Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

A sharp, piercing cry of a baby suddenly entered their ears!

Sherlock and Satya's gazes sharpened, their thoughts returning to the present moment, as they looked in the direction from which the sound had just come—

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, a figure shrouded in a wide black robe, head bowed and looking dazed, was slowly climbing the steps with an oil lamp in hand.

The oil lamp cast a dim, yellowish light, barely illuminating a patch of darkness, revealing only a small section of the person's clothing, through which the undulations could be vaguely seen.

The sharp, anxious cry of the baby came from beneath that wide black robe, as if it were from an ordinary mother with her child.

This would be normal under normal circumstances.

But at this moment, on a floor over a thousand stories high, it's quite unusual for someone like this to appear...

Satchuld didn't speak, but silently cast a questioning glance at Sherlock:

'what to do?'

The piercing cry of the baby echoed hollowly in the silence and darkness, adding a touch of eeriness to the abrupt scene before them.

Sherlock's eyes narrowed slightly as he decisively said:

"You run away, I'll wait for her here. If there's any trouble, I'll kill her too!"

"it is good."

Saqiu didn't dawdle; she hid in a corner of the room and began to regulate her breathing.

As his imposing aura gradually subsided, the cold glint in his eyes began to rise little by little. His right hand pressed against the long sword at his waist, awaiting a thunderous strike.

Before long, Saqiu was like an unmoving rock, staring intently at the stairwell.

In the Hunter's context, "kill me too" doesn't actually mean that your companions should kill you, but rather that you should go all out and not worry about me.

This is a kind of judgment that makes one confident they won't die even if attacked by a comrade.

Sherlock was clearly confident that he could survive Satchul's attack.

In the dim and damp stairwell, only Sherlock remained, the echoing cries of a baby constantly ringing in his ears.

"Waaah—"

The piercing cries grew louder and louder, and Sherlock vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Who made that sound?

He stared at the man in black robes, but he couldn't make out the shape of an infant from the undulations beneath the robes...

After a while, the man in black robes walked up the stairs to Sherlock's front and then stood there blankly.

Only now did Sherlock see clearly.

This is a middle-aged woman with a pale face.

Her face was dignified and noble, but her eyes were dull and lifeless. Her long black hair was inexplicably soaked with water and clung to her neck, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.

pat.

Her black robe fell heavily on the steps, making a heavy sound as the soaked clothes fell, and a few drops of water splashed out.

He couldn't see clearly from a distance, but now, by the light of the oil lamp, Sherlock could see that the woman's black robe was completely soaked with a strange liquid.

"Waaah—"

She suddenly opened her mouth and squeezed out a familiar cry from her throat in pain.

Those sharp, piercing cries actually came from this woman's mouth!

Looking at the woman who kept making baby-like cries, Sherlock was completely bewildered and could only tentatively ask:

"who are you?"

At the same time, he quietly gathered his Nen energy into his right hand, ready to activate his ability at any moment.

The woman froze on the spot, then her lips trembled as she spoke, seemingly in great fear:

"That's not my child..."

Her gaze was unfocused and filled with fear. Although she was looking at Sherlock, it gave the impression that she was looking into the far, far distance.

"...What child?"

Sherlock glanced in Satchul's direction and continued to ask.

"……he."

The woman in the black robe murmured softly, as if in a dream, and suddenly reached out and unfastened the black robe covering her chest.

The black robe fell to the ground, revealing what she had hidden in her chest.

She leaned down mysteriously, cradling the thing in her arms, and exposed it to Sherlock like a thief, completely disregarding her exposed chest and skin.

It was as if it were some rare treasure.

Sherlock's eyes, hidden beneath his hood, narrowed slightly, completely ignoring the woman's exposed skin, and fixed his gaze on what was in the crook of her arm—

It was a mahogany pillow.

"...I entered the palace when I was 21. His Majesty favored me seven times. After many hardships, I finally gave birth to him..."

The woman in the black robe continued talking to herself, staring at the mahogany pillow, her eyes seemingly overflowing with despair and pain:

"My child, why don't you say anything?"

"You should be as strong and healthy as the eldest queen's son, with outstanding talent, and eventually become the king of Kakin..."

"Don't you want to be king? Look at your elder brother, people call him the greatest king now, while we can only be boiled into soup!"

Her voice suddenly rose, and her eyes flashed with resentment and hatred:

"Nasby! You promised me! Why, why did you have to kill us all..."

In an instant, a surge of spiritual energy erupted from the woman in black robes, rushing out in all directions like a tsunami!

Clang!

A crisp sword sound rang out instantly, and a bright sword light leaped out from the darkness, illuminating the room as bright as day in an instant.

The sword light tore through the darkness, carrying an unparalleled momentum, and cleaved the black-robed woman in two in one swift motion!

Saqiu lunged forward with his knife, about to swing it again and slash the strange woman into a pulp.

"Gurgle..."

A strange cry rang out.

The woman's two severed body parts melted instantly and coalesced into a 2-meter-tall monkey-faced spider-shaped Nen beast!

Oh!

Saqiu's sword did not pause at all, and struck the mind beast directly!

However, the imagined scene of being cut in two did not occur.

On the contrary, Saqiu felt a faint sticky sensation coming from the edge of the longsword in his hand.

Just as the sword blade was about to touch the beast's body, it stopped abruptly in mid-air!

It was as if his knife was stuck by some invisible force.

'The slash isn't working?'

Saqiu frowned, and without hesitation, drew his sword and leaped backward, dodging an attack launched by the Nian Beast.

The attack was powerful and heavy, even creating a strong gust of wind. Needless to say, it was best not to meet that kind of attack head-on.

Just as his newfound strength dissipated in mid-air and his remaining power had not yet been generated.

A vivid, playful expression flashed across the monkey's face!

'not good! '

Saqiu sensed something was wrong and a strong sense of unease rose within him.

Swish!

The next moment, the monkey-faced beast suddenly grinned.

A long, red tongue shot out at incredible speed, piercing through Saqiu's head with a whooshing sound!

"go back!"

Upon seeing this, Sherlock's eyes narrowed, and he hurriedly shouted, flicking a white light from his fingertip that landed on Saqiu.

The moment the white light shot out, Sherlock's right index finger vanished silently, as if it had never existed.

Saqiu's figure froze in mid-air.

Before the expression on his face had faded, his figure vanished little by little, like a bubble in the sunlight.

At the same time, another figure, Saqiu, suddenly jumped out from the corner where he had been hiding, looking at the Nian Beast with a look of surprise and uncertainty on his face.

'Its speed is incredible, its power is terrifying, and slashing attacks have no effect on it. How is this kind of Nen beast manifested?'

"Go! Run uphill!"

Sherlock roared at him.

Before making any move, he turned his head and glanced behind the spirit beast.

There seems to be... something there?

But there was no time to think about all that now. Sherlock took the lead, went into the secret passage he had come from, and began to climb frantically upwards!

boom! boom! boom!

The relentless thud of footsteps behind them continued unabated. The raging beast, disregarding everything, sent dozens of its limbs slamming against the walls and steps, shooting up the spiral staircase like arrows, chasing after the two fleeing individuals.

The distance is gradually decreasing.

If things continue like this, it's only a matter of time before they're caught up.

But Sherlock seemed oblivious to the fact that he was being chased, his mind focused solely on calculating the number of floors he had climbed.

3rd floor, 5th floor, 11th floor...

'On the ceiling of the chandelier, under the flowerpot, behind the poster in room 3, 30 meters from the ventilation duct opening…'

Following his memory, Sherlock retraced his steps through the secret passage and the fork in the road.