Limited by the physical capabilities of Killer Jack's body, Liam knew he couldn't dodge Invers' incoming punch. The man's aura flared white as he closed in, fist cocked back like a wrecking ball.
If Liam took the hit head-on, Jack's borrowed body would probably crumple like a soda can.
So when Invers surged forward, aura blazing around his massive fist, Liam activated the Star Mark hidden in the man's clenched palm. He controlled only the fist itself, forcing it to slow and stiffen the instant before impact. Then, with a theatrical crack, Liam let himself fly backward.
It looked devastating. It sounded worse. But in reality, Liam had launched himself away, leaping toward the lazy sofa where Marko Met sat with his consultant.
Invers' heart hammered against his ribs, his face twisted in shock. Why had his fist... He couldn't make sense of it. The confusion was overwhelming.
And that sudden arrhythmic spike in his heartbeat fell clearly into Melody's ears.
Just as clear was the heartbeat of "Jack."
This man had supposedly been hit hard by Invers, but his heart rhythm barely changed. Steady. Controlled. Unbothered.
And that punch. That sound.
To Melody, a master at detecting psychological shifts through heartbeats, the percussion couldn't have been more fake. There'd been no real impact at all.
Jack's heartbeat stayed steady and strong. He'd clearly expected this "fake punch" and knew exactly how it would play out.
Meanwhile, Invers himself, the one throwing the punch, had an erratic, surprised heartbeat.
Could this man have interfered with Invers' attack somehow?
The thoughts flashed through Melody's mind like lightning. At the same time, she raised her flute to her lips and began to play.
The melody flowed out, calm and peaceful, like a spring meadow with a warm breeze washing away all anger and impulse.
Melody's ability: a connection through music.
By channeling her aura, she could elevate her music's emotional resonance to an unparalleled level. That was why she never participated in concerts or competitions at the Sensui Mountain Art Exhibition. Her music was inseparable from her Nen ability, and she refused to overshadow talented performers whose hard work would be rendered meaningless by comparison.
"Jack," who'd been flying toward Marko, gradually slowed and stopped as the peaceful music washed over him.
The song, "Spring Meadow," made everyone present feel... Buddhist. Calm. The restlessness in their hearts soothed by the notes.
Honestly, the music was beautiful.
When soothed by such a melody, when the heart became completely peaceful, there was a faint sense of happiness that came with it.
Perhaps that was why Melody's aura-infused music, despite not being a Manipulation ability with strong control, had such powerful crowd control effects. The listeners couldn't resist the beautiful melody. They actively listened, immersed themselves, unable to pull away.
Music was an ancient language that couldn't be fully explained, one that touched the most emotional corners of the human heart.
Not just "Jack," but everyone present was captured by Melody's calm flute performance and stood quietly in place.
"Are the other three infiltrators your companions?" Melody asked softly, the flute still at her lips. "They haven't come close to here, but they're moving around the villa. What's your purpose?"
Marko Met snapped out of his trance and remained outwardly calm. His other two bodyguards should have discovered the other three infiltrators by now.
Meanwhile, Liam, walking through the villa with Shizuku and Seaquant, cursed internally. Melody's ability is as broken as advertised. I want to call her the Queen of Music.
Melody's performance had such a strong empathetic and resonant effect that it bordered on hypnotic.
However, this bug-tier Nen ability had obvious weaknesses.
Just plug your ears so you can't hear the music.
You didn't even need to completely block your hearing. You just needed to destroy the integrity of the music, make it dull through earplugs, make it unpleasant to listen to.
Music that no longer sounded good naturally lost its immersive magic.
While "Jack" distracted the villa's owner, Liam and the other two had quietly infiltrated the building, searching every room with sharp focus.
Everywhere they went, Shizuku materialized Blinky, setting conditions for the vacuum cleaner to suck in any containers holding Scarlet Eyes.
The range of Blinky's suction force was roughly equivalent to what Shizuku could see with her own eyes. And since Shizuku wore glasses, without using Gyo, her normal vision wasn't particularly sharp.
Shizuku and Liam searched room by room while Seaquant stood guard outside.
In truth, all their activities were captured by surveillance cameras in the corridors on each floor. But the butler's assistant, currently stationed in the butler's room watching the monitor screens, had a Star Mark printed on his palm. Under forced command, he lay slumped over his desk, fast asleep, completely ignoring the three intruders strutting between surveillance feeds on screen.
In a room on the second floor, Blinky sucked at the air for a while but found nothing.
Shizuku turned off the vacuum cleaner and listened as Liam explained Melody's ability. She decided the problem wasn't too serious, as long as she avoided speaking directly in front of that woman.
Liam left the room with her. The moment they stepped through the doorway, five black gun barrels pointed at them.
Two on the left, two on the right, and one directly across from the door. Five bodyguards in black suits, all holding pistols.
Seaquant had been confronting these men, but before he could warn Liam and Shizuku, they walked out calmly and found themselves staring down five gun barrels.
Liam glanced at the muzzles and quickly looked away. He and Shizuku continued talking in low voices while walking toward the next room.
Acting like nothing was wrong at all.
Seaquant was genuinely impressed by these two. Especially this woman, carrying a vacuum cleaner like a maid who'd just finished cleaning a room. Could they be any more casual?
The leader of the five black-suited bodyguards turned his gun to point at Liam and Shizuku's backs as they ignored the threat entirely. "Stop!"
Liam kept walking, turned his head, and asked curiously, "What happens if I don't stop?"
Shizuku had been holding the vacuum cleaner the entire time. Now she gripped it calmly, ready to deploy the razor-toothed chainsaw at any moment. At this distance, she could spin around and cut those black-suited heads in an instant... Well, cut off hands and feet. She couldn't kill them. Dead bodies caused trouble for Liam.
Seaquant sighed. "Looks like talking won't work. Guess we're doing this."
He really didn't want to fight.
After all, the owner of this villa was a very famous entrepreneur and wealthy man, not some nobody. In this world, if you had money and resources, even if you were an ordinary person without Nen abilities, you couldn't be looked down upon. Rich people hired Hunters. Most Hunters, once they accepted a contract, were extremely conscientious. It was no different than the client spending money to have Nen abilities of their own.
Although Seaquant was quite confident in his own strength, he really didn't want to clash with an energetic big shot like Marko Met unless absolutely necessary.
Come to think of it, why had he even followed these two people to sneak in here?
The aura in Seaquant's body began to surge and grow stronger, his eyes becoming firm. Probably because after seeing Liam and Shizuku's casual skills, he wanted to continue experiencing higher-level combat.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The moment Seaquant showed physical hostility, four bodyguards opened fire without hesitation.
Muzzles sprayed fire, bullets flying through smoke.
Since becoming a Professional Hunter, it seems I've never pushed myself into an overly dangerous situation, Seaquant thought. He parried with both arms, forming a defense with his aura, blocking two bullets without even damaging his clothes.
Small-caliber pistol bullets like these, with his Enhancement skills, could definitely be resisted head-on.
The other two bullets were fired at Liam and Shizuku.
Liam didn't look back. He simply pulled Shizuku to shift their steps, and the bullets passed harmlessly by their bodies.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seeing this, the bodyguards immediately opened fire a second time.
A hail of bullets came at them. Liam and Shizuku finally turned around. Swish, swish, swish. The two of them sometimes dodged, sometimes waved their hands, catching each bullet bare-handed.
Meanwhile, Seaquant built up his aura to protect his body. Facing the spinning bullets head-on, he took decisive action, knocking down the two bodyguards who were firing.
Clink, clink, clink, clink.
Liam opened his hands, letting bullets fall to the ground. Finally, he grabbed two of them and flicked them back with his fingers, hitting two blood spatters on the thighs of the other two black-suited bodyguards.
"Stop being annoying, okay?" Liam said irritably. "Can't you just pretend you didn't see us and leave once we finish our work?"
He spoke as if he was the one being unreasonably troubled, which made the bodyguard, sweating from pain, grit his teeth in anger.
Wait. Why were there only four bodyguards?
Seaquant tensed when he heard the voice of the leading bodyguard from earlier: "So you're all Hunters."
He added emphasis to the word "Hunter," clearly worried about the presence of other bodyguards, using the term to refer to people with Nen abilities.
In other words, unlike the other four colleagues who were easily eliminated, this man was also a Nen user.
The man was holding a pistol, aiming it at Seaquant.
Seaquant observed carefully. The aura surrounding this person was indeed higher than that of ordinary people.
But in that case, he should know what effect a small pistol of this caliber could have on Nen users like them, right?
Just as Seaquant was thinking this, the man pulled the trigger.
An astonishing flame erupted from the pistol's muzzle. A low roar sounded like a cannonball. A warhead spun out rapidly, the momentum so violent it was as if a missile was incoming.
Seaquant didn't even have time to be stunned. To save his life, he hastily activated Ren, releasing all his aura to protect his entire body.
BOOM!
Seaquant was hit hard by the "bullet" and flew backward like a projectile, passing right by Liam and Shizuku.
The man fired two more shots at them.
The two bullets flew out nearly simultaneously, like twin artillery shells disguised as pistol rounds.
Bang! Boom!
Liam and Shizuku were both hit by the "cannonballs" and slid down the corridor for more than ten meters. Green smoke rose from their bodies, blood dripping continuously to the floor.
If they wanted to resist this level of bombardment head-on without injury, it seemed both of them still had a long way to go.
Looking at the miserable state of each other's arms, Liam said seriously, "Ken isn't strong enough, Dora. Looks like we need to keep practicing."
Shizuku said fairly, "Because we're not Enhancement types, we shouldn't be blocking head-on anyway."
While they were talking, the injuries on their arms healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Both of them had Star Marks on their bodies: one on the back of his neck, one at the base of her thigh. Their recovery ability was extraordinary, which was why they had the confidence to resist shells head-on. Otherwise, they'd have to be crazy to try that.
Seeing the two chatting and laughing as their injuries vanished, the shooter could no longer remain calm.
"Hey, what's your type?" the young man opposite asked loudly. "Conjuration? Or Enhancement?"
"Why should I tell you?" The man raised his pistol and fired four rounds without hesitation. Boom, boom, boom, boom!
"Blinky, suck the bullets." Shizuku immediately activated the vacuum cleaner's switch. Instantly, suction force surged from the vacuum's big mouth, distorting the trajectory of the four incoming cannonballs. The long tongue rolled them up and swallowed them whole, looking like it still wanted more.
Shizuku said, "Doesn't seem to be Conjuration."
If that gun was conjured, Blinky definitely wouldn't be able to absorb bullets made of aura.
For flying projectiles made of actual materials, Shizuku's ability was their natural enemy.
Stand still and let you attack from all directions. One push of the vacuum cleaner and she'd clean it all up without any blind spots.
In her field of expertise, her Nen ability was just that domineering.
"Looks like Enhancement type," Liam said, cracking his knuckles.
At the same time, he possessed Killer Jack's body on the other side, where the situation had also changed.
Liam thought for a moment but didn't leave with Shizuku. Instead, he walked over with a smile. "What's the ability? Enhance bullet power? You're pretty strong. How about it? Want to go a few rounds?"
Liam also wanted to know how much his combat skills had improved after attending old man Netero's tutoring sessions at Sensui Mountain.
If the comparison was always against Netero, Liam wouldn't be able to feel the changes in his own strength. It would be as if he'd remained unchanged, which would be too depressing.
"My name is Pa Wa, and my ability enhances weapon power, not just bullets!" The lead bodyguard, Pa Wa, tossed his pistol aside.
As Liam walked forward, strong aura surged from his body, forming a fortress-like Ken. He smiled and said, "Enhancing weapons, isn't that just Shu? It's pretty common. Everyone can do that."
Pa Wa clenched his fists, the aura in his fists suddenly intensifying. He said seriously, "My fists and feet are also weapons. You can feel for yourself whether it's just Shu or not."
The two closed in to confront each other.
The aura of both sides rose and condensed. Both judged that the other party was definitely a veteran fighter with rich combat experience.
With a flick of their eyes, they moved simultaneously.
Pa Wa's fist collided with Liam's fist. The weapon-enhanced fist with concentrated Nen crashed heavily against Liam's Ko-hardened fist, causing turbulent aura to explode outward.
Shizuku watched the battle between Liam and the man from a distance. Suddenly, a wisp of killing intent struck from the side.
Shizuku's expression remained unchanged. She grabbed the roaring chainsaw attachment and whipped the vacuum cleaner around in a backhand strike.