Chapter 45: Absolute Zero
Bang, bang, bang!
A group of fighters surrounded Haze, sealing every possible escape route. The moment he moved, the three fastest among them dashed forward. In an instant, the fists and kicks of four people clashed like the rapid fire of a machine gun.
Haze pushed traditional Chinese martial arts to their limit. Even under the dense onslaught, his body movements and footwork let him shift position within the tiny space, executing a nearly perfect counterbalance. Then, in less than a second, he seized a brief opening.
He bent his waist and elbows, unleashing a powerful punch.
The air trembled from the impact, rippling and heating up
but the three opponents dodged to the sides instantly.
A man whose arm had transformed into a shield rushed forward to take the blow head-on.
There was a deafening explosion.
The shield cracked; the man slid back twenty or thirty meters, his feet scraping aHaze the ground before he regained balance. His shield shifted back into an arm as he stared at Haze in shock and excitement.
"Powerful…!" he exclaimed.
The bones in his arm were slightly twisted and fractured.
While Haze fought him, a swift figure darted past like a leopard and appeared behind him.
A flash of cold light grazed Haze's back blood gushed out.
"Hahaha… No matter how strong you are, you can't take on a dozen of us at once!" The attacker licked the blood from his bronze knuckles, laughing playfully.
Those knuckles had hidden blades at the tips; in a blink, all of Haze's joints were cut open.
Severe joint damage his movements inevitably slowed and twisted.
These people weren't fighting recklessly. They were hunting him.
They treated Haze like prey.
Haze's expression didn't change.
He was surrounded by over a dozen Nen users with unknown abilities. His mind raced, processing information at an unprecedented pace while his body reacted on instinct. He barely had time to breathe the enemies' assault was relentless.
Every fighter was focused to the extreme.
Haze's brain was like an overclocked CPU ready to overload at any moment.
Swish!
Two more opponents rushed in reinforcements.
Haze sensed them, forcing his battered body to dodge but a soft, rubbery set of limbs wrapped around him from behind, entangling his torso and immobilizing him.
He struggled in vain there were too many of them. It was like being swarmed by a pack of wolves, each one a predator.
"Just die already…" hissed the Nen user binding him.
The others lunged in for the kill.
They were close so close
but suddenly, the man holding Haze twitched. His eyes widened as Haze tore free, jabbing a finger like a blade into the back of his neck.
The breath left his throat in a gurgle.
Even so, the Nen user tightened his grip, sacrificing his life to hold Haze down for a few more seconds. His determination was terrifying.
It worked.
Panting, he watched as his comrades closed in
One kicked Haze's knee from behind, forcing him to kneel. Another stabbed a dagger straight into his abdomen. Haze's abdominal muscles tensed instantly, clamping down to minimize the wound.
Another Nen user grabbed his shoulders, holding him in place while one more leapt onto his back with a massive needle. The tip sank into Haze's body.
He felt no pain but as the needle was pulled free, his Nen drained away like water. His aura dimmed rapidly.
Haze was being suppressed.
It had only been two or three minutes.
Facing a dozen elite Nen users, he had no advantage. Their sheer numbers and their variety of unknown skills left him cornered.
"Watch as I drain you dry… hehehe…" the one on his back laughed triumphantly.
"A mental-draining ability?" Haze's heart sank.
His situation was dire.
"You should thank our boss," said a woman named Uka, holding a ball of yarn. "He said to wait until he gets back to finish you. Otherwise, you'd already be dead."
She crouched, wiped the blood from Haze's abdomen, and smeared it onto the yarn.
The thread writhed like something alive, quickly knitting itself into the tiny legs of a stuffed doll.
"Don't move," she warned coldly. "The boss's orders come first but you're dangerous. Move, and I'll kill you."
Green stood nearby, a baseball bat aimed at Haze's head. His eyes under the brim of his hat were icy cold.
"Green, relax," someone laughed. "He can't move anymore."
"How's it going?" Green asked one of the men approaching.
"Dead…" the man replied grimly.
The first to attack Haze gone. Even after dodging once, a single contact had killed him.
Eighteen men. Two dead. One gravely injured.
That was far beyond what they'd expected. They thought maybe one death at most.
They weren't weaklings either.
"How Haze?" Green turned back to Uka and her writhing thread.
"Slow… at least ten minutes," she muttered.
"Once the curse finishes weaving, killing him will be easy," she said confidently.
Then, the Nen user still gripping Haze's shoulders felt it a twitch.
"Watch out!" he shouted, eyes narrowing.
Crack! Haze's shoulder tore free.
Even wounded, he fought with monstrous ferocity.
The man with the needle panicked, jumping back he wasn't built for close combat.
Haze crouched, then exploded upward. Twisting his waist, he slammed his elbow straight into his captor's face, crushing half of it. The man collapsed, eyes wide with disbelief.
Haze reached for Uka his instincts screamed that she was dangerous.
Crack!
A baseball bat smashed into the back of his hand, shattering bone.
It was Green.
He glared at Haze, veins bulging, and swung again this time striking his temple with blinding speed.
Another death.
"Go to hell…" Green spat, fury burning in his eyes.
The others rushed forward to finish it
just as Haze spoke, frowning at his bloodied hand. "Half my telekinesis is gone," he murmured. Then he smiled. "You let your guard down. That's unprofessional, Green."
To the rest, Haze seemed nearly finished one arm gone, wounds everywhere, aura fading.
Why was he still fighting?
He couldn't have won before now it was even more impossible.
"Not just you," he continued softly. "All of you… I gathered you here on purpose."
As he whispered, his aura ignited like fire.
A towering spectral figure emerged from his body a massive, horned beast covered in thick fur, carrying a small child.
Haze's chosen heroes: the Snow Twins, Nunu and Willump!
The beast roared. A furious blizzard burst forth, centered on Haze, freezing the air itself.
Snow and wind fused into blades of ice.
The raging gale engulfed everyone nearby. Within that storm, visibility vanished a world of white swallowed them whole.
This was the rule of his ability the slowing field.
Haze had unleashed his ultimate move: Absolute Zero!
The blizzard howled around him. As he channeled it, an icy shield enveloped his body. Attacks from Green and the others shattered harmlessly against the frost.
In the heart of the storm, Haze stood motionless. His expression was calm, his face dusted with white frost.
"If you call yourself hunters," he said evenly, "then know this the hunt isn't over until the prey dies. A real hunter eliminates every possibility. All of you… failed."
With that, the ability's channel ended.
BOOM!
Countless shards of wind and ice erupted, detonating through the area. Dozens of bodies were hurled into the air like rag dolls.
Then silence.
The ground was buried beneath glittering frost and drifting snowflakes.
A hot white breath escaped Haze's lips as he stretched, his shoulder re-forming in place.
"This ultimate move…" he exhaled, smiling faintly. "Really refreshing."
From a player's perspective, the visuals and explosion effects were perfect.
No wonder he'd poured so much effort into creating heroes within the "game world."
Among all categories, hero creation was the slowest and most demanding.
To this day, he'd only made a little over twenty heroes.
(End of Chapter)