By abandoning all intent to defend, she poured all her bloodlust into one final strike.
This was how Neferpitou's Post-Mortem Nen responded to her loyalty to the King.
Her body was riddled with holes. Her eyeballs dangled by bloody sinews, her jaw was dislocated, revealing gory gums and teeth, and her limbs and back were mangled from extensive piercing damage.
Only her arm, which had gathered all her Post-Mortem Nen, had managed to pierce Morrow's chest as she had wished.
Morrow was thus pushed away by Neferpitou's lunging strike, out of the path of the suppressive barrage unleashed by the entire Stone Wall squad.
But Morel, who was physically and mentally exhausted from the high-intensity battle, had neither his pipe nor the assistance of Deep Purple. He also lacked Morrow's explosive speed and could only endure the damage with his physical body.
In the end, he was just a Manipulation-type Nen user, with only 60% of an Enhancement-type's defensive conversion. He simply couldn't withstand the Stone Wall squad's coordinated firepower.
Faced with this outcome, he could only embrace the moment before darkness consumed him, carrying with him the question of "who attacked us" and a sense of guilt and apology toward Morrow.
Compared to the species-level malice felt from the King and the Royal Guard, who viewed humans as mere insects...
The malice from one's own kind, from fellow humans, was the most terrifying thing of all.
This was an indisputable fact.
Morrow, Netero, Knuckle, Morel, Shoot, Grachan, and every other member who had thrown themselves into this biological disaster extermination mission had all used their resolve as a shield and their will as a spear, burning with the most fervent and noble light of humanity.
Yet, the more dazzling the light, the more it illuminated the bottomless malice of their own kind.
So what was the difference between humans and Chimera Ants?
Perhaps, this was the answer.
Morel had disagreed with Knov on whether to have Morrow give up on pinning down Neferpitou.
Knov, who was usually rational, had made an emotional choice that was more favorable to Morrow's safety.
Morel, who was usually emotional, had, for the first time, let his rationality win over his emotions. This was due to the sacrifices of Knuckle and the others, and to ensure the battle, advanced by the lives of his comrades, would end in certain victory.
He made a choice that was disadvantageous to Morrow but beneficial to the overall battle situation.
But in the end, he was not a completely rational person.
When he realized he had shifted the risk of his "choice" onto Morrow, his innate kindness and loyalty compelled him to rush to the battlefield to support Morrow, even when he could no longer guarantee his own combat effectiveness.
Was this not also a manifestation of guilt?
In life, one must always face countless choices.
Who could say they would have no regrets from the very beginning?
As the Nen beams pierced his body and his life force rapidly drained away, Morel felt no fear of death.
There was only the regret from that choice, which in turn bred an apology and guilt toward Morrow.
But he no longer had the chance to speak to Morrow. Even his apology-filled gaze seemed to be completely hidden by his sunglasses.
However, before his consciousness was completely annihilated, his eyes met Morrow's fleeting glance.
In that final moment, which passed as slowly as a revolving lantern, he saw Morrow's lips move slightly.
"It's fine."
Morel felt as if... he had heard those words.
Rumble!
The continuous waves of energy beams bombarded the ground, causing violent explosions.
This suppressive barrage, woven together by draining the potential aura of several members of the Stone Wall squad in a short time, ultimately failed to hit Morrow.
But it had created an opportunity for Neferpitou.
The surroundings were clearly filled with the sounds of rain and explosions, yet Morrow heard nothing. He withdrew his gaze from Morel and turned to look at Neferpitou's gruesome face.
His expression was calm.
Even though Neferpitou's Post-Mortem Nen had seized this opportunity, Morrow had avoided a fatal blow at the critical moment.
This strike through his chest wasn't enough to kill him on the spot, but if he didn't get treatment soon, he would die quickly.
While using his right hand to hold down Neferpitou's corpse and continuously absorb the Post-Mortem Nen, Morrow condensed a Shooting Star · Essence Siphon in his left hand.
Before launching his final all-out assault, he had prepared some "blood packs" and placed them in Knov's Hide and Seek.
Now, as long as he released the Shooting Star · Essence Siphon, Knov, who would see it, would open the portal to the room containing the blood packs as they had previously agreed.
That way, he could be treated in time.
'…'
However, Morrow remembered that he still had one rewind opportunity left.
He also thought of Netero's defeat, the King's variable-like revival, the images of his teammates willingly giving their lives for victory, and Beyond, whom he had placed on his kill list.
Forget it...
Morrow suddenly tilted his head up to the sky, facing the wind and rain. The calm look in his eyes was abruptly replaced by a chilling bloodlust.
At the same time, the Shooting Star · Essence Siphon condensed in his hand rapidly lost its emerald-green luster and began to expand quickly.
This was the purest and most powerful conversion of Emission-type energy.
After Morrow poured all his aura output into it, it swelled into a Nen bullet with a diameter exceeding five meters.
When sniping with aura as the bullet, there was no need to consider ballistic drop or factors like wind.
It would only form a perpetually straight line of fire within its range.
This was an advantage that maximized accuracy, but it also had the disadvantage of easily revealing one's position.
Relying on that straight trajectory, Morrow could directly locate the people who had sniped him and Morel.
He raised his arm, and the giant Nen bullet lifted high with it.
The next instant, the Nen bullet shot out from Morrow's hand like a missile, tearing through the rain curtain, carving a vacuum trail between heaven and earth. It pierced the clouds at astonishing speed, heading straight for the Airship where the Stone Wall squad was located.
Muherr, who had just emptied his comrades' potential aura, saw the destructive energy coming through the clouds, and his face changed drastically.
Hey, hey... Are you kidding me!
He froze halfway out of the cockpit, his eyes wide open. His pupils contracted violently in shock, as if he had witnessed something beyond imagination.
This damn... monster...
This was Muherr's last trembling whisper at the end of his life.
"BOOM!!!"
The giant Nen bullet struck the Airship. The blinding white light from the explosion instantly engulfed the Stone Wall squad and the other Nen users on board.
The ensuing shockwave violently swept away, blasting a huge hole in the churning dark clouds below.
On the palace grounds.
Morrow saw the Airship's fate through that massive hole, then casually withdrew his gaze, letting it fall slowly to the back of his right hand, which was absorbing the Post-Mortem Nen.
Lv.96 → Lv.97
Perhaps it was because Neferpitou had gotten him to Lv.96 and he had already accumulated most of the experience needed for Lv.97.
So after finishing off the multiple Nen users on that Airship, he had just made up for the final bit of experience.
But Morrow's gaze did not linger on the level indicator. Instead, he looked again at Neferpitou's gruesome face.
The last piece of the ability puzzle... if it's you... I guess that's fine...
Endless darkness descended.
—--
Consciousness returned from the darkness.
The sharp whistle of a train reached his ears, gradually fading into the distance. He could faintly hear Komugi's grateful farewell.
As the sounds grew stronger, the darkness before him was suddenly pulled away like a curtain at light speed. A dilapidated train station and a bustling crowd came into view.
"You're the same as always~"
A familiar voice came from behind.
It was Hisoka's voice.
Morrow ignored him and immediately looked at the rings on the back of his hand.
The energy of the third Tree Ring was depleted, and the fourth Tree Ring's energy was frozen at 96%.
It had soared from 41% to 96%, a full 55% conversion of Post-Mortem Nen.
Although a portion of it came from A.P.R., it was still enough to show the intensity of Neferpitou's Post-Mortem Will and the powerful will contained within it.
"Among Beyond's team, the Nen users capable of launching a long-range attack with a coordinated ability are most likely that mercenary group called the "Stone Wall" squad..."
After the death rewind, Morrow had more time to think.
He was absolutely certain that the attackers belonged to Beyond.
Although most of them had never revealed their Nen abilities, using this as a starting point, Morrow immediately thought of the legendary "Stone Wall" squad and their iconic giant robot.
With this robot as its core, the Stone Wall squad was able to construct a firepower system that had earned them a formidable reputation in warfare through the coordinated efforts of its members.
Furthermore, this long-range snipe was most likely aided by the remote reconnaissance and locking abilities of other members of Beyond's team.
For the sake of conquering the Dark Continent...
Beyond had truly given his all over the past fifty years. Whether it was honing his personal strength or building a professional team, he had probably pushed it to the limit.
On this point, Ging, who also aimed to explore the Dark Continent, looked like he was just playing house compared to Beyond's planning and investment.
Images of the many members of Beyond's team flashed through Morrow's mind. He then recalled the part in the original story where, after the extermination mission, Pariston sent a fleet of airships to retrieve the 5,000 flesh eggs from the courtyard.
But the airship fleet was supposed to arrive the day after the extermination mission ended.
This time, however, they were in position ahead of schedule.
This could only mean that Pariston had likely used his authority as the acting chairman, bypassed Netero, and privately dispatched the airship fleet, along with non-Association combat personnel.
Such a strategic move was probably to ensure the entire plan progressed smoothly.
On one hand, he had to ensure Netero's death, but on the other, he couldn't let the situation spiral too far out of control, which would cause the Hunter Association to suffer too much in the aftermath.
On another hand, there was likely the intent to finish him off as well.
"Pariston, Beyond..."
After sorting out his thoughts, Morrow silently recited their names, his eyes terrifyingly calm.
It wasn't that he hadn't been on guard against Pariston and Beyond, but he wasn't God. How could he have predicted that the source of the attack was waiting for the right moment, hidden above the clouds all along?
He would never have imagined that the airship fleet, which was supposed to be responsible for retrieving the Chimera Ant flesh eggs in the original story, would be hiding such a powerful weapon.
Now that things had come to this, his bloodlust for Beyond and Pariston had grown even stronger.
Once the Chimera Ant incident was completely resolved, he would definitely make those two pay the price.