Netero looked at the man in front of him. Both Morel and Knov had already retreated in Knov's Dimension.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Asked the old Chairman.
"Stay out of my way Netero..." Said the even older scientist.
The two were locked in a staredown for a bit. Netero didn't make any move, he simply chose to circle the man in front of him.
Having figured out that aspect of Ashton's Hatsu was what drove him to this idea. As long as he didn't attack, Ashton would also not have any proper means of using his Hatsu on him.
It was decent, but it was lacking. The second the old hunter stepped forward he was blown backwards by a powerful explosion. He was embedded into a wall as the entire cave shook.
He looked startled.
"You must be growing senile... Do you really think you can just ignore me and go forward?" There was no smile on the Scientist's face, only a cold sneer.
The of Hunter used Gyo, yet he couldn't see anything. The aura of 'Parasitic Explosion' was completely invisible when inside something.
And Ashton had lived in this place for a few days already. The entire place was a makeshift minefield. A simple thought of his would blow the entire mountain away. Along with everything in it.
The condition was that he couldn't attach his nen to those that don't attack him. But it said nothing about actually harming them.
This condition was basically null, yet it strengthened the explosions caused by the Hatsu majorly.
Right now, Netero could only look around wearily. If he used his Hatsu the entire cave would be brought down on top of the two of them, it wasn't an ideal situation for either fighters.
If Knov hadn't retreated in fear a strategy might've been possible. But that was impossible now. Both him and Morel had retreated in the Pocket Dimension.
Ashton's En was too much for the young hunter to bear for too long. He was lucky it wasn't all concentrated on him.
The situation was turned into a stalemate. As neither Netero nor Ashton had many choices in injuring the opponents.
If Ashton used powerful explosions too many times, the cave would fall on them, and the unborn King might be in trouble. There were very few things either of them could do.
__________ POV Ashton__________
I looked at the man in front of me.
The explosion didn't harm him at all. He could easily shrug off powerful attacks with his strong body.
Defences don't usually matter when fighting me. But since he knows not to attack me I can't attach my Hatsu to him. Which turns this fight into a stalemate.
I could use other offensive abilities. But I don't really need to. He will retreat after a while anyway. So it doesn't really matter.
Just as those thoughts ran through my mind. I could hear a loud crashing sound, followed by a powerful ----- BOOM -----.
I looked back to the room of the King. It was where the sound originated from.
I looked Netero in the eyes. The old man just shrugged. I guess this hasn't gotten anything to do with him.
Both of us rushed back into the room, we had completely different reasons. I was checking on the safety of my research subjects, and Netero was trying to make sure they were all wiped out.
We decided to ignore our previous fight for now. It's not like this is the first time the two of us tried to fight to the death. Neither is ever too serious though.
As soon as we entered the room, we could see a huge hole blown into the side. The queen stood there with her stomach ripped open, slowly dying.
"Ashton...?" Asked the dying queen.
"Yeah, it's me. What happened?" I can already guess what actually happened... But I will be happy to listen to it.
"The King... He woke up early... He left with the Royal Guards." I just released a frustrated sigh.
It seems they want to play this type of game... I'll make sure to rip them apart for this. Their bodies may be precious to me, but they seem to be overstepping their boundaries as lab rats.
Netero easily noticed my anger, even with me controlling my expression perfectly. He just patted me on the back.
"I guess we have similar goals now huh?" He said, with his usual stupid smile.
"Shut up. But yes, I will need information on their location. So I guess this is where our partnership restarts." I said with hate. Not bothering to mask the anger in my voice this time.
Netero just nodded, acting all 'sagely' this old retard...
"Sure, sure..." I just slapped his hand away. He looked 'hurt' but I don't care.
The two of us looked at the queen. She was not going to recover from that.
We both turned around to leave at the same time. Only for the Queen's voice to stop us in our tracks.
"Wait... Please... Tell the King... That I named him Meruem..." Those were her last words. Really, a shame. But... I guess I can study her body quite a bit.
Its reproductive system is quite intriguing. Especially since it gave birth to such powerful ants.
I looked at Netero. He already knew me well enough to understand what I meant. So he just shrugged and nodded.
I manipulated my Nen into a blade. It was easy enough to do, I cleanly hacked off parts of her body. Separating her limbs from her torso. Which was the part that interested me the most.
I then stretched both my hands forward. My fingers seemed to rip through space, creating a small black rift in space.
This was another Hatsu I developed. I only used it for storage. The larger the thing you want to store, the more Nen you need. It's the same for taking things out. You don't need to keep spending energy to keep things inside.
It was a strange ability that imitated the properties of space itself. Transmutation, but it was not exactly suited for battle, it also required quite a bit of Nen to open up in the first place.
Netero didn't seem surprised by this at all. I did develop this while I was in the Dark Continent, he and the others that survived that expedition know about this ability.
I have made a few Hatsus, and also copied quite a few. Some were weak enough to use in a cave without it falling on top of both of us. But it's just not worth the effort sometimes.
My favourite remains the 'Parasitic Explosion'.
After storing the queen's body, both of us just left the place. Killing any ant that came in our way whilst talking about the possible experiments that could be done with the Queen's body.
Netero himself didn't know much about science. But he was still a curious person. So he asked about some stuff.
Like, 'When exactly are you planning on doing the experiments?' or 'What exactly do you wish to accomplish with them?'. They weren't exactly what I'd describe as scientific inquiries. But at least it was better than nothing.
The answers were 'As soon as possible. and 'I don't plan anything specifically, I just want to quell my curiosity.' respectively.
__________ POV Naration__________
The two soon exited the mountain. They walked together and talked for a kilometre or two.
After that, the Scientist just looked backwards at the Mountain. "What a shame..." He muttered under his breath.
And soon. It was engulfed in a powerful explosion. It covered the entire range and some of the forest surrounding it. It looked about as powerful as a nuclear blast.
Netero also looked backwards with a wry smile.
Thinking something along the lines of. 'Good thing he's not suicidal...'
The blast of the explosion reached the two. But it didn't even make them move, they just stood there. Looked at each other, shrugged and continued leaving.
_____________________________________________________________
Heyyy, hope you liked the chapter!
I have some bad news tho. I might have to lower the upload rate.
In my last novel, I had enough time to write more chaps on Patre.on. But now I also have work, so I won't be able to do so.
I kinda feel bad about it tbh. But I'll have to release 1 every two days from now on. Just until I have some chapters in advance on Patr.eon.
This will only last for about two weeks. So don't be too discouraged.
Usual plug: