Dark Forest X Drone Battle

Kevin strolled leisurely through the Dense Forest, the Number Plate 100 on his chest gleaming brightly.

"This is ridiculous, it's practically announcing my arrival to everyone." Kevin sighed, looking at the flashing Number Plate. The higher the number, the brighter the light.

There are currently 26 candidates on the island, each with a minimum score of 50 points, and only the top eight candidates will be eligible for the next grade.

This rule setting clearly forces candidates to compete against each other.

Moreover, there are wild animals on the island, who also wear scorecards, which complicates the situation further.

Originally, the test takers could have roughly estimated that the average score required for the top eight was around 75 points, and with 26 test takers, that would be a total of 1950 points. On average, they would have needed 240 points to be in the top eight.

Unfortunately, the exam won't be that simple.

Because of the presence of wild beasts, the scores become unpredictable, forcing the students on the island to remain constantly active and continue their struggle until the end of the exam, much like wild beasts in the wilderness constantly fighting for survival.

These rules, indeed, match the temperament of that wild and untamed examiner.

"I scored 100 points. Such a high score is like the power emanating from a wild beast, forcing other candidates to carefully evaluate their prey."

Like wild beasts, they will choose to avoid opponents they cannot afford to offend.

In other words, those who want to prey on high-scoring candidates like us, unless they're stupid, will try every means to increase their chances of winning, such as forming groups, setting traps, poisoning, or launching surprise attacks.

"And these scoreboards are impossible to remove by myself, but others can take them easily. This place is like a dark forest now," Kevin muttered, unable to contain his complaints.

He finally understood: these examiners were all incredibly wicked, each one carrying their own unique style of malice in every exam.

"Is this [Hunter Association] really a legitimate organization?" Kevin couldn't help but scratch his head, sigh, and continue to ponder the questions raised by the Number Plate.

For Kevin, who had a high score, the exam was challenging from the very beginning.

Those candidates who didn't want to provoke him would immediately run away as soon as they saw his Number Plate.

Battles are dynamic, and when the enemy is focused on escaping, even if Kevin possesses Nen Aura, he may not be able to catch up.

After all, the candidates who have made it this far all have their own special skills, and many of them may even be proficient in tracking and hiding in the forest. They might have already disappeared before Kevin even noticed them.

"Troublesome," Kevin muttered helplessly, but he didn't seem to care too much.

His aura began to converge inward, instantly entering a state of [absolute], his footsteps lightened, and he moved silently through the woods.

Without any outward scent, even the animals in the forest couldn't detect Kevin's presence unless they saw Kevin.

It must be said that Nen user do have a significant advantage when competing with ordinary test takers, even if these ordinary test takers are experts in their respective fields.

Although the island is not large, it is more than enough to accommodate more than thirty candidates.

Kevin walked through the forest for a while, but even though he concealed his presence, he still couldn't find any trace of the other examinees.

Of course, it's also possible that everyone is just very wary right now.

Kevin continued on his way until he came to a small clearing in the Dense Forest.

He walked forward and sat down directly on a Rock in the open space. Then, he no longer concealed his aura.

Instead, it gathers the gas into a columnar shape resembling a probe and shoots it out.

At this moment, his irregularly shaped [circle] could reach a range of nearly four hundred meters, and he swept the [circle] around.

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, Kevin stomped his foot, creating a crater, and dashed towards the nearby woods at incredible speed.

Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the bushes where it had been, weaving nimbly through the tree trunks to evade Kevin's pursuit.

Kevin's sudden punch missed, but the powerful impact snapped a large tree in half, causing the tall trunk to collapse with a crash.

Kevin did not continue his attack, but stood still, watching the person who had been secretly following him.

He had a vague feeling that someone was following him; it was an intuition, but he hadn't noticed anyone else's presence before. So he suddenly used an irregular [circle] to force the other person out.

The fact that the other person could react to his [circle] indicates that they were also a Nen user.

This person must have used [Absolute] as well, having secretly followed him for quite some time.

As far as Kevin knew, there were only four Nen user on the island: himself, Kite, Locke, and the Radio boy.

The Radio boy had just awakened his Nen ability, and even his [En] technique was still unstable; Kite wouldn't actively fight him before the final exam.

Therefore, the person in front of us is undoubtedly Locke.

Sure enough, the figure that had been hiding stopped on a tree trunk in the distance and turned to look at Kevin.

"It really is you. What, you want the Number Plate I'm wearing?"

Locke skin was somewhat dark, nodded briefly.

Kevin asked, somewhat puzzled, "With your skills, you should be able to move freely on this island, right? As long as you focus on hunting, getting enough points to advance to the top eight should be a piece of cake for you, shouldn't it?"

In this situation, choosing such a difficult target as him would be rather unwise for Hunter x Hunter.

Locke simply looked at Kevin quietly and said in a calm tone, "I'm curious, why did you score 5 points higher than me?"

"Just because of that?"

Locke nodded. He was Nen user, and he knew that there were very few Nen user like him. Most of the Nen user he had encountered were no match for him.

He believed that obtaining the Hunter License would be a piece of cake, and even after seeing other Nen user, he felt that he was the strongest based on his outward appearance.

That's why he's been taking these exams alone, quietly and without fanfare—because he disdains such behavior.

And so we came to this hurdle.

The examiner made it clear to everyone that Kevin was the strongest, which he found hard to accept, and he wanted to test Kevin's abilities.

Seeing the other person's response, Kevin smiled and said, "Since you're so eager to know, leave your scorecard as payment for my answer."

With another loud bang, Kevin stomped out a hole in the ground and shot out like a cannonball.

"So fast!"

Locke's eyes widened, and he instantly raised his right hand and grabbed at the air. A black machine the size of a head appeared in his hand, with a handle at the bottom. He gripped it tightly, and it flew upwards.

"Drone?" Kevin recognized it instantly; it was a Drone.

Yet this Drone, towing Locke through the woods, circled for a short while before flying to an open area and then soaring straight into the sky.

This Drone is clearly a high-tech product that has been materialized; Locke must have put in a lot of effort to materialize something like this.

But now a problem arises: they can fly, which makes the situation tricky.

Kevin's ranged attack capabilities are currently limited unless he uses Firearm.

However, he did not carry it with him because of the exam, even though carrying a gun was allowed during the exam.

Locke didn't stop singing after taking off. He grabbed the handle under the Drone with his left hand and threw it forward with his right, and another Drone flew out.

The Drone was much smaller, about the size of two hands put together, and flew silently.

Without a sound, the Drone hurtled towards Kevin like lightning.

Before figuring out the mechanics of his opponent's Nen ability, Kevin didn't want to risk a direct confrontation, so he quickly dodged to the side.

A Nen Bullet was launched, but it missed due to the agile maneuvering of the enemy Drone.

He used [Concealment] on his own Nen Bullet, but his opponent nimbly dodged it, indicating that his opponent had maintained [Concentration] throughout the battle.

No wonder he was unconvinced; this guy's Nen ability skills were definitely up to par.

The Drone was extremely fast and exceptionally agile, silently weaving around Kevin with a clear target.

It means touching Kevin's body.

Before he could figure out what was going on, Kevin could only try to keep his distance from the Shuttle Drone, but in doing so, he became bogged down.

After a moment's thought, Kevin immediately retreated into the forest, trying to create more distance between himself and Locke.

He felt that this thing should have some distance limitation, since Locke was able to materialize such a high-tech item, which would most likely mean it followed some characteristics of that item in reality, such as signal transmission,

Battery consumption and other factors could become weaknesses in an opponent's Nen ability.

Kevin continued to increase the distance until the straight-line distance between him and Locke exceeded two hundred meters.

At this moment, although the Shuttle Drone did not stop, Kevin keenly noticed that Locke was floating in the air, had moved.

Two hundred meters may not be the limit; it could also be a trap set by the other side.

Thinking of this, Kevin suddenly kicked out, his speed exploding instantly, and he retreated rapidly backward.

At that speed, the Shuttle Drone could barely keep up, but the Drone Locke was riding in certainly couldn't be that fast.

When Kevin's burst of speed instantly increased the distance to 250 meters, the Shuttle Drone paused and came to a stop.

"Alright, confirmed. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, 250 meters is the maximum distance. To be on the safe side, it's best to maintain a distance of 300 meters," Kevin thought to himself.

The opponent can materialize two Drone with different functions: one with offensive capabilities and the other with flight capabilities. This configuration is quite reasonable.

Locke stopped upon seeing this and did not continue the pursuit.

Kevin has already determined the furthest distance the Shuttle Drone can travel from Locke.

Locke had to admit that Kevin was very perceptive.

Although he materialized Drone, if the distance was too far, a signal interruption would occur, making the control inflexible.

For a "Shuttle Drone" that requires precise control, losing flexibility renders it useless.

Locke has already revealed his abilities, and Kevin has even detected some limitations in them.

But so far, he has never witnessed Kevin using Nen ability, which makes him hesitant to act rashly.

"Call out!"

A whooshing sound rang out, and a Rock shot out from the woods. Locke quickly steered the Drone to dodge.

They barely managed to evade the attack.

"Compared to his Shuttle Drone, the Drone carrying him is significantly less sensitive," Kevin thought, and then fired a few more Rock.

The Rock he casually tossed were incredibly fast, easily traveling over a distance of three hundred meters.

At this moment, Kevin was at a safe distance, while Locke was within his attack range.

Although these Rock weren't particularly powerful, they were still enough to cause Locke some trouble.

The situation reversed instantly, with the offensive and defensive positions switching hands.

Kevin remained calm, circling Locke at a distance of 300 meters, occasionally throwing a Rock from various directions, some of which were imbued with Nen Aura and would suddenly increase in power.

"No, this can't go on." Locke was caught off guard.

He hadn't expected Kevin to throw Rock at such a speed, almost like bullets, which almost certainly meant Kevin was Enhancement Type ability user.

In his understanding, it would be extremely difficult to achieve such power without using Nen ability, unless Enhancement Type.

"His [circle] is too wide, damn it, how can there be such a big circle?" Locke thought to himself as he dodged the Rock attacks.

He had never seen a circle that could expand to nearly 400 meters; it was simply outrageous.

Moreover, he clearly sensed that Kevin's circle seemed different from a regular circle.

"Could it be his Nen ability?" Locke couldn't help but speculate in this direction.

He had never heard of, let alone seen, an irregular circle.

But when Kevin's [circle] swept over me, the strange feeling wasn't like being completely enveloped, but more like being quickly swept over by something.

"But this ability doesn't seem like something Enhancement Type would have. Could it be Emission Type?"

Locke dodged while pondering.

After all, these Rock imbued with Nen Aura are quite in line with the characteristics of the Emission Type.

However, the opponent's physical movements and the power they unleashed did not match.

However, he didn't have much time to think at that moment.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Like machine gun fire, a barrage of Rock rained down on Locke, almost Blockade his escape routes.

Relying on Drone to evade, he had limited space to hide in, so he had no choice but to gather his Nen Aura in his body and use his fists and legs to defend himself.

Fortunately, the large number of Rock fired at once limited Rock power, and he only needed to accurately block the Rock imbued with Nen Aura.

"It wasn't that powerful after all—wait a minute!"

He immediately realized he had been tricked.

Just as Locke was dealing with the dense barrage of Rock "bullets," Kevin seized the opportunity and suddenly charged toward the Shuttle Drone that had been eyeing him from within a 300-meter radius.

He quickly approached and threw a punch, a punch imbued with a large amount of Nen Aura, which slammed heavily onto the Shuttle Drone. The moment it hit the Shuttle Drone, Kevin crossed his arms, using Nen to form a protective barrier in front of him, and his entire body quickly retreated.

To his surprise, the expected explosion did not occur.

The Shuttle Drone was smashed into nothingness by his punch and vanished into thin air.

"Damn it, he caught us off guard," Locke cursed.

He hadn't expected Kevin to be so decisive, launching a direct attack on the Shuttle Drone.

The instant the Shuttle Drone was destroyed, another wave of massive Rock flew over.

Locke could only concentrate on dodging the attacks while slowly rising into the sky.

"Without the limitations of the Shuttle Drone, he definitely has more control over the Drone in his hands." Kevin said as he slowly approached, throwing Rock at it.

He remained constantly vigilant of his surroundings, fearing that the other side might have hidden a weapon.

Throwing Rock, Kevin had already rushed into the open space.

When he appeared in the open space, Locke's eyes widened, because Kevin was rushing out carrying a wooden stake.

Kevin instantly enveloped the wooden stake with a large amount of Nen Aura and hurled it forcefully towards Locke in the air.

"You brute force monster!" Locke cursed, doing his utmost to control the Drone and dodge.

Just as he finally managed to fly out of the wooden stake's attack range, a tree branch came hurtling towards him.

Fatal, this was a fatal attack, Locke made a decisive decision.

He let go, and the Drone carrying him vanished instantly.

His body tumbled in the air to dissipate some of the force before landing on the ground, panting as he stood up.

At that moment, Kevin had already walked quickly to him.

There must be a cooldown period after the Drone dissipates, otherwise the other party wouldn't be so reluctant to let its Drone return.

"I lost, take it." Locke raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Kevin smiled slightly, stepped forward, and easily removed the Number Plate worth 95 points from his chest.

Watching Kevin's actions, Locke asked, "When you probed me, was that [round]-like Nen your Nen ability?"

"No."

Upon hearing this answer, Locke's expression instantly turned extremely ugly, as if he had swallowed a bitter pill.

He hadn't expected that Kevin would defeat him so easily without even using his Nen ability; it was simply a difference in their basic strength.

It's certainly possible that Kevin was lying to him, but he chose to believe him because the other person was indeed very capable.

That Nen ability was too ordinary.

"Don't be discouraged, your Nen ability is quite interesting. And you should also have a Drone, right?" Kevin said.

Upon hearing this, Locke's pupils contracted slightly.

"Ha, I've already used every trick in the book."

It doesn't matter if Locke doesn't admit it; Kevin doesn't care.

In fact, when Kevin intuitively sensed that someone was following him, he had already noticed the spying coming from different directions.

Since Locke used Drone for tracking, it's impossible that he didn't use reconnaissance Drone, given the common uses of Drone. This is one of the most basic functions of Drone.

It's just that reconnaissance Drone might not have been able to function effectively in that battle; it's possible the enemy could only Conjuration two of them simultaneously.

Therefore, Kevin deduced that Locke had also hidden a Drone.

After all, he had only been on the island for a short time when he was being followed. The island was quite large, so the other party must have used some kind of tracking ability.

If his guess is correct, then Locke's Nen ability is of limited use in combat, and its main function is functional.

Offensive tactics may lean towards assassination and surprise attacks.

That's why the other party has been secretly tracking him.

However, these are all just speculations.