Returning to the Slu Tribe's dwelling after many years, all the changes stirred waves in the cloaked man's heart.
'His name was Law…'
He had gotten this name from Slufin… no surname, just the single character "Law."
"Three... of them?"
The cloaked man stood on the cavern ceiling like an inverted bat.
As if defying gravity, he crouched on the ceiling, calmly gazing at the sword mark on the Vein Stone.
Touching it, he could almost feel a slight, needle-like pain in his palm.
'Very sharp… sharper than the claws of those ferocious beasts.'
His hand remained pressed against the cut surface of the Vein Stone, silent. After a long, long time, he stood up, dropped vertically from the ceiling, flipped mid-air, and landed steadily.
In the darkness, his eyes glowed faintly, distinct black and white.
Like the Slu Tribesmen, he seemed able to see in the dark.
"Very good."
He swept his gaze over the Slu Tribe's revitalized dwelling, muttered to himself, left the Nitro Rice he had brought with the Slu Tribe, then asked for some monkey wine before leaving the dwelling without staying even a day.
Slufin and a few others came to the stone gate to watch him slowly disappear into the distance.
"That must be the Don Freecss the Chief mentioned."
Slufin looked in the direction Don had left, his eyes flickering.
Just standing near Don gave one a deep, implicit sense of deterrence.
It was a strange and somewhat uncomfortable feeling. Even though he knew Don meant no harm, he still felt an invisible danger from him.
The direction Don left was completely different from the one Law's group had taken.
Law and the others were heading deeper into the underground world, while Don had come down only to leave directly.
This suggested he had likely already explored the entire underground world, even reaching its deepest part… the earth's core area, the Slu Tribe's former home.
Although Don knew there were others from the Six Continents exploring the Dark Continent besides himself, he had no intention of meeting them.
Taking the time to visit the Slu Tribe's dwelling was only due to past ties.
Before coming, he was certain Slubin wouldn't be dead. But the reality was that Slubin had died, and from old age at that.
'Even if Slubin had only consumed half a Nitrolomi plant, it shouldn't have been so soon.'
At first, he was puzzled, but after seeing the Slu Tribe's current state, Don somewhat understood.
The buildings, the sword marks… it all made sense.
He had to admit that the young man named Law had something special worth his attention.
Don arrived at a flat area near a tunnel, preparing to leave through it directly to the surface.
Just then, waves of cold killing intent emanated from the darkness. A glance around revealed pairs of golden eyes, large as lanterns.
An ordinary human wouldn't be able to see what owned those golden eyes, but Don was no ordinary person.
Don turned around, his calm, deep eyes sweeping the surroundings. Instantly, he saw that the creatures approaching from all sides were Bone Dogs.
"Canines of the Bone Race, and..."
His gaze paused, lingering on a pair of golden eyes with vertical pupils. Compared to the lantern-sized eyes around them, these eyes were much smaller and more delicate.
"Bone Enchantress."
He whispered to himself, identifying the newcomer.
'Hundreds, or nearly a thousand?'
That was the number of Bone Dogs. The most troublesome aspect of the Bone Race active in the underground world was their steel-hard bones, along with the Bone Enchantress who knew how to use Nen.
The ruthless and cold killing intent swept toward Don like a winter storm driven by a tornado.
This force was enough to annihilate an army of at least three thousand special forces soldiers. And now, they were targeting a single human.
The Bone Enchantress fluttered her wings and moved to the front of the formation.
She had a delicate, human-like figure, with short white hair barely covering her ears. Her face was covered in patches of white bone, her eyes beast-like, her nose tall, her mouth thin and long, filled with sharp teeth.
She wore no clothing, her chest bulging like hills. Yet, not an inch of skin was visible on her body… only white bone and bloody muscle texture.
"Heh, is it you?"
The Bone Enchantress's voice was slightly sharp, piercing the cold killing intent in the darkness, causing it to pause momentarily.
It might have been a language, but to human ears, it sounded more like strange laughter. Bizarrely, when that laughter got into his ear, it seemed to form words embedded in Don's mind.
So, it sounded like laughter, but Don understood the Bone Enchantress's words.
'Is it you?'
'What a strange question.'
Don showed no understanding. He glanced lightly at the Bone Enchantress, then simply turned and walked slowly toward the tunnel.
Facing a Bone Race force that roamed the underground world, Don's emotions and expression remained utterly unchanged, completely ignoring the numerous Bone Dogs.
"Heh."
The Bone Enchantress watched Don's calm retreating figure expressionlessly.
Suddenly, the eager Bone Dogs moved. They bared their sharp claws and teeth, unleashing cold killing intent from the depths of their souls, all pouncing at the human they saw as prey.
Don stopped. Then, he glanced back, his eyes glowing.
He looked at the Bone Dogs again, but this time was different. Not only did his eyes glow, but his body also radiated an intense white light.
That glance seemed to pierce their souls.
"I'm in a hurry."
Staring at all the pouncing Bone Dogs, Don suddenly spoke a sentence in the common tongue.
The Bone Dogs, including the Bone Enchantress, didn't understand Don's words. But they had eyes to see something.
Perhaps it was real, or perhaps they imagined it… they saw behind Don what seemed like a pitch-black void where pairs of distinct black-and-white eyes quietly opened.
It might have been killing intent, or perhaps evil spirit, or maybe just presence… but it was terrifying.
The Bone Dogs' accumulated cold killing intent was brutally suppressed at that moment. They screeched to a halt, staring dumbly at the motionless human.
A trace of fear appeared in their cold eyes and then eroded their entire bodies.
Even the seemingly highly intelligent Bone Enchantress appeared shaken, frightened by Don's single glance.
In the darkness, there was no sound.
Don paused for two or three seconds, then stepped forward. By the time he entered the tunnel, the nearly thousand Bone Dogs and the eerie Bone Enchantress stood motionless like ice sculptures in the cold wind.
Passing through the tunnel, he reached the surface. Clouds covered the sky, and faint red sun light fell from above, shrouding the red earth.
Don looked up at the clouds, which seemed stained with a layer of red miasma, and calmly said to himself, "Someday, we will meet again, whether on the journey or at its end."
At the same time, Law and the others encountered some trouble.