"…What kind of monster are you?!" the dark priest screamed. Knowing he couldn't win, his body abruptly turned into a mass of black mist. He spun around and fled deeper into the palace—toward a passage leading down to the pitch-black depths beneath the seabed.
"After him!" Namor ordered at once. Then he spoke urgently to Saitama. "Mr. Saitama, the direction he's fleeing toward is the undersea ruins. There's an ancient altar down there, left behind from a distant era. According to our oldest records, the source of this dark energy outbreak is very likely that altar. We have to stop him!"
"Oh. Okay." Saitama replied, and simply started walking after him.
He didn't look fast—but in the blink of an eye, he had already left Namor and the guards behind, charging after the black mist into the eerie ruins passage.
The undersea ruins corridor was deep and ancient, built from enormous stones. Its surface was coated in thick seabed sediment and faintly glowing moss. It was obvious no one had been here for a very long time—everything carried an air of desolation and deathly stillness. The deeper they went, the more intense that discomforting dark energy became.
At the end of the corridor was an incomparably vast underground seabed cavern.
In the center of the cavern stood an ancient altar—its style completely different from Atlantis's present civilization. The altar was constructed from some kind of pitch-black stone, carved with warped runes that were impossible to understand. Right now, strands of black smoke continuously seeped out from it—clearly the source of the dark energy behind the entire incident.
And the dark priest was scrambling toward it in a panic.
But just as Saitama was about to catch him, the black smoke around the altar suddenly surged together. With a deafening roar, a deep-sea giant beast—formed entirely from condensed, pure dark energy—was born from the smoke!
It resembled a multi-headed sea dragon, but its whole body was jet-black. Its scales looked like obsidian that had been polished smooth, gleaming with a cold metallic shine.Its eyes were two clusters of ghostly blue flames, radiating a bone-chilling killing intent. Its size was even more compact and oppressive than the sea monster from the surface earlier.
The dark priest seized the chance to hide behind the altar, chanting rapidly as if continuing to drive something forward.
The beast roared. Its massive tail—carrying power that could tear apart currents (even though there was no water inside the cavern)—whipped toward Saitama with astonishing speed!
Saitama casually hopped aside.
The tail slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, smashing the hard stone floor into a deep crater. Rubble exploded outward.
"It's useless! This is the guardian manifested from the Honored Master's energy! Its scales can absorb all physical impact!" the dark priest shrieked from behind, his tone fanatical.
Saitama landed and tried a punch, striking the beast's sweeping claw.
Bang! A dull thud.
The beast's claw paused slightly. Dark energy rippled across it, as if it really had absorbed most of the impact. The scales remained intact.
"Huh? Kinda tough." Saitama looked a little more interested.
He attacked again—this time using a bit more strength.
His fist slammed into the beast's abdomen with a louder, heavier impact. The beast's body rocked backward as it roared in fury. Fine cracks appeared in the scales where he hit—but dark energy immediately surged through and the cracks healed.
"Yeah, it's definitely tougher than the trash mobs outside," Saitama commented. Then he clenched his fist. "Alright… I'll get just a little more serious."
At that moment, Namor and several elite guards finally caught up and rushed into the cavern—just in time to see Saitama throw his third punch.
(End of Chapter)
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