Chapter 189 Calculations on Both Sides
" Haze!!!"
"I know you're here!"
"You can hear me, right?!"
Inside a dim room, a terribly weakened Benjamin lay on his bed, roaring in fury though his expression showed more resentment than strength.
But in his current state like someone who had been gravely ill for far too long even his loudest scream barely made a sound.
A portion of his soul had been carved off and sealed away. Because of that, Benjamin's body had grown weaker and weaker with each passing day… Now he even needed servants to help him eat and relieve himself.
This was absolutely unacceptable for the proud Benjamin.
He felt dazed every day, slept more than ten hours at a time, and the moments he could stay awake grew shorter and shorter.
He couldn't stand it anymore.
He could feel his life force draining away. So… for the past half month, he had been calling out to Haze.
But the latter never responded.
I met with Sale Sale and the Queen just as you asked!
Your plan failing has nothing to do with me I kept my promise…
Give me back my soul!
Benjamin repeated the same plea he had screamed countless times.
For the past two months, the royal family had sought out numerous Nen users including multiple types of exorcists but none succeeded.
His condition was incurable.
Not even Nen healing abilities could restore him.
A master Nen exorcist examined his wounds and said:
"Your Highness, your injuries were not caused by someone imposing a Nen ability on you, so exorcism is useless. A piece of your soul has been taken… The soul is the most fundamental energy of life. To heal, you must find someone whose Nen abilities have developed through direct interaction with the soul itself. Put simply, unless it is an ability that affects souls, neither exorcism nor healing Nen will work."
After saying this, the exorcist left under Benjamin's resentful gaze.
The soul…
Abilities connected to the soul…
Benjamin was a Nen user himself; he understood that the deeper an ability's structure, the harder it was to develop.
That meant ordinary people would never even bother attempting Nen that was beyond their capacity…
Because they would surely fail.
Thus, finding someone whose Nen touched the soul was even harder than finding an exorcist.
Common Nen users simply lacked the potential to reach that depth.
Surely, somewhere in the human world such special Nen users existed
but finding one would take time…
And time was the one thing Benjamin no longer had.
If Haze didn't answer…
He would truly die.
After shouting for a while, the exhausted prince finally collapsed into a deep sleep.
"Your Majesty."
At that moment, the royal guards who had been watching him closely turned toward the door.
Seeing the king enter, they bowed at once.
"Still nothing from yesterday?"
King Nasubi asked calmly, hands clasped behind his back, walking slowly toward his pale son on the bed.
Benjamin had lost frightening amounts of weight these past few days
the prince's former vitality was completely gone.
Soldier Li Han shook his head silently.
"Hm…"
Hearing this, King Nasubi remained expressionless. He didn't panic or grow anxious instead he stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Without another word, he turned and left.
Meanwhile, at Beyond's residence…
"It didn't work!"
A Hunter with white gloves pressed rhythmically onto Beyond's abdomen using his Nen healing ability.
But the twisted, spiraling wounds showed no signs of healing.
The Hunter couldn't help but gasp.
Even after all this time, Beyond's stomach no longer resembled human flesh.
It looked like it had been shredded by a high-speed drill.
His entire abdomen was still dark purple.
The Nen user treating him couldn't begin to imagine what sort of force caused such destruction.
"Jejeje… That wasn't some ordinary beast! Getting rid of bite wounds like those won't be easy!"
Beyond sat imposingly on his bed, one hand resting on his thigh, grinning.
Around him stood thirty to forty members of his private team.
Some had arrived after his battle with Haze.
He had gathered them because he still couldn't determine whether the Field's family would attack Kakin's royal family again…
and having more manpower was never a bad thing.
"This punch wound may look small… but if it were any ordinary creature forget about bone its flesh would've been pulverized! Someone like us would've died instantly!"
A man in white, with a rope tied around his waist, approached and squatted to inspect Beyond's stomach.
"Tsk, tsk… I must say, you're truly remarkable! Only someone like you could survive being hit like that and end up with just a 'small' scar!"
He was praising Beyond.
"So the internal damage isn't proportional to the outer wound?" another person asked.
"Exactly. It only looks small because he was the one hit…"
The man in white pointed at Beyond.
"With a physique like his, it seems like this could be healed with Nen but actually, if you tried to repair it, it would take an ordinary person several years, maybe more than ten. Instant healing is impossible."
The room fell silent.
"Don't worry…" Beyond waved dismissively, exuding dominance.
" Haze's Nen leaves no residue. It's just that the impact was too destructive for the physical body. His punch was pure power! He wanted to defeat me with strength alone! My abundant blood and qi will heal this eventually… Though it might leave a scar."
"Inhuman monsters…" someone muttered in awe.
"Those qualified to go to the Dark Continent are all monsters at the peak of this world. No need to be surprised."
"In the Association, Haze rarely shows his strength or takes missions. Because he's a Triple-Star Hunter, everyone knows he's powerful and influential… but the details are unknown. That mystery makes him seem even more unfathomable."
"Honestly, everyone's image of his Nen and his level is stuck from years ago."
"I didn't expect this…"
Political calculations
"So much time has passed, and the Field's family hasn't made a move. They must have given up on taking Kakin's throne, right?"
These Hunters were now aligned with Beyond.
He had gained their loyalty partly through money and promises… but mainly because they were ambitious and eager to explore the Dark Continent.
They weren't strong enough for Netero to personally watch over like Beyond or Haze…
But as long as Netero existed, none of them dared act recklessly.
Thus, they all shared the same goal:
Netero must step down.
Once that happened, with Kakin's support, they would open a breach in V5.
At first only a small force would be allowed in
but once precedent was set, the breach would widen.
Eventually, they would all set foot on the Dark Continent.
Beyond Beyond had experience there
at least according to himself
and with his guidance, casualties could be minimized.
For that reason, Kakin's royal family absolutely could not be harmed before the announcement was made.
Even if that sly old king, King Nasubi, used them as pawns, turning them into the vanguard in a conflict against the Field's family…
It didn't matter.
"Just a notice," said a woman with messy black hair covering her face.
"According to my investigation, the Field's family has unified the underground syndicates across several continents and stabilized the situation. They even re-elected the Ten Dons… though the news hasn't spread yet."
"And there's another interesting trend."
"The crime syndicates' business in V5 countries has skyrocketed over the last two weeks large-scale operations everywhere… Except in Kakin and a few isolated nations, they've essentially taken over everything."
"V5 is giving the Field's family a green light?
Are the gangs really this powerful?" someone exclaimed.
In the past, when criminal groups were widespread, they could never influence national economies most barely survived day to day, let alone threaten V5's superpower structure.
But now…
they were practically sitting at the negotiating table.
Unbelievable.
"Haha," Beyond laughed loudly.
"It's just a typical move by those in power at V5… Throwing the Field's family a few sweets. With Haze's intelligence, there's no way he wouldn't notice."
"Pariston sent word that Haze already knows about the Chimera Ants and that he's aware of our plan.
Yet he seems to have no intention of informing the Association…"
"He's clearly waiting for Netero to step down so he can become Chairman. Given his reputation and support within the Association, he is undoubtedly the strongest candidate."
"What should we do?" someone asked Beyond.
"Let him have it! If he wants it, let him take it!" Beyond replied casually.
"With his personality, becoming Chairman… I doubt he'd ever allow V5 to control him."
"The Hunter Association needs reform. From that perspective alone, he is the most suitable candidate."
(End of Chapter)