The battlefield instantly became even more chaotic.
Saitama, who had originally been focusing on the main body, was suddenly swarmed by a portion of the giant bats diving at him from all directions.
These winged monsters' harassment attacks couldn't actually hurt him, but their sharp mental shock beams and their incessant physical ramming seriously interfered with his charge toward the main mushroom cap.
He had no choice but to keep lazily waving his hands, swatting away any giant bat that got too close, clapping them into splattering pulp and shattered shell, like batting at a cloud of buzzing flies. It was endlessly irritating.
Meanwhile, the massive mushroom cap itself seemed to have finished its "launch" action.
The torn folds and pores that had opened before were slowly knitting back together.
The humming noise grew deeper, further clouding everyone's judgment.
At the same time, the main mycelium network writhed even more violently, weaving around its colossal body and forming a zone of both physical and psychic defense.
Those thick tendrils burrowed deeper into the ground, as if they were drawing something up from below.
The pale green spore smoke rising from the top of the cap grew denser again, turning the thing into a gigantic terror generator.
On S.H.I.E.L.D.'s communication channel, panicked reports mixed with static and interference:
"Bats! More flying monsters! There are too many of them!"
"They… they can directly attack the brain! Civilian casualties are spiking!"
"Requesting air support! No—helicopters can't get close to the noise zone!"
Steve, gritting his teeth, forced himself through yet another mental shock from a giant bat and struck it down.
He raised his head and looked at the titanic purple mushroom cap looming in the strange green fog, like some demonic mountain surrounded by that low, warped humming.
Then he looked at the bald man in the red cape at the center—Saitama—who was currently being swarmed by countless small flying monsters, swatting them away with a thoroughly annoyed expression.
"…We need… a bigger breakthrough…"
The Captain clenched his jaw, sweat mixing with dust as it ran down his face.
The bat monsters surged endlessly, a filthy, churning flood.
They were like sticky, shrieking black clouds knotted tightly around Saitama, refusing to let go.
Their harsh screeches were no longer mere intimidation, but a constant scraping against everyone's nerves.
In those dead-fish eyes of Saitama's, the usual indifference finally shifted—igniting into a pure, blazing impatience.
"So noisy… this is seriously getting annoying."
His quiet complaint was drowned in the sea of bats.
The next second, the air around Saitama suddenly froze.
Then, an invisible, overwhelming force erupted from him in an instant.
Boom!
It was like a fuel-air bomb going off.
Centered on Saitama, a ring of visible shock waves exploded outward like a passing hurricane.
The hundreds of bat monsters clinging closest to him didn't even have time to scream.
They were obliterated on the spot, ground into dust—reduced to drifting scraps of flesh and shell.
And that was only the beginning.
Saitama's figure vanished from where he'd been standing.
In his place, there was only a distorted afterimage, as if space itself had been warped—then that afterimage plunged straight into the densest part of the bat swarm.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every punch he threw was simplicity itself, utterly devoid of technique—only pure speed and power unleashed without restraint.
Wherever his fists passed, the air itself was compressed into solid shock waves, carrying the force to tear apart any material structure in their way.
Each bat monster that met his fists burst apart like a pricked balloon, exploding into clouds of murky mist and fragments that couldn't even keep their original shape.
The rapid-fire detonations blended into one continuous roar, like a marching song of destruction.
And the power of his punches didn't stop at close range.
The aftershocks from each blow were like enormous invisible hammers, slamming into the heavy green spore fog hanging in the air.
The mist was blasted aside, shredded, and beaten back, rolling away like a receding tide.
(End of Chapter)
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