Even if the others envied him, they couldn't copy his unique ability. The four had been rushing steadily since around noon, traveling from the entrance of the NGL region all the way to the country's center by afternoon, a surprisingly short time to cover such a distance.
The chimera ants' nests, however, lay much deeper ahead. After this relatively brief journey, they finally caught sight of their target for the first time: the chimera ants themselves.
They had entered one of the vast forests of the NGL Autonomous Region. These dense woodlands were famous for their rich biodiversity, wild roots, medicinal herbs, and game that provided much of the locals' subsistence.
Among the NGL's more insular communities, there was an old custom: before a person was considered an adult, they were expected to spend three days alone in the forest, relying only on their own hands to gather food and ward off predators. Success was seen as proof of self-sufficiency. Failure was rarely discussed.
But now, the forest was eerily quiet. The usual calls of birds and rustling of animals were gone, replaced by a heavy, unsettling stillness. Only the occasional insect crawled across the forest floor, a faint reminder that some life still remained.
"What a surprise, there aren't even a few animals left," Morel muttered, carrying his big pipe over his shoulder as he looked around with a frown.
The dense trees made riding on smoke impractical, so he chose to walk. Knov walked beside him, adjusting his glasses. Sunlight filtering through the canopy glinted off the lenses.
"It's typical predator behavior," Knov said calmly. "Once the Chimera Ants arrived, they systematically hunted everything around them. They're efficient, nothing is wasted."
Morel exhaled slowly, his expression darkening. "The queen needs a constant food supply to produce soldiers, and the Royal Guards will be even more demanding. No wonder the place feels like a graveyard."
Netero was walking through the forest, leading the group ahead of the others, casually sharing his thoughts. As he walked, he absentmindedly picked his ear and then held his fingertips in front of him, gently blowing to clear away the earwax.
Anyone watching would probably just see an old man acting a bit quirky. As the four of them moved forward, Larry's eyes suddenly sharpened, and his previously relaxed expression grew serious.
Moments later, Netero's body gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake, but Larry noticed it right away. "President, you felt it too, didn't you?" Larry said with a hint of meaning in his voice, addressing Netero who was still leading the way.
"Y-yes," Netero replied, coming to an abrupt stop and peering deep into the forest. Though nothing was visible to the naked eye, the two of them were silently sensing the presence of something far ahead. "Wow, there are quite a few of them," Netero murmured.
Netero stroked his beard and chuckled. Using his En countless signs of creatures appeared deep in the forest. Judging by the strength he sensed, they could only be Chimera Ants.
"Are there a lot of Chimera Ants in the depths of the woods?" Morel asked, initially surprised but quickly understanding what the others were getting at. This had to be their target for the trip.
Since Morel and Knov were much weaker than Larry and Netero, they didn't have such an extended "En" of perception. They only knew about the Chimera Ant colony in the forest because of what the two stronger men had said.
"Yes, there are about 25 in total," Larry confirmed. "Some of them are even stronger."
Hearing this, Morel and the others felt a surge of confidence. They interpreted Larry's comment about strength as meaning the Chimera Ants could be intimidating enough to scare someone at Killua level away.
Knov quickly took a few deep breaths to steady himself, while Morel lit his large pipe and began to puff smoke. They were about to face their first battle against the Chimera Ants, and they knew better than to take it lightly.
Thanks to Larry's prior briefing, Morel and the group were now fully alert. This unlucky batch of Chimera Ants had just left the Village, only to run into a team of seasoned fighters. It was like meeting a boss at full strength right after clearing level one mobs.
Deep in the woods, a Chimera Ant resembling a bee buzzed slowly through the trees. Its wings left faint afterimages as it flew, compound eyes scanning ahead, and sharp mouthparts ready to attack.
Its body was striped black and yellow, with a cold-glowing stinger at the tail. Unlike more evolved Chimera Ants, this one had no human traits, it was simply an animal-born soldier ant, the lowest rank, and couldn't communicate like humans do.
Despite being the lowest soldier, it was still much stronger than ordinary humans. At this moment, its group was out in the forest searching for more meat to satisfy the queen's demands. But after scouring the area, it seemed like the forest's meat supply had already been picked clean.
The bee chimera ant shook its head from side to side, and a series of white images flickered across its compound eyes. It saw a strange white smoke appearing out of nowhere in the dead forest, growing thicker and spreading throughout the area.
At first, the ant didn't notice anything unusual, but now it could sense that something was off. Although it didn't have human DNA, its intelligence was limited, and it could only follow simple commands, its animal instincts were warning it that danger was near.
Just as it was about to retreat and report back to its division commander, the white smoke around it suddenly condensed rapidly. What had been slowly drifting smoke transformed into sharp needles, which shot straight toward the ant's head at a blinding speed. The bee chimera ant barely had time to react and could only watch helplessly as the needles grew larger in its compound eyes.
Swish!
With a sharp slicing sound, the ant's head was completely shattered, and its headless body collapsed to the ground. Though the body twitched a few times before going still, showing the incredible resilience of chimera ants, it was clear the ant was dead.
Usually, creatures would be rendered completely motionless when shot in the head, but chimera ants had a unique vitality. This wasn't an isolated incident either, similar attacks were happening all over the forest.
One by one, chimera ants were falling to Morel's white smoke assault. Deep within the forest, a chimera ant with a striking figure and wearing a yellow bra frowned as she sensed something was wrong.