Chapter 21: Subterranean King

It's been a couple of minutes since this guy has been dragging me around. It felt pleasant feeling my whole body submerge under the ground. Now, I truly understand why the canon Saitama enjoyed this just as much as I am.

Now, what do I do? Should I let him take me to their destination or kill him? Hmm, decisions. Nah I should just let him be as it would be beneficial to me this way, as he might have some monster friends waiting for our arrival.

After a few more moments of pure bliss that I was feeling, I felt myself falling. I cracked open my eyes and what greeted me was a gigantic cave that could seemingly fit a whole city inside. I was still near the ceiling where I fell from so I had a great view of the entire area.

The place was dimly lit with some mysterious stones that were glowing blue. And it was everywhere. And some weird-looking monsters were walking around, some were curiously looking at my falling self. While some just ignored me and minded their business.

I think I've seen these guys somewhere in the Anime but it seems my memories are getting hazy. I observed my surroundings again and only noticed that there were buildings that looks like living quarters here.

But they were inside the wall. Now, my gaze stopped at a spot at the very back of the cave in what seems to be the most luxurious part in here. There were no houses there, it was full of guards scouting the area. And in the middle of all that. A majestic throne stood. It was enormous but still not enough to fill in the cave.

The throne was made of white marble mixed with some of the glowing stones that can be found everywhere in here. It was simply majestic to look at. But what stood out the most was the person sitting on the said throne.

With three slit-like eyes, a semi-circle-shaped crown that was even bigger than his head. With two libs on each of his sides that rested on each side of the throne. And four red glowing swords were hanging from behind him on the wall. It kind of resembles the crucible blade from Doom Slayer.

Now I understand why I vaguely recognized the guys earlier. These guys are Subterraneans. And I suppose this enormous of a guy is the Subterranean King. They were the ones Saitama fought inside his dream, and he was about to fight this guy but was abruptly interrupted by his alarm.

Though, weren't they suppose to be bigger and than an average human? because all of the Subterraneans I saw here was slightly shorter than me. That doesn't make sense since their king was identical to the one that showed up in canon.

Hmm, I shouldn't assume stuff like these since this world is an AU.

"You're a fascinating one, aren't you?" The Subterranean King spoke with a deep and commanding voice befitting for a king.

"We lived for thousands of years inside under these rocks, and yet no one has ever discovered us."

"But you. You are the only one that has discovered us. You've not only noticed the underlings that I sent. You even knew of our existence but we've never made any appearances outside this cave. I even put a special spell that would hide our presence from the naked eye."

"And on top of all that, I sense something powerful deep inside your soul. But I couldn't seem to access it. I even tried to brute force my way into your soul but something powerful held me back from doing so."

Oh yeah, I think this was the guy that I sensed earlier but ignored it. And I think the spies that he was talking about was the last monster I killed earlier because that guy had some features similar to the monsters here.

He was observing me looking for some sort of reaction. But unlucky for you, I have absolute control over my emotions so you can only dream of getting any reaction from me.

Seeing my poker face, he stood up from his throne and slowly walked towards me. Every step he took shook the ground and stones started falling from the cave's ceiling. His action attracted all of the monster's attention directed at the king.

They all stopped what they were previously doing and dropped to the ground then started kowtowing and worshipping their king.

The Subterranean King raised his right hand and with a wave of his hand, all of the monsters disappeared seemingly akin to teleporting. Then he raised his remaining hands and with a sudden movement, all four of his weapons directly flew into his grasps.

Then, he pointed one of his swords at me Thanos style. "I can sense that you are strong. The strongest I've seen throughout my life here on Earth."

"And it seems that I forgot to introduce myself. So allow me to formally do so."

"I am the Subterranean King, King of the underlands as my people like to call the place we had as our homes for thousands of years. Though, I come by many names. Some call me the Demon King, while some deemed me the god of death."

"They must love to exaggerate my name, but I am merely an ant when faced with the real god of death. I can confirm this as I have fought him in my younger days and even lived to tell the tales. Some stronger beings than me weren't so lucky though. As they were directly stripped of their soul and was eaten by the god of death himself."

He pierced one of his swords down to the ground vertically, then made some weird hand movements that produced some sort of rune magic under his feet. A few seconds later he started to shrink little by little until his height was the same as mine. The same went for his weapons too.

This action seems to have made him stronger as the energy inside of him compressed together.

"Before we fight, allow me to know your name." He said standing just a few meters ahead of me. "It's Saitama, a pro-hero," I responded.

"I see, then shall we start the fight?" He said with a feral grin across his face.

---

It was just your regular Saturday evening, many citizens having a relaxing walk in the park after a week-long of work. children running around playing tag, it was truly peaceful. But deep down, we all know that this peace was just temporary, as the very world we live in is full of dangers.

'Peace was never an option.' this was everyone's thoughts.

One second you were just taking a peaceful walk, the next second you find yourself lying on the ground dead. This was the last thing they all want. It was truly terrifying knowing that you could die any time.

The relaxing atmosphere around the park quickly died down as the ground beneath them started shaking. This was the exact situation they were scared of the most. They all frantically gave in their fear of death and started running for their lives.

Men, Women, and children panicked while hoping that this was just an earthquake. Though all of their hope were quickly smashed to pieces when a humanoid figure burst out of the ground approaching high in the sky.

This figure was of course the Subterranean King who was punched by Saitama.

Saitama was surprised to see that he survived his punch that he barely put any effort into. But that 'barely any effort put into' punch can eradicate an entire city if he intended to. But he wouldn't do so because he's a hero after all.

And heroes' job is to save the day not ruin them.

They kept on exchanging punches but it was mostly the Subterranean King's fist because Saitama was holding himself back from killing the monster in front of him. He was the first monster to ever survive a punch from him so he might as well enjoy this fight while it lasted.

Now that he finished observing the Subterranean king's strength, he estimated that this guy was at least at Boros's level. But he can see that Boros pales in comparison to brute strength.

Saitama had enough of fighting underground and decided to punch him upwards. This was indeed a stupid move as there would be casualties if they fought above ground. Well, Saitama could care less as he could just fling this guy towards an uninhabited area then fight him there.

With a loud boom, the Subterranean King was sent flying upwards with no intention of stopping. This action caused the ground around them to shake furiously. Saitama then bent his knees slightly and jumped where he sent the Subterranean King through.