"You humans have many tricks, but once I have seen them, they become useless."
The Ant King withdrew his hand from the spot where he had been struck. After receiving treatment, the burning pain vanished.
He looked at Ronnel, who had also been healed, and spoke calmly:
"Although I tend to trade injuries for injuries to determine the winner more quickly, if both of us can heal, the process only drags on."
"So, are you going to abandon that method of fighting?"
"No, on the contrary."
A faint light flickered in Meruem's pupils. "This way, I can fight without restraint. Not only our physical endurance but also our healing abilities will determine who lasts longer."
As he spoke, Meruem released an even stronger, more oppressive aura. His battle lust and tyranny surged to new heights.
"Yeah?"
Ronnel's face hardened.
Even with healing, the pain of injuries and the exhaustion of battle could still cloud one's mind. This wasn't just a test of endurance but also of willpower. The moment one of them let their guard down, the fight would be decided.
"At this pace, within three hours, the battle should reach its conclusion."
Feeling Meruem's murderous aura and recalling the damage from his previous attack, Ronnel made his calculations. By the time the effects of the stimulant pill wore off, their accumulated injuries and mental fatigue would push one of them past their limit.
"Human, tell me your name."
Just as Ronnel was adjusting his stance for the next round, the Ant King spoke again.
"My name?"
Ronnel was briefly taken aback, but after seeing the serious look in Meruem's eyes, he answered after a moment of silence:
"Ronnel."
"Ronnel?" Meruem repeated, his expression unreadable.
"You are worthy enough for me to remember your name."
"Is that so?" Ronnel chuckled. "What an honor."
"That old human before... I could feel his strength fading," Meruem continued. "If he had been at his peak, he might have truly been able to kill me."
"But he was old," the King added, as if dismissing the thought entirely. "His name isn't even worth remembering."
Ronnel was silent for a moment. He didn't argue. Instead, he carefully adjusted his stance, his Shingen-ryu technique ready.
Meruem, seeing that Ronnel did not respond, also stopped speaking and prepared to fight once more.
"The old man at his peak... Perhaps he could have killed you," Ronnel murmured, his gaze sharp.
"But even at his strongest, he was the result of forty or fifty years of training."
"You, on the other hand, were born powerful. When you fought him, you were only a month old."
"You won against a man past his prime. In some ways, that was a fair fight. And yet... the old man still lost."
"Ant King, perhaps you truly are favored by the heavens, but the heavens are jealous of talent. You will not survive today."
Ronnel's eyes turned cold.
In the next instant, the tension exploded. Both fighters vanished, and with a thunderous crash, the second round of battle began.
...
Inside the commander-in-chief's palace in East Gorteau, Morel and the others stood in heavy silence, watching Netero undergo treatment in the healing chamber. No one spoke.
The only sound was the occasional sniffle.
The atmosphere remained tense until a man in a black suit walked in.
"The medical team will arrive soon," Knov reported, lowering his phone. "Then the Chairman can receive more professional treatment."
Morel nodded, though his brows remained furrowed.
Even with the best medical care, he doubted whether modern medicine could truly heal Netero.
More concerning, however, was the unresolved threat of the Ant King. That weighed heavier on his mind than anything else.
"For now, all we can do is wait for news from Ronnel."
Seeing the grim mood, Knov sighed and glanced at Meleoron. In Meleoron's hands was a small device—an alarm clock, one of the tools Ronnel had borrowed from Emuksu.
Its function was simple: if Ronnel died, it would emit a piercing warning.
It was their way of knowing the outcome of the battle—and preparing accordingly.
"Ronnel will come back alive."
Hearing Knov's words, Knuckle looked at him, then muttered under his breath, as if reassuring himself.
But just as he spoke, another voice cut in:
"Alive? What happened to Ronnel?"
"Of course—"
Knuckle started to answer instinctively, but then his body stiffened.
That voice didn't belong to anyone in the room.
Morel and Knov, both highly skilled Hunters, reacted immediately. Their bodies tensed, their eyes snapping toward the source of the sound.
And when they saw the figure standing there, their expressions shifted drastically.
"It's you?!"
...
Meanwhile, at the weapons testing site—tens of kilometers away from the royal palace—the battlefield had been reduced to rubble.
If, before, Ronnel and the Ant King had fought with precision and restraint, now their battle was nothing short of brutal.
It had devolved into a reckless, all-out exchange of blows, an "injury-for-injury" clash of pure survival instinct.
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (799 chapters in total)