Hunter x Hunter: The Strongest Zoldyck

However, using these two secret techniques did come at a price for Roy.

The Zoldyck family's "Hidden Step" was originally a footwork technique to eliminate the sound of footsteps and the presence of one's aura...

Roy's "Five Modified Styles... Dark Steps: Mirror Flower, Water Moon" is a further step on this foundation...

By precisely controlling the micro-vibrations of his muscles, he altered the angle at which light refracted on his body surface, allowing the enemy's eyes to "see" an image that did not exist at his current location.

This is not Nen ability; it is an optical phenomenon that occurs when the physical body reaches its limit.

Just like a high-speed spinning propeller looks like a complete disc, just like the heat waves on a summer asphalt road make distant scenery appear to sway...

Roy used special techniques to make his body sway.

That's why Jumongard saw Roy disappear from one location, then reappear from another, and then disappear again.

But in reality, Roy never disappeared, nor did he ever move at the speed of light; he was simply a step faster than Jumongard's eyes.

When the human eye tracks a fast-moving object, it needs to blink to focus.

And Roy was perfectly positioned at that exact moment.

When he moves, his eyes can't keep up... Only when he stops do his eyes update his position to the new coordinates.

The blink of an eye in the middle is the illusion of disappearance created by Roy.

To create this illusion, Roy's knees began to fill with fluid, his calves started to cramp, and his ankles were almost losing stability.

Because this skill puts a great strain on the legs and waist, each use causes tiny tears in the thigh muscles and wear down a layer of cartilage in the knee joint.

If used more than three times consecutively, problems may occur in the knees, calves, and ankles.

Roy has already used it twice; if he does it again, his leg will be ruined.

Let's talk about the Eight Rooms of Illusory Sound.

His "Eight Phantom Sounds" essentially cuts a sound into eight extremely short segments, each segment traveling to the listener's ears from eight different directions within a one-hundredth of a second interval.

This creates a time difference between the left and right ears receiving sound. By mixing these staggered time and volume differences, the human brain is unable to process the sound in time and cannot calculate a single direction, thus arriving at an incorrect conclusion: the sound comes from all directions simultaneously.

In this way, those who are infected will not be able to determine Roy's location by his voice, or even whether his voice is real or fake.

He could only hear Roy speaking sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes in front, and sometimes behind.

The sound surrounded us from all sides, impossible to trace or pinpoint, making it impossible to discern, like a ghost.

However, this same secret technique also has significant side effects.

This skill causes significant damage to the Adam's apple and vocal cords.

Each time it is used, it causes congestion, swelling, and even tiny tears.

Using it more than four times in a row will cause complete loss of voice; using it a few more times will cause permanent and irreversible damage to the vocal cords.

The mouthful of blood that Roy swallowed had a rusty taste.

It didn't come up from the stomach... it seeped out from the vocal cords.

The air compressed into high-frequency sound waves, when squeezed out of his throat, would scrape across his vocal cords like shards of glass, leaving countless tiny, invisible wounds.

The blood in his throat came from these wounds, flowing down his trachea, mixing with his saliva in his throat and airway, turning into a rusty-tasting liquid that was expelled acidically.

Then... just as he was about to vomit, he swallowed it back down.

It wasn't because Roy liked the taste of blood.

It's simply because he can't let it drip from the corner of his mouth.

Not even a single drop.

Because the red-haired Eumongard's eyes were scanning the deck like two searchlights, searching for his trace in every inch of darkness.

If he shed a single drop of blood, if even a trace of the rusty smell of that blood wafted out, if that smell were caught by Yumongard.

It will then know where he is.

What should I do?

Looking at the red-haired Yumongard, who was almost unharmed, from the shadows, Roy felt a pang of unease.

His hidden step technique, the fifth... modified... Mirror Flower Water Moon, has already been used twice; only one last chance remains.

The same applies to the Huanyin Bafang.

So... what exactly is its weakness?

Roy stood still, his calm gaze sweeping over the scene, taking in everything that was happening.

Fika and the Kuruta girl had both fainted and were of little help.

Bolt's mental energy was completely exhausted, and apart from some close-quarters combat experience that had brought him to the brink of death, it was of little use.

As for Saen, he was a useless piece of trash with only half a life left, unable to even hold his knife properly.

Ugh.....

With a sigh, Roy withdrew his gaze, knowing that the others could no longer offer any help.

He can only rely on himself now.

and many more......

Why am I facing Jumongaard now?

With a sigh, Roy suddenly discovered this strange fact.

The thought, like a needle, pierced through his chaotic thoughts, startling him for a moment.

Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were the hands of a twelve-year-old, small and delicate, and it seemed difficult to lift even a heavy object.

After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly looked up and glanced at the other side of the deck...

With his black hair and black eyes, Bolt leaned against the bulkhead, his face pale, his right hand clenched, and he was breathing heavily.

On the other side of Bolt, Saan knelt on the ground, his left arm hanging in the air, his chest caved in, and bloodstains smeared at the corner of his mouth.

Two adult men, two elite members of the Seven Seas Netherworld Pirates who roam the seven seas.

Two Nen users who could have been comparable to two-star hunters.

One lost his hand, and the other broke his ribs.

Standing among them was a twelve-year-old Zoldyck boy who hadn't yet started school.

How could it be him...?

Having figured this out, Roy's lips twitched slightly, and a mocking smile crept onto his face.

He has a complex feeling that is hard to describe. In the local dialect, he would say, "You are exploiting child laborers."

This is illegal and will be a criminal offense.

Unfortunately... this isn't Earth.

Lost in thought, Roy recalled some things from his past life, but quickly forgot about them again.

Because that seems like a very, very long time ago.

So long that Roy almost forgot who he was.

The only thing he kept in mind was the so-called moral code and code of conduct from his previous life.

He...cannot ignore Bolt and Saan's brutal killings, nor does he want to.

He just wanted to seek justice for those who were chosen.

Having upheld these moral principles since childhood, Roy became a complete oddity in the Zoldyck family.

If it weren't for the white hair on his head that symbolized the patriarch of the family, he would have been a different person.

He probably died during some training session long ago.