Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 197 (Patreon)

Chapter 197: Master and Apprentice

At that moment, as the vines wrapped around him layer by layer, Luo had already placed his left hand on the Dark Sonata. In such a moment, he couldn't care about the data boosting to 40% and what might happen; all he could focus on was replenishing his aura to escape the entrapment.

Unexpectedly, the black cat autonomously revealed itself and saved him.

However, had it not been for the black cat consuming half of his aura earlier, he wouldn't have been so passive.

Luo's strike on the black cat was ineffective, and the latter, anthropomorphically rolling its eyes, disdainfully said, "If you hadn't wasted your aura on pointless actions, would I have needed to come out?"

"Pointless?" Luo's eyes narrowed slightly in thin anger.

"Do you want me to spell it out?"

The black cat raised its blade-like three claws, its silver eyes cold as ice.

Its form now differed from when Luo first saw it; its body was as large as a tiger's, entirely black, with a tail like a steel whip. On each side of its cheeks, three bone-like black substances protruded, curving towards the back of its head.

Most striking were the pair of silver beastly eyes amidst the black.

"No need," Luo replied curtly, feeling out of sync with the black cat.

"Tsck," the black cat scoffed.

Above them, numerous vines twisted and turned, launching another attack towards the people below, yet ignoring the black cat.

Bisky moved closer to Luo, but the vines attacked Luo first.

At that moment, the black cat leaped into the air, its claws crisscrossing and instantly slicing through the vines attacking Luo.

Upon landing, it swung its head, bit a severed vine, chewed it briefly, and then spat it out with a "Ptui," expressing disgust: "Disgusting."

Luo, taking advantage of the black cat's interference with the vines, joined up with Bisky.

"Is that your Nen beast?" Bisky asked, breaking several vines and glancing at the black cat.

"Sort of, let's just get out of here for now. That creature resembling a crab seems quite troublesome," Luo casually replied, glancing at the large creature that resembled a crab by about seventy to eighty percent.

The creature looked like a giant crab, with numerous legs difficult to count when bunched together, one claw larger than the other, and its eyeballs, like those of a plesiosaur, extending high into the air, overlooking the trio on the platform.

Having nearly depleted his internal aura, Luo had no more thoughts left.

At that moment, Antomu was almost at the staircase.

Bisky, uninterested in the suddenly appearing creature, led Luo towards the staircase.

Seeing Luo and the others about to escape, the crab creature made no move, its large eyeballs instead turning to look at the black cat.

Noticing the crab creature's gaze, the black cat's silver eyes flickered slightly, its black tongue licking out, sizing up the crab creature as if it were food on a plate.

On the platform, the vines surged, and blue light, like stage lighting, shone on the black cat and the crab creature.

The two disproportionate beings faced each other.

Having reached the staircase, Luo looked back at the black cat but wasn't worried about it at all. Given its nature, the black cat was his Nen beast, though it acted autonomously.

"Your Nen beast seems quite special," Bisky remarked.

"It does…" Luo replied, knowing too little about the black cat, merely placating.

The two left Antomu behind, finishing the stairs first and then passing through an archway, heading inside.

Left behind by Bisky and Luo, Antomu clenched his teeth and ran. Each step pulled at his injuries, forcing him to endure relentless pain. Since leaving the palace, he hadn't uttered a word.

The trio departed from the area, but the black cat remained on the platform.

Looking up at the vines that showed no sign of retreating, the black cat suddenly emitted a powerful aura, invisibly rippling out, sweeping over the writhing vines.

The aura released shared the essence of Luo's aura but was colder and more ruthless.

Covered by the aura, the previously unruly vines recoiled as if scorched by flames, becoming docile.

After using the aura to repel the vines, the black cat suddenly charged towards the massive crab creature.

Its size was not even comparable to one of the crab creature's thinner legs, yet it boldly attacked.

The crab creature's eyeballs bent downwards in the air, watching the approaching black cat, its hundreds of hard legs stepping towards the black cat.

"Where might it taste better?"

The black cat muttered to itself, shifting left and right, dodging the downward-stabbing thin legs.

When blocked, it would swipe with its

 claws, effortlessly cutting through the crab creature's hard legs like tofu.

"If it's crab, then it's the claws, right?"

The black cat suddenly leaped up, stepping on the numerous thin crab legs, using them to vault repeatedly, reaching above the crab creature.

Seeing this, the crab creature swung its thick claws at the black cat in the air.

As the crab claw neared, the black cat turned into a puff of black mist, and after the claw passed, quickly reformed, landing on the articulation of the claw, swiftly rushing towards the crab creature's eyes.

Luo and Bisky, following a rope, returned to the top of Mount Grul. It was still light outside, and the two who had been knocked out earlier by the Nen on the relief stone door had not yet awakened, and the same was true for the person Bisky had knocked out with a punch.

"I'm exhausted."

Luo leaned against a stone, panting.

"You're too weak," Bisky said with a slight shake of her head.

Luo looked up at Bisky, too weak to retort.

With arms crossed, Bisky ominously said, "For the next year, your time is mine, be mentally prepared."

"…"

Hearing Bisky's tone, Luo's already disordered breathing suddenly stopped, a chill rising up his spine.

"I have to waste a year on you, don't disappoint me," Bisky stepped forward, her face close to Luo's, her gaze sharp.

Luo was not a new member of the association, and teaching Luo was not a regular mission dispatched by the Hunter Association.

From the contact with Luo to the decision to teach him, there was a request from Chairman Netero, but that was just an opportunity. The decision-maker was Bisky herself.

Deciding to take Luo as an apprentice meant establishing a master-apprentice relationship, and she had to start investing time and effort in Luo, which was not a typical task assigned by the association but a true teaching by example.

Without any profit, nor as a mission, it was a unilateral commitment by Bisky, a rather rare act for a seasoned hunter, which also showed Bisky's valuation of Luo.

"Don't worry, Master!" Luo eagerly responded, smoothly addressing her as "Master."

Bisky nodded slightly, naturally accepting the address, then withdrew her gaze to look towards the entrance of the tomb, just as Antomu climbed up using the rope.

Severely injured, yet only a bit slower than Luo, this also highlighted the advantage of being an Enhancer type Nen user.

After leaving the tomb, Antomu lay beside the entrance, his chest and abdomen heaving, covered in sweat.

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