When dealing with ordinary people who don't understand Nen, Emission attacks with homing effects could completely minimize energy consumption to the lowest extent.
Therefore, the sharp starlight that posed no threat in the eyes of Nen users could, with just the right amount of power, instantly take the lives of nearly three hundred fully armed gang members.
It was this terrifyingly precise efficiency that made it even more chilling than grand-scale Emission attacks.
After witnessing Morrow's terrifying strength firsthand, the two combatants from the Heil-Ly Family immediately realized the severity of the situation, no longer caring about Morena's wishes or attitude.
"Morena, this place is no longer safe. We must evacuate immediately," said Gregg, the Heil-Ly Family combatant, suppressing the shock in his heart and speaking rapidly.
"I agree with Gregg," the other person said with a serious expression. "The Ten Dons' elite troops are clearly no match for that man. Without being able to confirm his true intentions, we can't rule out the possibility that he might directly attack the Kandeli building. For safety's sake, we should evacuate before the Ten Dons' forces are completely defeated."
Listening to the suggestions of her two guards, Morena remained silent, merely staring intently at the figure below, her heart stirring with indescribable waves.
Since awakening her ability...
This was the first time she had experienced such a subtle feeling.
Unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar.
How should she describe it...
Was it... a kindred spirit?
A glimmer of light flashed in her deep, pitch-black eyes, remaining consistently calm and composed.
Meanwhile, Gregg and the other guard beside her were already restless with anxiety, feeling as if sitting on pins and needles.
In front of the main entrance of the Kandeli building.
The corpses of gang members lay scattered everywhere. Morrow stood in place, knowing that reinforcements would be heading this way but completely unconcerned.
He casually raised his hand and shot a Shooting Star into the sky to serve as a signal flare, then calmly looked toward Porcupine and Slug inside the first-floor lobby.
After reaching level 70, among the Nen users I've killed, Uvogin gave the most experience points, followed by those two Shadow Beasts. As for the other Nen users, they were barely satisfactory...
Morrow lowered his hand, his gaze firmly locked on the two, calculating in his mind. But I've still accumulated quite a bit of experience. If I kill these two Shadow Beasts, I wonder if I can reach level 71.
Harboring such thoughts, the aura around Morrow surged, and a cold bloodlust gradually solidified.
The nature of his gaze fixed on Porcupine and Slug changed, as if he were looking at two crucial prey.
Inside the lobby.
Facing Morrow's gaze, both Porcupine and Slug's expressions changed.
Porcupine had already been very wary of Morrow's strength, but after witnessing Morrow precisely wipe out a group of subordinates with firepower, that wariness instantly turned into fear.
Now, just meeting Morrow's gaze made him break out in a cold sweat involuntarily.
Despite this, as part of the strongest force under the Ten Dons, he wouldn't be completely crushed by fear, nor did he plan to turn and flee. Instead, he arduously prepared to counterattack.
Just this alone proved that his title as a Shadow Beast was well-deserved.
As for Slug beside Porcupine, he had long lost his initial arrogance.
This is the strongest Nen user I've ever encountered...
Feeling the aura that showed no intention of restraint, a bead of sweat slid down Slug's gradually tensing face, pausing at his chin for a moment before falling to the ground.
Drip.
A nearly imperceptible sound, yet it served as the battle's trumpet call.
Outside the main entrance, inside the hall.
Both sides moved simultaneously.
Morrow charged into the hall with powerful steps.
While Porcupine and Slug advanced toward Morrow from left and right.
After closing the distance, Porcupine was the first to strike.
His ability allowed him to freely control the body hair across his body.
Enhanced by Nen, his body hair could become as hard as steel, and could freely lengthen or shorten.
To maximize his ability's lethality, Porcupine suddenly leaped into the air after approaching Morrow.
While airborne, dense black dots suddenly emerged across his body surface, immediately transforming into black spear-like projectiles that densely rained down on Morrow below.
In this moment when Porcupine took the initiative, three tactics that could directly exploit weaknesses and instantly eliminate Porcupine flashed through Morrow's mind at lightning speed.
The most practical tactic was to retreat and evade Porcupine's first wave of hair thrusts, then take advantage of the situation to activate the 'Insidious Shooting Star' ability, making the stellar cross appear on the load-bearing pillar behind Porcupine.
Because Porcupine's offensive method involved allocating the vast majority of his aura output to the front of his body.
Therefore, during offense, the Nen defense strength at his back would sharply decrease.
In such circumstances, using the Insidious Shooting Star released through terrain factors could basically eliminate Porcupine in an instant.
But Morrow didn't employ this tactic.
As the dense black spikes pierced through the air toward him, he merely calmly raised his hand, the aura concentrated in his palm instantly transforming into a tiger's head that met the dense black spikes head-on in a silent roar.
This move was none other than the long-unused Tiger Head.
Supported by his current high-level 70 aura output, Tiger Head's presence was even more formidable.
Watching the awe-inspiring tiger head Nen approach, Porcupine's pupils contracted slightly, yet he gritted his teeth and maintained his aura output.
My 'attack' is faster, with wider range...!
Porcupine thought, having taken the initiative.
The next instant, the tiger head Nen tore open a gap through the dense black spikes.
The hair spikes as hard as steel couldn't withstand the tiger head Nen's power at all.
Even so, Porcupine actually calmed down at this moment.
Having already recognized Morrow as a powerful opponent, the moment Morrow countered, he didn't believe his Hardened Hair Spears could block the attack.
He only needed to utilize the area attack advantage of his Hardened Hair Spears, then achieve faster speed to deliver other Hardened Hair Spears before Morrow.
Porcupine calculated thus.
However, Morrow made a move he never anticipated.
Huh!?
Porcupine's expression changed as he saw Morrow actually advancing synchronously with the tiger head Nen, directly targeting him while he was still airborne.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...
Although Morrow's figure closely followed the tiger head Nen, some parts of his body still suffered attacks from other black hair spears.
But these hair spikes capable of piercing through steel plates couldn't even advance an inch when touching Morrow's body, bouncing off like dry twigs.
Porcupine's calculations had overlooked one cruel fact.
That was Morrow possessing a greater total aura output than him.
How is this possible...!
Porcupine's eyes widened abruptly.
In the midst of Porcupine's shock, Morrow had already surged through the gap torn open by the tiger head, his iron-clamp-like hand instantly locking onto Porcupine's throat.
Feeling the constricting force around his neck, Porcupine suddenly snapped back to reality, frantically reaching out with both hands to grip Morrow's arm.
But it was already futile.
The outcome of this one-second exchange was thus decided.
Yet there was still another Shadow Beast present.
The moment Slug saw Morrow break through the hair spear attack and subdue Porcupine in one move, he launched his assault without hesitation.
"Moist Touch"
As he raised his hands high, the aura output wrapped around them instantly transformed into pale green mucus, spraying toward Morrow and Porcupine who were still in the air.
Before making his move, he hadn't considered Porcupine's survival at all.
In fact, if he could use Porcupine to ensure the hit of "Moist Touch," he would only be more decisive.
Good, don't let go even if you die, Porcupine!
A trace of viciousness flashed in Slug's eyes.
Catching the pale green mucus attacking from the air in his peripheral vision, Morrow suddenly exerted force with his right hand, crushing Porcupine's neck.
Porcupine's face trembled violently, his widened eyes revealing a flicker of fear before rapidly dimming.
Simultaneously.
The tentacle-like mucus extending from Slug's hands had already reached Morrow and Porcupine.
Astral Step
With a single thought from Morrow, his figure instantly vanished.
In the air, only Porcupine's limp body and the weakly drooping strands of hair remained.
The next moment.
The pale green mucus struck Porcupine, propelling his body violently against the ceiling.
Squelch.
The viscous liquid firmly adhered Porcupine to the ceiling.
Slug initially thought he had succeeded, but upon closer look, only Porcupine was trapped within the pale green mucus.
Damn...!
Slug inwardly cursed, sharply withdrawing his gaze to locate Morrow's position.
But as soon as he shifted his vision, an icy, stinging sensation pierced his neck.
Before he could process what happened, his peripheral vision caught sight of blood spraying out like a fountain.
So he's behind me...
As if realizing something, Slug's vision darkened, staggering forward several steps before collapsing to his knees as if drained of strength.
Torrents of blood gushed from his neck, instantly dyeing the ground crimson.
Watching Slug's kneeling figure from behind, Morrow slowly sheathed the Poultry Scarlet Knife, lacking the patience to wait for Slug to draw his final breath.
He casually fired a Nen bullet that pierced through Slug's head.
Amid the splattering blood, Slug's body slumped powerless to the ground, immediately losing all signs of life.
With Slug's death, the effects of Moist Touch dissipated, causing Porcupine who was stuck to the ceiling to fall down and crash onto the floor.
Simultaneously, the experience accumulated by Tree Rings finally broke through the threshold.
Morrow instantly felt the increase in his aura output, glancing sideways at the Tree Rings on his hand; it had already changed from Lv.70 to Lv.71.
Finally leveled up.
A faint smile tugged at Morrow's lips, feeling somewhat satisfied.
Uvogin, four Shadow Beasts, and several other Nen users...
It took all these accumulations just to barely gain one level.
Although he could no longer level up as quickly and easily as before, as long as the experience accumulation mechanism remained, he could at least ensure that every prey killed would become important nourishment.
As Morrow was thinking this, he suddenly sensed something and looked toward the far end of the hall in another direction.
The elevator's arrival chime echoed through the briefly quiet hall.
Under Morrow's gaze, three people quickly emerged from the elevator.
Two men and one woman.
The woman was securely protected in the middle.
These three were none other than Morena and her group who had come down from the upper floors.
To quickly distance themselves from this dangerous situation, they had even abandoned the items they had successfully bid on during tonight's auction.
However, upon reaching the first-floor hall, they immediately noticed Morrow's gaze fixed upon them.
Gregg and another Nen user named Eros immediately went on high alert, shielding Morena behind them. They promptly opened their aura nodes, releasing their maximum aura output.
Those two corpses... are the Shadow Beasts Porcupine and Slug.
Even the Shadow Beasts were completely powerless to resist...
Gregg and Eros immediately noticed Porcupine and Slug's corpses, their hearts shaken.
They had indeed delayed for a moment before coming down, but it was only about five or six seconds at most.
They had originally thought that with the Ten Dons' Shadow Beast Squad guarding the building, based on their understanding of the Shadow Beasts' capabilities, even if they weren't as strong as Morrow, they should have been able to hold him off for some time.
But Slug and Porcupine's bodies lying on the ground conveyed a terrifying message to them.
That was, Slug and Porcupine, who were supposed to form a solid defensive line in the hall, were essentially no different from the nearly three hundred gang member corpses outside.
Compared to Gregg and Eros' high-alert reactions, Morena remained noticeably calmer. Her gaze passed through the gap between the two men as she observed Morrow's response.
In her view, if Morrow was solely targeting the Ten Dons, then he probably wouldn't attack the auction attendees.
After all, most of the people attending this auction were prominent business figures and high-ranking government officials.
If Morrow was brutal enough to not even spare these attendees...
That would change the nature of the situation entirely.
Therefore, Morena had remained calm from beginning to end.
But her composure wasn't solely due to this assessment; she herself lacked any reverence for death.
Or rather, her numbness toward the entire world also included her own insignificant life.
Ding.
Another elevator opened.
A group of auction attendees in formal suits rushed out of the elevator, also intending to quickly distance themselves from the dangerous situation.
But the moment they saw Morrow, they all froze as if petrified, standing stiffly in place with dazed expressions.
Morrow hadn't withdrawn his aura yet.
Even strong members of the Heil-Ly Family like Gregg and Eros found it difficult to maintain their composure in the face of Morrow's aura, let alone these upper-class individuals who knew nothing about Nen.
Morrow's gaze swept over the crowd in front of the elevator.
He made no move, and so the crowd didn't dare to act rashly either.
But this atmosphere was soon broken.
The gang's reinforcement troops had arrived, approaching the main entrance with dense footsteps.
"What is that thing?!"
"Ah!!!"
"Rat-tat-tat..."
Chaos suddenly erupted outside the main entrance.
The reinforcements of the gang encountered something unknown, as exclamations and screams intertwined with continuous gunfire erupted.
In no more than ten seconds.
The various noises outside gradually subsided.
Inside the hall.
The guests who had descended to the first floor were all terrified, unaware of what was happening outside.
Suddenly.
With a deafening crash, a massive figure smashed through the glass doors and walls, charging into the hall.
"Roar!"
Amidst the flying shards of glass and chunks of concrete, a fierce and savage roar resounded.
This figure was none other than the Magical Beast Chimera.
Its body was stained with blood in various places, and it swiftly moved behind Morrow, obediently lowering its head and crouching beside him.
As if afraid of dirtying Morrow, it restrained the impulse to nuzzle against him.
"What brings you here?"
Morrow reached out in surprise to stroke Chimera's head, naturally unbothered by the glaring bloodstains.
Chimera let out two cheerful roars, slightly narrowing its eyes.
The guests witnessing this scene trembled in fear.
Gregg and Eros were utterly astonished.
Who exactly was this person...?
Unlike Gregg and Eros, Morena was aware of Morrow's other identity and had deliberately delved deeper into it.
Thus, upon seeing Chimera, Morena faintly guessed its origin.