Chapter 914: Bombardment

The mutilated body fell from the sky, crashing into the street ground with a bang — a free fall from the height of the Hero Association Headquarters Building — yet it didn't turn into meat paste.

On the contrary, the crashed Melzargard stood back up from the pit: "Damn it, the native lifeforms of this planet have anomalously excessive strength."

One punch nearly instant-killed them; if not for their astonishing regeneration — as long as the energy core inside their body isn't destroyed, they can recover even if their external body is completely destroyed — that blow just now would likely have killed them.

"We must split up, to prevent our internal energy cores from being wiped out in one fell swoop."

The first head, the most fully developed, looked at the unlucky head that had just been caught in the blast and had its energy core destroyed, now turned to black ash, and said to the other heads.

"I think this proposal is good."

The other heads had no objections; they rapidly separated, and the scattered flesh rapidly coalesced into new bodies centered on them.

The sizable multi-headed monster directly became four slightly smaller single-headed monsters, and the pedestrians on the A-City street where they fell chose to flee while they climbed up and re-formed their flesh.

No joke — in an era where Mysterious Beings constantly pop up to rampage, seeing such obviously bad news and not running would absolutely be waiting for death.

"These native lifeforms seem to fear us, they're fleeing?"

The second head was somewhat puzzled.

"Perhaps that guy just now was this planet's combatant; the other native lifeforms aren't that formidable."

"Should we test them?"

"The spaceship's safety————"

"The spaceship is parked at high altitude, and judging by these native lifeforms, they don't look like they can fly; the spaceship's safety should temporarily need no worry.

On the contrary, we should ascertain the true strength of this planet's native individuals, to confirm this planet's specific danger level."

"Good, let's do that."

After the Melzargard split bodies quickly conferred, the one with the smaller build transformed its arm into a sharp blade shape.

"Crack————"

The ground it stood on shattered; its figure vanished from the spot — though smaller in build, it actually stood nearly two meters tall — and it rushed swiftly toward a human male who had already fled to the street entrance.

Closing in, it swung its blade-arm, preparing to bisect him at the waist.

"Clang～"

However, before it could bisect the man, a thrown metal bat knocked its hand-axe aside.

"Thud~"

The misdirected hand-axe left a Scorpion Sect Qualification on the roadside building; the wall face was like tofu, actually easily sliced open.

Melzargard's second head's split individual tilted its head and saw an airplane-hair youth sprinting toward this side.

Upon closing in he directly kicked at it; the hand-axe had been knocked aside, plus its body had just been blown apart by Saitama's one punch, so this split body retreated vigilantly, dodging the attack.

"Count yourself lucky you dodged fast, you bastard!"

Metal Bat's kick missed; he didn't continue pursuit, instead picking up his own thrown bat from the ground, then spitting on the ground and cursing.

Bang, Atomic Samurai, Superalloy Darkshine — these S-Class Heroes arrived at the scene; perhaps because they'd previously hit a wall on Saitama's side, these Melzargard split bodies all showed some caution when engaging this group of S-Class Heroes, afraid these people might also be like that bald-headed monster with a head so hard even a hand-axe couldn't break its defense.

However, the more they fought, the more confident Melzargard became; compared to that baldy who blew up half their five-in-one body with one punch, these people at least could fight — they'd dodge his attacks, and even dodging late they'd get injured.

Of course, it's also true that it got increasingly strenuous; while Melzargard adapted to Bang and the others' attacks, Bang and the others were also adapting to the battle rhythm of dealing with it.

"How's that, seen my ability?!"

Saitama, who one-punched the space invader to bits, turned his head and looked at Tatsumaki.

"Hmph, merely killed another small fry."

At this, the S-Class Rank 2 Psychic Young Lady merely gave a cold snort.

"Saitama, I have to remind you, that guy probably isn't dead."

"How could he not be dead? His body was smashed to bits by me."

"I don't know why he's not dead, but his Qi only dropped by one-fifth; maybe he has some special substitution technique."

Broly conjectured.

"Then why didn't you finish him off?"

"That's your prey."

"Fine, I'll go down and handle it."

Saitama said this, preparing to jump down from the rooftop.

"Saitama-sensei, I think that's unnecessary; Metal Bat and Atomic Samurai and them have already rushed over there."

Genos and the others came up when Saitama was greeting Melzargard, and personally witnessed the scene of Saitama one-punching that martial-virtue-less alien's body to bits.

After hearing Broly's words, Genos walked to the edge of the Association Headquarters Building rooftop platform, and used his Electronic Eye to see Metal Bat and the others below engaging Melzargard's split bodies in combat.

"I'm for corpse abuse———— hmm, speaking of the Demon Cyborg, that big guy up there is what we should prioritize dealing with.

A spaceship that huge — to say it has no Weapon System loaded I don't believe; and the current problem is, just how strong are the weapons that thing carries, and whether it will launch an attack on A-City————

Child Emperor looked worriedly at the spaceship in the sky.

"Child Emperor may be an elementary schooler, but his words have merit; does anyone have a way to deal with that big guy in the sky?

"

Black Light looked at the others.

"Your Energy Bullet can destroy a giant meteorite, so it should be able to destroy that thing in the sky too, right?"

Saitama looked at Broly.

"When the sky falls, tall people hold it up; right now I'm the person Tatsumaki-sister is covering, she hasn't spoken yet, so I shouldn't act rashly."

Broly looked at Tatsumaki, and said this to Saitama.

"You bastard sure know how to talk; I suddenly understand why Fubuki wants to recruit so many little brothers and form the so-called Blizzard Group."

Tatsumaki was very pleased by Broly's words; her Happiness Value directly rose a bit.

"However, that spaceship is above the city; if I shoot it down, I'm afraid a large swath of A-City will be smashed flat, and I don't want to be nagged by that guy Bang."

"I see. So the first thing we need to do right now isn't deal with the spaceship in the sky, but figure out how to swiftly evacuate the numerous citizens in the city beneath the spaceship!"

Darkshine had a sudden realization.

"Then I'll go tell the Hero Association people and have the headquarters staff handle this matter.

A low male voice rang out. Everyone turned to look and saw the strongest man on the surface, King, just drilling half his body out of the hole, saying calmly.

"Ah, a trivial matter like notification doesn't require troubling Mr. King. I'll go. As for Mr. King, you should stay here and stand guard with Miss Tatsumaki, since that spaceship in the sky might launch an attack on the city at any moment."

Superalloy Darkshine volunteered.

Upon hearing this, King's body trembled, and he said with feigned composure: "I'll go instead. Facing an enemy hovering at high altitude, there's nothing I can do."

He didn't want to stay and be a target; the risk of staying outside was simply too great. Better to use the pretext of reporting the situation to take the opportunity to hide inside the headquarters building and not come out.

"Lord Geryuganshoop, the shells have been loaded. Should we have the gunners commence bombardment now?

Inside the spaceship's main control room, the operator at the control console asked his direct superior, who counted as a commander.

"Wait a moment————"

Geryuganshoop didn't let the gunners fire directly.

"Good grief, what is that guy Melzargard doing? How come he hasn't reported in at all?"

The cosmic Telekinesis Master, with a dark blue slender body, phantom-like transparent skin, resembling an octopus, was complaining a bit.

"Forget it. I'll contact it myself."

This Telekinesis Master directly used telepathy, locking onto Melzargard across the vast distance.

The moment the mental network connected, he questioned Melzargard's work efficiency.

"I don't have time for this right now. The indigenous lifeforms on this planet are unexpectedly strong; I'm currently in a bitter struggle myself."

"How is that possible? You're one of the three strongest combatants on our ship."

"That's the reality. I have no need to deceive you. One of my heads has even died already."

"What?"

"Right. You bombard my position now. Directly wipe out the enemies currently besieging me."

"Ah, but won't that catch you in the blast too?"

"No problem. You know my regeneration capability. As long as the energy core inside my body isn't unluckily smashed, I can recover from anything.

Also, remember to fire extra shots at the tallest building at a creature that looks about like you and also has a shiny bald head. That guy is strong to an excessive degree.

Not saying more. Fire quickly. Because I was distracted talking to you, I got hit several more times————"

"Hey, hey————"

The telepathy suddenly cut off. Geryuganshoop called out a few times in the telepathy, discovered the other side no longer responded, and could only order the ship's gunners to adjust their muzzles and aim at the target.

"That spaceship seems to have moved. What is that light that lit up?"

The Dark Matter Pirates' ship's energy cannons, when firing, produce a purple radiance. That is kinetic energy, similar to the scene where muzzle flash can be seen inside the barrel when a gunpowder-type firearm weapon is triggered — except the former appears in advance during energy accumulation, while the latter only appears after the shell or bullet is fired.

"Looks like... solid projectile attack?!"

Several solid projectiles were fired toward the headquarters building. One was hammered away directly by Saitama's fist, Genos protected behind him.

Superalloy Darkshine also subconsciously stood in front of Child Emperor, using his own body to intercept a shell.

And the remaining several shells were intercepted by Tatsumaki, who floated in front of Broly, using her psychic power.

"Bad. Metal Bat and Atomic Samurai's side seem to have suffered a similar attack too!"

Genos's electronic eye looked toward the ground. In just an instant, the place where Bang and the others were battling Melzargard suffered a severe strike.

Surrounding buildings were almost all destroyed. Fortunately, the Hero Association headquarters side is a commercial street, not residential apartments. After the battle broke out, normal citizens had already quickly moved away from here.

"Bang, are you okay?"

Amidst the ruins, Atomic Samurai looked toward Bang's direction.

"Fine. Just clothes torn. How about you?"

A collapsed building wall was smashed apart. Bang tore off his tattered shirt and walked out, a body of lean muscle not at all like what a geezer of this age should have.

"Heh. Your old bones are fine. How could something happen to younger me?"

At Atomic Samurai's side lay freshly sliced metal shell fragments. Not even his kimono was torn.

"The even younger one seems to have gone down already."

"Truly useless."

Under one round of bombardment, Metal Bat and Superalloy Darkshine had already gone down.

"Damn it. So unlucky to have another head wiped out."

Melzargard, having also suffered the bombardment and had its body destroyed, regenerated its body; its complexion also wasn't good.

"Looks like your companions don't seem to regard you as a companion."

Bang said a sentence.

"Hmph. Inferior creatures don't understand tactics. This was me having them fire!"

Melzargard replied a sentence.

Bang, whose sowing-discord scheme failed: "Right now I've only lost one head, but your side has lost two companions. One for two — I don't lose. Not to mention soon it'll be three on two, and we can wipe you two out too!"

Melzargard's words had just fallen when he saw more heroes run out of the Hero Association headquarters building, which stood unshaken amid the shells.

"Silver Fang, Atomic Samurai, we've come to help you."

The other S-Class Heroes who were previously stationed inside the headquarters also deployed at this time.

"Master Atomic Samurai!"

From another direction, a disciple of Atomic Samurai who had followed him to A-City also arrived.

Melzargard: "————"

"How's it going, has the situation on your end been solved?"

At this time, Geryuganshoop's voice rang out in his mind once again.

"Solved two, but reinforcements arrived, the pressure I'm facing not only hasn't reduced, but instead increased, continue firing."

"You all be careful, that big guy overhead will launch a bombardment, bring Dry Ball Rod and Sexy Prisoner back to headquarters, they should still be alive."

"Sexy Prisoner is still alive."

Tanktop Master, who had rushed over to this side, hoisted up the once again severely injured and unconscious Sexy Prisoner.

"This side too."

King, who could only follow along with the crowd, picked up the similarly unconscious Dry Ball Rod, and with steady steps, even though he might face a new round of bombardment from overhead at any moment, in everyone's eyes he was walking unhurriedly toward the direction of the headquarters building.

【Worthy of being the strongest on the surface, in this kind of situation, it's just like taking a walk in the living room at home!】

Everyone thought.

However, King was already exhausting all efforts to walk as fast as possible, but being just an ordinary shut-in, at most occasionally working out, how could he possibly walk too fast while carrying an unconscious person.

After all, to maintain the strongest persona, he couldn't possibly run off in a sorry state.

And walking like this, before returning to the Hero Association headquarters, the spaceship's second round of shells had also finished loading, directly conducting a second round of bombardment at this side.

It's just a pity, this round of bombardment shells hadn't even reached the ground before stagnating in mid-air.

"Although I temporarily can't shoot you down, destroying all your weapon ports is still doable."

Tatsumaki floated in the sky, her psychic control held all the fired shells, her slender hand rotated and pointed upward, the controlled shells reversed direction, returning along the original path to bombard the spaceship's gun muzzles.

The spaceship vibrated, alarm sounds rang out inside, causing Boros, who was in the power room, to open his single eye.