Not the Ant King, still at the Master General level!
Above the lion Leol, below the owl Youpi....
"Splash~" The waves crashed against the reef, shattering into tiny splashes....
In Roy's Cognitive World.
Specks of light converged into a human form,
Disconnected for the fourth time, exiting the [Game of the Dead],
Roy "resurrected" in his own "Cognitive World," carefully savoring the hammer from the [Pig Head General] just now, which already had the taste of his father's full-strength strike.
In the original story, Silva descended from the sky to instantly kill the leopard Guido, showcasing extraordinary speed and strength. In terms of constitution, he was estimated to surpass the [Pig Head General] who had already been promoted to [Pig-headed Commander].
Twenty-two minutes.
Testing venue, in the underground passageway.
Galu counted the time, maintaining the operation of "Divine Characters," her smooth forehead beginning to sweat.
"Telekinesis" is the only means to support the operation of "Phantom" characters. Once telekinesis shows increased consumption, it indicates... a huge change has occurred in the illusion.
"That young man encountered that mutated Pig-headed Man."
Without a [Demon Guide] to "identify," Galu could only use "mutation" to describe the Pig Head General.
Embarrassingly, although she had some strength and would join the Zodiac Twelve as the "Snake" in the future, she was actually not best at combat.
She could handle Sajin Gongerdan and others but couldn't defeat the [Pig Head General], who twisted her neck on the spot, resulting in her first embarrassing escape from the illusion.
"Captain Yook, go help her." Even a straightforward person can have detailed moments.
Botobai glanced aside, noticing that Galu was continuously maintaining her telekinetic output and was beginning to strain... As the chief examiner of this session, he voluntarily took on the task, spread his right palm and projected a flowing "telekinesis" onto the ground, instantly forming a "soldier" with oil paint on his face, wearing a military uniform and a beret.
As soon as he appeared, he stood upright, feet together, raised his right hand, and saluted Botobai.
Shouted loudly: "Captain Yook reporting!"
"Go ahead."
"Yes!"
Turned right,
Marched in step.
The soldier was meticulous, well-trained, came to Galu's side, raised his right hand, and saluted.
Galu indeed felt the strain, and immediately released the "Divine" character "Phantom" potion to "Captain Yook."
Relieved of the burden, she sneaked a peek at Botobai, guessing internally: "'One-Man Army'... Is this the other party's 'Nen Beast' or 'Nen Ability'?"
In the Illusion.
After a brief rest, Roy entered the [Game of the Dead] for the fifth time through the [Gate of the Dark Continent]...
This time, he immediately summoned the [Eye of Truth], predicted the hammer from the [Pig Head General] coming overhead, scraped along the chain, wielded dual swords, and slashed towards its chest!
"Sizzle~" The Red Blade rubbed against the air, igniting... two "Flying Slashes" formed an X shape, crossed a distance of nearly thirty meters, and struck the [Pig Head General]'s chest.
The latter neither dodged nor avoided, relying on the protective Nen to endure it head-on!
Ripples of Nen spread across the chest...
'It's [Ken]!' Roy's pupils contracted, clearly sensing this "hardness"...
Completely ordinary [Ten] couldn't achieve such defensive strength,
It must be known that the Red Blade wrapped in Roy's [Ten] could penetrate through Sajin, Gongerdan, and even these "Barbarians" along with their armor, yet it left no trace here.
Only a more advanced [Ken] than [Ten] could reach this level!
[Ken], an advanced Applied Technique formed by combining [Ten] with [Ren]. It envelops the body in more Sense than usual to enhance one's attack and defense capabilities.
If [Ten] is a "Nen membrane," simply spreading Nen evenly over the surface, then [Ken] is a "Nen armor," condensing more "Nen" to form a "hard" armor covering the body, not only elevating offensive power compared to [Ten] but also significantly increasing defensive strength.
Thus... the battles of elite Nen users often become battles of [Ken] against [Ken], excluding the factor of [intelligence]... The key to victory is whether one can break the opponent's [Ken] or exhaust their "Nen," preventing them from maintaining [Ken].
"Bang!" The two swords failed to penetrate... [Pig Head General] seized the gap in Roy's attack, swung the chains, "Clang~" it rattled....
A powerful "smash"!
With the ax, it instantly cleaved open his chest.
Fifth reset, failed.
Twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds, "Memory" "Save Point"....
In the real world.
In the barbecue shop at the entrance.
The two old men each sipped their tea, neither speaking, maintaining a silence that lasted for fifteen minutes.
The stifled atmosphere lingered... Mamen Beans held his breath, almost suffocating, finally heard the chairman speak: "Zeno, tell that kid to stop."
Netero put down his teacup and sighed: "Over twenty minutes is already an impressive achievement."
"You and I both know what exactly that kid is facing...."
White hair fluttering, Zeno rubbed his teacup, not looking at Netero, said to himself: "The old man called this morning, very angry."
"The film was brought by me, if... Roy doesn't pass the test,"
Zeno paused, glancing at Netero: "You won't see my father again in this lifetime."
Netero's mouth twitched, laughed: "Old man set the clearance time to only ten seconds, your eldest has long been able to clear it,"
"He refuses to come out, what's it got to do with me?"
Zeno nodded in agreement: "Indeed, blame my grandson for being too strong."
Netero: "...."
He pointed his finger at him but couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal... This seems to be the truth!
"Tick... tick...." The time displayed at the bottom right corner of the surveillance screen moves second by second....
Roy exited the game, not discouraged, returned to the cognition world, took a short break, then reconnected, and for the sixth time, entered the illusion through the "Gate of the Dark Continent". This time he managed to trade two moves with the [Pig-headed General], held out till the third move, before getting his head smashed by the opponent, and was forced to exit...
Then came the seventh attempt: four moves... the eighth attempt: five moves... the ninth attempt... Roy sacrificed an arm, used [Full Concentration · Breathing], unleashed the "Phantom Sword", paralyzing the opponent for an instant, finally slashing through its protective true energy, leaving a shallow white mark on its chest...
That's nine times.
Roy got his chest smashed by a furious strike from the [Pig-headed General], and woke up again....
Directly disengaged from the "cognition world", falling back into reality. This time due to depletion of mental strength, he couldn't enter his cognition world again.
His head was heavy, feet light, as if his body was emptied, he staggered once and caught Wutong's incoming arm to steady himself.
"Thirty minutes and six seconds, pass!"
"Pop~" The illusion shattered... "Captain Yuke" handed back the "Divine Characters"....
Gail looked deeply at Roy and directly announced the result.
Illumi lurking in a corner, Kate leaning against the corridor, silently watched. After crawling out of the pit, they walked towards the elevator with hands in pockets... Without a word, they lowered the brim of their hat and followed.....
In the vast venue, in a blink only Botobai, Gail, and the two passers Roy and Kurajing Wutong remained.
"Creak—"
Finally, I've been waiting for you!
The Golden Crow broke free from Kurajing's embrace and flew over Roy's head, continuing to nest.
Kan was sleeping peacefully nearby...
"Cuckoo..." The cuckoo clock announced three o'clock.
The pendulum struck the gong chime producing a soft "dong" sound...
As if with tacit understanding, Roy took a breath and looked up, catching a glance from Botobai... their eyes clashed, faint sparks flashing....
The future Zodiac Twelve Chen Long, with a steadfast gaze, stared at the youth for a long moment and said in a deep voice, "Tomorrow at this time, I'll be waiting for you here."
The youth remained silent, with the Golden Crow on his head, decisively and swiftly left with Kurajing Wutong.
Kurajing fell a step behind, nodded towards Botobai and Gail, then followed.
"Tap... tap...."
Footsteps, gradually moving away....
"Bang~" The elevator closed.
Gail watched the few disappear, turned and asked, "What are you planning to do?"
Botobai relaxed his arms, summoned "Captain Yuke", adjusted the soldier's stance, and without looking back said, "Didn't the president already instruct?"
"No need to hold back."
"Tsk." Gail clicked his tongue, his forked tongue resembling a snake's, and faintly sensed....
Under the exaggerated opera mask covering Botobai's face, it seemed... a burning battle spirit had already ignited!
And to make even "the brute" take things seriously... Gail recalled the youth's sharp jawline... the Zoldyck Family youth indeed deserved....
"Bang~"
The elevator opened again.
Directly facing the barbecue restaurant corridor.
On the counter lining the corridor, two cups of tea still emitted wisps of heat, yet, the tea drinkers, unbeknownst to when, had already left.
"Guest, here's your BBQ rice."
At this moment, the curtain lifted, and the owner walked out with several plates of BBQ rice, seeing Roy, hurriedly invited the group to sit down.
Wutong frowned upon seeing it, asking, "We didn't order."
The owner laughed cheerfully and said, "Someone ordered for you."
"Who?"
"This guest has seen him." The owner winked mysteriously at Roy.
Roy remained silent for a moment, recalling the encounter with Netero in the morning, unapologetically pulled out a chair and sat down...
Rolled up his sleeves and began eating.
Wutong Kurajing exchanged a glance and wisely shut their mouths.
On the left and right sat beside Roy, plus a fat crow, wildly diving into the food.
Soon after, each person had an empty stack of plates beside them, even Kurajing unusually ate three plates... the fat crow exaggeratedly polished off ten plates alone, almost giving the owner a heart attack....
Luckily, after the group filled their bellies, they turned and left, not mentioning packing food, which is a blessing in disguise...
"Young master, I'm going to arrange an extension of stay." Unexpectedly being able to exit the venue, Wutong had checked out the room at noon, now needed to go to the front desk to extend another day.
"You go with her." Roy gestured to Kurajing.
Without waiting for the girl to react, he walked towards the riverbank alone.
The afternoon sun was just right, casting reflections on the river surface, shimmering with light... occasionally fishbirds touched the water, snatching fish away...
The youth silently walked, soon arrived beside an old man, mimicking him leaning against the railing, enjoying the scenery, recovering the mental energy depleted in the illusion...
"Since someone treated you to a meal, just accept it, no need to feel embarrassed, your grandfather made an effort."
With white hair waving, Zeno spoke with hands behind his back... Roy stood alongside him, lightly acknowledged with a hum, suddenly asked, "Grandpa, is it true that our great-grandfather is still alive?"
Zeno's body momentarily stiffened.