For someone who immediately made an excuse and slipped away the moment things looked bad, Amos showed nothing but disdain.
"What the hell? I thought he was some impressive Hunter. Turns out he doesn't even have that much authority."
"Looks like we can't slack off after all."
Kisho sighed.
"We'll have to rely on ourselves."
Amos muttered,
"Whatever, it's not that hard—let's calculate the time first. How long have we been down here?"
"Almost two days, maybe?"
Kisho frowned in thought for a moment before answering,
"But my sense of time might not be accurate."
Amos nodded.
"Time inside the ruins has been constantly affected. The time shown on our phones probably doesn't match the examiner's deadline."
"I think we can use this to judge the time."
Kisho took out the crystal formed from the Tanuki-Tail Fiend he had exploded with anger from his pocket.
"This Nen beast was given to us by that kid named Debest. If he's outside the ruins, he can keep track of the correct time and control these little things to guide the candidates."
Amos agreed and took out his own crystal from his pocket.
"Mine died once right after we came down. After it reverted earlier, I crushed it to death again. When it reverts the second time, it'll mean two days have passed outside."
Kisho nodded.
"As long as we know the time, it'll be easy. Let's head back toward the exit first. When your Nen beast reverts, we'll have it guide us."
...
In the wide corridor, Kisho and Amos sprinted at high speed.
Amos's Tanuki-Tail Fiend sat on his shoulder, eyes brimming with tears, reluctantly stretching out its tiny arms to point the way.
Two black shadows howled past.
Candidates passed by the shadows were still wondering whether something had just flashed by—only to collapse unconscious onto the ground.
Naturally, the Tanuki-Tail Fiends on them vanished without a trace as well.
Amos stopped.
"I've got enough. What about you?"
Kisho replied,
"I'm still short one."
After probing with En, Kisho smiled.
"No problem. Looks like someone's over there. I'll go ask him for one."
Amos said,
"Alright. I'll wait here."
As Kisho turned the corner, he saw a gray-blue figure sneaking behind the wall.
"Oh ho~"
Kisho grinned.
"Yo~ what a coincidence, Mr. Tonpa."
Tonpa: "…"
Coincidence my ass!
Tonpa's face looked extremely ugly. He stared at Kisho, almost in tears, trying to struggle.
"We're all old teammates in the same group…"
"That's right, teammates should help each other~ Now is the perfect time for Mr. Tonpa to lend a helping hand."
"I'm very reasonable. Just one will do."
Kisho extended his hand toward Tonpa, revealing a devilish smile.
"Mr. Tonpa, if you're straightforward about it, you won't have to suffer~"
A moment later, Kisho returned fully loaded and appeared together with Amos at the stone hall by the ruins' exit.
Almost the instant they entered, they attracted everyone's attention.
There were about a dozen people in the stone hall—of course, not all of them met the requirements to pass. Some were simply waiting here to try their luck at the last moment.
Kisho spotted Kite sitting against the wall with his clothes not even wrinkled, eyes closed in rest. He waved at him.
Kite smiled and nodded in response.
"Where are your friends?" Kisho asked.
"We separated at Trick Tower," Kite said.
"I haven't seen them since. They were probably eliminated."
Kisho nodded in understanding. Then he glanced around the stone hall again and frowned.
"I don't see C·L."
He lowered his voice to Amos.
"Don't tell me he got eliminated too?"
"Worried about him?"
Amos let out a cold laugh.
"Relax. Even if you get eliminated, he won't."
Kisho: "…?"
While they were talking, several candidates who were only one step away from clearing the exam began casting malicious looks at the two of them.
They slowly moved closer to what seemed like two easy targets.
They couldn't beat the stronger ones, so before the time limit ran out, they were searching for opponents at the exit whom they might be able to defeat.
As long as the examiner hadn't said the words "Exam time is over," the exam wasn't finished—they still had a chance.
"Kisho," Amos reminded lightly.
Kisho had noticed their gazes as well and replied indifferently,
"Yeah, leave it to me."
"Kid, hand over your phantom beast and you'll suffer less!"
A cold-faced burly man gripped a knife, staring gloomily at Kisho as he threatened in a low voice.
Kisho clicked his tongue.
For some reason, that line sounded strangely familiar to him.
Whatever.
A flash of black light streaked past.
The burly man didn't even have time to make a sound before he fell straight to the ground, unconscious.
"So this uncle was delivering goods to us."
Kisho appeared behind the burly man, holding a gray bag in his hand. He opened the mouth of the bag and showed it to Amos.
"He's rich. He's got three crystals!"
Amos: "…"
The group of candidates who had been preparing to squeeze the "soft persimmons": "…"
Kisho looked at the few people who had followed behind the burly man intending to rush forward, only to slam on the brakes. His eyes rolled.
"I don't need these. I'll sell them to you. Highest bidder wins."
The candidates were stunned.
Sion, who had been sitting on the stone steps idly playing with a Nen beast, clearly froze as well.
It was the first time they had seen an outlaw brazenly conduct a criminal money transaction right in front of an examiner.
But the candidates loved it.
One candidate cautiously called out a price.
"Altogether… one million…?"
Another sneered.
"I'll offer one million per crystal!"
Someone shouted,
"Thirty million total! Cash on the spot!"
As he spoke, everyone looked at this extraordinary person who had brought a huge amount of cash to the Hunter Exam, wondering if he possessed some ability that caused damage by "scattering money."
As the bidding continued, someone spoke in the calmly tone, quoting a shocking number.
"One hundred million."
In an instant, the entire hall fell silent.
A young man carrying a black backpack walked over along with that voice.
"C·L!"
Kisho turned and saw C·L walking over with a smile.
"I thought you were going to be eliminated."
C·L smiled faintly.
"The little guy guiding me was a bit mischievous. It took some extra time."
The Tanuki-Tail Fiend in his hand rolled its eyes in a very human-like manner upon hearing that. But when his gaze swept over it, it immediately began trembling.
He continued,
"You just said you're selling those crystals, right?"
Kisho blinked.
"That's right. I don't need that many anyway. I've got three extra. How many do you want, Mr. C·L? Or all of them?"
"Three."
C·L spoke slowly.
"One hundred million Jenny. I'll transfer it to you after the exam ends. Is that okay?"
"Didn't expect you to be so rich, Mr. C·L."
Kisho waved his hand and tossed the bag of crystals to him.
"But since we know each other, no need to pay."
C·L paused slightly, then smiled.
"Then thank you."
Amos watched quietly from the side and clicked his tongue.
If C·L hadn't shown no signs of using Nen ability at all, he would've suspected that Kisho had been placed under some restriction like "inevitably willing to lose money when meeting him."
Looking at Kisho's cheerful grin, Amos silently mourned for the fool in advance.
"Go on, enjoy it. Sooner or later, you'll regret it."
The moment C·L caught the bag, it seemed Sion activated some mechanism on the stone steps.
A series of "click-clack" sounds rang out as the heavy stone slab leading outside slowly slid aside.
Sunlight flooded in. They saw the sky again.
"The third Hunter Exam ends here."
Debest, standing at Sion's feet, deliberately lowered his voice. With a light snap of his fingers, the Tanuki-Tail Fiends on everyone vanished in an instant.
Putting on an adult-like demeanor, he announced,
"Verification complete. The candidates who have passed the third Hunter Exam are as follows."
As the blond boy called out the candidate numbers, an airship bearing the Hunter Association emblem slowly decelerated from the sky and hovered above the ruins.
The final test was about to begin.
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