Vaccine Man, the first monster to appear in the original "One Punch Man" series, was beaten to ashes by Saitama with a single punch. But this didn't mean Vaccine Man was weak—rather, it proved that Saitama was simply too overwhelmingly strong.
In Gustave's current perception, Vaccine Man's strength exceeded that of the complete King of Sky and Wind—and by a significant margin. He estimated this creature was roughly at the White King's level.
But this perfectly matched Gustave's requirements. Only an existence with similar or greater strength could stimulate his transformation, allowing him to cross that final threshold and officially enter the realm of immortality.
"You're quite powerful! No wonder you dare challenge me, the Son of Nature!"
Sensing Gustave's aura emanating from the Thunder Giant, Vaccine Man began spouting grandiose declarations again.
"Stop talking!"
Gustave didn't understand why Vaccine Man loved chattering so much. If he wanted to fight, just fight! Why waste breath on pointless commentary? So Gustave attacked directly.
The Thunder Giant kicked off hard, and a massive crater instantly appeared in the already fragile ground. The crater's edges were scorched black with continuous black smoke rising. This resulted from two factors: Gustave's speed was so extreme that friction ignited the air, and that single kick had leaked such tremendous power that the ground suffered a terrifying high-voltage lightning strike.
Lightning crackled across the Thunder Giant's hands as he punched Vaccine Man directly in the chest.
This punch created a gaping hole clean through Vaccine Man's body. When the Thunder Giant retracted his fist, the massive hole in Vaccine Man's torso began regenerating automatically, returning to normal within moments.
"Hahaha! You ridiculous human, do you think that can kill me?"
Vaccine Man mocked Gustave, as if laughing at him for thinking victory would be so simple.
But Gustave had never expected to kill Vaccine Man with a single punch. After all, he wasn't Saitama. While Vaccine Man was busy spouting nonsense, Gustave punched him again, then launched a continuous barrage. Vaccine Man's entire upper body was pulverized.
"He's still not dead?!"
Sensing that Vaccine Man's body was already regenerating, Gustave couldn't help but curse, then flew higher into the sky.
The Thunder Giant raised his right hand. Wind and thunder gathered above as dark clouds blanketed the entire City A. Destructive lightning jumped and crackled within the storm clouds. To properly deal with Vaccine Man, Gustave continued accumulating power.
When Gustave—whose attacks were usually instantaneous—began charging his power, it demonstrated this technique was truly terrifying.
"Hahaha! Do you think I'll let you launch that attack smoothly?"
Vaccine Man's body reorganized instantly. Sensing the tremendous oppression from the gathering storm clouds above, he knew this attack posed a genuine threat to his life.
However, Gustave couldn't understand why Vaccine Man didn't launch an immediate counterattack but instead started monologuing. Couldn't this creature stop fighting if he didn't waste breath on commentary?
BOOM!
A massive crater appeared in the ground as Vaccine Man instantly broke the sound barrier, rocketing toward Gustave.
Although the charge wasn't complete, Gustave still launched his attack.
The dark clouds in the sky suddenly vanished as all their accumulated energy concentrated into a single devastating bolt. A terrifying blue lightning strike descended toward Vaccine Man.
Facing this attack, Vaccine Man didn't slow down—he charged directly forward to meet it head-on. To withstand this assault, Vaccine Man deliberately increased his physical density and durability. He wouldn't allow Gustave to punch another hole through his body.
From a distance, Vaccine Man appeared to be bathing in thunder itself. Even though his physical resilience had increased dramatically, his outer form began melting under the violent electrical assault.
But ultimately, Vaccine Man withstood the attack and broke through the lightning, though his body had shrunk considerably and was still emitting black smoke. Although he was regenerating, his recovery speed was noticeably slower than before.
"Damn you!"
This time, Vaccine Man finally learned his lesson and stopped wasting words. He simply cursed once and charged toward Gustave, vowing to make this human who had seriously injured him pay the ultimate price.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
"What a terrifying existence. Is that Lightning Max?"
A middle-aged man wearing a straw hat with a cape behind him and two katana swords at his waist stood in the distance observing the battle. This man was the S-Class hero Atomic Samurai, who could wield blades capable of splitting atoms themselves.
"Don't be ridiculous. How could Lightning Max possess such strength? If that's Lightning Max, then who's that person lying over there?"
A man with spiky yellow hair, bulging muscles, and wearing a tank-top vest pointed at a figure with a lightning symbol on his chest lying unconscious in the distance. This yellow-haired man was none other than the S-Class hero Tank-Top Master. Admittedly, he was among the weaker S-Class heroes—after Genos joined the Hero Association, his ranking would automatically drop one place.
Although not particularly powerful compared to other S-Class heroes, Tank-Top Master's strength came entirely from his own disciplined training. He was a traditional physical fighter with a high sense of responsibility. No matter what difficulties arose, he would stand up to face them. He genuinely deserved the title of hero.
"Oh, that's definitely not Lightning Max, and I haven't seen this fighter before. He appears to be a new hero. Has he registered with the Hero Association?"
Atomic Samurai confirmed after verifying that the person lying nearby was indeed Lightning Max.
"Atomic Samurai, the individual currently fighting the monster is not registered with the Hero Association. We have no information about his identity."
At that moment, a Hero Association staff member spoke through their communications device.
"It looks like the Hero Association will have another powerful S-Class hero in the near future," Tank-Top Master observed.
Of course, Tank-Top Master had also heard what the Hero Association staff just said. He believed that after this battle concluded, Gustave would definitely join the Hero Association, and with the strength Gustave was currently displaying, he would certainly be ranked S-Class—possibly even higher.
"Should we go provide support for that new hero?"
Atomic Samurai suddenly suggested.
"I'd like to provide support, but it seems we don't currently possess the capability to do so," Tank-Top Master said helplessly, watching as Gustave and Vaccine Man's battle ascended higher and higher into the sky.
Tank-Top Master and Atomic Samurai couldn't fly, so the two could only stand on the ground watching. This incident demonstrated just how important flight capabilities were in combat. Beyond being able to attack enemies from all directions, even during traffic jams, those who could fly could take convenient shortcuts.
The Hero Association did possess flying equipment, such as rocket backpacks. Although rare, there were enough for S-Class heroes to use.
But the biggest problem was that the flying equipment manufactured by the Hero Association couldn't withstand fierce combat situations.
If Atomic Samurai and Tank-Top Master each equipped rocket backpacks and flew into the combat zone, they could be shot down by Vaccine Man within moments. In that scenario, it would be better not to use rocket backpacks at all—they would only become burdens.
Therefore, the first two S-Class heroes to arrive at the scene could only stand on the ground and observe.
On the rooftop of a building more than ten kilometers away from Tank-Top Master and Atomic Samurai, Saitama shielded his eyes from the sun and also watched the battle between Gustave and Vaccine Man:
"How did those two get so high in the sky? Not being able to fly is really inconvenient."
With Saitama's terrifying jumping ability, whether he could fly didn't particularly matter to him in most situations, but at this moment he was thinking:
'With Gustave's strength, dealing with that monster shouldn't be a problem. I'll just sit here and watch.'
So Saitama sat down to observe the aerial battle unfolding above.
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