"Bang!"
With a dull thud, that stone spike crumbled beneath Saitama's foot like a brittle cookie. Starting from the tip, it shattered segment by segment, until it was stomped into nothing but a pile of rubble!
The mysterious man's chanting cut off abruptly. Under his hood, his face was filled with shock. His earth-spike spell wasn't top-tier magic, but it definitely wasn't something someone could just crush underfoot!
After smashing the spike, Saitama didn't even pause. He kept walking toward the mysterious man. He didn't look fast, but in just a few steps he crossed most of the exhibition hall and arrived right in front of him.
Only then did the mysterious man snap out of his daze. Feeling that plain, unremarkable presence on Saitama alarm bells blared in his mind. He hurriedly raised his staff again, trying to cast a stronger offensive spell or a defensive ward.
But Saitama didn't give him the chance.
Just as the mysterious man opened his mouth, before the second spell's next syllable could even come out, Saitama's fist lightly pressed into his abdomen.
"Ugh!"
The mysterious man felt an indescribable force slam into him, as if his organs had all shifted out of place. His vision went black. Every remaining syllable was choked off in his throat. His body curled like a cooked shrimp, then went limp and toppled over. The staff clattered to the floor with a loud "clang," and the blue gemstone's glow dimmed at once. He passed out on the spot.
From the moment the mysterious man appeared to the moment he was knocked out, the entire process took less than ten seconds.
Saitama dusted off his hands and said to Genos, who had just walked over, "Alright. That should do it. We can go now, right?"
Genos looked at the unconscious mysterious man and the fallen staff, then at the spike Saitama had stomped to pieces, and nodded solemnly. "Yes, Sensei. The threat has been eliminated. I'll notify the relevant departments to handle this mysterious man and his staff. I've already fully recorded the curse-sigil patterns inside the stone man. Once we return, I can study them in detail."
He put away the scanning equipment, then gave Saitama a slight bow. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Sensei. We can go to the sushi place now."
"Yes! Hurry, hurry!" Saitama finally smiled, and couldn't wait to head out of the museum. To him, stone men, curse sigils, and mysterious mages were just a minor detour on the way to dinner—nothing compared to the very real importance of sushi that was about to hit his stomach.
Genos followed behind, watching his teacher's back, light flickering in his electronic eyes. Every time he accompanied Sensei, he witnessed power that couldn't be explained by common sense, and it only strengthened his pursuit of "strength." At the same time, he silently resolved that next time he treated Sensei to a meal, he had to choose somewhere safer—somewhere less likely to have trouble… though that seemed difficult.
The afternoon sunlight lazily spilled over New York's streets, draping towering glass curtain walls and old brick buildings in a warm golden coat. Saitama had just wandered out of a free natural history museum, a faint, barely-there sense of satisfaction on his face. The dinosaur skeletons inside were huge, but they didn't look all that sturdy. In his head, he casually compared them to monsters he'd punched before and concluded it was about the same anyway—either way, it'd be one punch.
Just as he was pondering whether to eat discounted beef tonight or try a new flavor of cup noodles, a shriek suddenly slashed through the calm like a blade. It came from the street corner ahead, accompanied by the thunderous crash of a wall collapsing. Dust billowed, and rubble sprayed outward.
(End of Chapter)
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