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Harry heard Dalzollene shout, "You two head over at once! I will coordinate the others!"
Apparently the rest of the Mafia had realized that something was going wrong inside the auction building.
Discovering that everyone had disappeared thanks to Shizuku's Nen ability, Blinky, a vacuum cleaner able to suck in everything besides what she considers living or has been created by Nen, the mafia thugs began to search the building.
Even the items for the auction were gone.
"All right! We will capture these thieves ourselves!" Dalzollene announced through the phone.
'Yeah, right.' Harry scoffed internally. Sure, Dalzollene wasn't bad, trained enough to tank 10 bullets, far better than the trash from the Heaven's Arena. But compared to the Phantom Troupe, he was fodder.
Even non-combatants in the Troupe have to at least accomplish a certain level of strength.
Shizuku is the second weakest in arm wrestling in the Troupe Ranking, and she almost beat Gon with her weaker arm, who could open one of the Zoldyck Testing Gates weighing a total of 4 tons before awakening Nen.
Storming out of the room in front of the boss's bedroom, Dalzollene was ordering them around, "I'm heading over. We'll meet at the overpass along the central square. Harry, come on. Squala leaves 5 dogs behind. Just in case."
Nodding both of them followed Dalzollene. Squala quickly addressed the Maids, "Don't let the Boss out of your sight. Don't let anyone in!"
While the remaining Nostrade bodyguards that were on-site kept following the Phantom Troupe escaping inside of an air balloon, Harry drove with Dalzollene and Squala according to their directions.
And of course he wasn't allowed to be the one driving, just because he looked too young to have done it before.
Just for the record, with a Hunter License, he is legally allowed to drive.
The Troupe led the Mafia, chasing them into the Wasteland outside of Yorknew City.
Towards a small valley with only one entrance, the Phantom Troupe is standing on an elevation on the opposite side of the entrance.
When the Nostrade Family arrived at the entrance to the valley, it had already been filled with all kinds of cars of the mafia that had followed the troupe, forcing them to park a bit away.
They arrived early enough to witness Uvogin, the physically strongest member of the Troupe, slaughter the horde of Mafia thugs, remaining unharmed by guns. A sniper round didn't scratch him; it only stung him slightly.
Uvogin even took a Bazooka blast just with the palm of his hand. The only thing damaged by it was his clothes.
"What was that blast?" Cried out, Squala was scared.
Kurapika, who had been first at the scene with Melody, gave the explanation, "The enemy uses Nen too. And he's incredibly powerful."
Harry could agree with that. For a human Uvogin reached an extreme level of strength, and he hadn't even mastered his Nen ability yet. The proficiency in one's Nen ability is determined by what the user imagines or wishes for his ability to be.
It hasn't anything to do with one's talent, but simply whether one has mastered his own ability. Without training one could even fall in rank.
Uvogin's ability, as simple as it was, with being a straight right hook, enhanced with his aura. His goal was to make it as strong as a nuclear warhead.
Right now it had the strength of a small bomb with several meters radius of destruction.
There are four levels of proficiency for Nen abilities, ranging from Great, Excellent, and Genius to Ultimate. Uvogin had reached the Genius Level. Harry's best guess was that it would be considered on the Ultimate Level if he reached the level of damage a small nuclear warhead would cause.
He couldn't wait to see how it looked for real.
Of course proficiency wasn't everything in a battle; there are so many other factors that would affect the outcome of a fight.
Even an ability with ultimate proficiency wasn't necessarily stronger than one with a great proficiency. It depended on the ability itself.
For example, Komugi, a natural Nen user who has not awakened Nen, has the ability to enhance her skills in a board game called Gungi with every game she plays. She is also considered to have a genius proficiency.
She would die if Uvogin just slapped her without Nen.
Or Harry himself, his Nen Ability thanks to his Sacred Gear Dimension Lost is to manipulate space.
When he reached a great proficiency in his ability, he was simply able to enhance the existing abilities of his Sacred Gear by manipulating it into portals or different mist constructs.
Now he had reached the excellent level of proficiency, no longer having to rely on just his Sacred Gear, being able to use just his own aura to manipulate space and enhance it more with his Sacred Gear.
Also using it with completely new functions, like infusing a bit of his Space Type Aura to mark people and objects like the Hiraishin from Naruto, to summon them or teleport himself to them.
Or shortening the distance between two points inside his body to think and react instantly.
A genius proficiency would scale up the abilities even more, like manipulating the space between two points outside of his body and other broken shit. There are so many abilities he used as his inspiration to work out a training plan.
At the ultimate level, Space would become his bitch without having to rely on his Sacred Gear at all.
Compared to Uvogin's Big Bang Impact Ability, Harry felt his Space Ability was on completely different levels.
Nen is deeply personal, shaped by the state of one's mind and individual beliefs.
In Uvogin's case, a nuclear weapon was the most powerful concept he could imagine—a reflection of his desire to embody unparalleled strength. He didn't just want to be strong; he wanted to be the strongest.
For Harry, with his broader perspective, his ability to manipulate space seemed to have a far greater ceiling for mastery.
When he thought of other Nen users like Morel Mackernasey or characters from different universes—such as Minato Namikaze, Tobirama Senju, Gojo Satoru, Ryomen Sukuna, Trafalgar Law, Rimuru Tempest, Dr. Strange, and countless others who could manipulate space in various forms—he realized just how much potential his ability truly held.
"He's ripping people apart with his bare hands." Squala stated in panic as the other Nostrade bodyguards had kept discussing the opponents they 'wanted' to capture, "We don't stand a chance!"
"You can't make me go up there!" Basho agreed completely with Squala's sensible assessment. For them, Uvogin is far beyond their level. It would be suicide.
Harry, however, wouldn't agree. While Squala's Nen ability was undeniably weak, limited to the strength of his pack of dogs, Basho's ability was far more versatile.
With well-crafted haikus and proper preparation, Basho would have a decent chance of taking down someone even as formidable as Uvogin.
After all, raw strength wasn't everything in Nen combat—or any form of combat, for that matter.
"Maybe..." Dalzollene conceded, though he was clearly reluctant to agree. As much as he didn't want to go, his duty as leader compelled him. "But we can't back out without at least giving it a try."
As they remained indecisive, Melody reacted to something turning around.
"What is it?" Asked Kurapika.
"I hear another heartbeat!"
"Someone is approaching from Underground." Harry nodded as he had kept his En active for a while.
While planning his actions in Yorknew, Harry had been considering whether he should steal the Nen abilities of the guys arriving now.
The so-called Shadow Beasts.
A group consisting of the ten strongest Nen Users in the Mafia Community under the direct leadership of the Ten Dons, the leaders of the Mafia in each of the ten regions they split the world in.
Looking at the freak of nature in front of him crawling out of the ground, Harry was now sure that he made the right choice with not planning to take and devour their essence.
Almost each of the Shadow Beasts possesses a Nen Ability inspired by an animal that comes with abnormal physical changes. Or they were just born ugly.
Considering that the guy in front of him looks like a hybrid between a worm and a human, he hoped that no one was born in such a way. The Shadow Beast Worm was now staring at them with his yellow eyes.
"I am a Shadow Beast; the name is Worm." He addressed them, "Which family do you belong to?"
Dalzollene replied while sweating, just as creeped out as the others, "The Ritz Family. We are Mr. Nostrades bodyguards."
"Uh-huh. I suggest you stay out of this." Nodded Worm.
"They're not just petty thieves." Said another voice approaching out of the darkness of the night. A lanky man with spiky hair and pointy ears, his teeth razor sharp. Harry recognized him as Rabid Dog; that's his name…
"Yep. Killing is part of their daily lives. Yep. They're pros. Said a small bald man in a jogging outfit. Porcupine of the Shadow Beasts.
And lastly, a fat guy with black hair and an ugly nose added, "Leave this to us." Leech of the Shadow Beasts.
"Let the experts handle it."
'Experts, yeah sure.' Harry scoffed again, but not showing anything on the outside.
As impressive as the name 'Shadow Beasts' and their status within the Mafia community might have sounded, they were ultimately one of the biggest letdowns.
For so-called experts, their Nen abilities were a complete waste of the invested lifetime. At least for the four or five Shadow Beasts whose abilities were revealed.
The other five Shadow Beasts from the ten in total were probably not much better since they had similar fucked-up animal mutations and got killed offscreen by the Phantom Troupe.
If it wasn't for the mutations to their looks, the abilities of Worm and Porcupine were quite decent. Worm-like, the animal could freely move through Earth, useful in utility but limited in strength.
Porcupine could manipulate his body hair; he could harden and soften it so that he could stick to his opponents, and they were unable to hurt him with physical attacks.
Decently defensive, but he had no way to attack.
Then there is Rabid Dog; he has an offensive ability, but it was disgusting. By using his razor-sharp teeth, he could even harm Uvogin, and they could inject a paralysing toxin into his opponent. But he was literally eating the flesh of others with that attack, which is just disgusting.
But the most disgusting one amongst the Shadow Beasts is Leech. He has the ability to manipulate leeches, some of the flesh-eating ones with healing properties, making the ability quite versatile. But still weak since he relies on weak animals, parasitic worms to be precise, that he keeps inside his own body in some kind of sac in his mouth.
"They will die." Harry said calmly as the Shadow Beasts were far enough away.
"What are you saying?" Dalzollene asked while sweating nervously, "These are the Shadow Beasts, the strongest Nen Users in the Mafia."
"Sure, their Nen capacity reaches the levels of some of the thieves. But I can tell that their Hatsu is subpar and wasted their potential. Their bodies are also far too weak." Harry replied, not bothered by the offended tone Dalzollene had at the end, pointing at Uvogin, "That one guy can beat them alone. Sure, he is the strongest of the Thieves, but each of them is stronger than a Shadow Beast. If the Shadow Beasts are able to beat that guy, there are five others who can interfere. But only if. Just watch."
All of the Nostrade bodyguards watched the fight between Uvogin and the Shadow Beasts. At first it looked promising when Worm pulled Uvogin's arm down into the Earth, immobilizing him so that the other Beasts could attack him.
But then that Battle Fanatic Uvogin pulled out his Big Bang Impact, causing a wave of destruction in the size of a small bomb impact with just his fist.
Beating Worm of the Shadow Beasts and scaring the other Nostrade bodyguards, proving what Harry had just said.
One thing became visible on Uvogin's back as his top was now completely gone.
The tattoo of a twelve-legged spider with the number eleven on its back.
Meanwhile the rest of the Phantom Troupe were playing cards.
"It's the Phantom Troupe." Harry pointed out, "Can you capture them?"
While the rest of the bodyguards thought Harry meant them and their attempt to capture the thieves. Kurapika understood that he meant him, his eyes resting on Harry, a scarlet glow around the edge of his iris as he nodded.
Harry grinned.
The fight continued with the three remaining Shadow Beasts attacking Uvogin together, Porcupine sticking to his right fist with his hairs. While Rabid Dog ripped a bit of flesh out of his shoulder, secretly injecting his paralyzing venom.
Uvogin tried to use Porcupine as his fist since he couldn't attack him, but he learned that his right fist was now useless since the Shadow Beast could manipulate his hair to not harm his allies.
Taking advantage of the distracted Uvogin, Rabid Dog ripped a bit out of Uvogin's leg. This was the moment the paralyzing toxins began to finally work, paralyzing Uvogin from his head down.
Since he couldn't move anymore, Leech took the opportunity to implant his leeches into Uvogin out of the sac inside his mouth.
In combination, the Shadow Beasts had a decent combo against one opponent. If they were to fight a group of equal strength, they would lose.
The other Nostrade bodyguards looked at Harry, "Just watch. They will lose; you can see a real Nen Monster now."
With a large bite, Uvogin ate a part of Leeches head, who had been gloating at him, killing the Shadow Beast. A wide grin on his face at the other two remaining Shadow Beasts, who stared at him in shock, before he began to inhale.
A sudden burst out of Uvogin's mouth, and he had spit a projectile towards Rabid Dog. One piece of Leech's skull that he had bitten off.
Barely able to react, Rabid Dog stretched his hand out, coated in his aura, trying to block the skull piece.
But Uvogin, an expert in Nen, had enhanced it with Emission, and it pierced through Rabid Dog's hand before doing the same to his skull.
Now the only Shadow Beast left was Porcupine, sticking to Uvogin's right fist. Uvogin, now looking at the last Shadow Beast with a predatory grin, began to inhale again.
Porcupine didn't seem worried; after all, he could stop any projectile with the defense of his hair.
Too bad he underestimated Uvogin, as the muscular giant let out a massive Nen-enhanced shout towards the remaining Shadow Beast, forcing everyone in the area to cover their ears.
Of course that close, Porcupine had been far too slow. Bleeding from his nose and ears, his nen ability dropped, and Uvogin grabbed him by his hair, seemingly mocking him before throwing him away.
Uvogin of the Phantom Troupe has defeated 4 Shadow Beasts by himself.
"What are you doing, Kurapika?" Dalzollene asked as he had begun to move towards the Phantom Troupe.
"I am going to capture him. What else?"
"Are you mad? Didn't you see what kind of monster that is?" Squala shouted disbelievingly.
"Well then, let's go." Harry said calmly as he joined Kurapika.
"You two are insane. Stop, you are going to kill us all." Squala screamed.
( End of Chapter )
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