For Kanzai, the appearance of Moro as a variable was a pleasant surprise.
Without Moro's intervention, Kanzai would not have had to worry about his own safety, but he would inevitably have been delayed for a while in the Nen space.
And the most important thing right now was time, which was directly linked to the client's safety.
In that brief moment, Kanzai shifted his focus to Saffu in the room, thus going along with Moro's suggestion and leaving Mull to Moro.
Before making this decision, he had a momentary concern.
After all, he had exchanged blows with Mull.
Not to mention the tricky mechanism of his Nen ability, the level of Ryu (Flow) Mull displayed in close combat clearly showed he was not some pushover.
However, he immediately considered that Mull now had both arms broken, so he cast aside his worries and agreed to the idea of leaving Mull to Moro.
As for Mull, the appearance of Moro as a variable was a shock on top of a shock.
He had gone to great lengths, even staking his own life, just to temporarily lock Kanzai in the Nen space.
It's safe to say that while the plan was steadily proceeding, Mull only had one thought: the longer Kanzai was contained, the better.
If he could buy one more minute, great.
Failing that, buying an extra 30 seconds would still be helpful...
Harboring this thought and resolve, Mull believed he could accept death calmly after having served his purpose.
Yet, all of this was destroyed by the sudden appearance of Moro!!!
Anger, resentment, disbelief...
The complex emotions, entangled like a ball of yarn, made Mull's face contorted.
He was supposed to calmly accept death after having maximized his value—that's how it was supposed to be!
"You, deserve to die!"
Mull's eyes were bloodshot, completely devoid of his previous flippancy or any trace of composure.
In this moment, stopping Kanzai was a pipe dream.
Even killing Moro was an uphill battle.
This was because the Nen on his body was rapidly receding.
In about a second, he would be forcefully thrown into Zetsu (Halt).
This was the price of failure for "The Time of Cicada Shedding."
Moro noticed Mull retract his visible aura within a mere two seconds, and his first reaction was that the opponent was suffering a backlash from their Nen ability's restrictions.
Only this was possible.
So, when the Nen on Mull's body completely vanished, the word "unexpected delight" flashed through Moro's mind.
"I really came to the right place."
Moro ignored Mull's distorted gaze, which looked like he wanted to devour him alive, and raised his hand to condense a Nen bullet the size of a ping-pong ball.
In his opinion, a Nen user capable of fighting a member of the Twelve Zodiacs who specialized in combat could not be weak, and might bring a massive amount of experience for leveling up.
Mull had entered the state of Zetsu.
Without the augmentation of Nen, he could not see the visible aura on Moro's body, but he could sense danger.
"I'll kill you!!!"
Deprived of everything, the only thing he could do at this moment was to launch a final charge of his life.
He let both his arms hang limply and rushed toward Moro like a vengeful spirit, his face twisted in fury.
Responding to him was the Nen bullet Moro casually tossed.
This Nen bullet, which would have been nothing in Mull's eyes in the past, now felt like a towering mountain pressing down on him.
Pfff!
The Nen bullet struck Mull's head, and the irresistible force instantly made his entire head explode.
Accompanied by a heavy thud, a headless corpse was left on the floor.
Moro maintained the posture of tossing the Nen bullet, then naturally looked at the back of his hand facing him.
Lv. 7 → Lv. 18
The sudden surge in level made Moro freeze.
It went up to... Level 18?
Before he could react, the visible aura swirling around his body suddenly swelled by a small margin.
This was the manifestation of the gains after the level spike.
Moro slowly widened his eyes.
Not only did the level of his visible aura increase, but his total potential aura also showed a noticeable growth.
Before leveling up, his endurance during intense combat was only about five minutes.
Now...
It was at least ten minutes!
"Did I just snatch a kill?"
Feeling the changes after leveling up, Moro looked at the headless corpse on the floor with surprise.
How high must the potential level of this Nen user have been for him to jump from Lv. 7 to Lv. 18 in one go?
The answer would never be known.
What was certain was that with his current strength, he definitely couldn't have defeated this Nen user.
That was why he felt like he had just snatched a kill.
But Moro immediately reconsidered.
The fact that he secured this kill was the result of his decisions and actions, step by step.
If he hadn't rushed to the cockpit immediately, if he hadn't noticed the clue in the situation where information was lacking, if he hadn't resolutely moved toward Kanzai's location...
Then he wouldn't have destroyed the Shenzi along the way, and it would have been impossible for him to receive the "great reward" at this moment.
This was indeed an opportunity mixed with an element of luck.
But he seized it.
Moro suddenly clenched his fist, quietly savoring the joy following the massive level increase.
A jump of 11 levels—how much training time did that save him...?
Just as Moro was delighting in this, the headless corpse on the floor suddenly emitted a burst of pitch-black Nen.
"Hmm?"
Moro noticed it and looked over immediately.
He saw the pitch-black Nen detach from the bloody neck, flying up in the air like a will-o'-the-wisp, radiating an ominous aura.
"Post-mortem Nen, is it..."
Moro's pupils contracted.
Mull's twisted face, filled with fury and killing intent, flashed through his mind.
Nen users, due to extreme emotional fluctuations or obsession, sometimes leave behind Nen driven by that obsession after death.
This post-mortem Nen usually targets the killer.
This was Moro's first time experiencing such a scene.
Looking at the post-mortem Nen flying towards him like black phosphorus fire, he immediately felt like he was facing a formidable enemy.
He had no experience dealing with this kind of anomaly.
The only thing he could think of was the Tree Ring tattoo on the back of his hand.
Since the Tree Ring tattoo can absorb Nen attached to Nen objects, can it also absorb post-mortem Nen?
If he couldn't avoid it, he would just have to try that.
However, just as Moro prepared to brace himself, the phosphorus-fire-like post-mortem Nen flew directly past him, heading straight for the room Kanzai had entered.
Moro turned his body and head, watching the post-mortem Nen fly toward the room, and a sense of inexplicable emotion surged in his heart.
Both when alive and in death, he could clearly feel the killing intent emanating from Mull.
Logically, the post-mortem Nen born from this should desperately want to drag him down with it.
Yet, this post-mortem Nen was purposefully heading for the room.
Moro understood the reason in an instant and looked at the headless corpse on the floor with a slightly complex expression.
More important than venting the furious killing intent of his final moments was his original goal.
What kind of obsession could achieve this...?
—
(End of this Chapter)
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