Shadow Beasts Killed in Return

The Porcupine rolled into a ball, and except for the area around its eye sockets, its entire body sprouted sharp, needle-like quills, truly living up to its name!

"I bet you can't see my movements clearly, right? My speed ranks among the top of the Shadow Beasts."

He let out two grunts, full of confidence, and as expected, he moved at extreme speed to appear behind Shizuku, lunging at her back.

The Porcupine's embrace would pierce countless bloody wounds, leading to death amidst dense pain.

However, he underestimated Shizuku.

Shizuku suddenly turned her head, her large eyes staring at him, startling him.

"I can see you."

The Porcupine was greatly surprised. "Huh?! You can see my movements clearly? How is that possible?"

Before he could react, the large, blood-filled mouth of the Evil Tenderfoot in Shizuku's hand turned, aiming at the Porcupine's face.

"Pfft—"

The Evil Tenderfoot spat out a large amount of pre-absorbed blood, like a squid releasing ink, spraying it all over the Porcupine's face in one go.

"My eyes!"

The Porcupine couldn't dodge in time. A few drops got into his eyes, causing him such pain that he instinctively shut them. His entire face was covered in blood.

But the moment he closed his eyes, he realized Shizuku's intention and couldn't help but feel a surge of fear, forcing his eyes open again.

What met his blood-red gaze was the Evil Tenderfoot's mouth.

It extended a long tongue, its tip like an arrow, piercing the Porcupine's only unprotected eyeball!

With a "slurp," the tongue pierced through like a small knife, rupturing the eyeball and reaching the soft brain.

The Evil Tenderfoot's large tongue retracted.

"You..."

The Porcupine opened his mouth wide, his hands grasping at the air in front of him, but catching nothing.

The quills he had raised instantly softened, falling onto his body, making him look like a savage with an astonishing amount of hair.

Shizuku raised the Evil Tenderfoot and pushed the Porcupine's body.

The Porcupine fell backward with a thud, his eye sockets filled with dark red blood. One eye socket was wide open, filled with unexplainable terror.

At the same time, the Leech, whose speed surpassed even the Porcupine's, employed a similar afterimage deception tactic.

As he dodged and weaved, he constantly watched Gelman's movements.

As soon as Gelman showed an opening, he would rush in for a bite.

The poison on his fangs was enough to paralyze Gelman in an instant, leading to death within moments.

"Come on, Gelman, let me have a bite. I guarantee you won't see tomorrow's sun."

However, no matter how fast the Leech moved or how he searched for an angle, he had a persistent intuition.

The moment he stepped within Gelman's "En," he would surely die.

"This is too strange... Why... Why do I have this feeling?"

Fine beads of cold sweat began to appear on the Leech's face. This sense of danger instinctively stopped his repeated attempts to attack.

"Aren't you going to make a move yet?"

Gelman, at this moment, urged him on coldly. He had been watching the Leech jump around for quite some time.

"If you don't attack, then it's my turn to make a move."

And at this moment, Shizuku had just finished off the Porcupine.

The Porcupine's sudden fall threw the Leech into further disarray.

"What is the Porcupine doing?! How did he lose to that woman?"

The Leech didn't have time to observe the situation over there. He only knew that if he didn't act now, he would be in a disadvantageous situation of fighting two opponents alone.

So, he braced himself and charged at Gelman, his mouth wide open, fangs aiming for Gelman's neck.

"One decisive blow, it must be one decisive blow!"

The thought had barely formed when he stepped into Gelman's "En."

"Swish—"

He tried to take another step but found that his legs, for some unknown reason, had gone numb and remained rooted to the spot, completely unresponsive.

The Leech's upper body, carried by inertia, lunged towards Gelman.

Gelman's Meat Saw had been raised at some point and was casually swung, hooking the Leech's falling upper body.

The Leech blinked in confusion, looked down, and then began to tremble.

"What... I've been cut in half..."

It was only then that he realized how terrifying Gelman was.

He hadn't even seen the slash clearly; the fight was already over.

Gelman moved his Meat Saw, letting the Leech's upper body fall to the ground. It twitched a few times before going still.

However, Gelman remained uneasy. "Nen ability" users in this world had tenacious lifespans; even with only half a body left, they might not die immediately.

Either finish them off quickly or wait patiently.

He chose the latter and waited silently for a minute. The Leech never counterattacked, and only then was he certain the "Shadow Beast" was truly dead.

Shizuku walked over, still holding the Evil Tenderfoot. Its large tongue was sticking out.

"You seem more cautious than I imagined. Do you need my Evil Tenderfoot to eat them all? That would make you even more cautious."

The people who were alive moments ago were now all corpses, fulfilling the conditions for Shizuku's ability.

Gelman, however, shook his head.

"There's no need. Their target was me. Now, all the gangsters in Yorknew City know my approximate location, so cleaning up the scene is pointless."

He turned to Shizuku.

"Sorry for dragging you into this."

The Evil Tenderfoot in Shizuku's hand disappeared, her expression unchanged.

"Indeed, you dragged me into this. While it wasn't intentional, it is your fault. At the same time, their fault is greater; they attacked me without properly distinguishing friend from foe."

She raised both hands, forming a "three" with her left and a "seven" with her right.

"The proportion of your fault is about thirty-seven. Since things have developed to this point, and I can't go back half an hour to make a different decision, I can only make judgments and act based on the current reality."

Shizuku accepted the fact that she had been unexpectedly tied to Gelman's chariot. She lowered one hand, and with the other finger, she pointed at Gelman.

"Cooperating with you might be profitable for me. Conversely, if I explain to the gangsters, they won't listen. Instead, they'll try to capture me and use torture to force information out of me."

Gelman nodded. "Rational judgment."

Shizuku glanced at the messy scene and asked, "Shall we leave here now?"

"Wait a moment longer."

Gelman squatted down and searched the Leech's corpse, quickly and skillfully finding its wallet.

This time, he only took cash, leaving all other valuables behind.

After searching the Leech, he moved on to the Porcupine, squatting beside it.

Shizuku adjusted her glasses, observing Gelman's every move with curiosity.

"Are you short on money?"

Gelman didn't look back, fully focused on his task.

"My expenses are quite high. I usually like to stay in nice hotel suites and eat whatever I want... In short, I don't deliberately save money."

He searched a few more corpses, obtaining stacks of Jenny that almost filled the pockets of his Hunter's robe.

"But it's fortunate that sometimes, when I feel like I'm running out of money, someone will proactively send money my way. Up until now, I've always been in a peculiar state of never running out of money."