Hunter x Hunter : Germain Joins The Hunt

Zeno glanced at Germain again, paused for a moment, then lifted his head.

"It's true, it's not clear… although it's my first time meeting him, I've already confirmed he's a monster. I can't figure him out."

"If it's a fight to the death, I should have the experience to definitely overpower him."

Zeno shook his head again.

"But Netero, this is a different matter. Whether we become his sharpening stone or he becomes ours, it's outside of the original task… that would be a different price."

"You're so cold, Zeno. I thought, with the connection between us, I'd get some special treatment."

"Then I'll give you a 10% discount."

"Deal."

Zeno didn't expect Netero to agree so quickly. He soon realized he'd been tricked again and helplessly shook his head.

Netero didn't ask for Germain and Silva's opinions at all. He walked over to Zeno's side.

"Let's go, we'll have some tea and rest for now. Let them decide who wins."

"Alright."

The two hadn't walked far when Netero suddenly turned around, as if he had just remembered something, and pointed at the basin that he had created with his punch.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to set the rules. You've all seen this area, right? This is the boundary. Anyone who steps out loses. Other than that, you can only forfeit automatically."

"One more thing—don't kill or seriously injure anyone. Otherwise, money won't be able to fix the problem."

Netero waved his hand at Germain and Silva, his face full of smiles.

"Alright, I'll leave the field to you young ones. Do as you wish."

This time, Netero and Zeno didn't look back. They walked straight to the airship, heading off for their afternoon tea.

Germain, in his twenties, and Silva, in his forties, had an age gap large enough to be father and son. Yet, when Netero referred to them as "youngsters," it didn't feel out of place.

It really looked like the fight was about to begin, and there was no way to refuse.

Silva looked at Germain and made a gesture with his hand, as if saying, "After you."

"Since Chairman Netero holds you in such high regard, and the price has been settled, let's get started."

Germain recalled Netero's attitude just now and began to understand Netero's intentions. The more he thought about it, the more he furrowed his brows. 

However, fighting a skilled opponent like Silva was a rare opportunity, so Germain didn't hesitate long before agreeing.

The two kept their distance and entered the basin, walking down the dirt wall slowly.

As Germain walked, he observed the entire basin.

In fact, Netero setting the boundaries worked against Germain. This meant that, as a Conjurer, he had to fight Silva, an Emitter, in a limited space.

In this situation, the advantage was clearly on the Emitter side.

If you really want to win in a direct confrontation, you'd need to use powers like the ominous undead or the chaos roar level of strength.

However, the rules don't allow casualties, which makes it even harder.

This has a lot of similarities with the rules Netero set in the final stage of the Hunter Exam in the original timeline, except there are no boundaries drawn.

Germain and Silva both casually stretched, cracking their joints like two killing machines starting to turn their gears.

"Are you ready, Germain?"

"Ready..."

Before Germain could finish his sentence, he noticed Silva suddenly accelerate, charging towards him like a cheetah.

To avoid alarming him, Silva only released his killing intent in this moment, and his Nen began to gather in his hands.

This was very dangerous. Using Ko, Silva rushed directly at Germain's face. If he got hurt, it would be a severe blow under a defense with no nen.

To conceal this flaw, Silva had to complete the attack before Germain could react, and the speed of this attack was incredible.

In other words, once accomplished, it would create a surprising result.

Silva managed it. This was his killing technique honed through countless battles, and it was his instinctive mode of attack whenever he launched a surprise strike.

However, even though he achieved this, Germain still reacted in time.

A flamethrower quickly conjured and shot a fire dragon toward Silva.

The fire dragon roared as it shot forward, enough to engulf Silva!

Silva instantly twisted his body, appearing elsewhere in the blink of an eye, then split into a dozen almost identical figures that surrounded Germain from all directions.

"Rhythm Echo!" 

"The Snake Awakens!"

Among the many figures, some clenched their fists, some waved their arms like a snake, others jumped to kick, while a few threw large nen bombs, each of them almost indistinguishable from the real one!

Germain quickly moved while calmly analyzing the situation.

The fire dragon turned, sweeping counterclockwise, while Germain dashed in the opposite direction.

His spiral cane whipped up a gust of wind, stabbing at one of the figures!

In reality, each of the figures was the real Silva, but he had almost instantly launched attacks from different positions, making it appear as if he was using clones.

However, the only real threats were Silva's current movement and the nen bombs he threw. The other punches and kicks were merely decoys.

Silva's pupils shrank because Germain had correctly pinpointed his current location!

"Boom—"

Two nen bullets collided and exploded, creating a cloud of smoke.

Silva shot out of the dust and stood almost vertically against the wall, glancing down at the stab wound on his left shoulder.

Blood trickled from the wound, but because of Silva's physical condition, it quickly stopped.

This kind of injury was nothing more than a daily occurrence for the Zoldyck family.

What really mattered was that Germain had seen through all the afterimages and directly found where Silva was.

Silva's Stealth Steps and limb contortions were far superior to Illumi and Killua, with unmatched secrecy and deception.

Even so, Germain had figured it out in such a short time.

Was this really the same Germain who, months ago, was on the same level as his son, Illumi?

Illumi hadn't made such progress in these past few months.

Moreover, Silva noticed a detail.

Normally, when nen users fight using conjured objects, the objects appear at the points where they contact the nen user, usually the hands.

But whether it was the initial flamethrower or the later twisting staff, Silva had only seen Germain raise his hand, and they floated in front of him.

This meant that Germain could now fight with conjured weapons without needing to hold them in his hands all the time.

How did he do that?

Silva quickly figured out the key point.

Germain's strength had increased drastically—almost explosively—so now he could do far more than before.

The item he initially conjured was already in contact with his body. It was the Nen that had gathered at his chest. From the shape, it looked like shards.

As long as the shard made contact with his body, he could free his hands. The conjured tool would appear around him at any time, without physical contact, ready for him to use.

In fact, it wasn't zero contact—it was just nearly invisible to the eye, but it was still connected through his Nen.

What Germain had done was replace his hands with numerous extended Nen.

The younger generation nowadays is truly frightening, and Germain is undoubtedly one of the best among them…

Swish—

The wind from the Cleaver blew away the dust, revealing Germain, dressed in a Hunter's black cloak.

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