"This place isn't far from where we were!" Rita quickly crouched down, touching the grass beneath her feet with her ability.
The scarred man's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Hmph! Don't worry about your captain. Even if he's nearby, it won't take him long to kill you all. When he finally finds you, all he'll have to do is collect your corpses!"
He moved like lightning, closing the distance in an instant. Menchi reacted, swinging her sword, but a whip burst from the ground and wrapped around her waist. With a violent jerk, her feet left the ground and she slammed into a tree trunk.
Fant unleashed his nen and threw a blow at his charging attacker. But the battle was already lost as his legs sank into the mud, leaving him half a head shorter than his opponent. The scarred man's fist pressed hard against Fant's skull, bending his arm at an unnatural angle. But Fant's face remained calm, his eyes defiant.
"Still a tough nut to crack," the scarred man, a user of the reinforcement system, mused. "Unfortunately, someone of your level shouldn't be here at all." Suddenly, he increased the pressure against Fant's fist and followed through.
The impact was devastating. Dirt exploded in all directions as Fant coughed up blood, his body driven deep into a crater in the ground.
Meanwhile, Menchi had already cut through the whip that bound her and tried to rush to Fant's aid. But a dense mass of whips materialized before her, writhing like a flood of snakes, cutting off her escape route completely. She dodged and weaved, her blade flashing as she sliced through the unfurling whips, but they instantly regenerated, as if they could heal themselves.
Snap!
A sharp crack split the air as one of the whips struck a nearby tree. The impact not only stripped off the bark, but sent wooden splinters flying as it shattered the main trunk.
Menchi flipped backwards and landed in an open space. She looked up to see a long-haired woman standing on a branch above her.
"Let the men have their fun," the woman called down, a playful smile on her face as she toyed with her whip. "We're both women, it's more fitting for us to play together." She jumped down from her perch and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Can you hold out until he returns?" Menchi raised her knife defensively, fear gnawing at her.
Their situation was dire. Though they outnumbered their opponents four to two, Rita and Gabwich weren't combat specialists; their abilities were purely supportive. While they were stronger than average Nen users and could hold their own in a normal fight, these enemies were on a completely different level. Even Fant had been defeated with a single blow, his life hanging by a thread. And the woman in front of her, Menchi's instincts screamed that she was just as dangerous as her companion.
On the other side of the clearing, the scarred man took advantage of the injured Fant. He threw a blow at his seemingly helpless target, but the wounded man surprised him, sprang to his feet, and landed a counter-punch directly on his attacker's cheek.
Fant's nen shifted with his emotions, leaving a scorched fist mark on the scarred man's face. But the damage was minimal, just a slight dislocation of the man's chin and cheekbone. Fant's pupils constricted as the reality of their power disparity sank in. Before he could react, a kick to the groin sent him flying like an arrow.
The scarred man clenched his jaw and turned his attention to the pale-faced pair standing off to the side, Rita and Gabwich. Their inexperience was obvious. Their mind-reading skills were decent enough, but in a fight to the death like this, determination was what mattered most.
Near them, Anthony knelt at the feet of a black man, clutching his stomach. His eyes were wide with agony, his breathing labored.
Rita activated her ability, causing the surrounding grass to grow explosively, but the fragile vegetation proved useless against the scarred man, who tore through it effortlessly.
"Should we kill them all?" the black man asked. "Or take one as a hostage? If this guy shows up, we can use them as leverage?"
Their main concern was the man in the suit. His strength was probably equal to their captain's, after all, eliminating all the Nen users outside the restricted area in such a short time was no small feat. Even if these Nen users weren't exceptional, they had reached a certain level of skill, and some of them were quite formidable.
Their true identities were military personnel from the Mingbo Republic, although they were posing as business competitors of the Sori Group.
"No, wait for Deni and Dar to return," the scarred man ordered.
"Can Dar handle him?"
"His mission is to delay the target in case the attack fails. Even if he can't win, his skill makes escape easy." The scarred man approached Rita and the others. Gabwich suddenly lunged, but his arm was caught in the man's massive hand and squeezed gently.
Gabwich's scream pierced the air, his features contorted in pain.
Rita felt as if she'd been plunged into an ice bath. Her opponents were nothing like her own tense, desperate group. They were so relaxed they were making casual conversation. These weren't enemies they could hope to defeat.
It's over, I'm going to die! The thought struck Rita, usually so optimistic and passionate, with crushing clarity.
"Run!" Gabwich ground out through clenched teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. For once, his stutter was gone.
But where could they run? Another enemy watched from afar. Three of them had thoroughly defeated all five members of their team in one swift attack.
The black man nodded at his captain's earlier words and turned toward the prone Anthony, clearly intending to finish him off.
"Um?"
The scarred man's expression suddenly changed. "Behind you!" he called urgently to his companion.
The black man was startled and reacted almost instantly. He twisted, turning his body sideways as a hand flashed past his neck.
He'd dodged it! Relief flooded his features, but in the next moment his vision began to swim, as if he were suddenly high in the air. He watched in disbelief as his own headless body crumpled to the ground as a black shadow surrounded by green mist thundered past.
'It's him!
'He got here so fast?!
"Why?" The black man's confusion lasted only moments before his head hit the ground. Oboro had already reached the scarred man and unleashed a devastating whip kick as he spun. The air itself seemed to rip with a sharp crack as his foot connected with his opponent's shoulder.
The impact was so powerful that the scarred man's defensive nen surged, showing signs of shattering from a critical hit! He fell to his knees, his face contorted in fury, his eyes bloodshot.
Bang!
Another lightning kick sent him flying.
Oboro, still surrounded by his ghostly mist, paused to tap the ground with the tip of his shoe. His face was expressionless as he spoke: "Thank you for taking care of my people.
He threw what he'd been holding onto the ground, two severed heads. The one on the side and the fat one.
"Team leader!" Rita's cry was filled with raw emotion, tears streaming down her face. At that moment, Oboro's back seemed to tower in front of her, an image of absolute security.
"They're all badly injured, but at least they're alive." His gaze swept over Gabwich and Anthony, then across the battlefield to where Menchi and Fant had regained their feet. He quickly assessed their condition - Fant and Gabwich had the worst injuries, but Menchi was holding her own. Though she was struggling, she wouldn't fall anytime soon.
"You're finished," Menchi told her opponent as she dodged another whip attack, her confidence restored by Oboro's arrival.
"All by myself?!" The woman was unnerved by how quickly Oboro had killed her teammate, but they still held a three-to-one advantage!
"He's enough on his own," Menchi's sneer carried absolute certainty. A few years ago, he'd completed two-and-a-half star missions alone, and he was much stronger now.
They are all dead.
The scarred man finally stopped sliding and stared in disbelief at the severed heads of his comrades. Only two minutes had passed since their team had teleported here. In that short time, this man had not only killed Dar, but had also eliminated Deni on his way to this place.
The scarred man knew exactly how strong his partners had been.
"You two, go," Oboro instructed Rita and Gabwich.
"Yes!" They hurried to help Anthony towards Fant's position.
Oboro knew he had to end this quickly. Since the beginning of the mission, he hadn't fought at full strength, hadn't even used his breathing techniques. But now, it was time to get serious.
The man on the side had thought he could hold off Oboro and retreat safely, but their brief encounter had ended in his death. The improvements that breathing exercises brought to one's physical abilities were beyond what outsiders could imagine.
"It's only polite to return the favor," Oboro said quietly. "I'll take care of your teammates as well."
In the next moment, he disappeared.
"!!!"
The scarred man's anger exploded at these words.
"Careful!!"