Watching the gargantuan Red Dragon transform his subordinates into cocoons and devour them, the bear-like Squadron Leader finally realized he had picked a fight with a target far beyond his league.
Specifically, the overwhelming Aura crashing against him made even breathing a heavy chore. He began to suffer from a vivid hallucination: it felt as though the human youth was growing taller and taller, casting a vast, black shadow that completely enveloped him.
"Oh? You can already clearly sense the absolute gap in our power? You really are gifted," Allen remarked, a small, appreciative smile playing on his lips.
Of course, in the eyes of his opponent, that appreciative smile was nothing less than the grin of a demon.
But a Squadron Leader was a Squadron Leader for a reason. As the crushing pressure reached its breaking point, he suddenly erupted with a massive surge of Aura from all his nodes, roaring maniacally, "Damn you! You're just a lowly human! I am a noble Squadron Leader!"
"A lowly human? Heh. It seems you haven't witnessed the true horror of humanity as a race. Not that I'm surprised. Species like yours, who have only just evolved intellect from beasts, fail to grasp the importance of the brain and wisdom. Your definition of strength is still stuck on primitive elements like physical structure, muscle, and bone. Since you've already awakened your Nen, let's play a little."
As he spoke, Allen constricted his Aura to a specific range. In a flash, he closed the distance, instantly concentrated his Aura into his fist using Ko, and drove it into the Chimera Ant's abdomen.
BOOM!
"Gwah!!!!"
"Cough... cough, cough..."
The brown bear Squadron Leader instantly sprayed a mouthful of blood, clutching his stomach and coughing violently. The unbearable pain forced him to double over, his eyes wide with unparalleled terror.
He hadn't seen his opponent move at all before the fist connected. Only a tenth of a second before impact had he sensed the presence of the Aura.
Allen didn't press his advantage after the successful strike. Instead, he explained nonchalantly, "Lesson one of Nen combat: learn to control your Aura and gather it where it's needed. For instance, when attacking, concentrating your Aura on your fist allows for extreme destructive power. By the same logic, concentrating it on a single point during defense will drastically increase your durability. Interesting, isn't it? By the way, for that last hit, I used less than half of your own current Aura volume."
"Damn you! Are you mocking and toying with me?" the Squadron Leader demanded, his rage boiling over.
"Toying? Perhaps a little. But I certainly don't mean to mock you. After all, I maintain a certain level of reverence for my food. Besides, don't you want to know what Nen really is, and how to use it to develop all sorts of powerful abilities?" Allen asked, intentionally steering the conversation.
It went without saying that he wanted to see if he could coax this dim-witted fellow into developing a useful ability. He was a Squadron Leader, after all; he didn't lack the talent or the raw potential.
The bear-like creature wasn't entirely stupid, however, and grew intensely wary. "What exactly are you after?"
"Simple. I'm teaching you how to use the life energy surrounding your body. Well? Do you want to learn? Or would you prefer to be finished off like your subordinates?" Allen issued a meaningful death threat.
"Bastard! You'll pay for your arrogance! Once I master this power, I'll tear you to shreds!" the Squadron Leader bellowed in impotent fury.
Clearly, he understood he had no bargaining chips. It was either death or enduring the humiliation while waiting for a chance at revenge or escape.
"Heh. Excellent! That's the spirit! Come, let me see what kind of interesting Nen you can develop."
Accompanied by a chilling laugh, Allen once again revealed his cold, cruel, and ruthless side to his enemy. His methods were so brutal that even Ponzu, sitting inside the car, felt goosebumps prickling her skin. Her hatred for the ants even began to wane slightly.
After all, this Squadron Leader was suffering a truly pathetic fate. It was a sight to make any witness weep.
Allen used the "Little Flower" ability he had seized from Genthru. Each blast was perfectly calibrated to breach the ant's Aura defense, leaving a fist-sized, but non-lethal, charred wound on the bear-like creature. Anyone who has been burned or blasted by gunpowder knows how unbearable the pain of such a wound is.
Under Allen's frantic beating, torture, abuse, and relentless pressure, the Squadron Leader's proficiency in Nen improved at a breakneck pace.
In a mere thirty minutes, he developed his own unique Hatsu: Portal of Transit.
Driven by a desperate urge to escape his current plight of being a puppet to another's whims, this ability allowed him to create two portals within his line of sight that only he could pass through. One portal would appear beside him, while the other required him to lock his gaze on a distant location for a set duration. Once both were set, he could leap into the one beside him and instantly emerge from the other.
The further apart the two portals were, the longer he needed to maintain his gaze. If he was interrupted during the "locking" process, the timer would reset.
It was a fascinating ability, clearly combining elements of Emission and Conjuration. Under normal circumstances, most people encountering this for the first time would be unable to react, forced to watch as their opponent vanished from sight.
The bear Squadron Leader certainly thought so. When his burly frame stepped through the portal and reappeared several hundred meters away, he didn't forget to flip Allen the bird. "Hahahaha! Come on then! Catch me if you can! I thought you were so powerful!"
"As you wish."
In the next second...
Aura Burst activated!
BOOM!
Allen shot forward at supersonic speed. In just over a second, he appeared behind the gloating ant and asked with a half-smile, "I've caught you! Tell me, what's the plan now? Are you going to keep running with that interesting new ability you just developed?"
"This... how is this possible..."
The Squadron Leader's smile froze on his face. He turned slowly, an expression of utter disbelief taking hold.
"Nothing is impossible. The gap between you and me is as vast as the gap between you and an ordinary human. Against such a disparity, any resistance is futile. In truth, the reason I taught you Nen was specifically so I could take it. Now, it seems you haven't disappointed me, you've developed a very fine ability indeed."
Allen stated the cruel reality in an incredibly calm tone, shattering the ant's spirit and will.
To be honest, if he combined this ability with his full-power Hunter form, he was confident he could take down any enemy—be it the Ant King, the Royal Guards, or even Beyond Netero.
For most Nen users, fifty to one hundred meters is the limit of their effective combat range. Beyond that, 99% of abilities become ineffective; even an Emitter's Nen bullets struggle to hit a target accurately at two or three hundred meters.
But what about arrows infused with multiple Nen properties?
With the aid of Aura Burst, Allen could easily fire across a distance of one kilometer without worrying about a loss in potency. With two portals in place, he would only need to take a single step to dodge an attack and reappear a kilometer away. His enemies would be forced to turn and charge toward the other portal, only to be "kited" to death between the two gates without ever getting close enough to touch him.