Elastic Love

Hisoka's reaction was far quicker than Hogari had imagined. The moment Hogari stepped forward, Hisoka had already leapt over his head with a forward flip.

What was more, Hogari realized that something seemed to be stuck to his hands. Then, against his will, his arms rose, and the two knives stabbed toward his eyes!

Hogari bent his knees and threw himself backward in shock, closing his eyes.

Even so, the two knives merely missed plunging directly into his eye sockets, yet still carved bloody gashes across his eyelids and face!

With two sharp slashes, blood spattered everywhere!

Hogari felt searing pain on his face. The sting of blood soaking into his wounds made it impossible for him to open his eyes. Suddenly plunged into darkness, with a terrifying figure nearby, his heart sank to the depths.

"Y-you bastard!"

He struggled with both hands, but not only did he fail to break free of Hisoka's "Elastic Love," he was instead toyed with like a puppet on strings, violently yanked up and slammed onto the ground.

Hogari's entire body ached from the fall, and the two knives slipped from his hands.

Hisoka strolled over slowly, raised his foot, and, under the shocked gazes of the other examinees, stepped on Hogari's blood-covered face.

Hogari cursed loudly, but his hands were still under Hisoka's control, unable to break free.

"I think you're the one who failed." Smiling with narrowed eyes, Hisoka ground his foot against Hogari's face, just as he had ground that frog beneath his foot not long ago.

"Elastic Love" twisted like a braided rope. With two clicks, it dislocated both of Hogari's arms, making cold sweat stream down his face. He clenched his teeth tightly to keep from crying out.

"Looks like you've got some backbone after all," Hisoka remarked in surprise.

Hisoka picked Hogari up and flung him away as if tossing out a bag of trash.

Hogari fell into a dense thicket, rolled down the mountain, and vanished from sight.

Then Hisoka raised his head and looked at Gelman and the other examinees. "So, the unqualified examiner has already been eliminated first. What should we do with you?"

"Ah... I've thought of a good idea... How about I become the examiner for the Third Exam and decide which of you are qualified and which are not?"

Most of the examinees shuddered at his words. What shocked them even more was that, aside from Gelman, none of them had any idea how Hisoka had just defeated Hogari.

Hisoka glanced at the guarded Gelman and said with a smile, "It seems the most delicious part should be saved for last."

"As for you." He narrowed his eyes again. His powder-covered white face looked like the wicked visage of a ghostly demon in the dim pre-dawn light. "You can come one at a time, or all together. I don't mind either way."

Hisoka took one step toward the remaining fifty examinees, and they all instinctively took a step back.

The fifty examinees all had similar thoughts. Even the examiner was no match for Hisoka. How were examinees like them, who were not even Hunters yet, supposed to deal with Hisoka's threat?

As Hisoka pressed forward step by step, sweat drenched everyone's backs, but it finally stirred the will to resist in several of them.

"Don't be afraid, everyone!" The martial artist Chen Li stepped forward. His resolute face gave off an air of dependable confidence. "There are fifty of us. Fifty people attacking together will be enough to subdue him!"

The crowd seemed to wake from a dream. Right, there were a full fifty of them!

Amori, Umori, and Imori, the three brothers in the crowd, also spoke up. "That's right! There are so many of us. Two or three people can grab each of his arms and legs, then everyone else can rush in. We can definitely win!"

They were all familiar faces in the Hunter Exam and quite strong themselves. With them stepping forward together, the spirits of the fifty examinees were greatly encouraged.

The examinees stopped cowering. Some drew their weapons, while others raised their bare fists. Moving sideways like crabs, they surrounded Hisoka from all sides.

"Let's go together!" Chen Li shouted, and the many examinees responded, surging toward Hisoka as one.

Hisoka suddenly let out a satisfied moan and said with an evil smile, "I love people like you who don't fear death. The more I crush you, the sweeter your despair tastes."

Everyone shivered, yet forced themselves to stay composed as they attacked Hisoka.

From Gelman's perspective, Hisoka was performing a disappearing act amid the crowd—and enjoying every second of it.

No one could catch Hisoka. Even touching the hem of his clothes was difficult. He flickered and darted about as though dancing on knife edges, using "Elastic Love" as he pleased.

Amid dull thudding sounds, examinees were constantly flung into the air. When they landed, most had broken bones and howled in agony.

Chen Li, who had taken the lead, was stuck by "Elastic Love" and swung around like a yo-yo. He was whipped about until foam spilled from his mouth, then thrown away only after losing consciousness.

The three brothers, Amori, Umori, and Imori, who had answered Chen Li's call, were also knocked down one after another and left unconscious.

In just a few minutes, more than twenty people had been seriously injured and collapsed on the ground, unable to get up. They probably could not continue the exam either.

Hisoka chuckled as he looked toward the remaining twenty-some examinees.

The remaining examinees felt chills shoot straight to the tops of their heads. All the courage they had worked up vanished, and without another word, they threw down their weapons and fled without looking back.

This was a demon, and humans could not defeat demons.

"Ah... Did I overdo it? Did I scare them all away?" Hisoka watched the examinees flee, spread his hands, then turned toward Gelman. "But I'm done warming up. Now, the real show begins."

Facing Hisoka, Gelman had no need to hide anything. A Blunderbuss materialized in his left hand, and a Meat Saw in his right.

At five in the morning, the first light of dawn shone through the mountains, piercing the tangled forest, cutting across the shadowed grassland, and falling upon the more than twenty seriously injured examinees lying on the ground.

Those still conscious stared wide-eyed at the battle poised to begin, unable to stop themselves from swallowing hard.

They had originally placed Gelman and Hisoka in the same category—both were cold, ruthless people not to be provoked. But at this moment, they desperately hoped Gelman would win.

At least Gelman would not take their lives as Hisoka would.

"My 'silent' partner." Hisoka swung his arms as he strode toward Gelman. "Let us dance."

His fingertips suddenly stretched out. A stone that "Elastic Love" had stuck to beforehand flew in from Gelman's blind spot, smashing toward the back of his head.

While in combat readiness, Gelman constantly maintained En and Gyo. He had long noticed that little trick. Turning with the Meat Saw in hand, he split the stone apart with a sharp crack.

"So you really do know my ability..." Hisoka planted his toes on the ground and moved swiftly at an angle. "But I know your ability too."

He suddenly fired out numerous strands of "Elastic Love," sticking some to stones and clods of dirt, and others to the seriously injured examinees on the ground, swinging them around like meteor hammers.