Joey's mood was difficult to describe.
When Pokkle had offered to provide support, he had already anticipated that things would eventually reach this point.
They were not far from the organization's base, and several miles to the northeast lay a village.
Both locations meant one thing—
Chimera Ant activity.
And in a rescue operation like this, encountering them was almost guaranteed.
Joey's only hope was that they wouldn't run into a division commander—or any high-ranking soldier ants capable of perceiving Nen.
As for separating from the group?
That was never an option.
Pokkle and the others would never allow it.
Their formation, presented as a defensive arrangement against Chimera Ants, also functioned as surveillance. Joey was deliberately placed in the center—any suspicious movement would immediately result in him being shot.
So from the moment they set off, Joey had already begun calculating escape routes.
The explosion from Withering Heart Attack was part of that plan.
He opened fire on the Chimera Ants, then rushed toward the blast the moment the attack detonated, retrieving his Stand while using the chaos to slip into the forest.
But an unexpected variable appeared.
A crocodile-type Chimera Ant of division commander level had intercepted the route.
That forced Joey into direct combat.
Even then, something felt wrong.
Crocodiles were cold-blooded animals—yet this one radiated an unusual intensity of heat, far more than the surrounding Chimera Ants with their duck-like features.
Was this some kind of joke?
Regardless, the confrontation had happened.
Fortunately, the initial explosion triggered by Killer Queen had been effective.
The experience, while dangerous, had given Joey valuable combat insight.
Even though he ultimately failed to kill the crocodile Chimera Ant, if Pokkle and Ponzu could escape with him, it would still count as a successful outcome.
At the very least, he didn't believe Pokkle would abandon Ponzu in NGL after everything that had happened.
However—
At the final moment, Joey had clearly seen hesitation in Pokkle's eyes.
Whether to finish off the heavily wounded Chimera Ant… or retreat.
That single hesitation had turned a clean escape into the current unstable situation.
Still, Joey wasn't overly concerned about pursuit.
After resting through half the night, his physical condition had mostly recovered. The earlier battle had been intense, but still within his limits.
The real issue was the bullet wound in his shoulder.
Fortunately, it had only grazed him—tearing flesh, not embedding in bone.
Painful, but treatable.
However, the blood trailing down his arm had become the perfect tracking signal.
Each drop marked his path.
Yet the pain also had a strange effect.
It sharpened his focus.
Alone in the forest, Joey's mind became unnaturally calm.
The pursuers were only low-ranking Chimera Ants.
Creatures like that couldn't even see tanks properly. With preparation, Killer Queen alone was enough to handle them.
The real question was what to do next.
At this stage, Joey had two choices.
The first: wait until dawn, then carefully proceed toward the base.
But then—
Something clicked in his mind.
He quickly pulled out a map, ignoring the blood smearing across it, and focused on a village to the northeast.
If he remembered correctly—
Kite and his team had also reached that village.
Whether they arrived there due to Ponzu's intelligence or independent tracking didn't matter.
What mattered was this:
Compared to the area near the base, that village was far safer.
Especially now that the scent of blood on his shoulder was growing stronger.
The second option was to return.
Go back to the battlefield, find Pokkle and Ponzu, eliminate the remaining Chimera Ants, and retrieve a map or useful supplies from the corpses of the bystanders.
Joey didn't hesitate for long.
He chose the first option.
Turning back was a risk he would only take under extreme necessity.
The uncertainty was too high.
Whether Pokkle and Ponzu were even alive was unknown.
Whether the corpses still contained usable items was also uncertain.
And even if they did—there was no guarantee a checkpoint map would be there.
The risks outweighed the rewards.
In this situation, survival came first.
Decision made.
Joey shifted focus entirely to eliminating the pursuers.
He never even considered shaking them off.
That option was unreliable.
Even without clear tracking signs, Chimera Ants were known to possess exceptional tracking instincts.
Elimination was the safest solution.
His gaze swept through the forest.
The Chimera Ants chasing him were visibly unsettled.
After witnessing his earlier display of power, their morale had clearly dropped.
One of them—a porcupine-like Chimera Ant with spines across its back—walked sluggishly, eyes half-closed.
They eventually reached a stream.
At the water's edge, one Chimera Ant—a rooster-headed tracker with small wings—carefully examined the ground.
It inspected grass, stones, and blood traces.
Clearly, it was responsible for tracking.
But the moment it stepped closer to the stream—
It noticed something.
Two faint, parallel marks in the sand.
They were extending directly toward it.
Instantly, its crest stood on end.
It let out a sharp crow-like screech.
But its reaction was too slow.
By the time it attempted to retreat—
The marks had already reached its feet.
BOOM.
The explosion swallowed its scream.
At the same moment, gunfire erupted from across the riverbank.
The Chimera Ants panicked, scrambling for cover—but there was none.
The entire stream had been turned into a kill zone.
Bullets tore through flesh.
Screams echoed across the water.
The battlefield collapsed into chaos.
The piercing explosion had not only killed the rooster-headed Chimera Ant—it immediately shifted targets.
A rat-headed Chimera Ant attempting to burrow was next.
It barely managed to enter the ground before the attack followed it inside.
A second later—
The explosion forced it back out.
Then immediately redirected toward a beetle-type Chimera Ant.
Meanwhile, Joey had already moved.
He rolled aside just in time.
Spikes erupted from the porcupine Chimera Ants' backs, striking the ground where he had just been.
Though his accuracy wasn't perfect, it didn't matter.
The targets were large.
In open terrain, as long as he maintained composure and emptied his magazine, he could inflict heavy damage.
The rest—
Killer Queen could finish.
Two final explosions echoed through the forest.
And when the smoke cleared…
Only scattered fragments of Chimera Ant bodies remained on the opposite bank.
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