The agents exchanged looks, swallowing hard as they finally snapped out of their shock. Then, they carefully followed behind Saitama as they stepped into this ancient ruin filled with the unknown.
The passageway was deep, the air thick and murky. They hadn't gone far when dense volleys of poisoned arrows suddenly shot out from both sides of the walls, their arrowheads flickering with an eerie blue light!
"Take cover!" Hawkeye reacted instantly, raising her shield to block.
Saitama, however, didn't even slow down—he didn't so much as lift a hand. Every poisoned arrow aimed at him snapped and splintered like it had slammed into an invisible barrier, stopping just dozens of centimeters from his body. Crisp clattering rings of "ding-ding-dang-dang" echoed as the broken pieces fell to the ground.
"Keep moving," Saitama said without looking back.
What followed turned into Saitama's personal performance show.
A flip-panel trap? He walked right over it—nothing budged.
Falling rocks? He threw a casual punch, and the huge stone above their heads shattered into fine dust that drifted down.
A flamethrower mechanism? He blew out a breath, and the flames rolled backward, scorching the mechanism itself into ruin.
He was like a human bulldozer, crushing deadly traps that had been meticulously arranged for thousands of years with the simplest, most unadorned methods.
Hawkeye and the agents went from shock, to numbness, and finally to deep awe—and relief.
Luckily… this guy was on their side.
At last, they passed through the long corridor and arrived at a massive underground hall. At the center stood an altar, surrounded by towering stone pillars. But what drew the eye most were the gigantic murals wrapping around the hall's walls, along with dense clusters of twisted, grotesque ancient runes.
"These runes…" The language expert Hawkeye had brought along was instantly captivated. He swept a high-power flashlight across the stone, his voice trembling. "My god… this isn't history. It isn't myth… it's a war! A war from the distant ancient era—against something… something horrifying from beyond the starry sky!"
His finger traced a relief depicting countless living beings wailing beneath an immense shadow.
"Look here! These warped monsters… they… they look like minions awakened or enslaved by something even more terrifying! And the ending of this war… was a brutal seal! That horrific existence was sealed away by ancient warriors at an enormous cost—sealed in…"
His breathing hitched.
"Very likely… in the deepest part of these ruins!"
A wave of cold swept through everyone present in an instant.
Their mission now seemed to be more than rescuing a missing archaeological team.
It felt more like they were about to face an ancient nightmare that had been startled awake.
Right then—
A low, suppressed roar, as if it came from the depths of some underworld, drifted faintly from a darker passage deeper within the hall, accompanied by a slight tremor underfoot.
The roar rolled through the vast chamber like muffled thunder, shaking dust loose from the stone walls. The vibrations from the ground became clearer and clearer, as if some massive thing was rousing from long sleep—approaching with heavy, deliberate footsteps.
"Defensive positions! Maximum alert!" Hawkeye barked, her voice sharp in the huge space.
All the agents snapped into combat stance. Gun barrels swung in unison toward the entrance of that shadowy passage. Tactical flashlights crisscrossed into a net of beams, trying to stab through the thick darkness.
Every heartbeat climbed into their throats. Adrenaline surged. Cold sweat gathered in the palms gripping their weapons.
Saitama stood at the very front of the formation, his bald head oddly conspicuous in the dim light.
(End of Chapter)
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