Chương 71: Monster

The word appeared in every mind at once. Aren did not know which of them felt it first. Perhaps all of them did. Either way, to the surviving mercenaries, his handsome face now looked like something wearing human skin. From the start of the exchange, Aren had already sensed something unnatural. Since engaging these five men, they had not spoken to one another once. They had not even exchanged glances. Yet their attack rhythm, their positioning, and their cooperation were perfect. Too perfect.

If they had been like Uvogin and Nobunaga, companions who had fought together for years, Aren could have understood it. Long familiarity could build frightening coordination. But that kind of teamwork still required one side to adjust to the other, or at least some minimal eye contact. These men moved almost simultaneously without watching one another. Aren was a new enemy to them. This was not a game boss following a familiar pattern. They could not know each other's next step purely through habit.

For five people to do that by instinct alone would be nearly impossible. Even quintuplets would not reach true telepathy. Aren did not believe they could do it naturally. If he had only suspected it before, the moment he used The Hand's spatial displacement to appear in front of the dark-haired boy confirmed it. Two of them had not even been looking in that direction, yet they immediately adjusted as if they had seen him. Their minds were connected.

He had already seen all five visible abilities, and none were related to mental links. That meant at least one more person was hiding somewhere, using his ability to connect them. Once Aren realized that, powerful aura expanded from his body in an instant. En. Everything within two hundred meters fell under his awareness. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"So there was another little mouse hiding." Aren turned toward Adam's hiding place. The instant Aren's gaze landed on him, every hair on Adam's body stood up. Even his blood seemed to freeze beneath that stare. For Adam, time slowed to an unbearable crawl. His mind began racing by instinct, just as it always had. It searched for a method, any method, that could pull him out of this situation. Nothing came. Only one conclusion filled his head.

'I'm going to die.' No matter how quickly his mind worked, he could not think of a way out. Or perhaps his mind had already understood that no plan would matter. All he could do was wait for death. Against Aren, the more Adam relied on schemes, the more easily he fell into situations he had never imagined. At first, he thought Aren only had a reflective defense. Then Aren revealed a powerful offensive ability. When Adam thought that was the full picture, Aren displayed instant movement.

No matter what Adam guessed or designed, Aren kept producing something outside his expectations. Now he had no answer left. Looking at the surviving mercenaries, whose minds were already going blank, Aren began to lose interest. In Hunter x Hunter, what had always fascinated him was not only the complete power system or the strange abilities. It was the mind games between Nen users. Like JoJo, battles were not meant to be simple contests of raw stats. That was why he had been waiting.

He wanted to see whether Adam's group could find some clever way to deal with him. It was an arrogant expectation. But against them, Aren had the right to be arrogant. Unfortunately, judging from their current state, they had reached their limit.

"Looks like this is as far as it goes." Aren clicked his tongue, bored. If the game was over, it was time to end it. His right hand cut out a spatial fault again. The next instant, he appeared in front of the blind mercenary. He swatted casually. The Hand erased the man's head. Blood sprayed from the severed neck.

"Second."

'Run.'

'Split up and run.' With Adam unable to provide an answer, the remaining three finally understood that Aren was not the same kind of difficult opponent they had faced before. He was a monster they could not fight. A real monster. Their expressions twisted, and they fled in three different directions. Aren held three Flying Thunder God kunai between his fingers.

'Good thing the original body had excellent throwing-knife skills.' Aura gathered in his hand. He carved formulas onto all three kunai and flicked them out. The blades flew toward the three escape routes. As soon as each kunai drew close, white light flashed around Aren. Within a single second, he appeared beside all three men in turn. Flying Thunder God: Slash. The Hand covered both his hands, turning them into the sharpest blades in the world. He cut all three men in half with ease. En was useful here.

Without it, even Aren might have needed a moment to adjust to the rapid shifts in perspective.

"Now only you remain." Aren reappeared where he had started and looked toward Adam with a mocking smile.

"Are you coming out yourself, or should I go to you?" Adam walked out from the shadows with both hands raised. There was no panic on his face. Instead, a strange fanaticism burned in his eyes. All six members had been under Shared Senses. In other words, when Aren killed the other five, Adam experienced every death as if it had happened to him. After experiencing five deaths through Shared Senses, his understanding of the world shattered and rebuilt itself.

The terror humans felt toward something beyond comprehension transformed into worship. Only now did Adam truly understand. The truth of the world was not intelligence or planning. It was absolute power. It was power beyond humanity. For a moment, he wanted to shout that he would throw away his old self. Aren saw the fanatic look in Adam's eyes and felt a flicker of surprise.

'Was he frightened stupid?' Before Aren could decide what Adam intended, the man spoke.

"I want to follow you."