Chapter 402

"Tatsumaki, the world's strongest esper—I've long wanted to try my hand against you."

Strands of hair drifting, eyes crackling with sizzling currents of electricity, Psykos stared at the Tatsumaki before her, her fighting spirit at a boil.

She thrust out a hand, her esper power erupting, a powerful gravity pressing down on Tatsumaki's body.

It made the air around her subtly warp.

But Tatsumaki remained utterly unmoved.

Psykos's eyes widened slightly. "Nani!"

Tatsumaki gazed at Psykos before her as if looking at an ant, calm with a trace of mockery: "You think a level like this is enough to beat me?"

"Are you joking? Dairy cow."

Her entire body's esper power exploded.

Psykos's body was forcibly bound, as if tied up with a rope, swung around in a circle, and then slammed violently toward the arena floor.

Bang!

Although Psykos broke free of her restraints at the very instant before she was about to smash into the arena floor, that searing humiliation still made the veins on her forehead bulge, her eyes glowing white, her entire body's esper power going into complete rampage—whipping the earth like lightning, sending all the rubble around her and the distant hills floating up into the air.

"Damned… little runt!"

She suddenly raised her hand toward Tatsumaki in the air, and a fierce beam of energy shot toward Tatsumaki.

Tatsumaki raised a hand to block it.

The energy beam split into countless shells that sprayed in all directions, exploding violently across the arena floor and in the surrounding air—booming without pause for a moment, each light shell's power enough to level an entire building,

The two continued to clash with their esper powers.

Gravity, warping force, rocks, energy—any of it could become a weapon in their hands.

On top of that, since both could fly, there was no problem of being knocked off the arena; the only options were defeat or death, so their esper battle was countless times more intense than before.

Both the monster faction and the hero faction below the arena had no choice but to retreat a hundred meters to avoid being caught up in the aftershock of those two's battle.

Along with the booming, for a moment the wind howled, the surging currents of air in the atmosphere rolling out toward the four directions beyond the arena.

A tentacle appeared at some unknown moment beneath Garou, who was watching the battle, and before he could react, it yanked him down into the depths of the earth.

By the time he saw light again,

before his eyes was a massive body covered in countless tentacles, radiating a terrifying aura.

In the face of that presence, even the proud and arrogant Garou was shaken, feeling a trace of… fear.

"My name is Orochi… I am the leader of those monsters. Garou, you possess the talent to become a monster."

The Monster King Orochi spoke, and tossed a monster cell in front of Garou.

"Eat this monster cell, become a monster, and you will possess a powerful strength that surpasses your current self."

"Become… a monster."

Garou stared at the pulsing monster cell before him, recalling those powerful monsters on the arena fighting the heroes, and his eyes shifted slightly.

"Eat it, become one of us, and then… defeat the heroes."

"Defeat… the heroes…"

The Monster King Orochi's beguiling voice echoed in Garou's mind, making his eyes grow slightly fanatical; he bent down almost involuntarily and seized that monster cell, which pulsed like a heart.

Then… he bit down.

Immediately after, a beast-like howl rose from deep beneath the earth.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

……

Above the surface.

Psykos had her body warped by Tatsumaki's esper power, hanging upside down in the air.

"Do you surrender?"

"I—I surrender."

After experiencing Tatsumaki's unmatched might, Psykos chose to surrender in despair.

Tatsumaki glanced at those enormous headlights of hers, narrowing her eyes in displeasure.

"I really should just kill her."

At a thought, the esper power pressing on Psykos intensified once more, and her body began to warp in one direction.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Psykos screamed out in agony.

"I was wrong, spare me, spare me!"

Just as she was about to be twisted into a pretzel before their very eyes,

Fubuki underground could sit still no longer.

"Sister, wait."

"Hm?"

Tatsumaki cast her a questioning look.

Fubuki hurriedly said: "She's a friend I knew from before. I don't know how she became a monster, but…"

She hadn't even finished speaking.

A beam of black light shot out from beneath the earth, its target Tatsumaki on the arena.

Tatsumaki's eyes narrowed; she used her esper power to block the strike, but the force binding Psykos loosened, letting her break free and escape at once.

Psykos swiftly retreated to the monster side, still shaken.

"Tenth match, the hero side wins."

Luo En said, his heterochromatic gold-and-blue eyes turning toward the deep pit in the earth, somewhat displeased. "I said—no one is to interfere with the matches."

A flash of brilliant blue divine light shot through his eyes.

Immediately after.

The earth roared and trembled, splitting open on either side from the hole.

From within emerged a monstrous figure, Wang Dashe, over twenty meters tall, its body covered in tentacles.

The heroes stared at it, eyes wide.

Could the Monster Association really have such a terrifying existence?!

"This guy… must be their leader."

Metal Bat, shouldering his bat, fixed his gaze on Dashe.

"This guy's trouble."

He didn't need to say it—everyone else could feel Dashe's immense power.

"Sykes has already surrendered. Isn't it within the rules for me to act now?"

Monster Wang Dashe looked toward Luo En in the sky.

Its voice carried spiritual intimidation and corruption; Longzhuan sensed this at once and deployed a spiritual defense barrier, shielding Chuixue and the heroes.

Luo En chuckled lightly: "Whether it breaks the rules is up to me—not you."

As his words fell.

He appeared instantly before the monster faction and unleashed a punch wrapped in the highest-grade Armament Haki.

The air shattered like a single pane of glass.

The atmosphere violently shook.

Sensing the overwhelming danger at once, the Wandering Emperor and other monsters fled without hesitation, scattering in all directions.

The instant he departed.

Boom—boom—boom!

The earth heaved like a great earth ox turning over, trembling violently.

Massive fissures spread relentlessly forward, the ground utterly shattered apart!

Looking on from hundreds of meters away, the Wandering Emperor's pupils shrank sharply.

Just one punch?

What level of destructive power is this?

Facing the air cannon of that punch, Monster Wang Dashe raised hundreds of tentacles, opened them, gathered energy, then fired them all at once.

The air cannon from the punch collided with the energy beams shot by Monster Wang Dashe.

Heaven and earth fell silent for a moment.

Then—