Chapter 112: Reciprocity
"This isn't far from where we were just a moment ago!"
Rita exclaimed, quickly crouching down and touching the grass beneath her feet with her ability.
"Hmph! Forget about your captain. Even if he's nearby, it won't matter. Soon... when he finds us, he'll only be collecting your corpses!"
A man with a scarred face sneered then suddenly lunged forward with lightning speed.
Machi reacted, swinging her blade but a whip shot up from the ground, instantly coiling around her waist. With a powerful yank, she was lifted off her feet and slammed hard against a tree.
Feitan, his hands glowing with telekinetic energy, clashed directly with the scarred man.
His legs sank into the earth, his body shuddered he was clearly being overpowered.
The man's punch pressed down on Feitan's head, his arm bent but Feitan's face remained calm, his gaze steady.
"You're still a tough one... shame though. At your level, you shouldn't even be here."
The scarred man, a Reinforcement-type user himself, forced Feitan's punch aside and struck again.
BOOM!
The ground exploded. Feitan spewed blood and fell straight into a deep pit.
Elsewhere, Machi had cut the whip bindings with her knife and was rushing toward Feitan's aid
when suddenly, a dense swarm of shadowy whips surged up before her like a tide of snakes, sealing off every path.
She dodged and slashed upward, cutting through the retreating whips, but they stretched back out instantly like regenerating serpents.
Crack! Crack!
The sharp lashes struck a nearby tree trunk, tearing bark apart and showering splinters everywhere before snapping the trunk clean in two.
Machi rolled, landing in a small clearing. Looking up, she saw a long-haired woman perched gracefully on a branch.
"Let the men have their fun... You and I, as women, should stay together," the woman said, leaping down from above. As she landed, she cracked her whip and smiled.
"Can we... hold out until he returns?"
Machi muttered nervously, raising her knife defensively.
Though there were only four of them left, Rita and Gabwich weren't suited for direct combat. Their powers were support-based... stronger than the average Nen user, sure but nowhere near enough for this.
The problem was... their enemies were far too powerful.
These weren't ordinary opponents. Even Feitan had been taken down with a single blow his life in danger.
And the woman in front of Machi radiated lethal intent.
Elsewhere, Feitan, injured and staggering, saw the scarred man closing in for the finishing strike.
Unexpectedly, the battered middle-aged man still found the strength to counterattack. He leapt up, slamming his fist into the man's cheek.
Feitan's telekinetic aura flared wildly with emotion his punch burned a mark across the man's face, dislocating his jaw and cheekbone.
Feitan's pupils narrowed. The power gap was immense.
Before he could react, a kick smashed into his stomach, launching him through the air like a projectile.
The scarred man glanced coldly at a pale man and woman standing nearby Rita and Gabwich.
They were trembling. Their telekinetic skills were decent, but in a life-or-death fight, resolve mattered most.
Nearby, Anthony knelt on the ground, clutching his abdomen in pain, gasping before a tall, dark-skinned man.
Rita summoned her power, causing grass to surge around them but the branches were too weak, shattering easily under the scarred man's assault.
"Are we killing all of them? Maybe we should keep one alive... use them as bait when he comes?" the dark man suggested.
For them, the one they feared most was the man in the suit their true target.
The scarred man was their squad leader, a national-level fighter.
They were military operatives from the Mingbo Republic state-trained soldiers masquerading as participants under the Sori Group.
"No need," the scarred man said grimly. "Wait until Deni and Dal return."
"Can Dal really handle him?"
"If the attack fails, his mission is to stall the target. Even if he can't defeat him, his skills should be enough to get rid of him."
The scarred man then lunged toward Rita and Gabwich
but before he could strike, his arm was caught mid-swing by a massive hand that gently tightened its grip.
Gabwich screamed, his face twisting in pain.
Rita froze, her body going cold as ice.
Their enemies were calm... relaxed even chatting casually.
They were in an entirely different league.
"It's over... we're going to die," Rita thought.
"Run!" Gabwich shouted, gritting his teeth, drenched in sweat.
For the first time, his voice didn't stutter.
Run?
Where to?
There was still another enemy watching from afar. Just three of them yet they'd already crushed all five.
The dark-skinned man nodded at his captain's signal.
He turned to the kneeling Anthony, intent on killing him.
"Huh?"
The scarred man's expression suddenly shifted. He shouted urgently
"Watch out!"
Startled, the dark man twisted aside instinctively.
A hand sliced past his neck he'd dodged it!
His pupils shrank, relief flooding in
but a moment later, his vision spun wildly, as if he were floating upward.
He saw his own decapitated body collapsing to the ground
and a shadowy figure, wreathed in green mist, flashed past like a phantom.
It was him.
He had arrived so fast!
"Wha how...?"
The dark man's thoughts froze.
He had dodged how had he still been hit?
What kind of ability was that...?
His severed head hit the ground.
Haze was already standing before the scarred man.
With a whirling kick, his waist twisted violently, slicing through the air with a shrill crack. The scarred man's eyes widened as the strike smashed into his shoulder.
The terrifying power shattered his defenses, his hardened Nen aura flickering.
A critical hit.
He dropped to his knees, his face dark and his eyes bloodshot.
BANG!
A second kick sent him flying.
Wrapped in spectral mist, Haze (Haze) landed lightly, pressing his shoe to the ground. His voice was cold and calm:
"Thanks... for looking after my men."
Then, from his other hand, he let two objects fall to the dirt
Two severed heads.
The man with the side bangs... and the fat man.
"Captain!!"
Rita's voice trembled as she cried out, eyes brimming with tears.
Emotion surged through her chest safety, relief, awe.
For a moment, Haze's back seemed impossibly tall, like a mountain between them and death.
"It seems everyone's badly hurt... but at least you're alive," Haze murmured, glancing at Gabwich and Anthony, then scanning the field Machi still holding her own, Feitan struggling but conscious.
Feitan and Gabwich were in the worst shape.
Machi, though battered and embarrassed, could still stand her ground.
"You're finished."
Haze's calm voice reached Machi.
Her opponent the whip woman hesitated, seeing how effortlessly he'd torn through her comrades.
"Just him...?"
He'd killed two of their men in an instant. They still had three left but she was the only one nearby.
Their captain was national-level, yes... but even so
"With him," Machi sneered, "that's enough."
Years ago, a two-and-a-half-star mission could be cleared by him alone.
Now? They'd all die.
Elsewhere, Haze kicked the scarred man again, sending him sliding across the dirt until he stopped short.
The man looked in horror at the two severed heads.
Only two minutes had passed since the team had been teleported
meaning the man before him had already killed Dal and Deni in that brief span.
The scarred man knew just how strong his comrades were...
"Go on ahead," Haze told Rita and Gabwich.
"Yes!"
They lifted Anthony and ran toward Feitan.
He wanted to end this quickly.
From the start of this mission, Haze hadn't been fighting at full power.
He hadn't even activated his breathing techniques
but now, he was done holding back.
The man with side bangs thought he could defend and retreat but Haze had caught him again and killed him instantly.
The boost in physical power and perception from his breathing art was beyond ordinary imagination.
"I'll return the favor... and take care of your comrades myself," Haze said coolly.
Then he vanished.
"!!!"
The scarred man's eyes went wide.
"WATCH OUT!!"
(End of Chapter)