Netero skillfully used technique to counterattack and successfully struck.
However, not only did he fail to injure Beyond, he also hurt himself severely.
Netero didn't summon the 100-Type Guanyin to forcibly stop his body but used the rebound force to fly backward, creating distance first.
Once the distance was sufficient, he adjusted his posture and landed steadily.
Beyond's loud laughter echoed in the room.
Netero looked down at his fractured right-hand fingers and frowned slightly.
He thought only blunt force with large coverage areas would be reflected… he didn't expect piercing damage to be reflected too.
This was a failed attack, but at least it served as a reminder.
Only his fingers were fractured, not enough to affect the 100-Type Guanyin's palm strikes.
Because a lifetime of training results were entrusted to the Guanyin, even if his physical hands were injured, he could still conjure the Guanyin with his mind and strike the enemy.
This was the advantage.
The disadvantage was the inability to elevate 'attack intensity' to its peak.
Netero calmly watched Beyond, who was laughing for some reason. Beyond, while laughing, also looked at Netero.
The laughter gradually faded. Beyond extended his index finger, pointing at his own chest side, saying seriously, "Close call. If you had succeeded, this battle would already be over."
"..." Netero expressionlessly raised his left hand, lightly touching his fractured right-hand fingers, then forcefully straightened them.
"Maybe because you're old, I inadvertently made such a low-level mistake."
Beyond sighed deeply, seeming somewhat regretful.
"However, that counterattack just now was truly brilliant!"
The regretful mood appeared briefly and vanished quickly, replaced by unconcealed admiration.
"Using the Guanyin's ability on yourself, then using In to erase the Guanyin's form, achieving free movement in mid-air… impressive, too impressive!"
Beyond took a large step forward, then a second step.
His eyes were full of praise, which Netero found particularly piercing.
After all, Netero was the father, and Beyond the son.
Their positions seemed reversed.
No wonder Netero felt it piercing.
As Beyond strode forward, the Nen on his body was steady as a rock.
It was an extreme opposite to Ging's style and different from Netero's deathly calm Nen.
To force a comparison, it was like yin and yang.
Netero, from prosperity to decline, was yin.
Beyond, from decline to prosperity, was yang.
Judging solely by Nen form, yang's vigor was abundant and full of vitality, and vitality was the foundation of Nen.
"If it were before, you would never have taken that approach. Alright, now you can choose to flee. I won't chase you." Beyond suddenly pointed toward an exit on one side.
"Hah."
Netero suddenly chuckled softly.
"Didn't that strike just now wake you up? I can break through your defense, but you can't. This is the most fundamental gap between us. So no matter what you do, the only outcome is defeat."
Seeing Netero's reaction, Beyond naturally lowered his hand, withdrawing all external emotions.
"Hah."
Netero chuckled again, but this smile… suddenly turned cold.
Influenced by Netero's indomitable will, the 100-Type Guanyin's manifestation speed increased, though the original speed was already fast, so it wasn't obvious.
Golden light once again overwhelmed the room's energy stone glow.
Beyond's eyes were once again filled with the Guanyin's golden light.
'Stubborn...'
At this moment, Beyond finally stopped suppressing his killing intent.
Whoever dared block him, he would mercilessly destroy them all.
[Ninety-Ninth Hand]
The 100-Type Guanyin's palm strikes suddenly poured like a storm toward the approaching Beyond.
Boom! Boom! ...!
As Beyond walked, both hands moved simultaneously, creating afterimages of fists, blocking the storm-like Guanyin palm strikes outside the fist shadows.
Not a single strike missed, precise to an astounding degree!
He seemed able to see all the 100-Type Guanyin's attack trajectories, or perhaps... passive memory?
Because by adjusting just one palm's trajectory or sequence, the 100-Type Guanyin could produce different moves.
Thus, the 100-Type Guanyin's move variations were unlimited. For experts like Beyond, simply dodging wasn't difficult.
But Beyond blocked every single strike.
Direct confrontation!
Advancing without retreating!
While walking, Beyond shattered the 100-Type Guanyin's sharp, storm-like palm strikes.
Even Meruem couldn't achieve this.
"..."
Netero silently watched the golden light dissipating before him.
The 100-Type Guanyin losing its arms was like a snake with its fangs removed.
He could only expend Nen to recreate it, but the fundamental issue wasn't Nen consumption but the formidable offense and defense Beyond displayed.
'Muscle memory? Or perhaps... neural memory?'
Facing Beyond's forceful advance, Netero retreated to create distance.
Regarding Beyond's Nen, Netero knew a little but not completely.
Conversely, Netero's Nen was well-known to Beyond. Even disregarding age and physical differences, considering ability intel, this wasn't a fair fight from the start.
After fighting until now, Netero still hadn't figured out the principle behind Beyond's reflective damage, but he was certain Beyond achieved it using his own body.
Only by understanding first could he find a chance to win.
If he exhausted his Nen before understanding, he would lose all possibility.
'Close combat can't harm the enemy… instead, it hurts myself severely. And the 100-Type Guanyin's effectiveness is minimal. Quite troublesome.'
Netero's gaze remained steady as he summoned the Guanyin again.
The disadvantage in several exchanges didn't cause the slightest hint of discouragement.
On the contrary, the fighting spirit not shown on his face was actually surging within his chest.
Up to this point in the battle, the only negative emotion Netero felt was a trace of regret.
He regretted that the moment his fingers fractured from the reflected damage, he didn't have the spare focus to observe Beyond's muscle movements and Nen condition.
Since he didn't see clearly the first time, he aimed to see clearly the second time.
Netero narrowed his eyes, prayed, and struck.
The Guanyin, recreated several times, fearlessly attacked Beyond again.
"No matter how many times you try, the result is the same."
Beyond met the overwhelming palm shadows.
He could effortlessly shatter the 100-Type Guanyin's attacks but couldn't gain a counterattack opportunity.
The reason was Netero's retraction and release of the Guanyin were too fast. Unless in mid-air, as long as Netero retreated while releasing the Guanyin, Beyond found it hard to close in.
However, Beyond wasn't anxious at all.
So he also didn't expect Netero to take the initiative to attack again.
When the Guanyin dissipated once more, Netero charged forward.
A flicker of surprise flashed in Beyond's eyes, but his movements were impeccable. With the most precise and despair-inducing posture, he cast an inescapable net over the actively attacking Netero.
It was a flawless lockdown that would astonish onlookers.
But Netero stubbornly broke through. Utilizing the 100-Type Guanyin's retraction-release characteristic, a common trick for Conjurers, he first had the Guanyin meet Beyond's locking counterattack.
Then, at the moment of contact, he decisively withdrew the Guanyin, causing Beyond's force to overflow, leading to slight deformation in his movements.
Achieving this required extremely precise timing, but Netero, relying on his exceptional experience, succeeded.
When Beyond's movements deformed, an opening appeared in the lockdown.
In that brief moment, Netero released the Guanyin again.
One arm attacked Beyond… another arm provided leverage for Netero.
One offense, one defense, like a lotus blooming between the Guanyin's arms.
Thus, Netero reached Beyond's side again, but this time on the other side.
Similarly, fingers pressed together, wrapped in sufficient Nen, he stabbed directly toward Beyond's exposed side under the armpit as he raised his left hand.
Crack!
Netero was sent flying backward again, and the Guanyin dissipated.
Undoubtedly, the bone fracture sound wasn't from Beyond's chest or ribs but Netero's left-hand fingers.
As a highly similar scene unfolded, Beyond didn't laugh like before but expressionlessly pushed off with one foot, chasing after the airborne Netero.
His speed was considerable, and in an instant, he gained ground.
Netero, flying backward, watched Beyond chasing with cold killing intent, but his mouth silently curled into a smile… he laughed.
At this moment, both his left and right-hand fingers were severely fractured. Normally, effective attacks were impossible, yet he laughed.
Beyond also saw Netero's smile, unaffected in the slightest. With a straightforward punch, he aimed to shatter all of Netero's vitality.
However, Netero, appearing as if his Potential Aura was still abundant, completely disregarded rational Nen usage, immediately summoning the Guanyin again, pushing his body in mid-air to dodge Beyond's pursuit.
Thus, they separated again.
Judging by Nen Consumption, Netero's multiple retractions and releases of the 100-Type Guanyin caused significant Nen loss, while Beyond didn't expend much.
Judging by physical injuries, Netero's hands had fractured fingers, while Beyond was unharmed.
Thus, Netero was at an absolute disadvantage.
Yet when they separated, Netero's outward demeanor didn't seem disadvantaged at all.
Both landed, looking at each other from a distance.
Netero raised his hands with fractured fingers, looking down and sighing, 'Thousands of repetitions...'
This time, he finally saw clearly why Beyond could reflect damage, and it suddenly occurred to him that Beyond was his son.
Like father, like son.
The Nen covering Beyond was like a second layer of flawless muscle, assisted by truly thousands-of-repetitions-trained muscles.
The combination of the two was the key to instantly performing complex processes like bearing, dispelling force, deflecting, rebounding, etc.
Even though Netero was called a monster by everyone in the industry during his peak, at this moment, he would readily throw the adjective 'monster' onto Beyond.
In the years without contact, for this Dark Continent journey, Beyond must have made efforts unimaginable to ordinary people.
Regarding this, Netero genuinely felt it.
Physical fitness: monster-level.
Enhancement Nen application: monster-level.
It was a return to simplicity, the purest Enhancement application.
From these exchanges, Beyond's attacks or defenses seemed ordinary, unadorned, but actually contained delicate techniques not typical for Enhancement.
'Compared to this...'
Netero lowered his severely fractured hands, looking up at the expressionless Beyond.
Forced by age and physical changes to seek other paths, he indeed wasn't qualified to clash head-on with Beyond.
But the original purpose of this battle wasn't to satisfy personal combat desire… it was to fulfill a historically highest-level commission as a Pro Hunter.
At the cost of self-damage, gaining a clearer understanding of Beyond's strength, Netero's fighting spirit remained unaffected… on the contrary, it surged even higher.
...
Deep in the underground ruins, multiple battle zones erupted in conflict.
Perhaps due to tacit understanding, or perhaps rational judgment-
Whichever battle zone, it occurred inside rooms, not passages.
In a room similarly spacious, with energy stones embedded in walls and ceilings.
Compared to the room where Beyond and Netero were, here the energy stones were fewer, so the brightness wasn't as intense.
The room's structure and area were similar, but it was piled with... wreckage and brick walls.
Wreckage was understandable… from 'deceased' bronze mechanical lifeforms.
But deep underground, with every inch of construction having exceptional hardness, the origin of the broken brick walls filling the room was puzzling.
Dragon Zodiac… Botobai.
His towering figure, standing out like a crane among chickens in the Association team, entered this room.
Steady yet sharp eyes quickly scanned the chaotic scene before him. Though his view was limited, he keenly detected a faint trace of danger.
Breathing, scent, sound, even Nen fluctuations… there was no sign of enemies hiding in this room.
However, from the moment Botobai stepped in, he believed enemies were hidden here.
That belief wasn't a conclusion from judgment but the intuition of a Triple-Star Terrorist Hunter.
'Judging by identity alone, could they be similar types...?'
Botobai, 'fully armed', walked toward the chaotic brick wreckage.
Along the way, he avoided any places where traps might be set.
"Truly worthy of the Hunter Association's famous Triple-Star Terrorist Hunter. Conventional traps often used on battlefields are like child's play to you, right?"
From above the wreckage pile, a steady, powerful voice came.
"Of course, we never expected these small traps to injure you or make you expose flaws."
Listening to the voice, Botobai looked up expressionlessly at the military-uniformed, sharp-eared, blond man who revealed himself.
"Muheer, Stonewall Squad."
Botobai directly stated the other party's identity.
His profession was related to this field… of course, he knew the Stonewall Squad, legendary in the mercenary industry.
Muheer's mouth lifted slightly. Suddenly, he said, "Bang!"
Before the word finished, explosions erupted from the wreckage around Botobai. High-temperature heat and air waves engulfed him.
"Traps aren't only the passive trigger type." Muheer said calmly.
"You're right."
The next second, Botobai's calm voice came from within the dissipating flames.