Hunter x Hunter: Card Master, the Strongest in the World.

Sluk did not know when he was born.

All it knows is... that flesh and blood are delicious.

About two years ago, it developed self-awareness. At that time, it was just a vine about two meters long and could do very little.

By chance, it followed its inner desires, burrowed into the body of a snow fox killed by explorers, devoured its flesh and blood, and grew stronger...

Only then did it realize that it could become stronger by absorbing flesh and blood, and that it could control empty corpses.

At first, it could only hunt some animals and couldn't speak.

After a long period of accumulation, it set its sights on a creature with a high content of flesh and blood—humans.

After successfully consuming a person, it not only experiences a significant power boost but can also begin to move as the deceased.

Its thinking has become more and more active, and it can even speak and has a certain learning ability.

It usually disguises itself as an explorer from Mount Krusk and often wanders around the ice and snow maze... but it doesn't dare to go too far from here.

Later, it encountered its first extraordinary "person".

It didn't look like a "human," but rather some kind of monster.

That's what it thought when it first met.

The man had the same appearance as a human, but the aura he exuded was more terrifying than that of the fiercest wild beast.

It can only try its best to pretend to be a normal person.

Fortunately, it was lucky and its identity was not exposed.

The second time I encountered this kind of "person" was in an expedition team.

This "person" was not as imposing as the previous one. He had an accident while exploring the ice and snow maze and died here.

It suppressed its inner desires and only returned to devour flesh and blood after everyone else had left.

To this day, it still considers it to be the most delicious food in the world.

none of them!

After devouring flesh and blood, its abilities in all aspects underwent an astonishing leap.

Later, it possessed the other person's corpse and began to act in his name, only to discover that this "person" had a unique name.

Those with the ability to read!

This is a special kind of being among humans, possessing terrifying power and being extremely rare.

In order to devour more Nen users' corpses, it used the treasure found in the Ice and Snow Maze to set a trap, and then invited other Nen users to form a team to explore it together, posing as a Nen user.

As for the so-called "treasure compass," it was just a glowing stone that it picked up casually; it had no Nen ability whatsoever.

Unsurprisingly, when those people find the treasure, they will all fight each other to the death.

They wait until the enemy is out of sorts before striking to reap the rewards... They've been using this process for a long time.

Greed—that's the worst trait in human nature!

Because it originated from the icy maze of Mount Krusk, it gave itself a name.

Reversing the order of "Krus" gives you "Sluk".

……

Inside the ice cave.

Deathly silence.

A gentle breeze swept by, carrying a biting chill that made Eugene, lying on the ground, shiver involuntarily.

He has now barely recovered from his suited state to his normal form, but due to the severity of his injuries, he remains paralyzed on the ground, unable to move.

The pain assaulted his brain every moment, but he paid no attention to himself, staring intently at the inhuman "Sluk," his face filled with horror, a chill running through his entire body.

Are you kidding me?

Sluk isn't human?!

Is the leader of this team a self-aware plant?

Even the well-traveled Eugene was stunned by what he saw and found it hard to accept.

There are all sorts of magical beasts living on the six continents, but I've never heard of a monster that can live normally while wearing human skin!

On the other hand, Lynn had already silently categorized Sluk as a "disaster" in his mind.

This world is full of so many novel things.

The most special category, especially those things with miraculous effects and extremely high value, is called "hope".

It includes nitroglycerin, which can prolong life; vanilla, which can cure all diseases; and three-source water, which can be used as the original liquid for all liquids...

Every kind of hope has amazing value, but it is difficult to obtain because most of them exist in the Dark Continent.

There, hope is often accompanied by disaster.

The opposite of hope is disaster.

They could bring countless negative impacts to humanity, and it's even possible that they could destroy the six continents on which humanity depends for survival.

For example, the Hellish Bell Twin-Tailed Serpent that spreads murderous intent, and the desire-dependent entity "Ai" that can drive people insane and cause them to kill each other...

In the bizarre and dark continent, even accidentally stepping on and killing an insect can lead to unpredictable and tragic consequences.

Even when the strongest group of humans ventured out together, the odds were almost always against them, and very few of them managed to return to the six continents alive.

Because the Dark Continent was too terrifying, the higher-ups blocked this information, and ordinary people were unaware of the truth of the world.

Only those with Nen abilities have the opportunity to learn about this.

The higher authorities also formulated a "Hazardous Organism Assessment Table" based on information from various sources, which defines the intensity of the "disaster" based on factors such as the ferocity of the organisms, their numbers, and their reproductive capacity.

For example, the chimeric ant, which appeared in the original work, is classified as a Class B dangerous creature.

Lynn roughly estimated that Sluk was probably only a D-rank, but even so, dealing with him might be quite troublesome.

This explains why Sluk seemed off before.

The reason he invited the unfamiliar Nen user to join his team was because he considered him as sustenance... just adding another dish to the table.

Let's test the waters first, and if things don't work out, then we'll back down!

The thought flashed through Lynn's mind like lightning, but his hands kept moving.

A large amount of cold air suddenly surged from between his hands, taking shape in the air.

Immediately, five eagles formed from ice blocks rushed straight toward the humanoid Sluk, and the cries of the eagles could be faintly heard!

【Ice-themed Design: Great Eagle】!

"Instead of running away, they're attacking me?"

Sluk’s shrill voice rang out, a sound that was extremely unpleasant, as if it were coming from multiple directions and overlapping.

At that time, Sluk was simply made up of countless intertwined vines, roughly in the shape of a human, with simple limbs and an abstract face.

Faced with the approaching giant eagles, Sluk simply raised his "right hand," and countless vines shot out, piercing through the three giant eagles.

The giant eagle shattered into ice shards, which scattered on the ground before disappearing.

"Hmm?" Sluk scoffed. "Meaningless!"

Two other large eagles, under Lynn's control, narrowly dodged the attack and flew in graceful arcs through the air, attacking it from the left and right.

Sluk neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the giant eagle to strike him.

boom!

The giant eagle exploded, and in an instant, a chill spread, tearing its vines apart. One broken vine after another fell to the ground... Sluk visibly shrank.

In the blink of an eye, the severed vine of Sluk rapidly grew back to its original state.

It has amazing self-healing abilities!

Lynn narrowed his eyes slightly... High attack, low defense, high recovery?

This is tricky.