Deep-Sea Invader

Disaster Level: Wolf—Deep-Sea Invader!

"Ants, this is your final ultimatum!"

"We are the vanguard of the Deep-Sea Overlord!"

"Surrender the land! You are fit only to become—"

The shriek of the Vibranium Shield slicing through the air cut off the declaration. Spinning like a blade, the shield split the monster cleanly from head to toe. Amid spurting dark green blood and a bone-chilling hiss, the massive creature crashed to the ground.

The shield traced a perfect arc and returned to its owner's hand.

"Tell me this is an illusion... After being frozen for seventy years, Earth has seafood monsters now?"

Captain America gripped his shield tightly, his brow furrowed.

"They're newly emerged mutants. They've only become active over the past month."

Hawkeye Barton vaulted over an obstacle, taking down another monster with an unerring arrow. His arrows were indeed lethal against low-level mutants, but everyone knew—the more terrifying enemy was still ahead.

"Prepare for battle. This is the Avengers' debut."

Black Widow held two pistols in a reverse grip, her slender figure especially striking amid the smoke.

"Doctor, it's up to you."

"I... will try to keep it under control."

Dr. Banner's skin began to take on an unnatural green hue, his muscle fibers writhing and swelling like living things.

His clothes burst apart one after another, turning into scraps that filled the air, leaving only those astonishingly elastic black briefs.

The strongest Avenger—Hulk!

"Roar!"

With a thunderous roar, Hulk crashed into the surging tide of the Deep-Sea Clan like a meteor.

Wherever his fists swept, everything crumbled. He tore giant monsters apart as easily as waste paper.

"Move!"

Captain America tightened his grip on the shield and growled at his comrades behind him.

Falcon's metallic wings and War Machine's Mark II armor roared to life at the same time, tearing through the smoke.

This was merely a vanguard assault—expecting a handful of people to wipe out hundreds of thousands of Deep-Sea Clan members? Absurd.

The military's main force was still assembling. The Avengers' deployment was really an attempt to win public support before the Hero Association.

"Heroes..."

A lone wolf in white pants stood amid the ruins.

A yellow belt fluttered at his waist, and his white hair pointed toward the sky like blades.

His calm pupils suddenly contracted, and savage ferocity flashed within them.

Staring at the charging Avengers, Garou ran his tongue over his canine teeth.

"Sorry, everyone—"

An afterimage flashed, and the fist of a Demon-level Disaster was already smashing toward Hawkeye's face!

"The game begins!"

Barton retreated violently as the brick wall exploded.

"Argh!"

Blood and fragments of internal organs sprayed out—five ribs had suffered comminuted fractures, yet the agent's tough physique allowed him to keep hold of his bow.

"Garou! Have you lost your mind?!"

"Lost my mind?" The white-haired demon tilted his head and grinned viciously. "I'm clearer-headed than ever."

His iron fists creaked:

"So-called heroes... are nothing but packaged fakes."

"Why must evil fail? Why must justice always win?"

He wanted to tear apart this false order and create a true world where the strong preyed upon the weak.

The disguise he had maintained for days fell away at last—and the first target was that star-spangled shield.

Thirty-Two

Hawkeye Barton stared at Garou before him. A dense aura of evil churned around Garou's body.

This was absolutely not the vicious aura an ordinary human could emit. He was more like a demon crawling out of hell, with twisted flames flickering even within his pupils.

"The evil flowing in your bones... is actually this pure!" Barton's knuckles turned white, and the feathers in his quiver trembled. "I absolutely can't let you leave here today."

The instant the metal arrowhead tore through the air, Garou's neck suddenly bent at a bizarre forty-five-degree angle. The arrow shaft brushed past the loose hairs by his ear and plunged into the darkness, carving jagged cracks into the concrete wall.

"Never miss?" Garou wiped the line of blood from his cheekbone with his fingertip, then licked the scarlet from it. "Looks like that myth should—"

Barton's pupils suddenly constricted.

The arrow that should have fallen to the ground ricocheted between the ventilation ducts, rebounding toward Garou's neck like a bloodthirsty swarm of bees. When the cold metallic glint was only inches from his artery, Garou's head suddenly swerved at an angle that defied human anatomy. In the end, the arrowhead only cut off a few strands of silver-gray hair.

"A ricochet trick..." Garou crushed the scab on his lips with his canine teeth. "Using it with arrows is something new."

"The next arrow will nail itself straight into your cerebellum." Barton's greaves crushed the rubble beneath his feet as three carbon-fiber arrows were set on the bowstring at once. "Triple Star Shot!"

The moment the arrows left the string, they split into nine afterimages. Three real arrows continually collided and changed course in flight. As the first arrow grazed Garou's collarbone, the other two had already sealed off every route of escape—one aimed at his temple, the other directly at his heart.

Garou's gaze burned as he watched the arrows darting and bouncing through the air. With a slight tremble of his body, he evaded every one of them.

He caught the final unavoidable arrow with one hand and crushed its remaining force to pieces.

"This guy's strength... is terrifying..."

Cold sweat seeped down Hawkeye Barton's forehead as he thought to himself.

If long-range attacks were useless, close combat offered even less chance of victory—even though he was skilled in fighting techniques.

But Garou was most famous for his peerless Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. Before that storm-like barrage of fists, any fighting technique was nothing more than child's play.

"My visual nerves have adapted." Garou casually tossed aside the broken arrow, his tone bored. "I've already figured out all your moves. Don't embarrass yourself with those street tricks."

"Bzz—"

The Vibranium Shield screamed through the air.

Garou's arms instantly became surging currents. With a precise strike to the shield's edge, he not only deflected all its impact but also sent it flying dozens of meters away.

Not far away, the Star-Spangled Warrior and Black Widow noticed something was wrong and simultaneously abandoned their opponents to rush over.

Who would have thought that this martial arts master would suddenly turn against them and launch such a ruthless attack on Hawkeye?

"Perfect timing." Garou loosened his muscles, battle intent boiling over. "I'll clean up all three of you at once."

"Garou, whatever conflict there is, we can—"

Boom!

Before the Star-Spangled Warrior could finish trying to reason with him, Garou lunged like a cheetah, his murderous fist driving straight for his face.

Had the Vibranium Shield not protected the vital spot in time, that strike would have been fatal.

Even so, the unending hidden force on the shield's surface left the Star-Spangled Warrior's hand numb.

"Tch, that turtle shell is tough."

"Captain, he's radiating pure evil!"

"So all that meekness before was an act..."

Black Widow snapped out a high-voltage electric whip in warning. "Getting tangled up with a martial arts master at close range is not a wise choice."

"There's no way back now." Hawkeye gripped his broken bow and said heavily, "My archery is completely ineffective against him."

Ordinary monsters merely relied on brute strength to charge around wildly, as savage as Green Sorrow.

But Garou was completely different—he had perfectly fused the supreme martial art Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist with the art of killing. He was the pinnacle of humanoid weaponry.

This is what you requested.

Sixty-Three

"The situation is bad. The three over there can't hold back the Deep-Sea Clan."

"Go all out and take down Garou as quickly as possible."

"I'll provide as much long-range support as I can, but fear tactics may not work anymore."

"..."

The three of them openly discussed their battle plan as though Garou were not even there.

That attitude thoroughly enraged Garou. He was clearly stronger, yet these people acted as if victory were already assured.

"What are you whispering about?" The evil aura around Garou surged, bringing him ever closer to a monster-like form. "Who told you this was all my strength? I've only used fifty percent of my power!"

"Boom—"

His heavy fist slammed into the ground, instantly cracking the earth apart.

Spiderweb-like fissures rapidly spread, and the shockwave sent Captain America flying several meters away.

The impact from below could not be blocked with a shield at all.

"Huff... huff..."

Captain America struggled to his feet, clutching the Vibranium Shield as he gasped for breath.

Even after being enhanced by the Super-Soldier Serum and possessing the physique of a peak human, he showed signs of fatigue after only a brief exchange with Garou. Every defense consumed a tremendous amount of stamina.

Hawkeye Barton and Black Widow were already badly wounded and unconscious on the ground.

Garou had not dealt a killing blow, merely rendered them completely unable to move.

"I can do this all day."

"All day? Taking shockwave damage nonstop, even if that special shield offsets part of the impact, it can't feel good."

Garou remained vigilant and did not relax just because his opponent was exhausted.

The impact of every collision was like a raging current. Even when blocked by the Vibranium Shield, the relentless vibrations continued battering Captain America's wrists.

"I'll make you lie down too soon enough."

Garou's eyes were bloodshot as he grinned viciously.

The more heroes he defeated, the more he could feel his strength growing as he evolved toward becoming a monster. As long as he defeated Captain America before him, his strength could advance from the initial stage of Demon Level to the intermediate stage.

"Garou!!!"

Hulk abandoned the Deep-Sea Clan members he was fighting and charged toward Garou's battlefield like a heavy tank.

Among the Avengers, the child-minded Hulk cared only about Black Widow.

When he saw Black Widow unconscious, his fury continued rising, and his strength surged with it.

"Hulk? I'll take you down too!"

"Hulk crush you!"

The childlike Hulk suddenly threw a punch. The force of it tore through the air with a piercing sonic boom.

Although Garou used the force-deflecting principles of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, he felt overwhelming power the instant they made contact. Even after dissipating ninety-five percent of the impact, the remaining five percent still blasted him dozens of meters away and sent him crashing heavily into a pile of rubble.

Among the entire Avengers, only Hulk made Garou focus completely. Captain America, Hawkeye Barton, and Black Widow were merely small fry he could easily crush; even Falcon and War Machine with their high-tech equipment were only slightly more troublesome.

"Cough—"

Garou struggled out of the ruins, bleeding from all seven orifices. Scarlet seeped from his forehead, nostrils, and mouth. Though he had only taken five percent of the damage, this body was already nearing its limit, and the bones in his arms were almost broken.

Faced with Hulk's world-destroying strength, Garou's heart surged with shock—such monstrous force had simply surpassed human limits. Yet compared with Garou's shock, Captain America Steve Rogers sensed an even deeper crisis.

Although Garou was undoubtedly human, when Steve stared into those savage eyes, an intuition arose that he had to end Garou here. There was nothing in that man's presence except pure desire to kill.

He had to be eliminated before the disaster spread!

"Hulk, we need to work together!"

"Hulk tear him apart alone!"

With an ear-splitting roar, Hulk charged forward, swinging wild, unstructured heavy fists. He completely ignored the captain's proposal for cooperation, determined to personally punish the culprit who had hurt Black Widow.

"Honestly, your exaggerated strength is indeed impressive."

"As your anger grows, your destructive power keeps increasing too, doesn't it?"

"But unfortunately—" Garou wiped the blood from his lips, a crafty gleam flashing in his eyes. "In the realm of fighting skill and speed, I am the ruler, idiot!"

After seeing through Hulk's fatal weakness, Garou completely abandoned any strategy of meeting strength with strength. He moved like a ghost through the violent gusts from Hulk's fists, targeting only joints and vital points. The tactic worked immediately—no matter how great the power, it meant nothing if it could not hit.

However, Hulk's almost freakish defense meant that even after taking repeated hits to his weak points, he remained full of vitality.