Chapter 281

"What a terrifying kid…"

"I never expected the Fiora Kingdom to have someone like him."

"I'm not willing to accept this… I really can't accept it."

"She's still waiting for me…"

"Too bad—I won't be going back."

A woman's figure floated through Eli's mind.

But his death was already beyond changing.

Thud!

Eli's heart, after one last beat, finally stopped.

Only after confirming that Eli had no trace of life left did Ron step forward.

Killer Queen moved in. Ron took out a bottle of gasoline from Killer Queen's body space, opened it, and poured it over Eli's corpse.

Then he ignited it.

Boom!

The flames roared ferociously.

At Ron's command, the Nen beasts vanished. 

He rushed out of the smog. 

Just then, Wendy—having recovered a bit—arrived.

"Ron!"

Seeing him, Wendy's eyes lit up.

"Let's go!"

Ron didn't say much. 

Wendy asked nothing, simply following Ron away from Gik City.

"Wendy, did you contact the royal family of Fiora?"

"I already sent a message to Uncle Dominica."

"Good."

Ron nodded. 

"Gik City is even more dangerous than we thought. Senior Gonte's judgment was off. Let's leave as soon as possible and wait for support from the royal family."

Eli might be dead, but clearly he wasn't the only one on the opposing side. 

As soon as they discovered Eli's death, who knew if they would come chasing? 

Ron had gone all out to kill one Eli. 

If another fighter of Eli's level appeared, or someone even stronger, Ron had no chance at victory. 

So the only option was to get far away.

Fortunately, this was still Fiora territory, not too far from the capital. 

They ran at top speed. Meanwhile, Ron reviewed the recent battle in his mind.

It had been just as intense as when he faced Itō in the Colosseum—no less pressure at all. 

Itō was an A-rank Nen user, but he'd already been badly injured before fighting Ron. 

Eli was only B-rank, yet he'd only burned up some aura before clashing with Ron. With everything said, Eli's overall strength exceeded that of the gravely wounded Itō.

Moreover, Eli's ability was too unique: turning himself into flame, nullifying physical attacks. 

Ron and Wendy lacked any water-based skills to counter him, leaving them only a battle of attrition. 

They exploited Wendy's power to claim the air, which cost Eli greatly—especially that colossal pillar of fire. 

Ron had analyzed it carefully:

By the time Eli chased after them, he'd already expended a fair chunk of aura and wasn't at his best. 

According to Ron's calculations, Eli had likely used about one-third of his aura by then. After all, suppressing an A-rank like Gonte, even briefly, wouldn't be easy. And Eli's flame ability itself used a lot of aura.

When Eli used his flame-form again, and Ron and Wendy rose into the sky, his aura fell even further before the pillar-of-fire move. Probably down to about half. Transforming into flame used tremendous aura, and once he unleashed that skyward flame column, Ron figured he had maybe a quarter left.

At that point, Wendy was too drained to keep fighting and had to retreat to recover, leaving Ron with roughly three-quarters of his aura. Even so, he didn't hold any major advantage against Eli. But as soon as Lampent's conditions were met and its effect triggered, everything changed.

Eli's aura dropped sharply yet again, down to perhaps an eighth of its original. That meant he could no longer maintain his flame form, and it opened the way for Ron's offensive. Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's "Claw" to pierce his body, inflicting a devastating wound. From there, Ron held a massive upper hand, practically a guaranteed win. Even if Ron hadn't deployed Killer Queen, he could have finished Eli. Using Killer Queen only hastened the process.

"That guy was surely no weakling among B-rank Nen users. That flame-transformation is powerful. If not for it, I'd never have been pushed so far. It completely neutralized Baki and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, and even Killer Queen couldn't be used against flames. 

Lampent might not fear fire, but it doesn't have any attacking skills either."

Ron's eyes flickered.

"Being outmatched by someone else's ability can be a huge headache. We were lucky that Wendy and I could exploit a different angle to wear him down. But I have to remember not to underestimate any Nen user. Even with my unusual powers and growth beyond most Nen users, there will always be others with unique abilities of their own—like Chrollo's 'Skill Hunter' or Tserriednich's 'Ten-Second Foresight.' I must not underestimate anyone. I need to grow further, keep getting stronger."

Ron glanced back briefly in the direction of Gik City.

Then he looked at the crystal ball in front of him.

"The essence of Observer is at eighty-five percent now."

From the intel he'd gathered earlier, there were still a few places in Fiora's capital Ron had yet to visit. They could yield about twenty percent more progress. Once Gik City's ordeal was done, he'd return to the capital, wander around those locations, and push Observer's essence to one hundred percent—thereby creating his sixth Nen beast.

"If my calculations are correct, this sixth beast—based on Fiora's traits—should surpass Baki and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke in power when using the same amount of aura. Then my strength will rise yet again. If that flame user showed up after that, I wouldn't be pressed nearly as hard as I was this time. It'd be much easier."

Suddenly, a small silhouette appeared on the horizon, rapidly approaching them. 

Both Ron and Wendy braced for attack—until they saw who it was and let out sighs of relief.

"Senior Achilles!"

It was indeed Achilles, one of the top Nen users of the Fiora Kingdom.