Outside the nest, Neferpitou sat cross-legged on the ground, gazing up at the bright moon in the sky. The breeze ruffled her hair, and a cat's tail swung lazily behind her. It gazed at the moon without any emotion, no curiosity, no appreciation, just quietly waiting for the birth of the king in a relaxed posture.
As for humans using Nen abilities, they were just a small distraction that could help it kill time while it waited. In truth, it didn't care about the life or death of the ant colony, nor did it care about the whereabouts and fate of the division commanders and their kind. It only cared about the king. There was no requirement in his genes to serve the queen ant. Nor did she have to obey the queen ant.
Suddenly, Neferpitou's cat ears twitched. Although everything around her was silent except for the occasional sound of the wind, she seemed to have detected a very subtle movement. His tail stopped wagging and his mind naturally turned to the source of the sound.
The source was very far away, so far away that it was hidden in the deep, dark night. The eyes of ordinary creatures could only see darkness and nothing else, but Neferpitou not only heard the footsteps of humans, but also smelled the scent of prey. At the same time, her sight pierced the darkness and captured the target.
Neferpitou's cat eyes narrowed to thin lines in an instant. She raised a finger to her lips and smiled with interest. "It seems this one is a different kind of Nen user."
Then it slowly stood up. In a cheetah-like posture, its entire body was crouched on the ground, and the muscles of its hind legs bulged explosively. With a loud bang, his figure soared into the sky and shot in the direction where the humans appeared. Its shape sliced through the airstream in mid-air like a speeding supersonic missile. The sound was delayed and sharp due to its incredible speed.
Something was coming!
Dragon was startled, but his perception couldn't reach it. This meant that the other party was not within his sensory range - not good!
"Go!" Dragon shouted loudly, suddenly pushing away Gon and Killua, who felt as if they were falling into an ice cellar. The two young hunters were terrified by the overwhelming aura!
At that moment, a black shadow flashed in the corner of Dragon's eye: The enemy had arrived! A second ago, he couldn't see it, meaning that the enemy was far away from them, and the next second, it landed right in front of him.
What kind of speed is that?!
Blood splattered as Dragon retreated quickly, but his reaction was still too slow, his Nen defense as fragile as paper under the opponent's attack. One of his arms flew up and fell to the ground, and several deep bloody scratches appeared on his chest and abdomen.
The atmosphere suddenly became solemn. At that time, Kite finally saw the appearance of the enemy, a chimera ant with the physical characteristics of a cat. When Kite saw this creature, he had a premonition that he was going to die! The aura it emitted was something he had never felt before.
"Run!" Kite activated his Nen ability, Crazy Slots, ready to desperately hold back the ant so that Gon and Killua could escape. He glanced over to find Gon stunned, staring at him blankly. The blood from Kite's severe injuries had splattered all over Gon's face.
In this situation, all Kite could do was scream at Killua. Killua realized that Kite would sacrifice his own life, and without saying a word, he grabbed Gon and tried to pull him away. But Gon came to his senses and understood Kite's actions. His initially frozen heart immediately rekindled with emotion.
"Dragon!" Gon shouted. After all, he and Killua had become a burden to Kite.
Crazy Slots materialized and couldn't help but mock Kite when he saw his injured state. The number he got this time was 3. Kite whispered, "What bad luck.
He seemed to feel a little sorry for the weapon he had turned into a magic wand this time.
The clown face at the end of the wand shouted, "Unlucky? Every time I roll a number, it is the most appropriate number for your current combat situation, the weapon and skill that is most beneficial to you. You're actually complaining?! Damn it!"
Killua pulled Gon and saw that Gon was so angry that he couldn't control himself. Following the same actions as in their previous encounters with danger, Killua knocked Gon out with a swift blow to the neck.
Kite gave Killua a look of approval. Sometimes, Killua's mental strength and decision-making were much better than Gon's, who tended to act on his emotions.
The cat-like Neferpitou on the other side did not take advantage of the situation to attack after landing the first blow. Instead, she crouched quietly on the ground, licking the blood from her nails with her tongue, her eyes fixed on Kite. As for the two young hunters, it ignored them completely.
"You are very strong," Neferpitou looked at the human before her and smiled. "However, judging by your strength, you are not the person I expected you to be."
"I really can't be happy to be praised by an ant," Kite interrupted coldly as blood continued to drip from his body onto the ground.
Then he changed the subject, turned his back on Killua, and said in a commanding tone: "Run back, Oboro is probably nearby!"
Killua's expression changed slightly. With Gon on his back, flashes of electricity exploded under his feet and he disappeared in an instant.
Neferpitou didn't seem to be interested in the weak. Out of instinct, she only liked to hunt creatures that seemed stronger. Most importantly, his intuition told him that the human in front of him could provide some information about Nen!
"It's useless~" Neferpitou purred. "After I kill you, I will capture these two. As Nen users, your flesh and blood is very nutritious, especially the brain marrow. If the queen eats it, she may give birth to the king sooner." Neferpitou finally shifted her gaze, looked in the direction where Killua had disappeared, and added nonchalantly, "The name you just mentioned, Oboro, that human should be the strong hunter who attacked our ant colony before, right?"
Dragon narrowed his eyes. That ant is so perceptive! "Who knows," he replied with a perfunctory smile.
Immediately, the smile on Neferpitou's face turned cruel, and there was primitive hunting ferocity in its eyes. She pounced on Kite in an instant.
On the other side, Killua ran for his life, using almost all of his strength. Even now, his body and heart were still trembling, unable to calm down. He had seen Kite's strength, which neither he nor Gon could match at the moment. Nevertheless, Kite was completely unprepared and was sliced by Neferpitou's attack. His injuries were probably fatal, something had probably damaged an internal organ.
"This aura is too frightening," Killua swallowed, his face pale.
Kite was just holding on; he didn't know how much time the hunter could buy him. And since Neferpitou appeared without warning, she would definitely catch up after killing Kite. He couldn't escape.
Oboro! Oboro is nearby!
There was a flash of lightning behind Killua, and he looked around as he sped forward. His eyes were red and tears appeared. He could no longer suppress his fear and anticipation and shouted, "Oboro!!!"
He had thought that Oboro and his team had already left. But since Kite had said that Oboro was still there and seemed to be silently watching them, Killua decided to believe Kite. He was the only one who could save him and Gon at the moment.
From what Oboro could sense, he knew that Killua was running towards him with Gon. At the same time, Kite's aura was weakening rapidly, and it seemed that he would not be able to hold on for long.
Normally, when Kite first met Neferpitou, the Royal Guard had just been born. For the Chimera Ant, the daily increase in power was immeasurable, not to mention that there was now more than one Nen user captured by the ant colony. With Neferpitou's level of understanding, she would have developed a very thorough understanding of Nen.
Originally, the reason that Dragon and Neferpitou were able to fight for such a long time was because Dragon himself was extremely powerful, and also because Neferpitou wanted to learn how to use Nen from Dragon through their fight. So she had not used her full power. But now, Neferpitou's strength was much greater than before, and Kite's injuries were also more serious.
BOOM!
A deafening sound rang out in the distance. Kite and Neferpitou's fierce auras intertwined, including the will they each displayed in battle that could not be hidden even by the endless night and darkness.
Dragon is truly outstanding, Oboro thought. From Killua's actions, he must have guessed some of my plans. I must say that Ging Freecss has trained this apprentice quite well. Kite's own talents and abilities are also extraordinary. Most importantly, even though he knew he was going to die, Kite still fought without hesitation!
SWOOSH!
Just as he thought, a flash of lightning came from the flat ground and Killua appeared in front of Oboro with Gon on his back. Killua's feet left two deep footprints on the ground as he barely managed to stop his rapid movement.
Oboro was no longer hiding his presence, and when Killua noticed, he immediately approached. When he saw the man he used to hate so much, the man in the black suit with his hands in his pockets and an expressionless face, Killua's nose twitched and he cried for the first time!
Tears streamed freely down his cheeks.
"Oboro," Killua's voice choked with emotion.
Oboro stepped forward and reached out to touch Killua's soft white hair. "He's still a child, after all," he murmured.
Then Oboro crouched down and looked seriously at Killua. "Don't worry, I'm here."
It was such a simple sentence, but suddenly Killua's restless heart, like a rootless duckweed, finally found solid ground. There was a complete sense of security.
"Killuayou are different from Gon, let's make a pact," Oboro said, giving a thumbs up. "Do not tell anyone what happened here, you are smart and should know what I am talking about.
Killua wiped away his tears, and his expression, which had just shown a vulnerable side, became as mature as an adult's. "As long as I can save Gon, I can do anything you want."
After saying that, he also stretched out his thumb and joined it with Oboro's.
"Um." Oboro smiled slightly.
Then his eyes swept over Killua's shoulder and took in the dim night scene behind them. Killua's pupils instantly dilated and his body stiffened.
The ant had come so quickly! That meant Dragon was dead!
In the darkness, a shocking sea of energy slowly approached, along with a figure emerging from the shadows. Killua had been running madly for a quarter of an hour, but Neferpitou had caught up in an instant.
It was a chain reaction. Neferpitou might not have been interested in the two young hunters, but she had always been looking for Oboro. So she knew that if she caught up with them, she would be able to meet the human who was stronger than the white-haired professional hunter.
It had no interest in further dealing with Kite, because Oboro was a better learning object than him.
"I found you, I found you at last, my intuition tells me you never left," Neferpitou walked over with a cat-like gait, Kite's blood still staining her clothes. Her crimson hands hung behind her, fingers crossed, and she spoke with genuine joy. The emotion revealed in its pair of cat eyes was especially obvious when it landed on Oboro.
If it weren't for the Nen energy that filled the surrounding sky and earth, it would be hard to imagine the terrifying fighting power Neferpitou possessed just by looking at her appearance and body shape.
"Let's go," Oboro said with a smile as he slowly stood up and patted Killua on the shoulder.
"Be careful!" Killua bit his lip, left those few words and left with Gon still unconscious on his back.
"You're not going to run away?" Neferpitou tilted her head and asked curiously. "Your instincts should have reminded you that you were going to die, shouldn't they? After all, you've been hiding all this time, and your personality doesn't seem to be the brave or reckless type".
"You were born not long ago and just came into this world naturally, you don't understand humans," Oboro replied calmly. "Before you, Chimera Ants, humans were the masters of this continent for a long time. We know very well that judging the danger of a life is not just by looking at its appearance. You think I am weak, but you are judging from the limited data on my body, but that may not be true. If you are too careless, you may end up dying".
He smiled vaguely. As he spoke, he slowly removed his suit jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves one by one, and raised the corners of his mouth. "The last time I took off my jacket..."
"I really can't fool myself," Neferpitou interrupted. "Well, I understand that you humans seem to have more complicated minds and more emotions than we do, but in my opinion, this is a fatal weakness."
Neferpitou was in no hurry to attack, but gave Oboro enough time to prepare. She wanted to see something different in Nen and expected the man to surprise her. In the end, the winner would be himself.
"Are you ready?" Neferpitou asked with a smile. She seemed relaxed and asked the question sincerely. But invisibly, there was a kind of arrogance that only belonged to the strong.
"I was actually looked down upon, what a refreshing feeling," Oboro replied, also seeming happy.
Oboro's own aura erupted, and the ghostly mist of his Nen spread out along with his fighting spirit. However, compared to Neferpitou's energy, the range of his aura was much smaller, and he was still surrounded by Neferpitou's larger, more threatening energy.
Neferpitou's eyes lit up. "Are you the most powerful Nen user among humans? I've searched the memories in the brains of the humans we've consumed, and it seems that humans like you are very rare," it asked.
"Yes, little ant, I am the strongest among humans." Suddenly, Oboro's smile faded, replaced by a cold expression. His eyes were filled with calm, violence, and excitement. In that moment, Oboro chose to satisfy himself, chose to believe in himself. Even if Chairman Netero had asked him, he would have answered the same way.
"I'm not hiding from you because I'm afraid, but because you're not worthy of wasting my time."
BOOM! As soon as the words left his mouth, Neferpitou's pupils shrank to black lines in an instant, warning of impending danger. But she couldn't dodge, because she was already too close to Oboro's attack range!
Oboro brought his fingers together like a sword and opened with full force, channeling his Nen to increase his aura to the limit as his body temperature rose. He pointed at Neferpitou from a distance.
The skin on Neferpitou's chest, which looked like an ant's shell, suddenly burst with blood and collapsed inward. The terrifying force caused Neferpitou's feet to leave the ground and she flew backward like a bullet.
On the other side, Oboro was already crouched on the ground like a tiger, his legs and arms bent, the muscles of his limbs beginning to swell, and the blood vessels and veins on the surface of his body writhing like little snakes. All his clothes were torn by the sheer power of his aura.
Oboro raised his head and stared at the black shadow of Neferpitou as it flew away, hot white air spewing from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were fierce and ferocious, full of murderous intent, like a pair of bloody orbs.
"How dare you, a mere inferior life form, look down on humans," a low growl came from Oboro's throat.
As he finished speaking, he launched himself like a cannonball and caught up with Neferpitou's body, which was still hanging in the air, out of control. He appeared above Neferpitou's head and delivered a powerful blow, hitting the ant's abdomen mercilessly.
The black shadow was thrown to the ground and crashed like a meteorite. For a moment, waves of earth and dust rose straight into the sky.
The moment Neferpitou was hit, her eyes widened and blood spurted from her mouth. It saw the expression on the human's face: there was no fear at all, only excitement, madness, and joy. And satisfaction!
This person is different