[Target: Shadow Beast - Worm]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Purple), {Earth Swim} (Purple), {Rapid Recovery} (Double Blue), {Dual Hearts} (Blue)]
[Target: Shadow Beast - Rabid Dog]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Purple), {Poison Fang} (Purple), {CQC Expert} (Purple), {Arrogance} (Purple)]
[Target: Shadow Beast - Porcupine]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Purple), {Needle Hair} (Double Purple)]
[Target: Shadow Beast - Leech]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Purple), {Leech Eggs} (Purple), {Arrogance} (Purple)]
Weaklings.
Ryker scanned the Shadow Beasts' data. Compared to the Troupe, they were underwhelming. But compared to normal Nen users? They were elite. The Ten Dons definitely got their money's worth—just not against monsters like Uvogin.
The Shadow Beasts sneered at the Nostrade bodyguards as they passed. To them, Ryker's team was just cannon fodder.
"Stay here," Ryker ordered Dalzollene and the others. "Kurapika, you're with me. Time to clear a dungeon."
Dalzollene exhaled in relief. He didn't want to go anywhere near the valley of death below.
The Valley Floor.
The battle began instantly.
Bam!
Worm struck first. He punched Uvogin in the face.
Crack.
Worm's finger broke. Uvogin didn't even blink.
Wham!
Uvogin counter-attacked, smashing Worm in the face. Worm's eyeball popped out of its socket.
But Worm didn't retreat. He grabbed Uvogin's arm and dragged him down.
{Earth Swim}
"Heh! Now you're stuck!" Worm snarled, his body twisting through the soil like water. "Die here, or die up there!"
The other three Shadow Beasts charged.
Uvogin gritted his teeth. He was pinned.
"You think this holds me?!"
Super Destruction Fist! (Big Bang Impact)
BOOM!
Uvogin punched the ground.
It wasn't an attack. It was an earthquake. A forty-meter crater exploded into existence. The shockwave blasted the three attacking Beasts back.
And Worm?
Worm had severed his own arm to escape just milliseconds before impact. He burrowed away, coughing up blood and pieces of his own lungs.
"Monster... he's a monster..."
Worm surfaced fifty meters away, dialling his phone. "Boss... we need backup... he's too strong..."
Zap.
Suddenly, Worm froze. He looked down at his chest.
A small, charred hole had appeared over his heart.
What?
He tried to breathe, but his heart was gone. Cooked instantly by a microscopic lightning clone that had burrowed into him earlier.
Ryker sat on the cliff, watching through his "Thunder Mosquito."
Kill confirmed.
[DING! You killed Worm.]
[DING! Acquired: {Enhancement Talent} (Purple), {Earth Swim} (Purple).]
Nice.
{Earth Swim} (Purple): Move through the ground as if it were water. Drag opponents under.
A solid utility spell. Better in my hands than his.
Back in the crater, the battle raged.
Uvogin, enraged by the ambush, went berserk. He bit off half of Leech's head. He shattered Porcupine's ribs. He crushed Rabid Dog's skull.
Or so he thought.
In reality, Ryker's thunder clones struck the final blow on each Beast milliseconds before Uvogin made contact.
Kill steal.
Kill steal.
Kill steal.
[DING! You killed Rabid Dog. Acquired: {Poison Fang} (Purple).]
[DING! You killed Porcupine. Acquired: {Needle Hair} (Double Purple).]
[DING! You killed Leech. Acquired: {Leech Eggs} (Purple).]
Ryker smirked.
Professional Corpse Looter at your service.
The abilities were... gross. Leech Eggs? Poison Fangs? Disgusting. But they were raw materials. Maybe he could fuse them later.
Uvogin stood panting in the center of the carnage. He was poisoned, bleeding, and infested with leeches. But he was alive.
"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" he roared at the sky.
On the cliff, Kurapika's eyes turned scarlet.
"The Spider..."
He saw the tattoo on Uvogin's back. The rage that had been simmering for years boiled over. He stepped forward, chains rattling.
Ryker placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait."
"He's mine," Kurapika hissed.
"He is," Ryker agreed. "But look at the ridge."
Ryker pointed. His [Super Five Senses] picked up multiple presences hiding in the rocks above. The rest of the Troupe. They were using Uvogin as bait.
"If you go now, you fight all of them. We need to separate him."
Ryker looked at Uvogin's stats.
[Target: Uvogin]
[Traits: {Enhancement Talent} (Double Gold), {Natural Strength} (Gold), {Full Body Defense} (Gold), {Super Destruction Fist} (Double Gold), {Battle Maniac} (Gold)]
Double Gold.
This was a raid boss. A loot piñata waiting to be popped.
"Kurapika," Ryker whispered a plan. "We stick to the script. You capture him. I'll secure the area."
"Understood, Brother Ryker."
"Go."
Ryker watched as Kurapika descended into the valley, his chains glowing with the resolve of the dead.
Today is a good harvest day.
Ryker smiled.
One Spider a day keeps the boredom away.
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