Swish! Swish! Swish!!
The sound of sothing tearing through the air struck.
It was an arrow!
Almost invisible in the dark of the night, the opponent was clearly specifically ambushing Riku.
Riku's [Demon Spider Perception] now covered a range of nearly one hundred ters. This thing worked through sensing frequencies, it wasn't the Nen technique 'En'.
This ant that the surrounding flora and fauna normally existed within specific frequencies.
Any rustle of the wind in the grass would alter this frequency, and the place where the frequency fluctuated was naturally where other people appeared.
Therefore, even without having developed 'En' yet, Riku could easily sense anyone nearby.
Ponzu's bees, however...
Clearly couldn't detect candidates who were very well hidden.
The arrows in the night were imperceptible to the naked eye.
But within his [Demon Spider Perception], they were incredibly clear, like a candle fla in the dark.
He could clearly see the traces of 'them' within the ripples of frequencies.
Riku stepped slightly to the side, easily dodging the arrows.
It seed it was a triple shot. Not bad technique.
Is it Pokkle?
Up in the treetops.
The ambushing candidate froze. He hadn't expected his sneak attack to be dodged so easily.
He can actually see sneak attacks in the pitch-black night?
Realizing the situation was bad, he prepared to retreat.
But he suddenly heard a piercing whistle tearing through the air behind him.
By the ti he reacted, he was horrified to see a pitch-black javelin flying right at his face.
Bang—
It was shockingly a wooden stick used for roasting whole pigs, instantly piercing through his chest.
It carried his entire body flying backward, even embedding itself into the giant tree behind him.
I-is this guy even human!?
A final thought flashed through the candidate's mind right before he died.
In the distance.
Riku remained expressionless.
He who kills must be prepared to be killed!
Since the other party ca bearing malice, he himself was no saint either.
[Divine Power] (Red)!
A thrown roasting stick easily blew away the guy hiding in the bushes.
However.
The mosquitoes at night were truly nurous!
There were always so brain-dead guys who wanted to go against him.
In another patch of dark bushes.
A pair of snake-like eyes was gleaming with a faint light.
Hunter #84, Geretta!
He was the candidate with the most abundant jungle survival experience among them all.
He had even hunted down many powerful magical beasts in the jungle.
His blowdarts were laced with a neurotoxin; as long as it grazed the skin, the victim would be instantly paralyzed and die.
At the exact mont Riku launched his attack.
Two black poison darts were silently blown out.
Leaving no trace in the dark night.
The blowdarts accurately struck Riku's neck!
Got him!
Geretta's eyes lit up, unable to suppress his excitent.
Back on the ship, he had already taken a strong dislike to Riku.
This guy was far too arrogant, acting as if everyone was beneath him.
He even tried to spawn camp and kill them on the ship!
He was simply looking down on all of them. Today, he was going to teach this guy a lesson.
In this jungle, only an experienced, veteran hunter would be the final victor.
Clink, clink~~
The faint sound of steel colliding.
It beca exceptionally clear in this quiet night.
Geretta froze for a second.
Then his expression looked as if he had just seen a ghost.
His blowdarts were specially made; they could easily pierce the flesh of even magical beasts with incredibly strong defense.
Let alone a human?
But right before his eyes.
The blowdarts had clearly struck Riku's neck, but... they actually snapped!
There wasn't even a single pinhole left on the opponent's skin.
How is that possible?
How could a human's skin defense be harder than a magical beast's?
Geretta felt like his brain wasn't enough to process this.
Suddenly, a violent shiver ran through his entire body. His experienced hunter's sixth sense scread with an indescribable, lethal crisis.
His expression changed drastically, and he chose to flee with almost zero hesitation!
He had already decided: he would never deal with this kind of freak again. This guy simply wasn't human!
But just as he prepared to move, Geretta beca confused again.
Because the mont he turned around, he shockingly saw a familiar yet unfamiliar back facing him.
The figure was crouching right in front of him.
Why is he wearing the sa clothes, shoes, and gloves as ?
Wait!
Why is my blowgun in his hands?
That guy... why... why doesn't he have a head!?
Geretta couldn't comprehend it, but then suddenly, his vision started spinning wildly.
In his final second, he seed to finally realize.
That seed to be... his own headless body?!
A filleting knife was embedded in the large tree behind him, its blade buried deep into the trunk, the handle still quivering.
"Ponzu! Ti to clean up the floor. Bring those two ID badges over, and wash the blood off them, otherwise they'll stink tomorrow. I'm going to sleep first!"
Riku yawned.
He could just leave the remaining chores to his personal robot vacuum, Ponzu.
Ponzu: "..."
The pitiful young girl, upon seeing the corpse nailed to the tree and the decapitated Geretta, felt her stomach churn again and threw up violently.
The night passed without further incident.
(Two thousand words omitted.)
...
Daybreak.
The entire island was extrely large, making the probability of candidates running into each other in groups very low.
Perhaps the Association's purpose in designing this phase was exactly to test everyone's wilderness combat abilities.
Normally, it would take at least three days just to trek straight across the island.
Therefore, at the beginning of the exam, the Association had instructed that the endpoint would be on the other side of the island.
The following days were spent entirely chilling and taking it easy.
Noon of the seventh day.
"Lord... we haven't gained anything these past few days. If we continue at this pace, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to pass the exam... I... I... if Lord Riku is short one badge by then, I will give my badge to you..."
"These past few days, thanks to your protection, I was able to make it this far."
Ponzu suddenly spoke, her face flushed red and her head lowered.
If Riku hadn't intervened, she didn't believe she could have successfully survived until now.
Moreover, she owed it all to Riku's care along the journey.
"Hasn't the competition just begun? There's no need to be so anxious. You've done very well these past few days. Since I promised to carry you through this round, I won't go back on my word."
Riku walked ahead, waving a hand without even turning his head.
In reality, he had already gathered enough points a long ti ago. Right now, he was just saving up so extras for Gon-kun and the others.
"But... Lord..."
Ponzu was sowhat worried.
"Release your bees; a big catch is coming our way soon," Riku instructed.
The two had already arrived at the general direction of the exam's endpoint.
The Association hadn't specified the exact boarding area, only revealing that it would be on the island's eastern coast.
The entire island was shaped like a shoe.
"Ah? L-Lord... what... what do you an?"
Ponzu finally understood.
Why did Riku have absolutely no intention of taking the initiative to hunt these past few days?
Instead, he took her on a leisurely vacation and sightseeing trip.
However, she was still very obedient and scattered her bees across this entire area.
"New Year pigs are only good for slaughtering after they've been properly fattened up. Rather than picking up these ID badges one by one, it's much better to grab them by the handful."
Riku smiled, openly and confidently standing right in the middle of this broad expanse on the eastern coast.
User Comments
0 comments from readers