"They would be fighting tooth and nail to work with this man and join him in exploring ruins..."
That was the first thought flashing through Bushidora Ambitious's mind.
Even he was tempted.
If the ruin hunters found out about this, who knew how chaotic things would get?
"Looks like not all participants in this hunter exam are useless after all."
Bushidora Ambitious, silently separated Luke from those other applicants he had judged as incompetent.
In his eyes, based on Nen's ability alone, this applicant, No. 404, was more than qualified to become a true hunter.
Of course, while Bushidora Ambitious affirmed this in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a mix of curiosity and confusion.
"He's already in first place and has a massive advantage."
"I even told him the exact location where an easy question was buried."
"As long as he followed the steps, found that sheet of question paper or any other one, and brought it to me, he could've easily passed this round."
"So why did he suddenly take out such a valuable item and even expose his Nen ability?"
"Moreover, he handed that coil with exploration capabilities to applicant No. 101, letting him go look for other sheets of question paper instead?"
per
Bushidora Ambitious could tell that applicants No. 101 and No. 404 didn't seem to have much of a relationship.
Or rather, No. 404 seemed familiar with No. 101, but the latter was clearly wary, alert, and... Fearful of him.
That was obviously not the kind of dynamic people who know each other normally have.
Just as Bushidora Ambitious was puzzled and couldn't make sense of it, Luke's actions soon told him exactly what he intended to do.
"Dig up all these sheets of question paper properly."
Luke patted Tonpa's shoulder, giving him a final piece of advice.
Then...
"The show's about to begin."
A grin curved up on his lips, and then...
Whoosh!
His figure suddenly vanished before Tonpa's eyes.
"Huh...?"
Tonpa didn't even have time to react; his vision blurred for a moment, and the dangerous man who had been standing in front of him had already disappeared.
"Where did he go?!"
Tonpa's entire body tensed immediately.
Although Luke had said it wouldn't take much effort to deal with him, the lack of security in this situation kept his nerves on high alert.
Especially now that Luke was on the move, his sense of danger spiked to its limit.
However... Luke had said he wouldn't touch him, and he really didn't.
Because... Luke was targeting someone else.
Thud.
A sudden sound came from nearby, making Tonpa jolt in fright.
He quickly turned toward it, only to see that one of the applicants had already collapsed onto the desert ground.
His eyes rolled back, clearly unconscious.
And even more terrifyingly, that applicant wasn't the only one.
Thud! Thud!
In quick succession, more and more bodies hit the ground.
"What the hell..."
Tonpa's face grew pale with fear as his eyes widened in horror.
He could see a blur of movement flashing past the other applicants, and wherever that shadow passed, the next instant, the person dropped to the ground, limp and powerless.
They had no idea what had hit them; they were completely defenseless and caught entirely off guard.
Perhaps even though these applicants were mentally prepared and on guard, they would have never expected that a powerful figure would suddenly attack them.
Moreover, that person's strength had long surpassed their ability by a wide margin.
Many of the applicants didn't even know what had happened before they collapsed in confusion.
Of course, not everyone was caught completely off guard.
Some, like Tonpa, also heard the sounds of other applicants falling to the ground.
When they turned to look and noticed something was wrong, their expressions instantly changed.
But… even if they realized it, so what?!
The overwhelming difference in strength left them with no chance to react or defend themselves.
They could only watch helplessly as that blur of a figure rushed toward them.
Then… the world spun, darkness fell, and they collapsed to the ground in a flash.
"Don't come any closer!"
The remaining conscious applicants stared wide-eyed, veins popping in their bloodshot eyes.
Terror gradually crept across their faces.
After realizing that they couldn't even defend themselves, that there was no room to fight back, and there was only one option left: To run.
And so…
After a few more applicants swiftly fell one after another, the remaining ones all, without needing to discuss it, made the same decision: Run for their lives!
In an instant, the entire desert became a scene of chaos, with groups of applicants scattering in panic.
However…
"With just dozens or so people, cleaning them up won't take much effort."
The desert wind carried a faint, almost lazy voice through the sand.
It was as if these weren't over a dozen tough applicants who had passed the earlier round, but rather a swarm of tiny insects waiting to be crushed.
And indeed, that wasn't far from the truth.
When the remaining applicants began to flee, Luke had already taken down a large number of them.
The moment they took a step, his shadow followed like a ghost.
Thud… Thud…
Across the desert, the only sound that echoed was the repeated sound of bodies hitting the ground.
"T-this..."
Tonpa stared blankly at the scene unfolding before him. It was like watching someone slice vegetables.
His throat moved as he uttered the dry word with difficulty.
Having the same shock was Bushidora Ambitious.
If it were him, taking out a couple of hundred ordinary people wouldn't be impossible.
But doing it as effortlessly and cleanly as Luke had? That was beyond him.
Suddenly, a familiar name flashed through his mind: the Zoldyck Family, the world's number one assassin family.
"Only someone from the Zoldyck Family could pull off such a swift massacre..."
Bushidora Ambitious thought silently.
In the original storyline, during the 288th hunter exam, Killua could take down seven or eight people in a single second with ease.
Luke didn't have Killua's refined assassination technique.
Besides, Killua had done that in a small, cramped underground space, whereas Luke was fighting in a vast, open desert.
That gave the applicants more room to escape, but that was all it was, just more space.
For Luke, it only meant taking a little more time to finish the job.
And so, within just a few short minutes, every applicant in the desert, except for Luke and Tonpa, was lying unconscious on the ground.
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