Chương 70: The Gap in His Defense

Enhancement, Conjuration, and Transmutation. The instant the three mercenaries attacked, Aren judged their Nen types. The blind man was most likely Manipulation. That left the dark-haired pretty boy, who had not yet moved. Aren did not know his type. Facing the three attacks, he showed no panic. Instead, he sounded amused.

"No interest in talking?" He did not dodge. He simply stood there and received their assault. Limitless Technique activated. As expected, all three attacks stopped in midair before touching him.

"So it really is a 360-degree defense with no blind spot." After confirming that point, the three immediately retreated. The bald tattooed man decisively released his hammer. The long-haired man scattered the aura gathered in his hand. Seeing how quickly they judged the situation, Aren redirected the two bullets fired by the man with glasses toward the bald man and the long-haired man. Neither of them flinched as the bullets approached.

Just before impact, the bullets suddenly changed direction and shot back toward Aren. This was their second test. They wanted to see where the limit of his defense was. The guns conjured by the man with glasses fired bullets he could freely control. That meant he did not need to fear Aren using the bullets against them. Aren narrowed his eyes.

"Bullets that can turn. Interesting." He withdrew Limitless Technique and gathered The Hand in his palm instead, preparing to erase the returning bullets. If the bullets could be freely controlled, Limitless Technique would be less useful against them. That was right. Aren could only use one ability at a time. Each Nen ability had a different spatial nature. His strength came mainly from spending life force, not from a deep understanding of space itself.

For now, he could not maintain two spatial abilities at the same time. Perhaps in the future, once he understood space more deeply, he would be able to do it. At the moment, he could not. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

'Chance.' The dark-haired pretty boy saw Aren raise his hand and immediately judged that he was switching to an offensive ability. The boy's eyes sharpened. He gathered a large amount of aura in both hands and thrust his palms forward. A column of Nen blasted straight toward Aren.

"Excellent analysis." Aren's eyes showed a hint of approval. What he did not know was that every action from the team had actually been directed by Adam from the dark. Adam might not have much talent for direct combat, but his battle mind was exceptional. Even so, they were still too naive. The gap in strength between them could not be filled by cleverness alone. Aren erased the two bullets with his right hand. At the same time, his left hand swept toward the space in front of the dark-haired boy.

A spatial fault appeared. The next second, Aren stood directly before him. There had been no movement trajectory at all. By the time the mercenaries' brains processed what their eyes had seen, he was already there. They had Shared Senses active. They were watching Aren from every angle, without interruption, almost like looking down at the battlefield from above. Even then, they had failed to follow him. Their minds recoiled.

Through Adam's Mind Wave: Shared Senses, every member clearly felt the pressure and fear of facing Aren at close range. The praise in Aren's eyes had already faded into numb indifference. He looked at the dark-haired boy as if looking at a corpse.

"You did well. Unfortunately, you chose the wrong opponent." His right hand swept out without mercy. Wherever it passed, space itself collapsed under The Hand. The boy's fragile head was swallowed by the collapsing gap and vanished without a trace. Blood erupted from the severed neck. In Adam's world, strategy and intelligence were everything. Before he had even awakened Nen, he had used his mind to kill a Nen user. Because of that, he believed individual strength had limits. Only intelligence was infinite.

As long as he used the surroundings, timing, teammates, information, and psychology properly, a weaker side could kill a stronger one with ease. No one was absolutely invincible. As long as someone was human, there had to be a weakness. Find that weakness, and any powerful person could be defeated. That was Adam's understanding of the world. The teammates he chose might not be outstanding in raw combat power, but every one of them had a useful specialty.

Through their coordination, countless strong opponents had died at their hands. Then Aren appeared and smashed that understanding apart by force.

"Monster!" Adam's voice rang through the shared link, no longer steady. The bald tattooed man roared and swung his fist toward Aren's back, but fear had already thrown off his rhythm. Aren did not look at him. Limitless Technique opened again. The fist stopped before it reached him. The man with glasses fired another controlled bullet, making it curve twice in the air, but Aren had already read the pattern. The Hand erased the bullet as it crossed his palm. The long-haired man tried to withdraw into a blind angle.

There was no blind angle. Aren stepped once, space folded, and the distance between them vanished. The long-haired man barely had time to raise his arm before The Hand passed through his torso. Half his chest disappeared. He fell without a scream. Three members dead. Jack, the dark-haired boy, and the long-haired man. Shared Senses did not spare the team from experiencing those deaths up close. Every remaining member felt the pressure, the blood, and the impossible speed as if they stood directly in front of Aren.

Johnny cursed.

"Boss, this isn't testing anymore. We're being slaughtered." Adam gritted his teeth.

"Then change the goal. We don't need to win. We need to survive long enough to find a way to escape."

"Run?" Johnny sounded furious.

"You told us no ability was invincible."

"It isn't. But we may not be the ones qualified to find the weakness." For the first time since he created the Adam Mercenary Band, Adam admitted that possibility. Aren looked toward the manor interior, where Adam was hiding. Even with Shared Senses, Adam felt as if those eyes had found him directly.

"Interesting support ability," Aren said.

"But if the command center falls, the whole formation collapses." Adam's breathing stopped. The next moment, white light flashed around Aren's body. The marked kunai still lay outside on the grass. The formula carved into it had already told him enough about the manor's space. Flying Thunder God Technique did not only let him arrive. It also gave him another way to reposition. By the time Adam's shared vision shifted, Aren was gone from the courtyard. Then he appeared at the entrance of the hall.

The blond leader sat inside, no longer surrounded by women, his fingers still pressed against his temples. Aren smiled faintly.

"Found you."