Hunter x Hunter: The Strongest Zoldyck

"Sizzle..."

The white-haired figure gently squeezed his hands together, and two dark red peaches burst open in his palms.

Red and green liquids flowed from between his fingers, thick and viscous, dripping onto the deck like tissue fluid.

Looking down, Roy examined his hands.

The fragments of the two objects in my palm were still pulsating.

It wasn't the beating of a heart... but rather a more primal, more stubborn beating, like the desperate wriggling of some severed mollusk.

With each pulsation, those white, thread-like lines begin to meander and twist as they grow.

"Clatter!........"

Roy loosened his grip, letting the shattered heart slip from his palm.

Two disshaped hearts slipped from his palms, hit the deck, bounced twice, and stopped at the edge of his feet.

Countless threads are spreading from the fragmented heart, connecting and merging... repairing it.

"What exactly are you things?"

Roy raised his head, his gaze slowly moving upwards.

Two human figures, devoid of skin, eyelids, and lips, appear before his eyes, consisting only of pale flesh and blood.

A hollow chest, a bloodied and mangled figure with an expressionless face, its lips slightly parted:

"We are... Yumungard..."

"The Undead, Yggdrasil! The Deep One, Yggdrasil! The Whisperer, Yggdrasil!"

A sharp, high-pitched, high-frequency shriek cut through Roy's ears, like metal dragging on glass or fingernails scraping a blackboard.

It makes your scalp tingle and your teeth ache.

Then the shriek became increasingly high-pitched and piercing... until it felt like a steel needle piercing the eardrum, accompanied by a churning sensation.

This sound, which the human brain cannot decode or filter, poured directly into Roy's skull, spinal cord, and even every nerve ending.

He clenched his teeth, the muscles on both sides of his cheeks twitched incessantly, and the veins on his temples bulged. The omnipresent pain and screams made his vision begin to blur.

This was not only because of Yumongard's shriek, but more so because of the aftereffects of him having just instantly unleashed forty percent of his physical limits.

Don't be fooled by how easily he ripped out Yumongard's two hearts; that was the result of his second liberation.

Based on his re-entry into that near-time-stopped world, based on his insertion of fragmented scenes within a tenth of the timeframe, and the result of his sudden intervention in the attack on Yumungard.

The price of this near-divine skill was a deep, bone-deep stinging pain and a sense of powerlessness throughout his body.

So... in this almost exhausted state, facing Yumongard's shriek, he could neither dodge nor avoid it, and could only endure it.

A few minutes later... the sound suddenly stopped.

It wasn't a gradual decrease in volume... it was cut off.

It was as if someone had unplugged the speaker, causing all frequencies and vibrations to disappear in the same instant.

Then... the deck fell silent, with only Roy's panting sounds audible.

Huff... Huff... Huff... Huff...

But all Roy could hear was a buzzing... echoing sound like cicadas.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't hear himself speak. He blinked, and the world swayed before him, then everything became clear again.

The two humanoid figures were still standing there.

"It's so noisy..."

"Slap! Slap!..."

Taking two steps forward, one foot on each side, Roy crushed the two shattered hearts into a pulp... utterly mangled, like two rotten persimmons.

boom!

In that instant, Loy felt as if his chest had been hit by a heavy truck weighing tens of tons, and he was sent flying by an unparalleled force.

At the moment he was hit, he was completely powerless to resist and only had time to slightly adjust the direction in which he was knocked away.

First, his hand bones, which he instinctively used to shield his chest, shattered, then his sternum... and finally his internal abdomen, which nearly burst open.

A moment later... Boom!

Roy slid a hundred paces in an instant, then crashed heavily onto the second-floor railing, his upper body curled up and his lower body dangling, creating a human-shaped dent in the iron railing.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

Trapped within the iron fence, Roy gasped for breath, desperately trying to breathe in every last drop of oxygen.

"The Deep One... Jumongard..."

Saen slowly rose to his feet, taking in the horrific state of Roy. The dagger in his hand twisted and trembled, leaving him nowhere to put it.

He was terrified.

"The Whisperer... Jumongard..."

Beside him, Bolt leaned against the bulkhead, his face as white as paper and his lips devoid of color.

His willpower was completely exhausted.

The three were in extremely poor condition; with just a little more effort from Yumongaard, they would collapse completely.

Fortunately, it was also severely damaged, with both of its hearts ripped out. Although it did not kill Yumungard, it did inflict serious damage on it.

And then... countless white threads began to weave new hearts on their chests.

Judging by the speed at which they repair and weave, it will take no more than fifteen minutes for Yumongaard to be restored to its original state.

"What should we do?"

Saen shifted his gaze from Roy to Bolt.

"There wasn't much we could do, we just had to grit our teeth and go for it. Luckily, it was eventually..."

"Severely damaged..."

Bolt's gaze lingered on Roy's face for a moment before turning to the two humanoid creatures not far away.

"We didn't have a choice, did we?"

"Sahn".

He pulled a handful of black spikes from his pocket; this was his special weapon: black needles!

A weapon he only uses when his spiritual energy is exhausted.

"Yes, Bolt."

Saen responded in a low voice, swaying as he straightened up again, gathering the last of his strength.

"We didn't have a choice, so I'll go first..."

Before the last syllable of the word "了" had even faded, Saen had already shot off like an arrow.

In less than two seconds, he rushed to within a meter of Yumongaard.

At this point, its heart had already grown halfway.

If all goes well, it should be back to normal in another minute.

But even now, this doesn't affect their activities.

Zet and Eileen, their bodies half-melted, calmly and serenely met Saen's attack.

One... two... three...

Four... five...

In the blink of an eye, Saen unleashed five swift, blurry strikes.

But his attacks were ineffective, as Yumongaard always managed to evade them, as if he had X-ray vision and could see right through him.

After a moment, Saen silently sheathed his sword and retreated, a sense of powerlessness creeping into his heart.

Jumongaard... he seems to be no match for him at all.

"Sigh..." After a sigh.

The deck of the Ogley fell silent once more.

The sea breeze caressed the hull of the ship, and moonlight once again shone through the clouds.

A silvery-white flying fish leaped out of the water, then flipped back down, splashing up a shower of tiny droplets.

"Fika, come here for a second..."

After a long while, it was Roy's voice that broke the silence.

"Okay...okay..."

Under the ambiguous gazes of Bolt and San, the red-haired boy Fika walked to Roy's side...