Chapter 885

【I'm an A-Class Hero, no need to quibble with a C-Class————】

Snake took a few deep breaths, only then suppressing the impulse to make a move.

"You three, the path of a hero is bound to be fraught with hardships and dangers; I hope you remember your answer sheets. Now, the explanation meeting is over."

No one was listening, and Snake had no inclination to keep droning on. In his view, these three newbies with improper attitudes would probably realize the cruelty of the hero industry before long; they might even voluntarily withdraw from the Hero Association soon. He was merely performing the routine duty of an A-Class Hero assisting the Hero Association in passing on some veteran heroes' experience to newcomers.

"Ah, finally over~"

Naturally, Saitama's attitude still made him furious.

"Want to go eat together?"

Saitama asked.

"You treating?"

Broly looked over.

"Uh, that would obviously be going Dutch."

Saitama touched his empty wallet; the registration fee had been fronted by Genos, so he naturally didn't have the magnanimity to treat anyone to a meal.

"Then forget it. Eating with Mosquito Girl can still cultivate feelings, but going Dutch with you guys — would that be cultivating 'bro-mance'?"

Broly refused without hesitation. Genos, on the other hand, gazed at Saitama with burning eyes, making Saitama subconsciously avert his gaze: "True, then let's each go home."

The three left the Hero Association branch together. At the entrance, Broly took Mosquito Girl and left, heading to a restaurant with decent ratings online.

"Saitama-sensei, now I've officially become your disciple. From now on, please take care of me."

"Uh, yeah."

"I'll take my leave here today. Tomorrow I'll come visit again."

Watching Genos leave, Saitama suddenly felt a pang of regret, wondering if his previous promise to take a disciple had been a bit too rash. But it was done; he had no way to take it back.

"Forget it, just take it one step at a time."

"Did those three newbies really pass?"

Meanwhile, Snake returned to the duty room full of resentment and complained to the Hero Association's recruitment manager.

"Their attitudes are terrible. They don't even seem to recognize me, the active A-Class Rank 38 hero. They know nothing of the hero industry's perils. However you look at it, they're laymen among laymen — the kind who die fastest!"

"No. Genos scored full marks in both the sparring and physical tests; he's a super rookie who received a special S-Class rating. The other two's written test scores were poor, but their physical tests were both 50 out of 50.

Although their final scores were barely passing, their results in every physical test item far exceeded the Hero Association's previous records.

Snake, your rank is already below Genos. The other two might surpass you very soon as well."

The glasses man spoke while thinking of the forms Broly and Saitama filled out for their reasons for becoming heroes — one was on a whim, the other to search for a fated encounter target. Though both reasons were somewhat unreliable, their astonishing physical test data was truly astonishing.

【That baldy with the stupid face could quickly surpass me?!】

Thinking this, Snake stood up: "I still have some matters to handle. I'll leave first."

"Alright."

After Snake left, another person came in, also dressed in a black suit like an elite.

"Snake left in such a rush. Something urgent?"

"Nothing urgent. Just the veteran's supplementary remarks to the newbies at the explanation meeting."

"You provoked him to suppress the newbies. That's not right, is it?"

"Nothing wrong with it. If the newbies are strong enough, veterans can't suppress them. If they lack strength and mindset, suffering a setback early and leaving the Association is also taking responsibility for their lives.

Just wonder which of the other two C-Class newbies, besides Genos the specially rated S-Class Hero, Snake will choose as his first suppression target————"

Snake chose Saitama. And unsurprisingly, he who actively made a move on Saitama was directly counterattacked with a single punch, knocked to the ground, and lost consciousness.

"Ding-dong~"

The next day, before Saitama had even gotten up, the doorbell that had been replaced not long ago rang.

"Early morning, who is it?"

Rubbing his foggy sleepy eyes, Saitama yawned and went to open the door, only to see Genos standing straight at his front door.

"Genos, what are you doing at my place so early?"

"Saitama-sensei, haven't I already become your disciple? Since you're sparring with Broly today, I thought I'd ask you to guide me beforehand."

"Just for this, you came ringing my doorbell early in the morning?"

Saitama was somewhat dissatisfied.

"It's already 7:20. Normal white-collar workers should have already left. Don't tell me Saitama-sensei's schedule differs from a normal white-collar worker's? Am I disturbing you now?"

Genos humbly asked for guidance.

"Not really. Just last night I got excited thinking I'd earn money by beating monsters from now on, so I slept late."

"Is Saitama-sensei short on money?"

"I live in a place like this. What do you think?

Fine. Wait outside for a bit. I'll come out after washing up."

The door was shut. Two minutes later, Saitama came out dressed and left with Genos.

The two went to the uninhabited Wilderness Valley on Z-City's South Side and stood on opposite sides of the valley.

"Saitama-sensei, you have another match later. How about we make this quick?"

"I have no objection. But if it's quick, it might end a bit fast."

"Please rest assured. Even if it's quick, I'll do my utmost not to be solved by you too quickly."

"Alright. You ready?"

Saitama asked.

"Of course."

Genos's voice had just faded when Saitama's figure in the distance vanished.

"Where?"

Genos widened his eyes, his electronic eye trying to capture Saitama's figure, when his shoulder was slapped.

"Alright, it's over."

Saitama had arrived behind him at some point, and when Genos turned back, he poked this cheap disciple's face with his finger.

Genos suddenly jumped back.

"Saitama-sensei, I said a quick battle, not that it ends just by touching someone, but that I have to beat you until you can't fight."

", you really are troublesome."

Saitama was somewhat helpless, his figure once again vanished from the spot.

But this time, with mental preparation, Genos captured Saitama's figure.

He raised his hand, and the Burning Cannon boomed out, blocking Saitama's path forward.

The fire pillar reached Saitama's front and submerged him.

However, Genos's sense of crisis did not dissipate.

Suddenly, he turned back sharply, and saw Saitama had already arrived behind him at some point.

Just now when the Burning Cannon reached Saitama's front, Saitama instead accelerated again and circled to Genos's back.

Originally he wanted to take advantage of the opponent attacking him and being somewhat careless to knock the opponent unconscious.

But unexpectedly, this disciple was actually so alert, directly turning back and discovering him.

"Bang~"

"Saitama-sensei, the same trick is useless against me."

Saying this, Genos's other hand had already fired the Burning Cannon, bombarding Saitama at close range.

"Not necessarily."

However, Saitama's voice came from behind, making Genos feel something was wrong.

Turning back to prepare a counterattack, a fist wearing a red glove approached.

On it, Genos felt a strong aura of death; as long as he was hit solidly, he would definitely die without a burial place.

However, the fist stopped in front of him, only the wind pressure from the fist blew his hairstyle somewhat messy.

"Alright, this time I should have won, right?"

Saitama demonstrated what the same trick meant; as long as the numbers were high enough, it was still useful.

Time approached eight o'clock; on the soft bed of the luxury hotel, Broly naturally woke up.

In the quilt, Mosquito Girl lay on him, but they were still in a linked state.

. 888

Broly gradually felt something; Mosquito Girl was woken by shaking.

After a morning exercise, taking a shower, eating breakfast, Broly then brought Mosquito Girl, following Saitama's breath, to the agreed battle place.

Broly was very punctual; since they agreed on nine o'clock, he arrived exactly at nine.

"By the way, what happened here?"

Carrying Mosquito Girl falling from the sky, Broly looked at the canyon that seemed to have been blasted with a giant hole by an energy cannon, and asked Saitama somewhat surprised.

"Nothing, just before you came, I and Genos sparred and warmed up a bit."

Saitama explained in one sentence.

"I see."

Broly nodded, but didn't say anything, because he had also sparred and warmed up with Mosquito Girl just now.

"By the way, have you eaten?"

"Not yet, have you?"

"I have, ate pretty well; do you want to eat full before fighting me?"

"No need, after the fight I'll go back to eat."

Saitama shook his head and refused; Z-City was quite far from here, if going to eat, back and forth would waste quite a lot of time.

"If you lose, you won't think it's because you didn't eat enough, right?"

"Haha, how could that be."

"Alright, no more nonsense, let's just start. Hmm, Mosquito Girl, and that one—"

"Genos."

"Right, Genos, you two stay far away."

After calling the two to a distance and agreeing with Saitama not to fire attacks toward the two's direction, the preparations before sparring were done.

"By the way, we're just sparring, not fighting to the death, right?"

"Of course."

"You attack first, or I attack first?"

"Either is fine."

"Then I'll go first."

The words fell, and Broly's figure vanished from the spot.

Vanishing at the same time was Saitama in the other direction.

"Bang~"

Terrifying qi waves suddenly appeared in the middle of Wilderness Valley; the two vanishing figures appeared in the middle of the qi waves, but their fists collided together.

The shockwave destroyed the ground beneath their feet, just like a big stone thrown into a calm lake stirring up waves, except what was stirred up was waves of earth and stone.

A meteor crater-like thing appeared on the ground, and the two who had exchanged blows separated at first touch, each retreating back to their original positions.

"Your strength is stronger than I estimated."

Broly looked at Saitama across from him with some surprise; he had seen the breach in Wilderness Valley, and had brought out strength approaching one percent of his normal limit.

"Same for you."

Saitama was likewise secretly shocked; his ordinary punch wasn't something just anyone could take.

"Since your strength is passable, I don't need to hold back either. Be careful — from now on, my speed and power will continuously increase. If you can't keep up, remember to raise your hand and shout surrender early, so you don't accidentally get beaten to death by me."

"Hmph, just come at me with everything you've got."

Saitama clenched his fist; the fist clash just now had confirmed to him that Broly was the powerful opponent he had been searching for.

Broly spoke no further; his figure vanished again, closing in on Saitama at extreme speed.

And this time, he didn't stop after one failed strike, but instead, while exchanging blows with Saitama, continuously released the bindings on his own Qi.

Normal limit 3%, 5%, 15%————

In the distance, because she had pulled back, Mosquito Girl could at first see the afterimages of the two moving and clashing, but as the two fought faster and faster, she could only hear continuous explosive sounds coming from the air, and the environment being destroyed by the aftermath of their clash.

"Hey, scrap iron, can you still see them?"

When Broly raised his combat strength past 50% of his own normal limit, Mosquito Girl couldn't see any traces at all.

"Mhm, I can barely still see some traces."

Genos nodded, but his electronic eyes had also reached their capture limit; the clash between Saitama and Broly in his eyes was nothing but streaks of afterimages — one moment the two might still be clashing over there, the next they'd appear on another side far away, not coherent at all, looking just like an action movie with insufficient frame rate.

"Then tell me, between Broly and that baldy, who has the upper hand now?"

Mosquito Girl hurriedly asked.

"This... it's Mr. Broly————"

Although Genos couldn't believe it, from the captured footage, no matter how he looked at it, Sensei Saitama was the one passively taking a beating.

"Ah, I knew it, how could that baldy possibly be a match for Broly~"

Mosquito Girl was very happy, directly acting as an off-field cheerleader, shouting toward the sparring arena where no figures could even be seen: "Broly, go all out! Give that baldy a harsh lesson for me!"

Although Genos didn't think his side's voices could reach that side with its continuous booming air explosions, he still unwillingly shouted back: "Sensei Saitama, go all out! I believe you can win!"

"Damn it, you're slippery as hell — are you a loach that became a spirit?"

Saitama grew more frustrated the more he fought; aside from the initial fist clash, everything else was Broly unilaterally pressing him to beat him, while his own counterattacks couldn't hit the opponent at all.

"Your base stats are not bad, almost catching up to my normal limit, but your combat technique is trash. Not landing hits is because your combat technique is no good — it has nothing to do with me."

Fighting until now, without using any energy techniques, Wilderness Valley was still nearly smashed to pieces by the aftermath of their battle.

And by now, Broly had also figured out the level of Saitama's physical stats — roughly around ninety percent of his own normal limit.

But strength isn't something that works with just physical stats; when stats are close, technique constitutes an important part of strength.

It's like playing a fighting game — the same character, operated by a novice versus a pro, makes a huge difference.

Obviously, Broly is the pro, and Saitama is the novice; even if the base stats Broly brings out are actually comparable to Saitama's, or even slightly weaker, he still completely suppresses Saitama in all aspects.

In ten moves, Broly can land nine on Saitama, while Saitama throws a hundred moves yet not a single one can graze Broly's body.

Defending, taking hits — that's the only thing Saitama can do against Broly. As for attacking, sorry — as soon as Saitama shows an opening, he'll face even fiercer attacks from Broly. Not only can Saitama not hit anyone, he instead has to suffer even more striking damage.

Sure enough, the frantic Saitama gave up defense and tried to attack, exposing a huge opening on his right side. Broly decisively closed in and unleashed a continuous series of strikes at his wide-open spot.

However, this strike produced an accident.

"Hah, finally caught you!"

Saitama, having taken a heavy punch to his right abdomen, clamped down on Broly's incoming fist. Pain made his facial expression twitch, but it didn't hinder him from revealing a smile of a scheme succeeding.

"You deliberately exposed that opening?"

Broly tugged his hand, couldn't pull it free, and asked curiously.

"Yeah, otherwise how could I catch you."

"Didn't you think — if this were a life-and-death struggle, just that deliberately exposed opening of yours would be enough to leave you severely injured?"

If I'd used a finger sword instead of a fist just now, I could have torn this guy's body apart in minutes.

"But we're sparring, hahaha. You've hit me this many times, it should be my turn to hit you now, right?"

The one-sided beating had long pent up a stomach full of anger in Saitama. He now wore a ferocious grin, raised his other fist, and poured all his strength into a punch at Broly.

However, Broly closed the distance a step ahead, and before Saitama's coiled punch could be thrown, he grappled the opponent, directly pinning down his fist.

"Your physical quality is good, but a humanoid body structure destines its force generation method to be not much different from an ordinary person's.

And a fist only has power when it's thrown out. If it can't be thrown out, it becomes like this————"

Saitama's right arm clamped his left arm, so his right arm covered the opponent's left fist, locking his force generation point.

Broly directly lifted Saitama up, both arms already encircling Saitama's body, and began tightening inward.

Saitama struggled hard to break free, but Broly's physical stats were higher than his current ones.

Although his body was also continuously erupting with power surpassing his existing limits.

But in a short time, this kind of continuously limit-breaking power still couldn't surpass Broly's current stats.

After a bout of struggling, Saitama, unable to break free from Broly's embrace, could only helplessly admit defeat.

After this spar ended, Saitama's blood was indeed boiling — mainly from blood pressure rise.

"Always feel... this is different from the satisfying battle I originally imagined————"

"Well, wanting a satisfying battle also depends on whether the opponent cooperates with you."

Broly patted Saitama's shoulder. He originally came to help Mosquito Girl get payback, not to let the opponent enjoy a satisfying battle, so naturally he couldn't cooperate.