Chương 69: Mind Wave

"Humans always call what they don't understand monsters." Aren stepped over the corpses without emotion, sounding almost thoughtful.

"There! Hurry!"

"It's those Nostrade bastards again!"

"Go notify Adam's people!"

"They've already been notified. They're on the way." After Aren killed the guards at the entrance, the outer security teams began surrounding him. He was mildly interested. From the earlier situation alone, he could roughly tell that the mercenaries were not weak. Wide detection range, strong attack power, and probably a long-range killing method. Those were only two abilities. As a team, they should also have close-range combat and some kind of support.

While his thoughts wandered, the bullets fired at him had already surrounded him. Aren spread his arms and imitated Pain's tone from memory.

"Almighty Push." In the next instant, every bullet flew back. The bullets that had seemed harmless in front of Aren became reaping blades among the attackers. Seeing this from the manor attic, Jack grinned.

"Chance." He pulled the trigger without hesitation. Bang. The recoil kicked up a large cloud of dust inside the attic. The bullet wrapped in Jack's aura shot toward Aren at four times the speed of sound. But just before it hit, the bullet slowed. Slower. And slower. Until, like all the other bullets, it stopped three or four centimeters from Aren's face. Aren looked at the sniper round still spinning in the air, wrapped in thick aura.

"So it's a sniper rifle. Very mercenary. Enhancement, perhaps? With a portion of Emission too."

"What? How..." Jack stared in disbelief as Aren caught his bullet without even moving. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. When Aren had reflected the Evans guards' bullets, Jack instinctively assumed it was an opening. He thought Aren would not be able to switch in time, and that the gap would let him score a perfect hit. But Aren was not like the Nen users they usually fought. He was a genuine monster.

Aren calmly looked toward the attic where the shot had come from. That single glance made every hair on Jack's body stand.

"Damn it..." He had to move immediately. Jack had not forgotten how the mafia guards had died. The bullet was his. The aura on it was his. That did not mean he could withstand his own attack.

"Jack! Move now!" Adam's voice rang inside his mind.

"Damn it, I'm already--" The air burst with a shockwave. The sniper round tore back toward the attic at the same Mach 4 speed. At that speed, Jack had no time to escape. Just like Sari before him, his body burst open like a smashed watermelon, painting the attic in blood and flesh.

"Jack is dead." Adam's gloomy voice sounded in the minds of the other members.

"This man is extremely dangerous. What we know right now is that he can reflect attacks, and the ability appears to protect him in every direction."

"Then how do we fight him?" Johnny, the most hot-tempered member, snapped.

"If our attacks get reflected, what are we supposed to do?"

"No Nen ability is invincible," Adam said.

"His ability must have a weakness. It may be attack intensity. It may be some other condition. We attack together and test him step by step." With too little information, that was the best method Adam could choose.

"Next, I will activate shared senses. We pool everything we perceive and uncover his abilities as quickly as possible."

"OK!" All of them answered at once. After receiving their consent, Adam raised both hands and pressed two fingers to each temple. Mind Wave: Shared Senses activated. Mind Wave. This was Adam's Nen ability. As the leader of the Adam Mercenary Band, he was not actually the strongest in the group. If they fought directly, he might even rank near the bottom. The reason every member recognized him as leader was his powerful support ability. Few people knew Adam was a Specialist. His Nen was mental in nature.

Mind Wave connected minds, allowing thoughts to pass between people. Under normal circumstances, it only let Adam transmit what he wanted to say. But when Adam himself maintained Zetsu, he could activate its ultimate effect: Shared Senses. In that state, the linked people did not merely share thoughts. Sight, hearing, touch, and every other sense became shared information. It was like giving the entire team a Rinnegan-like field of vision. Their coordination became as smooth as a single body.

On top of that, the blind member of their team was a Manipulator-type support Nen user. At the cost of his own eyes, he could attach his aura to small creatures and use their sight. Once Shared Senses was active, every other member could obtain the same vision. Together, they practically gained a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. That ultimate state had carried them through countless dangerous jobs. Aren, meanwhile, stepped over the bodies left behind and reached the true gate of Evans Manor. The Hand.

He raised his right hand and cut. A massive gap opened in the gate. With a slight tilt of his head, he walked into the manor. Five men in matching military uniforms stood inside, all watching him with solemn faces. Their positions formed a loose encirclement. They should be the remaining members of the Adam Mercenary Band. Aren glanced over them and gave each a label in his mind. Bald tattoo. Glasses. Long-haired delinquent. Blind man. Dark-haired pretty boy.

'Besides reflecting attacks, he has a power that corrodes or melts matter?' The same thought passed through all six minds at once. From the way Aren had entered the manor, they could roughly judge that he possessed another offensive Nen ability in addition to the defensive one that reflected attacks. One attack, one defense. Both terrifyingly strong.

'Test him first.' Because their minds and senses were linked, they did not even need to exchange glances. The bald tattooed man pulled a heavy hammer from behind his back and strode forward, swinging it down at Aren. At the same time, the man with glasses and the long-haired delinquent moved. The long-haired man circled behind Aren. Aura gathered in his hand, becoming sharp as a blade, and he aimed for Aren's kidney without the slightest sense of honor.