Just as Meruem was about to do this, he suddenly felt a chill creeping up his back.
Germain appeared behind him with incredible speed.
Meruem narrowed his eyes.
In the next moment, his tail instinctively whipped back with great force, and he heard a clanging sound as it collided with some kind of metal weapon.
Meruem turned around and saw a Cleaver, sparking from the impact with his tail, and then a few more strange weapons launching attacks at him.
He spun in the air, his left hand swatting away the incoming Firearm pellets, while his right hand struck down with a chopping motion, breaking the spiral staff and the Tachi "Thousand Shadows."
Whoosh—
However, he was still engulfed by a fierce flame!
Meruem, surrounded by the fiery snakes, quickly spread his limbs and used his Nen to force the flames away.
Then, he charged forward, his fists like the wind, roaring with explosive sounds as they struck toward Germain.
The Dark Crown had already transformed into a silver-white halo, and Germain, wearing black and white bone armor, stood his ground and met Meruem's punches head-on!
Boom, boom, boom—
Nen exploded in all directions!
The ground buckled under the shockwaves, forming pits like those created by constant meteor impacts.
In the heat of battle, Meruem couldn't help but widen his eyes.
He's actually able to take my blows up close?
The old man couldn't do that, but he can.
Meruem possessed a toughness that Netero didn't—his innate Chimera Ant King body.
This meant he could make countless mistakes, but Netero would lose a leg with just one misstep, and his hand with another.
Now, there was a human who could fight him with such close-range strikes!
Is it because of the armor he's wearing?
Meruem vaguely began to understand the key.
Originally, he was only half-believing the deaths of Pitou and Youpi.
Now, he believed it 80%.
Among the "Three Royal Guards," Meruem had once dealt with both Neferpitou and Youpi, so he was very clear on the kind of attacks their bodies could withstand.
This man, indeed, could kill them. He was stronger than that old man, much stronger.
But I am stronger than him.
Meruem had learned a lot from playing gungi with Komugi.
One of the things he learned was to predict the opponent's moves and find the weaknesses, like threading a needle.
Previously, Netero, apart from being physically weaker than Meruem, failed in this aspect.
Such predictions require first understanding all of Netero's attack patterns and becoming intimately familiar with them.
After that, Meruem would use Netero's breathing to figure out how he preferred to attack and how he disliked to attack.
Then, Meruem could predict his next move and block it in advance, similar to the fighting philosophy of Jeet Kune Do.
Therefore, Meruem wanted to use the same method to counter Germain.
However, during the intense battle, he was surprised to find he had missed three key points.
The first point was that he didn't have enough time to understand Germain's fighting style.
This could be solved; it was not a big problem.
The second point was that his understanding of Netero's attacks was based on the fact that Netero could only barely keep up with his speed and that Netero's attacks couldn't break through his defense to cause real harm.
But Germain not only kept up with his speed effortlessly, but from their fist-to-fist exchanges, he could tell that Germain's attacks could pierce through his defenses.
In other words, Germain's attacks were a real threat to him.
The third point was that he was very good at sensing his opponent's breathing and using it to judge their intentions.
To deal with such tactics, his opponent must either be able to hold their breath for a long time like Morel, or maintain a steady breathing rhythm under high-intensity competition like Komugi.
In other words, they must have a big heart.
He had once tried to use intimidation to disrupt Komugi's breathing.
But Komugi's dedication to gungi was far beyond his imagination, and she maintained her mental focus on the game.
Only gungi—she refused to lose to anyone.
Germain was the same as Komugi, one of those types.
Meruem fought against Germain while sensing his breathing rhythm, trying to find any openings, but he never could.
Even against the old man, Meruem had found weaknesses, so why couldn't he find any in this young man?
Could it be that he and Komugi were the same type of person?
Aside from that, Meruem's strategy to attack Netero and force Germain to constantly provide support had essentially failed.
Because this strategy's success depended on Meruem being calm enough to deal with both Germain and Netero's attacks at the same time.
Only then could he feint and deceive.
However, Germain's combat ability exceeded Meruem's expectations.
Like Komugi, Germain wasn't the kind of opponent Meruem could easily defeat while splitting his focus.
Watching the dazzling life-and-death battle before him, Netero clasped his hands in prayer and did not interfere.
In fact, he couldn't interfere anymore.
At this point, if the "Hundred-Type Guanyin" struck, it was hard to say who would be hit.
Now, he felt the joy of living longer and seeing more.
Currently, in the entire Six Continents, the only human truly capable of close combat with Meruem was probably Germain.
Boom—
The Nen clash caused a powerful shockwave, immediately separating Germain and Meruem.
They stood some distance apart, adjusting their breathing.
Boom—
Netero seized the opportunity to strike a palm at Meruem, but Meruem dodged it and flew further away.
He never intended for it to be effective; it was just to disrupt Meruem's rhythm.
After Meruem regained his footing, he temporarily stopped his attack.
He thought for a moment, then pointed at Germain.
"Tell me, what's your name?"
Germain, along with this man, was one of the few opponents who could stand on equal footing with him.
Meruem wanted to know this man's name just as much as he wanted to know the name of Komugi, and just as much as he wanted to know his own name.
Calling out a true name was a sign of recognizing this man as an equal opponent.
"Germain," Germain answered calmly.
Meruem paused, then pointed at Netero.
"What about you? What's your name?"
Netero snorted coldly, slowly retracting his palm without answering.
He already understood why Meruem wanted to know Germain's name, while his own name was just an afterthought.
Germain answered for Netero: "His name is Netero."
Meruem nodded.
"Listen, Germain. Before this, I thought Netero was the strongest among humans. But after fighting with you, I realized I was wrong."
"I must thank you, for you've made me realize that there may be even stronger humans out there. I will be more cautious from now on."
"But this is where it ends for you. Whether it's you, Germain, or Netero, I have already memorized all your attacks."
"Next, I will defeat Germain within five seconds, then in two seconds, I will incapacitate Netero by removing his arms and legs, rendering him unable to use 'Poor Man's Rose'."
"This is my declaration for the future. I won't hold back. I might even accidentally kill Germain."
"If that happens, this will be your end."
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