Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 425 The Intimidating Power of Morrow
The appearance of the star icon was quite sudden.

This inadvertently deepened Neferpitou's inexplicable unease.

But she quickly calmed down and realized that the appearance of the star must be related to the changes in Peijing City.

This refers to the swift annihilation of the puppet army of ability users she controlled.

"The ordinary soldier puppets maintaining order in Peijing City have been completely wiped out, and the hundred ability user soldiers I sent there afterward were also dealt with in an instant."

Neferbitt raised his hand to gently touch his cheek, but could not feel any star at all.

Meeting Xiao Yapuf's questioning gaze, she gave a brief explanation followed by a calm analysis:

"The mark that suddenly appeared on my face is likely transferred by a human ability user who destroyed a puppet, but its specific function is still difficult to determine, meow."

The destruction of the ability user puppet and the appearance of the star mark occurred almost simultaneously, and this connection provided her with a basic direction for speculation.

Oyapuf glanced at the star mark, which was mostly obscured by Neferpitou's hand, and speculated, "With such low transfer difficulty, it can at least be ruled out as an ability of 'forced manipulation' or 'direct damage'."

At this point, he crossed his arms and gazed in the direction of Peijing City.

"Besides, there are plenty of experts in the human camp. Losing only a hundred ability users is nothing to panic about."

"..."

Neferpitou's panic was certainly not due to the loss of the hundred Devil Fruit user puppets, but she did not specifically explain this to Oyapouf.

After a silence of about two seconds, she shifted her gaze from Xiao Yapuf's calm and composed face to the distant outline of Peijing City, and asked:

"So what should we do now? Should we just let humans run rampant in Peijing City?"

"Yes, we don't need to worry about it for now."

Xiao Yapuf said calmly, "After all, we can't leave the palace, and the puppets we sent are not very effective, so staying put is the best option at present."

"Then what about choosing a date?"

Neferbitt immediately followed up with more questions.

Choosing the day is a crucial step for the ant colony as it marches from East Godot into the world, and it is also the starting point for accumulating its initial military strength.

Upon hearing this, Oyapuf sneered: "Neferpitou, your concerns are exactly what those human ability users want to see. Don't worry, nothing is immutable."

"what do you mean……"

Neferpitou understood, his eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "Change the selection date, meow?"

"Yes."

Xiao Yapu said calmly:
“Wang has recently become obsessed with military chess and has not paid much attention to the selection process. Even if we suggest postponing it due to bad weather, he will readily agree. This will give us more time to wait for the flesh eggs in the flesh tree garden to hatch.”

"Is this so..."

Neferpitou rested his chin on his fingertips and nodded, saying, "I don't mind, meow."

The remaining four hundred ability user puppets in the central courtyard are the first batch of experimental products hastily produced.

Even if they were put back into Peijing City, they wouldn't have any effect.

But the subsequent unhatched eggs are all more mature soldiers.

Therefore, as long as you don't focus on choosing a specific day, you can patiently wait for all 4500 remaining eggs to hatch.

This would naturally alleviate the manpower shortage, make it easier to get rid of those troublesome humans, and allow the selection day to proceed again.

After abandoning his efforts to deal with the unrest in Peijing City, Neferpitou focused on maintaining the "circle" state.

Xiao Yapuf did not leave immediately, but instead lowered his head and pondered.

He had just mentioned military chess, and it was impossible not to think of the woman who was playing chess with the king.

"Wang will win sooner or later, there's no need to overthink it."

Xiao Yapuv thought to himself silently.

………………

High in the clouds.

The Zoldyck family's monsters soar through the sky.

Netero and Zeno stood on the back of the monster.

In a few moments, Zeno will use Dragon Stars to attack the palace, forcibly triggering a reaction from his personal guards.

Netero would then decide whether to divide the battlefield depending on the situation, with the best outcome being to directly knock Neferpitou away from the palace.

Zeno stood against the wind, hands behind his back, and suddenly asked, "Was the condition you made when you gave up the Ant King serious?"

"Heh heh, do you think I would joke about something like this?"

Netero smiled and asked a question in return.

Zeno frowned, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

He knew Netero's temperament and style well, and understood that any persuasion would be futile in front of him.

Netero stroked his trimmed beard and said slowly:
“In the old days, there were only two paths for martial artists: either they broke through and became stronger in battle, or they perished in battle. The difference between Maha and me may not only stem from the Jag incident... but also from the fact that our beliefs were fundamentally different.”

Upon hearing this, Zeno remained silent for a long while.

"These days are different."

He sighed softly.

Netero, however, seemed not to understand the true meaning of his words, or perhaps he deliberately misinterpreted them.

"Yes."

The elderly martial artist responded in this way, his gaze still fixed on the distance.

Zeno looked at him and said, "I don't think Moro will take your offer seriously."

"Oh..."

Netero couldn't help but sigh softly, saying, "That is indeed a problem."

………………

Due to Moro's intervention after the time travel, Netero was able to get into position ahead of schedule, and the entire operation plan was also brought forward.

This means that if they attack the palace in advance, they won't have to wait for the unexpected event of the Ant King cutting off his own arm.

On the other hand, without Moro's act of breaking into the palace alone, Owlapf would not have improved his Nen ability.

And those ability-wielding puppets inside the palace are unlikely to become an asset to the direct guards.

This can indirectly reduce the pressure of battle after the expeditionary force enters the palace.

All the events that occurred before the backtracking will lead to drastically different results depending on the choices made.

Morrow's advocacy for an early attack stemmed from a desire to increase the margin for error.

He no longer has the chance to go back, and the energy of the fourth ring of the tree is now fixed at 96%.

In order to deal with possible variables and to resolve the incident as perfectly as possible, he pushed the expeditionary force to launch a general offensive ahead of schedule.

In this way, even if there are setbacks or failures to resolve critical points, enough time can be freed up for emergency response.

For example, resetting a new dead node.

So, starting from the day he defeated Hisoka in retrospect, he invested a lot of money and used his connections to help collect items imbued with the spirit of death.

This preparation may not actually come in handy, but since it's something that can be easily arranged, it's always good to have an extra layer of security.

Once all preparations were complete, Morrow had only one thing on his mind before the final battle.

That is to preserve the best possible condition.

Looking back at the previous all-out attack, in terms of results, he did indeed kill both Shayapov and Neferpitou.

But before he officially entered the game, his condition had already deteriorated somewhat.

Although upgrading can restore some of the potential energy, it only restores energy and cannot alleviate mental fatigue.

In other words, he has a strong willpower, which is why he can maintain his level of performance in high-intensity combat.

Even a taut rope is not immune to the risk of breaking at any time.

Now, Moro needs to be in good condition to face the Ant King, so he should avoid doing anything unnecessary.

The time for the final offensive arrived quickly.

In the sky, black clouds hung low like giant hands, almost touching the palace spire.

A cold wind howled past, stirring up clouds of dust. A sense of impending doom seemed to be brewing in the thick air.

To get to the palace from Peijing City, one needs to cross a bridge spanning the moat at the far end, and then travel several kilometers along the desolate land to reach the vicinity of the palace.

Moro walked across the bridge alone, striding towards the palace against the wind and sand.

His presence quickly attracted Neferpitou and Oyapuv, who were atop the palace-like tower.

After Moro's appearance was clearly seen, the circle of red psychic energy that enveloped the palace suddenly rippled.

This phenomenon corresponds to fluctuations in one's emotional state.

"It's him!"

Neferpitou straightened his upper body somewhat awkwardly, a wary and solemn look appearing in his red beast eyes.

It wasn't just because she sensed a strange familiarity from Moro's aura, but also because she was wary of Moro's ranged attack methods.

This made it very difficult for her to suppress the idea of ​​taking the initiative and striking first.

"Neferbitt, calm down."

Xiao Yapu also saw the aura that shot into the sky like flames over the desolate land. His face tightened slightly, but he didn't react as strongly as Neferpitou.

Even without Yapf's prompting, Neferbitt was able to quickly control his emotional fluctuations and calm down.

This is to better respond to the situation ahead and ensure that the duties of the direct guards can be fulfilled to the fullest extent.

However, after calming down, Neferpitou decisively put away the circle and entered a ready-to-activate state.

This behavior can be considered the greatest respect for Moro.

Seeing that she had put away the circle, and glancing at the powerful aura released by Moro, Xiao Yapuf didn't say anything.

"The wind direction is just right."

He observed the dust and sand sweeping towards Morrow, and as it flew over the Midgard, he quietly released bursts of fine powder from beneath him.

Neferpitou and Owl Yapf, focused on Morro, failed to notice that bumblebees were flying into the palace one after another from their blind spots.

These bumblebees' mission remains the same: to pinpoint the exact location of the ant queen as quickly as possible.

Even if the Ant King eventually discovers it and destroys it instantly.

As long as you can catch a glimpse of the Ant King, the mission is considered complete.

The desolate land outside the palace.

Moro slowed his pace, but his aura gradually increased.

As the energy surged, it was imbued with a pale red glow, and wisps of black death energy flickered within it like electric arcs.

Guided by his will, the surging energy flowed like rivers flowing into the sea, rapidly converging towards his right hand.

In an instant, a radiant serpent slingshot took shape.

Immediately afterwards, a fluorescent green light burst forth from the depths of the teleportation bullet, instantly engulfing all other colors.

That's the unique color of "Fake Star".

It was also an undisguised declaration of war openly revealed to the enemy.

As Moro slowly approached, his energy steadily accumulating, Neferpitou at the top of the palace tower could no longer contain himself.

She was very impressed by the splitting effect of Morrow's ranged attack.

To avoid repeating the same mistake, she had to be prepared to intercept the attack directly with her body before it split apart.

In stark contrast to Neferpitou's apprehension, Xiao Yapufu remained calm, calculating in his mind how long it would take for the scales to drift away with the wind, and also anticipating Neferpitou's next move.

The conclusion is...

Even if Neferpitou intervenes, it won't affect his tactic of using the sandstorm as cover to hypnotize Morrow with scales.

In his view, unless Moro takes precautions beforehand, the plan has a very high success rate.

So instead of stopping Neferpitou, he hoped she could distract Moreo as much as possible.

With his two bodyguards on high alert, Moro raised his hand and fired a deceptive flying star.

Upon seeing this, Neferpitou's pupils suddenly contracted.

Regarding the ability to use it...

I can definitely intercept it easily now!

"Kuroko's Dance"

The moment the red phantom appeared, Neferpitou had already shattered the top of the tower beneath his feet.

boom!
Gravel flew everywhere and smoke filled the air.

Neferpitou shot out like a twisted arrow, heading straight for the deceptive flying star that was flying into the sky.

This time she was even faster, and there was no hesitation in her aura, only absolute confidence in her own abilities.

However, what happened the next moment
But it made her pupils tremble with disbelief.

In the extreme sensation of flying at super high speed, she actually saw that Moro, who was also suddenly accelerating on the ground, also had a red phantom image of "Kuroko Maisou" appear around him.

"That's...my ability!?"

In an instant, the shock of her cognition being crushed by violence, along with her previous worries about the star, completely tore apart her "calmness".

She even wondered if she was hallucinating.

The only certainty was that the ominous premonition in my heart was growing wildly.

This also made her realize in an instant that Moro's target was the king in the palace!
"Should we use the 'Toy Repairer's' restraint to stop this attack? But what if we fail to stop it..."

Panic, hesitation, fear, shock... a flood of emotions surged forth, and Neferpitou's confidence, which overflowed from the source of his power, dimmed completely at this moment.

Meanwhile, Moro, the instigator, was already moving like a red lightning bolt towards the palace ahead, fueled by Kuroko's speed boost.

Although Oyapuf was also shocked by the fact that Moro could use "Kuroko's Dance", it did not affect his determination to maintain the tactical plan.

Because the scales were indeed carried by the wind and sand to the area around Moro.

He was confident that he could get Morrow hooked, and at the same time, he could use the scale powder's reading ability to further confirm the results.

This must be what they call an ability that kills at first sight.

Xiao Yapuf was extremely confident.

"Ok?"

But the next moment, Xiao Yapuf was slightly taken aback.

Why is there absolutely no feedback from Aiquan regarding the powder?
To his surprise, a glint of psychic power suddenly appeared in his eyes.

An arc of spiritual energy was hurtling towards them at an astonishing speed.

"Attack? No... it's something like a 'round' shape, but it's extremely fast!"

Before Xiao Yapufu could react, the thin, tentacle-like Nen aura had already enveloped him.

He did not sense any threat from this spiritual energy.

So just as he was defining this energy as "round," a golden chain appeared out of thin air and firmly imprisoned his body.

"What!?"

Xiao Yapf's pupils suddenly contracted.

He realized that the tactical plan had failed, and then he saw Moreau ignore him, sweep past the courtyard, and head straight for the palace in the central area.

His goal is to become king!

For the first time, Yapf's face contorted with rage.

Neferpitou and Owlapf, who were directly under Neferpitou's command, were directly threatened by a human who brazenly crossed their defenses and was inside the palace.

This represents the result of "dereliction of duty," and the abilities that Moro displayed in their instant encounter naturally brought an indescribable psychological impact to the two direct guards.

The consequence is that, after the initial shock, it brings an immense, invisible pressure to their mental well-being.

This is also the result Moro wanted to see.

Before facing the Ant King, he used his "manipulation" to gain as many combat advantages as possible for his teammates.

(End of this chapter)