Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 302 (Patreon)

Chapter 302: Explosion

To control multiple targets, simple commands are usually the only option—an inherent limitation of the Manipulator nen ability.

The Zombie Mushrooms achieved their intended effects under harsh conditions, allowing for precise control.

However, even with the optimization from the Zombie Mushrooms, controlling hundreds of targets was still beyond Dove's grasp.

After sacrificing three synthetic soldiers, Dove attempted to encircle Luo with magical beasts, but the precision of his control lagged, missing two opportunities to trap Luo.

"Damn it!"

Losing track of Luo, Dove gritted his teeth in frustration.

The forest canopy was too dense, and it was nighttime. Even with sufficient moonlight, the flying magical beasts couldn't leverage their advantage.

Unable to pinpoint Luo's exact location, Dove had to cast a wide net and gradually narrow it down.

In the following half hour, seven more synthetic soldiers were lost, their target slippery as an eel, impossible to encircle.

The synthetic soldiers, proud of their defensive capabilities, stood no chance against the youngster wielding a knife, the fundamental flaw in the net's effectiveness.

One strike was all it took to bring them down; how could they possibly hold him?

In less than an hour, ten synthetic soldiers were lost, and with a pang of pain, Dove changed tactics, reducing the search intensity to let pairs of magical beasts team up and involve his comrades in the action.

This change, however, made Luo more cautious. He hid in the shadows, observing the movements of the magical beasts like a patient hunter, never striking unless an opportunity presented itself.

"Hmm?"

Hidden among the leaves, Luo's gaze suddenly shifted, and he leaped downward.

Several throwing knives flew from the shadows, embedding where he had just been.

"Have I been spotted?"

Landing, Luo quickly surveyed his surroundings and instantly made a decision, sprinting in a particular direction.

The synthetic magical beasts, though immensely powerful with their nen abilities, had a drawback—they didn't know how to conceal their aura.

That's why Luo could annihilate so many magical beasts in half an hour; their nen fluctuations stood out like lights in the darkness, allowing Luo to easily pinpoint their locations and choose his targets, making his breakout seem effortless.

Dove was aware of this but overestimated his synthetic magical beasts and underestimated Luo's solo combat skills.

Luo, guided by the fluctuations of the magical beasts' nen, calmly chose his escape route.

After running about a kilometer, he suddenly stopped, swinging his sword at a flying projectile, sparks flying in the air with a clang.

Three figures emerged from the shadows, charging straight at Luo.

"Not just three."

With a swing of his sword, Luo unleashed three blasts of sword energy at the approaching nen users clad in black uniforms. Without even looking at the outcome, he turned and ran.

He had the capability to eliminate his pursuers right there, but engaging further would only result in encirclement at worst.

If the opponents had been second or third-tier nen users, he might have stayed and fought head-on, but each of them was formidable, and getting trapped was too great a risk.

The three nen users narrowly dodged the sword energy and, seeing Luo turn to flee, chased after him furiously, while two more companions hidden in the shadows appeared, reorganizing the next wave of encirclement.

Luo kept his eyes on the path ahead, and during his escape, he felt nen fluctuations from the magical beasts in almost every direction, except one.

"Using the beasts' weakness to funnel my route..."

That direction must have been deliberately left open, much like the ambush just now. There would undoubtedly be an unknown number of nen users lying in wait along that path.

The synthetic magical beasts didn't use Zetsu, their aura neither too high nor too low, hovering between Ten and Ren.

Luo sensed the nen fluctuations emitted by the synthetic magical beasts, thereby pinpointing their positions, choosing isolated targets, and planning his escape routes after each strike.

However, the enemy used this to their advantage, positioning the magical beasts like chess pieces, leaving only one spot devoid of beasts, then ambushing several nen users who used Zetsu to hide their presence there.

Guessing the enemy's tactics, Luo couldn't simply play along. He suddenly veered to the right.

Two beasts per group, and the distances between each pair were noticeably reduced—a countermeasure to prevent Luo from picking them off one by one.

Yet, each magical beast was different in strength.

Luo could exploit the beasts' weakness to discern their positions, while Dove could use this same weakness to determine Luo's potential escape routes—decisions all revolving around exploiting the beasts' vulnerabilities.

This disadvantage, however, provided Luo with more than just positional awareness. Realizing that the synthetic magical beasts could only continuously emit nen without finesse, Luo could also gauge their strengths and weaknesses.

For instance, in the darkness, there were ninety beasts shining like

 lamps, grouped into forty or fifty teams, each team's light varying in intensity, some strong, some weak.

Not wanting to be driven into darkness by these lights, Luo targeted those with dimmer luminosity.

By sensing the nen fluctuations, he identified the weakest two beasts and approached them.

They were slightly smaller in size, their emitted nen weaker than the others.

Luo swiftly closed in, slicing one of the beasts in half with his sword, while the other reacted quickly, lunging at Luo.

Just as Luo's old strength waned and new strength had not yet arisen, he dodged the beast's attack, halting its offensive momentum.

Stepping back twice, Luo then surged forward to meet the oncoming beast.

Just as Luo swung his sword to strike the beast, he suddenly sensed something amiss.

The nen fluctuations that had been converging towards him not only did not advance, but instead pulled back.

"Why not take advantage of the encirclement and retreat instead?"

With this question in mind, Luo cleaved the second beast in half with one stroke.

Five seconds—that was the time the two beasts managed to stall Luo. Judging by the distance between the other groups of beasts, five seconds was enough for them to arrive, but...

Before he could ponder further, a dazzling white light flared behind him!

"Hmm?"

Unsure of what had transpired, Luo instinctively shielded himself with his domain.

The next moment, he was engulfed in a violent explosion.

The two halves of the beasts he had just slain turned into powerful bombs!

In an instant, the explosion's shockwave shattered the ground, and a surging wave of fire devoured the surrounding dense trees, forming two small mushroom clouds above the forest.

Caught at the epicenter of the explosion, although Luo managed to protect himself with his domain just in time, the powerful blast collapsed the ground, plunging him into an unknown depth along with a torrent of shattered rocks and dust.

Outside the explosion radius, Dove watched the two mushroom clouds and sneered, then led his team towards the epicenter.

The bombs weren't many, but he had stuffed two bundles into the stomachs of the weakest magical beasts, with the trigger condition: to detonate when split in half!

• Please take a moment to rate this novel at Novelupdate.

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>