Hunter x Hunter: The Sun Breathing Zoldyck - 133

Chapter 133: The Brutal Pig-Headed Men × Roy Exploits the Bug

"Clang. Cuckoo. Cuckoo…"

One minute, fifty-nine seconds. Two o’clock.

From above the underground corridor, a cuckoo-shaped clock chimed, ringing the bell for the exam.

Snap. A crisp clap followed. Botobai brought his palms together lightly. The sound was not loud, but it rang clearly into every candidate’s ears.

Not Heartdrop - Fist Listening, but close to it. Roy had just experienced Netero’s clap that morning. He tasted the true essence of Botobai’s martial art. The man had not yet reached the "supreme realm of martial arts," but he was on the cusp of it. Even if not quite there, he was not far off.

"Master, this man is strong!" Gotoh’s gaze was heavy as he watched Botobai.

It was not just him. Kite, Kanzai, and the disguised "Jitaraku" (Illumi)—anyone with a shred of skill—had their eyes on Botobai.

This future Zodiac, the Dragon… the man reputed to be closest in strength to Netero himself, spoke in a voice like a great bell, full of internal power. "I am the chief examiner for this year’s Hunter Exam. As of now, the exam begins."

Efficient and militaristic. Botobai swept his gaze over the room. Without wasting a single second, he told Gel to uncover the Illusion character and began the playback. Combined with the Bewitching Cedar’s scent lingering in the air, the memory reel of the Pig-Headed Men Beans had delivered began to run.

Vision blurred and wavered.

Before most of the candidates could even react, they were dragged into the "memory game."

A boundless forest of towering ancient trees unfolded before their eyes. Gotoh did not even get the word "Young Master" fully out of his mouth before a vicious flash of axe light swept past his chest. A Pig-Headed Man.

It had a huge, swollen head with floppy ears and a pair of savage tusks. Standing upright, it was over four meters tall. Heavy armor covered its body. A hand axe rested in each of its massive fists. Two hot jets of breath blasted from its huge nostrils as it raised an axe and chopped down at every "outsider" who dared set foot in Pig-Headed Man territory.

Screams tore out of the mouths of every candidate dragged into the illusion.

Pop. The illusion shattered. In less than a second, over three hundred people were eliminated. They could not even withstand a single swing from the Pig-Headed Man’s axe. They came back to themselves in shock, legs giving out as they collapsed to the floor.

"What was that thing?"

"A Pig-Headed Man… it has to be a magical beast!"

"Damn it, and this is just the first phase? It was never like this before!" In a corner of the hall, Tonpa landed on his backside, sweat pouring down his forehead and back. This was not his first Hunter Exam. But starting straight at hell difficulty—this was a first.

He clutched his chest, gasping for air. In the illusion, he had been split in half by the Pig-Headed Man in a single strike. His heart was still hammering. Once he calmed down a bit, he looked around.

Thud, thud, thud.

More and more people dropped to the floor. In under two seconds, another fifty were out.

Inside the illusion, the bald ninja Yusuke was fleeing for his life.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The ground shook behind him as the Pig-Headed Man came on, twin axes in hand, closing the distance even faster than he could run. Another swing came down at his neck.

Yusuke’s soul nearly left his body. Terror spiked through him. He yanked out every last trump card he had and roared, "Hidden!"

He vanished.

It was the most renowned ninjutsu of the Sakura Nation’s Cloud-Hidden style: Invisibility.

Using a curtain to simulate the surrounding environment, then hiding his body behind it to confuse an enemy’s line of sight. In the past, Yusuke had used this move countless times on missions, hitting from blind spots for effortless kills. It had never failed him.

Too bad.

The Pig-Headed Men were natural Enhancers, and their grasp of Nen far surpassed ordinary expectations. A savage glare filled their eyes as a Nen film quickly coated their pupils. With Gyo, they traced the presence of aura and instantly locked onto Yusuke’s position behind the curtain.

Then the axe rose.

Nen-clad edge wrapped in blood-red aura came crashing down.

Rip.

The curtain split open, revealing the bald ninja cut neatly in two.

Pop. The illusion shattered.

Four seconds. Yusuke had lasted only four seconds before being eliminated.

His hand ran from his forehead down to his chest as he checked himself. His pupils took a long time to refocus. Like Tonpa, he panted heavily. When he finally came to his senses, he looked around.

Only five people were still on their feet.

He recognized four of them: Kite, the Freak(Illumi), Gotoh, and Roy—who remained the calmest of them all, brows relaxed, looking nothing like the other three, whose faces were taut with tension.

Four seconds—this was the limit for ordinary people.

Above the corridor, clustered around the cuckoo clock, dozens of cameras blinked red in the dark.

Netero and Zeno sat on stools in the barbecue restaurant at the venue entrance, eating grilled meat and slurping noodles. From time to time, they glanced up at the television over the door that was playing the proctoring feed. Plates were stacked high at their sides.

"Hohoho. Four seconds gone and there are still five left. No, wait—" Before Netero could finish, another candidate went down—the bandaged man. The old man slurped a mouthful of noodles. "These kids are stronger than this geezer expected."

Zeno said nothing. He just kept stuffing grilled meat into his mouth, his gaze fixed on the boy with the cane-sword in the feed. Once in a while, he flicked a glance at the freak and quietly noticed that Illumi’s body had started to tremble despite himself.

Ding.

Inside the illusion, Illumi dropped his disguise and returned to his true appearance.

He had a Nen needle between each of the fingers of one hand, and another held in his teeth. His long hair had come loose. His feet used Shadow Step to circle the Pig-Headed Man wielding twin axes.

The Nen needles struck its vital points, but it felt no different from stabbing solid steel.

The brute force of the creature’s Ten popped them away as if they were nothing, casually neutralizing the strikes. Forget piercing the armor and flesh—he could not even break through its defense. The Pig-Headed Man caught an opening and swung an axe, forcing Illumi to leap back and create distance.

"Roar!" Missing once, the Pig-Headed Man bellowed, "Gul'dan, aid me!"

From deep in the forest of towering trees, a broadsword hissed through the air, aimed right at the spot where Illumi landed. It grazed his shoulder and took his arm off at the root before spinning back like a boomerang, landing in the hands of another Pig-Headed Man—the one in charge of Barbarian charges.

Illumi’s face went white. A flicker of pain passed through his lifeless eyes. He forced himself to maintain Gyo, tracking the enemy’s movements.

At some point, his pupils shrank.

Up in the trees, deeper in the forest, several more gazes flickered through the branches. Just one of them falling on him made him shudder and swallow hard.

Stronger than the two Pig-Headed Men in front of him. Much stronger.

At the same time, in a parallel illusion—

"A roulette spins in your mouth, the numbers one through nine. Depending on what you roll, it turns into a weapon."

"That is me—the Crazy Clown. Time to roll for some good luck."

A clown with a green pointed hat, red nose, white gloves cupping its cheeks, and a square-open mouth with a number lodged inside stopped at four.

It instantly became a shotgun in Kite’s hands. He opened fire without hesitation, bullets blazing forward in a storm.

In terms of sheer firepower, Gotoh, as an Emitter, hit even harder. The coins in his pocket had long since been exhausted. His ten fingers curled like machine-gun barrels, spitting Nen rounds in a nonstop barrage.

It did not matter. Just like Kite, he might as well have been tossing pebbles. The blasts thudded into the Pig-Headed Men and did nothing. They tanked the hits, barreled straight through, and got in close. An axe swung and tore open Gotoh’s chest.

Five seconds. Six seconds. Seven seconds. Pop. The illusion shattered.

The young butler’s mental fortitude was steel. He gritted his teeth and refused to collapse. The instant he returned to reality, his eyes shot to his Young Master.

Roy stood there like an old monk in meditation, eyes closed, as if sunk into some strange state.

At eight seconds, Kite got dragged into close quarters and decapitated. When he came back, he only clicked his tongue.

"Tch. Still did not hit the jackpot." He seemed more disappointed about not drawing a better Crazy Clown weapon than about dying. He looked around.

At nine seconds, Illumi was chopped out of the illusion, staggering back into the real world. His fists clenched in unwilling frustration. He met Kite’s eyes for a moment. Like Gotoh, both of them turned together to look at Roy.

Ten seconds.

By then, only the blond-haired youth and Roy were still inside the illusion.

Twelve seconds. Thirteen seconds. Kanzai snapped back, furious, and shouted at Botobai and Gel, "Send me back in there! I will rip those swine-headed freaks apart!"

No one paid him any mind.

At fourteen seconds, every gaze in the hall turned toward Roy.

The boy’s expression was composed, neither joyful nor sorrowful.

Without meaning to, he became the focus of everyone present.

"When you encounter the boy Roy Zoldyck, do not hold back."

Botobai folded his arms. Netero’s message, passed on through Beans, echoed again in his mind. He narrowed his eyes at Roy. A glint of sharp light flickered beneath his exaggerated features.

"As expected. You are the one standing at the end."

The future Dragon of the Zodiacs said so quietly.

The boy remained oblivious, his eyes filled with the Pig-Headed Man swinging its axe down at him.

The instant he had been pulled into the illusion, a familiar chime had sounded in his ears.

[Prompt: Detected familiar memory medium…]

[re: Game of the Dead connected…]

[Dark Continent Gate opening…]

[Note: Host may use the Dark Continent Gate to freely travel between the illusion and the Sea of Cognition…]

Just as when he had first held a memorial for his grandfather Zigg…

He had found another bug.