Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

After that, he didn't bother with it anymore and went back to town to rest for a while.

During this time,

Although he had been hearing news reports of accidental deaths or sightings of wild animals, Musketeer Man had not seen any reports of giant ants or humanoid ants.

Still feeling uneasy, he picked a day to come for a check-up.

Ants are among the strongest creatures in nature, easily moving food and objects much larger than themselves; when they swarm together, they become even more formidable.

'Chimera ants, as a first-level isolated species, are enough to cause ant plagues even without guidance, let alone ants of that size.'

pat.

The musketeer raised his rifle, lay down on the ground, and looked into the distance through the scope.

In the shot, a long, black plume of smoke drifts into the sky.

Through the gaps in the leaves, the musketeer saw... blood and severed limbs!

The musketeer narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance:

"Was the village massacred? Those ants actually have this kind of intelligence. It's really infuriating. They're just animals."

Clearly, the massacre of this village was the work of that alien chimera queen ant, who probably gave birth to sappers.

A few minutes later.

The musketeer arrived at the massacred village.

As expected, the village was deserted.

"That is……"

Suddenly, the musketeer noticed something that shouldn't be there—

A piece of coral.

'Coral from the ocean? Judging from the marks on it, it must have been brought ashore by someone.'

The man with the musket frowned as he picked up the piece of coral and sniffed it.

There was a bloody smell and a strange odor.

The musketeer, a beast hunter, had smelled this scent before; it was the smell produced when a large number of chimera ants gathered.

Clearly, this piece of coral comes from the area where those chimera ants are now gathered.

'Coral, huh? The coastline is indeed within a dozen miles. Does that mean they're hiding in some near-shore cave, or…?'

The musketeer's mind raced, and his alertness was at its peak.

"There's no use in daydreaming now. The most urgent thing is to confirm the status of the chimera ant colony and find their nest first."

Click!

The musket-wielding man loaded two large, black and yellow bullets into his musket and carefully inspected the chamber and the bullet belt on his body.

'Fully prepared, let's go!'

puff!

The musketeer slung his musket over his back, stomped the ground, and dashed into the jungle like lightning, disappearing without a trace in a few leaps.

Behind him.

Only the blood-soaked village, the desolate and empty houses, and the mournful cawing of a few crows seemed to be telling of unspeakable resentment.

Chapter 462 NGL×Diplomacy

In the jungle.

The figure carrying a musket galloped through the foliage, his bright Nen energy surging around him, making his speed quite astonishing.

Suddenly, the man stopped, slowed down, and finally came to a stop in front of a large, broken rock.

His gaze lingered on the stone for a moment, then shifted to look in a certain direction.

'The stone was deliberately broken, and it was broken not long ago.'

The man made a decision instantly—

Those chimera ants that attacked the village must be nearby!

This judgment was made based on a detail.

"A light rain fell in this area half an hour ago, but there's no water in the depression where the rock was broken, indicating that the rock must have been shattered recently. Such force can basically rule out the presence of local residents."

Then it can only be those chimera ants.

"Phew... So I didn't go the wrong way. It seems I, Horus, do have some luck."

The man carrying the musket whistled easily, a smug expression on his face.

Now that we've confirmed the ants are nearby, the rest is much easier...

boom! !

A loud bang rang out without warning!

Suddenly, the ground behind Horus burst open, and a hideous and terrifying black shadow leaped out!

In an instant, sand and stones flew everywhere!

"babble!!"

The shadowy figure revealed its true form: a giant humanoid ant with enormous, terrifying mandibles, emitting a deafening shriek!

In the next instant, his right arm suddenly swung with tremendous force, as if a thousand pounds of power were poured into it, and slammed it toward Horus's head!

A fierce gust of wind swept towards Horus's face, but Horus remained unfazed, his gaze sharpening instead:

"Finally out! No wonder I felt uneasy and couldn't find the enemy; they were hiding underground!"

Horus leaned back decisively, dodging the giant ant's powerful slap with a graceful, swooping motion!

The fierce wind generated by the ant's slap fluttered his clothes, demonstrating the immense power of the blow.

The next moment, he flipped his right wrist and reached behind him, and the exquisitely designed musket that he had been carrying on his back was now firmly in his hand.

"babble!!"

The giant ant's seemingly inevitable sneak attack suddenly missed its target, causing it to lose its balance and nearly fall to the ground.

After it frantically thrashed its limbs to regain its balance, before it could even catch its breath, its compound eyes instinctively looked to its side—

The dark muzzle of the gun was already pointed at its face.

Horus, holding his gun, said calmly:

"If you can launch a sneak attack, then that proves you're intelligent. Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"babble!!"

The giant ant ignored the gun pointed at it and turned around, ready to pounce on Horuchs again!

puff! !

The gun suddenly spat out a fan-shaped red tongue of fire, like a dragon spitting flames, and slammed it hard into the upper half of the ant's body!

In an instant, the flames, carrying a powerful impact, shattered the ant's upper body, scattering fragments of its scales like petals from a fairy's shower, leaving it utterly dead!

'It has some intelligence, but far from it; it seems to be just an ordinary soldier ant.'

According to the biological habits of chimera ants, they should lay a large number of soldier ants before finding a place to build a nest, and then migrate along the way, eating as they go.

Once a suitable nesting site is found, the chimera ant will produce building ants and build the nest at an astonishing speed. After that, the chimera ant's appetite will reach its peak and it will no longer move.

Horus glanced in the direction he had come from:

'The line connecting the village to here runs from east to west. As long as the ant colony continues its migration in this direction, it will leave the Republic of Localio and enter NGL in a few days.'

Since that's the case, there's no need to observe further, lest we alert them and force them to take another route.

Horus pondered for a moment, the surging Nen energy around him gradually subsiding. He then slung the musket back over his shoulder and turned back the way he came.

'In a few days, I'll pretend to issue another quest, inviting three...five groups of amateur hunters to investigate NGL, and then conveniently lure in professional hunters...'

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked down at the ant fragments scattered on the ground, bent down, picked up a piece, and stuffed it into his pocket.

If an amateur hunter is wiped out and the news doesn't even reach the Hunter Association, then this fragment can be used to lure out professional hunters from the biological field.

Double insurance ensures absolute safety.

Horuges' meticulous thinking is fully demonstrated.

Before leaving, he glanced at a tree trunk, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

"Oh."

A few minutes later.

His figure completely disappeared into the jungle.

On the tree trunk where Horus had looked, a green figure gradually changed from transparent to solid, carefully crouching on the trunk and watching the direction Horus had left.

The green figure, dressed in a light gray jumpsuit, resembled a giant human chameleon, its face filled with terror and its forehead covered in cold sweat.

That human glanced at me before leaving!

'There's no mistake, his gaze is fixed on me, not on anything else noteworthy!'

'How can he see me? Even other division commanders shouldn't be able to see through me now that I'm transparent...'

'And what he's holding is a weapon called a "firearm," isn't it? I've seen it with other humans before, but the power of that one is incomparable to this one.'

'Moreover, his speed, reaction time, and so on far surpass anything I've ever heard of or seen before. Is it because of that… the [life force] wrapped around him?'

Merleon, the commander of the Chameleon Division, witnessed Horus easily annihilating the lower-ranking soldier ant.

He was even standing extremely close, feeling the furious flames spewing from the musket.

That kind of power,

That's more than enough to kill him!