end of the day, it was a better decision to protect the reactor than to help the scientists," he shrugged.
As soon as Moj finished, Saitama tirelessly broke free from the ice. "Thanks for extinguishing the fire. But, I don't want to catch a cold."
Moj's eyes widened with surprise as he took an attacking stance. "How did you..." Realization struck, and he nervously cleared his throat. "Oh, so you're the one who took down Kiro."
He quickly placed his hand on the bow and prepared to shoot. "You might have defeated Kiro, but I won't go down easy."
Within a split second, he shot three burning arrows as bright as the sun, swiftly followed by ice-covered arrows.
However, before the arrows could hit Saitama, he moved out of the way by a few inches.
"Who's Kiro?" Saitama stared at him with confused eyes.
"Do I look like a fool? It's the orc that you killed minutes ago," Moj shouted as another burning arrow magically materialized on his bow.
Saitama dodged again, exclaiming. "Oh! That orc!"
After a moment of silence, Moj started to laugh. "Thinking you're funny, huh?"
Countless arrows formed over Saitama's head, bathing the surroundings in a bright orange light. The intensity of the atmosphere increased, followed by the immense heat generated by the flames.
The heat was so severe that Moj's clothes caught fire while his whole body glistened with sweat.
Saitama opened his mouth, amazed by the amount of heat. Seeing his vulnerability, Moj directed the arrows towards his mouth and launched them at the speed of sound.
Before the arrows could touch Saitama's nose, he suddenly sneezed.
BOOM!
BWOOSH!
The force of the sneeze not only blew the arrows away but also redirected them towards the reactor.
"All that struggle and I still caught a cold," Saitama muttered as he picked his nose.
Shocked by the scene, Moj fell onto his knees, his mouth agape as tears started to flow from his eyes. "NOOOOO! NOT THE REACTOR!"
TO BE CONTINUED...