The tire got stuck in a crack in the ground and spun rapidly, emitting smoke and hot air from friction. But it was impossible to move forward on the narrow, steep mountain road.
Liam opened the door and got out of the car, looking at the undulating mountains and forests ahead. It was almost evening. The sun was dim. The dense mountains were filled with a chill in the twilight.
"It can only be this way."
Essi also got out of the car. Although he could drag the stuck off-road vehicle away with one hand, judging from the mountain road conditions ahead, driving wasn't as convenient as walking.
Shizuku was carrying a backpack filled with food and water. Liam took it casually and carried it on his back.
"Alright, let's go!"
Liam waved his hand and took the lead. He could only lead the way.
He probably remembered the direction from which Kurapika's Star Mark signal came. Before Kurapika releases the signal next time, we'd better shorten the distance to the source as much as possible.
Liam wanted to know what was there when they arrived at the center of Kurapika's signal.
Is it the disappeared Leader himself doing this, or is there just a special cage that's been built?
Liam became suspicious when he thought of the strange cave where Kurapika was trapped.
In Hunter World, even the special organization related to superpowers like Kakin all agreed that in the field of Nen, the Hunter Association was the real expert. A group of people with a spirit of exploration, adventure, and research. Professional Hunters. The knowledge and heritage they'd accumulated, shared, and passed down from generation to generation were unparalleled.
Therefore, when Liam saw divine script running all over the ground on Ghost Island and Sensui Mountain, he didn't think it was that strange.
The former was related to Blanchett, a Professional Hunter—and behind him was Ging Freecss, who was probably the best in the entire Hunter World. Not to mention the latter. The so-called Sky Master was involved with Hunter Association Chairman Netero. At the age when this old monster was at his peak, he could probably really say to everyone in the world, "Who dares to claim to be invincible?"
For a master like that, even if he wrote divine script in his diary, I'd think nothing of it.
But a gangster who goes around brainwashing and committing crimes? A wild cult Leader? How could he do such a trick—weaving a dense matrix of divine script into a hemispherical space, like a literal dragnet? Not only bringing Kurapika and trapping him alive, but even isolating Nen signals like my Star Mark and Moon Mark to a certain extent?
As long as it's just divine script and not Nen ability.
Powerful and strange Nen abilities may be self-awakened without a teacher—gifted people exist. But you must LEARN divine script!
Before you can learn, you must at least be taught by someone. Then you learn—or you don't.
There are no teaching materials for this thing. Those who can systematically master divine script are most likely professional members of the Hunter Association, or people related to Professional Hunters.
Are the folk Nen users in Hunter World already so professional and knowledgeable?
With such doubts, Liam, Shizuku, and Essi entered the Kamavor Mountains.
With the physical strength of the three of them, the speed of climbing over mountains could be said to be as fast as walking on flat ground. Or as fast as flying.
Even if the mountain road was steep and uneven, they could smooth it out by applying more strength under their feet.
Nearly ten-meter-wide canyons in the ground could be jumped over with a little help from a running start, saving lots of detours.
Encountering a fast and wide mountain stream, Liam directly kicked a big tree and knocked it down. The three of them stepped on the tree to cross the river calmly. When they reached the other side, they didn't forget to lift the tree to avoid blocking the stream, blocking the water source.
When encountering a cliff blocking the road, Liam rubbed his hands together, jumped up, and took the lead climbing. With experience from climbing Sensui Mountain, Liam and Shizuku were familiar with the process. They climbed to the top of the cliff in the blink of an eye.
An old Professional Hunter like Essi had kept his body in Ten since seeing them enter the mountains. He also saw venomous snakes and fierce insects sneaking up on him along the way, but none could get close to them, let alone bite through Ten's defense.
Although Liam has no experience off-roading in deep mountains, with powerful Nen users at his side, traveling through mountains is really as easy and casual as an outing. Shizuku, on the other hand, seems no stranger to surviving in the wild even without Nen ability.
The sky was getting darker and darker. The jungle seemed filled with ghosts. Liam estimated it was almost time for Kurapika to release a new Star Mark signal.
Suddenly, he, Shizuku, and Essi's eyes froze at the same time.
Slight sounds approaching.
The three of them moved forward without changing rhythm, exchanged glances, and quietly dispersed in three directions—forming a pincer movement.
A huge black shadow came from the side, blowing cold wind toward Shizuku.
Just as Essi was about to help, a strong wind came from behind him. Something also sneaked up on him!
Turning around suddenly, he saw two huge dark golden beast eyes staring at him coldly in black mist, opening their mouth to bite.
Essi had no time to hesitate. He held his breath and concentrated. He raised Ken to protect his body and dodged to avoid it. Unexpectedly, another pair of dark golden beast eyes lit up in the black mist and bit him.
Hiding from both?!
Essi was knocked sideways. His shoulder hurt. A lion's head bit his shoulder and neck fiercely, but failed to penetrate the Ken he'd used for defense.
Essi turned around and fought back, kicking the lion's head away.
The lion head screamed, rolled back into the black mist, and uttered—curse words? "Why are you such a freak of a human? You can't be bite, you can't be bite! So boring!"
"It's just your claws aren't sharp enough!"
The other pair of beast eyes in the black mist snorted coldly. Before Essi could react, the black mist rolled toward him. Then he felt pain in his right arm. When he lowered his head, he saw three claw marks.
The wound didn't bleed, but the flesh and blood withered—like flowers and leaves.
Fortunately, the injury wasn't deep. The overall appearance was similar to a wound left after being corroded by strong acid. After concentrating more aura on the wound, Essi stopped the spread of the injury.
Essi looked at the billowing black mist in surprise. "Black Mist Lions?"
"Hmph! Now that you know this is our territory, how dare you break in casually?"
The two lion monsters in the black mist sneered, but their laughter soon stopped.
On the other side, Liam held the neck of a Black Mist Lion with one hand. The latter had rolled his eyes and knelt down helplessly. Next to Shizuku lay another Black Mist Lion, but one arm was missing. The wound section was uneven—as if it had been bitten and cut off by something. Dark red blood flowed all over the floor.
The skin of Liam's and Shizuku's arms had corrosive wounds similar to those Essi suffered. They'd healed automatically already.
I have to say, this Magical Beast's special abilities are really impressive.
To put it in game terms: armor/spell penetration.
"It's also possible Shizuku and I aren't strong enough." Liam criticized himself, then heard a sharp voice from the side. "Let them go! and, be careful about his life!"
Liam didn't look back. He stepped on the Black Mist Lion in front of him, clasped his fingers to gather power, and at the same time glanced at the pendant hanging around its neck. Actually quite fashionable.
The black mist dispersed, revealing two monsters with lion's heads and black fur. Their sharp claws pressed against Essi, threatening Liam and Shizuku fiercely.
Shizuku looked at them calmly. She didn't care about Essi's life or death. This isn't our companion.
Liam had originally charged up Spirit Gun and wanted to turn around and lock onto both heads at the same time—give the two monster lions the business. But in the end, he gave up with a snap of his fingers and dismissed the aura bullets.
"What's that sound?" The two Black Mist Lions heard the soft sound of his ability being released. Before they could react, the human they thought they'd restrained suddenly burst into action. Balls of aura appeared behind them, colliding and flying away like cannonballs. White light bloomed intensely at the same time—looking like they were about to explode.
The two Black Mist Lions couldn't see the aura balls, but they felt the approaching death threat with their animal instincts!
"Despicable humans!"
One of the Black Mist Lions took off a small jade Buddha from its neck and cursed.
Rumble, rumble!!!
The aura balls released by Essi detonated. However, before the explosion, a black fire-like vortex emerged, accompanied by the pain and screams of the two Black Mist Lions. When the explosion dissipated, only a blackened and severed tail was left. The Black Mist Lion that fell to the ground but wasn't killed or injured by the explosion remained.
Such a powerful aura bomb should be able to blow tenacious monsters to pieces.
Essi looked at it in amazement and murmured, "The things they wear around their necks. That small jade Buddha... exactly the same as the Leader!"
"You mean this small jade Buddha?"
Liam's voice came from behind.
Essi looked back and found Liam pointing at the Black Mist Lion he was stepping on. There was also a pendant hanging on the neck of the Black Mist Lion—almost the same as the small jade Buddha!
Shizuku squatted next to the Black Mist Lion whose arm she'd chopped off, took off his small jade Buddha necklace, and put it in front of her eyes to observe curiously.
The Black Mist Lion whose necklace she took away endured the pain of a broken arm and said angrily, "Give it back to me! Human!"
It struggled to snatch it away, but was hit on the forehead by Shizuku's fist wrapped in Ten. Blood juice immediately splattered. It fainted.
Finally, Shizuku remembered not to kill around Liam, so she held back some strength.
Shizuku calmly continued to observe the loot.
Essi said it was a small jade Buddha, but in fact it may not be real jade—it just looked crystal clear and resembled jade. The light gray jade body was carved into a Buddha statue with many arms. However, the carving skills were obviously not exquisite. The surface of the small jade Buddha wasn't very smooth. Instead, it had a rough texture similar to rock. The face of the multi-armed Buddha statue was also very perfunctory. You could barely tell what it looked like.
"If you don't want to die, just tell me. What's going on with this thing?"
Under the angry eyes of the Black Mist Lion at his feet, Liam took off the other's small jade Buddha necklace. The material and carving were almost the same as the one Shizuku had harvested.
Could this group of monsters have robbed some inferior handicraft processing factory in human society?
"Bah!" The Black Mist Lion was trampled by Liam and couldn't move. He cursed harshly. "Do you think I'll betray my compatriots? I'm not a despicable human like you!"
"This isn't an ordinary pendant. It must have been imbued with some kind of Nen ability." Essi walked over with a frown. "Magical Beasts don't understand Nen. It seems to be the handiwork of the Leader..."
So, the cult leader has quite a good relationship with the Black Mist Lions in the mountains!
Not only did he set the coordinates of the space where Kurapika was trapped—or the divine prison—but he also set the coordinates of that thing in the mountain where the Black Mist Lions have their lair. And he also made small jade Buddha props of the same style as his own for these monsters?
By the way, what are props made with Nen called? Nen tools?
Are there distinctions between low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, and top-grade Nen tools?
Liam weighed the small jade Buddha and said with a smile, "You say humans are despicable, but you also manage to have a human friend. This guy is the one we are searching for. Do you know him?"
Essi described the appearance of the cult Leader to the Black Mist Lion.
The Black Mist Lion's eyes flashed. He sneered. "I don't know any humans! Humans who dare to trespass into our territory will only become our food!"
"Who of us is more likely to be someone's meal now?" Liam grinned at it. "If you don't want to tell me anything, then you are useless"
Hearing this, Shizuku raised her hand to summon Blinky and took out a set of cooking tools—but Liam quickly stopped her with his eyes.
She really want to eat it!
Should it be said or not, this thing can speak human language. I haven't yet reached the level of eating sentient meat. I really can't keep it down.
"Essi, please turn around and walk away a bit." Liam said.
Essi was a little surprised, but turned around and walked some distance away.
Liam rubbed his fingers. A Flying Star Bubble flew out from his fingertips.
The Black Mist Lion was stepped on by Liam. His head was twisted so his face was close to the ground. He couldn't see clearly what this weird human was going to do to him.
But soon, the abominable human who'd been stepping on him suddenly moved away. Without thinking, the Black Mist Lion jumped up from the ground despite the severe pain all over his body. With a force he'd never seen in his life, he aimed at the human boy's neck and bit viciously.
Liam stood still and didn't try to hide. He just said, "Get down."
The Black Mist Lion's attack and bite stopped suddenly. As if it had completely surrendered to Liam's order, it fell to the ground with a thud.
The Black Mist Lion was stunned. It struggled hard, but its body seemed to be dead. It didn't obey its own orders at all. It was like a piece of dead meat. It just lay on the ground obediently and refused to move.
Then it heard the human say, "Stand up."
Then it discovered to its horror that its body had really gotten up from the ground obediently and stood neatly in front of the human boy.
Is this my body or his body?!
Essi had already turned back. He was surprised to see such a scene and understood why Liam had turned around and avoided it just now.
This is obviously a Manipulation-type Nen ability.
Essi was even a little glad he didn't see Liam using this unknown ability... We're not very familiar with each other. If I accidentally saw such an important ability of yours, I don't when he might silence me.
"If you don't want to say it, someone will." Liam said to the Black Mist Lion who stood at attention in front of him. "I order you now: go home. Pretend nothing happened. Kill seven of your compatriots first. Then grab seven more and bring them to me." He touched his chin. "If you don't want to tell me, there'll always be someone who's willing to talk, right?"
The Black Mist Lion was shocked on the spot. His lion's mane stood up in anger. He cursed furiously. "You! Despicable human! You're evil bastard!!"
It was spitting mad, but its body turned around without hesitation and walked toward the direction of the clan's den.
"Despicable! Shameless! Hateful human! I said! I'll say it, okay? Please let me stop!!!"
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