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

Chapter 279 S-Rank Guild Crest! The Evolved Ant King!

A gentle breeze swept across the dilapidated field.

A nearby hill made of rubble lost its balance and collapsed with a loud thud, breaking the deathly silence.

The Ant King forced himself to stand upright, his body still emitting wisps of smoke from the intense heat of the fire. His eyes were fixed on Lynn, trying to at least maintain some semblance of dignity in the end.

It was the king, the king raised up by the chimera ant race, who had never imagined that one day he would be defeated or even die.

But the harsh reality before it slapped its proud face hard, and even if it was unwilling to admit it, it had to admit that it was indeed inferior to Lynn.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at their appearances at this moment reveals the difference between them.

After a fierce battle, Lynn had only used up a lot of his Nen energy, and the Nen energy on his body surface was significantly reduced, making his aura slightly disordered.

At the same time, his clothes were torn in several places, but there were no obvious injuries, showing that he was in complete control.

In contrast, it now struggles to even stand up.

High judgment.

It lost, but it still retained the dignity of a king, preferring to die standing rather than lying on the ground.

Not to mention begging for mercy, it never even considered such a thing.

Seeing Lynn looking at it so calmly, the Ant King's throat tightened, suppressing the urge to cough up blood, and his voice was hoarse and low: "Although I am unwilling, you are right, I did underestimate humans."

"You are stronger than me. It's a dog-eat-dog world. You have the right to take my life."

The Ant King was not fond of speaking, and given his severe injuries, the fact that he uttered those two sentences was because they were his last words before death; if he didn't speak, he would never have the chance again, and they expressed his innermost feelings.

After speaking, the Ant King closed his eyes, awaiting the moment of death.

"Are we just going to give up like this?"

"Indeed, your current strength is too weak."

"King Ant, you can't be this weak."

Lynn crossed his arms, looked at the Ant King, and slowly spoke.

The Ant King opened his eyes, frowning. "Why haven't you made your move yet? Are you deliberately humiliating me at this last moment?"

Lynn shrugged, looking like she was doing it all for his own good, but a smile still lingered on her lips: "No, don't misunderstand."

"On the contrary, I'm a very kind person. Seeing that you're at a loss, I've specially prepared a winning strategy for you."

"This is a golden opportunity, we can't let it go to waste."

What's the winning strategy?

The ant king's confusion didn't last long; it soon knew what Lynn was referring to.

With a slight thought, Lynn produced a golden key in his hand. He twisted it in the void, and suddenly a spatial passage appeared on the field.

He then took out a specially prepared container from his treasure trove, which was almost entirely filled with a dark mixture.

It's basically solid and pre-processed. At first glance, it looks like an extra-large compressed biscuit, but the texture is more like a meat paste made of vegetables and meat.

The moment the object appeared, the King Ant's gaze fell upon it, fixed on it intently, unwilling to look away for even a moment.

Its eyes were filled with extreme desire, and every cell in its body was screaming, making it almost impossible for it to control its body.

If it weren't for its severe injuries, limited mobility, and the last vestiges of its rationality, it would probably have rushed out in an instant, just to devour all the delicious food in the container.

To others, this container holds an unknown, eerie substance; but to it, it contains the world's number one...

tasty!

The rich aroma wafted over, whetting its appetite.

Especially when it is in poor condition and urgently needs to recover through eating, the food becomes even more attractive.

As expected, it was irresistible—a look of delight flashed across Lynn's eyes. He knew that the Ant King would not be able to remain indifferent after seeing this feast.

After all, this is made up of extremely luxurious "ingredients," a special "evolutionary meal" prepared for the Ant King!

It is mainly composed of the corpses of gold and silver ingots, the corpses of Mahana, and some high-grade ingredients. It contains a considerable amount of nutrients, which would make even the Ant King drool.

"Don't be shy, eat whatever you want."

"This was prepared especially for you."

"I happen to know a little about your abilities; you can enhance your strength by consuming high-energy substances, right?"

"This is my guide to winning!"

"You can probably sense how much energy is contained in this."

"As long as you eat it, you'll definitely get a huge boost!"

"It depends on whether you're willing or not."

Lynn spread his hands and roared at the ant king before him, "Eat it, and you'll have another chance to fight and win!"

"That is the full power you truly possess as the Ant King!"

What is this guy saying?!

Is he serious?!

The ant king froze, caught off guard by this sudden turn of events, its mind struggling to process what was happening.

They are clearly enemies.

It's a situation where the goal is to kill the other person.

Lynn had clearly won, yet he offered it a precious delicacy to help it improve its strength, and then—

Kill Lynn?

Was he trying to commit suicide? Why would he do something like that?

Or is there a deadly poison in the food that they want to kill it?

Lynn could have easily killed it with a single blow; there was no need for such trouble.

That leaves only one explanation.

The Ant King looked at Lynn with a complicated expression, his lips moved slightly, but he didn't say anything, only subconsciously clenching his fist.

It's likely that Lynn had no other intentions than simply not having satisfied his fighting spirit and wanting to find a worthy opponent to settle things with, which is why he helped it in this way.

This is the only explanation.

But this also made it even more uncomfortable, because it meant that it was too weak in Lynn's eyes, so weak that he couldn't enjoy it to the point that he had to actively help it improve its strength.

At the same time, Lynn had a high degree of confidence in his own strength, which is why he allowed it to continue evolving.

Besides—did he already foresee that he would be inferior to him? The Ant King's heart sank. He recalled that Lynn had just said that this was specially prepared for him, which meant that the other party had planned this all along.

Indeed, someone with that kind of strength would be so confident as to believe that the outcome was already predetermined, right?

but!

Lynn's mistake was giving it a second chance!

The ant king lowered his head, his eyes flashing with anger, his inner resentment about to materialize and be vented at this moment.

Since Lynn is so confident that it is no match for it even after evolving, it will prove Lynn wrong, give him the perfect answer, defeat him, and shatter his confidence!

"You said I was too arrogant—now it seems I don't deserve that compliment; your arrogance surpasses mine."

The Ant King gave Lynn a deep look, then limped over like a crippled old man, slowly walked to the container, sat down cross-legged, and unconsciously swallowed as he looked at the exquisite delicacy: "Just one last time, are you sure you want me to eat this?"

"This might be the most regrettable decision of your life."

Lynn smiled and nodded slightly: "I never go back on my word."

"Since that's what you've said, it won't be changed."

"But I also advise you not to be too confident, or you might get hurt again—my arrogance is well-founded, you know~"

Seeing this, the ant king no longer held back and began its own evolution.

The ant king sat cross-legged in front, casually grabbed a large piece of minced meat, opened his ferocious mouth, and stuffed it straight into his mouth.

When the minced meat entered his mouth, the ant king's expression froze, as if time had stopped at that moment.

What is this?!

So delicious!!

The Ant King felt an indescribable taste bursting in his mouth.

His eyes widened instantly, but his mouth didn't stop, chewing frantically.

The enchanting aroma dances on the tip of the tongue, instantly awakening all the taste buds, allowing one to indulge in the most delicious food ever.

It seems they want to squeeze every last drop of flavor out of every inch of the dish.

After swallowing, a warm sensation rose from its stomach and quickly spread throughout its body.

That wasn't enough. The ant king then grabbed handfuls of minced meat and stuffed them into his mouth, his ferocious face revealing a look of wild joy.

At the same time, a huge change is also taking place inside the Ant King's body.

Every cell in his body was frantically seeking out the life energy, like rain after a long drought, and his painful injuries were visibly healing rapidly.

This was an eye-opener for the ant king, who had only ever eaten squinty-eyed strongmen. Compared to this, everything it had eaten before was garbage!

This is what it should eat, the food that a "king" should eat!

The rich texture and exquisite taste act like a propellant, constantly encouraging you to keep eating.

It wants more!

You have to eat it all!!

The ant king once again revealed the eyes of a wild beast, the look of a starving animal seeing a delicacy.

At this moment, the Ant King's brain was unable to think of anything else; only one thought remained.

eat! !

The ant queen began to eat voraciously, devouring piece after piece of meat.

Each bite brought it a lot of growth, and as it continued to eat, the aura emanating from its body kept rising!

It is evolving!

Only today has the Ant King's extraordinary talent fully revealed its true power.

Seeing this, Lynn's eyes shone with even greater anticipation.

Eat more.

Eat more, and you'll become stronger!

There have been huge changes since the original story.

First of all, the King Ant is no longer considered a premature baby, which makes up for its congenital deficiencies, and its potential will be correspondingly increased.

Secondly, the Chimera Ant King's injuries were not nearly as severe as when he was blasted to a crisp by Rose in the original story. This means that more energy would be used for evolution rather than for repairing his injuries.

Last but not least, the quality of the food is vastly different.

In the original story, the Ant King only consumed most of the bodies of Owlapf and Mentutu Yupi, which is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

After all, even if these two are goalkeepers, they are still S-level powerhouses.

But compared to the lavish meal he had specially prepared, it paled in comparison.

This meal included S-grade gold and silver ingot corpses, S-grade Maha corpses, as well as many monster corpses and high-grade ingredients.

At least in terms of energy, it far surpasses both Xiao Yapufu and Mentutu Youpi.

With all three combined, the Ant King will definitely be even more powerful than the evolved form in the original story!

They should be able to reach the S-level by now.

Lynn watched the ant king devour its food, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his face. An S-rank enemy meant a chance to obtain an S-rank card.

牌！

To this end, he made a lot of preparations in order to maximize the probability of getting a winning card and not waste this hard-won opportunity.

This could be considered his only chance to fight an S-rank enemy across the six continents and obtain an S-rank card.

Further on, the only way to obtain S-rank cards is to go to Lake Möbius or even further to the Dark Continent.

He first used the Dragon Ball to make a wish for better luck that day, and then used that to draw a "Great Fortune" from the fortune-telling tissue.

Then they kept abilities like [Gate of the King] that could increase the probability of getting cards without using them.

Even when facing the unevolved Ant King, he was reluctant to use it, preferring to save it for the evolved Ant King. The difference between S-rank and S-rank is obvious.

To this day, he has not obtained a single S-rank card, and he has no idea what kind of card the Ant King will drop, or how powerful its effects will be.

With a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind, Lynn quickly gathered his thoughts and took out the food and supplies he had prepared to replenish his energy.

At the same time, he checked the cards that the Ant King had just dropped.

【Name: Guild Crest】

[Rank: S—]

[Type: Item Card]

[Background: Fairy Tail]

Introduction: A special magical seal with a guild system. By stamping a target with the seal, the target becomes a guild member. Effect 1: Identity Verification. The user is passively designated as the guild leader (only one person can be appointed), in addition to four high-level members and twelve ordinary members. Except for the guild leader, the other slots can be filled by any other person. Effect 2: Members, except the guild leader, enjoy increased growth speed and the privilege of obtaining rare cards. High-level members receive a greater increase in growth speed. Effect 3: After a card is obtained by the guild leader or a member, the guild leader receives additional points corresponding to the card's level. Requirements 1: The recipient must voluntarily apply the seal. Requirements 2: High-level members must be at least S-rank, and ordinary members must be at least A-rank.

The S-rank Guild Crest originates from the Fairy Tail world.

Lynn examined it closely and realized that the effect of this guild emblem was extraordinary!

Is this really not an S-rank card? Or is it S-rank?

That's true. After all, the upper and lower limits of S-rank cards are quite wide, so even cards of the same rank can vary in strength.

This card, which was dropped from the Ant King, an S-rank card, is probably quite powerful even among S-rank cards.

Simply put, the [Guild Emblem] itself is not important. What is truly useful is the accompanying guild system, which is beneficial for training subordinates, just like the Chimera Ants, which have different levels.

He implicitly assumed the position of the highest-ranking member, with four senior members and twelve ordinary members below him.

He can freely choose and replace personnel, which can be character cards or normal creatures, but the other party's consent is required when stamping.

Members will enjoy a buff that increases their growth rate, similar to the Onmyoji Guild, and the two buffs can be stacked.

Members also have the ability to generate cards, just like the [Simulated Company Badge], but the [Guild Emblem] is its superior version.

These two effects alone are already quite impressive, but the last one is even more amazing, making his eyes widen in disbelief.

After he and his teammates defeat the target and successfully obtain the card, he can also receive additional points corresponding to the card's level!