Chapter 11: In Just 10 Seconds

(TL/N: Status on the update, we've finished changing everything to the right translation and we'll post one more chap today after we translate it.)

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The unknown, murderous demon had died at Mo Yu's hands, and so the crisis was lifted.

　　However, Monica did not feel any joy at surviving the disaster. She could only curl up her body into a ball, like walking on thin ice, and dared not to look at Mo Yu again.

　　How did that murderous maniac die?

　　She was so scared that she had lost the ability to think, and so did not witness the process of Mo Yu killing that man.

　　She had only suddenly heard the sound of a throat bone breaking and the dull sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. She had then looked at where the sound had come from and had found that the man had been turned into a corpse.

　　And then, there was the sight of Mo Yu's smile.

　　Monica, who was already on the verge of collapse, instantly realized -

　　This excessively good-looking teenager in front of her may have been an existence that was even more "monstrous" than the murderous demon.

　　Mo Yu didn't care about what Monica was thinking, and so slowly put away his smile and sat down on his knees next to the corpse.

　　"Let's do a quick review of the end result."

　　Mo Yu crossed his arms and tilted his head to look at the lifeless body of the man, afterwards, closing his eyes and recalling the battle that had lasted less than a minute just now.

　　The other side was a very cunning guy, leaving aside his attainment of hatsu.

　　First, he pretended not to know where Mo Yu was hiding, and then had taken the initiative to talk to Monica, and finally, in the middle of talking, he had suddenly risen up and attacked Mo Yu, thus gaining the first opportunity to strike.

　　Although "there's another nen user here" was a message that was clear to both sides, this guy, who had taken pleasure in killing, had not even been willing to let go of any chance of disguise in order to obtain a moment to attack first.

　　'I was prepared to be discovered in advance, but my initial plan… didn't involve this preliminary process of 'talking with the bait'. Instead, I considered the possibility that the other party might launch a preemptive attack using the bait, such as throwing her at me directly.'

　　'The opponent did not do that, but instead timed his attack with abrupt words, which cannot be said to be ineffective, but I was already cautious to begin with.'

　　'After that, I had deliberately acted as if I was panicking to take advantage of my age, but it had little effect. Moreover, the weapon I had hidden was detected at first sight.'

　　'The other side was sharp and cautious.'

　　'But the trap plan laid out in advance also has these "worst scenarios" taken into account, so the whole process did not produce much changes.'

　　'The only advantage I had was that the opponent did not know about the existence of the 'Shadow Killer Move', and only by taking advantage of this information gap could I end the battle with the least cost on my side.'

　　'If there was one unexpected thing, it's that the other party chose to sacrifice one hand to gain control over me, at the cost of exposing their weakness. Even though they had the upper hand in terms of apparent strength, they still resorted to such a ruthless tactic to speed up the pace of the fight.'

　　'But because of that… I didn't need to perform in a way that might have seemed clumsy to the other side, so there was no risk of being discovered by the other side's "intentions".'

　　'So the other side's decision, instead, helped me use the "Shadow Killer Move" information gap to end this battle faster and with less effort.'

　　'If it was a head-to-head fight, because of the gap in nen and physical quality, I would definitely have just been pushed around by my opponent the entire time.'

　　'Perhaps I could have used "Soul Echo" to regain some advantage, but I cannot exclude the possibility that the other party also has a hatsu.'

　　'Overall, the opponent's nen capacity, nen power, basic skills, physical fitness, strength, and explosive power were all much stronger than mine...'

　　'Yet, I was able to win easily.'

　　'As expected, using the difference in information and strategy to compensate for physical limitations and achieve victory despite being weaker may be the most interesting aspect of nen battles.'

　　'The reason why I can get pleasure and satisfaction from it... is not only because of the fun, but also because "winning whilst weaker" itself is a thing that can make people feel satisfied.'

　　Mo Yu opened his eyes, looked at the man's face, smiled slightly, and said:

　　'It was you who made me intuitively feel all of this. Although our combat contact time only lasted about '10 seconds', I can be sure that these '10 seconds' will become the most important nourishment for my future development in the direction of hatsu.'

　　Here, Mo Yu slowly got back up and patted the dust off his pants.

　　"O unknown murderer, I thank you for our meeting."

　　Mo Yu withdrew his gaze from the man's corpse.

　　Winning the battle and reviewing it.

　　Not only did Mo Yu understand what he wanted, but he had also had a clearer perception of the "variables" that existed in battles between nen users.

　　Just after awakening nen, he was able to defeat such a strong opponent...

　　Mo Yu was not complacent though.

　　The reason was that he knew that on top of the four basic techniques of "ten", "zetsu", "ren" and "hatsu", there existed many more advanced application techniques.

　　"Shu": which can increase the strength and attack power of objects by wrapping nen around a weapon or an external object.

　　"In": which hides the presence of nen and allows for surprise attacks.

　　"Gyo": to concentrate nen in one place on the body to either increase attack and/or defense power, and to be able to see through "In" if we concentrates it around their eyes.

　　"En": expanding one's nen outward with the center of the circle as the center of the nen, so that any form of nen can be perceived within the scope of the circle.

　　"Ken": to cover the whole body with the maximum amount of nen to obtain the highest strength of attack and defense.

　　"Ryu": to quickly mobilize the flow of chi for rapid attack and defense in any combination.

　　"Ko": to gather all one's nen at once to fully attack offensively.

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(Tl/N: For more information on these techniques, you can just read up on them on Hunterpedia.)

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　　The existence of these advanced application techniques would make nen user battles more complex and versatile.

　　Mo Yu was well aware that he was still just a rookie.

　　In order to be able to better cope with the battles he may encounter in the future, he would do his best to keep improving his understanding of nen.

　　Silence returned to the monastery.

　　Mo Yu crossed over the corpse and came to Monica.

　　"Monica, it's all right now."

　　Saying that, he took a look at the injuries on Monica's body.

　　Her clothes were cut in many places and blood was stained everywhere.

　　Her exposed skin was cut by branches and leaves, leaving many small wounds.

　　If it was just a few wounds, it wouldn't matter if they were left alone, but with such a large number of wounds, it was necessary to take care of them.

　　"Hm?"

　　After observing Monica's condition, Mo Yu found that the other party was still curled up in a ball, and the trembling of her body was visible to the naked eye.

　　"Are you scared stiff? It's understandable though, after all, that guy poured his complete 'killing intent' into his aura. It's not surprising that ordinary people would be scared to death when they get close to it."

　　Mo Yu whispered to himself.

　　He did not yet know that he had been the one to scare Monica.

　　"Can you hear me? It's all right now, Monica."

　　Mo Yu casually patted Monica's shoulder.

　　The force of his pat was clearly very light, and he had also deliberately avoided her wounds.

　　However, Monica's entire body froze as if she had been electrocuted, and then her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

　　"?"

　　Mo Yu looked at the unconscious Monica with confusion.