Hunter x Hunter: The Strongest Zoldyck

Chapter 130 The Fierce Battle

Its back pressed against the cement platform, rubbing against it and producing a harsh, hissing sound like metal scraping against glass.

Roy's clothes were worn through, revealing pale skin underneath, with a few shallow bloodstains from the gravel.

As he was being dragged, he struggled, resisted, and tried desperately to break free from the pink silk threads.

But... those pink Nen threads seemed to have a life of their own. When he broke off one, Hisoka would replace it with two. When he broke off two, Hisoka would replace it with four.

The pink thought and the iron-gray thought are like two flames devouring each other; whoever goes out first loses.

He was getting closer and closer to Hisoka... closer and closer... three meters, two meters, one meter...

He could even see Hisoka's bare toes up close, and he could also see the creases on Hisoka's trousers, the fabric that was slightly shiny from being dyed pink Nen.

He looked up slightly and saw Hisoka's upturned lips again. It was no longer the ambiguous smile he had seen before; it was anticipation... it was enjoyment.

Like someone who has already unwrapped a gift and is waiting to receive their desired present...

Half a meter!

Roy's iron-gray pupils began to dilate, and his mind became highly focused.

Thirty centimeters... twenty centimeters... ten centimeters...

A glint flashed in his eyes as his rapidly working brain calculated the shortest distance from the ground to the moment his fist struck Hisoka's jaw, the optimal angle at which the pink Nen threads would break free in an instant, and how much strength, Nen, and time he had left.

Hisoka's fingers were still pulling backward, and Roy's body was still sliding.

Seven....Eight......Five...

Bang!

Roy's body suddenly sprang up from the ground.

Iron-gray Nen exploded simultaneously from his back, waist, and legs, blasting the pink Nen threads that were still binding him into countless tiny, dissipating fragments.

He was like a spring that had been compressed to its limit, suddenly released!

"Hehe...hehe..."

, 7

At the last possible moment, Hisoka suddenly burst into laughter.

He truly hadn't expected that Roy could still bounce up even when he was so entangled, nor that the Nen threads he had repeatedly reinforced would all snap in that instant, nor that the white-haired boy's body still held so much power.

Roy swung his right fist.

It wasn't a straight punch, it was an uppercut, the fist moving upwards, aiming straight for Hisoka's jaw.

A gray gauntlet, formed from solidified iron-gray Nen, slammed towards Hisoka.

rustle....

Hisoka tilted his head back slightly by fifteen degrees, keeping his upper body still, so that Roy's fist grazed an inch in front of his chin, only brushing against a few strands of his red hair.

"Not bad..."

'

Looking at the few strands of red hair that had fallen from his forehead and been torn off by the force of the punch, Hisoka sighed softly.

but...

How arrogant!

With a silent thought in his mind, Roy did not stop. His right hand, which had missed its target, changed from a fist to a palm and, from top to bottom, like an eagle's claw, gripped Hisoka's right shoulder.

scoff!

The eagle's claws pierced the air, gripping Hisoka's right shoulder with lightning speed, like nails driven into a wooden board, firmly embedding themselves in his shoulder and neck!

Hisoka glanced at his neck and shoulders, which were being held captive, but didn't seem to care.

His next attack was neither defense nor struggle, but... a counterattack!

With his left hand, fingers pressed together like knives, he thrust forward, aiming for Roy's throat with lightning speed!

If this strike lands, Roy will surely have five fatal holes pierced in his throat...

With his body at 50% physical limit, Roy felt everything was a beat behind—the wind...the sound...

Actions...everything...even for a strong fighter like Hisoka, from his perspective, his movements were only a fraction of a second faster than an ordinary person's...

click!

Roy tilted his head slightly.

Hisoka's chop grazed the left side of his throat, his fingertips brushing against his skin, leaving a shallow scratch on the iron-gray Nen.

In a tenth of a second, Roy had already dispelled the energy from his right fist and moved it to his throat, activating his powerful attack...

As he dodged, he simultaneously pointed his left hand like a sword and thrust it towards Hisoka's abdomen.

The distance between the two people instantly went from half a meter to zero.

They weren't just getting close, they were entangled together.

Roy's sword finger aimed at Hisoka's abdomen and chest, while Hisoka's left hand simultaneously changed direction and stabbed Roy's shoulder; Roy's left knee struck Hisoka's ribs, while Hisoka's right knee simultaneously slammed into Roy's thigh.

The two were like two wolves fighting on the edge of a cliff, with no way out, no way to escape, no way to surrender, only to bite each other's throats, tear each other's flesh, until one of them fell or both of them fell.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe tens of seconds, maybe two or three minutes, just as the two were rapidly exchanging blows...

Boom!

Roy's fist was suddenly bounced away from Hisoka's chest; he wasn't knocked back, but rather jolted back.

It was blasted away by the pink Nen aura emanating from Hisoka's chest.

In those few minutes, all the force of his punches hitting Hisoka was always absorbed, dispersed, and rebounded by this layer of Nen.

Without exception...

As Hisoka shook Roy away, he also took a half step back.

He retreated voluntarily, adjusting his position and the amount of power he exerted.

Hisoka's golden pupils swept over Roy's face, hands, shoulders, and knees—like he was inspecting a complex machine, carefully searching for the weakest screw.

The curve of his lips was still there, but his eyes no longer held anticipation; they held calculation.

Roy did not back down.

His right fist shot out from his waist again, this time not as an uppercut, but as a hook, the fist arcing from right to left, aiming straight for Hisoka's temple.

Iron-gray Nen left a long, comet-tail-like trail on his fist, from right to left, from Roy's waist to Hisoka's ear.

Hisoka retreats again.

In an instant, he widened the distance from a few steps to tens of meters.

He dodged Roy's fist just as it was about to strike his temple.

"Oh dear... that was close."

Hisoka, who had retreated to the edge of the ring, patted his chest and said in a coquettish voice, "Just a little bit more... my head would probably have exploded like a watermelon."

Hisoka pointed exaggeratedly to his temples, a smile on his face, but his eyes were icy cold.

Roy's eyes remained expressionless, and he uttered no unnecessary words.

Boom!

He pushed off the ground with his right foot, and the iron-gray Nen exploded under his feet, sending him flying towards Hisoka.

Aren't you going to say anything?

Hisoka's gaze remained unchanged. With a flick of his right hand, three playing cards slid out from his sleeve and were held between his fingers.

Then, with a flick of his right hand, three cards flew out simultaneously: one aimed straight at Roy's face, one blocked his left path, and one flew close to the ground to cut his ankle.

Loy, who was in mid-air, had nowhere to avoid it, but fortunately he didn't even think about hiding.

boom!

With a flick of his left fist, iron-gray Nen energy exploded on his fist, smashing the first playing card into pieces.

He lifted his right foot, tapped the top of the second playing card with his toe, and stomped the card back into the ground, embedding it in the cement.

The third one... slid past his feet, tearing the sole of his shoe, but not hurting his skin.

He had to strike, step on, or dodge the three dangerous playing cards, responding to them with deadly precision. Roy's strength at this moment was vastly different from before.

While dealing with the three playing cards, he had already rushed to... Hisoka's side.

Buzzing!

Hisoka didn't dodge; he spread his fingers and pink Nen shot out from his fingertips, forming a...

A wall.

A wall woven from countless fine threads of thought stood between him and Roy.

Roy slammed his right fist against the wall.

It wasn't a "bang," it was a "hiss."

The iron-gray Nen and pink Nen intertwined and rubbed against each other at the point of contact, making a hissing sound like grease rolling in a hot pan.

The wall was caved in and thinning, and Roy's fist was crumbling little by little.

Hisoka's brow twitched.

He retracted his left hand and simultaneously pushed out his right, and another burst of pink Nen energy exploded from his palm—not a wall, but a ball.

A fist-sized, pink, rapidly spinning psychic ball hurtled straight toward Roy's chest.

Roy jerked to the side, the psychic orb flying past his armpit and crashing into the ground behind him, creating a shallow crater the size of a washbasin.

Gravel flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

Roy's left hand followed from below.

No, that's not right, it's not the left hand, it's the left elbow.

The elbow slammed into Hisoka's right shoulder, and the iron-gray Nen gathered at the tip of the elbow, like a knife slashing at a chopping board.

hiss.....

A sharp pain shot through his right shoulder, and he couldn't help but groan softly. Hisoka felt that he probably wouldn't be able to lift his right hand for the time being.

But that wasn't all. As his right shoulder was struck, Roy's right knee rose from below, aiming straight for his abdomen.

hum!

He stretched out his free left hand and placed his palm on Roy's knee.

With a slight twist and a spiral motion, Hisoka's hand slid backward along Roy's knee, changing the impact from vertical to horizontal, from concentrated to dispersed.

Roy's knee slid away from his palm, barely brushing against the hem of his clothes.

"sharp....

Hisoka exclaimed in admiration once again.

Roy still did not answer.

His head jerked forward, not with a headbutt, but with a slam.

His forehead slammed into Hisoka's nose, and iron-gray Nen exploded on his forehead like a hammer slamming into dough.

Da da da...

Hisoka was knocked back several steps by the impact, his body swayed, and he almost lost his balance and fell.

Although he did not fall, his high, straight nose tilted to one side.

It's not a fracture, it's a dislocation. The cartilage is bent in the middle, like a door that's been pushed askew. The left nostril is blocked, and the right nostril is twice as wide as usual.

Dark red blood gushed from his nasal cavity, flowing down his upper lip, past the corner of his mouth, and dripping onto his chin and collar.

Hisoka neither covered his nose nor frowned.

He nonchalantly raised his right hand from his side, as if he felt no pain, and pinched his nose bridge between his index and middle fingers, gently prying it open.

Click!

The sound of cartilage realignment was exceptionally crisp on the quiet ring, like a withered branch breaking or ice cracking in a glass.

The blood was still flowing, but his breathing had become normal.

"Hehe—" Hisoka laughed.

It wasn't a cold laugh, nor a bitter laugh; it was a genuine, heartfelt laugh, like the kind of laugh a child makes when riding a roller coaster at an amusement park.

Two dark red streaks of blood still clung to the bridge of his nose, and the curve of his lips was even deeper than before. His golden pupils reflected Roy's pale, expressionless face and his dark red, unsettlingly empty eyes.

"Again."

His voice was very soft, so soft it sounded like he was coaxing a child.

Then the two of them got entangled again.

The two wound-up machines began colliding again.

Roy's fists, knees, elbows, and toes rained down on Hisoka's body from every angle, while Hisoka's hands, knees, and shoulders retaliated against Roy's body from every angle.

Only the sound of their bodies colliding remained on the ring.

Bang, thud, hiss, hiss.

Like a percussion piece without melody, like a performance without an audience.

After an unknown amount of time, Roy's iron-gray aura began to thin, from a thick layer of armor to a thin layer of clothing, and from a thin layer of clothing to an almost invisible veil.

But his punches were still just as fast, his knees still just as heavy, but his Nen energy was indeed decreasing little by little, like sand in an hourglass, like water in a bucket, like a candle burning out.

There's still about one-tenth left.

As he exchanged blows, Roy's thoughts drifted slightly as he noticed that his Nen energy was running low.

Hisoka's lips curved into a slight smile.

It wasn't a smile, but rather an expression of "that's about it."

Taking advantage of a hand-changing moment, he suddenly raised his right hand from his side, spread his five fingers, and pulled it inward sharply.

hum!hum!hum!

Dozens of playing card fragments scattered on the ring bounced up, flying out of the rubble, bouncing back off the ropes, and flying simultaneously from the air, from the ground, from the left, from the right, from above, from below, and from every angle Roy couldn't see.

Although Roy didn't see it, he sensed it.

The playing card fragments that flew from behind him were like a swarm of startled bats, silent and carrying a chilling, locked-on feeling to his spine.

*Click*... His body suddenly stopped in mid-air. He wanted to turn around and dodge, but he had no strength left.

The iron-gray aura was almost invisible, leaving only a thin layer, like a sheet of rice paper soaked in water, which could break at any moment.

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! ...

The shards of playing cards struck Roy's back one after another, like dozens of hands landing on the water's surface; the sound was not loud, but very frequent.

Roy's body suddenly leaned forward, and his iron-gray Nen aura was completely extinguished amidst the "snap" sounds, like a lamp blown out by the wind, with the last wisp of smoke dissipating in the air.

His knees buckled.

He fell forward, his hands braced on the ground, his fingers spread wide, his fingernails digging into the cracks of the cement platform.

There were dozens of thin, dark red bloodstains on his back. The playing card fragments had torn his skin the moment his energy was exhausted. The wounds were not deep, but they were very dense, like a net that had been drawn on.

"That's enough... The game is over."

Hisoka raised his left hand, flicked his wrist, and an Ace of Hearts appeared in his hand: "As someone who has just awakened Nen, you've done really well."

Hisoka glanced up and down at his tattered clothes, then slowly approached the collapsed Roy.