Machi quickly reeled in her right hand, and tens of thousands of white threads twisted into a thin but sturdy white rope. Pushing off with her feet, she swung away into the distance.
"Too slow!"
Just as Machi swung out, the burly black figure transformed into a streak of light and pursued her, raising a massive iron fist and smashing it fiercely into Machi's back.
In a hurry, Machi only had time to turn sideways in mid-air, raising her left arm to block behind her.
"Bang!"
A punch drove Machi's arm tightly against her side, forcing her entire body into a "bow" shape. Her ribs audibly "cracked," and at least ten ribs were broken.
The moment that punch landed, Machi's eyes rolled back, and her consciousness cut out.
"Whoosh!"
Accompanied by a whooshing sound, Machi's body flew rapidly into the distance.
With a loud "boom," Machi crashed into the trunk of a large tree, slowly slid to the ground, and finally fell face down, eyes rolled back.
"Get up, Machi."
A steady, deep, and magnetic voice sounded.
The burly black figure that had sent her flying slowly walked towards her. Heavy footsteps sank into the earth, each step leaving a deep imprint.
"Don't try to be clever. In front of this single-person powered exoskeleton armor, I can see all your physiological indicators clearly."
"And, in this all-terrain simulated combat training room, no matter how severely you're injured, I won't stop."
The figure in the powered exoskeleton could slow its pace, each step landing on her heart.
"Cough cough..."
"Pfft!"
Machi, who had fallen face down, struggled to raise her head, looking at the four-meter-tall pitch-black exoskeleton power armor before her.
Her eyes wide, her mouth agape, as soon as she coughed, she violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
The intense pain made Machi feel like she was dying. Every breath felt like a burning agony.
"Thump..."
The black exoskeleton power armor stepped in front of Machi, leaving a footprint a centimeter deep.
The four-meter-tall armor slowly lowered its head, looking down at her from above, its voice low.
"How about this, I'll shut down all detection and automatic defense functions."
"As long as you can hit me."
"Even once."
"You can rest today."
Machi, who had been struggling to get up, heard this and instantly snarled, lifting her head fiercely to glare at the other party.
"Very good, that's the look I want." The person in the exoskeleton power armor waved a hand at her, signaling her to attack. "Come on, attack!"
"Aaaah~!!!"
Machi, who had been struggling just a moment ago, instantly sprang to her feet, roaring and charging at the armor, punching at the leg joint of the armor.
"Swish!"
But the armor merely shifted its foot slightly, turning to the right, causing her attack to miss. At the same time, its right leg lifted slightly.
With a "bang."
Machi's body once again flew into the air, thrown backward a good seven or eight meters. Her body rolled over two meters on the ground, crushing numerous plants.
"Damn... it..."
Machi, who had been kicked away, propped herself up with both hands, gritting her teeth, and barely managed to stand.
Machi looked at the instructor slowly walking towards her, her heart filled with unwillingness.
He had clearly sealed all his Nen abilities, fighting her solely with the functions of the powered exoskeleton armor, completely disregarding her Nen ability attacks.
Even so, she couldn't even touch the instructor.
Now, the instructor had even turned off the armor's detection and automatic defense functions.
But even without the armor's powerful computing capabilities, she still couldn't touch him in close combat.
"I can't fight him in close combat; I have to rely on the terrain..."
Machi swayed, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and stared directly at the instructor.
"Right, the terrain!"
Machi suddenly thought of something. Suppressing her pain, she turned and darted into the jungle.
Her small figure instantly vanished from Amed's sight.
"Fleeing is also a strategy," Amed said, watching where Machi disappeared, without stopping his steps. "But you can only escape for a while, not forever."
Machi ran swiftly through the jungle, continuously releasing white threads from her hands.
"Hmph, just you wait."
The Chief Instructor's voice came from afar, but Machi's lips curved into a smile as she continued to weave through the forest.
Sometimes she leaped high, jumping between branches, sometimes she darted into the grass, moving in a zigzag pattern between trees.
...
"Swish!"
After an unknown amount of time, Machi, who was running quickly, stopped, leaped high, performed a somersault in mid-air, and landed steadily on a thick branch.
"Hoo hoo"
Machi crouched on the branch, panting heavily.
She pressed her back against the tree trunk, hiding behind the large tree, and looked down at the forest below.
"This way, he shouldn't be able to see me."
Below, in the jungle, extremely fine, almost invisible white threads spread throughout the entire forest like a spiderweb.
Whether on the ground or in the air, wherever there was space, it was filled with dense white threads.
She was like a spider, secretly weaving its web, quietly waiting for its prey to fall into the trap.
"Thump... thump..."
Muffled thudding sounds echoed from a distance. Machi looked in that direction.
She saw the Chief Instructor, clad in the powered exoskeleton, walking step by step towards her spiderweb.
"Great, he hasn't noticed."
Machi saw the Chief Instructor step into her deployed web and continue to walk forward. She secretly clenched her fist, her spirits lifting.
This indicated that the instructor had indeed completely shut down the powered armor's detection function.
Without detection functions and Nen abilities, the instructor simply couldn't detect her Nen threads and could only obediently walk into the spiderweb himself.
"Thump..."
Suddenly, Amed's footsteps halted. He stopped in his tracks.
"A praying mantis trying to stop a chariot."
Amed suddenly looked up, staring at Machi's hiding place.
"What!?"
Machi was so startled that she immediately recoiled, cold sweat pouring down her face. She no longer dared to peek out and observe the instructor's movements.
She didn't know how the instructor had found her, but she also wouldn't doubt that the instructor had activated En (Nen sensing ability) or some other detection function.
"The game of hide-and-seek should be almost over."
"Machi."
"Show me what you've got. Nen abilities aren't just for healing."
"You don't need to tell me that..." Machi, hidden behind the big tree, thought to herself. "Next, I'll show you what I can do!"
"Swish!"
Machi waved her small hand, and the white spiderweb, composed of countless threads in the forest, slowly began to move. They were contracting, intertwining, and tightening.
"Hmm?"
Amed, standing on the ground, sensed something unusual and tentatively took a step forward.
But his movement was exceptionally slow, as if something was struggling to pull him back.
It wasn't just his legs; Amed lifted his arms and moved his fingers. Every movement was met with some kind of restraint.
"So that's it."
Amed slightly raised his head. He knew Machi's ability. Based on the characteristics of Machi's ability, he had deduced his current situation.
"That's not a bad idea."
He moved his hands and feet with difficulty, his movements slow, like an artificial intelligence robot.
"If it were an ordinary person, they would certainly be immobile by now."
"No, they might have already been crushed into minced meat by this level of force."
"But... the power isn't enough!"
Amed's tone shifted. He bent his legs, assuming a horse stance, and suddenly swept his arms wide around him, as if grabbing something.
"Haaah~!!!"
Amed roared in a deep voice. The numerous threads wrapped around his arms, the massive spiderweb, was slowly pulling itself towards him due to his immense strength.
"Boom~!"
With a resounding crash, Machi felt the ground beneath her tremble for a moment. Her foot slipped, and she nearly fell off the branch. Fortunately, she quickly grabbed the branch, swung back like on a swing, and landed steadily on the tree branch.
"Rumble rumble..."
But just as she regained her balance, the ground trembled again.
"No, that's not right! It's not the ground shaking, it's..."
Machi crouched on the branch, gripping the trembling branch tightly. She looked around the forest, and her expression instantly froze.
"No way..."
She saw that five large trees distributed in this area, including the one under her feet, were actually tilting towards Amed in the center, subtly showing signs of being uprooted.
"What kind of monstrous strength is this!?"
Machi's face was filled with astonishment. Her worldview was being challenged.
She had never imagined that anyone could possess such terrifying power.
This power would require at least hundreds of tons to budge.
"The Chief Instructor... is a monster!"
At this moment, Machi deeply realized that the Chief Instructor was an existence she could not directly contend with, even if he didn't use Nen abilities and his powered armor.
"Is this the solution you came up with?"
The Chief Instructor's deep voice echoed through the forest.
"What a joke!"
Machi's expression hardened upon hearing this, a hint of anger subtly rising in her heart.
She had her own pride. Ever since she left Meteor City, she had received too much praise due to her unique medical talent.
Friends, classmates, teachers, and even some elite individuals in high positions in society.
"Whether it's a joke or not, you'll find out for yourself!"
Machi's body gradually surged with a large amount of translucent aura, forming transparent threads that floated around Machi in mid-air.
"Go!"
Machi waved her arm, and dozens, even hundreds, of transparent threads suddenly shot out.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of transparent threads reached above Amed's head.
"Hmm!?"
Amed sensed something and looked up, but saw nothing.
"Swish swish swish..."
Transparent threads, coiling like snakes, rapidly burrowed into various parts of Amed's body.
"What!?"
Suddenly, Amed, who was exerting force to pull the spiderweb, paused.
"My body... can't move!"
Indeed, at this moment, Amed felt his body had fallen into a very peculiar state.
He clearly wanted to move, wanted to exert force, but his muscles wouldn't obey his commands.
It was as if the commands sent from his brain were intercepted by something, and that something was also manipulating his muscles.
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