Chapter 933: Garou

Saitama's kick was remarkably sleep-inducing; Garou didn't wake until the next day, and when he did his whole body ached to the extreme.

He looked down — the wounds raked by Watchdog Man's claws had already scabbed over, but his clothes were stiff as a board, clearly having soaked up a lot of blood and then sat overnight, fusing into a solid crust.

"So that's the strongest man on the surface? Impressive indeed — I didn't even see how he attacked —"

This time Garou didn't get knocked amnesiac; he simply mistook his opponent. Last night all his attention was on King; he never paid any mind to Saitama, who looked like small fry, so now he assumes it was King who beat him.

【Damn it, two ribs broken — I can't let any heroes find me for now —】

Garou leaned against the wall; just then an A-Class Hero walked past the alley mouth, looking like he was patrolling and searching for something.

Garou didn't know whether the hero was hunting him, but he made a cautious decision.

Bracing himself on the wall, he slipped deeper into the alley, avoiding any clash with the hero outside.

After that he sneaked into a pharmacy, grabbed some gauze and potion, and left without paying.

Taking the city's back alleys out of the main urban area, he reached the suburbs and hid inside the factory building of an abandoned auto repair shop.

He gave his injuries a simple treatment, then collapsed whole onto an old but not very dusty sofa.

Who knows how much time passed; the sound of a door opening startled Garou awake, and he sprang off the sofa: "Who?!"

"Ah, y-you, why are you here?"

A pot-lid-headed chubby kid, catching sight of Garou inside the factory, went wide-eyed.

"Snot-Worm brat, why are you here?"

Seeing this kid he'd once met in the nearby park, Garou was also a bit surprised.

"I'm not a Snot-Worm, and this is my secret base, you know~"

The snot-dangling chubby kid, clutching his Hero Almanac, answered Garou's question rather timidly.

He looked like he wanted to tell Garou "You're the intruder," but didn't have the courage to say it.

"No wonder it's not too dirty in here."

Garou realized.

"Sorry for barging in uninvited, but since I got you out of that bullying last time, you shouldn't mind, right?!"

"N-no, I don't mind—"

The Snot-Worm sounded a little aggrieved saying that.

"That's the latest Hero Almanac Magazine in your hand?"

"Mm."

"Mind if I take a look?"

Garou said it and reached out to take the Hero Almanac from the Snot-Worm's hands.

"Ah, I just bought this, I haven't even read it myself—"

"Don't be so stingy; I'll give it back after I'm done. By the way, you got any food on you?"

"Just a bag of potato chips, a chocolate bar, and a bottle of soda."

"Thanks, I happen to be starving."

"Hey, I never said I was willing to give you—"

The Snot-Worm watched Garou occupy his secret base, swipe his newly bought Hero Almanac Magazine, and eat his snacks, looking like he wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Mister, you're a full-grown adult, stealing from a little kid — aren't you ashamed?"

"Steal? This is borrowing; I'll definitely pay you back double later."

"Really."

"Of course."

"When?"

"Later—"

Garou didn't answer directly, simply because his pockets were empty right now.

"Never mind that, Snot-Worm, come tell me — what new Mysterious Beings got added in the latest Hero Almanac?"

Garou changed the subject.

"Mister, you're weird; you read the Hero Almanac Magazine but only care about the Mysterious Beings, not the heroes."

"Naturally — this grandpa aspires to be a Mysterious Being, not some hypocritical hero."

Garou answered as a matter of course.

"Mysterious Beings? I don't know; after all, I'm not like you, Mister — I'm not interested in Mysterious Beings. Besides, I already said I haven't read this issue yet."

"Want to read it together?"

"Uh—"

The Snot-Worm didn't refuse; one big, one small, the two sat together in the abandoned factory reading the same Hero Almanac Magazine.

"Space Mysterious Beings — now that's rare; didn't expect other intelligent life to exist outside Earth."

Garou stared at the color Mysterious Being page with Geryuganshoop's close-up photo, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Seeing that the previous Hero Association Headquarters Building was wrecked by a bunch of Space Mysterious Beings, he clapped and cheered.

But later, when Geryuganshoop and the other Space Mysterious Beings, under Flashy Flash's Death Flash reformation, finally recognized their errors, repented, turned over a new leaf, and agreed to become friendly Space Mysterious Beings, Garou couldn't help cursing: "Damn it, what kind of garbage plot is this? How can Mysterious Beings surrender? Shouldn't they fight to the end for their own ideals?"

"Uh, I think the plot develops pretty well; the Space Mysterious Beings, reformed by Super Flash, realized their mistakes and became friendly space people from then on.

Heard they even opened a Spaceship Amusement Park above B-City; my dad and mom said when school's out for summer they'll take me to that Spaceship Amusement Park in B-City."

As the Snot-Worm said this, anticipation shone in his eyes; the words "Amusement Park" have considerable drawing power for a kid his age.

"Just a little brat, alright."

Garou was a bit speechless, but didn't say more; in his eyes the Space Mysterious Beings recorded in the magazine don't count as Mysterious Beings at all — just a bunch of aliens with no battle conviction.

Only those who claim they must protect the universe and therefore come to destroy Earth's civilization — only that kind of guy qualifies, in Garou's imagination, as a Space Mysterious Being with enough conviction.

(The specific imagined scene is roughly Boros charging at Saitama in the original work, paired with the line "I'll protect the universe.")

)

The monster pages were quickly flipped through, and Snot Worm also perked up: "Uncle, let me tell you, after the universe monster invasion incident, another hero was directly promoted to S-Class————"

Snot Worm wasn't interested in monsters, but he was quite interested in heroes, and the current situation made him subconsciously treat Garou as a friend with whom he could share his interests and recommend things he liked, but just as he was preparing to recommend to Garou the newly promoted S-Class Hero (Saitama) publicized in this issue of the almanac————

"Bang~"

A gunshot from outside interrupted his recommendation.

"What's going on?"

The timid Snot Worm was startled by the gunshot and asked Garou beside him with some fear.

"You stay here and hide, I'll go out and check the situation."

Garou had Snot Worm hide in the corner, while he himself went out alone.

"People inside, come out, otherwise, I can't guarantee your life safety."

Just as A-Class Hero Death Gatling, holding a Gatling gun aimed at the factory building's direction, finished shouting, Garou, wrapped in white bandages, also opened the door from inside and walked out with both hands raised.

"Don't shoot, I'm coming out."

"Hero Hunter Garou, your hunting game is over."

"Only a combination of four A-Class and four B-Class Heroes came, and with just you lot, you want to catch me?"

Garou moved his body, left the position in front of the factory building, actively walked into the heroes' encirclement outside, and began to mock verbally.

"I advise you not to act rashly; just based on your previous evil deeds of actively attacking numerous heroes, it's enough to let us shoot you dead on the spot here."

"If you can do it, then come try."

Garou's words fell, and B-Class Rank 44, nicknamed Gun Gun, dressed like a Western cowboy, fired decisively without the slightest hesitation.

However, he was still a step slow; Garou had already dived out, attacking the archer hero closest to him who held a bow and arrow.

Death Gatling wanted to shoot, but seeing his fellow hero also over there, he didn't dare pull the trigger and fire the Gatling gun.

After all, reality isn't a game; there's no so-called friendly fire immunity function.

"Is this the reason you actively walked into our encirclement? Stinger————"

"No problem, leave it to me."

A-Class Rank 10 Stinger thrust a long spear over, forcing Garou back.

Garou dodged and landed, then A-Class Rank 36 Lock-Toad's hook lock bound his legs.

Coming straight at him was A-Class Rank 27 Smiling Man's special ball.

That wasn't all; when Garou flipped and barely dodged the special ball, B-Class Rank 100 Archer also predicted and shot arrows at his landing spot after dodging the iron ball.

Although Garou tried hard to twist his body and dodge several arrows, his right shoulder was still pierced by two; of course, the moment the arrows entered the flesh, he tensed his muscles, not letting the arrows go deeper.

However, his consciousness still became blurry.

"Damn, you coated the arrows with poison?"

"Just anesthetic; even an elephant would collapse unconscious from one shot."

Garou's figure swayed, looking like he would fall, but just as the heroes surrounding him produced the careless thought that it was over, he burst with speed again, rushing in front of Stinger.

Garou used Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist; Stinger couldn't react in time and was instantly knocked down; the revolver's gunshot had just rung out before it abruptly stopped.

"Second one————"

"Why are you fine?"

The archer was somewhat astonished when knocked down.

"In the martial arts world, there are also guys who use poison; did you think among those enemies I've defeated before, there would be fewer poison users?"

Garou laughed unrestrainedly, answering while knocking down another B-Class hero.

"This guy is just forcing himself to hold on; the archer's poison arrows are taking effect on him."

However, the last remaining B-Class hero Glasses exposed his lie.

Among the many heroes, only the other party's information was not written clearly in the Hero Almanac Manual.

【Damn, a guy who lives by his brain?】

Garou dived at him, and Smiling Man's special ball intercepted his predicted charging trajectory.

Lock-Toad's hook lock also attacked again.

"Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!"

Borrowing strength to strike back, Garou used the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist technique, diverted the special ball's direction, and added force to it.

"Lock-Toad, careful!"

Smiling Man detected something wrong first and warned, but was still a step slow; Lock-Toad didn't react in time and was sent flying by the diverted special ball, his body directly smashing through multiple trees, falling to the ground with life and death unknown.

Smiling Man wanted to pull back his ball, but the chain was severed by Garou using the sickle scythe on Lock-Toad's hook lock.

Tatatat sounds rang out; Death Gatling opened fire, but Garou had already hid behind Smiling Man's special ball.

"A sudden sneak attack, truly a despicable and shameless guy!"

Death Gatling finished his bullets, started reloading, and verbally mocked.

"Hey hey, you guys surround me alone with so many people, and still have the nerve to say that?

Moreover, outside it's clearly so chaotic, there are many ordinary people who need your help, you heroes have more important things to do, but you bastards specifically gathered so many people to surround just me, this is really idle enough.

Speaking back, you should have discovered my traces long ago right? Why is there no S-Class among the heroes gathered to surround me? Let me think, is it because you're afraid that if an S-Class Hero came, they'd take the credit for capturing me, and it wouldn't belong to you S-Class-and-below heroes?"

Garou likewise didn't spare his mouth, his hand movements didn't stop, quickly pulling out the arrows on his shoulders, and began to locate by sound.

"Shut up!"

Death Gatling moved while responding.

"Hah, looks like I hit your sore spot."

"You're talking nonsense. Clearly, you, the Hero Hunter, pose a greater threat and should be the priority target to be solved."

"Found it!"

"What?"

Smiling Man hadn't even reacted before his Special Ball flew straight at him, and unsurprisingly, he was smashed flying as well.

Among the heroes on the field, only Glasses and Death Gatling remained. The two attacked Garou from front and back, yet kept a considerable distance from him.

The poison arrow was pulled out, the fuzzy sensation of consciousness didn't deepen further, but the wound on his shoulder kept bleeding fresh blood continuously.

Continuing to drag this out would still be unfavorable to him.

"First solve the weak one with unknown intel, then solve the strong one with intel————"

Garou didn't linger in the original place long, and soon charged at Glasses.

Glasses retreated, shot arrows in slight resistance, but was still caught up to by Garou and kicked in the belly, flying out.

He crashed into a tree in the distance and directly lost consciousness.

"This time you have no cover. Go die."

Death Gatling had finished reloading by this time, aimed at Garou's side, and pulled the trigger.

【As expected of a brain-eating guy, he actually deliberately lured me to this open space with no cover, no fallen companions————】

Garou glanced at Glasses, whom he had kicked unconscious in the distance, but the corner of his mouth hooked up.

【But so what if you secured a chance for your last companion to wildly attack me with a machine gun? Machine gun bullets are fast, but that doesn't mean the shooter manipulating the gun can turn the muzzle fast————】

Garou rushed out. Bullets swept the places he ran past. Some trees swept were snapped at the waist, the ground was punched with a row of bullet craters, but they just couldn't catch up to Garou at the front, who had turned into an afterimage, deliberately running circles, forcing him to turn the muzzle.

Death Gatling was in a bind. He didn't dare stop attacking now; stopping would only let the opponent approach. He could only hope to hit Garou at the front before the bullets ran out.

【Wait, that guy's speed seems to have slowed down————】

"Stop, there's still———— inside the factory building."

Garou discovered his movement trajectory would pass the Abandoned Factory. Not knowing if the Snot Worms inside would be hit by stray bullets, he prepared to call a halt, but found his voice drowned in the gunshots.

【Damn it————】

Garou stopped in front of the factory building. Facing the bullets Death Gatling fired, he unleashed his all-out Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist, his hands like phantoms.

In just fifteen seconds, under the fire of over a hundred bullets, Garou could feel the sluggishness of his hands breaking the sound barrier, the muscle-tearing sensation of his arms retracting too fast.

After the gunshots stopped, a layer of bullet heads piled up before Garou. As an inexplicable sense of achievement welled up in his heart, anger also surged.

He charged at Death Gatling. Before Death Gatling could reload again, before he could raise the scorching gun barrel to smash it down on him, Garou's hands formed a palm-strike lotus shape and blasted directly into Death Gatling's chest.

Creak creak sounds rang out. Death Gatling sprayed fresh blood from his mouth and was blasted flying, crashing to the ground, rolling a long distance before stopping.

And if not for the fact that after stopping, the other's chest still had slight undulations, one would have thought he had been beaten to death.

"Heh, a bunch of weaklings."

Garou looked at the heroes he had beaten down, a contemptuous smile on his face.

He turned his head and saw the Snot Worm coming out of the factory building, seeming to tremble slightly.

"Didn't I tell you to hide properly? Forget it, you're safe now————"

He said this to the Snot Worm, but before he finished speaking, he saw the Snot Worm look at him in terror, then scream and turn to flee.

Seeing this, Garou felt an indescribable taste in his heart, but didn't care too much. After all, the role he was playing right now was a Monster.

For the Snot Worm who liked heroes, the scene of him defeating the heroes he worshipped was indeed hard for that little ghost to accept.

"Forget it, ignore that little ghost. My strength seems to have broken through again. It's just that the wound on my abdomen torn open by Watchdog Man has split open again."

Garou lowered his head to look at the bloodied bandages at his waist, sighed, and just as he walked back to the Abandoned Factory, planning to take the medical supplies inside and leave————

A venerable old voice stopped him: "Garou, was all this done by you?"

"Hey hey, my luck isn't that bad, is it? To actually get blocked by you, this stinky old man, at a time like this!"

Bang's slightly hunched figure stood right at the front door of the Abandoned Factory, in front of Garou.