"It's hard to believe that giant Chimera Ants can evolve by eating humans. As hard as it is to believe, since it's already a fact, we must do everything we can to prevent the situation from worsening."
Netero groaned, raised his hand and stroked his beard, then looked at Killua who seemed to have lost all hope and said calmly: "Killua, if your combat power is not strong enough, it will only be absorbed by the enemy. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yeah."
Killua clenched his fists.
Netero's words were essentially no different from Knov's 'just go home and sleep, kid', just phrased more politely.
Knov and Morel looked away and instead looked at the entrance of a large tree suspended above the river not far away.
Now, it's their turn to step in.
However, Netero kept his eyes on Killua, who remained with his head down. He could clearly sense the frustration in Killua's heart.
Originally, there was no place for Killua and Gon in the extermination plan.
However, Netero wanted to give these two juniors, whom he had personally interacted with, a chance, so he slowly began to speak:
"Killua, in the nearby town, there's... huh?"
Halfway through his words, Netero's gaze suddenly sharpened.
Knov and Morel, who were standing next to him, also noticed something at the same time. Their pupils contracted sharply, and they reflexively opened their Aura Nodes, releasing their Manifested Aura to the maximum extent and coating their bodies with it.
"Something is approaching..."
"So fast!?"
Feeling a presence rapidly closing in, Knov and Morel immediately entered combat readiness. The latter even directly removed the cloth from his large pipe.
In contrast, although Netero also sensed the movement of the unknown Aura, he didn't react as intensely as Knov and Morel.
As for Killua, he didn't sense anything at first. It was only through Knov and Morel's reactions that he realized the worst possibility.
'Has that monster... caught up with us?'
Killua's expression changed. The terrifying Aura from before flashed through his mind, and his heartbeat began to speed up.
At that moment, a long, narrow shadow streaked across the sky like a black meteor, crashing directly into the ground about fifty to sixty meters ahead of the group.
Boom!
The long and narrow black shadow fell to the ground, and the Aura that came with it erupted instantly, directly creating a large crater and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
The nearby NGL border checkpoint, upon hearing the commotion, immediately fell into a state of chaos.
Meanwhile, Knov and Morel, who are standing close to the impact site, stared intently at the swirling dust, ready to attack at any moment.
Judging from their perception of this Aura just now, the person who came should not be underestimated. They felt it was highly likely the Chimera Ant Killua had mentioned.
Netero was also staring at the smoke, a hint of doubt flashing in his old eyes.
He hadn't been able to make out the true form of the shadow. To be precise, it seemed to be just that… a pure shadow. And yet...
After the shadow landed, he felt a faint sense of familiarity, but it was also strangely foreign.
"Sorry, did I scare you?"
Suddenly, a voice that felt familiar to both Netero and Killua emerged from the dust.
"Huh?"
Both Netero and Killua were slightly taken aback.
Morel felt like he had heard the voice somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it immediately.
However, Knov looked serious and did not dare to let his guard down at all.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the swirling dust was dispersed by a burst of Aura, revealing a figure standing at the edge of the crater.
The person who came was Moses, who jumped down from the airship high above.
Because there are no airport facilities within the NGL territory, the normal procedure was to land in a city to the east and then travel overland, crossing the mountains to reach the NGL border.
Moses had set out from the Yorbian Continent, and the airship route he took passed near the Balsa Islands, close to NGL's territorial waters.
It was probably around that area that Moses chose to jump off the airship. He then flew all the way from the sea to the NGL border.
As for the method of long-distance flight, it involved continuously throwing his shadows forward and then using Shadow Shift to swap places with them, repeating the process in a cycle.
Theoretically, as long as Moses had enough Potential Aura, Moses can even use this method to fly between the five continents.
However, the flying speed couldn't exceed the speed at which the shadow clones returned, but it can at least be faster than the airship.
The long, narrow shadow that had crashed down like a black meteor just now was actually a shadow clone Moses had thrown ahead.
After the shadow clone hit the ground and created the crater, Moses used Shadow Shift to swap places with it.
Facing the mix of surprise and shock in everyone's eyes, Moses calmly adjusted his attire. His gaze swept past Knov, who had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, and Morel, who had already drawn his weapon.
"I'm sorry if I scared you guys."
Moses said lightly, then turned his attention to Netero, who looked slightly surprised, and said calmly: "Respected Chairman Netero, I made it in time, didn't I?"
"Hohoho, of course."
Netero replied with a smile, the surprise in his eyes fading, replaced by curiosity.
He just examined Moses's Aura and clearly noticed the changes.
It was now more stable, more condensed, and even... quieter.
While it was hard to gauge the exact level of strength from the aura alone, the obvious changes were undoubtedly the result of Moses's journey to the Dark Continent.
"That's good. I was worried I might be late and get disqualified by you. That's why I had to jump off the airship and use a faster method to get here."
Moses said casually, then turned his head to look at Killua, who looked both surprised and at a loss of what to do.
Morel and Knov looked at each other.
'Jump off an airship?'
'Even the nearest air route was a considerable distance from the NGL border, right?'
'How did he get here?!'
Morel was filled with astonishment and silently put away his pipe.
Knov looked at Moses and wiped the sweat from his forehead without leaving a trace.
'So this is... Moses Isaac.'
No matter how he tried to hide it now, there was no way to cover up his earlier flustered reaction.
Knov had to admit that he had been genuinely scared just now.
He also had to retract some of his previous comments about Moses.
They say seeing is believing. Now that he had witnessed Moses's grand entrance and his flow of Aura, which is strikingly similar to Netero's...
'The youngest Double-Star Blacklist Hunter in history...'
'Truly deserving of the title!'