Deep-Sea Invader

Disaster Level: Wolf—Deep-Sea Invader!

"Ants, this is your final warning!"

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

"Hand over the land! You are only fit to become—"

The Vibranium Shield's shriek as it tore through the air cut off the declaration. Spinning like a blade, the shield cleaved the monster in two from head to toe. Amid gushing dark-green blood and a bone-chilling screech, 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 had seafood monsters spring up?"

Captain America gripped his shield tightly, his brows deeply furrowed.

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

Hawkeye Barton vaulted over an obstacle, taking down another monster with an unfailing shot. His arrows were indeed lethal against low-level mutants, but everyone knew—the more terrifying enemies were still behind them.

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

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

"Doctor, it's up to you."

"I... I'll try to control it."

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 sky. Only those incredibly elastic black briefs ** remained.

The strongest Avenger—Hulk!

"Roar!"

Amid the earth-shaking roar, Hulk fell like a meteor into the surging tide of the Deep-Sea Clan.

Wherever his fists swept, everything was crushed. He tore apart giant monsters as if ripping up waste paper.

"Move!"

Captain America clenched his shield and shouted lowly to his comrades behind him.

Falcon's metal wings and War Machine's Mark II armor roared to life at the same time, slicing 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 gathering. The Avengers' sortie was, in truth, meant to win public support ahead of the Hero Association.

"Heroes..."

A lone wolf in **white pants stood amid the ruins.

A yellow belt drifted around his waist, and 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 licked his canine teeth.

"Sorry, everyone—"

An afterimage flashed, and a Demon Level fist was already smashing toward Hawkeye's face!

"The game begins!"

Barton shot backward as the brick wall exploded.

"Gah!"

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

"Garou! Have you gone insane?!"

"Insane?" 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 ** always fail? Why does 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 that moment—and the first target was that star-spangled shield.

Thirty-Two

Hawkeye Barton stared at Garou before him. Dense ** energy churned around the man's body.

This was not the malice an ordinary human could emit. He was more like a demon that had crawled out of hell, with twisted flames dancing even in 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 this place 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 grazed the broken strands near 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 fingertips, then licked the crimson from them. "Looks like the myth should—"

Barton's pupils abruptly shrank.

The arrow that should have fallen to the ground ricocheted through the ventilation ducts, leaping and rebounding as it shot toward the back of Garou's neck like a swarm of bloodthirsty bees. When the cold metallic gleam was only inches from his artery, Garou's head suddenly dodged sideways at an angle that defied human anatomy. In the end, the arrowhead only severed a few strands of silver-gray hair.

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

"The next arrow will pin your cerebellum directly." Barton's greaves crushed the rubble beneath his feet as three carbon-fiber arrows were nocked at once. "Three-Star **!"

The moment the arrows left the string, they split into nine afterimages, with three real arrows continuously colliding and changing direction midair. 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 racing and leaping through the air. With a slight tremble of his body, he evaded every one of them.

The final arrow, impossible to avoid, was caught in his bare hand and crushed along with its remaining force.

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

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

If ranged attacks were ineffective, close-quarters combat would offer even less chance of victory—despite his mastery of fighting techniques.

But Garou was most famous for his peerless Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist. Before that storm-like barrage of punches, any fighting technique was nothing more than a joke.

"My visual nerves have already adapted." Garou casually tossed aside the broken arrow and said listlessly, "I've figured out all your moves. Don't embarrass yourself with that street-fighting garbage."

"Bzzzt—"

The Vibranium Shield howled through the air.

Garou's arms instantly transformed into rushing currents. Striking the shield's edge at an exquisite angle, he not only dispersed all of its impact but also sent it flying dozens of meters away.

The star-spangled warrior and the black rose in the distance noticed something was wrong and immediately abandoned their opponents, rushing over together.

Who could have expected this martial arts master to suddenly turn against them and strike Hawkeye so viciously?

"Perfect." Garou stretched his body, battle intent boiling over. "I might as well deal with 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 heavy fist shooting straight for his face.

If the Vibranium Shield had not protected the vital point in time, that blow would have been fatal.

Even so, the successive hidden force rippling across the shield made the star-spangled warrior's hand go numb.

"Tch, that turtle shell is tough."

"Captain, he's giving off pure **!"

"So his previous obedience was all an act..."

The black rose snapped out a high-voltage electric whip in warning. "Getting entangled with a martial arts master at close range is far from wise."

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

Ordinary monsters merely relied on brute force and charged about wildly, like Green Sorrow.

But Garou was entirely 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 weapons.

This is what you requested.

Sixty-Three

"This is bad. Three people aren't enough to hold back the Deep-Sea Clan."

"Attack with everything we have. Take Garou down as soon as possible."

"I'll provide remote support as best I can, but fear tactics may be ineffective now."

"..."

The three of them openly discussed their battle plan without caring that Garou was right there.

That attitude completely enraged Garou. He was clearly stronger, yet these people acted as if victory was already theirs.

"What are you muttering about?" The evil energy around Garou surged, and he drew even closer to a monster-like form. "Who told you this is all my strength? I've only used fifty percent of my power!"

"Boom—"

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

Web-like fractures rapidly spread out, and the shockwave blasted Captain America several meters away.

The impact coming from beneath his feet 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 air.

Even after being enhanced by the Super-Soldier Serum and possessing peak human physical abilities, he showed signs of exhaustion after his brief clash with Garou. Every defense consumed a tremendous amount of stamina.

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

Garou had not dealt a ** blow; he had merely rendered them completely unable to move.

"I can do this all day."

"All day? After continuously enduring shockwave damage, even if that special shield cancels out some of the impact, it can't feel good, can it?"

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

The force of every collision was like a raging current. Even when blocked by the Vibranium Shield, the unending vibrations continued to batter Captain America's wrists.

"I'll have you lying down soon enough."

Garou's eyes were bloodshot as he grinned viciously.

The more heroes he defeated, the more clearly he could feel his strength growing as he evolved toward becoming a monster. As long as he defeated Captain America before him, his strength would advance from early Demon Level to mid Demon Level.

"Garou!!!"

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

Among the Avengers, Hulk, with his childlike mind, cared only about Black Widow.

When he saw Black Widow lying unconscious, his fury kept rising, and his power surged with it.

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

"Hulk crush you!"

The childlike Hulk suddenly threw a fist, and the force of his punch tore through the air with a piercing blast.

Though Garou used the force-dispersing technique of Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, he felt an overwhelming force the instant he made contact. Even after dispersing ninety-five percent of the impact, the remaining five percent still sent him flying dozens of meters, smashing him heavily into a pile of rubble.

Within the entire Avengers, only Hulk could make Garou stay fully on guard. As for Captain America, Hawkeye Barton, and Black Widow, they were merely small fry he could easily crush; even Falcon and War Machine, equipped with advanced technology, were only slightly more troublesome.

"Cough—"

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

Facing Hulk's world-destroying strength, Garou's heart churned with shock—such monstrous power had simply surpassed the bounds of humanity. But compared to his shock, Captain America Steve Rogers sensed an even deeper danger.

Although Garou was undoubtedly human, the moment Steve stared into those savage eyes, an intuition rose within him that this man had to be ended here. There was nothing in this man's aura 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 a deafening roar, Hulk charged forward while wildly swinging his unstructured heavy fists. Ignoring the captain's suggestion of cooperation, he insisted on personally punishing the culprit who had hurt Black Widow.

"Honestly, that exaggerated strength of yours is impressive."

"As your anger grows, your destructive power keeps rising too, right?"

"But unfortunately—" Garou wiped the blood from his lips, a cunning glint flashing through his eyes. "In the realm of fighting skill and speed, I am the master, idiot!"

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

However, Hulk's absurd defensive power meant that even after repeatedly taking hits to his weak points, he remained as vigorous as ever.