At night, the entire island fell into silence.
However, it hadn't become safer than during the day; on the contrary, it had become more dangerous. Especially the candidates who had already found their targets were using the cover of darkness to quietly approach their prey, launching sudden attacks the moment their opponents were distracted. In just a few hours, many unfortunate souls were eliminated, and some even lost their lives.
Hunting and being hunted, that was the essence of the Fourth Phase. Just as Hunters and prey often constantly swap roles in the wild, candidates needed to watch out for arrows from behind while hunting their target's badge.
For Allen, however, this phase was over the moment he defeated Hisoka.
He was currently lying comfortably on a rock, fiddling with the Insignia of the Alliance he had just acquired, muttering to himself, "Interesting. So fighting a Nen user is counted as PVP? In that case, can I intentionally seek out battles to farm Honor and directly exchange for the Grand Marshal's Gear? And there are Talent Points rewarded too…"
Evidently, after the battle with Hisoka concluded, Allen was surprised to find that his military rank had jumped from the lowest Private to Sergeant, and his remaining Talent Points had changed from 0 to 1. This meant that by continuously fighting powerful Nen users, he could not only buy Honor Gear from the Mysterious Shop but also gain extra Talent Points, allowing him to max out all three talent trees: Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, and Survival.
"This is truly an incredible discovery. Perhaps after the Hunter Exam, I should take a trip to Heavens Arena to test this out on the Nen users on the 200th floor and snatch a bit more Aura while I'm at it. What do you think?"
As he spoke, Allen looked toward the Red Dragon Nen Beast sitting beside him. The creature, as if possessing intellect, instantly showed an expression of excitement and joy, nodding vigorously.
Watching its highly humanized reactions, Allen was even slightly unsure whether he had originally created the Red Dragon using Nen, or if the Red Dragon's soul within the egg had simply been reborn by consuming life energy.
Of course, there was no need to dwell on that now. The lives of both beings were bound together in a mutually dependent and beneficial relationship.
The only thing worth noting was that after devouring a large amount of Hisoka's Aura, the Red Dragon was no longer just a simple Nen Beast; it could consume Aura to Solidify, meaning it could transform into a real Red Dragon.
This fact surprised even Allen, its creator. However, considering the astonishing consumption of Aura required for solidification, it could clearly only be used as a last resort to turn the tide of a crucial battle. Furthermore, the Red Dragon was still too small and needed to devour more Aura, both his own and his enemies', to grow stronger.
Having clarified these thoughts, Allen immediately used his Teleportation ability, instantly appearing in an underground world with an extremely high ambient temperature, surrounded everywhere by scorching lava and giant Fire Elementals.
Molten Core!
This was the first large-scale Raid he was authorized to enter after clearing all the 5- and 10-man dungeons, and also the first dungeon where killing even the trash mobs felt incredibly arduous.
"Hoo… Lupos, let's begin."
Allen took a deep breath, quickly solidified his armor and weapons, and issued a command to his pet without turning his head.
"Awoo!"
Lupos immediately let out a piercing howl, and then its entire body was once again enveloped by Shadow Energy, generating over a dozen energy duplicates in less than a few seconds. Under its control and command, these Shadow Pack wolves rushed toward the two Molten Giants guarding the entrance like hungry tigers pouncing on prey.
Meanwhile, Allen wasn't idle, immediately drawing his stock of Thorium Arrows.
[Nen Ability: Enhancement]
[Imbue Arrow Attribute: Penetration]
[Nen Ability: Transmutation]
[Affix Arrow Attribute: Liquefied Air]
[Aimed Shot]
[Multi-Shot]
[Serpent Sting]
Thanks to the double enhancement of the arrows via Nen, the very first Aimed Shot blasted a large hole in the Molten Giant's body. The Transmutation Nen attached to the arrow rapidly liquefied the surrounding air. This liquefied air then absorbed a large amount of heat during the vaporization process, causing the Giant's scorching lava body to cool down and form pieces of black, brittle stone that rained down.
"Now! Kill it!"
"Awoo!"
Following Lupos's sharp howl, over a dozen Shadow Wolves rushed simultaneously toward the most heavily injured Molten Giant, sinking their jaws into the cool, solidified areas.
The next second…
BOOM!
All the Shadow Wolves self-destructed! The black-purple Shadow Energy engulfed the entire Molten Giant like a tide. By the time the energy gradually dispersed, all that remained was a large pile of black-smoking rubble, utterly lifeless.
The other Molten Giant was also affected, half of its body solidifying under the influence of the shadow energy. Both its movements and attack speed slowed abnormally, and it eventually collapsed under the relentless barrage of Allen's enhanced arrows.
After the two "door guards" were dealt with, Allen approached with anticipation, bending down to check for any valuable loot drops.
The result was quite disappointing: only a single Lava Core and some useless junk.
"Sigh… Same as last time. Fine, I'll keep going, fighting as far as I can. With my current strength, I can only handle the trash mobs anyway," Allen sighed helplessly.
He couldn't help it. The difficulty level between Raids and 5- or 10-man dungeons was completely different. The latter, with the bonus from Nen, were not too difficult to clear, and the Bosses' HP wasn't excessively high; a single burst of damage could often finish them off.
But the monsters in Molten Core? The Molten Giants guarding the entrance alone had hundreds of thousands of HP, and the Bosses easily had hundreds of thousands or even millions. Not to mention they possessed various powerful spells and abilities that couldn't be defended against with Nen alone; Allen's three thousand Health Points couldn't withstand more than two hits.
Therefore, until he found a solution, Allen dared not easily provoke a Boss. Otherwise, he might end up lying dead without even a chance to escape. This was especially true for Boss 1, Lucifron's mass Impending Doom—once the debuff was applied, given his current HP and constitution, he could at most withstand two or three ticks. Any more, and he would be doomed to die no matter where he ran.
So, for now, his goal had to be focused on the outside world, strengthening his Nen ability by hunting valuable targets until he had enough strength to challenge the Bosses and acquire better, more powerful equipment.
After all, Nen abilities are constantly evolving. If he concentrated, he could surely develop the two abilities he most desperately needed: healing and dispelling various negative status effects. With those two, Allen would have the courage to take on the relatively easier Bosses ahead. Even if he couldn't beat them, running away would always be possible, and success would eventually come after multiple attempts.
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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]