After a brief flight, the group landed in the courtyard of a massive villa. Under the guidance of a butler, they finally arrived at the legendary room filled with game consoles.
Already familiar with the process, Tsezguerra inserted his memory card into one of the slots. "I'll wait for you at the game's starting point," he said with confidence before activating his Nen and vanishing on the spot.
As the Single-Star Hunter entered the game, a playful smile finally crept onto Baise's face. "Is he our first prey?" she asked with interest.
"Yeah. An incredibly arrogant old guy," Allen replied with a faint smile. "Well? Do you think you can handle him on your own?"
"Of course! Isn't this exactly why I've been putting myself through that hellish special training?" Baise replied, licking her seductive red lips.
In the past, her over-reliance on her ability had left her with a pathetic foundation in Nen basics. She rarely chose frontal combat, preferring to use her looks to find an opening and control her targets. But after witnessing the battle between the Phantom Troupe and Allen, she had experienced a realization. In this circle, if you lacked sufficient strength, you wouldn't survive long on cleverness alone.
To bridge her weaknesses, she had engaged in a cycle of masochistic, frenzied training, nearly dying several times at the hands of dungeon monsters. As the saying goes: where there is effort, there is reward. Through repeated near-death experiences, Baise's aura capacity and Nen proficiency had skyrocketed. Combined with the ten-to-one time dilation between the dungeons and the real world, she had become a truly formidable force.
"Excellent. With that level of resolve, I'll leave Tsezguerra to you. Just remember to go easy on him; we still need him to summon his binder so we can seize all his cards," Allen reminded her casually.
To be honest, this aging Single-Star Hunter had earned his rank through career achievements and longevity; his individual combat prowess was frankly mediocre. His aura capacity alone was quite underwhelming. It seemed he had spent so much time playing the game that he had failed to perceive the staggering gap in strength between them.
Allen had previously released his aura as a sign. If it had been someone like Hisoka or Illumi, warriors who lived for battle, they would have sensed it instantly. But Tsezguerra? He had accepted Allen's deliberate provocation without a second thought.
"Understood! I'll try to be gentle."
With that, Baise inserted a blank memory card into a slot, activated her aura, and vanished. Allen and Bodoro followed suit immediately after.
As for Lupos, he had been dismissed beforehand; Allen intended to summon him once they reached the island proper. There was no telling if the receptionist would suffer a mental breakdown seeing a wolf enter the game as a player.
After hearing the explanation regarding game mechanics and basic operations, the trio finally regrouped at the entry point. Tsezguerra, who had been waiting for some time, didn't waste words. He walked up and asked, "Team battle or individual?"
"Up to you. The result will be exactly the same regardless," Allen replied, shrugging. From the moment these guys entered his line of sight, he had already decided their fate. He wouldn't even give them the chance to escape using spell cards.
"Hmph! Such arrogance! In that case, let's make it a team battle. I'll show you what a true Hunter is capable of." Tsezguerra didn't forget to turn back and signal his teammates with a glance.
"Give it a rest, old man. Aside from seniority, I don't see anything worth bragging about in you or your team. Enough talk. Bodoro, Baise, you have three minutes to finish these guys off." Allen had no interest in getting his hands dirty; he simply sat down on the ground and waved them forward.
The moment the words left his mouth, the martial artist was already in motion. Bodoro pulled the iron rings on the sides of his equipment crate, instantly donning his heavy armor with its superior defense. He leaped high into the air, swinging his twin shields down toward the crowd with crushing force.
"Flame Shield Slam!"
The next second...
BOOM!
Blinding red flames erupted! With the dual empowerment of Enhancement and Transmutation, the shields smashed a crater over ten meters wide into the earth. The soil was scorched black by the jetting heat.
As for the people around him, except for one quick-witted fellow who escaped early, the rest were severely injured by the single strike. While there were no deaths or severed limbs, a significant number suffered serious burns or were knocked unconscious instantly. They were clearly out of the fight.
Staring at the shocking scene, Tsezguerra was stunned, his voice trembling slightly. "T-This is impossible! Aren't you just rookies who passed the exam this year?"
"Rookies? Hehe. It seems you've spent so much time in the isolation of this game that you've ignored what's happening in the outside world. If I had to guess, you only used your license to check my mission records for the past six months, didn't you?" Allen's lips curled into a mocking expression.
As predicted, this Single-Star Hunter had lived in the vacuum of Greed Island for so long that his brain had become sluggish. From his expression of shock, it was clear he had no idea what Allen had accomplished in the year since getting his license.
The threat levels of wanted criminals could be quite misleading. They often weren't categorized by combat power, but by the level of threat they posed to social stability and order, as well as the influence and severity of their crimes. An A-rank or B-rank fugitive was guaranteed to be a Nen user, but how powerful they actually were was something only those who had fought them could truly say.
This was evident in how the Shadow Beasts were brimming with confidence when they faced the Phantom Troupe; they had likely dealt with A-rank fugitives before and thus underestimated the Spiders, who shared the same rank. Tsezguerra had made the same mistake: he had severely overestimated himself and underestimated his opponents.
While he was reeling from the display of the martial artist's power, Baise had already closed the distance soundlessly. She swung her fist with lightning speed, striking him hard in the side near his kidney.
Because the attack was so fast and sudden, Tsezguerra had no time to dodge. He could only concentrate his aura on the point of impact, using Ko for defense.
BANG!
Predictably, given the disparity in their aura capacity, his Ko was instantly shattered. His body was sent flying like a ragdoll, tumbling several meters across the ground. When he finally stopped, he curled into a ball, looking like a boiled shrimp, his face contorted in agony.
"Is this truly the level of a Single-Star Hunter? How weak!" Baise stared at her fist in genuine confusion. As a Manipulator, she could hardly believe a day had come where she could send an opponent flying with just her punch.