Menchi stared at the dish.
It looked... normal.
Because Ryker had processed the ingredients meticulously, the segments of intestine were indistinguishable from any other high-end pork cut. They glistened with a rich, caramelized glaze.
Before Menchi could even ask a question, Buhara lunged.
"Looks good!"
He grabbed a handful and shoved it into his mouth, chewing happily.
"Buhara! Wait!" Menchi yelped.
She had been waiting all day for something edible. Even though she couldn't immediately identify the cut, she wasn't about to let her partner eat the only passing dish of the exam.
She quickly picked up a piece with her fork—specifically, the piece Ryker had pointed out as retaining the "original flavor"—and popped it into her mouth.
How does one retain the original flavor of a Great Stamp? she wondered. Is it the gamey musk? The earthy undertone?
Her teeth sank into the meat.
The flavor exploded.
And Menchi... broke.
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT—
Her brain short-circuited.
In that instant, she understood exactly what "original flavor" meant.
She tasted... shit.
Literally.
"AAAAHHH!"
Menchi's face contorted into a mask of pure horror. Her beautiful features scrunched up as if she had just eaten a lemon wrapped in a dirty diaper. Her face turned beet red—not from heat, but from sheer, unadulterated rage.
She had just eaten poop.
"BUHARA! KILL HIM! FAIL! FAIL HIM! HE'S DISQUALIFIED! HE'S EVIL!!"
Menchi screamed, spitting the offending morsel onto the ground. She looked ready to die on the spot.
Buhara, who was happily munching on another piece, paused.
"Huh?"
He looked at Menchi, then at Ryker. He shrugged.
"Sorry, kid. Boss says kill."
He stood up.
When Buhara stood, he blotted out the sun. His hand, the size of a manhole cover, swung down at Ryker.
WHOOSH.
The wind pressure alone sent nearby candidates tumbling.
"That fat guy is strong!!" Todo the Wrestler gasped, clutching his knees. He had thought Buhara was just a glutton, but this... this was overwhelming force.
Everyone flinched, expecting Ryker to be flattened into a pancake.
"Boss Ryker!!" Gon screamed, stepping forward to help.
But before anyone could move—
THUD.
Ryker didn't dodge.
He caught the hand.
"Huh?!" Buhara blinked.
He expected to swat the boy like a fly. Instead, it felt like he had slapped a mountain. His hand stopped dead. No matter how hard he pushed, Ryker didn't budge an inch.
"What is this? I'm an Enhancer!" Buhara thought, bewildered. Even 2-Star Hunters usually dodged his slaps.
Ryker smiled.
"You're big," he said calmly. "But you're slow."
Ryker gripped one of Buhara's massive fingers.
Then, with a casual twist of his hips, he swung.
[Divine Strength] (Red).
BOOM!
In front of hundreds of jaw-dropped witnesses, Ryker lifted the three-meter giant off the ground and slammed him into the courtyard pavement like he was swinging a sledgehammer.
The ground shattered. A crater formed instantly. The shockwave rattled the windows of the mansion and nearly knocked Satotz out of his tree a mile away.
[DING! You have defeated Examiner Buhara.]
[Copy Successful... Acquired: [Sloth] (Green)... REJECTED.]
"Tch. Garbage drop." Ryker muttered.
"BUHARA!!"
Menchi shrieked.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Buhara was a tank. He had giant blood. Nobody manhandled him like that. And this... this candidate just one-shotted him?
"Number 406! You attacked an examiner! You are disqualified! And you fed me... THAT! I will teach you a lesson you'll never forget!!"
Menchi snapped.
This was the greatest humiliation of her career. A candidate had tricked her into eating literal shit, and then KO'd her partner.
It was war.
Schwing!
Two kitchen knives appeared in her hands.
She moved like a whirlwind.
"Die!!"
The remaining Nine-Turn Intestines on the plate were instantly diced into atoms.
"Whoa! She's crazy!"
"Ryker is done for!"
"Good! If he dies, we have a chance!"
The candidates scrambled back, terrified of the turquoise-haired demon.
But Menchi wasn't just swinging wild. She was using Nen.
[Hundred-Blossom Blade Wheel]!
In an instant, her two knives multiplied. Four. Six. Eight.
They weren't illusions. They were Conjured blades, spinning around her like a deadly halo.
Ryker stepped back, pulling his trusty fillet knife.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew.
The speed was blinding. Most candidates couldn't even track the movements; they just saw sparks and heard the ring of steel on steel.
Menchi's eyes widened.
She had expected to carve him up instantly. She was a Single-Star Hunter!
But Ryker... he was blocking everything.
His defense was impenetrable. Every strike she made was parried with surgical precision.
He's keeping up with six blades... using only one?!
Impossible!
"You think you're tough?!" Menchi growled, her aura flaring.
The spinning blades around her multiplied again.
From six to eight. Her limit.
"Let's see you block THIS!"