A Wanderer's Lies

Chapter 26: Leaving the Dark Continent [3]

Don, or rather the black boned skeleton with almost orange tangible aura seeping out of it, let out a feral screech as the ear piercing sound echoed through the cave.

Zigg and Netero stood opposite him, their demeanour unobstructed as they prepared for battle and took their stances.

"Buy me some time. I need an opening to end this." Netero muttered, glancing at his companion.

Zigg stayed quiet, only nodding his head slightly.

Netero, seeing this, took a few steps back. As he did, the skeleton disappeared from his position, reappearing before Zigg in an instant.

Raising his fist, the skeleton prepared a powerful punch.

However, as it pulled back, its arm suddenly came to a halt, as if something was holding it back.

Taking this opportunity, Zigg, his expression cold and devoid of any emotion, extending his fingers and like a knife, stabbed his hand through the skeletons ribs.

Pulling his hand back from the hole he'd created in the opponent's ribs, Zigg leapt into the air, spinning his body and landing a clean kick on the jaw of the still immobilised skeleton.

Seeing the skeleton take a few steps back and instantly regenerate the hole in its chest, Zigg ignored the numbing feeling he felt in his fingers.

He could tell if he were to make any further reckless attacks, his body wouldn't last long.

The skeleton, noticing the thin trace of Nen tied around his hand which caused him to be immobilised, tore through it.

Raising his hand, palm facing straight ahead, thin traces resembling strings twisted around each other, forming small balls around Zigg.

In an instant, they were launched, like bullets.

However, the skeleton showed no fear as it ignored the string bullets, suffering under the attack but healing just as quick.

As it punched, Zigg waved his hands as thin strings appeared before him, blocking the punch and letting out an ear piercing noise.

Despite this, the skeleton refused to back down as Zigg continued to create a wall of string.

In an instant, the two were engaged in a furious exchange of blows as the ground beneath them crumbled and shockwaves erupted.

Meanwhile, Netero stood in a familiar stance not too far away, wearing a proud smile as he watched the battle unfold.

"A battle between a Freecs and a Zoldyck. Such power." He muttered.

This sent a wave of excitement through Netero, fueling him as he could feel his Aura rage.

However, as the battle continued, it was clear Zigg was at a disadvantage. The gap in strength and speed was too much.

Because of this, it wasn't long until the black skeleton was able to grab onto Zigg's neck, squeezing until a loud CRACK was heard.

Seconds passed as an ominous silence enveloped the area.

Dropping Zigg, who's eyes had dulled, the black skeleton set his eyes on Netero.

Seeing the middle aged man in the distance, in an instant, the view before him was turned upside down.

With his legs wrapped around the skeleton's neck, Zigg could be seen with his muscles bulged, removing his hands from the skeletons skull after twisting it.

Yet, Zigg knew this wasn't enough.

Before the skeleton could have a chance to regenerate, the dead Zigg in the ground quickly lost colour, soon changing shape and pierced the skeleton through the center of its chest, lifting off the ground.

Seeing the previous Zigg turn into a bundle of string that was now impaled into the skeletons chest, Netero smiled in the distance.

"It seems I've lost my touch. I could have set this trap in half the time I did in my youth." Zigg commented, landing on the ground and noticing the skeletons skull slowly turn back into place.

Wasting no time, Zigg straitened both his arms, crossing them, and as he did, the ground and ceiling, even some stalactites and stalagmites slowly started to turn white, revealing themselves as strings.

But it only looked this way.

If one were to look closely, the structure of the cave had never changed. Only layers of strings had detached from them.

In an instant, from every direction, the skeleton was pierced by spears of string, giving no room for escape.

The skeleton tore through what he could, however, the string was instantly replaced, imprisoning him and pushing him back to the cave wall where a barrage of string descended upon it.

"Now!" Zigg yelled.

"A man who has succumbed to the greatest curse of all, yet refuses to yield even at death. Don Freecs, you have my utmost respect. I will pray for you."

Uttering these last words, an ethereal glow erupted from Netero. Simultaneously, a familiar buddha with countless arms arose from thin air beside the immobilised skeleton.

As it did, two golden arms enveloped themselves around the skeleton.

If a normal person where to see this, they wouldn't know how to describe it.

Fast, yet gentle. Powerful, yet it somehow oozed an aura of omnibelevelonce.

Only the skeleton's red pupils peered out of the darkness as the golden hands entrapped it, sealing him.

As this happened, the Buddha's face started to change, more specifically its mouth.

Like an old rusty door creaking open, the Buddha's mouth opened wide, wider than any human was capable of.

"100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva Zero Hand."

Putting his index finger to his thumb, creating a zero shape, and extending his middle finger, Netero wore a solemn expression as he could feel every ounce of aura he had being sucked out of him for this final attack.

What was once a dark abyss, the Buddha's mouth started to see a few specs of light, and soon, what could only be described as a blinding star rippled with power.

With a merciless roar, the buddha unleashed the star in a stream of light as a loud BOOM was heard.

The cave crumbled and the ground shook. Stalactites fell to the ground and if one looked closely, they could see the ground below changed colour to a steaming orange hue, a result of the devastating attack.

Zigg wore a struggled smile as he inwardly muttered, 'I'd almost forgotten what a monster you were.'

***

Isaac's legs shook as he struggled to take another step.

After finishing the book, he currently stood in the room, the book held in his hand as he prepared to walk out of the door.

But before he could, a sudden wave of killing intent washed over him, making him sweat and rethink his choice to proceed.

The ground shook, interfering with his balance further as a constant ear piercing explosion rang, seemingly never ending.

'Come on, you wimp! How long are you going to cower at the strength of another.'

Isaac tightly gripped his baggy cargo pants as he forced a smile on his face.

The truth was, Isaac hated the experience of feeling powerless under another. Whether it was Fetoh, Netero, Zigg or Monet.

Over and over, he was constantly reminded of his worthlessness.

'Yeah right, we'll see who's worthless.'

Gritting his teeth, Isaac dashed into the blinding light coming from within the cave.

Perhaps it was his better mind, or maybe what they called "Survival Instinct" that told him this was a bad idea. But deep down, he knew he had to do this. He needed to face this.

It wasn't long until he encountered the blinding light. He couldn't see a thing, however, he could faintly feel Zigg's aura and the far more noticeable Netero.

"Netero!" All it took was a yell from Isaac, thay could barely be heard.

However, upon hearing the faint familiar voice, Netero instantly knew what it meant.

Releasing his Aura, the blinding light simultaneously came to an abrupt halt. As it did, Netero dropped to one knee, any clothes he was wearing had been completely drenched in sweat and his audible heavy breathing echoed in what was left of the cave.

A few seconds of still passed as the Isaac feared Netero's attack may have been too much for Don.

However, it wasn't long until an ear piercing screech was heard and a blurred dark figure bolted toward Isaac.

Isaac jumped a little, however, he was quick to toss the book toward where the figure was coming from.

The skeleton came to an abrupt halt, grabbing the book in the air with one hand, only a few feet away from Isaac.

In the blink of an eye, the skeleton reverted back to Don. With an emotionless demeanour, Don quietly walked back to his small room, disappearing into the darkness.

As they all witnessed this, they all had the same thought.

'Not a single scratch.'

They could only be grateful the skeleton wasn't a bloodthirsty monster. Otherwise, things would have ended differently.

Snapping out of his trance, Isaac ran to Netero's aid.

"Are you okay, old man?" Isaac said, helping Netero up.

"Hey, that's middle aged man to you. No old man could've pulled off such a great attack." Netero replied with a cocky smile.

"Well, if you're so great, you should be able to walk on your own." Isaac said, slightly releasing his grip from Netero as the old man stumbled and almost face planted onto the ground.

"Hey, I was only kidding!" Netero cried out, hanging onto Isaac with all his might as the boy chuckled.

However, despite what he said, Isaac couldn't help but agree with Netero. What he did was indeed great. He'd never seen anything like it.

"Oh please. You're only standing here because I saved your sorry behind." Zigg approached them, speaking with a condescending tone.

"I'd love to watch you old men battle it out, but I just want to leave the Dark Continent." Isaac sighed.

"Before that, what did you learn from the book?" Netero curiously asked.

"Ah, I almost forgot. The book wasn't completely finished, however…" Before Isaac could finish, a loud BANG was heard as he felt a cold chill run down his spine.

Not just him either.

Zigg, Netero and even Monet couldn't help but freeze a little.

They all soon turned their heads toward where the battle had previously ensued, only to be met with a giant hairy fist penetrate through the previously weakened cave wall.

Looking at the large gaping hole, one could see it lead outside to the Dark Continent.

This became even more apparent after a heavy atmosphere descended upon everyone, weakening their Aura significantly.

The large hand opened, revealing long sharp claws.

Zigg, acting quickly, waved his hand as countless thin strings created a wall, blocking the hole.

But seeing his strained face dwindling Aura, Isaac could tell he would last long.

With both Netero and Zigg weakened from the previous battle, and knowing Monet would be of no help, Isaac felt a heavy sense of responsibility fall onto his shoulders.

His mind ran rampant as ideas and plans formulated in his mind. Anything that could help them survive. It was up to him…

Isaac's thoughts trailed off as he remembered something.

Look down to his chest, he stared at his compass which pointed in a certain direction.

After a few seconds, Isaac bit his lip, soon putting on a difficult smile.

"Damnit." He muttered, yet Netero beside him was able to catch it.

"What are you mumbling about?" He asked, but Isaac ignored the question.

Turning his head, he spoke.

"Netero, I need you to do something for me."

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