novelraw Chapter 315 316 : Maha's Punch X Ants X Pariston
Chapter 315 316 : Maha's Punch X Ants X Pariston
"How strong am I?" Maha chuckled, his voice raspy...
Perhaps due to his advanced age, or perhaps because he had not fought in so long, it seemed an eternity since anyone had asked him this question.
The old man looked at Roy with profound eyes. Separated only by a window, they were physically close, yet an invisible barrier seemed to divide the young and the old into two entirely different worlds...
Roy's gaze burned intensely, two miniature suns seemingly igniting within his pupils. He activated the [Eye of Truth], capable of seeing through blood energy, and cast it upon Maha. In an instant, the young man's eyes narrowed, and he held his breath as if peering into an endless abyss...
What kind of sensation was this? It was like an ant craning its neck to the absolute limit, yet still failing to glimpse even a fraction of an elephant. It was like a frog at the bottom of a well, ignorant of the vastness of heaven and earth due to the limits of its own perception.
As a stream of information flooded his mind... [Maha Zoldyck... Status Unknown... Constitution Unknown... Manifested/Potential Aura Unknown...]
The old man kept his hands in his pockets and said lightly, "Are you asking me? Or are you asking Him?"
Roy forced himself to calm down, slowly retracting the suns from his eyes, and answered honestly, "I am asking you, Great-Grandfather, and I am also asking Him!"
Maha gave a noncommittal grunt and took a step forward. The ground beneath his feet seemed to shrink to its absolute limit, compressing from a line into a single point, as if crossing an immense distance in a single stride. The vast world was measured by his footsteps, instantly losing the very concept of "length."
"Tap..." The moment the soft sound of his feet touching the floor echoed, Maha, who had been inside the room a second ago, bypassed the window and wall to appear directly in front of Roy.
Looking up at him, Maha said, "I am not as great as Him, and I do not know how strong He is. But if you want to know, I have a punch right here. Do you want to try and take it?"
Smiling, Maha slowly drew his right hand out of his pocket...
Roy gulped heavily. He lowered his gaze to look at this withered hand, nothing but skin and bones with almost no flesh. After a long silence, he broke into a smile...
"They say that to learn how to hit people, you must first learn how to take a hit,"
"Since you have offered, Great-Grandfather, as your grandson, I naturally have no reason to refuse!"
Roy straightened his back with a crisp motion, his expression turning serious as he looked at Maha solemnly. "Please instruct me!"
Maha quietly observed the young man. Within his weathered eyes, filled with the epic weight of years, a flicker of unforgettable reminiscence surfaced. If he remembered correctly, on the day Zigg was brutally beaten, he had been just like this boy—unyielding, stubbornly craning his neck to meet his gaze, refusing to turn back even if he smashed his head against a brick wall until he bled...
He nodded slowly and said, "Good... very good... You brats all have your own reasoning."
"This old man can't out-stubborn you..."
His withered right hand slowly clenched into a fist. Maha said no more; he simply bent his elbow slightly and gently thrust this fist toward Roy's chest...
In an instant, the world changed. Within his senses, Roy suddenly and horrifyingly realized that, in broad daylight, a massive swath of sunlight had vanished...
The ancient castle above, the white clouds over the castle, and the expanse of azure sky above the clouds—all of it was suddenly and oppressively blotted out by a gigantic fist!
"Boom!" Crackling, endless claps of thunder subsequently exploded between heaven and earth!
Kurapika and Kurajing, who had just returned to the butler's mansion with Tsubone and were processing the previous battle in their room, were startled. They hurriedly ran to the window and looked up at the sky...
For ten miles around, the gathering winds, clouds, and intertwining lightning were all grasped within a single fist, slowly pressing down toward the mountaintop castle...
Kurapika's eyes bulged, and he fell hard onto his rear. He gasped heavily, unable to utter a single normal syllable!
Beside him, Kurajing opened her mouth, completely stunned!
Panicked shouts immediately rang out in their ears. "What is that?!"
"Why did the sky go dark?!"
"Who the hell knows!"
"Boom!" Another timely clap of thunder sounded, and the entire butler's mansion instantly erupted into chaos!
On the top floor of the mansion, in Tsubone's bedroom, the old butler with her two pink pigtails had rushed back. Holding Amane in one arm and Canary in the other, she hummed a lullaby to coax the two little ones who had been frightened by the thunder. Her old eyes then looked out the window at the sky, and she murmured in her heart, 'The Ancestor...'
Her pupils were completely filled by that sky-obscuring fist!
"Ho ho ho... Is the old master planning to destroy this home with his own hands?"
Inside the first-floor training room, having taken off his martial arts uniform and changed into a sports vest, Netero was playing volleyball with Zeno to satisfy his itching hands. At a certain moment, the old man's Buddha-like ears twitched backward. He caught the volleyball Zeno had spiked with one hand, darted toward the window, and tilted his head to glance at the dim little room on the first floor...
Maha's fist, which drifted lightly toward Roy, was physically small yet conceptually massive. Faintly, it carried the momentum to crush the young man in an instant!
"Grandfather is getting serious." With his white hair swaying, Zeno flashed to Netero's side and looked up at the sky. A fist taller and larger than the heavens themselves—it was even more imposing and ferocious than the nuclear explosion slash Roy had unleashed in the dream space! It was completely on a different level, a different dimension... It was almost suffocating!
"Silva!" In the garden, beneath the parasol, a woman holding a baby shrank anxiously into a man's embrace.
Silva, his silver hair cascading to his waist, reached out to wrap his arm around Kikyo's waist. He smoothly took Killua from her and looked silently at the sky...
Wind, clouds, thunder, sunlight, and rain were all grasped within Maha's fist as he slowly drove it toward Roy's chest.
Roy's emotions surged, and alarm bells blared in his mind. Every hair on his body stood on end in response. With slightly lowered eyelids, he stared blankly as Maha's seemingly ordinary punch approached his chest.
In that split second, the young man felt like a lone, reckless skiff that had sailed into the vast ocean, liable to be swallowed by a crashing wave at any moment. For the first time in his life, he tasted the true fear of death!
'Great-Grandfather's punch can kill me!'
Even though he possessed [Rebirth from a Drop of Blood], Roy's intuition told him that Maha's punch could genuinely end his life!
"Whoosh!" The fist arrived, but in the exact moment before it touched his chest, it abruptly stopped...
The howling wind from the punch blew the young man's silver hair, accompanied by a glazed golden light, fluttering backward. When the boy looked again, Maha was smiling as he retracted his right hand. Instead, he patted Roy on the shoulder and said, "Go eat."
Roy took a deep breath. He was drenched in sweat, looking as if he had just been fished out of the water. He silently replied, "Okay."
He then stood still, watching Maha turn and return to his bedroom. Looking up at the sky, the azure heavens were clear; the dark clouds and thunder were entirely gone, and the light had returned...
The entirety of Kukuroo Mountain seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief...
Roy took one last look, bowed deeply toward the room, and with a heavy heart, began walking toward his own bedroom...
"Tap, tap..." The sound of his footsteps echoed softly on the stone corridor...
At the butler's mansion, Kurajing recovered her senses and helped Kurapika up. Tsubone pacified the children, went to the back kitchen, and pushed out a dining cart. In the castle garden, Silva embraced Kikyo and Killua as they returned to their bedroom. Netero and Zeno exchanged a glance, remaining completely silent.
All these living beings returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, going about their respective business. But once a memory is branded into the mind, forgetting it is no easy task...
"You didn't have to take it." As Roy reached his bedroom, Illumi, with his smooth black hair falling to his waist, was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Watching Roy approach, he looked up and spoke.
His foolish younger brother clearly understood what had just transpired...
"Tap, tap..." Roy walked straight past Illumi, brushing his shoulder without saying a word. At a certain point, he stopped, looked past Illumi toward the corner, and called out softly, "Milluki, come here!"
A shadowy figure flashed around the corner. Just as he tried to run, Roy flicked his finger, shooting out a thread of Nen that bound his hands and feet, dragging him over...
"Big brother, I just came to take a look!" Milluki screamed in panic as he flew through the air. A bag of potato chips fell from his arms, which Roy caught steadily with one hand.
"Cucumber flavor. You sure know how to eat..."
"If you want them, Big Brother, I have more in my room."
"That won't be necessary..."
Potato chips were good, but only for a quick snack. Roy released Milluki, letting the chubby boy grease his soles and slip away in a panic...
He tore open the packaging, tossed a chip into his mouth, and began to chew with a crunching sound. Only then did he unhurriedly glance at Illumi and say, "Why wouldn't I take it?"
"Knowing full well you can't take it but insisting on doing so anyway—that's something only an idiot would do..."
"Are you insulting me?"
"I am merely stating a fact."
"Crunch, crunch..." Roy noncommittally offered the bag of chips to Illumi. "Want some?"
Illumi reached into the bag, but before he could even touch a chip, a sudden pain flared in his rear. Roy had instantly kicked him flying...
"Knowing full well I wouldn't let you eat any, yet you still tried. Aren't you an idiot too?"
Illumi: "..."
His mouth twitched as he crashed straight through the window, turning into a black dot on the horizon before disappearing completely...
Roy casually retracted his foot and said leisurely, "Idiot. A person only thinks about improving when they recognize the gap..."
With that, he turned and entered his bedroom.
"Dong..." At twelve noon, the wooden grandfather clock in the corner struck its chimes, announcing the hour...
Roy tilted his head back and poured the rest of the chips into his mouth, briefly lining his stomach. Then, he pulled out a chair and sat at his desk. Taking advantage of the time before Tsubone delivered his lunch, he opened a drawer, took out a pen and paper, and began to review the situation.
The first thing he could be certain of was that his great-grandfather's punch far exceeded his comprehension. How it compared to the punch Adult Gon used to brutally slaughter Neferpitou in the original story, Roy had no way of knowing. But... one thing was certain—
That was not a punch a B-Class creature could throw.
If he really had to compare it, perhaps... only the strike from that towering Sandworm—the one that had intercepted Netero, Linne, and his grandfather Zigg's landing, splitting a piece of the continent with a swing of its tail—could rival it...
But it must be noted that the Sandworm's threat level was A.
A full major rank higher than the Chimera Ants!
In other words... 'If I want to catch this punch, or even... see through Great-Grandfather's blood energy, I need to reach at least A-Class...'
And A-Class... perhaps only those at the Super Kage level, such as Asura, Indra, and their reincarnations, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, could achieve such a feat!
Which meant... Roy held his pen and slowly wrote a single sentence on the blank paper—
He absolutely needed more [Life Energy] and [Faith Power], which meant he required a massive amount of [Food] and [Believers].
As Roy pondered, he briefly pulled up Gotoh's [Believer Panel] to take a look...
[Believer: Gotoh (Note: Loyalty Overflowing)]
[Strength Rating: B- (1+1+1+1+1...)]
[Note: Referencing the Ants, your believer "Gotoh" has reached the level of a top-tier Ant Squadron Leader. His current strength is roughly on par with Kite in his prime, and he is advancing toward the B- Class.]
Roy slowly withdrew his gaze. Seeing that he still had one unused [First Embrace] opportunity left in his panel, he looked thoughtfully toward the NGL Autonomous Region in the south...
"The Ants... would they be good targets?"
As the young man muttered to himself, his thoughts drifted far away with the wind...
Yorbian Continent, southwest corner.
On a steep cliff bordering the ocean, hidden among overgrown weeds, lay a damp, concealed cave...
The cave was devoid of light, and a faint rustling sound of eating could be heard from within...
Occasionally, a few live sea fish were brought inside, only for their flesh to be devoured and their bare bones spat back out...
Deeper inside, one could vaguely make out a massive ant with a swollen abdomen, eating incessantly while complaining...
"Hungry... so hungry... I need more, better food... for the King..."
"Crunch!" Another fresh sea fish had its head bitten off, struggling briefly before losing its life,
Accompanied by a faint gleam flashing in the depths of the cave...
Directly above the cave, on the cliff bordering the sea, a handsome blond young man in a suit smiled wickedly. Looking at the surveillance footage with satisfaction, he tilted his head and spoke to the Temp Hunter personnel beside him, "Go down and bring her more food."
"It's too slow... much too slow... I want to see her go mad, go crazy, and stir up the world! And of course, if it can attract my most, most, most beloved darling..."
"Roy Zoldyck!"
"That would truly be... absolutely wonderful..."
However... "Lord Pariston, the fishing boats we sent out will take another two hours to return with their catch..."
A Temp Hunter staff member said cautiously.
As soon as he finished speaking, the blond young man tilted his head to look at him, his eyes narrowing into a smile...
"I said, go down!"
"If there aren't enough fish, don't you know how to improvise and offer yourselves up for her to eat?"