Chapter 351

"I didn't expect there'd still be a straggler…"

Swish.

Sonic abruptly appeared before him, the cold blade in his hand slashing down mercilessly.

But it cut through empty air.

"Afterimage?!"

Sonic stared at the afterimage sliced in half and dissipating before him, a look of surprise on his face.

"I'm not with them."

Luo En, who had landed on the open ground behind Sonic with both hands stuffed in his coat pockets, said with his back to him: "You've got the wrong person."

"That's no longer the issue."

Sonic dropped from midair to the ground, turned, and looked at that tall, slender figure.

"You can see through and dodge my moves, you… are strong, so…"

After saying this, a guileless, innocent smile spread across Sonic's face.

Swish!

His figure vanished from the spot once more.

He turned into a black flash exceeding the speed of sound, flickering around Luo En without pause.

"No matter who you are, I absolutely won't let you escape! Stick around and play with me!"

"Feel this shockwave well, will you? With my speed that surpasses sound, can you keep up? Can you even see my movements?"

Sonic's smug voice came from every direction.

"Yare yare."

Luo En raised his right hand and adjusted his baseball cap, which had been blown askew by the wind.

Whoosh!

Sonic charged at him at extreme speed, a strange smile on his face as he swung down the cold-gleaming blade in his hand.

"That's the end of it."

Bang!

A fist slammed heavily into his face.

Sonic's face caved in on the spot, and his entire body shot backward like a meteor in a perfectly straight line, smashing through who knows how many boulders and great trees along the way.

"Like some annoying fly — better change your name to 'Annoying the Speed of Sound Whale.'"

Luo En withdrew his fist and left the scene as if nothing had happened.

A bald caped hero who had just arrived reached out and caught the body flying toward him; the fierce residual force turned into a gale that swept past both sides of him through the mountain forest, blowing his cape straight out.

"Eh? What's going on?"

Saitama, who had just one-punched the Hammerhead battle suit, stared at Sonic who had flown to him with a head full of question marks.

"That guy really got beaten pretty badly."

"Moshi moshi, are you still alive?"

Sonic, whose entire face had caved in, lay like a lump of mud, not moving at all — clearly completely unconscious.

Afterwards, Saitama called Genos over to help handle things, and Genos contacted the Hero Association.

"Th-this guy is an S-class bounty criminal, Speed-o'-Sound Sonic!"

They recognized Sonic's identity.

"Was it you who took this guy down?"

The official in charge who had arrived looked at Genos and asked.

Genos shook his head and pointed at Saitama, who was standing idly by: "No, it was my teacher."

"Eh? You took him down?"

The official looked at Saitama, quite surprised.

"N-no, I didn't do it."

Saitama hurriedly explained: "I was just passing through here when he happened to fly over; I just caught him for a moment…"

"So someone else took down Speed-o'-Sound Sonic?"

"Yeah."

"Understood."

After saying that, the official didn't question Saitama any further.

Once they took the heavily wounded Sonic back to the Hero Association headquarters to be detained, Saitama and Genos headed home together as well.

On the way, Saitama listened as Genos told him about the Hero Association and how heroes needed to pass an examination to become official heroes.

"Then let's go take the exam."

"If Sensei is going, then I'll go too."

"Alright, then the two of us will go together."

"Yes!"

…………

Meanwhile.

When Luo En was returning from City F to City Z, an accident occurred on the road.

Accompanied by an explosion.

A tall building collapsed with a rumble, its upper half tilting and crashing down toward the street where traffic flowed and streams of pedestrians hurried.

7. Shocked Hellish Blizzard

The disasters in this world truly do come without warning.

"Aaaah!!!"

The crowd on the street stared up at the towering building tilting toward them, about to crash down, and burst into terrified screams.

"The building—it's going to fall!"

"Help!"

"Run!!"

The people scattered in panic, but their terror only threw them into greater chaos.

In an instant the entire street was jammed with crowds and vehicles, a dark, dense mass.

The sky above was gradually swallowed by the shadow of the tilting building.

"Not good!"

The members of the Fubuki Group who happened to be nearby saw the scene, and their expressions changed drastically.

Standing at their front, Fubuki—short black hair, tall and slender, fair-skinned, wearing a green dress that accentuated her striking figure and draped in a fur coat—stared at the high-rise crashing down toward the crowded street. Her expression hardened; she immediately stretched out a hand, a strange light radiating from her body, her short hair lifting

Fubuki unleashed her psychic power, slowing the tilting building's collapse by a fraction.

"Now's the chance—get them out of here! I can't hold it much longer."

Floating mid-air, Fubuki said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, Group Leader!"

The Fubuki Group members, clad in black suits, snapped to it and sprinted toward the scene at once.

"Get out of here, now!"

"Hurry!"

"Is there a hero here? Come help!"

The passersby who had already resigned themselves to death were overjoyed at the sight of them.

"It's the B-Class Number One, Hellish Blizzard, and the Fubuki Group—thank goodness!"

"We're saved!"

Right after, several more B-Class and C-Class heroes joined the rescue effort.

"It's Tanktop Blackhole!"

"And Quick-Fist Man and Moxi!"

Though these heroes couldn't stop the building's fall, they could use the time before it landed to rescue as many people as possible.

"Hurry! I'm already—"

Fubuki's face was deathly pale; she was nearly at her limit.