Chapter 108: Exploded
"Saitama's making a break for it."
King personally watched Saitama defeat Marugori with one punch. Just as he was marveling at Saitama's immense strength, he suddenly noticed that after killing the giant, Saitama didn't pause at all. After finding the direction of Z City, he moved his two legs and quickly began to run, charging towards his humble abode.
"System, use a Starless Card to perform a mirror copy of Saitama."
His spirits lifted, as if he saw the beautiful scene of adding Saitama's character card to his collection.
"With Saitama's card in hand, I can go anywhere in the world! Tatsumaki will be a mere vegetable, Silverfang will have to pull out his teeth and surrender, Metal Knight will be nothing but scrap metal, and Atomic Samurai will only be fit for peeling melons, chopping vegetables, and slicing apples..."
"Ding, mirror copy target captured..."
"Starless Card analyzing and fusing target power..."
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
"Shasha... Ding... Kaka... Gaga... Crash... Clatter..."
King was still fantasizing about holding Saitama's character card and sweeping across all directions when the System suddenly emitted bursts of hissing and all kinds of strange noises, as if it were malfunctioning and had developed a fault.
He asked with slight concern, "Hey, System, what's with these chaotic sounds? Are you okay?"
However, the System didn't respond.
"Buzz... Klick... Tap-tap..."
Inexplicable sounds continued to ring out.
He asked again, unwilling to give up, "Hey, System, is this the sound of a Starless Card fusing with the target's power?"
But the System still didn't answer him, making his heart sink, with a vague feeling that something was wrong.
"Clatter... Rattle... Ding-dong..."
The static became increasingly frequent and rapid, like a heavily burdened machine operating at extreme speed, at risk of breaking down at any moment.
"Hey System, answer me!"
King's ominous feeling intensified. This situation had never occurred before, and the inexplicable circumstances made him uneasy. He continuously questioned the System, trying to ascertain what exactly was happening.
"Boom!"
However, his questioning was only met with a muffled thunder-like explosion in his mind, as if someone had detonated a bomb in his brain. His brain buzzed, went blank in an instant, and he was completely dumbfounded as a persistent ringing in his ears began.
"Ding, the mirror copy target's power exceeds the System's control range, the Starless Card could not withstand the explosion!"
"Ding, System self-check has discovered multiple dangerous loopholes. After a three-second countdown, entering self-repair program. During the System's self-repair period, it will temporarily shut down, and all functions will be halted."
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
"Ding, self-repair program started, the System enters hibernation!"
Before King could fully recover from the booming in his brain, the System had already quickly and smoothly entered hibernation, not giving him a single chance to protest.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
He finally recovered from his dumbfounded state, only to instantly become dumbfounded again upon realizing the System was in hibernation.
With the System shut down, all functions were halted, including Card collection, Card attachment, and all the skills he had comprehended from the Card characters, making them entirely unusable.
In other words, in an instant, he had returned to his pre-System state, once again becoming a powerless... otaku?
Whoosh!
Due to the disabling of his Card skills, he quickly descended from the sky. Fortunately, the System didn't let him fall straight down; otherwise, with his physique, he would surely have been smashed into a pulp.
Clatter!
Due to the rapid descent, he landed somewhat disheveled. His feet touched the ground, and he stumbled, nearly falling, his clothes slightly disarrayed.
However, these were all minor matters. The most important thing was that he looked at the giant in the distance with a "skyscraper" on its head, and his heart was filled with grief. He had watched a Demon-level or even Dragon-level disaster-class Mysterious Being die in front of him, yet he couldn't collect its Mysterious Being Card; it was truly heartbreaking.
Of course, the System's hibernation also made his expression despondent. Without the System, he feared he would have to live with his tail between his legs. Although that had largely been the case before, he would need to be even more cautious now. After all, at this moment, he truly had no power to fight back against Mysterious Beings.
"King... killed the giant?"
What King didn't know was that while he was staring at the giant, someone behind him was also watching him. After resolving the train crisis, Hellish Blizzard finally turned her attention to the giant. However, the moment she looked, the giant had already collapsed with a crash. Immediately after, she saw King descending from the sky, covered in "traces" of battle.
Her pupils contracted sharply. "King killed the giant? How much time has passed? From King rushing out of the train to defeating the giant, it probably didn't even take a minute, right? He's so strong! The giant was so powerful, yet he easily dealt with it. Is this the power of the Strongest Man on Earth? Is this the... target my older sister wants to challenge? He's truly formidable!"
"Wait a minute, why... why can't I see any joy of victory on his face? Why is he so sad even though he clearly eliminated the giant?"
Hellish Blizzard perplexedly discovered that King showed no trace of the joy a victor should possess; instead, his expression was abnormally filled with grief.
What is King grieving about?
She followed King's gaze and looked at the scarred City B. Within a hundred-mile radius, there wasn't a single intact building, nor any signs of life. City B would never recover its former prosperity.
"Is King grieving for the destruction of City B?"
A startling thought rose in her heart. "King is actually so sentimental that he would grieve for the deceased? Shouldn't a strong person like him have a heart of stone? Just like my older sister, indifferent to matters not concerning herself, even if the sky fell and the earth crumbled."
On a stone slab, Silverfang, silver-haired and white-bearded, his face slightly aged and his back hunched, looked at King with satisfaction. "He clearly possesses superhuman strength, yet his entire being appears like a lump of dough, soft and feeble all over. At first glance, he seems like a weakling. Very good, he lacks the overt brashness of youth. Tempered by the years, King has become like a jar of aged wine—unremarkable in appearance, but truly holding great depths within."
"Alas, what a perfect successor to my mantle! But he is already so strong, hailed as the strongest; there's no reason he would take me as his master. It truly vexes this old man!"
...
A City Hero Association Headquarters.
"Eliminated, eliminated, Director, it has been confirmed that the giant has been eliminated."
Maria enthusiastically reported to Sitch.
"Really?" Sitch was overjoyed. "Do you know who did it? Was it King? Or Silverfang?"
Maria affirmed: "It was King, I am sure that Lord King killed the giant."
"As expected, it was King? The Strongest Man on Earth!"
(end of chapter)u can see advance ch at my p@treon