Hunter x Hunter: The Sun Breathing Zoldyck - 136

Chapter 136: Pig-Headed General Evolves × Nipping at the Ant King’s Heels

Nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds. That was Botobai’s fastest clear time.

He had only managed that by tanking a direct hit from the Pig-Headed General’s axe.

The boy had not cleared it yet, but he had held out for ten full minutes and looked like he would last even longer. That already said plenty.

"Hey," Gel said, studying Botobai carefully. "One hundred million jenny for a vial of Zoldyck blood. How about it?"

A famous name did not come out of nowhere.

"Poison resistance" was no longer at the top of Gel’s research list. Compared to testing toxins, Roy’s blood interested her far more.

She had seen outstanding people before. Quite a few, in fact. Every Hunter Exam produced one or two. But someone outstanding to the level of a Zoldyck… that was beyond anything in her experience.

Her instincts told her Roy’s blood was anything but ordinary.

“Get it yourself—if you’re that eager to die.”

Botobai’s warning could not have been more blunt. The woman was on the verge of losing herself to research. If that other man with the silver hair down to his waist had been here, he probably would have killed her on the spot.

"Trying to study everything will be the death of you."

Botobai folded his arms. His face, hidden behind his theatrical visage, could not be seen clearly. His eyes lifted, catching Gotoh watching them. Two white jets of air hissed from his nostrils.

Eleven minutes. Twelve. Time flew. Every other candidate had already left.

At the entrance of the barbecue shop, the two old men quietly drank their black tea. Behind them, the place was empty of passing examinees.

Beans sat sandwiched between them, obediently refilling their cups.

Behind the counter, the grill master did not even dare breathe too loudly, afraid of offending the two "big shots."

He had a good eye. Backing onto the Hunter Association for a little business had earned him plenty. Naturally, he knew what his "major patron" looked like. Every so often, he would slice up some fruit or put together a snack platter and send it over.

Thirteen minutes. Fourteen.

Inside the illusion.

After dealing with the axe-wielding Sagin, Roy stepped on his corpse and charged Dassault. As the Scout responsible for gathering intel, this Pig-Headed Man was the smallest of the lot. His Manifest Aura was also lower than that of Barbarians Sagin and Gul'dan. The interface read: [Aura (Manifest/Potential): C (10/100,000)].

Clearly, the easiest of the group to kill.

Roy understood the logic of picking the softest persimmon.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Gul'dan saw what Roy was up to. He coordinated with the Rogue, Valen, who hurled a morningstar, and launched a Barbarian Charge. The five-meter broadsword swept for Roy’s head with a deafening sonic boom.

He immediately activated his Nen ability.

Heavy Strike: Half-Moon Slash.

Unlike the axes, which excelled at vertical chops, the broadsword favored sweeps and wide slashes. Its attack arc was broad, its range huge. In group battles, one swing could carve through an entire fan-shaped sector ahead, inflicting massive damage. In many ways, it was superior—though the cost was much higher.

The crescent-shaped slash, released at the last moment, overtook Roy in an instant.

From the side, the morningstar whistled for his skull. From the front, Dassault’s arrows hissed through the air.

Roy had no foothold in midair. He had already prepared himself mentally. If he died, he died. As long as he took the Scout Dassault down first, this "reset" would not be wasted.

His expression stayed hard and calm. In a breath, every pore opened. In a hundredth of a second, he exploded with Ren, pouring all his Aura into Magnetism and forming a milky-white magnetic field that distorted the trajectories of the broadsword and morningstar.

His right hand leveled the short blade.

He triggered Phantom Blade without hesitation.

"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Phantom Blade: Water-Mirror Heat Haze…"

Drip. The sound of a droplet echoed.

Ripples of water spread out from Roy as the center, sweeping over Gul'dan, Dassault, and Valen in an instant.

Their piggish eyes glazed over for a heartbeat. It was as if they saw a crimson sun slowly rise from the horizon. Realizing something was wrong, they shook their massive heads to fling out the invasive illusion, swinging swords and flails as they forced themselves to refocus—

Too late.

A single heartbeat could be a permanent farewell.

A scream tore the air as Gul'dan and Valen snapped awake, only to widen their eyes in horror.

The boy’s two Bright Red Blades had already punched into Dassault’s chest. The tips emerged from his back, snatching his life away in an instant.

[Prompt: Swordsmanship +50… Life Energy +9…]

Whoosh. The Half-Moon Slash still arrived a half-beat late. It sealed off Roy’s escape.

Knowing he could not dodge, Roy did not bother trying.

He turned and smiled at Gul'dan.

His head spun up and away. From above, he watched the enraged Pig-Headed Man charge his "corpse," eyes bloodshot, and then closed his own eyes, cutting the link.

The "recording" froze at fifteen minutes and twenty seconds, the moment Dassault died.

Crash. Waves broke against the rocks of his Cognition Sea, scattering into white spray.

Roy’s inner world.

Specks of light gathered again into a human shape.

He exited re: Game of the Dead.

Once more, Roy used the Dark Continent Gate to bridge back to the illusion. His consciousness "respawned" on the soft sand of the Cognition Sea.

He touched the neck Gul'dan’s broadsword had just lopped off. Still there. He let out a long breath.

First thing, he checked the interface. The nine points of Life Energy belonging to Dassault were safely logged. After a quick rest to recover his mental strength, he pushed himself up, conjured the short blade, and slipped once again through the crack in the Dark Continent Gate.

This time, he took Valen, the Rogue, right in front of Gul'dan.

[Prompt: Swordsmanship +50… Life Energy +10…]

The "recording" froze at seventeen minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the moment Valen was beheaded.

Of the original five, three were gone. Only Gul'dan remained.

And the one in the depths of the forest.

"Why is it just watching its kin die one by one without moving?"

After battling Sagin, Dassault, and Gul'dan several times, Roy knew very well that these Pig-Headed Men were not unintelligent. On the contrary, they cooperated expertly. They had emotions. They got angry. He could not understand their roars, but they were clearly some kind of language. Like the Kiriko, they were a "sapient species."

So Roy had been tangling with Gul'dan and the others while keeping part of his attention on the deeper forest, wary of his plan being smashed at the worst possible moment.

Yet the presence in the woods did nothing. It simply watched coldly as Sagin and Dassault fell in turn, becoming souls under Roy’s blades.

"Is it… looking down on me?" After killing Valen, Roy sprawled on the sand of the Cognition Sea and considered a possibility.

He was too weak to be worth lifting a finger against.

Harsh.

Roy chuckled at himself and stopped thinking about it. Once he was rested, he followed the crack in the Dark Continent Gate back again—this time, for Gul'dan’s head.

Twenty minutes and twenty seconds.

[Prompt: Swordsmanship +50… Life Energy +12…]

In the end, after three minutes of grinding without Sagin, Dassault, and Valen backing him up, Roy planted a boot on Gul'dan’s massive body and drove his blade into its mouth, shredding its windpipe and stealing its life.

A mountain wind poured out of the forest of towering trees, ruffling the boy’s black hair.

Of the five, four were gone.

Only one remained.

Roy planted the cane-sword, straightened his back, the short blade circling lazily around him. He stared into the depths of the forest. "Are you coming, or do I have to come find you?"

Silence.

Then—

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each step hammered the ground, leaving a cratered footprint behind.

Roy narrowed his eyes.

A towering shadow nearly ten meters tall pushed aside the giant trees and strode out at an unhurried pace. A chain thicker than a man’s torso coiled around its neck. The ends were shackled to an axe and a flail. It looked down on Roy from above, eyes as big as human heads, a bloody light flickering inside.

[Bestiary opening. Recording entry…]

[Pig-Headed General]

[Manifest Aura: C+ (99,950/100,000)]

[Potential Aura: C+ (99,950/100,000)]

[Evaluation: C+ (no weaker than a standard Chimera Ant Division Commander)]

(Note: Known Youpi Aura: upward of 400,000. A typical Division Commander is around 100,000. Neferpitou and Shaiapouf fall somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000.)

Roy’s gaze sharpened. In that instant, he came to a conclusion.

This Pig-Headed General in front of him was in no way inferior to Uvogin at his peak.

The interface chime still echoing in his ears, the boy raised his hand and caught the short blade, dragging his vigilance up to the highest point.

Uvogin at his peak was terrifying. One man had wiped out most of the Shadow Beasts. If Kurapika had not used Conditions and Vows to turn himself into a "specialized weapon against the Spider," igniting his Scarlet Eyes, triggering Emperor Time, and driving Chain Jail to force Uvogin into Zetsu…

It would have been hard to say who would have won.

"Guralala… The elder forbade me from eating humans. I should thank you for killing them for me…" The Pig-Headed General opened its mouth. Its tusks were as thick as elephant ivory. A guttural string of words rumbled out, completely unintelligible.

Roy frowned and tightened his grip on the cane-sword and short blade. Scorching Truth flowed over the steel, dyeing both in blazing red light as he searched for an opening.

The Pig-Headed General acted as if it did not notice. It stooped, grabbed Valen’s still-warm corpse, and bit down.

"Huh?"

Crunch. Crunch.

Valen’s head burst like an overripe fruit. His legs dangled and twitched as he was eaten bite by bite.

Next came Dassault. Then Sagin.

Last—

Was Gul'dan still under Roy’s boot?

[Prompt: Pig-Headed Man]

[Innate Talent: Crawling Hunger]

[Note: So long as it still draws breath, hunger gnaws at it. Devouring its own kind strengthens it. Devouring other species restores Aura and grants information about them, including their Nen abilities.]

"Roar!" After eating three comrades in a row, the Pig-Headed General let out a roar of pleasure.

Its Aura changed in that instant.

[Prompt: Pig-Headed General appears to be evolving…]

[Pig-Headed Commander]

[Manifest Aura: B (10,000/1,000,000)]

[Potential Aura: B (99,999/1,000,000)]

[Evaluation: B-rank magical beast, potential ceiling B+, nipping at the Ant King’s heels.]

The stream of prompts felt like a death knell, urging Roy to run.

"So… I am fighting the Ant King now?"

Roy took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He had just steadied his fear and kindled his fighting spirit when—

His awareness jolted.

The Pig-Headed General’s flail came out of nowhere and turned his head into pulp.

Twenty-one minutes and fifteen seconds.

The "recording" froze at the moment of his death.