Victory was not the goal of the first clash.
Therefore, the priority was to preserve strength, then gather fragments of intelligence, piecing together a blueprint for victory.
Frankly, Cheadle's greatest worry was Netero, fearing he would get carried away in the fight and stubbornly refuse to retreat.
That might be the worst outcome.
But what she hadn't expected even more was that Botobai, with such strong frontal combat ability, would...
The sudden bad news left her feeling uneasy.
She couldn't shake the feeling that something else bad was about to happen.
Cheadle's mood grew heavier the more she thought, completely unaware her teeth had sunk deep into the flesh of her thumb.
She suddenly glanced at the woman with a bowl-cut hairstyle sitting in the center of the room.
The woman was slightly plump, of medium height, with ordinary looks… the type you'd lose track of in a crowd.
The bowl-cut woman was named Togari, a Conjuration-type Nen user, with a secondary specialization in Emission. In the Association team, she belonged to the support personnel, primarily responsible for transporting and transferring supplies, a relatively rare talent.
'With Togari's ability, the Chairman should... be fine, right?' Cheadle silently thought.
At this moment, if there were an observer with a panoramic view of the entire situation, they would definitely notice that in this clash, the Association team, which had gathered most of its elites, was at a disadvantage.
Botobai's death was not an isolated case. In several other battle zones, members of Beyond's team all displayed formidable combat prowess.
Even in the battle between Netero and Beyond, Beyond held the upper hand.
In a situation of unequal intelligence, Netero sacrificed his hands to gain partial intelligence about Beyond's Nen Abilities.
Under these circumstances, temporarily avoiding the fight was the best choice.
As long as they successfully retreated to the safe zone, healing the injuries wouldn't be an issue.
Later, after the injuries healed, they could combine the acquired intelligence to find an opportunity to launch another attack against Beyond.
However, Cheadle's worry was well-founded.
Netero had indeed gotten into the heat of the battle. Even with fractured fingers on both hands, he had no intention of avoiding the fight.
The reason was that Netero's current attack methods were no longer dependent on physical factors… even with fractured hands, it wouldn't affect his offense.
If there was any effect, it might be the negligible sensation of pain.
As his completely unaffected prayer gesture continued, no matter how many times the Guanyin was destroyed, it still appeared before Beyond in its most dignified form.
Netero's actions, in Beyond's eyes, were like a stubborn child refusing to admit defeat.
Even if the characteristics of his Nen Ability were guessed by Netero, what did it matter? The gap in hardware couldn't be changed.
In Beyond's view, the outcome of this battle was already clear.
Inside the room, golden light and thunderous sounds erupted again.
Within a short ten minutes, the number of their attack and defense exchanges exceeded a hundred.
Netero's offensive was extremely fierce, but he couldn't breach Beyond's defense line no matter what.
On the contrary, he almost got caught by Beyond several times.
Such an obvious gap would make anyone feel despair or think the opponent invincible.
But Netero was no ordinary person.
If there was no opportunity, then create one.
Yet, no matter how he tried, he still couldn't inflict even the slightest bit of damage on Beyond Netero.
In battles between Enhancers, this was the most awkward situation.
The strong remain unscathed, while the weak are helpless.
It just happened that Netero was stubborn, or his desire to win was too strong, obsessed with breaking through Beyond's defense.
After another ten-plus minutes of fierce fighting, Netero was constantly in danger.
He realized that Beyond's ability wasn't so much rebounding as transferring.
Compared to the former, the latter was undoubtedly more troublesome.
It seemed any force applied to Beyond's body would be utilized by Beyond in an extremely short time, creating the phenomenon of rebounding damage.
In terms of technique application, it was stronger than Linne's school.
Linne's school technique was mainly based on assimilation.
In terms of level, Beyond's transferring technique was likely an evolved version of Linne's assimilation technique.
As the characteristics of Beyond's ability became clearer, Netero gradually realized that, relying on himself alone, he basically couldn't see the dawn of victory.
But it was a bit late. He had been on the tightrope for too long and was finally seized upon by Beyond Netero.
A straight punch broke through the Guanyin, striking directly at Netero's chest.
Upon impact, even the air manifested form, turning into rings of force.
Netero was sent flying backward, spraying blood in the air before deeply embedding into the incredibly hard wall.
Before being hit by Beyond, Netero had already focused [Ken] on his chest, but Beyond's attack also mobilized nearly all his Nen.
Thus, Netero took that punch head-on.
After punching Netero away, Beyond, not letting up, immediately gave chase.
Even if this punch killed Netero, for safety's sake, Beyond would throw another punch at Netero's corpse.
"Hmm?"
After taking the first step in pursuit, Beyond sensed that Netero's presence and Nen Fluctuations had vanished.
Whoosh!
Beyond's figure vanished, appearing before the wall the next moment, waving a hand to disperse the dust.
What met his eyes was an empty hole.
'Spatial-type Nen... Emission or Conjuration?'
Beyond scratched his cheek. He knew Netero wouldn't come looking for trouble alone without any preparation.
However, he was intent on killing Netero, so he had been guarding against Netero's escape all along.
He just hadn't expected Netero's prepared contingency to be like this.
Meaning, there might have been an Association's member hidden nearby all along whom he hadn't detected.
When Netero was in danger, they used a spatial ability related to [Emission] or [Conjuration] to transfer Netero away.
Or perhaps there was some other unknown reason… otherwise, given his vigilance, he wouldn't have failed to detect an enemy hiding nearby.
Netero's sudden disappearance didn't make Beyond feel emotions like regret.
To say something overly proud, he never considered Netero a threat in the first place.
"Wasted effort."
Beyond lowered his hand, contemplating the recent battle.
Although Netero was old, his skills were refined through long years.
So, breaking through the offensive and defensive situation constructed by the 100-Type Guanyin wasn't a simple matter.
Beyond was almost finding the 'death gate', hence that straight punch. But before he could land a second punch, Netero slipped away.
…
In the safe zone where the Association was stationed, people either sat or stood, silently waiting for their fighting comrades to return.
Suddenly, Togari stood up.
Before the Association's members around her understood what happened, they saw a fist-sized, red and gold-patterned fortune bag appear in the air in front of Togari.