Chapter 197 Venom
Dazzling golden short hair, shining azure eyes, and those exposed bronze forearms. Although they didn’t seem to possess explosive power, the terrifying strength he had just endured on his liquified body was not false.
However, compared to the opponent’s abilities, what interested Masashi Sakuraba more was the young boy’s somewhat familiar face. He reached out and brushed aside the scattered long hair from the recent attack, a strange smile appearing on his face. He stopped his original action and gently raised his left hand.
“Yo, little brother Sato.”
“Huh?”
The sudden words broke the young boy’s breathing rhythm, which had entered a combat state. Shifting Mai Shinomiyai in his arms slightly, Shinichi Sato looked up and at the strange enemy who had suddenly called out his name.
“Are you… classmate Sakuraba?!”
The delicate young boy’s sinister face made him inexplicably difficult to recall. However, after a careful observation, Shinichi Sato realized that this powerful enemy who had almost killed Mai Shinomiyai was the Masashi Sakuraba from Nagoya First Middle School who had asked him for directions at the school gate that morning.
“Yes, thank you for giving me directions this morning. It was really troublesome not being able to find the place.”
Several purple energy beams shot from his fingertips into the ground. On the surface, Masashi Sakuraba still had a smiling demeanor as he thanked Shinichi Sato.
“Ah, no need to thank me, it was just a small thing.”
Hearing the other party’s praise, Shinichi Sato subconsciously touched the back of his head with his hand. But he quickly realized that the person in front of him was an enemy from an opposing organization, and he quickly resumed his original combat stance, his eyes fixed intently ahead.
“So, Masashi Sakuraba, what exactly is your purpose for coming here? Are there your accomplices inside the school?”
“Although I’m very grateful to you, little brother Sato, many things are inconvenient to say.”
Casually drawing a strange symbol in the air with his finger, Susano Masashi Sakuraba finally pointed his index finger at Shinichi Sato, thus refusing to answer his question.
“Ahahaha, I guess that’s true. Then, considering what happened this morning, can I leave first?”
The young boy smiled awkwardly. Of course, he didn’t expect to get extremely crucial information through such a simple inquiry. Compared to this meaningless conversation, the only thing Shinichi Sato needed to do now was to wait for the reinforcements from the professional heroes who would arrive soon.
The opponent was strong.
The fact that just his seemingly ordinary energy python could leave marks on his fist was enough to tell. Although his physical defense might not be that strong in his non-enhanced form, with Hamano Tsukasa’s nearly murderous training and the amplification of his own abilities, the young boy’s physical strength alone could reach a terrifying level in his normal state.
And although the previous attack was hindered by holding Mai Shinomiyai with his other arm, affecting his power output, the force had genuinely hit the opponent. As a result, Masashi Sakuraba appeared completely unharmed and could even launch an attack on him.
Coupled with the fact that he could suppress, and even kill, Mai Shinomiyai, who was called a young genius in the spiritual energy world by Hamano Tsukasa, in such a short period of time during a spiritual energy duel, the young boy estimated that this young man named Masashi Sakuraba was definitely not as simple as an ordinary organizational member.
“No, if you take little brother Sato away, I will be very troubled.”
Masashi Sakuraba rubbed his right hand and slowly raised his head, looking at the young boy in front of him as if inspecting his prey.
His heterochromatic eyes emitted a dark purple glow, and the corners of his long, thin mouth curved into an arc that a normal person could not achieve, revealing a slender tongue that could not be hidden by his sharp, pointed teeth.
“Moreover, you are also on my kill list.”
“Buzzz—” [Damn it!]
A violent energy fluctuation erupted from beneath Shinichi Sato’s feet. Without even time to think, the young boy hugged Mai Shinomiyai in his arms, stomped hard, and leaped towards the lawn on the side.
The moment Shinichi Sato took to the air, the large area of land beneath his feet melted completely, revealing a pool of dark purple venom as large as a pond. The distorted aura wafting above the pool made Shinichi Sato feel a disgusting dizziness just by accidentally inhaling a trace of it.
[So he was stalling for time too!]
Instantly understanding the opponent’s intention, Shinichi Sato in mid-air continuously scanned his surroundings, thinking of countermeasures after landing.
Having Mai Shinomiyai, who was a burden, in his hands did indeed affect his combat effectiveness, and it was difficult for him to exert normal combat power in his ordinary state. If the previous level of attack could not cause any damage to Masashi Sakuraba, then all he could do now was to enter his enhanced form.
But Shinichi Sato obviously could not do that. Whether it was Masashi Sakuraba or the [Dark] Organization members hidden elsewhere, they definitely knew the professional hero [Takeru Kamikami], who was active in the hero profession.
In other words, anyone related to [Thundery] Hamano Tsukasa would be under investigation and data collection by the [Dark] Organization. This was one of the reasons why Hamano Tsukasa had Shinichi Sato enroll in Shikoku as a civilian.
And if he directly transformed into another form in front of them, then all of Hamano Tsukasa’s years of concealment would be in vain. Even more terrifying was that Shinichi Sato himself, his friends and family, and the people around him would be targeted and plotted against by the [Dark] Organization, all in order to find a way to deal with them in the future.
[I absolutely cannot reveal myself!!]
The young boy’s mind flashed with Kazumi’s cold and cute face. His brain was racing. He absolutely could not reveal his true identity in front of the people from the [Dark] Organization. Therefore, he could only rely on his current state to deal with the opponent.
[Uncle Wa and the others’ support should be arriving soon. I just need to hold him off. Although physical attacks seem ineffective against him, he deliberately created such a wide venom pool to restrict my movements, which means he is still somewhat wary. So…]
The time all around seemed to slow down. Shinichi Sato, holding Mai Shinomiyai, slowly descended in mid-air. In the mere moment of leaping up, the young boy had already planned his next course of action: to move Mai Shinomiyai to a safe place, then use his speed and stamina to fight him until the teachers’ reinforcements arrived.
“Swish—swish—swish—”
A strange whistling sound came from the pond. Just as Shinichi Sato saw the grass ahead getting closer, countless purple snake tails stretched out from the pond and accurately wrapped around Shinichi Sato’s feet in the air.
A terrifying immense force came from below. Shinichi Sato, with no leverage in the air, didn’t even have a chance to resist. He could only use his last bit of strength to throw Mai Shinomiyai in his arms towards the grass, and then he was dragged into the purple venom pool emitting various poisonous gases by the countless snake tails.
“Plop—”
The heavy object falling into the pond instead produced a viscous “plop” sound, followed by “sizzling” melting sounds and the sound of extremely viscous bubbles.
The young man by the pond gently stroked his right hand, then turned to look at Mai Shinomiyai, who had been thrown out by Shinichi Sato and rolled onto the grass, shaking his head with some regret.
“How ridiculous, Hero…”
