The Withering Heart attack releases two types of vehicles for retrieval: one is self-return after completing the mission, and the other is that if the mission is unsuccessful, Joey must retrieve it.
If the Chimera Ants don't know Nen, Joey isn't worried about the vehicle's retrieval; killing all the Chimera Ants in the village is likely just a matter of time.
Even if some intelligent ants discover the vehicle's attack pattern, without special means, they can't stop the attack. Once the Chimera Ants withdraw from the village, the vehicle's mission is complete, and it will return directly to Joey.
However, if the Chimera Ants can use Nen, the vehicle Joey releases becomes the best means of restraint, even if the final result might be sacrificing a left hand. Joey is willing to accept that.
After all, the danger level of a Chimera Ant that can use Nen is incomparable to that of one that can't.
Besides, a hand can grow back in this world, but if you lose your life, that's truly the end!
Carefully traversing the forest, Joey wiped the sweat from his brow again, his brow furrowing involuntarily.
Something was wrong with his stamina!
Although he had only recently taken control of this body, Joey was already familiar with its basic functions.
Running several hundred meters, even with immense psychological pressure, shouldn't have been exhausting for him. Why was he sweating profusely and clearly feeling his stamina dwindling?
Something was definitely amiss!
Boom!
The explosion sounded like an alarm clock, instantly waking Joey.
Could it be related to the explosion from the Withering Heart attack?
Joey already knew that Stand attacks weren't random; they required the consumption of so-called Stand energy.
And Joey had always assumed this energy was mental energy.
After all, Stands were products of the mind, so it was reasonable for them to consume the Stand user's mental energy during combat.
Especially considering that others couldn't use Star Platinum's ability in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 6: Stone Ocean due to insufficient mental energy, Joey became even more certain that Stands consume mental energy.
However, the continuous explosions were now draining his physical strength as well, forcing him to reconsider the issue of Stand energy.
In the manga, Kira Yoshikage didn't seem to experience any physical exhaustion when using his ability, forcing Joey to think carefully about whether other characters in the anime had experienced similar physical exhaustion during battles.
Frowning, Joey suddenly remembered Bucciarati using his chain fingers in Part 5's Gold Experience, where both seemed to be running out of energy. He
also recalled Jotaro using Time Stop in Part 6, where he appeared to be panting.
Although his memories were somewhat hazy, this wasn't the main concern for Joey at the moment. The fact that physical energy is included in Stand energy might be a useful piece of information, but right now it only made Joey feel uneasy.
After all, the Withering Heart attack had an element of uncontrollability; allowing it to continue exploding would be a blow to both Joey's mental and physical strength.
Furthermore, if we calculate it this way, the constant appearance of the Killer Queen would also deplete his physical and mental energy.
However, he dared not retract the Killer Queen at this moment, making this sudden energy drain a double blow to Joey.
Even though Joey felt relatively well now, he couldn't help but have a bad feeling!
He didn't know how many Chimera Ants remained in the village, nor what situation the Withered Heart-Piercing Attack Chariot was facing. Continuing the explosions would only increase his energy consumption. At this rate, perhaps after a few dozen or even a hundred more explosions, he would be exhausted and unable to run, which would be dangerous in this forest.
What if the chariot couldn't return even after he was exhausted? Or would the explosions stop?
A flurry of negative thoughts flooded Joey's mind in an instant.
He unconsciously raised his hand to bite his nails, but was startled back to reality by the grenade in his hand.
He lowered his arm, took several deep breaths to suppress the rising fear, and forced himself to calm down. Things hadn't gotten that bad yet!
First, barring any major unforeseen circumstances, the number of chimera ants in the village wouldn't be enough to withstand dozens of explosions from the tank.
Second, even in the worst-case scenario, Joey could make a decisive move at the crucial moment, like a lizard shedding its tail, cutting off his left hand to conserve his strength while unleashing the Withering Heart-Piercing Attack.
Even if this decision was incredibly difficult for someone like him who had grown up in peace, he should be able to do it if the Assassin Queen carried out the order and extended her hand willingly!
Constantly reassuring himself, Joey's steps forward became increasingly firm.
He had to survive!
In that instant, survival became Joey's sole belief!
Joey gripped the gun tightly in his hand.
While it gave him a certain sense of security, it also made him somewhat uneasy.
This was the first time in his life he'd ever handled a gun in real life. Although he'd managed to disengage the safety and try loading a bullet using his limited knowledge, Joey knew he shouldn't rely too heavily on the pistol in a dangerous situation.
And from the moment he gripped the pistol, the image of Pons dying at the hands of a gun in anime kept flashing through his mind, making him even more tense.
Sweat beaded on his palms, and Joey's handsome brows furrowed into a deep frown. Carefully, he retrieved the sweat-soaked grenade and pulled out the map to compare and analyze it. His
wilderness survival experience made him more directionally sensitive, and he could also use nearby details and his hazy memories to determine his approximate location.
This was good news.
However, the map only showed a limited number of locations: three nearby villages and one nearby organization base—that was all the useful information on the map.
Joey's options were limited, even limited.
After all, there was no need to go to the nearby villages; those places were now all targets for the Chimera Ants to prey on. The only option was the organization's base.
Even though the Chimera Ants had already discovered it, the base could still offer him far more help than the backward villages. Weapons, more complete maps, and even intelligence about NGL were only possible at the base.
As for Joey's memories of NGL, they were mostly about the general direction, which was insufficient in this desperate escape where details were needed to secure a chance of survival.
Otherwise, he might have found a way out by charging eastward, since, according to his memories of NGL's geography, the eastern border was with another country with normal technology. But if he really charged in, Joey estimated that he would likely run very far before crashing into the ant nest.
After carefully analyzing the current situation, Joey was more inclined to find the main characters—Kate, Gon, and Killua—who were in NGL investigating the Chimera Ants, and leave NGL together with them.
I just don't know if my luck will be good enough, or if that nearby base is where Kate led her people.
Also, is my thinking too simplistic? After all, this is the NGL autonomous country, where even entering and leaving is not easy.