To create an environment where Netero could face the King one-on-one, the remaining members of the Extermination Team were tasked with restraining or directly eliminating the two Royal Guards, Neferpitou and Shaiapouf.
This meant the Extermination Team needed to split into two squads, each dealing with one Royal Guard.
Leaving aside whether they could successfully eliminate the Royal Guards, at the very least, the distribution of combat power had to ensure effective restraint.
That was the original plan.
But Morrow proposed handling Shaiapouf alone.
Considering the importance of the restraint mission, such a proposal would normally be unacceptable.
However, since it was Morrow who made the suggestion, it was a different story.
Everyone had complete faith in Morrow's strength.
If nothing else, Youpi's corpse was still stored in one of the rooms of Hide and Seek, frozen in a freezer connected to a backup battery.
Thus, with Morrow's proposal, the distribution of combat power resulted in a rather lopsided arrangement: Morrow alone would handle Shaiapouf.
While Kite, Gon, Knuckle, Shoot, Morel, Grachan, Kalluto, Gel, and Hisoka, nine members in total, would form a group to deal with Neferpitou.
It's worth noting that although Kalluto participated in the battle, he mostly stayed on the periphery of the combat zone.
The Extermination Team members who truly faced Neferpitou head-on were only the eight members led by Kite.
If abilities like Morel's and Neferpitou's puppet manipulation were excluded, Morel's side held an absolute numerical advantage.
However, the Royal Guards' strength defied all logic.
Even with an absolute numerical advantage and versatile support abilities like Morel's, they still struggled to handle Neferpitou's onslaught.
Among them, Kite felt this most deeply.
The arm he lost had been taken by Neferpitou.
Compared to the other team members, he had the most firsthand experience with Neferpitou's strength.
But when Neferpitou used the ability "Terpsichora," his existing understanding was completely shattered.
Although Netero had previously mentioned that Neferpitou had comprehended this ability specifically for slaughter during combat, only after witnessing it firsthand could one understand the terror of this ability.
It elevated Neferpitou's already absurdly high limits to a level that filled everyone with despair.
It could be said that before Neferpitou developed her Nen ability, Kite, with both arms intact, could still rely on the versatility of Crazy Slots to barely hold his own.
But once Neferpitou mastered a Nen ability specifically for combat, the gap between them became akin to the difference between a monster and a human.
To eliminate the intruders in the palace as quickly as possible, Neferpitou did not allocate any aura output to control the remaining Nen-using soldiers in the courtyard.
She went directly from the third-floor western balcony to the first floor, and upon encountering Morel and the others, she immediately activated "Terpsichora" without any intention of testing them.
Sinister, viscous aura surged around her, sharpening into lethal claws with her every move. The terrifying pressure descended upon everyone's shoulders like a mountain in an instant.
Fortunately, before Neferpitou reached the first floor, Morel had already conjured 216 Deep Purple soldiers.
This was the maximum number he could control.
Although the sheer quantity prevented him from issuing complex commands to the Deep Purple soldiers, the mission this time was suppression, making numbers more critical than individual precision.
Morel's pre-battle judgment proved correct.
It was thanks to these 216 Deep Purple soldiers distributed around the area that Neferpitou's initial assault resulted in no casualties.
Moreover, with the cooperation of his teammates, at the cost of about seventy or eighty Deep Purple soldiers, they created a precious opportunity for Knuckle to attack.
He landed a punch on Neferpitou.
Though it caused little damage, it successfully activated the ability Hakoware.
The A.P.R. that appeared out of thin air now hovered behind Neferpitou's shoulder.
However, Neferpitou showed an unusual lack of curiosity about the A.P.R.
The reason was her inability to constantly confirm the King's condition.
Because of this, her current focus was entirely on eliminating the humans inside the palace.
Naturally, to neutralize the potential threat posed by the A.P.R., she shifted her offensive focus to Knuckle.
With Neferpitou's strength, if she concentrated her firepower on a single person without interference, that person would likely meet their end in mere seconds.
Thus, Knuckle, now targeted, faced the most dangerous moment of his life.
In this critical situation, it was Morel who stepped up once again.
After confirming Neferpitou's target was Knuckle, he decisively positioned himself ahead of time and preemptively set up a Smoky Jail.
This perfectly timed move not only rescued Knuckle at the most crucial moment but also caused trouble for Neferpitou.
Neferpitou indeed fell for it.
Since her intent had been detected by Morel, even with her speed, she was likely to plunge headlong into the trap.
Morel's strategy worked, using the Smoky Jail ability to restrict Neferpitou's movement range while not interfering with the A.P.R.'s countdown.
This was the combination of Smoky Jail and Hakoware.
A tried-and-true tactic of the master and disciple.
Once the enemy was caught, as long as Morel could hold out long enough inside the Smoky Jail, he could steadily accumulate more countdowns for the A.P.R.
However... The enemy was a monster among monsters.
And due to the urgency of the situation, when Morel activated the Smoky Jail ability, he only had time to consider how to rescue Knuckle, making it difficult to hastily bring other teammates into the fray.
Facing Neferpitou alone was no easy task.
Even with Deep Purple soldiers for cover, in the confined space of the smoke, Morel could be taken out by Neferpitou in a single move at any moment.
Yet, Morel's fighting spirit never wavered. Relying on his seasoned calm, he skillfully used the Deep Purple soldiers to stall Neferpitou for some time.
When the number of Deep Purple soldiers dwindled to the point where they could no longer hold back Neferpitou's assault, Morel didn't push his luck and promptly dispelled the Smoky Jail ability.
His companions, already prepared, immediately launched an attack on Neferpitou. Unfortunately, Neferpitou dodged it in an instant.
No, in reality, Neferpitou deliberately targeted Knuckle and simply evaded the attack in the process.
Her assault... Was sharp and carried a hint of urgency.
Yet she remained completely calm, entirely unaffected by A.P.R.'s mysterious counting ability.
That's why she methodically cleared out numerous Deep Purple soldiers within Smoky Jail, until Morel was forced to lift the ability under pressure.
She had already "foreseen" this outcome.
Neferpitou's reaction after breaking free from Smoky Jail made Morel, Kite, and the others instantly realize this.
There were no openings to exploit... Whether in physical or mental strength.
As they watched Neferpitou charge toward Knuckle, a thick shadow of despair fell over their hearts amid their worries.
How could they possibly defeat such a monster?!
No one had an answer for them.
Under Neferpitou's lightning-fast assault, Knuckle, this time without the cover of numerous Deep Purple soldiers, was left exposed to her unstoppable claws.
Sshhk!
Claws sliced through, blood sprayed.
With just one swipe, Neferpitou instantly repaid all the interest Morel had desperately bought with his procrastination.
And she still had enough power left to inflict severe damage on Knuckle.
This claw strike should have landed on Knuckle's vital points.
But Gon, relying on his wild instincts, reacted faster than anyone present and timely swung his fishing rod to hook and pull Knuckle's body.
A slight shift in angle was all it took to yank Knuckle back from the brink of death.
Had Neferpitou's attack struck his vitals, even if A.P.R.'s loan amount could offset the damage, it would have been impossible to save Knuckle's life.
The situation deteriorated rapidly in an instant.
Not only did Knuckle fail to protect the A.P.R. that Morel had painstakingly "nurtured," but he was also gutted by Neferpitou.
This meant... The Hakoware tactical system, which allowed them to overcome challenges through teamwork, was nearly ineffective against Neferpitou, who possessed both lethal power and speed.
But the root cause was the absolute, despair-inducing gap in hardware strength.
If there was any chance left to defeat Neferpitou, it likely lay in Gel's snake venom.
The key question was... How could they deliver the snake venom into Neferpitou's body?
Morrow, who was ostensibly locked in combat with Shaiapouf, saw the precarious situation here through the crystal ball.
Knov and the others handling logistics in the Hide and Seek room naturally saw this outcome as well.
"..."
A soundless silence reflected everyone's mood.
Before the operation began, Knov and the others had anticipated the difficulty of the containment mission.
But they never expected it to be this dire.
Forget the possibility of victory; just containing her required Morel's entire team to exhaust their full efforts.
Such an obvious disparity was truly despair-inducing.
In contrast, Morrow's back-and-forth struggle, in Knov's eyes, was nothing short of... A monster on par with the Royal Guards.
"Knov."
In the Hide and Seek room, Menchi, who was primarily responsible for logistics, gripped her Poultry Scarlet Knife and strode toward the door at that moment.
She had never intended to use kitchen tools for combat. But the innate aura strength of the Poultry Scarlet Knife could still provide some reinforcement.
Knov glanced at Menchi's movement and instantly understood her intention.
He silently opened the apartment door.
Under absolute disadvantage, the participation of any combatant could help alleviate the pressure.
At the very least... Even sacrificing oneself could buy a second of time.