**Chapter 18: King is So Strong (Please bookmark)**
"Who are you?"
king looked at the guy who had ruined his first battle. He looked young, dressed in a red insulated bodysuit, with a "P" lightning symbol on his chest. On his back was a large Nanfu brand battery, and he wore a red mining helmet. A wire connected the mining helmet to the battery behind him, and the lamp on the helmet emitted a faint green light. He should be a hero, but king only recognized S-Class heroes and a few A, B, and C-Class heroes. This flamboyant guy in front of him was clearly not in his memory.
That guy pompously recited his specially prepared entrance line: "Born from a night of intertwining lightning and thunder, with lightning in my left hand and electricity in my right, from this moment, I shall control the lightning and thunder of this world. I am..."
"The Thunder God?" king interrupted.
"No, I am B-Class Hero #66—Lightning Kid!"
Lightning Kid raised his head and puffed out his chest, trying his best to appear tall and mighty, hoping to receive king's admiration.
"Oh."
Unfortunately, king only uttered a single, faint word.
Lightning Kid squinted at king. "Hey, don't you have anything else to say? Like 'How amazing!' or 'You're so cool!'"
"Anything else?" king blinked, then pointed at the piece of paper in Lightning Kid's palm. "Please remember your lines next time you make an appearance. Thank you."
"Ah?" Lightning Kid gave an awkward laugh. "Cough, cough, this is an entrance line I just had someone rewrite for me; I haven't memorized it yet. My apologies, my apologies. This kind of mistake definitely won't happen again next time. Could you take a picture of me and post it on your Moments to help me promote myself? I'd really appreciate it. My popularity has been dropping quite severely lately..."
"..."
king was speechless. As expected of a professional hero, he even needed to promote himself to gain popularity. Amazing!
"Alright, strike a pose."
For such a small matter of doing good for others, he was always happy to oblige. Hmm, post on Moments? A piece of cake.
"Okay, thank you, thank you!"
Lightning Kid excitedly bowed to king.
"I'm going to use my ultimate move 'Lightning Slash' to kill this Underpants Monster in a moment. Please help me capture my handsome pose as I unleash my move. Oh, and don't take any gory shots; it'll affect my 'sunny boy' image. Thanks!"
He meticulously instructed king on some photography matters.
"Uh..."
Do professional heroes live such a hard life? Even taking a picture of killing a monster has so many specific requests.
king sighed lightly, pulled out his phone, and opened the camera function.
Lightning Kid raised his lightning staff, which resembled an eyebrow staff, and said, "Sir, please get ready. I'm about to attack." A faint electric arc flickered across his staff.
"Wait a minute, I have something to say."
The Underpants Monster on the ground, twitching occasionally, shouted loudly, "Let me introduce myself..."
"Sorry, this chapter doesn't allow for word count padding, so, please go die... Lightning Slash!"
Lightning Kid's expression instantly turned stern, his eyes sharp, and the corners of his mouth curled into a perfect cold smile. He crouched slightly, raised his staff high, and electric arcs crackled unsteadily. He held this pose for ten seconds, then raised his head to ask king, "Did you get the shot?"
"OK!"
king made an "OK" gesture, indicating everything was done.
"Good, now, let me finish you off... Underpants Monster!"
This time, Lightning Kid finally got serious. The lightning staff in his hand flashed with dazzling electric light, and from its appearance, it was definitely high-voltage electricity.
"Who finishes whom is not certain!"
"Underwear Sky-Rushing Punch!"
However, the Underpants Monster, who had been lying on the ground playing dead, suddenly let out a cold laugh. It clenched its palm into a fist and forcefully thrust upwards.
Bang!
Lightning Kid grunted, stumbling back two steps. He coughed a few times, catching his breath, and looked at the Underpants Monster in surprise. "Cough, cough, I didn't expect you to recover so quickly."
"Hehehe, bigger surprises are yet to come..."
The Underpants Monster cackled and rushed fiercely towards Lightning Kid, simultaneously yelling, "Briefs Rapid Punch!" Its fists whistled through the air, fiercely attacking Lightning Kid.
"Idiot, if I can electrocute you once, I can electrocute you twice. You actually dare to rush straight at me? You're asking for death!"
A sharp glint flashed in Lightning Kid's eyes, and he gave a cold laugh. He tightened his grip on the lightning staff, and the Nanfu battery on his back rapidly supplied electricity to the staff. "Ten Thousand Volts!"
He swung the staff fiercely towards the Underpants Monster. It glowed brightly, and electric arcs flickered.
Pfft!
To his surprise, the Underpants Monster didn't dodge, directly grabbing the staff with one hand.
"Asking for death." A hint of joy flashed in Lightning Kid's eyes.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several muffled thuds rang out. Lightning Kid's body instantly contorted like a boiled shrimp, and he stumbled backward. His eyes widened in shock, and he shouted incredulously, "How could you be unharmed?"
"Heh." The Underpants Monster sneered, "Idiot, have you ever seen underwear that conducts electricity? This grandpa was just playing with you. You actually thought you could electrocute this grandpa?"
"So that's how it is." Lightning Kid exhaled a few breaths, his whole body tense. "Since electricity is useless against you, then let's see what you've got with bare hands!"
He was able to achieve such a high ranking among B-Class heroes mainly by relying on his electric equipment. His actual combat prowess was relatively average, probably only at the C-Class hero level. Therefore, after his electricity became ineffective, his fighting power dropped by at least half.
"Hehehe, Boxer Briefs Continuous Punch!"
The Underpants Monster's fists became incredibly fast, even appearing as afterimages in king's eyes. In a short while, he even saw more than a dozen fist shadows.
Lightning Kid steadily swung his staff to block the fists, fighting back and forth with the Underpants Monster. The situation was momentarily evenly matched.
After a while, the Underpants Monster let out a sinister laugh and mentally shouted, "Finishing Move: Original-Flavor Underwear!" It opened its mouth, and a thick, visibly colored stench of stinky underwear instantly gushed out.
Lightning Kid was caught off guard and took a deep breath. What a strong seafood smell!
His body instantly stiffened, his face flushed red, then purple, and finally turned green. He simply fell straight down, his eyes vacant, foam bubbling at his mouth. He began to hallucinate, and the mining lamp on his head even changed from green to red, indicating low battery.
The original-flavor underwear of such a burly man was too powerful, and too cruel.
"It's over, hero!"
The Underpants Monster cackled, and the thong on its feet automatically rolled up, actually forming a sharp awl. It pulled its leg back, accumulating power, preparing to end Lightning Kid's life.
"Hey, had enough fun?"
A faint voice came from behind it.
"Hmm?!"
The Underpants Monster was startled. It slightly tilted its body and squinted at king. "Hehehe, you actually haven't run away yet? Are you scared silly?"
"Heh, run? That word has never been in my dictionary." (Psst, are you serious when you say that?)
king let out a cold laugh. He slowly took off his white sweatshirt and tossed it aside. He grasped the brim of his baseball cap, then fiercely flung the cap high into the air, pointing at the Underpants Monster, and shouted loudly, "Come on! Let's have a passionate and exciting battle!"
"Huh?! You... you are King!?" The Underpants Monster gasped, its eyes wide. Excitement rapidly surfaced on its rough face, which gradually flushed red.
"King!?"
This name, representing immense power, brought some clarity to Lightning Kid, who was as if he had been poisoned.
"King! King! King... ah, gasp, ah, gasp, King, you... you... I... I... idol... idol... uh..."
The Underpants Monster's face was filled with frantic worship. It was both excited and agitated, clutching its chest as if suffering a heart attack. Its face was flushed crimson, and its words were broken and stuttered. Finally, its eyes rolled back, and it fainted from excessive excitement.
"Uh..."
king, who had just managed to pump himself up, stared blankly at the unconscious Underpants Monster, feeling terribly dejected. What about the passionate battle? You actually fainted from excitement because you worship me? How embarrassing for all monsters. Hmph, our monster race doesn't have the likes of you.
"Ah?!"
Lightning Kid, who had barely recovered, looked in shock at the discontented king and the unconscious Underpants Monster. He muttered to himself, "King is so strong! Just his aura alone scared the opponent into submission! That monster was actually so scared that it said 'I surrender'! Heavens, is this the power of the Strongest Man on Earth? Is his look of discontent because his power is too strong, leaving him with no opponents, and thus he feels an inner emptiness? Is this the legendary loneliness of a master? The gap in power between us is a hundred and eight thousand miles! He truly is an unattainable peak!"
Hey, you heard wrong, didn't you? That Underpants Monster said "my idol," not "I surrender"! Can you please listen carefully when people talk? Also, wearing a safety helmet all day while listening to people talk will affect your hearing, won't it? How will you pass the English Level 4 exam like that?
"Hey, don't kill him. Send it to the Hero Association Monster Prison instead!"
The Underpants Monster was, after all, his fanatic fan. king truly couldn't bear to lay a hand on it. Moreover, the opponent fainted due to his frantic worship, which could be considered a form of surrender. How could king possibly take advantage of its unconscious state to strike? It was better to have Lightning Kid escort it to the Hero Association Monster Prison. That was better than ending its life. As for keeping it? Sorry, he didn't keep perverts in his home, especially perverts who liked to collect underwear. Even a fan was a no-go.
After king said that, he picked up his baseball cap and sweatshirt and walked away without interest, completely unaware of the jumbled thoughts in Lightning Kid's mind.
(Through this incident, we learn a profound truth: fanatic idol worship is harmful to one's physical and mental health, so we should be rational idol chasers.)
"By the way, King previously promised to help me promote myself on his Moments!?" Lightning Kid looked at King's gradually receding back, remembering how king had helped him take photos earlier. His spirits lifted. "I wonder who's in King's Moments? S-Class heroes like Terrible Tornado, God Emperor, and others? Oh my god, am I going to appear in front of all the major S-Class heroes? Will I become famous overnight? Become a great hero admired by all?"
Thinking like this, he was instantly filled with excitement.
...
The next day, he searched through all the news but found no mention of him being featured on King's Moments. His face turned blank. "Why is there no news?"
At the same time, inside King's Moments, there was a solitary post: This is B-Class Hero #66 Lightning Kid. A good kid.
Below the post was a picture of Lightning Kid.
However, the post received zero replies, zero likes, and zero shares, because from beginning to end, King's Moments only had King himself. You see, King fundamentally had no friends, so his Moments naturally had no friends either. Therefore, Lightning Kid's idea of becoming famous overnight by having King post on his Moments was simply wishful thinking.
Alas, this is what they call the loneliness of a master, isn't it?!
(end of chapter)