"Ugh… damn it! My head hurts! What happened?"
With a soft groan, Baise finally opened her eyes and slowly climbed to her feet.
However, before she could sort out the jumbled memories of what happened before she passed out and how she ended up in this remote, desolate place, a terrifying explosion and pillar of fire erupted into the sky.
She saw a muscular man, well over two meters tall, standing in an open space in the distant canyon. Using overwhelmingly powerful Nen, he had caught a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a gang member with his bare hands.
Although his clothes were destroyed by the blast, his body remained unharmed; at most, his skin and hair showed minor scorch marks.
One must remember that a bazooka explosion can generate terrifying temperatures close to three to four thousand degrees Celsius, and the warhead's enormous kinetic energy can easily penetrate the composite steel plates of armored vehicles and tank shells. Its destructive power is absolutely beyond doubt.
Yet, here it was, blocked squarely by a Nen user with a single hand.
"M-monster!" Baise stammered the two words out of her throat.
To be precise, she couldn't find any other words to describe what she was feeling.
Just as she was about to turn around and flee this dangerous location, she suddenly saw two figures and a massive silver wolf standing only a few steps away.
"You?!"
Baise immediately recognized Allen, recalled the scene at the auction house, and instinctively began to back away slowly.
"Relax. Don't be so tense. Have you forgotten that I was the one who saved you from the Phantom Troupe's massacre? If I really wanted to do something, I could have just watched you die," Allen said nonchalantly.
To be honest, his attention was completely drawn to the fierce combat strength displayed by Uvogin.
In a way, this guy was indeed exactly as Nobunaga had described him: he had honed the characteristics and advantages of his Enhancement type to the absolute limit, and his frontal combat power definitely put him in the Troupe's first-tier.
But his weaknesses were equally obvious.
That is, aside from his immense offense and defense, he had virtually no countermeasures for things like poisons or Nen abilities based on specific rules.
Once he was hit, without help, he was guaranteed to die a miserable death.
"You have a point."
Baise clearly realized the other party showed no hostility, immediately relaxed her taut nerves, and slumped onto the ground, asking with a complete disregard for her image as a lady: "Who exactly are you people? Assassins or bodyguards hired by the Mafia? Also, you just mentioned the Phantom Troupe, were they the ones who attacked the auction?"
"First, we don't have much to do with the Mafia, at least not with the Mafia hierarchy led by the Ten Dons. We are simply conducting a hunt, and the prey is the Phantom Troupe. Second, you guessed correctly: the Phantom Troupe's target this time was all the treasures at the underground auction." Saying this, Allen pulled out his Hunter License and flashed it in front of her to prove his identity.
"A hunt?" Baise was startled at first, but quickly seemed to connect the dots, and her expression suddenly changed dramatically. "You're the Grim Reaper!"
"Oh? Am I that famous now?" Allen glanced at the woman, slightly surprised.
"Famous is an understatement. The entire Dark World views you as the executioner sent by God to punish them. They even swear oaths now, saying things like, 'If I break this promise, may I run into the Grim Reaper.'" Baise instinctively blurted out everything she knew.
She had personally witnessed how, ever since Allen began his indiscriminate, furious hunt for malicious murderers a month ago, it had caused many Mafia members who loved to abuse their power to rein in their behavior.
Even assassins with bounties and photos on the Hunter website had abandoned their gangs and hidden themselves away in remote areas, terrified of accidentally walking into his crosshairs.
This kind of deterrent, born from the fear of death, was more effective than any law or form of punishment.
Of course, it wasn't that no one had thought about organizing a counter-attack.
Unfortunately, all the ambushes and sneak attacks had failed, and every participant had died horribly.
After several such attempts, the wanted criminals finally realized the absolute disparity in their strength, decisively abandoned their unrealistic fantasies, and chose to scatter and run for their lives.
"Swearing oaths using my nickname? It seems these guys are truly terrified. If you don't mind, could I trouble you to stick with us for a couple of days? At least until this hunt is complete, I don't want any information to leak out, and I especially don't want the Phantom Troupe to know I've set my sights on them," Allen requested.
Because Baise was a bodyguard hired by the Nostrade family, if he let her leave, Kurapika would get the news in minutes.
Given his deep-seated, bloody feud with the Troupe, it was entirely possible he'd attempt some kind of irrational, reckless action.
In fact, Kurapika's personality is highly neurotic and full of self-destructive tendencies.
"Yes! If it's about dealing with the Phantom Troupe, I'm willing to help." Baise gave an affirmative answer without hesitation.
She knew she didn't have the power to refuse.
Moreover, having personally experienced the massacre, she also hoped to see the Phantom Troupe face an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!
"Allen. The Shadow Beasts are here!" Bodoro suddenly spoke up to warn him.
"Leech, Worm, Rabid Dog, Porcupine... truly a motley crew of weaklings. But their life energy isn't bad; I'll reluctantly take it."
Saying this, Allen raised his Ancient Bone Bow, imbued a string of Nen abilities into the Thorium Arrow, and gently released his fingers.
Aimed Shot! Multi-Shot!
Accompanied by the terrifying speed provided by Aura Burst, the four unlucky targets instantly exploded before they even had time to react. Blood and torn flesh froze in the air, creating large, beautiful ice flowers.
"Vaelstrasz. Dinner is served."
The moment he spoke.
The Red Dragon instantly materialized and rushed forward. Before the four Shadow Beasts were completely dead, she immediately opened her mouth and spat out the Essence of Life fire, gathering the scattered limbs and minced flesh, turning them into a cocoon, and swallowing it.
After doing all this, she let out a satisfied burp, then slowly faded back into a phantom and completely disappeared.
At the same time, Allen flipped over the card that had materialized in the air, but he hadn't drawn anything, and he immediately felt a sense of relief.
The reason was very simple.
The abilities of these four guys were simply too disgusting.
Rabid Dog relied on his teeth to rip into enemies. Putting aside the hygiene issue, just watching it made him look no different than a wild animal.
Leech cultivated a large number of eggs within his own body and injected them into the enemy, causing the victim's bladder to burst, resulting in an agonizing death; it was the kind of ability that was garbage beyond garbage.
Worm's ability allowed him to tunnel underground and exert greater power, but that was all there was to it.
The only one with a slight use might have been Porcupine's power to control his body hair, but it also had too many limitations, such as being unable to defend against Emission-type Nen. Its potential for development was simply too limited; he'd be better off sticking to training Ken, Ryu, and Ko.
Therefore, he had no intention of stealing their abilities from the start.
To be precise, among the ten Shadow Beasts, only Owl was worth stealing from; the others weren't even worth the effort.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr-eon if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]