No sooner had he finished speaking than the mole's soul floated toward the three of them, claws gleaming sharply and looking downright menacing. The soul no longer had its pure glow; instead, faint green light mixed with wisps of black death aura. And it moved far faster than the mole's physical body ever could.
In the blink of an eye, the mole's soul zoomed straight toward Gengar, who was busy absorbing death aura. It was clear this was Dark Sonata's move, seeing Gengar constantly swallowing the death aura, the mole's soul was sent to attack him. Its power seemed boosted, and its speed was shockingly quick.
Pyon and Satotz's immediate reaction was to fall back. As users of nen, they knew the most important rule was not to rush when facing unknown powers. In the world of Hunter x Hunter, abilities come in all sorts of strange and unpredictable forms. Intelligence and caution were key in battles between ability users. The priority now was to dodge the soul's attack and carefully figure out its capabilities.
Larry agreed but knew that just retreating wasn't enough, they needed to test the soul's limits. Since ghost-type Pokémon are said to be souls transformed, would ghost-type moves work here?
"Gen Si!" Gengar suddenly unleashed a burst of dark purple-black aura, more deathly than anything else. The aura quickly condensed into a basketball-sized sphere in front of him, swirling with countless energies inside. It was the ghost-type move, Shadow Ball!
Thanks to Gengar's top-tier strength, it could've easily created a shadow ball much bigger than this one. But given the surroundings, Gengar decided to go with a smaller shadow ball.
The shadow ball shot straight toward the mole's soul, but when it made contact, there was no explosion like expected. The soul and the shadow ball acted like water and fire, they canceled each other out. Still, the mole's soul was clearly weaker than Gengar's shadow ball; it put up a little resistance but eventually just faded away completely.
Bang!
The shadow ball shot straight through the air and slammed into the cave wall with a sharp crack. The force stirred up bits of decaying dust scattered around, but Larry waved his hand casually, and the dust settled back down without a sound.
"Looks like the rock underground is pretty solid," he murmured, glancing at the large hole that Gengar had blasted earlier. Considering the small size of Gengar's shadow ball, it was surprising the cave hadn't collapsed under the impact.
"Can it really hit the soul?" Satotz blurted out, his voice filled with amazement as his curly beard trembled with excitement. Pyon, standing beside him, was a bit stunned at first but quickly pulled himself together. After all, it was Larry taking the lead here, someone who seemed to embody the word "invicible."
To everyone around, there was nothing Larry couldn't do. Gradually, Pyon found himself shifting his faith towards Larry, gaining unwavering confidence in him.
Larry replayed the moment when his soul had been attacked. Although the experience felt strange, one thing was clear: ghost-type moves actually affect the soul. He wondered if other types of skills might have similar effects.
At the same time, he began to speculate about the implications of a soul attack. Since it targeted the soul rather than the body, it probably bypassed physical damage and hit directly at the essence of a person. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how complex Dark Sonata was, each chapter had unique abilities, and death aura could control those it affected.
"Since it can attack and capture souls, and musical sound attacks don't work here, I think this problem will be easier to solve this time," Satotz said, stroking his curly beard as the tension in his face slowly eased. Having Larry on their side gave them a sense of security. "It should be no problem to handle."
Larry's reply was modest but firm. With Marshadow lurking in the shadows, no matter how many souls appeared, they could overcome them. However, he also warned, "But we might face more souls than we expect."
His words sent a chill down Satotz's spine. They had overlooked one crucial detail: if souls could emerge from those corpses, then every skeleton scattered around might represent a trapped soul waiting to be unleashed.
He couldn't even begin to count the number of skeletons around them, they were everywhere. Most of them weren't fully intact; some had a paw sticking out to the east, while a skull lay off to the west.
After so many years, it made sense that more and more creatures had been corrupted by Dark Sonata. But that also meant they were likely up against an unimaginable army of souls next. "No matter what, we have to keep moving forward," he said.
The Mole Soul's appearance revealed the powers of the Harp Chapter, which sparked Larry's curiosity. How many souls could there be wherever Dark Sonata was? Marshadow explained there was a huge chamber deep inside the cave where countless souls gathered.
As a ghost-type pokemon, Marshadow's aura could sense these souls. It seemed Dark Sonata had collected and gathered all those souls around herself.
This kind of control must have its limits, though, she couldn't be too far from her main body. If Larry and the others hadn't shown up, the mole's soul probably would have drifted deeper into the cave.
If their guess was right, they were heading straight toward Dark Sonata, and she was waiting for them, ready to unleash all those souls to trap them. Luckily, Marshadow's aura had already uncovered the whole situation: Dark Sonata wasn't a hunter here, but the prey. Gengar led the way, chewing on spicy sticks as he swallowed the Death Aura that floated around them.
Larry wondered if Dark Sonata planned to lure them in, then use the soul army to destroy them. The music's sound had dulled, and the oppressive feeling of death that had hung in the air earlier was now less intense.
They didn't have far to go, and with the steady pace of the three people and their beast companion, they soon arrived at their destination. "Is this really happening...?" Satotz couldn't help but let out a deep sigh, overwhelmed by the unbelievable sight before him.
Even Satotz's usually quiet mouth, hidden beneath his beard, had fallen open in shock. What caught their attention first was the massive army of souls filling the cave. The air inside was thick with the presence of souls from all kinds of creatures, snakes, rats, dragons, and beasts alike.