Chapter 366

"Just now… what happened?"

"Just… one strike?!"

"This can't be real…?"

"!!"

The Deep King finally snapped back to awareness; it looked at its vanished right half, then at the ordinary black-haired youth ahead, and its once-ravenous, bloodthirsty vertical pupils convulsed violently — overwhelming terror of death flooded its entire mind, causing its whole body to tremble uncontrollably!

Die!

I will die!

This guy is a monster — I have no chance of winning!

I must escape!

Escape… escape!

The Deep King finally reacted — it slammed its feet down hard and shot away like a meteor through the hole Genos had blasted open.

Before anyone could react, the powerful monster that had filled them with terror of death had already fled.

The Unlicensed Knight and Gokuu had just arrived at the shelter when they saw the Deep King, half its body gone, fleeing in panic from inside.

"You won't get away."

Luo En, standing at the shelter's entrance, watched the fleeing Deep King's back, raised his right hand, and casually slashed downward — a wisp of ethereal energy-blade light flickered forth.

A brilliant, dazzling crimson sword-light flashed once across the gloomy, rain-lashed sky and vanished.

The fleeing Deep King was split cleanly in two — a straight, kilometer-long crack appeared on the street below!

A massive, ten-thousand-meter-wide fissure tore through the heavy clouds overhead, as if splitting the entire sky in half — the rain and wind ceased, and bright sunlight poured down through the colossal rift.

The world grew bright.

Everyone who saw this — including Genos and the Unlicensed Knight — stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, minds utterly blank.

Gokuu, who had missed the chance to act, looked up at the sky's fissure and smiled.

"It's cleared up."

18, Sweet Mask's attention

"The sky… split open…"

"This can't be real…."

Everyone stared blankly at the sky, trembling with shock.

Some turned to the tall figure standing at the shelter's entrance, back to them, bathed in sunlight — they gazed upon him as if he were a god, eyes filled with reverence and awe.

To kill a monster even S-class heroes struggled against — with just one strike… such power… is simply overwhelming!

Luo En glanced at Genos behind him: "The rest is up to you."

With that, in front of everyone's eyes, his figure vanished instantly.

The Unlicensed Knight stood outside the shelter, pushing his bicycle, staring blankly at the spot where he had disappeared.

"Who exactly… was that man?"

…

Soon.

What happened in J City spread through every media outlet.

【HEADLINE! Monster that destroyed J City eliminated!】

【Mysterious powerhouse appears in J City — defeats monster even S-class heroes couldn't handle… with one strike!】

【Mysterious youth who isn't a hero — who is he?!】

【Stronger than S-class heroes…】

…

A mysterious youth, stronger than S-class heroes, not a hero, unknown identity, appearance rivaling 'Sweet Mask'…

Any one of these alone would draw attention — let alone all combined.

In an instant.

Online and offline, everyone was talking about the mysterious youth.

Even the activities of S-class heroes and the new single and concert of A-class No. 1 'Sweet Mask' were completely drowned out by the events in J City.

…………

Yet this frenzy had zero impact on Luo En's life.

In Gokuu's house, in the uninhabited area of Z City.

Luo En was playing a game with Gokuu.

Gokuu gripped his controller and said: "Luo En, you're so popular now — your face is everywhere online and on TV. I heard lots of people became your fans and even formed a fan club. That's great… I'm a little jealous."

Luo En bit his straw, gripping his controller, watching the screen: "I don't care about any of that."

Gokuu scratched his butt: "I've defeated plenty of strong monsters — why don't I get treatment like yours? Is it because of my hair?"

"Maybe. But I think the main reason is no one knows you're the one who defeated those monsters."

Gokuu blinked: "... Huh? Is that so?"

Luo En sipped his iced cola through the straw: "Where's Genos?"

"The Hero Association called him over — probably something's come up."

…………

Hero Association headquarters in A City.

Genos and the Unlicensed Knight, both present at the scene, had been summoned here.

When Genos and the Unlicensed Knight arrived, they found Golden Ball, Spring Hu Zi, and Sweet Mask — A-class No. 1 — already present.

Sweet Mask sat in a chair, looked at him and smiled. "Yo, Genos, we meet again."

But the next second, the smile vanished from his face. He stared at Genos with an icy expression and said, "An S-Class hero actually getting beaten by some measly monster — how embarrassing is that? You should still remember what I told you last time, right? If this is all the strength you've got, you might as well step down from the S-Class hero position sooner rather than later."

"You can come try it yourself, and also…"

Genos glanced at him and said coolly, "I didn't lose."

Sweet Mask's eyes narrowed slightly.

The two locked gazes, and between their eyes seemed to flash the gleam of blades.

A nearby Licenseless Rider watched the two of them with a terrible atmosphere between them, at a loss for what to do.

Golden Ball, chewing gum, spoke up and asked, "By the way, what did you call us here for today?"

Spring Mustachio stroked his beard. "No idea."

"And here you are calling yourselves A-Class heroes — you can't even figure that out?"

All of them looked toward Sweet Mask.

Sweet Mask, arms folded as he sat in his chair, said coolly, "Of course it's for that guy."

"That guy?"

Golden Ball was taken aback.

Spring Mustachio caught on. "You mean that mysterious powerhouse who showed up in J-City?"

"Exactly."

A voice came from outside the door, and then two executives from the Hero Association walked into the room.

A young executive wearing glasses, and a middle-aged executive with a mustache.

The young executive pushed up his glasses, looked at the people inside and said, "We called you all here this time to find out the identity of that mysterious powerhouse."

Genos's eyes flickered slightly at the words.

And that little scene was taken in by Sweet Mask beside him.

After Licenseless Rider described the build and appearance of the mysterious young man he had seen in front of the shelter that day.

Spring Mustachio nodded.

"That's right, he's the one who saved me from the monster in Z-City that day."

After hearing his definite answer.

Sweet Mask's eyes narrowed slightly.

The two executives exchanged a glance.

The middle-aged executive nodded and said, "Looks like it's just as we suspected — the mysterious person who appeared in J-City this time is the same one who had been showing up in the Z-City wasteland before."

The Z-City wasteland…