The agents climbed up from the rubble one after another, shaking their buzzing heads as they looked toward the crater. Their pupils constricted sharply. The other agents got to their feet as well, and the moment they saw the scene in the crater, every one of them sucked in a cold breath, their faces filled with extreme shock and… awe.
It was over. That ancient monster—one that had left them helpless and utterly despairing—had been… ended. Completely. With a single punch.
Saitama stood at the edge of the crater, slowly withdrawing his fist. He even blew on it, as if brushing away gunpowder smoke that didn't exist. His yellow bodysuit was still spotless, not even a single wrinkle on it.
"Whew, finally dealt with it." His tone was light, like he'd just finished some trivial chore. "The supermarket discount should still be going, right?"
Just then, an agent assigned to check the monster's remains suddenly noticed something strange near the edge of the crater, beside the lower-half corpse.
"Sir! We found something!" the agent shouted, voice trembling with excitement and tension.
Hawkeye and Saitama immediately walked over. Near the charred severed edge, a crystal about the size of a fist lay quietly among the broken stones—deep blue all over, with an inner glow that swirled slowly like a nebula. It emitted a faint but pure energy fluctuation, completely different from the monster's evil, violent aura, and it even… faintly matched the global abnormal energy readings S.H.I.E.L.D. had been tracking.
"This is…?" Hawkeye carefully placed the crystal into a specialized isolation container, her expression heavy. "Bring it back! Run the highest-level analysis immediately! This could be one of the sources behind the global energy anomalies!"
Saitama stared at the blue crystal being packed away and rubbed his smooth chin. "This thing… looks kinda valuable. How many eggs could it buy?"
Hawkeye: "..."
She decided to ignore Saitama's supermarket economics. She quickly directed the team to clear the area, collect tissue samples from the monster (though most of it was already gone), and prepare to evacuate the ruins, which could collapse at any moment.
"Saitama-san," Hawkeye said as she looked at him, "thank you for your help. But this might only be the beginning. Director Fury needs you to keep watching for abnormalities worldwide. This crystal might give us some clues."
"Oh, got it." Saitama nodded, his eyes already drifting toward the distant direction of the supermarket.
However, not long after the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport plane carried the crystal and the exhausted agents away from the Sahara, an emergency transmission from the Europe branch reached Fury and Saitama.
The calm was broken again.
The moment the transport aircraft landed at one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret bases, before Saitama could even ask whether the cafeteria had any discounted meals, a shrill alarm blared throughout the base. Nick Fury's image was projected directly onto the cabin screen, his single eye sharp as a hawk.
"Saitama, the Sahara situation isn't over. Europe's in trouble again." Fury's voice carried a trace of urgency he couldn't quite hide. "The Scottish Highlands. A small town called 'Glenmore' was completely covered three hours ago by an unknown curtain of darkness. All communications cut off. Energy readings off the charts! Two Quinjet aircraft we sent in lost contact while trying to approach. The last footage we received showed… a large number of unknown lifeforms moving in the town, extremely aggressive!"
The screen switched to blurry aerial footage: a picturesque European town—now swallowed whole by a darkness so thick it looked like ink, as if a massive black bowl had been overturned onto the land.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!] [[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]