Crack!
With a sharp snap, Hisoka's arm instantly fractured, bending at a bizarre angle that was painful just to look at.
Yet, he seemed immune to the pain, his face exhibiting an expression even more excited and deranged than before. He violently lifted his left knee, attempting to smash his opponent's abdomen.
"Excellent! This is fantastic! You truly haven't disappointed me! Come on! Let's throw off all restraints and fight to our heart's content!"
Unfortunately, this supposedly swift and confident strike merely passed through an afterimage, ultimately hitting nothing.
Meanwhile, Allen had already retreated to his original position and said dispassionately, "Too slow. Your attacks look like slow motion to me."
"Slow?"
Hisoka was visibly stunned. This was the first time he had ever heard anyone call his attack "slow," and he was shocked by Allen's unbelievable reaction time and speed.
"Ah, yes. If we set a normal person's nerve reflex speed at 10, then a professionally trained person with excellent talent is equivalent to 20 to 25. With the additional boost from Nen, that might reach 50–60. A very small number of the best might exceed 80, like you. But do you know what my nerve reflex speed is? At least 400! That's a five-fold difference." Allen explained in an emotionless voice.
The Agility statistic alone, granted by the Hunter class template plus his equipment, already reached the terrifying figure of 367! Combined with the results of his self-training, he had already surpassed, even crushed, the vast majority of Nen users in this world in terms of nerve reflex speed, including Chairman Netero himself.
This meant that while others' brains were still processing external information collected by their sensory organs, Allen had already completed the process of issuing various commands to his muscles via the nervous system, allowing him to execute attacks, defenses, dodges, or parries.
Of course, the vast majority of this exaggerated Agility attribute came from equipment bonuses. If he removed his gear, even the most agile Night Elf Hunter would only have slightly over a hundred points, not significantly stronger than the top Nen users of the Hunter world.
[Health: 3187]
[Mana: 3255]
[Strength: 72]
[Agility: 367]
[Stamina: 190]
[Intellect: 121]
[Spirit: 115]
This was Allen's current Hunter status screen.
He was equipped with the Tier 0 Beaststalker Armor set, plus two Tarnished Elven Rings, a Pendant of Celerity, a Cape of the Black Baron, two Decapitator's Razor, and the Ancient Bone Bow as his ranged weapon. One trinket slot held the Hand of Justice, and the other held a gadget made through Engineering. It was fair to say that he was basically pre-BiS (Best in Slot) before attempting the higher-difficulty Raid dungeons.
As for why he chose the Tier 0 set, which is virtually useless in the game, over a combination of individual pieces with higher Agility and Critical Strike, it was simply because the T0 set provided a greater and more comprehensive attribute bonus.
"Hmph! Do you think you can beat me just by having a fast reaction speed? How naive!"
Hisoka used his Nen ability to restore his fractured arm to its normal state. With a sinister grin, he pulled out a large handful of playing cards and began throwing them wildly like flower petals scattering in the air. After unleashing an entire deck, he vanished from his spot, taking advantage of the momentary visual obstruction caused by the cards.
The next second…
The man suddenly appeared from the blind spot above Allen's head, winding up his fist for a powerful blow. But just as he was about to land the hit, Allen suddenly looked up, grabbed his wrist, and a mocking expression appeared on his face. "I told you. You are too slow. So slow that every one of your movements is like a snail to me!"
"How about this?"
Hisoka abruptly raised his hand and made a gripping gesture. The playing cards scattered around instantly came under the control of some invisible force, shooting towards Allen simultaneously from all directions, leaving no space for him to dodge or retreat.
"No difference at all. Do you think I can't perceive those little tricks just because you used In?"
Allen instantly released a burst of dark violet, shadow energy, thick with an evil, corrupting aura, from his palm. He threw it out like an Aura Sphere, immediately neutralizing all the Nen-infused cards.
Clearly, Hisoka had attached Bungee Gum to the cards and used the advanced technique In to conceal them, attempting to trick everyone's eyes and create a hidden trap before launching a surprise attack. Unfortunately, he obviously didn't know that Lupos, who was watching nearby, had already observed everything using Gyo and conveyed the truth to its master via Spirit Bond.
The subsequent scene was the result of that communication.
In fact, the only reason Allen had yet to re-spec out of the Beast Mastery talent tree was for the god-tier ability Spirit Bond. While it might be a niche talent that offered slow health regeneration in the game, with few players wasting precious talent points on it, in reality, Spirit Bond allowed the Hunter and pet to achieve telepathic communication, share memories, and, when fully talented with two points, even borrow Nen abilities from each other, achieving true "man-and-beast unity."
In contrast, the abilities provided by the Marksmanship and Survival talent trees could be compensated for through Nen abilities.
"Hmm? Are those black, ominous substances also your ability? Transmutation? Emission? Or perhaps… Specialization?"
Seeing his deception tactic fail, Hisoka temporarily stopped his attack, standing in place and stroking his chin in contemplation. After just a few brief exchanges, he realized that Allen was not an opponent who could be easily defeated. He was a formidable enemy who would require full effort and even a huge cost to overcome. Especially that dark violet, unknown Nen sphere that had destroyed the cards; it instilled a strong sense of apprehension and fear in him, and he couldn't imagine the consequences of being hit by it head-on.
Seeing Hisoka stand there and seriously analyze the situation, Allen finally dropped his stern face and proposed with a smile, "Let's call a temporary truce. As a warm-up to increase our mutual understanding, I think this is sufficient, wouldn't you agree?"
"Agreed."
Uncharacteristically, Hisoka didn't insist, immediately withdrawing the killing intent and passionate desire for battle that had been radiating from him. He also needed time to analyze and think, to figure out what his opponent's true abilities were before formulating a targeted strategy. Otherwise, given the current situation, his chances of winning a head-on confrontation were extremely low.
"Do you want me to heal your arm?" Allen pointed to the left arm that was being forcibly held together by Nen ability.
"Oh? You have healing abilities too?"
Hisoka was visibly surprised, and his eyes immediately lit up with interest.
"Guess."
Allen smiled deeply and pulled out a roll of thick Runecloth Bandage from his pouch, gently wrapping it around the fracture twice. At this moment, he finally displayed the elusive and unpredictable personality characteristic of a Transmuter.
Instantly, Hisoka felt a mysterious energy begin to work. In just a few seconds, the fractured bone was set, and the strained and bruised muscles and nervous system were restored to their original state.
Driven by curiosity, he instinctively unwrapped the bandage, found his arm completely recovered, and smiled mischievously. "Oya! It's fixed so quickly. Your Nen truly offers one surprise after another. But are you sure it's alright to heal me, your opponent? I won't hold back in our fight."
"Hold back? I think that's a phrase that should be coming from me. Enjoy your final moments, because once the next phase begins, you will understand what hell feels like…"
As he said this, Allen made no attempt to conceal his feelings, completely releasing the accumulated resentment and malice inside him.
Beating Hisoka's hateful face into a pulp! That was the entire driving force behind his year of furious self-improvement.
————
You can read the ahead chapter on Patr if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]