Hunter x Hunter: Card Master, the Strongest in the World

The pain assaulted his brain every moment, but he paid no attention to himself, staring intently at the inhuman "Sluk," his face filled with horror, a chill running through his entire body.

Are you kidding me?

Sluk isn't human?!

Is the leader of this team a self-aware plant?

Even the well-traveled Eugene was stunned by what he saw and found it hard to accept.

There are all sorts of magical beasts living on the six continents, but I've never heard of a monster that can live normally while wearing human skin!

On the other hand, Lynn had already silently categorized Sluk as a "disaster" in his mind.

This world is full of so many novel things.

The most special category, especially those things with miraculous effects and extremely high value, is called "hope".

It includes Nitromethorphan, which can prolong life; vanilla, which can cure all diseases; and Tri-Source Water, which can be used as the base for all liquids...

Every kind of hope has amazing value, but it is difficult to obtain because most of them exist in the Dark Continent.

There, hope is often accompanied by disaster.

The opposite of hope is disaster.

They could bring countless negative impacts to humanity, and it's even possible that they could destroy the six continents on which humanity depends for survival.

For example, the Hellish Bell Twin-Tailed Serpent that spreads murderous intent, and the desire-dependent entity "Ai" that can drive people insane and cause them to kill each other...

In the bizarre and dark continent, even accidentally stepping on and killing an insect can lead to unpredictable and tragic consequences.

Even when the strongest group of humans ventured out together, the odds were almost always against them, and very few of them managed to return to the six continents alive.

Because the Dark Continent was too terrifying, the higher-ups blocked this information, and ordinary people were unaware of the truth of the world.

Only those with Nen abilities have the opportunity to learn about this.

The higher authorities also formulated a "Hazardous Organism Assessment Table" based on information from various sources, which defines the intensity of the "disaster" based on factors such as the ferocity of the organisms, their numbers, and their reproductive capacity.

For example, the chimeric ant, which appeared in the original work, is classified as a Class B dangerous creature.

Lynn roughly estimated that Sluk was probably only a D-rank, but even so, dealing with him might be quite troublesome.

This explains why Sluk seemed off before.

The reason he invited the unfamiliar Nen user to join his team was because he considered him as sustenance... just adding another dish to the table.

Let's test the waters first, and if things don't work out, then we'll back down!

The thought flashed through Lynn's mind like lightning, but his hands kept moving.

A large amount of cold air suddenly surged from between his hands, taking shape in the air.

Immediately, five eagles formed from ice blocks rushed straight toward the humanoid Sluk, and the cries of the eagles could be faintly heard!

【Ice-shaped Great Eagle】!

"Instead of running away, they're attacking me?"

Sluk’s shrill voice rang out, a sound that was extremely unpleasant, as if it were coming from multiple directions and overlapping.

At that time, Sluk was simply made up of countless intertwined vines, roughly in the shape of a human, with simple limbs and an abstract face.

Faced with the approaching giant eagles, Sluk simply raised his "right hand," and countless vines shot out, piercing through the three eagles.

The giant eagle shattered into ice shards, which scattered on the ground before disappearing.

"Hmm?" Sluk scoffed. "Meaningless!"

Two other large eagles, under Lynn's control, narrowly dodged the attack and flew in graceful arcs through the air, attacking it from the left and right.

Sluk neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the giant eagle to strike him.

boom!

The giant eagle exploded, and in an instant, a chilling aura spread, tearing its vines apart violently. One broken vine after another fell to the ground... Sluk visibly shrank.

In the blink of an eye, the severed vine of Sluk rapidly grew back to its original state.

It has amazing self-healing abilities!

Lynn narrowed his eyes slightly... High attack, low defense, high recovery?

This is tricky.

Chapter Sixteen: I'm waiting for time, what are you waiting for?

What a monster!

Eugene, who was "watching the show," stared at Sluk with his mouth agape in astonishment.

He could tell that the ice eagle that "Franklin" had just used was definitely powerful; even if he had to take it by force, it would have consumed a lot of his Nen energy.

What about Kosluk?

It stubbornly ate two eagles, and then recovered completely in an instant.

Such terrifying recovery ability will put immense psychological pressure on the enemy.

It's hard to imagine that such a monster still exists in the world.

If it were him, he probably would have turned around and run away immediately.

Franklin's continued presence was quite remarkable.

Eugene didn't think Franklin could defeat this monster, and couldn't help but think to himself, "Today has been incredibly dangerous."

I thought I was the strongest, but I found out that Maggio was even stronger.

It seemed like Maggio was going to win, but Franklin turned the tables and killed him.

Shouldn't this be the end of the matter?

Sluk has stepped forward again, his true nature an unkillable monster, and Franklin will most likely not escape death.

The ultimate winner is the monster that hid the deepest.

Reversal, reversal, and more reversal.

“That really hurt!” Sluk’s face writhed like countless earthworms, making a grating sound. “That makes me even happier with you.”

"Stop resisting, just let me become you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sluk raised his hands, and countless vines shot out, instantly spanning more than ten meters and flying to Lynn's front.

So fast!

Lynn raised an eyebrow, took a sudden step, and used the recoil to retreat to the side.

[Six-Style O-Shave]!

The vines that had been shot through landed on the ice wall behind them, leaving deep holes; each shot was more terrifying than a bullet.

When facing unknown disasters, try to avoid being hit if possible.

Who knows if Sluk's vines are poisonous or have other additional effects? Many [Disasters] can kill on sight, so it's normal to die after being hit once.

Seeing Lynn dodge, Sluk was not angry, but continued to pursue relentlessly, with vines shooting out seemingly endlessly.

Lynn dodged while trying to retaliate, his hands constantly wielding his Nen.

The ground trembled, and walls of ice rose from the ground.

The vines that land on it can only pierce it just enough to give way to nothing.

Soon, ice walls rose up inside the ice cave, and Lynn and Chopper disappeared from Sluk's sight.

"What is this? A death throes?" Sluk scoffed, continuing to fire vines at a high frequency.

All we need to do is smash these annoying ice walls into dust!

As vines shattered the ice walls, more and more ice shards appeared on the ground, and ice fog gradually rose into the air, reducing visibility.

Unbeknownst to them, during this dodging process, the distance between Lynn and Sluk was constantly closing.

Finally, during one of Sluk's attacks on the ice wall in the opposite direction, Lynn seized the opportunity to rush out from the corner, his hands in a gesture of readiness to attack.

"You fooled me!" Sluk grinned maliciously, as several vines suddenly shot out from his waist...

In fact, it can shoot vines from anywhere on its body; it was deliberately creating an illusion by using its hands.

The next moment, Sluk's smile froze.

Lynn was instantly pierced by the vines, and multiple holes appeared in his body, making his death a gruesome sight.

But a second later, the lifelike Lynn turned into a shattered ice sculpture, scattering into ice fragments and disappearing.

【Ice-shaped clone】!

Is this fake?

Where is it really?

Sluk panicked. Footsteps sounded behind it. In its haste, it turned around while launching its vine attack.

Chopper, with his barrel-shaped waist and contortionist skills, came into view. Chopper's eyes narrowed, and he lightly leaped to dodge the vine attack, then immediately attacked its waist.

In the air, Lynn placed his hands on the eagle's claws, then released them and descended from the sky, condensing a large amount of cold air that rushed straight towards Sluk's head!

The previous clones were just bait!

An attack from both the air and the ground is the surest kill!

Although there are still some potential risks, we have no choice but to give it a try.

While launching the sneak attack, Lynn was also worried about Chopper.

Because card characters can also die, but fortunately they can be resurrected.

There is no cost when a card character is first activated, but after the first death, it requires enough Nen to be infused before it can be reactivated.

For example, if Chopper, who is B-rank, dies, then he needs to have around B-rank strength to reactivate him.

Each time a character dies, the required Nen energy doubles. After dying several times, the required Nen energy becomes astronomical, which is equivalent to permanent death.

Therefore, Lynn cherishes his cards and tries to prevent the characters from dying if possible.

Kaka-

Lynn's attack came first.

Sluk began to freeze from his head, and the ice spread to other parts of his body, as if he were about to be completely frozen.

On the other side, Chopper also used all his strength to strike Sluk's waist.

【Carved Cherry Blossom】!

boom!

Sluk, who had been frozen in ice, exploded instantly.

Countless fragments of vines scattered, accompanied by shimmering, bright ice crystals; the scene itself was quite magnificent and moving.

"Success?" Eugene, standing not far away, stared wide-eyed.

Could it be that Franklin and his pet really killed the monster?

It's all shattered into pieces, it can't possibly be restored, can it?

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

These vines, which had been briefly separated, seemed to be magnetically drawn together in the air, and upon landing, they instantly coalesced into the original form of Sluk.

Before it was even fully formed, Sluk's voice came out first.

"You really surprise me time and time again."

"Not bad, not bad, I'll also have a good taste of your pet."

"No matter how much you struggle, your fate is sealed!"

In fact, Sluk himself secretly thought it was a close call.