Neferpitou's body continued to twitch uncontrollably.
The Nen surrounding her surged as she attempted to resist with her own will
But alongside her thoughts, a jet of inky black energy emerged from her body
It was the Grudge!
The soul could not harm the Royal Guard originally, but in her attempt to hurt herself, she had endured the erosion of her soul, completely underestimating the power of the Grudge At this moment, its true characteristics were fully manifested.
This energy, fundamentally different from Nen, acted like a virus to the spirit and will. Once contaminated, infection was inevitable Even when Oboro was invaded by Shura's curse in his brain, he had frozen momentarily. For Neferpitou, whose soul was already compromised, the effect was devastating.
Furthermore, each individual soul might only cause Neferpitou to lose consciousness for a split second, but with the sheer number of souls, the duration of Oboro's forced control would be extended
His true killer move was the soul itself!
The effect of the previous attack using ghosts on Neferpitou had been confusing, making her mistakenly believe that her willpower could instantly destroy foreign objects in her sea of consciousness without significantly interfering with battle She had no way to eliminate all the ghosts, because she had to kill their controller, Oboro, first.
This was a dead end.
This forced her to fight with Oboro.
Of course, this required a series of coordinated techniques throughout the battle process, such as the precise timing of releasing several types of Nen abilities weakening Neferpitou's condition and causing her serious injuries.
The goal of capturing the soul required the opponent's consciousness to remain clear This intensity of battle would cause a tremendous loss of physical strength and energy. No matter how strong the will, it would be affected by the additional strain on the physical condition.
I won
He had won with his mind.
It was also a manifestation of strength.
Every second counted
Another factor was the information gap.
Neferpitou had determined and collected all the information about his Nen abilities and methods on the spot, but Oboro knew her abilities very well.
"Ahhhh!"
Neferpitou howled, her single eye completely infected by the curse, turning purple-black as her body spiraled out of control.
Her mind and body were in a state of disconnection.
However, even in this situation, Oboro still saw a hint of clarity in her eyes.
Neferpitou had transferred part of her consciousness from her sea of consciousness to reality, attempting to attack Oboro and break free from the restraints.
She slowly raised her arms, regaining control of her limbs, preparing to grab the man's face.
Oboro's expression remained blank. His other arm, the one without a soul, swung out and struck Neferpitou's shoulder preemptively, causing her hand to fall from mid-air as blood sprayed from her shoulder.
"Will is part of the soul and is closely related to the body," he said quietly. "Your current condition is too compromised. You've used your Hatsu many times, which has already caused your flesh and blood to weaken and collapse Moreover, although your physical body is strong, you lack the Nen to control it, to regulate your blood flow or strengthen your defense Without the protection of your mind, you've lost dominance over your life. Don't struggle"
As he spoke in a faint voice, a huge hammer stone materialized behind him from the vast clouds of his Nen. He picked up the Lantern of Rig and opened its cover.
Oboro and Neferpitou were locked up together.
At the same time, in Neferpitou's sea of consciousness
The manifestation of her soul was fighting against endless other souls!
Ghosts like a plague of locusts flew around her mind, densely packed.
Roaring, laughing, screaming
Various sounds filled her sea of consciousness, creating extreme chaos.
She had previously been eroded by the curse, which caused a gap in her sea of consciousness, allowing these evil spirits to easily enter
She resisted stubbornly, but her movements in the spiritual state were not as agile as in reality. Instead, she kept getting stuck, and her hands and feet leaked black energy, moving wildly without her control. She could kill ghosts, but these ghosts could also damage her soul. In such a short time, her soul had been bitten countless times
There were incomplete wounds everywhere.
Just as Neferpitou forcibly broke through the influence of the curse and tore apart numerous attacking ghosts, suddenly, all the huge ghost shadows before her vanished.
Her sea of consciousness quieted down
"Um?"
Then, while she was momentarily stunned, a chain suddenly appeared around her soul body and wrapped tightly around it.
The other end of the chain extended into the darkness.
Someone or something was there!
Neferpitou tried to break free but found that the power exerted by the chains was terrifyingly strong.
Just like that, as the chain pulled, she was dragged into the darkness little by little
After a while, she finally saw the figure standing in the darkness. To be exact, it wasn't a person but a monster in human form, with ghost lights covering its body and a sinister, ferocious aura!
It was Hammerstone
However, the sound made by Thresh Zhang Kai was a vague movement.
"What a wonderful soul"
After pulling Neferpitou to his side, Oboro sighed.
Then, the chains disappeared, and a cage appeared, locking Neferpitou inside This cage was none other than the Lantern of Rig!
Boom!
A raging green flame ignited in the lamp, emitting an eerie green light that made Neferpitou's sea of consciousness look extremely strange and unsettling.
"Ahhhh!"
Neferpitou screamed in pain as her soul burned.
In reality, Oboro's soul-transformed appearance had returned to normal.
The huge Thresh behind him lifted up the lantern, and what was locked inside was Neferpitou's soul.
Why was it said that his prepared killing move was the soul?
Because Neferpitou could awaken her Nen after death and one of her abilities, Doctor Blythe, could not only heal the injuries of other creatures but probably even her own injuries. Therefore, Oboro could not afford to delay the battle and had to calculate every node of confrontation precisely.
The post-mortem Nen is directly related to the will and soul His Nen ability was the natural nemesis of post-mortem Nen!
Once the soul is captured, the body becomes just an empty shell, with no remaining obsessions
Therefore, to completely kill Neferpitou, it had to be through the soul, and only the soul
Otherwise, if her post-mortem Nen awakened, this Chimera Ant would become even more dangerous.
Pop.
Oboro loosened his hand.
Neferpitou's body lost its temperature and fell to the ground without support.
It's over It's finally over
Oboro also finished his breathing exercise, looking exhausted, and collapsed to the ground spread-eagled.
The danger and difficulty of this battle far exceeded that of fighting with Beyond This ant was simply too strong, and it was fortunate that he was prepared. If it had been the Chairman, even if he killed Neferpitou's physical body, once the post-mortem Nen awakened, the old man would likely have been in trouble.
In this battle, Oboro had used every means at his disposal.
Just as was said in the original work, if Netero hadn't prepared in advance and regained some form, and had fought hastily, he would most likely not have been a match for Neferpitou.
Of course, it wasn't absolute, it just meant the chances of winning would be less than 50%
Neferpitou's advantage lay in her physical capabilities. Among all humans, no one could compare to her.
Next was the extraordinary vitality that came from her Chimera Ant nature which surpassed all the other individuals Oboro knew.
Her only weakness was her inexperience with Nen, and her relatively uncomplicated mind.
What he meant wasn't her combat mentality but her underestimation of the limits of the seemingly weak human race.
She didn't have enough knowledge about the real world. After all, she had just been born into this world
Oboro had planned everything with this in mind.
Focus on the weak spot!
"If this kind of creature doesn't die due to the plot, it would be truly difficult for the Hunter Association to control it alone" Oboro muttered as he lay on the ground, resting for a moment.
He just felt tired now and no longer concerned himself with the pain from the wounds on his body.
If Gon didn't unleash his transformation, Netero would be endangered by the Ant King, and the rest of the Association members would probably all die at Neferpitou's hands.
This Royal Guard was fundamentally different from Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi.
If Gon didn't transform, he would definitely die so, Neferpitou had to die.
Oboro closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes again, and said: "Now that Neferpitou is dead Gon is very likely not to transform, which will also have a certain impact on the subsequent plot, but it doesn't matter"
He smiled.
He had killed the Royal Guard that even Netero wasn't sure he could defeat
Whatever he wanted to accomplish, he had already done.
"Meruem"
Oboro repeated the name of the Ant King again.
The Ant King also had weaknesses.
It was a weakness shared by all the Chimera Ants, because those born from the Queen all contained human genes, which caused all ants, including Meruem to eventually develop "human" emotions and thoughts from the depths of their being. Even if he had never met Komugi, the Ant King would sooner or later change because of something or someone else.
This was their greatest weakness
If Meruem were truly a heartless machine, that would be a different story altogether.
And like Neferpitou, he underestimated the darkness within humanity and the complexity of this world.
Oboro slowly propped himself up, sat upright, and opened the system panel.
After waiting for a while, the values on the panel changed
Increased armor and magic power by 2 points.
Neferpitou's soul had been absorbed!
Although from a numerical perspective it was only 2 points
But the ghost fog that suddenly rose around his body underwent an astonishing transformation.
The fog began to thicken as if it had condensed into liquid.
The ghosts shuttling through it all grew larger, their limbs and faces becoming clearer. They were no longer illusory and blurry mixed with the dark and filthy aura of the curse, making each soul look extremely hideous. Some ghosts even exhibited abnormal changes in their limbs, resembling bizarre monsters.
The fog itself also changed from dark green to dark purple becoming more depressing and gloomy.
This was because the strength of his Nen had been qualitatively improved!
"Huh?"
Oboro raised his arm and found some fine textures appearing on his skin.
It had become tighter
He could feel that the defense of his skin and flesh had increased significantly but his powerful body seemed to have undergone some kind of transformation.
He looked at the panel, and the comprehensive attribute assessment representing physical strength was still that of a third-level superhuman.
"Is it my illusion?"
Oboro raised his eyebrows.
As for the ranking of "Nian," he jumped directly from 7th to 4th.
This meant that in the entire human world, there were only three people better than him in terms of Nen development, attainments, skills, strength, and other dimensions.
Oboro had already absorbed Kite's soul during the battle but the improvement wasn't as impressive as what he gained from Neferpitou!
Oboro deactivated his Nen ability, stood up, and glanced at Neferpitou's body beside him.
He turned around and left
He did not intend to take the body away, but to leave it along with Kite's remains for the Squadron Leaders
More than half an hour after he departed, several figures appeared on the battlefield where Oboro and Neferpitou had fought.
The newcomers were several Squadron Leaders headed by Colt.
They discovered that Neferpitou had disappeared and seemed to have sensed an enemy invasion
They hadn't been overly concerned at first but after so much time had passed and Neferpitou still hadn't returned, they began to grow slightly anxious.
Because based on their understanding of Neferpitou, there shouldn't have been any human beings who could take so long to defeat her. It was very likely that she had encountered some special situation. For example, the enemy might have been a group or an army Moreover, this place was not far from the ant nest, and some ants had sensed the aura and intensity of Neferpitou fighting with humans.
They hadn't taken it seriously at first but it had been quiet for so long, and Neferpitou hadn't returned.
Something was wrong
And when they saw the devastated landscape, they knew something had happened!
"That is"
The lobster-looking Squadron Leader, Brovada, suddenly spotted a figure lying on the ground and raised his claws tremblingly, his voice unstable.
"Impossible!"
Bihorn, Colt, and Peggy looked over and were instantly struck as if by lightning, their minds going blank.
"Dead Really dead?"
Peggy staggered forward and fell to the ground.
He saw clearly it was Neferpitou, the Royal Guard.
They were all acutely aware of Neferpitou's power. Just the aura she exuded made all the Squadron Leaders afraid to act rashly
Such a powerful being had actually died
The reality of Neferpitou's death existed beyond their imagination.
"There was only one enemy and it could only be human." Colt walked to the corpse with a pale face, muttering.
Neferpitou's death was somewhat strange.
One eye was blind, the other open with a dilated pupil.
Most importantly, although she had suffered some injuries, none appeared fatal.
This seemed so familiar
Colt recognized the pattern immediately.
A familiar figure instantly appeared in his mind.
That man in a suit the one who controlled the ghosts!
"It's him!"
Colt was speechless with shock.
As soon as he spoke, the other Squadron Leaders understood who he meant.
They had all thought the human had left After all, Neferpitou had been searching for him in her En territory for so long but couldn't find him.
At this moment, Bihorn suddenly picked up something from a distance.
It was a tattered suit jacket
"Where are the others?"
"So the other two are also dead" Peggy felt a chill run down his spine.
He was referring to the two Squadron Leaders who had gone out to capture human Nen users and died at Kite's hands.
"He must have escaped Even after killing Neferpitou, his condition is likely critical." After a moment's hesitation, Peggy regained his composure and said tremblingly, "If he weren't seriously injured, with that level of strength, he could have directly broken into the nest and slaughtered us!"
"Well should we pursue him while he's injured" Bihorn swallowed nervously.
He seemed a little uncertain.
"Judging from the time of Neferpitou's death, it has been a while. He left long ago." Colt's mood was heavy. "The body we found on the way here might be his companion but we've never seen it before. This means that humans have already launched an organized attack against us"
"We need to re-evaluate the level of danger humans pose!"
"How about we speak with the Queen and relocate our base if he returns again"
Bihorn said in alarm.
"Her Majesty is at the critical moment of giving birth to the King and cannot be moved at all"
Peggy responded.
For a moment, the four Squadron Leaders fell silent.
What were they to do?