People Are Forced to Rise

Without a doubt, Bodrō's first time entering a Dungeon was an extraordinary experience.

Here, he could personally experience the overwhelming sense of danger and urgency that came with battle, yet he did not need to hold back. He could unleash all of his strength without restraint.

But soon, as the aura around him dwindled while the enemies in the Armory Dungeon steadily grew stronger in both defense and attack, he could only stop outside the corridor before the BOSS door, filled with unwillingness.

Damn it! Why am I so weak? Why?!

No! I absolutely cannot fall here! I have to become stronger! At the very least, I have to keep up with my savior instead of becoming deadweight that holds him back!

As long as I can grow stronger quickly, I am willing to pay any price!

Blood Qi? Right! I can burn the Blood Qi of a Martial Artist!

Nen was the embodiment of spirit and will!

When a person's spirit and will broke through their limits, their Nen abilities would also improve dramatically.

Thus, within just a few minutes, Bodrō quickly made up his mind and formed Restraints and Vows. His exhausted aura surged forth once more, even greater and more powerful than before, carrying a faint blood-red tint. He climbed back to his feet and charged out again with a roar.

After about two to three minutes, an earth-shaking Loud Noise suddenly erupted from the deepest part of the Armory Dungeon, and the ground trembled slightly along with it.

After sensing all this from the Dungeon entrance, Allen immediately curled his lips into a slight smile and muttered to himself, "He finally broke through his limits and developed an ability of his own? Humans really never know how much potential they have until they are pushed. It looks like in a few more months, Bodrō will become quite a capable Nen user."

Clearly, he was not putting so much effort into nurturing this Martial Artist just because he had nothing better to do. He was preparing for his future plans.

Especially when it came to hunting the Phantom Troupe, the Chimera Ant Squadron Leaders, the Three Royal Guards, and even the Ant King—none of those were tasks that one person could easily accomplish alone.

Even Chairman Netero needed to recruit a large number of helpers to restrain the enemy and create an opportunity for a one-on-one fight with the Ant King, let alone the current Allen.

He would not make the mistake of being arrogant or underestimating his enemies.

Bodrō was the backup he had prepared for himself, someone who could step forward at a critical moment and buy him some time.

And so, after more than twenty hours in the outside world—roughly eight days inside the Dungeon—the two finally finished their respective training.

Bodrō, who had formed Restraints and Vows, now radiated the presence of a true powerhouse. He was practically a different person from before entering the Dungeon. He had also gained a preliminary grasp of Ken and Hard, and combined them with his martial arts to develop an extremely powerful punching technique.

After a simple breakfast and some personal grooming, it was soon ten o'clock the next morning.

Allen stepped onto the two-hundredth-floor arena of Sky Arena once more. Looking at Rikudō across from him, draped in a red cloak and supported from the waist down by only a metal pillar, he said with mild surprise, "You actually didn't choose to run away? That courage really makes me see you in a new light. As a reward, I'll let you witness the new ability I just mastered today."

"Run? Where do you think I could run in my current state if I lost my Nen abilities? No! I won't run again this time! Because I have gained the resolve Goz had in his final moments!"

Along with his furious and unwilling shout, an astonishing amount of aura instantly burst from Rikudō's body.

There was no need to ask. He had undoubtedly strengthened his Nen through Restraints and Vows as well.

After all, people were forced to rise. When their environment and circumstances became dire enough, they often unleashed terrifying potential beyond even their own imagination.

And yesterday's utterly one-sided battle had been precisely the trigger for this transformation.

"Not bad aura. If only you had realized this sooner. But unfortunately, a contract that has already been signed cannot be voided." Allen sighed softly.

The moment he finished speaking!

The referee in charge of the match immediately raised both hands and announced loudly, "The match will be decided by points and knockdowns, with no time limit. Begin!"

"Battle Waltz!"

Without another word, Rikudō scattered a large number of tops wrapped in Enhancement aura.

However, unlike the harmless ordinary tops from the anime, each of these tops had a protruding serrated disc around its outer edge.

When they spun at high speed, those serrations were like circular saws. The instant they touched someone, blood and flesh would fly. One entire arm—or even an entire person—could be sliced in half on the spot.

"It evolved? What an absolutely delightful surprise!"

Seeing this highly lethal Nen ability, a look of approval immediately appeared on Allen's face.

There were no useless abilities, only useless users.

Although Rikudō was an Enhancement-type Nen user, losing both legs during the Baptism had prevented him from developing devastating punches like Gon's or Uvogin's. Instead, he chose to enhance the rotational speed of his tops, using them to protect himself while attacking his enemies.

This was especially effective in a place like Sky Arena, where the ring was quite limited in size. By simply giving the tops basic Manipulation commands, he could achieve excellent results.

Now that ordinary tops had been replaced by these specially made serrated ones, the entire ring instantly became a horrifying meat grinder.

Even more terrifyingly, rotational cutting differed from a single-impact attack. It continuously weakened the target's Ken defenses while disrupting the rhythm of Ryu between offense and defense.

Perhaps... its only weakness was speed.

After grasping the essence of Rikudō's Nen ability, Allen's thoughts rapidly branched out, and within a few seconds, he came up with several better directions for its development.

But his hands did not stop either. As he casually dodged the tops coming at him from every direction, he unleashed Goz's "Invisible Left Wrist."

In an instant!

A huge hand gleaming with golden light suddenly appeared out of thin air and grabbed down toward Rikudō.

"What?!!!!!"

The moment Rikudō saw this familiar-looking ability, his expression changed drastically. He immediately began spinning at high speed with the top-like metal prosthetic limb beneath his body.

Tornado Gyro!

This was a defensive Nen ability he had developed to compensate for his slow movement speed.

Simply put, he made himself spin as well, using the circular aura field generated by centrifugal force to block incoming attacks.

Under the enhancement of Restraints and Vows, this aura field could achieve defensive effects equivalent to Ken while using only a tiny amount of aura. It could even move forward, backward, left, and right to ram targets, making it a move that combined offense and defense.

Just as the golden hand was about to collide with the rapidly spinning Rikudō, it suddenly turned into colorless, transparent aura and vanished.

The next second...

The huge hand emerged directly from beneath the ring, clenched into a fist, and smashed viciously into the top-like metal prosthetic limb supporting the lower half of his body.

Boom!

There was no surprise!

Having lost his point of support, Rikudō immediately crashed headfirst into the ground, coming into intimate contact with the ring's hard stone floor.

Before he could use the cane in his hand to prop himself back up, the huge hand used its teleportation ability to appear beside him and seized him tightly in its palm.

"Using aura to enhance rotation is indeed a good idea, but you should not have used tops—tools that are easily restricted by terrain and move too slowly. If I were you, I would choose specially made throwing weapons or flying weapons. That way, you could pose an enormous threat simply by throwing them. Surrender. Then I can spare your life," Allen suggested as he flashed forward.

"Surrender? And then lose the power I obtained at such a tremendous cost? No! Never! I would rather die!" Rikudō refused without hesitation.

The expression on his face was so resolute that it was clear he had long since made his decision.

"Then I will give you a swift death."

After saying that, Allen raised his hand and made a grabbing motion.

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