As for Iron Man Tony Stark, he had never seen this coming. The Iron Legion was torn to shreds in no time by the endless wave of powerful monsters surging out from nowhere.
He himself had barely escaped with his life and was now barely hanging on.
"Jarvis, log this: the Iron Armor desperately needs heavier firepower!"
"Jarvis, log this: the Iron Armor requires extreme heat resistance. I nearly got cooked alive."
"Jarvis, log this: the Iron Armor must be protected against sonic attacks!"
"Jarvis, log this: the Iron Armor's cold resistance is still insufficient. I almost got flash-frozen just now."
While Tony rattled off instructions to Jarvis, his mind flashed back to that puny little Bean Sprout Monster. It had looked harmless, even cowardly. The moment he casually raised his repulsor to finish it off, the thing instantly generated a massive block of ice that sealed him inside. There hadn't even been time to curse how unscientific the whole thing was. If Jarvis hadn't remotely fired the heating beams from the armor's auxiliary cannons, Tony figured he would've stayed on ice until someone came to rescue him.
For the proud Tony Stark, that was utterly unforgivable.
Once Tony uploaded the data on the Bean Sprout Monster, the Divine Sword Bureau quickly made the file public across every agent's database.
"Dragon-level Monster – Bean Sprout. Capable of instantly generating ultra-low-temperature ice blocks. Upon encounter, do not hesitate—attack immediately."
Attached was the photo Tony had taken.
"Dragon-level? That tiny thing is actually Dragon-level?"
"It froze S-class hero Iron Man solid in an instant!"
"Director His has determined that the ice created by the Bean Sprout Monster is not ordinary ice and may be extremely difficult to melt."
Everyone who received the alert immediately grew cautious, no longer daring to underestimate the threat.
Everyone except a very grumpy Tony Stark.
He hadn't expected Zodhis to include the footage of him getting frozen. Intellectually, he understood why the director had done it—an S-class hero had been taken out instantly, and that would put everyone on high alert. But still… Director, sir, couldn't you have left my name out? Just say "an S-class hero was flash-frozen" or something!
That way there would've been three possible suspects, and I wouldn't have been the one everyone pointed at!
Tony grumbled internally for a while but ultimately didn't pick up the phone to call Zodhis.
He and every other superhero knew exactly how much pressure the man was under right now. They also knew how many lives depended on his orders. Personal matters like this could wait until the crisis was over; then he'd have a private word with the director.
No point in distracting him and risking the whole operation.
Meanwhile, the man everyone assumed was buried under mountains of pressure—Zodhis—was actually lounging comfortably in the director's office, watching the battle reports with a relaxed expression.
He really was relaxed. No one was asking him to command anything.
The sentry robots deployed in every city had proven their worth, and with the Black Queen—an ultra-advanced AI—taking charge, her strategic oversight was actually sharper than his own.
At first the Black Queen had seemed a little overwhelmed, but her powerful learning algorithms quickly patched every gap, making her command more flawless and detailed with every passing minute.
She directed the on-site superheroes and soldiers to victory after victory against the monster assaults.
Because the Black Queen was using Zodhis's own voice for all commands, the top brass watching from the command center stared in stunned silence at the live feeds showing perfectly coordinated battles happening simultaneously across the entire planet.
Is this guy even human anymore???
How many brains does he have working at once?
The legendary strategists and war geniuses the world had once worshipped probably couldn't even carry his shoes.
Was the gap between people really this ridiculous?
"If Zodhis had been born in a wartime era, there probably wouldn't have been anything left for the other nations to do."
"We might not have just defeated Germany—we might have done a lot more."
Zodhis's terrifying talent for military command and large-scale warfare left more than a few people green with envy.
The fighting dragged on for a long time, yet Zodhis's commands never faltered once. The superheroes and soldiers on the front lines couldn't help but feel deep respect for him.
By now, most Wolf-level and Tiger-level monsters had been wiped out. What remained were the truly terrifying Ghost-level and Dragon-level threats.
In the One-Punch Man world, the average Ghost-level monster would already be on par with the Hulk in the Marvel universe—extremely difficult to handle.
Dragon-level monsters were even stronger.
If they wanted to eliminate so many Ghost- and Dragon-level threats in a short time, only Tatsumaki or Saitama could pull it off. Everyone else could only grind them down slowly.
"Humans, I never thought you'd be able to resist this stubbornly. Next time, you won't have the chance."
The battered Insect God lay on the ground. Hulk was just about to deliver the finishing blow when a brutally powerful kick slammed into him, sending the Hulk flying.
In the spot where the Insect God had been, a massive monster now stood with its arms crossed. Its face was covered in several pairs of ferocious, terrifying eyes.
The creature scooped up the Insect God and addressed everyone present.
It told them that all these monsters belonged to the Monster Association—an organization packed with countless powerful beings.
Today's attack had been nothing more than a warning and a scouting mission. Once they finished their preparations, the Monster Association would wipe humanity out completely!
The Ghost- and Dragon-level monsters in other locations delivered the exact same message before they withdrew.
In an instant, the name "Monster Association" weighed heavily on everyone's hearts like a mountain.
An organization with so many Ghost- and Dragon-level monsters… How the hell were they supposed to fight something like that?
Under crushing pressure, everyone turned their desperate hopes toward Zodhis and the Divine Sword Bureau.
"Zodhis, what are your thoughts on this Monster Association terrorist group?"
The Five Major Powers had called Zodhis in for a meeting. After the Monster Association incident, everyone now treated both him and the Divine Sword Bureau with utmost seriousness. Any ideas of pulling strings behind the scenes had temporarily vanished.
In the closed-door session attended only by the leaders of the Five Major Powers and a few other strong nations like Germany, the American president spoke first.
"I don't have any particular opinion," Zodhis said calmly, twirling a priceless fountain pen between his fingers. "It's just a group of monsters who realized they'd get picked off one by one by the heroes, so they decided to copy us and band together."
His words eased the tension in the room. The more the leaders thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded.
"However, we can be certain of one thing," he continued. "Their so-called scouting mission was largely successful. They now know the extent of the Divine Sword Bureau's strength, our response speed, and our combat capabilities. Meanwhile, our understanding of them is still limited to the Ghost- and Dragon-level monsters that actually showed up. In other words, we have no idea how many of them there really are."
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