Germain noticed the Greed Island Z interface appear in the lower right corner of his vision, glowing with a golden highlight.
"Countdown: 2 minutes 51 seconds."
At the same time, the Ant King's long, thick red health bar hovered prominently in front of him.
Boom—
The Ant King, now in his second phase, radiating fierce dark aura, gathered his strength for a moment before launching himself like an arrow released from a bow.
"Watch out!"
Thanks to his "Godspeed" ability, Killua barely caught the Ant King's initial movements.
"After he teleports over, he'll always follow up with a three-hit combo…"
At this moment, Killua was the only one on the team who could read every frame of the Ant King's second-phase actions.
He didn't understand why "The Hero's Arrival" had summoned Germain, who had been missing without a trace.
But since Germain had come, Killua felt it was his duty to warn him—sharing the information and experience their team had just gained from fighting.
However, before he could say more, everything happening right before their eyes stopped his words.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
The Ant King's lightning-fast right fist, spinning left kick, and tail strike were all brilliantly and perfectly blocked by Germain's two hands.
He wasn't hurt and didn't even move a single step from his original position.
Killua's eyes widened slightly, and he unconsciously forgot to close his half-open mouth.
He realized that Germain might not need his warnings after all.
The Ant King suddenly flipped backward twice to create distance.
Seeing Germain still standing firm without chasing him, the Ant King cautiously stepped closer and swung his tail whip experimentally.
Smack—
The tail whip sliced through the air but was caught by Germain's hand.
The Ant King gritted his teeth, tugging fiercely, but he couldn't pull his own tail back.
When Germain's eyes fixed on him, the Ant King hardly hesitated before making a shocking move.
His right hand slashed down like a blade, swiftly cutting his tail in half at the midpoint.
Blood poured out as he bent his legs sharply, springing backward with force.
He landed firmly a distance away, maintaining the gap between himself and Germain.
Germain looked down at the severed tail still dripping blood in his hand, then casually tossed it aside.
Bang—
Taking advantage of the brief moment Germain's gaze shifted away, the Ant King lunged forward once more, only to suddenly change direction right under Germain's watchful eyes.
Germain watched as the Ant King flipped sideways once, then again, then once more—circling around him for almost half a rotation.
Slowly, he understood what the Ant King was doing.
From the earlier tail strike attempt, the Ant King could not clearly see Germain's initial move.
By the time he reacted, the tail was already in Germain's grasp.
The distance had been dangerously close, forcing the Ant King to sever his own tail in desperation.
After this experience, the Ant King realized that to evade Germain's attacks, he had to anticipate Germain's moves before they even began.
If he only dodged after seeing the initial strike, it would already be too late—Germain's attacks would almost certainly hit.
That was why the Ant King circled Germain in such strange patterns.
"Countdown: 2 minutes 44 seconds."
Killua and the team watched the battle tensely, eyes fixed on the countdown, but they forgot their original plan—they were supposed to swarm now.
Because they noticed the pressure from the Ant King suddenly vanished, as if erased by some invisible force, leaving nothing behind.
Soon, they realized that this invisible force was coming from Germain.
Germain's presence completely overshadowed the threat that the Chimera Ant King once brought.
The King was still calculating its moves. In its second phase, if it succeeded even once in predicting an attack, it would gain a layer of buildup — with a maximum of eight layers.
By actively consuming these buildup layers, it could increase the damage of its next attack. The more layers consumed, the greater the damage dealt.
With eight layers consumed at once, a single punch could drain an opponent's entire health bar.
This ability, too, originated from Meruem.
During his matches with Komugi, he had realized how to predict an opponent's moves and cut off their offense — a technique reminiscent of Jeet Kune Do.
The Chimera Ant King before them was essentially a heavily weakened version of Meruem.
The King watched Germain, and Germain observed the King in return, silently nodding to himself.
Not bad at all.
Dwun and Ickshonpe had designed quite a formidable boss.
Raising his foot, Germain kicked the rapidly rolling King away.
Bang!
The King crashed into a giant boulder, shattering it instantly into several chunks that tumbled down the slope, burying the King in a cloud of dust.
This time, even Killua — in his "Godspeed" state — couldn't see Germain's attack clearly. Not even the King itself could tell how Germain had struck.
All it knew was that by the time it reacted, it was already flying away.
Its prediction had failed.
Bang!
The King blasted the massive rolling stones off itself with nen, then sprang out from the swirling dust.
At this moment, its health bar showed only a sliver remaining.
The life of the Ant King was truly like a flickering candle in the wind.
Even being struck by attacks from Killua, Gon, and the others could have ended the Ant King's life.
Yet, in moments like these, the Ant King's reactions only became sharper and faster.
It fought back with desperate force, ready to throw itself into death to survive...
Suddenly, an intense and terrifying premonition hit it like a sudden winter frost, freezing its thoughts in an instant.
Its eyelids lifted slightly, and it saw the black-robed hunter silently standing right before it.
This realization struck the Ant King — the hunter meant business, and there was no more room for distance or escape.
What happened next took less than half a second.
But from the perspectives of Germain and the Ant King, the perception of time's flow was completely different.
The Ant King, in its extreme desperation, saw every frame of Germain's right hand swinging down.
It saw a strangely shaped meat-saw blade slowly materialize as it swung down from his arm.
It also saw the blade cut into its own face.
The Ant King reacted, but only within its mind — only its fingers moved slightly; the rest of its body failed to respond.
Germain withdrew the meat-saw blade and watched as the Ant King, its skull cracked open, leaned backward.
Before it even hit the ground, its body rapidly dissolved into dust and vanished.
"The Ant King has been eliminated!"
"Killua's team has cleared the 'Chimera Ant King' raid!"
"A full-screen announcement: Congratulations to Killua's team for being the first players to clear the 'Chimera Ant King' raid!"
Greed Island Z broadcasted the victory to all players present, and to everyone still inside the game, announcing Killua's team's final triumph.
Killua, Gon, Milluki, Hanzō, Pokkle, and Alluka didn't pay any attention to the full-screen announcement.
They didn't even check the rewards for clearing the dungeon.
Instead, they stood there, wide-eyed and stunned, watching the battle unfold from start to finish.
"Countdown: 2 minutes 36 seconds."
After Germain appeared, it took less than 30 seconds—most of which he spent observing and defending in place—to kill the King Ant.
The King Ant, whom they had only been able to chip away a small portion of the health bar through a relay fight, was now defeated in an instant by Germain, who emptied his entire health bar effortlessly.
Everyone felt a bit dazed.
Who was really the final boss of this dungeon? Germain or the King Ant?
Who was the one they had actually summoned as their ally?
Three minutes passed, yet Germain did not leave.
He was completely unaffected by the "Hero's Arrival" event.
He came here because he wanted to, and he would leave only when he chose to.
Several more minutes went by before Leorio, revived, finally returned to the battlefield.
What he saw was a strangely tense scene.
"Mr. Germain? Why is he here?"
"And the King Ant? Where is such a huge King Ant?"
"What did I miss in these few minutes I was gone?"
*******
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