Chapter 10: Underestimating Myself
“Father, should we stop them?”
Shiva took out a whistle and blew it, summoning specially modified combat hounds.
“Stop them? If you dare step forward now, never mind whether Bai Ye will attack you, your great-grandfather will show no mercy. He has been lonely for too long... no one can stop him now, except the one he is fighting.”
Zeno’s expression was serious. He actually did not want to accept Su Xiao’s commission, but he understood Su Xiao’s temperament somewhat. If he directly refused the commission, who knew what the other party might do? A massacre of the Zoldyck family was not out of the question.
“Gather all the hounds. Also, don’t let Illumi and Kikyo watch the excitement inside the castle. Have them come out and be ready to stop the fight at any opportunity.”
Leaving aside Zeno and the others’ arrangements, Su Xiao was currently locked in an intense battle with Maha Zoldyck. This old man was genuinely trying to take his life at every opportunity.
Su Xiao had not known much about Maha Zoldyck before. He had originally assumed the old man would follow the rules of an assassin, but it seemed that was not the case.
Although the situation deviated slightly from his expectations, Su Xiao did not mind. In fact, this was better. Fighting an enemy without killing intent would never achieve the desired testing effect. A battle was meant to be life or death.
Moreover, Su Xiao felt his blood boiling. Fighting an enemy of Maha Zoldyck’s caliber was exhilarating, aside from the danger. Su Xiao pushed all his new abilities to their limits.
Clang, clang, clang...
A large wave of blade aura slashed toward Maha Zoldyck. Black Nen erupted from Maha Zoldyck’s body, and with a booming crash, all the blade aura was shattered.
The other Zoldyck family members trying to stop the fight? Don’t be ridiculous. If they came within 50 meters of the battlefield, they would immediately be caught in Su Xiao’s blade aura or Maha Zoldyck’s black Nen.
“Young man, you are quite impressive.”
Maha Zoldyck spoke. Dark purple-black blood flowed from a wound on his back, a cut Su Xiao had inflicted earlier.
Maha Zoldyck appeared relaxed, but he was constantly on guard against Su Xiao’s ability to suddenly disappear. To be honest, Maha envied that ability. It was incredibly practical in close combat.
“You old bones are surprisingly sturdy.”
Su Xiao smiled, revealing his stark white teeth.
Zzzz~
Metal threads suddenly burst from the ground, wrapping around Maha Zoldyck, who stood still.
The Realm Severing Thread tightened around Maha Zoldyck and easily cut through his body. Maha Zoldyck twisted and vanished into thin air—it was an afterimage or phantom.
At that moment, Su Xiao’s Instinct ability suddenly sent a warning. The attack was coming from behind his head.
A palm knife, so thin it was skin and bones, stabbed toward the back of Su Xiao’s head. The sharp nails gleamed coldly, and the veins on the entire hand bulged—it didn’t even look like a human hand.
By the time the Instinct ability gave the warning, the palm knife was already at the back of Su Xiao’s head. Maha Zoldyck’s speed was simply too fast. Dodging at this point was clearly impossible.
Whoosh~
Maha Zoldyck’s palm knife pierced straight through Su Xiao’s head, but there was no physical resistance. Maha was full of confusion. He was certain this was Su Xiao’s real body.
The reason this happened was that Su Xiao had paused for an instant while penetrating space. He used that instant of pause to “dodge” the enemy’s attack. This move could only be used in close combat. That pause was incredibly brief, so the enemy’s attack also had to be fast, or it couldn’t be evaded.
Clang.
The sharp longsword slashed toward the back of Maha Zoldyck’s neck. One of Maha Zoldyck’s arms twisted again, stabbing toward Su Xiao’s throat at a bizarre angle.
The longsword stopped just before Maha’s neck, and the palm knife also stopped just before Su Xiao’s throat. Around them, Zeno, Shiva, Kikyo, and Illumi had already rushed forward.
The four had clear objectives. Zeno and Illumi were to stop Maha Zoldyck, while Shiva and his wife were to stop Su Xiao.
None of the four made it in time. It was a gap in strength. What they didn’t expect was that neither Su Xiao nor Maha Zoldyck had been mutually wounded.
During their fight, both Su Xiao and Maha Zoldyck harbored the intent to kill each other, but that was just their habit. They had no grudge, and they were in a temporary employer-employee relationship. Why would they mutually destroy each other?
They had fought fiercely, but at critical moments, both remained calm. That large commission wasn’t for nothing.
Crack, crack.
Maha Zoldyck’s arm returned to normal, and the black Nen receded into his body. Su Xiao sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Flash, and the faint red aura around him dissipated.
“What are you all so nervous about?”
Maha Zoldyck glanced at the surrounding family members—his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
“Ahem.”
Zeno coughed dryly, looking a bit awkward. The truth was, at his age, he was still considered a grandchild in Maha Zoldyck’s eyes.
As soon as the battle ended, Maha Zoldyck’s wounds healed at a visible rate. This old man was an Enhancer, after all, with astonishing physical resilience.
Su Xiao shook the blood off his hand, pondering a question. It seemed he had underestimated his own combat power.
From his fight with Maha Zoldyck, Su Xiao realized that his Dragon Shadow Flash ability had caused a qualitative leap in his combat strength. This improvement hadn’t been very apparent in the arena or his previous battles.
In the arena, Su Xiao had tried to avoid using Dragon Shadow Flash to conserve mana, allowing him to fight more matches.
As for the fight against the Three-in-One, after he used Dragon Shadow Flash, the Three-in-One was nearly killed instantly by his chain of attacks.
Now, after a full-on life-or-death battle with Maha Zoldyck, the effectiveness of Dragon Shadow Flash was fully displayed. Twice during the fight, Su Xiao had turned a major disadvantage into an advantage. That was how he managed to fight Maha Zoldyck to a draw.
Without Dragon Shadow Flash, Su Xiao would have lost quickly. That was beyond doubt.
After this battle, Su Xiao found that he could indeed fight the Chimera Ant King head-on. Although he would likely lose in the end, he definitely had the ability to fight the Ant King. That was good news.
If Su Xiao could kill the Ant King and play a leading role in it, the rewards would be extremely generous.
For all contractors entering the Hunter world this time, the Chimera Ant King was the ultimate boss. The kill reward would naturally be exceptionally rich.
“Follow me. Let’s find another place to complete the commission. Although our family’s assassination techniques won’t help you much, a commission is a commission. It must be fulfilled.”
Maha Zoldyck beckoned to Su Xiao, and the two left the courtyard full of craters.
“What a shame. He didn’t die here.”
Although Illumi showed no expression, he wasn’t feeling great. The reason was simple: he had a grudge against Su Xiao. If he met Su Xiao outside, he would most likely die.
“Don’t worry. Even if you run into him later, as long as you’re not on opposing sides, he won’t actively kill you.”
Zeno clasped his hands behind his back as he walked into the castle. He sensed a familiar feeling from Su Xiao—the familiarity of a fellow assassin. The Zoldyck family were active assassins, while Su Xiao had already retired from the assassin trade, no longer fighting for money.
In a forest, Maha Zoldyck was demonstrating several of the Zoldyck family’s killing techniques to Su Xiao, such as Silent Steps, Serpent’s Dance, and Viper Strike.
These techniques were decent, but as Maha Zoldyck had said earlier, they weren’t suitable for Su Xiao. Su Xiao’s fighting style was bold and aggressive, charging head-on.
“Maha Zoldyck, I’m curious about one thing.”
“What is it?”
Maha Zoldyck stopped demonstrating the killing techniques. His voice was hoarse and lacked energy.
“How have you lived until today? Normally, you should have died of old age long ago. During our fight, I had a feeling that you aren’t truly alive in the full sense.”
“Yeah, how have I lived until today?”
Maha Zoldyck looked at Su Xiao, as if hesitating about something.