Chapter 40: Hidden Agendas × Accelerated Devourment

'Damn it! How the hell did this stupid fish find me? Did it suddenly regain its sight?'

Lakshya dodged the monster fish's attack with a hair-breadth margin, covered in cold sweat. His Emitter-style attacks were at a significant disadvantage at this close range. What he absolutely could not understand was how the Lead Catfish was pinpointing him.

Lakshya scanned the environment rapidly. The smaller catfish seemed completely oblivious to the battle raging here; instead, they... were beginning to devour one another?!

An ominous premonition flared in Lakshya's heart.

Big fish eating small fish is one thing, but small fish eating each other? What does that mean?

'Is it a way to accelerate the process? Likely at the cost of energy efficiency to shorten the digestion time.'

Lakshya gritted his teeth. He couldn't even deal with the Lead Catfish in front of him; he had no strength left to cull the smaller ones. 'I guess I have to count on that guy hiding in the mist. He's probably not harboring any good intentions either, He's just waiting for me and this fish to leave each other battered and broken...'

Deep within the thick fog, Dia suppressed the urge to step forward and slaughter the small catfish.

It's too early.

There were at least a dozen small fish on the field devouring each other. His marksmanship wasn't precise enough to hit a dozen moving targets in the head simultaneously. If he couldn't kill them in one shot, the Lead Catfish would immediately rotate back to defend, causing him to miss his best opening. Since these fish lacked Nen, the ideal scenario was one bullet, one kill.

To maximize the results, Dia had to delay his shots as long as possible, waiting for the small fish to finish cannibalizing until their numbers were low enough for him to wipe them out in one swift burst. Ideally, he would take the last one out just as the enemy was about to consume it, leaving the foe with nothing to show for their effort.

But would the Lead Catfish be foolish enough to let him kill them off one by one?

'He's waiting too. He's waiting for the small fish to finish devouring each other before he swallows the rest in one go.'

Dia understood the situation perfectly. The only reason the Lead Catfish hadn't returned to defend was because Dia hadn't fired yet. The enemy was calm, fully aware that this was a gamble based on timing. If Dia fired early, the enemy would immediately retreat to eat the survivors. While that would prevent the enemy from consuming the entire lot during their "digestion phase," and Dia would surely seize the chance to snipe the fish they didn't have time to eat, the enemy would still successfully consume the majority. The enemy simply couldn't gauge if that would be enough to defeat Dia in the mist and the mercenary in front of them.

Conversely, if Dia waited for the number of small fish to dwindle naturally, the enemy wouldn't feel rushed to defend.

Their logical paths had strangely converged: Act as if those small fish don't exist!

It looked like a stalemate where both sides stood to gain, but who was actually losing?

'It's me, dammit!!'

Lakshya was livid. He was on the front lines soaking up the pressure, the guy in the mist was playing dumb, and this dead fish was trying its hardest to bite his head off. The two of them seemed to have a tacit understanding to target him. And this stupid fish… its mechanism had completely changed; it was definitely using some method he didn't know to track him.

'If it can track me, it should be able to track Dia in the mist too, so why is it only focused on killing me?'

'Because I'm closer, obviously...'

Qi Peixin, inside the fish, wasn't as calm as the two outside imagined.

Because he hadn't used Nen to defend his arm while executing the Ko, the damage from Dia's bullet went far beyond just losing an arm. The agony he was enduring was unimaginable; Dia's residual Ripple was constantly dissolving his Nen at the wound, while the Lead Catfish's stomach acid was actively digesting him. Most critically, he was using all his willpower to resist the corruption of the Lead Catfish. If his mental defenses collapsed, he would become an unconscious beast. To regain control, he had to wait until the Nen in the Lead Catfish depleted to a certain point and automatically dispersed.

In short: He was about to turn into literal fish food.

Suddenly, a Nen blast drew Qi Peixin's attention back to the battlefield. Lakshya had fired a shot out of nowhere.

It wasn't aimed at the Lead Catfish; it was flying toward the school of small fish!

Qi Peixin instinctively lashed his tail and swatted it away. A second later, he realized with a sinking heart: I fell for it.

Sure enough, Lakshya, having caught his opponent's opening under duress, didn't use the chance to create distance. Instead, he stood his ground and recklessly fired four high-speed Nen blasts without a care for his own consumption.

The blasts hurtled toward the school of small fish. Qi Peixin felt clearly that if those shots connected, the four small fish that had devoured the most would be instantly vaporized!

'While dodging my attack, he was observing the devourment progress of the fish, and he precisely caught the moment I was distracted...'

Qi Peixin decisively abandoned the brawl with Lakshya and rotated to defend. He had lost this exchange, a result of his own oversight, but also a testament to his opponent's observation, decisiveness, and accuracy. This was no simple enemy.

Bang! Bang!

In the thick fog, Dia saw Qi Peixin rotating to defend and immediately emptied his magazine. Several bullets tore toward the fish pond, targeting the exact small fish that the four Nen blasts hadn't covered!

Dia didn't stop; he expertly reloaded, ready to continue firing. But then, his Ripple Radar picked up someone approaching at high speed!

It's Lakshya.

Firing four Nen blasts at once was a significant drain; his aura was visibly thinning.

After shaking off Qi Peixin, Lakshya knew that in his current state, continuing to fight alone was suicide. He needed a collaborator, or rather, a scapegoat!

'I'll use this guy hiding in the shadows as a meat shield. Let him get tangled up with Qi Peixin; when they're both battered, I'll look for an opening to kill them both. If that fails, I'll go find Maror...'

Lakshya's internal gears were turning.

Dia, sensing Lakshya's high-speed approach, felt a flicker of murderous intent. He knew exactly what the mercenary was planning, because he had been planning the same thing!

He continued firing while decisively retreating to maintain distance, thinking:

'Keep your distance and let this idiot mercenary draw all the fire. My bullets are enough to ambush them both and kill them all, then I'll go find Borksen...'

Qi Peixin, rushing back to defend, sensed the two of them not attempting to coordinate, but rather one advancing while the other retreated. He sneered internally:

'Two guys playing mind games even at the brink of death. Go ahead, keep suspecting each other. I hope you give me plenty of time to digest. If I still have a shred of consciousness after eating you, I'll go find Kantigara...'