The subjugation had ended like that.
He had thought there would be a few more rounds of struggle, but then the Mender simply collapsed.
Law glanced at the deflated corpse of the Mender on the ground. To be logical, the injuries shouldn't have been fatal, but something had happened that caused the Mender's sudden death.
Regardless of the process, at least the result was acceptable.
Law gently held the Aura Mass containing Stargie's soul. The longer he touched it, the clearer the familiarity became.
He hadn't made a mistake. This was Stargie's soul.
Law felt somewhat relieved. He had no time to ponder the various Aura Masses that had flown away from the Mender's pages.
His gaze lingered on the spherical Aura Mass in the air, waiting for the Grass Jelly's effects to take hold.
If not for his injuries and needing to protect Stargie's Aura Mass with his Nen, Law wouldn't just stand there watching. He would have tried throwing an Aura Blade at the spherical mass.
The vortex unleashed by the Mender before falling had caused extensive bodily injuries, also slowing the healing speed of the Grass Jelly.
To recover as quickly as possible, Law obediently stood still.
Moments later, over half of his injuries had healed, and the spherical Aura Mass that had been glowing and radiating in the air also came to a halt.
Watching this, Law thought he would check on the other teammates once his injuries were mostly healed. He only hoped the spherical Aura Mass wouldn't cause him trouble.
In the air, the bright Nen on the spherical Aura Mass was slowly receding and disappearing.
As the light gradually faded until it was invisible, the spherical Aura Mass revealed its form.
"?"
After seeing what the spherical Aura Mass truly was, Law raised an eyebrow.
'Chucu?'
'After wrapping around the round stone, the Aura Mass had actually turned into Chucu?'
'Moreover, its appearance was essentially unchanged, only its body color had turned snow white.'
Law immediately became alert.
"Why did you treat me like that!"
A pair of bamboo-like wings spread out from the sides of the spherical body. A pair of large, crimson, pitiful eyes slowly opened on its plump form.
"Why aren't you talking!"
The familiar 'whys' instantly confirmed Chucu's identity for Law.
'The wide-mouthed Aura Mass had come charging fiercely, only to become nourishment for Chucu's resurrection?'
Law didn't know the reason, nor did he care to figure it out. He silently controlled his Nen, preparing for battle.
"If you don't want to die a second time, get the hell away from me."
Law's gaze turned cold, his tone quite icy.
He had no time to tangle with Chucu now, nor did he want to fight her while protecting Stargie's soul.
Chucu grew even more irked upon hearing this, her bamboo wings clattering as she flapped them.
Just as she was about to say something more, Law's cold gaze swept over her.
Chucu's body went cold, and she forcibly swallowed the words she was about to say.
She hadn't forgotten how terrifying this human was.
'Speaking of... huh?'
Chucu suddenly noticed the Mender lying on the ground. His shriveled, miserable state plunged her into dead silence.
'What was going on?'
'How could the Mender...?'
Chucu's heart shook violently, as she stared blankly at the Mender's corpse.
'Could it be that this human...?'
'Impossible, absolutely impossible!'
'Humans were completely helpless against the Mender. How could they have beaten him into such a state?'
How her nerves and reflexes were wired, her focus was always inappropriate. When she first resurrected, she should have been concerned with how she was resurrected, not why Law had treated her that way.
Now, her focus had inexplicably been drawn to the Mender.
Seeing Chucu's attention absorbed by the Mender's corpse, Law turned to check on the other teammates.
Better to avoid trouble. Besides, he had to protect Stargie's soul. As long as Chucu didn't actively seek trouble, Law wouldn't bother with her.
After taking just a few steps, Law saw a plume of black smoke rise from the ground ahead, which then took the form of Kuro.
"Scared me to death. Thought I was gonna die for the cause."
Kuro wore a deeply frightened expression.
When the vortex erupted, his position hadn't been far from Law, making it one of the most dangerous spots.
Fortunately, he was clever enough and fast enough. Before the vortex hit, he switched forms in time and burrowed underground.
He just hadn't expected the ground to be so hard, costing him a lot of Nen.
"Law!"
Seeing Law approaching, Kuro acted like he had found his group. With a few bounds, he jumped onto Law's shoulder.
Then, Kuro saw the Mender's corpse not far away and Chucu suspended motionless in the air.
"How is that guy still alive?"
Seeing the Mender's battered state, Kuro felt some relief but was puzzled by Chucu's appearance.
"Go find the others."
Without answering Kuro's question, Law asked him instead to help locate Biscuit and the rest.
"Okay."
Kuro responded and flew out in smoke form.
Law calmed his mind and used the effect of his God Hand's ability to sense everyone's whereabouts.
"Thankfully, everyone's alright."
First, he confirmed that his teammates' bookmarks weren't blackened, indicating everyone was still alive.
'The closest is... Biscuit?'
Law looked in one direction and hurried over.
Meanwhile, in the Hide-and-Seek Dimension.
Knov and the others stared at the black screen projected on the wall, each with grim expressions.
The power of the vortex had been strong enough to destroy the mechanism of a Nen Ability, instantly extinguishing the little fox residing in Kuro, causing the feed to cut.
Without the live broadcast, they had no idea what was happening outside. Was Law's team gaining the advantage? Was the Mender at a disadvantage? Or were they still fighting?
Completely in the dark, they had no idea when the right time to go out would be. For a while, they were utterly lost.
"What do we do?"
"Wait!"
Knov answered without hesitation.
"But outside..."
"Regardless, all we can do is wait."
Knov took a deep breath. Assuming Law's team and the Mender were still fighting, if they went out now, they'd probably just cause trouble.
As for assistance, even if they knew the battle situation outside, given their combat power, there was very little they could actually do.
"Besides, Law has a spare key to the apartment. Once the fight is over, he'll open the door."
To add persuasiveness, Knov mentioned Law's spare key.
Hearing this, the others had nothing more to say.
Moments later, a door inside the room opened. The sound drew everyone's attention.
Law walked through the doorway, a cluster of Nen under his control.
"Shiro, Sanbica, prepare to treat Biscuit and the others."
Law entered the room and dropped a command without giving Knov and the others a chance to question him, heading straight for the ice coffin containing Stargie.
He knew Ging and the silver-haired woman were still entangled in the Game Space, but he had to secure Stargie's soul first.
Law had just entered the room when Biscuit and the others began filing in one by one.
Everyone had sustained varying degrees of injury, some minor, some severe. Uvogin was the worst off.