Chapter 38: Those Who Play with Chains Are Always Masters

The chain whistled as it tore through the air, instantly carving a deep furrow into the ground and sending a spray of gravel flying in all directions.

Shalnark shielded his face with his arms, blocking the barrage of debris, and darted to the left, narrowly evading the ferociously whipped chain once more.

What a savage onslaught. If he was caught off guard and struck, he would be injured instantly and locked into a forced state of Zetsu. He absolutely could not let the chain touch him!

Shalnark sprinted away, but before he had gone more than a few steps, another chain descended from above, cutting off his path.

This chain-user was incredibly agile, and his offensive power rivaled that of Uvogin or Phinks. He was a troublesome enemy indeed. Shalnark felt a surge of irritation. His advantage in agility had been neutralized, his close-quarters combat skills were inferior, and he was being ruthlessly suppressed in mid-range combat. He had fallen into a disadvantageous position.

Kurapika, however, was not faring much better.

When fighting an opponent like Uvogin, whose movements were somewhat sluggish, the problem hadn't been apparent. But against Shalnark, Kurapika realized the fatal weakness of his chains: the attacks were too telegraphed and too slow.

Once faced with an opponent more agile than Shalnark, the chains would immediately become a liability, turning him into a sitting duck.

When his mentor and Hisoka shared intelligence with him, they had both mentioned a guy named Feitan. This individual was extremely agile, far surpassing the other members of the Troupe. Even Hisoka admitted he couldn't keep up with that level of speed. It seemed clear that with his current reaction time, he wouldn't be able to catch him.

His mentor had also mentioned in private that there was a tall man in the Troupe named Franklin, who specialized in high-density, rapid-fire Nen bullets from his fingertips. As long as he had sufficient Nen, he could maintain constant long-range suppression; against him, Kurapika wouldn't even be able to get within the effective range of his chains.

Reflecting on it now, if he had embarked on this path of vengeance against the Phantom Troupe alone, the road would surely have been fraught with thorns.

It was fortunate he had a powerful ally like his mentor.

With this thought, he realized he should actually be grateful for Chrollo’s foolish decision to send someone to assassinate his mentor. Otherwise, given his mentor’s personality, he certainly wouldn't have recklessly joined his plan to exterminate the Spiders.

The Troupe was falling into the trap step by step, just as his mentor had predicted. Now, all he had to do was eliminate this dangerous man who wielded Manipulation-type abilities!

With a sharp flick, he swung the Chain Jail of his middle finger. The rapidly extending, slender metal chain sliced through the cold night wind, emitting a sinister whistle as it lashed out toward Shalnark.

Shalnark rolled across the ground, barely dodging the strike. Although he had managed to lure his opponent further away from the Zan-Nen blade through his evasive maneuvers, the enemy before him was hyper-vigilant and incredibly agile. His success rate for planting an antenna on him to capture him alive was only five percent.

There was no time to waste. He had to finish this cleanly and quickly to rush to Uvogin's aid. It seemed he had no choice but to use that ability.

Shalnark leaped back two steps to gain some distance, a smile appearing on his harmless, doll-like face. "Do you know why I always carry two antennas? Because... this antenna can also be used on myself!"

As he spoke, he turned his hand and jammed the antenna into his own chest. Simultaneously, the uniquely shaped purple phone in his hand lit up, emitting a series of electronic tones:

[Automatic Mode Activated]
[Hostile Target Confirmed]
[Commencing Extermination—]

At the same time, a surging, monstrous aura, no less powerful than Uvogin's, erupted from Shalnark. His soft, short blonde hair spiked upward, mimicking the appearance of a Super Saiyan, and his eyes became vacant. His entire being had been taken over by the operating system embedded in his phone.

Manipulation Nen ability: [Auto-Pilot Mode]! By inserting the antenna into his own body, he drastically boosted his own Nen, initiating an automatic extermination mode that would not cease until the target was dead. In exchange, Shalnark would lose consciousness, his body controlled entirely by the phone.

With a flash of electricity, Shalnark vanished from his spot. Kurapika immediately raised his arms to shield himself. He felt a sharp numbness in his forearms, followed by a blur of the surrounding landscape. The sheer impact blasted him into the air!

The enemy's speed and power had increased at least threefold!

Kurapika was currently in the "Emperor Time" state of his Scarlet Eyes, allowing him to utilize every Nen category to perfection. Yet, his Enhancement-type defensive aura, operating at one hundred percent efficiency, had been shattered by that lightning-fast strike. His left arm, which had just healed, showed signs of hairline fractures once more.

He dared not use his Holy Chain to heal while the opponent was unrestrained. He had no choice but to swing his Chain Jail, hooking it onto a nearby towering hillside. The tip of the chain embedded itself deeply into the rock face, and the chain retracted at high speed, forcibly dragging Kurapika from the air—where he had no room to dodge—onto the hillside.

Almost at the same moment, a blurred figure, shrouded in intense Nen, slashed through the space in the air where Kurapika had just been.

Kurapika tumbled onto the ridge and rolled, and before he could stabilize his stance, he leaped backward rapidly. The spot where he had just landed was immediately pulverized by a punch from Shalnark, who had descended from above.

The tide of battle had shifted; the hunter had become the hunted!

Kurapika retreated rapidly, with Shalnark in hot pursuit. The two exchanged dozens of blows in an instant, and the canyon echoed with violent, dense, and muffled booms!

Bang!

Kurapika was sent flying, rolling twice on the ground before barely steadying himself. Shalnark, his eyes vacant and lifeless, prepared to strike again, but suddenly came to a halt.

Kurapika was half-kneeling on the ground, covered in wounds. Coils of the Chain Jail from his middle finger swirled around him on the ground, brimming with charged Nen and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Shalnark’s phone operating system calculated that the moment he stepped into the range of the chains, he would be met with an overwhelming, all-encompassing assault. If he were caught by the chains, it would mean GAME OVER. The probability of successfully dodging was... 0%. The phone screen flickered incessantly, seemingly performing high-speed, complex computations.

If He-Lei were here, he would surely exclaim, "A master indeed!" To deal with an agile Troupe member, Kurapika had improvised the signature move of Andromeda Shun from *Saint Seiya*—the "Andromeda Nebula."

It made sense; both of them were chain users, and both possessed somewhat feminine features. Was this a meeting of minds between experts?

Back to the matter at hand: Kurapika had realized during the fight that the opponent's Nen output was terrifying. Unless one was a natural-born Nen genius like his mentor He-Lei, it was impossible for an ordinary person to have such a massive reservoir of Nen to squander. In other words, such a powerful ability must have a price.

Now, it was the opponent's turn to choose. Would he exhaust his Nen and face death?

Or would he bravely charge into this vortex of chains?

Either way, death was inevitable. He might as well choose a more dignified end.