Meteor

The car's front end was severely caved in from the violent impact, almost merging with the tree trunk by the roadside.

Thick white smoke billowed from the twisted, deformed hood, with wisps of flame faintly visible.

One thousand two hundred meters away, on the slope beside the road.

A man in camouflage lay prone behind the slope, a sniper rifle propped in front of him.

"Continue."

A cold voice came through the sniper's earpiece.

Upon receiving the order, the sniper aimed at the deformed car, half-obscured by thick smoke, and locked onto the approximate location of the driver's seat by feel before pulling the trigger.

A crisp sound.

A sharp, elongated bullet shot from the silencer, trailing a fleeting fiery trajectory, tearing through the night and precisely hitting the car shrouded in white smoke.

Then another shot, a second, a third...

The sniper worked the bolt and fired, quickly emptying his magazine.

With the white smoke obscuring his view, each shot was positioned based on experience.

But as long as the target was trapped in the driver's seat, he was extremely confident in his previous shots.

After firing all his rounds, the sniper immediately reloaded.

However, he didn't fire again. Instead, while waiting for the next order, he observed the wrecked car, now engulfed in flames, and the surrounding environment through his scope.

Boom—

Suddenly, the car exploded in a fiery inferno.

Flames shot skyward, pushing the rolling smoke even higher.

The blast of hot air instantly flattened the surrounding grass.

And behind a large tree several meters away.

Moro leaned against the trunk, a hint of coldness in his eyes.

His body was smudged with dirt in multiple places.

Fortunately, thanks to the defensive effect of Nen, he hadn't been cut by sharp objects or glass shards when he forcefully broke through the passenger door amidst the billowing smoke.

He then slipped into the roadside woods under the cover of night, using one of the nearby trees as cover, waiting for the sniper's next move.

The sniper's continuous firing at the car confirmed to Moro that his current cover was temporarily safe.

However, he didn't dare to move rashly, lest he be immediately pinpointed by the sniper.

Moro calmed his racing heart.

"What was that just now?"

Recalling the moment of life and death, a flicker of surprise crossed Moro's eyes.

As the bullet tore through the night, he felt as if he had smelled death. Before the windshield shattered, a flash of insight, like a sudden inspiration, burst in his mind.

And in that state, instinctively tilting his head, he dodged a potentially fatal shot.

He knew that with his current Nen level, even if he could use "Ren" in time to strengthen a specific area's defense, he wouldn't be able to withstand an attack from a sniper rifle.

Moreover, when attacked in a hurry, the speed of setting up "Ren" for defense would definitely not be as fast as a bullet.

In that situation, only by precisely dodging the bullet could he survive.

But the root cause was a hardware issue.

His current maximum aura output and the strength of "Ren" were not enough for him to face a powerful firearm like a sniper rifle.

If his hardware were strong enough, he could block a sniper rifle even without using "Ren" to enhance his localized defense.

Therefore, for the current Moro, he would rather face an Emission-type Nen ability user up close than the long-range threat of a sniper rifle.

It was frustrating, but it was the reality.

Moro reached up and touched his earlobe. There was blood.

If not for that split-second danger perception...

Moro let out a sigh, suppressing his astonishment, and a look of gravity gradually appeared in his eyes.

"If I don't take care of that sniper..."

The constant threat of being locked onto by a sniper would severely limit his mobility.

In such a situation, if there were other enemies, he would be in even greater danger.

The good news for now was that there was only one sniper.

If there were even one more sniper, he would have lost a layer of skin, if not died, by now.

"At least a thousand meters away..."

The sniper's continuous firing just now seemed to show no concern for exposing his position, and it also gave Moro an opportunity.

Even after pinpointing the sniper's location, figuring out how to advance remained a difficult problem.

One could say that the longer the distance, the greater the inherent risk.

If he chose to avoid conflict and move away from the sniper's direction, he would essentially be exposing his back without knowing the enemy's maximum effective range.

If there was more than one attacker, either choice could lead to a more dangerous situation.

This was the most troublesome part.

Compared to dealing with the sniper as quickly as possible, confirming the number of attackers was more important right now.

If conditions allowed, pinpointing their locations would be even better.

This way, deciding whether to advance or retreat would be much easier.

Under normal circumstances, that's how one would think—

But Moro had a different option.

Confirming the number of attackers and subsequently their locations...

All of this required time.

And in the current situation, with every passing second, the unknown risks he faced grew larger.

The worst-case scenario was the sniper relocating, applying pressure on him invisibly.

Therefore, rather than gathering information through a stalemate, Moro preferred to attempt a swift kill of the sniper.

And this decision couldn't have any hesitation.

He needed to eliminate the sniper with thunderous force, using the confirmed positional information, before the sniper's "confidence"—the kind that made them fire repeatedly even at the risk of revealing their position—disappeared.

"There's only one chance."

Moro closed his eyes, constructing one linear diagram after another in his mind.

The distribution of surrounding trees, the exploding car, the slightly undulating road, and the hillside in the distance beyond the road...

Moro meticulously eliminated all obstacles in a straight trajectory, searching for a suitable alternative path.

A few seconds later.

Moro opened his eyes, a glint of Nen radiating from them.

"Deceptive Flying Stars."

He raised his hand, adjusting the angle.

Bright Nen gathered in his palm, condensing into a Flying Star the size of a fist.

Whoosh—

The Flying Star shot out like an arrow, passing through the branches and leaves of the trees, hovering in mid-air a hundred meters away.

At the same time.

Moro suddenly burst from behind the large tree, positioning himself in his pre-determined spot. He then watched as the Flying Star expanded and flew towards him.

As the Flying Star reached his face, Moro dodged to the side at the last possible moment.

The light emitted by the Flying Star flashed past Moro's eyes, then, like a shooting star, it pierced through the gaps in the nearby forest and flew towards the distant sniper.

The second phase of Deceptive Flying Stars—Swallow Return.

While enjoying the oath's effect of doubled firing speed and power, it also imposed a restriction that would inflict equal damage on Moro.

On this premise, when Moro seized the moment to dodge the returning Flying Star...

The Swallow Return Flying Star, influenced by the restriction's effect, would break free from the "flight distance" limitation, and its power would not decay with distance before hitting an obstacle.

Moro utilized the mechanism of the restriction to push the Flying Star's range beyond its original hundred-meter limit.

In an instant—

It was like a celestial meteor, aimed a thousand meters away.

Meanwhile.

On the distant hillside, the sniper noticed Moro suddenly revealing his position.

Quickly acquiring the lock, controlling his breathing, he pressed the trigger.

"Huh!?"

Just as the sniper was about to fire, his scope was suddenly filled with a dazzling light.

"What...?!"

The sniper abruptly looked up.

The next moment, the hillside in front of him exploded.

The fierce impact, carrying sand and gravel, engulfed the sniper.

In just a glance, the sniper was sent flying backward, his body riddled with holes like a tattered sack, undeniably dead.

In another direction.

A grim-faced youth stared intently at the location of the explosion, his face filled with disbelief.

He had seen the Nen Bullet that had just flown thousands of meters like a shooting star.

"From that far away... it still has such immense power?"

Taking off his headset, which was filled with static, the grim-faced youth, still shocked, turned his gaze toward Moro's position.

Emission-type Nen ability users were better at projecting their Nen outward. Even so, to maintain both the power and stability of a Nen Bullet at such a long distance was by no means an easy feat.

The grim-faced youth hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should continue to approach.