Probing X Intelligence

As she watched the battle below, Biscuit smiled in satisfaction.

"Kevin was quite quick-witted in battle. He put the knowledge I taught him to practical use.

"Compared to his rather lackluster ability to learn with his body, his mind worked quite fast."

As she spoke, Biscuit's gaze involuntarily fell on Yungu.

Feeling the pressure from her stare, Yungu turned his head away and focused entirely on the battle in the arena.

In the arena, Kevin had already earned two points: one for a valid hit, and one for knocking his opponent down.

But he did not stop attacking. After punching his opponent away, he immediately rushed forward.

Facing the enemy, who had landed on the ground and had yet to fully regain his footing, Kevin lunged forward and brought down a Cannon Punch.

Bang!

Everyone in the arena could clearly feel the power of that punch.

The floor of the ring was blasted open, and a great cloud of dust scattered outward, obscuring part of the audience's view.

"How is it?"

"Chrollo isn't dead, is he?"

"With that kind of power, even if he isn't dead, he must've been KO'd."

"Has that cruel bastard finally gotten what he deserved?!"

"Look over there!"

Following the shouts, everyone saw a figure fly out at an angle from within the dust cloud blocking their view.

The figure floated above the ground, tracing a strange semicircle through the arena before landing at the point farthest from Kevin.

As the dust gradually settled, Kevin stood where he was and shook his right hand, flinging away the dust and gravel clinging to it.

A man-sized crater had appeared where he had struck.

Kevin turned to look and saw Chrollo climbing to his feet in the distance, having already adjusted his stance.

Chrollo did not look to be in good shape. After taking Kevin's punch head-on, his shoulder was visibly red and swollen. The bone there had definitely cracked.

This time, Kevin did not rush in carelessly.

He had already roughly figured out some of the rules behind his enemy's Nen ability.

Chrollo's four weapons essentially attacked by being thrown out and then controlled.

The dagger's trait was sharpness, while the Meteor Hammer could release shockwaves.

After a weapon was thrown, it probably took three seconds before it could be recalled.

Hitting a target might speed up the process, but Kevin had never been hit, so he could not be sure.

The weapons could also be held in the hand and used in combat.

However, judging from the Meteor Hammer's earlier attack, its power when held was definitely inferior to when it was thrown.

Otherwise, even if his punch had slammed into it head-on, it would have been deflected significantly, leaving him with no more than a scrape.

The curved hook's ability had also been revealed—it could carry its user's body through rapid movement.

After Chrollo had been sent flying by Kevin's punch just now, he had no time or room to quickly adjust his posture.

If Kevin's heavy punch had hit him then, the battle would have ended immediately.

At the critical moment before he was struck, he threw out the curved hook, and it carried him to where he landed.

Based on Kevin's observations, using the curved hook to adjust one's posture or move quickly required a long distance. As for the interval, he could not determine it.

Perhaps it was also three seconds, perhaps longer.

While moving, only limited adjustments in trajectory could be made according to the flight path of the thrown hook.

Whoosh!

The dagger flew at him again, and this time the Meteor Hammer came with it.

The two weapons attacked Kevin from different angles, intending to seal off his room to evade.

Kevin immediately crouched and leaped sideways, dodging to the side in a frog-like posture.

However, the attacks he had thought he could avoid suddenly curved toward the direction he had dodged.

So Chrollo had used three weapons. He threw the curved hook toward Kevin's escape route, dragging his own body along and causing the other two thrown weapons to fly over in the same manner.

He could do that too?

It seemed he had added the restriction that his weapons could not be freely controlled once thrown. In exchange, hitting a target would definitely reduce the time needed to retrieve them.

Kevin realized that his space to evade had become extremely limited. He had to take one of the attacks.

With almost no hesitation, Kevin made his decision.

He dodged the dagger and kicked directly at the Meteor Hammer with his left leg.

Thoom!

A dull, strange sound rang out as a shockwave burst forth with greater force than at close range.

"Hm? That powerful?"

As soon as that doubt arose in Kevin's mind, he received his answer. Even though he had deliberately collided with it, the shockwave still blasted him away.

Doesn't hurt? It doesn't feel like I'm badly injured.

He had not suffered much damage.

His shoe might not even be torn.

I see. The Meteor Hammer was more for knocking enemies back. Its knockback property far exceeded its offensive power.

It was merely a support weapon used to coordinate with other weapons and achieve an attack. Its appearance was quite deceptive.

Fine, fine. Even in a fight, it's all calculations.

But that was exactly to Kevin's liking.

Borrowing the momentum of the shockwave as he flew backward, Kevin suddenly exerted force. His body somehow adjusted its posture in midair without any point of leverage.

Of course, this was another technique he had "borrowed" from Killua. He silently thanked his good friend Killua in his heart!

After adjusting himself, Kevin landed and pounced toward Chrollo like a cheetah.

Clearly, Chrollo had not expected Kevin to be able to readjust his posture while being knocked back in midair, then use that momentum to close in on him even faster.

The Meteor Hammer appeared in his hand again, and he hurled it fiercely at Kevin.

It hadn't even been three seconds.

Looks like I guessed right. Once a weapon hits its target, the retrieval time limit disappears.

The force from before was not enough to let Kevin get all the way close. As Kevin lunged forward, he planted both hands on the ground and pushed hard.

His entire body flipped through the air, narrowly evading the Meteor Hammer.

After landing, he surged forward in a single stride.

At that moment, all three of his opponent's weapons had been thrown out and were still within their cooldown interval.

Once Kevin closed in, at most Chrollo would only have the dagger left to resist with in his hand.

Then what about the remaining weapon?

When would he use it?

The answer was now.

The steel needle at Chrollo's waist vanished.

Kevin saw it!

Throughout the battle, Kevin had maintained [Ren]. The instant the steel needle was violently thrown out by his opponent, it disappeared from sight.

It was [Hidden], and it was flying extremely fast.

It was before him in the blink of an eye.

The steel needle's trait was penetration.

Kevin raised his right hand to block it, and the steel needle pierced through his right arm.

He had figured out the final weapon's trait as well.

"What was that?"

"Idiot, use [Ren]!"

In the stands, Biscuit slapped the back of Yungu's head.

She had to admit that the enemy's Nen ability was more refined than Kevin's, and his combat experience was greater as well.

"So, how will you deal with it?"

The steel needle lodged in his arm vanished, and blood slowly flowed from the wound.

By then, the enemy had already opened up a Safe distance, and all four weapons had returned to Chrollo's waist.

Chrollo panted heavily. The battle just now had placed enormous pressure on him.

With a serious expression, he said, "You were right. Pruning too many little branches made me forget what a great tree was.

"I'll treat you like a great tree and prune your branches properly."

"Then I should thank you in advance."

As Kevin spoke, he downed two tubes of potions.

[Power Potion][Healing Potion]

I'll finish you in fifteen minutes.

The score was now two to two.