"Hard to believe that someone as strong as Lofsky is just being toyed with by the opponent." Silva found it somewhat hard to believe for a moment. Certainly, he had seen Nen user experts before and had killed powerful Nen users. He had killed quite a few strong and weak experts in his career. It's just that he had never encountered an enemy strong to this degree. If he had still held some slight contempt for Meruem during their battle, now only seriousness and vigilance remained.
The Zoldyck family was indeed powerful, but as an assassin clan, their greatest strength wasn't in direct confrontation but in assassination. However, the monster before them could already be said to be strong to a degree that provided immunity to assassination to a certain extent. Although he didn't know if poison would work, Silva felt that with his current strength, assassinating Meruem would basically be an impossible mission.
"I heard this Ant King and the Chimera Ant race also come from the Dark Continent. Could there be many guys as strong as them in that place? How exciting." Beyond actually showed an expectant expression. Truly worthy of being called a man exactly like Chairman Netero in his youth - his adventurous spirit rivaled that of the adventurer family, the Freecss clan.
"Stop thinking about those random things. Think about how to deal with this monster first. If I'm not mistaken, after that monster finishes playing around, it'll be Lofsky's death. I estimate Lofsky can at most withstand five more moves. Also, that female ant standing over there - her strength shouldn't be much inferior either. Anyone who dares stand here and watch the battle at a time like this isn't simple." Zeno calmly analyzed. His combat experience was the highest among the several people. Of course, this excluded the missing Maha Zoldyck. But unfortunately, he didn't know that in the original work, Pitou really wanted to fight Zeno, and from the original plot's perspective, comparing their strengths clearly showed Zeno at a disadvantage. Of course, what he knew even less was that Meruem wasn't toying with Lofsky - he was learning Lofsky's techniques, or rather, he was stealing his teachings. Just brazenly stealing teachings.
"Hey, Shady, should we help that thick-browed guy later? That guy's going to be killed soon." The stubbled decadent uncle tugged at the pants of the long-haired young man standing beside him. Well, the stubbled uncle had been sitting cross-legged the whole time, while the long-haired young man had been standing.
"If you want to die, you can go. I'm warning you one more time - don't touch me again." The long-haired young man called Shady snatched his pant leg back from the stubbled uncle's hands. Of course, a mysterious yellow stain still appeared on that pant leg.
"Tch, so heartless. Yawn..." The stubbled uncle complained while picking his nose, then covered his mouth and let out a long yawn. Among the several people, he was the least tense, most lazy, and least battle-ready. If a bed appeared on the ground right now, I think this guy would definitely be the first man to lie down on it, or rather, the only one.
"Alright, I've learned your martial arts. Thank you for your guidance." Just after Zeno finished those words, during the third move of their exchange, Meruem suddenly said this to Lofsky.
Although Lofsky was somewhat confused, he didn't have time to worry about this. Drenched in sweat, he only wanted to quickly eliminate the monster before him. After fighting for so long, not a single drop of sweat had appeared on Meruem's body, which was simply unscientific to Lofsky. If they continued fighting, he'd probably be worn down to death.
"I've already seen through your techniques. Now I can send you on your way. But to show gratitude for your contribution of martial arts techniques, I've decided to use Netero's signature technique to kill you. How about it? Feel honored?" Meruem didn't care what Lofsky thought. Since he had already learned the opponent's techniques, the opponent's value was no longer useful.
"Damn ant, you think you've won? This is—" At this moment, a huge Guanyin statue appeared before Lofsky, identical to Chairman Netero's Guanyin statue.
"What?" "This technique?" "How is this possible!" "This is father's—"
"Lofsky, you can die now." Completely ignoring the surprised calls and gazes of the other people, Meruem gently swung a palm toward Lofsky.
"Hundred-Type Guanyin" - middle finger bent to touch the thumb, Meruem raised an elegant orchid finger. This was the essential movement for Hundred-Type Guanyin techniques. The huge Guanyin statue's hands fiercely smashed down on Lofsky, who couldn't even dodge in time and was completely hit.
"This monster can even use Chairman Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin. We can determine that this monster's Nen ability probably isn't ignoring defense after all. It should be similar to that Phantom Troupe leader in Yorknew City who steals others' abilities, just don't know what the opponent's activation conditions are or how he acquires them." Zeno seemed unable to bear seeing Lofsky being smashed into meat paste and closed his eyes. He just didn't know that Meruem's ability wasn't stealing, but learning, fusion, and improvement. This was an even more terrifying ability than stealing. Stolen things ultimately aren't one's own and will inevitably feel somewhat unnatural or have flaws when used. But learning, fusion, and improvement were different - they could definitely be utilized 100%.
"The first one. Who else?" Meruem coldly surveyed the several people around him.
"Are you deciding to attack together now, or continue one-on-one duels?"
"Wait... I'm... not dead yet." A creature like a blood person wriggled up from the large crater created by the previous Hundred-Type Guanyin. Multiple fractures throughout his body, with some bones already turned to powder, most internal organs ruptured, multiple blood vessels burst, and even his shoulders down had been beaten into a mushy state. Staying alive in this condition was already a stroke of luck, and as for fighting, perhaps even an ordinary person could put him to death.
"You didn't die after taking my full-strength attack?" Meruem looked at Lofsky with surprise. What was the concept of his full-strength attack? Even Netero would have broken hands and feet if hit. This unremarkable-looking man had actually survived through tenacious vitality - incredible.
"Is it that ability of yours called 'God's Power'?" A good ability that could greatly increase one's survivability - quite a practical technique. Unfortunately, it was useless to himself. This level of enhancement technique would basically have no effect if used on himself. If the opponent could injure him, he would have died long ago. No matter how much he strengthened his body, it wouldn't help. If the opponent couldn't hurt him, adding that wouldn't mean much either. Meruem had fought Lofsky for so long only to learn the opponent's martial techniques. Simply put, if Lofsky's defense was 50 and speed and strength were both 20, then Lofsky's ability could boost his defense to 100 and speed and strength to around 90. But Meruem's own defense was at 300, with speed and strength around 400, so this Nen ability didn't significantly improve Meruem's strength. Of course, the above data was purely for comparison and not actual calculations.
"I can still fight!" Lofsky said staggeringly.
"Are you harboring a death wish? Although I admire your attitude of dying in battle, I don't approve of this behavior of seeking death when you can't win. One failure actually made you lose your fighting spirit? Can't you train again after this failure until you can defeat me, then come challenge me again? It seems your capacity is only this much. You may go. Since you can survive under my full-strength attack, I won't kill you, and I won't fight you again." After Meruem finished speaking, he no longer looked at Lofsky.
After hearing Meruem's words, Lofsky closed his eyes, as if deep in thought.
No one disturbed him - neither his companions who came together, nor Meruem and Pitou.
After a long while, Lofsky opened his eyes, and his entire aura instantly became different. Although his body was covered in wounds, no one would underestimate the current Lofsky.
"Hehehe, I was actually lectured by a monster. If you and I can survive this incident, next time we meet, next time we meet I will definitely defeat you." Lofsky looked at Meruem and spoke firmly, word by word.
"Next time I won't let you survive so easily. I will definitely kill you." Although slightly annoyed by Lofsky calling him a monster, he didn't dwell on it too much. As for next time? They could talk about meeting again. Soon he would leave the Hunter world to adventure in other worlds. Whether he could return was still uncertain. Even if he did return, he would definitely become much stronger. What would Lofsky fight him with next time? With his ass?
Lofsky walked toward the outside of the royal palace with his trembling body, and everyone made way for him. After all, his determination still earned the respect of those who wouldn't kill him. Even if they disdained the dueling approach, this didn't prevent the others from changing their view of him.
Chimera Ant Subjugation Army - Lofsky exits.
"King." Unlike the subjugation army, Pitou somewhat didn't understand Meruem's thinking. Why spare this guy? Openly provoking him by saying he'd defeat the King next time - how unreasonable. Although Pitou didn't think this guy could possibly defeat the King no matter how much he trained, that change in aura might really be able to injure the King next time - this was just Pitou's intuition. But shouldn't provocations from weak creatures be eliminated? Why let him return? Even if not killing him, turning him into a toy would be fine. The King's actions - incomprehensible, couldn't understand. Pitou's head might as well have had a question mark above it.
"Pitou, this world is very large. Sometimes having more variables, more unknowns, more challenges isn't that better? I'm finally starting to understand Netero's attitude when facing me - knowing he couldn't win but still wanting to fight me. Only by challenging stronger people can one become stronger. I also want to fight those experts who are stronger than me. The path of martial arts is like sailing against the current - if you don't advance, you retreat. You can't kill someone in the cradle just because they might threaten you. Don't be a coward, just do it! Face them head-on!" Pitou understood Meruem's words even less. Did people stronger than the King really exist? Meruem had once said that humans in this world could defeat him, but Pitou had always thought Meruem was deceiving them. However, what she didn't know was that even if this world didn't have such people, it didn't mean other worlds didn't either.
(End of Chapter)
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