Chapter 290 Moses vs Mantis

Greed makes people lose their minds.

In order to seize the crown, those five Nen Users suddenly attacked Viper.

Facing the sudden attack, Viper calmly retreated to a position where Lion could provide assistance.

Because he wanted to prevent the crown in his hand from being damaged, he had no intention of fighting back.

Besides, with Lion here, he didn't need to worry about it for the time being.

"Trash should have the self-awareness of trash."

Lion flashed to in front of Viper, his whole body exuding surging Aura, and his thick hair flowing like waves in the air.

The imposing Aura unique to Enhancers was undoubtedly revealed at this moment.

The five Nen Users attacking from various directions were deterred by Lion's Aura, and their pupils shrank sharply.

One of the Nen User with missing two fingers already too late to retreat in the face of the sudden attack.

Lion's eyes were cold, and his figure was filled with an astonishing Aura. He just kicked his feet and stood in front of the Nen User.

"Wait…"

Lion was not interested in listening to what the Nen User wanted to say. He relied on his crushing physical strength and Nen techniques to effortlessly slap the head of the Nen User.

Thud—

The Nen User with missing fingers fell to the ground, instantly losing his life.

Slapping a Nen User to death in just one blow is the most unreasonable advantage of the Enhancer in frontal combat.

Without solid Nen techniques and countermeasures, the margin of error would be compressed to almost zero once engaged in close combat with Enhancers.

In short-

One wrong step could cost one's life.

Seeing the Nen User with missing fingers falling to the ground and turning into a corpse in an instant, the remaining four Nen Users felt a chill in their hearts.

Despite seeing Lion's power through this, they still have no intention of retreating.

Snatch it!

Snatch that valuable crown!

The inexplicable strong desire in their hearts is their motivation to stay here.

"A bunch of trash dares to covet what I desire."

Seeing the persistence of these Nen Users, Lion's eyes became colder and colder, and he had the urge to break all these people's necks.

But the unidentified creature in the temple behind him...

is the only variable that made him cautious.

Because the mysterious appearance of that creature exceeded his cognition, and even if its aura was ordinary, he still needed to act cautiously.

'Kill two more to make sure we won't be restrained.'

Lion kicked away the corpse of the Nen User with missing fingers, and with cold eyes, looked at the other four Nen Users in front of him.

Facing Lion's gaze, which was filled with cold murderous intent, the four Nen Users were secretly vigilant and gradually pressed towards Viper's location from all directions.

They all wanted to snatch the crown, but they also each harbored their own sinister intentions.

Perhaps it was the desire to monopolize everything in their hearts, or perhaps their understanding was too shallow.

They had never thought of cooperating.

"Keep it up."

On the roof of a building, Shalnark looked at the situation below with a smile.

From his point of view, the four Nen Users who lacked any self-awareness were already hanging on the edge of the cliff.

Because there is a clear gap in the hardware strength between the two sides. Coupled with the factors of 'cooperation' and 'understanding', those four Nen Users undoubtedly couldn't deal with the other side.

Shalnark had already anticipated the outcome.

Next—

He would properly make use of the sacrifices of these four Nen Users, and while gathering information, he would find an opportunity to 'control' the Enhancer.

As long as he could successfully do this, his success rate of seizing the crown would skyrocket to about 70%.

The 'variables' he should be concerned about afterwards are...

While his thoughts were spinning, Shalnark towards another direction where Moses was.

Among the Nen Users present, there were only two people he considered worthy of attention.

One is Lion, who is definitely an Enhancer, and the other is Moses.

Shalnark had seen Moses's power in the first phase of the exam, as well as his focused and determined thousands of sword swings on the mountaintop.

And on the way to the temple, he saw Moses's ability to deal with the group of armors and the head-holding human statues.

Taking everything into account, he believed that Moses was a potential opponent who must be taken seriously.

However…

Shalnark's gaze shifted towards the big, burly man wielding two scimitars who was accompanying the Enhancer.

From his perspective, that big, burly man with two scimitars seemed to have his eyes on Moses.

'Hmm…'

Shalnark raised his hand and put it on his chin.

'Now wasn't the right time to intervene. If the people inside the arena could continue killing each other until the end, the resistance to me seizing the crown would diminish significantly.'

'Even potential obstacles need to be dealt with decisively...'

Seeing the motive behind the big, burly man targeting Moses, Shalnark's eyes revealed a smile, and he murmured to himself with a slight sense of admiration, "It's hard for me not to appreciate such a style."

Below.

Mantis's intentions were similar to Shalnark's judgment.

To him, any Nen User appearing before them at this moment was a potential obstacle to obtaining the crown.

So-

Regardless of right or wrong, he felt that it was best to strike first.

This is how Mantis has always acted, and it is also what his companions Lion and Viper often do.

'Kill those two imps as quickly as possible.'

Mantis made a decision in an instant, then stepped forward with his right foot and rushed towards Moses.

He left the other obstacles to Lion to deal with. Also, the reason he actively targeted Moses was simple.

Because he was simply best at dealing with Nen Users who used swords.

"Menqi, step back."

Looking at Mantis, who was charging straight towards him, Moses put his right hand on the handle of the sword and calmly instructed Menchi to step back.

Menchi didn't object and obediently stepped back, giving space for Moses to fight.

But she wasn't doing nothing. She would stand by to prevent anyone from interfering with Moses's performance.

If necessary, she would also intervene at the right moment.

Moses's gaze locked onto Mantis, and he calmly drew the long sword that had been with him for over a year.

At this moment, there was no need to delve into the reasons why Mantis suddenly attacked.

From the moment the other party showed killing intent towards him, there is only one thing to do.

And that was to get rid of the other party.

Moses released his Nen and attached it to the surface of his body. Holding the handle of the sword tightly with his right hand, his gaze like lightning directly aimed at Mantis.

'This is my first actual combat since practicing swordsmanship.'

A slight ripple arose in his heart, quickly turning into battle intent, which reveal itself on Moses's face.

While using his proficient swordsmanship to sever the Post-Mortem Nen on the armors and head-holding human statues was an interesting way to test his sword skills, the ultimate test was still a duel with an expert.

Mantis felt Moses's fighting intent and immediately sneered with disdain in his heart.

He rushed straight forward and immediately entered the range where he could attack Moses.

Without any fancy skills, the two scimitars held tightly in his hands crossed together and he swung them towards Moses's head.

Moses timely stepped back, creating space for a counterattack. He then swung his sword diagonally to intercept the incoming dual scimitars.

Clang—!

The long sword, enveloped in solid Nen, struck the crossing scimitars.

Where the blades clashed, sparks immediately burst forth.

The collision of their Nen created a surging wave of air, lifting the surrounding dust into the air.

"Oh?"

Seeing Moses blocking the attack so smoothly, Mantis was slightly surprised. At this moment, he finally regarded Moses as an enemy that needed to be taken seriously.

Not only because of Moses's ability to block the strike and his Nen techniques, but also because of the strength of his seemingly ordinary long sword...

It could actually withstand his first wave of Aura without any damage.