The clouds churned as if something was stirring inside.
Beyond's group, and even Don Freecss who was about to leave, all looked up at the violently churning gray clouds.
Standing atop the umbrella-shaped snowy peak, they were very close to the clouds... it felt like a standing jump could touch them.
Rumble...
Amidst the churning clouds, flashes of lightning suddenly appeared.
"Hmm? Just thunderclouds? In this kind of weather?"
Confusion appeared in Curly's eyes behind his mosquito-repellent glasses.
No sooner had the confusion arisen than a pair of earthworm-like smooth tentacles extended from the churning clouds, forcibly prying open a huge rift.
Amidst the flashing lightning, a brown eye several times larger than the tentacles was revealed in the cloud rift.
Watching this, Beyond and his group showed horrified expressions.
"Haha, found you."
A deafening voice came from the cloud rift.
The icicles hanging from the edges of the umbrella-shaped snowy peak were shattered by the sound, falling one after another onto the vast white snowfield below.
More tentacles emerged from the cloud rift, then perched on both sides. The brown eye flickered amidst the thunder and lightning.
The language used by the eye's owner was one that Beyond and his group could not understand, but Don Freecss, standing at the edge of the ice layer, could understand it.
Moreover, this eye owner hiding behind the clouds was coming for him.
"Oh, then come down."
Don Freecss looked up, meeting the giant eye dozens of times his size.
Seeing that Don Freecss seemed to be conversing with the eye's owner, the horror on Beyond's group's faces deepened.
"You come up!?"
The eye owner said viciously.
"You come down."
"You come up?"
"You come down."
"You come up?"
The eye owner's tone grew increasingly urgent, while Don Freecss's tone remained confidently calm.
They kept repeating the same dialogue. Beyond and the others went from initial horror to gradual bewilderment.
Although they could not understand the conversation between the eye owner and Don Freecss, they could at least tell that the two were saying the same thing over and over.
Moreover, for some reason, as the conversation continued, the eye owner's anger grew, looking as if it wanted to tear Don Freecss apart. Yet, though not far apart, the eye owner simply would not come down.
Looking at Don Freecss, he was too calm, as if he knew the eye owner could not come down.
Besides that, Beyond and the others could not fathom what structure the clouds above had, that could support such giant tentacles and an equally giant eye.
'Could someone please explain?'
Beyond's group was somewhat dazed.
Even after spending so long on the Dark Continent, this scene still thoroughly rattled them.
On the other side, the tedious dialogue continued.
"You come down."
"You come up?"
Having listened to this conversation pattern for a while, Beyond and the others finally realized that Don Freecss was completely teasing the eye owner.
But the eye owner seemed rather dull, never catching on, thus accumulating a lot of anger for no reason.
If it could vent, of course that would be best, but the problem was that the accumulated anger had nowhere to go.
If this continued much longer, it would eventually get liver disease from anger.
Don Freecss was always patient, so he simply stayed there, grinding it out with the eye owner.
Slowly, the eye owner's anger was nearing its limit.
"I, I will definitely eat you!"
The eye owner could no longer hold back, its tone full of exasperation.
The dozen-plus giant tentacles straddling both sides of the rift suddenly moved, causing the entire cloud layer to shake, spreading to the far distance, like the ground during a strong earthquake.
Yet no matter how frantically the tentacles moved, they never descended upon the snowy peak.
"Ssssss...!"
As the tentacles shook wildly, an ear-piercing sound containing anger spread from the cloud rift.
In an instant, the wind and snow outside the ice layer were fiercely torn apart by the piercing sound.
Beyond and the others, who were closer, all shuddered.
"Cover your ears."
Beyond's expression changed drastically. He was the first to cover his ears with his hands.
Before Beyond's reminder, the other teammates had also sensed the trouble and covered their ears.
Of all of them, Curly was a beat slower, and fresh blood was seeping from the gaps between his palms clenched over his ears.
The sound emitted by the eye owner was so powerful it could penetrate their Ken.
Without physical assistance, the sound seemed capable of shaking a Nen User to death.
Then, they noticed that Don Freecss, standing at the edge of the ice layer, had not covered his ears. However, the cicada-wing-thin Nen on his body had changed for the first time.
It was no longer so thin, but had directly swelled countless times, reaching an astonishing level.
Layered Nen, like waves, surged over Don Freecss's body.
Insignificant!
At this moment, Beyond almost felt like kneeling on one knee and taking a big step back.
He had just barely escaped from the shadow and blow woven by Law, who would have thought that Don Freecss, who had lived for centuries, would blatantly demonstrate such a vast gap before them again.
Don Freecss stared at the giant eye in the cloud rift and said calmly, "Too noisy."
As he spoke, the Nen on his body transformed into waves of black shadows.
In an instant, Beyond and the others watching Don Freecss felt a weight on their shoulders, as if they were being suppressed by the residual force of Don Freecss's Aura.
And that was not even directed at them.
They watched as the black shadows, transformed from Don Freecss's Nen, took the shape of an arrowhead, their hearts unable to calm down for a long time.
'Just what level had this person's strength reached?'
Don Freecss controlled the arrowhead-shaped black shadows and sent them upward.
The black shadows shot out like arrows, piercing into the giant eye in the blink of an eye.
The piercing sound transmitted from within abruptly ceased. At the point where the arrowhead-shaped shadow struck, a noticeable vortex of air formed, scurrying around inside the cloud layer.
After a brief silence...
"AAAAAARGH!"
An enraged roar came out.
Countless blood vessels appeared in the white part of the eye, and the pupil seemed about to protrude as it recklessly moved towards Don Freecss.
With its reckless charge, the people on the snowy peak could already see the bloody maw the eye owner had revealed.
Between its spread fangs, viscous saliva clung to the teeth, and a crimson, bumpy tongue darted out!
"If you keep pestering me like this... I will be determined to kill you."
Don Freecss looked at the furious giant eye monster, driving his entire Nen to transform into even stronger black shadows, like a long rainbow piercing the sun, striking the giant eye monster again.
Suddenly, the enraged roar stopped. The clouds as far as the eye could see shook violently.
The giant eye monster's enormous body, hidden behind the clouds, was knocked back by this blow.
As the giant eye monster retreated, the tentacles straddling the cloud rift also withdrew.
And the split cloud rift instantly returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.