Chapter 13: Winning Feels Great
Arthur rode the tiger, leading the wolf, holding a few stones he had just picked up.
He distributed a certain amount of aura to his fingertips, combining techniques like Ten, Ren, and Gyo. Essentially, he enhanced the destructive power of his fingertips, and this method of distributing different amounts of aura to various parts of the body was called Ryu. His fingertips were like knives, carving a pentagram symbol into the stone with ease.
While Arthur was busy, the sky above was not idle either. The five birds controlled by the Star Mark were like five reconnaissance planes roaming the sky, locking onto the group of five suspicious poachers. The birds soared, occasionally flapping their wings, monitoring from all angles while navigating for Arthur on the ground, steadily approaching the targets.
A floating eyeball in the sky suddenly turned, its pupil facing the approaching flock of birds.
Arthur's eye twitched, looking up sharply. Even with Gyo enhancing his eyes, it was difficult to clearly see the small floating eyeball high above.
It seemed there was a skilled individual among these five poachers...
Undoubtedly, this floating eyeball was someone's Nen Ability!
Arthur continued forward, controlling the five birds overhead. After passing the eyeball, when the opponent thought it was just a flock of ordinary birds passing by, he suddenly had them make a U-turn. Arthur controlled a gray bird to shoot through the air like an arrow, accurately hitting the floating eyeball.
With a pop, the eyeball burst like a bubble, turning into a cloud of white aura, dissipating in the air.
...
"Ah!!!"
The leader of the poachers, a bald man named Galo, suddenly screamed, clutching his right eye.
The other four were startled, "Galo, what's wrong?"
"Those damn birds!" Galo gritted his teeth, lowering his hand to reveal a black void where his right eye should be. "My right eye, which I placed in the sky, was attacked by a flock of passing birds..."
The others were speechless, such bad luck?
"Maybe the birds mistook it for a flying insect, haha, hehe..." One tried to lighten the mood. He was burly, carrying a heavy bag that seemed to weigh hundreds of pounds, yet he appeared at ease. But when Galo coldly glanced at him with his left eye, the big man immediately shut up.
Someone tried to smooth things over, "Thanks to Galo's 'God's Third Eye,' we've had a smooth journey, finding many good spots and collecting a lot of valuable goods without being discovered. It's inevitable to encounter a few passing birds after so long."
"That's right, Galo is a floor master at Heaven's Arena! Without him, we wouldn't have the skills we have now, nor could we operate on Ochima's turf. We've already gained a lot this trip, even capturing a moonlit tiger. I think it's time to call it quits! Once we leave this island and sell it, we'll be rich!"
"Shut up!"
A white aura gathered in Galo's empty right eye socket, forming a new right eye.
The eyeball rotated in its socket, and he said coldly, "Animals have an instinct to sense danger. Normal birds wouldn't actively attack my 'God's Third Eye'; they'd feel uneasy if they got too close! Everyone, be alert and look around. I have a feeling this isn't just bad luck..."
"Got it, boss." The other four didn't argue, including the big man carrying the moonlit tiger, who raised his rifle and took out a military knife, spreading out in a circle, advancing while observing.
Galo drew his pistol, chambering a round with a click, his right eye seemingly flashing with a peculiar light, vigilantly scanning the sky for the five birds.
Whoosh, a faint sound of something cutting through the air was followed by a suppressed cry of pain nearby.
The poacher who was attacked from an unknown direction clutched his cheek in pain, raising his assault rifle and firing wildly into the forest, "Rat-tat-tat-tat!"
"Is there really an enemy? Have we been discovered?"
"Cease fire! We haven't even seen a shadow; do you want to attract all of Blanchet Company's security?"
The other three cursed, but they too were on edge, carefully observing. The four slowly approached, back to back.
The big man carrying the prey caught a glimpse of a shadow lunging at him.
Was it the moonlit tiger?
He swung his rifle to give the foolish tiger a bullet bath, but heard a nearby "bang" and felt a searing numbness in his hand. Looking down, he saw his gun hand had been hit by something, leaving it a bloody mess!
Bang!
Galo's right eye flashed, and he fired, bang!
A bullet hit Lumin, creating a spray of blood, but the tiger didn't stop, pouncing on the big man. The bag he carried smelled of its kin.
"Roar!!"
Lumin knocked him down, biting off half his head, then rolled away, crashing into the nearest human, and fled into the forest amidst a hail of bullets.
Of the remaining three, one looked at the half-headed comrade with a face full of sorrow, then felt a sharp pain in his neck, as if struck by a bullet.
"Ahhhhh!!" He screamed in terror and despair, clutching his neck with one hand and firing wildly into the air with the other, "Who is it? Show yourself!"
"It's not just the moonlit tiger! There's someone else!!"
"Don't panic! Stay calm!" Galo shouted sternly, his right eye flashing, spotting a small figure moving swiftly through the forest!
No matter how fast you are, you can't outrun my sight!
Come on!
Galo gripped his pistol, even closing his healthy left eye, using only the Nen Ability-created right eye to fully track the small figure darting through the forest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Galo fired three consecutive Nen Bullets, locking onto the darting figure, the last shot causing the figure to stagger.
Got him! Galo tightened his grip on the gun.
Not much power... Arthur continued to maintain Ken, dodging and shifting positions.
"Roar!!"
Another beastly roar erupted, but this time it was a wolf.
"Bang bang bang!!"
The well-trained poachers weren't amateurs; one rolled to the ground, raising a gun and unleashing a spray of bullets at the wild wolf without hesitation.
Galo's right eye locked onto the wild wolf, a Nen Bullet burst from his sight, boom!
The Nen Bullet hit the wild wolf's neck, severing it on the spot.
The wolf's head, accompanied by a spray of blood, rolled aside...
Wait, why was there only one person shooting the wolf? Galo suddenly sensed something amiss, seeing the two others beside the one who had shot the wild wolf fumbling with their rifles, finally frustrated, abandoning their guns. One kicked the rifle away, and the other delivered a double-fisted blow to the shooter's head, knocking him out cold.
Galo roared in anger, "What are you two doing!"
Whoosh! A black dot sped toward him, Galo's right eye twisted, the pupil shrinking, locking onto the incoming object, a pentagram-shaped stone.
He raised his arm to block, feeling only a slight tremor as the stone shattered, not even breaking through his aura defense.
"What are we doing?"
The first poacher to be attacked turned his head.
The spot on his cheek where he was hit had a pentagram stone, now cracked and falling away, revealing a rose-gold pentagram mark beneath, as if tattooed on his cheek.
The other, with a similar mark on his neck, turned to Galo, chuckling, "Poaching protected animals isn't right, is it? We're turning over a new leaf, ready to turn ourselves in, boss. You'd better do the same..."
Bang! Bang!
Galo didn't hesitate, firing two shots that accurately hit the two men's foreheads, bursting into blood flowers, shocked at how they were being controlled by the enemy. What kind of ability was this?
The two collapsed softly, and at the same time, Galo's right eyeball twisted, the pupil entering the skull, yet through bone and flesh, he saw the boy in the forest, aiming at him with a finger.
Bang!
Arthur fired a "Finger Flick Technique," tearing through the air.
Galo desperately leaped aside, but his thigh was still grazed by the Nen Bullet, leaving it torn and bloody.
He endured the pain, firing back.
Bang!
The bullet whizzed through the air, the sharp tip spinning, drilling through the air, closing in on Arthur's forehead within half a meter.
Arthur raised his arm. The bullet was less than twenty centimeters away.
Arthur opened his palm, blocking it in front of his forehead. The bullet collided with the aura wall of Ken he had erected, the metal tip twisting and damaging under immense pressure, drilling forward...
Bang...
It was a matter of split seconds. Galo was hit by Arthur's Nen Bullet, leaping aside and firing a shot at Arthur's forehead, which Arthur blocked with his hand.
Arthur opened his palm, the hot, deformed bullet rolling in his palm, leaving only a small wound, quickly healed by the Star Mark on his neck, leaving no scar.
It seemed his Ken's defense was quite strong! Even if he had taken the bullet with his skull, it would have only grazed him...
Boom!
Galo's right eye fired another Nen Bullet at Arthur.
Arthur didn't have time to use the "Finger Flick Technique," maintaining Ken to dodge. The Nen Bullet grazed his aura, knocking his evasive movement off course.
Flap flap flap...
At that moment, a flock of birds flew in, surrounding Galo's head, completely obscuring his vision.
"Get out of here!"
Galo was furious, trying to swat the annoying birds away, but couldn't hit them, resorting to firing his pistol, bang bang bang bang! Feathers flew in chaos.
As he gathered aura in his right eye to blast the birds to bits, the five birds flapped their wings and flew away, scattering.
And directly in front of him, Arthur had already aimed at him with a finger, counting, "Nine seconds passed, ten seconds passed..."
"Not good!"
Galo was shocked, sensing the dangerous aura forming in the boy's hand. He desperately gathered Nen Aura in his right eye, channeling it into a fist-sized Nen Bullet, roaring as he fired.
Bang!
Arthur's "Finger Flick Technique," charged for a full ten seconds, shot out, almost forming a beam as thick as an arm, shattering the incoming Nen Bullet!
...
After the Nen Bullet's impact dissipated, Galo's front was charred, his body bloodied and battered, his eyes rolled back, the eyeball in his right socket turning into a cloud of Nen Aura, dissipating...
"Cough, cough, pfft..." Galo spat blood, swaying, finally kneeling, muttering, "You should... go to Heaven's Arena... become... a floor master..."
Bang, he collapsed, face down.
"You're the floor master, want me to give you a send-off?"
Arthur shook his hand, exhaling deeply. This real battle was too exhausting, each move consuming a lot of aura, and the short fight was no less taxing than an hour of training.
But he had won. Winning felt great.
Lumin emerged from the forest, the bullet wounds on its body already healed by the Star Mark, the bullets expelled. Surveying the scene, the poachers lay scattered, Galo defeated by Arthur, two shot by Galo, one knocked out by Arthur's controlled men, and the last one with half his head bitten off by Lumin, nearly dead.
Lumin silently approached the poacher's bag, while Arthur went to the severed wolf head.
"Interesting..."
He focused aura in his eyes, observing closely. The Star Mark on the wolf's body was the core, mobilizing all its life energy, even the severed head slowly moving toward the neck.
Just then, a voice of amazement came from nearby, "You're really something, taking them down all by yourself?"
Arthur turned to see a green-haired, youthful, and fiery girl emerging from the forest.