Legacy of the Dark Continent

[Fetal Stirring]

Netero let out a long breath aboard the airship, just about to speak--

The mountain in the distance suddenly trembled.

It was not collapsing. Something deeper was awakening.

"Crack."

Dark purple liquid seeped from the fissures embedded in the mountain. It was not blood, but some even more ancient substance, carrying the mixed scent of humus and sulfur.

Netero's face went deathly pale.

He had lived for over a century and traveled to the edges of the Dark Continent. He recognized that scent.

"Something's wrong..." he murmured. "Aren't Chimera Ants a B-class disaster? Why does it smell like... that thing?"

Zeno felt it, too. It was an instinctive fear originating from the depths of his genes, as if a rabbit had encountered a Tyrannosaurus rex, freezing even the thought of escape.

The mountain exploded.

But what emerged was no longer the "Ant King."

It was a creature over five meters tall. Ancient, constantly shifting runes covered its dark purple skin. The butterfly wings on its back had turned pitch-black, their edges not crackling with electricity but trailing some pitch-black tentacles that devoured light. The horn on its head had vanished, replaced by three compound eyes embedded in its forehead, each reflecting a different starry sky.

Most terrifying of all was its aura.

The former Ant King had been a "powerful life-form."

Now, he was a "walking disaster."

The native bloodline of the Dark Continent had completely awakened under the ultimate stimulation of approaching death. Before the Chimera Ant Queen died, she had carved one final command into his genes: when faced with an enemy he could not defeat, awaken the power from his homeland.

Saitama stopped and turned around.

He looked at the dark purple figure and rubbed his chin.

"Oh?"

The Ant King--no, he should now be