As soon as the airship landed at the airport, Essi immediately went to make a phone call. Not long after, an off-road vehicle came roaring down the road at full speed, making a U-turn to stop in front of Liam and the others.
The car window rolled down. A hot middle-aged woman sat behind the wheel, chewing bubble gum. She glanced at the three of them, her eyes settling on Essi.
Essi threw a roll of cash through the window.
The female driver caught it, flipped through the bills, and raised an eyebrow. "You can't rent a car with this much money."
"I'm buying it," Essi said. "Emergency. Need to get to Kamavor. You can get out now. Tank full?"
"You don't need this much to buy it!" The driver pocketed the cash and got out of the car, in noticeably better spirits. "Kamavor? What's the point of going to those barren, dangerous mountains? Full of monsters. Tank's full, there's a spare jerry can in the trunk, and there's a gas station on the way." She smiled. "Professional Hunters always pay well. Thanks. This guy looks nice, and this little girl too. Are they your kids or your friends? Or your friends' kids?"
Essi said sincerely, "This is the Floor Master of Heavens Arena. He can blow your head off with just one finger. You should be careful."
Liam grabbed Shizuku's wrist and looked at the time.
10:22 AM. Still an hour and a half until the next Star Mark signal from Kurapika.
Just as the female driver was about to take the money and leave, Liam asked, "Is that mountain dangerous?"
"Of course." The female driver said. "That's where the Black Mist Lions live."
"Black Mist Lions?" Shizuku showed curiosity.
"The Magical Beast clans!" The female driver was surprised at the girl's lack of common sense and explained, "The area around Mount Kamavor is considered their protected territory, so it's not only very dangerous, but also not easy to mess with. If you stray into Magical Beast territory and get killed, it's all on you. The authorities won't care."
The female driver couldn't help but remind them, "Do you really want to go?"
"Oh!" Shizuku suddenly understood. She nodded and bowed. "Thank you. But we won't die."
The female driver shook her head, said nothing more, turned around, and disappeared into the crowd.
Liam thought of those vicious fox-like creatures that could transform into humans at the beginning of the manga. It seems in Hunter World's setting, highly intelligent beasts that can speak human language are classified as Magical Beasts. Or maybe it should be understood as magical animals.
"Are Magical Beasts considered human or animal?" Shizuku asked curiously.
Essi sighed. "Because they're difficult to classify, we try to keep them away from human society. Fortunately, most Magical Beasts prefer natural environments and are willing to live in isolation. There's a consensus on this point."
"What's going on with the Black Mist Lions?" Liam also asked.
Essi said, "I don't know much. I'll tell you slowly on the way."
So Liam and Shizuku went to a nearby shopping mall to buy some food and drinks. They didn't put them in Blinky—just packed them in bags and carried them to the car.
Essi drove without any nonsense, heading straight toward the Kamavor Mountains, which the airship had passed over more than an hour ago.
The airship had to fly for more than an hour in the sky. A car on ground roads naturally can't catch up with the remaining hour or so—not to mention that the closer to the mountains in the second half, the worse the road conditions will be.
"The existing Magical Beast clans usually have some special abilities in addition to being able to speak human language and possessing high intelligence..."
Essi looked at the road while introducing them.
Shizuku was a curious baby. With her by his side, Liam didn't need to reveal he knew nothing about certain common sense in this world. After all, Shizuku would be the first to ask questions.
Essi just thought he was giving Shizuku some basic education, so he was extra detailed. He first explained the distribution of Magical Beast groups in human society and the complicated current situation.
Most of the Magical Beast clans present have special abilities.
This is quite interesting.
Could it be that Magical Beast clans without special abilities have been completely eliminated by humans in history? Only the remaining clans with Nen-like abilities have survived—or managed to survive until the modern era.
Liam thought like this and suddenly asked, "Are the special abilities of Magical Beast clans actually Nen abilities?"
"It depends on how you define Nen ability." Essi held the steering wheel with one hand covered with various rings and pressed down half the car window with the other to let the wind blow in. "If you agree that any extraordinary ability in the world can be regarded as a Nen ability—at worst, if those that can't be analyzed and explained are classified into Specialization—then yes, all the special abilities of Magical Beast clans are of course Nen abilities. The Foxbear clan can be regarded as having special abilities that favor Conjuration."
"But...?" Liam asked, knowing there must be a "but" behind it.
"However, if you think only those who consciously use their own aura and know how to activate their superpowers can be regarded as Nen abilities—"
As expected, Essi came up with a but. "Then it doesn't count. In the past, many people, many Hunters, were interested in the abilities of Magical Beasts. But the results were the same. Magical Beasts that can use special abilities aren't aware of the existence of aura. When they use their abilities, Hunters who are Nen users can't see the flow of aura at all."
Generally speaking, when using Nen ability, the aura on the body moves accordingly.
For example, if you want to punch hard, your aura will naturally gather into your fist.
When I use Spirit Gun, my aura flows to my fingertips.
Even when using the Moon Mark, if the observer is careful enough, they'll definitely see that when my head is performing telepathic transmission, there are fluctuations of aura. The position of the index finger close to Ring A shows slightly abnormal aura gathering characteristics.
So far, I've only seen old man Netero whose aura control was so perfect you couldn't see any flow at all.
But it was obviously impossible for an ordinary Magical Beast clan to control aura as well as that old monster Netero. It was impossible not to reveal any flow of aura when using abilities—impossible to hide it from the eyes of Professional Hunters who specialized in this.
"The special abilities of Magical Beast clans have little to do with the aura we know." Essi gave the generally accepted conclusion and added, "Of course, using their abilities will also consume stamina. When their stamina weakens, in our eyes, their aura will also weaken. If we insist on saying there's a relationship, it only has that relationship."
After a pause, he said, "The special abilities of Magical Beast clans are like some animals having night vision, some animals having a keen sense of smell, some animals being able to shed their skin, being able to cut off their tails and regenerate... These are all racial talents."
Shizuku asked curiously, "In addition to their own racial talents, can Magical Beast clans learn Nen abilities?"
"Theoretically, it's possible." Essi said. "Magical Beast clans are creatures with high intelligence. As long as someone opens the aura nodes all over their body and successfully awakens Nen, they can naturally learn Nen abilities. But I've never heard of anyone doing this."
Shizuku was even more curious. "Why not? Why doesn't anyone try it?"
On the contrary, Essi thought her question was strange. "Magical Beasts and humans are different species. How can we, as humans, help Magical Beasts master Nen?"
"Oh." Shizuku nodded and didn't continue asking this time.
She comes from Meteor Street, so she's actually quite familiar with this type of differential treatment.
Liam thought of the Chimera Ant arc. It was also about the difference between humans and animals—no reason to explain it. Especially for the Chimera Ant soldiers and first-generation hybrids born from the Queen who had fewer human characteristics.
Speaking of which, do Chimera Ants count as Magical Beasts?
The Queen Ant can't speak human language, so it doesn't look like a Magical Beast.
But it has advanced intelligence and also has its own racial talent—phagogenesis!
It can give birth to whatever hybrid offspring it eats. Quite domineering.
Precisely because of this extremely aggressive species, there was no possibility of compromise between humans and Chimera Ants.
"As for the Black Mist Lions..." Essi smiled bitterly. "I'm not a Beast Hunter, Treasure Hunter, Ruins Hunter, or Magical Beast Hunter, so I don't know much."
"I've been active in nearby cities before, so I've only heard a little bit about the Black Mist Lions."
"Some say this kind of Magical Beast only appears when black fog rises in the mountains and hunts life at night. Others say this kind of beast can release special black mist that will kill you if it touches you... But according to my summary, the common point is that those who unfortunately encountered the Black Mist Lions, or the wild animals that were found to have been killed by Black Mist Lions, all had their flesh and blood withered and lost weight. All in all, they died in extremely miserable conditions."
The mountain scenery in the distance seemed very close, but it had seemed like that when they'd set off an hour ago. It was not that close.
The car became quiet, leaving only the roar of the engine as it sped along.
Seeing nothing was happening, Shizuku quietly pulled a book out of the bag and started reading in the back seat.
Liam glanced at the cover. Didn't she just finish reading it the day before yesterday?
Seems she forgot and is watching it again.
Sometimes I really envy Shizuku's adaptive memory.
In my previous life, every time after reading a wonderful novel, movie, or TV series, I wished I could lose my memory immediately and experience it all over again.
Liam suddenly noticed that in the rearview mirror, Essi in the front seat always seemed to be looking at him.
"Any questions?"
"Since you think Kurapika might have been dragged into a different space isolated from the outside world by the Leader's Nen ability..." Essi asked, "Even if we find the anchor point connecting that different space to the outside world, how do we rescue Kurapika? The Leader might be dead."
"Did you see him die?"
"That's not true... but such an exaggerated effect of Nen—if he hadn't sacrificed his life, he never could have gotten it." Essi added, "Even if ordinary Nen users want to sacrifice themselves, it would be difficult to really explode with strength beyond the ordinary. The Leader's spirit wasn't normal. He was a crazy person. His alienated mental state made his Nen ability more twisted, but also doubled in power."
In essence, who can make strict Vows and Limitations, and leave lingering resentment after death, who is mentally "normal"?
To carry out one's beliefs unswervingly isn't something ordinary people can do. It's also a very small minority among the minority group of Nen users.
"You have to go to the place first to see the specific situation before talking..."
Liam put down the seat and lay back.
It's 12 noon. Time for Kurapika to release a new Star Mark signal.
Kurapika sat on a hillside with a haggard face, his eyes half-closed, waiting for time to pass.
He calculated the time, picked up gravel at hand, and scratched the back of his hand with the sharp edge.
Blood beads oozed out. As soon as the wound appeared, the Star Mark on his chest immediately activated, accelerating the healing.
If I cause a more serious injury—like cutting off a leg—the self-healing process of the Star Mark can be prolonged, allowing Liam to sense the mark for longer. But in that case, I don't know how long I can last.
He stared blankly at the wound on the back of his hand healing little by little. He wanted to let go and put down the stone, but was surprised to find he couldn't.
My body is out of control.
"Liam?" he asked in his mind.
"It's me, your boss." Liam casually threw away the stone in Kurapika's hand. As soon as he moved, he found the body was extremely weak. "Where on earth were you imprisoned? You're so weak after being tortured? You don't even get a meal in prison?"
While "talking to himself," he looked around and took in the environment.
It soon became apparent there wasn't much to measure.
This was a place that looked like a cave.
The top of the hemispherical internal space was estimated to be more than fifty meters from the ground. Visually, it was a perfect circular area from front, back, left, and right—the distance similar.
The most outrageous thing is exactly this.
The environment here is too regular. As if a perfect hemisphere is upside down on the ground, trapping Kurapika inside.
There wasn't enough light in the "cave" that was neither spacious nor narrow.
In addition, the color of the front, back, left, right, and top of the "cave" where Kurapika was held was an indistinguishable dark black.
Liam tried to gather the remaining aura in Kurapika's body in his eyes, focusing on the fifty-meter-high "ceiling" at the top.
Gradually, he saw some dense lines on the dark "ceiling."
"It's divine script." Kurapika's voice said weakly in his mind. "Not just above, but also around. This is a closed space composed of countless curtains of divine script... Probably because I'm inside and can't tell day and night at all, so I can't activate the Moon Mark on the ring here..."
Sure enough, Kurapika had already explored all the places he could explore during the 10 days he was trapped.
Divine script was something I told him about myself when we were at Sensui Mountain.
"Have you found any clues to get out?" Liam asked.
"That Leader may not be completely dead yet..."
"I don't know what he wants to do with my eyes or body, but every once in a while, something appears..."
Kurapika's voice said in his mind. Liam no longer needed any more explanation, because the thing had already appeared.
In the air, black fire-like aura bloomed out of thin air. A pair of Scarlet Eyes vaguely emerged from it, staring greedily at Kurapika with his back against the boulder in the enclosed space.
"When will you surrender? Hehehehe..."
Along with the eerie laughter, the black fire and red eyes quickly disappeared—as if just to confirm the situation here.
"Are those Scarlet Eyes?" Liam asked.
Kurapika was silent in his mind for a long time. You can imagine how angry he is at the Leader's act of wantonly desecrating the eyes of his dead compatriots.
Liam had clearly controlled Kurapika's body, but he felt his eyes burning. Anger was welling up like muscle memory.
"It's a good thing he's not completely dead." Liam said with a smile. "Otherwise, I'd have a headache about how to save you."
Just as he was about to leave and remove his possessed consciousness, Liam suddenly turned back. He'd just seemed to feel there was a shadow of a person standing behind the dark curtain.
Is that the Leader?
Doesn't look fat either!
As he left, Kurapika said in his mind, "There seems to be something hidden in the rocks behind me..."