A Chimera Ant the size of a human.
Any Beast Hunter with common sense would consider this a joke.
Even though Chimera Ants possess the reproductive ability of Phagogenesis, which allows them to break through reproductive isolation, they are still limited by their innate genes...
Even if they consume human or elephant genes, their biological size wouldn't change significantly.
Otherwise, humans would have long exterminated Chimera Ants instead of classifying them as a Level 1 designated isolated species.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes...
How could Ponzu believe that Chimera Ants could possess a size close to that of humans?
I-I must escape NGL quickly and report this news...
Ponzu cautiously hid in the dense bushes, trying to suppress the panic in her heart, but no matter how hard she tried, her body couldn't stop trembling.
The combination of Chimera Ant and human genes.
Not only did they possess intelligence and language abilities, but they could also see the presence of "aura" with the naked eye without even opening their aura nodes.
This fact alone was terrifying enough.
But what was even more terrifying was that these monsters, despite not having mastered Nen abilities, could withstand the power of Nen with their flesh alone...
Ponzu had learned Nen.
Because of this, the feeling of having her understanding completely overturned made her even more deeply aware of the horror of these monsters.
Extreme fear surged against her rationality like a tide, making it impossible for her to calm down.
If it weren't for her ability to control the black-bellied hornet swarm using her Nen ability for vigilance and sharing their vision and key information, in her current state, she would have likely been discovered by the Chimera Ant squad long ago.
How can there be so many Chimera Ant soldiers...
Trembling, Ponzu crawled out of the bushes with the help of the hornet's feedback and moved toward an area with fewer Chimera Ants.
However, after advancing only about a hundred meters, she was forced to hurriedly hide inside a dead tree stump, curling up her body.
Just moments later, there was the sound of heavy footsteps stepping on leaves and dead branches.
The footsteps approached from afar and then gradually faded away.
Each step felt like a heavy hammer pounding fiercely against Ponzu's heart.
Inside the dead wood.
Ponzu tightly covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes trembling uncontrollably from fear.
Only after the bloody-scented footsteps faded into the distance and the hornet's feedback indicated temporary safety did Ponzu finally lower her hands, overwhelmed with lingering fear.
She looked down somewhat despairingly at her wildly trembling hands.
There's no way out... It's simply... impossible to escape...
Ponzu weakly hugged her head with her trembling hands.
The dispersed alertness of the black-bellied hornets could create a wide-area radar effect for her.
In contrast, it also brought her a desperate and cruel fact.
That was, there were far too many Chimera Ants.
So many that every step was difficult, and she had to exert all her effort just to hide, let alone escape.
Ponzu curled up her body, hugging her head and trembling incessantly.
One by one, the hornets sensed their master's emotional fluctuations, and even during their rest period, they emerged from her hat.
As if trying to comfort their master's fear through this action.
She didn't know how much time had passed.
Only then did Ponzu finally pull herself together. Despite the overwhelming fear in her heart, she refused to abandon her will to survive.
As long as I remain undetected, I will definitely escape.
Ponzu slowly raised her head, gazing at the slivers of light filtering through the cracks in the tree stump.
With extreme caution, she had her hornets rotate guard duties before carefully climbing out of the hollow stump.
Thanks to the real-time feedback from her hornets, she didn't need to waste energy observing her surroundings.
Instead, upon receiving information, she had to quickly chart a route that would avoid every single Chimera Ant.
Even if this route continuously extended her escape distance, it was far better than being discovered by the Chimera Ants.
Moreover, the hornets' surveillance ensured she could get basic rest.
This way, even if she had to take detours, at least she didn't need to worry about exhausting her stamina.
It could be said that these hornets were what gave Ponzu the determination to persevere.
Yet the slight sense of security they provided also made Ponzu completely abandon the idea of using them to contact other Beast Hunter teams.
NGL was a country that prohibited bringing communication devices across its borders.
This was actually the fundamental reason why so many Beast Hunters had been attacked without being able to transmit information immediately.
From this perspective, the importance of communication was self-evident.
Although Ponzu's hornets could deliver messages through notes, this method was extremely inefficient.
Besides, Ponzu had already concluded that the other Beast Hunter teams were likely doomed. Furthermore, if the Chimera Ants discovered the notes carried by her hornets, it would be equivalent to cutting off her own escape route.
Dammit, my body still won't stop trembling, but at least I need to control my breathing...
Ponzu pressed on with difficulty.
She basically had to pre-select hiding spots every time she advanced a certain distance.
Only when the hornets confirmed there were no Chimera Ants nearby would she dare to continue moving forward.
Even when she spotted human settlements from afar, she had to immediately adjust her route to stay as far away as possible from these areas that the Chimera Ants heavily hunted.
Thus, relying on her scouting-type Manipulation ability to control the hornets, Ponzu's progress was slow but relatively safe.
In a way, this was also because the Chimera Ants knew nothing about Nen, and naturally couldn't imagine that Ponzu could use hornets to share vision and information.
So the sporadically active hornets in the forest were nothing more than flies or mosquitoes to them.
As long as they weren't bothersome, the ants wouldn't actively trouble the hornets.
While Ponzu could rely on her hornet swarm to avoid danger, other Beast Hunters lacked this capability.
All of Ponzu's teammates, along with the other Beast Hunter teams that had entered NGL earlier, had fallen victim to the Chimera Ants.
Only Nen users like Barbara, who had trained in Nen for years, managed to avoid being completely wiped out immediately.
But there were simply too many Chimera Ants.
Barbara didn't possess Ponzu's wide-area scouting ability. After just half a day of frantic fleeing, she eventually found herself surrounded.
In a clearing in the forest lay two Chimera Ant corpses.
A human-faced Chimera Ant wearing a black robe with coral-like deer antlers stood not far from the bodies, looking at Barbara ahead who was covered in mud and holding a strange device.
"Who's next?"
The deer-antlered Chimera Ant shifted its gaze from Barbara to survey the surroundings. Dense foliage surrounded the clearing, where hundreds of Chimera Ants stood encircling the central area, leaving no room for escape.
Most of these Chimera Ants were Peons, born from the fusion of various forest animal genes.
Only about a dozen exhibited distinct human traits in their appearance.
Those with prominent human genes were either Officers or Squadron Leaders.
However, all the human-like Chimera Ants present here were Officers.
"The third one is me."
As the antlered Chimera Ant spoke, a Chimera Ant with a human face and the physique of a black gorilla stepped forward.
The antlered Chimera Ant smiled and gestured for the black gorilla Chimera Ant to proceed.
The black chimpanzee Chimera Ant responded with a simple, honest smile and strode toward Barbara.
Barbara's expression was grave, but inwardly, she felt a sense of relief.
These Chimera Ants, having absorbed human genes, were undoubtedly terrifying...
Yet, influenced by their "humanity," they didn't rush at their prey recklessly like wild beasts or insect swarms.
Instead, despite their overwhelming numerical advantage, they insisted on one-on-one duels.
Or rather, they all desired to savor the thrill of hunting alone but possessed the wisdom and rationality to take turns.
Regardless, this situation works in my favor...
Barbara thought to herself.
Her Conjuration ability, the Ecological guide.
By inputting sufficiently detailed biological data into the guide, she could activate optional functions.
These included the "Ecological cage" option, which exerted powerful control over the target organism, and the "Execution protocol" option, which could directly eliminate the target.
This Conjuration ability was originally developed to serve Barbara's work needs.
Thus, the Ecological guide had particularly strong effects against non-human organisms.
Of course, the prerequisite was that Barbara possessed extensive biological knowledge and the observational skills to apply that knowledge effectively.
In essence, the Ecological guide was a fusion of knowledge and power.
At this moment, it was also a tool that could easily handle these Chimera Ant Officers.
The NGL region has only one species of black gorilla. Even with human genes mixed in, it still falls within the ability's scope, and it conveniently simplifies the data input process...
Barbara held the sci-fi-inspired Ecological guide device in her left hand, her right hand resting lightly on the keys covered in hieroglyphics, ready to input data at any moment.
Before the opponent announced the start of the battle, she dared not input biological data prematurely.
After all, these monsters might acknowledge the Ecological guide as a weapon more advanced than firearms, but they might not tolerate her breaking the one-on-one combat rules.
If violating the rules caused them to abandon the duel format, her situation would instantly become perilous.
So, she couldn't take the risk.
Barbara bit her lip hard. She had to remain calm at all times and avoid any mistakes, or else...
Just then, the antlered Chimera Ant shouted, "Begin."
Barbara immediately began tapping the keys, inputting biological information related to the NGL black-backed gorilla.
The simple, honest smile on the human face of the black chimpanzee Chimera Ant vanished in an instant, replaced by a cunning, deceitful grin. He actually pulled out a submachine gun seized from NGL militants from his thick body hair, then immediately aimed at Barbara who was inputting data and pulled the trigger.
Rat-a-tat...
Gunfire erupted as scorching bullets shot toward Barbara.
Barbara had long known these Chimera Ants had learned to use firearms.
Although the chimpanzee Chimera Ant's actions were treacherous, she reacted in time, narrowly avoiding the torrent of bullets.
While evading, Barbara maintained her high-speed data input operations.
Having used her ability countless times, she was thoroughly familiar with the process.
In less than five seconds, inputting the ecological guide data directly fulfilled the activation conditions.
Barbara immediately retrieved a newly formed card from the glass sphere on the guide's display and inserted it into the slot on the other side.
"Execution protocol!"
Without waiting for the voice prompt, Barbara directly selected the second option, the execution protocol.
As her words fell, the card in the ecological guide slot suddenly transformed into a red-and-white DNA-like spiral beam that shot toward the chimpanzee Chimera Ant.
The chimpanzee Chimera Ant abruptly threw its submachine gun at the beam.
Yet this beam, visible even to Peons, curved around the gun and struck the chimpanzee Chimera Ant directly.
When the light faded, the chimpanzee Chimera Ant's body convulsed violently, its face frozen in panic before its burly frame collapsed heavily to the ground, devoid of life.
Witnessing this, the antlered Chimera Ant advanced further and asked with a smile, "Who's next?"
After a brief dead silence, the fourth Officer Chimera Ant slowly stepped into the arena.
Barbara maintained an extremely grave expression, not daring to show even a hint of relief.
Her execution protocol had a Limitation, a cooldown period resembling a hunting ban.
However, the Chimera Ants' dueling approach helped mitigate the negative effects of this Limitation.
As long as I defeat the Officers in order, there's a chance to break through!
Barbara didn't dare let her guard down in the slightest.
—--
Beyond the encirclement of hundreds of Chimera Ants.
Two Chimera Ants noticed this ongoing hunting game.
One was named Morena, the other Gyro.
What fools.
Gyro, dressed in heavy clothing with only his eyes visible, turned to leave with his hands in his pockets, muttering to himself. That weapon could potentially threaten the Chimera Ant Queen from a distance, even the yet-unborn Meruem. If these were real ants...
Gyro paid little further attention to the farce.
Or rather, what Chimera Ants should do or want to do no longer concerned him.
As the underground leader of NGL who had regained his human memories, why would he still obey the Chimera Ant Queen's commands?
He intended to spread his incomparable hatred worldwide in his own way.
The other Chimera Ant, Morena, though not having fully recovered her human memories, shared highly similar perceptions, viewpoints, and goals with Gyro.
What fools.
Morena wore a long dress that concealed her snake-like features.
She prepared to stop this farce.
But accidentally made eye contact with Gyro across the distance.
Both suddenly halted, gazing at each other, inexplicably sensing a kindred spirit in the other.
'...'
After a brief silence, Gyro headed toward the NGL border.
Morena frowned slightly and moved toward the hunting zone in the opposite direction.
Deep in their souls, both harbored unparalleled hatred for "this world."
Yet their approaches were entirely different.
Gyro broke away from the ant colony to start over from scratch.
Morena, however, subconsciously sought to use the Chimera Ants to deliver a devastating blow to humanity.
The instant-kill specialized ability Barbara had displayed made Morena feel threatened.
Thus, she decided to intervene in this farce, ensuring Barbara would be offered to the queen as high-quality nourishment.
—--
Some distance away from the hunting zone.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I can't help you, I really can't help you...
Ponzu had avoided the hunting zone, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.
Through her ability, she had witnessed Barbara trapped in a hopeless situation, but she could do nothing, absolutely nothing.
—--
Two days later.
Kite's team, including Gon and Killua, entered NGL with five members in total.
As they arrived later than others, they discovered the presence of Chimera Ants in an area far from the nest.
Kite immediately made a decision, instructing two team members to return and relay the information.
He, along with Gon and Killua, continued to advance deeper.
On one hand, they confirmed that the Chimera Ants' combat strength was within manageable limits; on the other, their goal was to prevent the birth of the Ant King.
Even if they couldn't stop it, they could gather more intelligence beforehand.
This decision was based on Kite's extensive experience and his understanding of the Chimera Ants.
However, Kite overlooked one crucial detail.
In the hierarchical structure of the Chimera Ants, the Royal Guards are born before the Ant King, tasked with protecting his birth.
—--
Hunter Association Headquarters.
Morrow informed Netero of his intention to join the extermination team.
Netero did not refuse but couldn't make an immediate decision either.
Personnel arrangements had to be discussed and confirmed by the review department.
Regarding this, Morrow could only wait for the outcome.
He was actually somewhat anxious...
Because he wanted to implant the "Star Mark" into as many Chimera Ants as possible before they universally mastered Nen.
------------
Sry for the fail....