Blood sprayed from the neck of the headless giant corpse in a thick pillar toward the sky. As the blood gushed out, the giant's body began collapsing toward the ground.
But Ronin and Ging had already shifted their gazes away from the giant's body.
Because the moment the giant's head exploded, both of them discovered that there was no longer any energy inside its corpse.
Ronin knew even more clearly that he did not need to act again. The giant's headless corpse would quickly be burned to ash by the Amaterasu flames, just like the crows in the sky.
The crows circled in the air, the black flames on their bodies rapidly burning away the little Nen they had left.
Unlike the crow Ronin had seen in the giant's memories, the crows circling in the sky now only had one pair of eyes each. They looked like fairly normal crows.
However, from their cries, Ronin could sense the emotions they were conveying.
Anger and unwillingness.
The anger was directed at Ronin and Ging.
As for the unwillingness, perhaps it was because of the giant's death.
That was Ronin's guess.
The dying flock of crows in the sky did not try to fly into the distance like when they had first appeared. Instead, they suddenly changed direction and charged toward Ronin and Ging.
But before they could get close, the flames of Amaterasu had already burned them completely to ash.
"This probably won't end so simply," Ronin said with a serious expression.
No matter how he looked at it, that crow with eyes covering its entire head was abnormal.
Especially the giant's transformation before death. It was extremely bizarre.
"What did you see?" Ging asked curiously.
"Let's head back first." Ronin did not answer immediately. The heavy rain was still falling from the sky, with no sign of stopping or weakening.
The giant's corpse was quickly burned away by Amaterasu. Only after the corpse disappeared did the black flames vanish completely.
After returning to the house and cleaning himself up a little, Ronin told everyone what he had seen in the giant's mind.
"The place where the crow statue is located should be more than three hundred kilometers to the southwest. That's my estimate based on the giant's memories," Ronin said, carefully recalling the details. "The giant came out while tracking prey. It just lost its way because of the heavy rain."
Ronin had watched the memories by tracing them backward, so he could better infer the location of the giant tribe.
"Are the giants there all Nen users too?" Ging asked with some curiosity.
If they really were all Nen users, and there was also that strange crow statue, then they would have to make full preparations before exploring that place.
"Mm. At least that's what I saw," Ronin admitted with a nod. "And I suspect the reason these giants can use Nen is related to that statue."
Ging reacted quickly as well.
"That's indeed possible. The way the giant's head was completely transformed into crows after a passive trigger activated might be a Nen ability set up in advance.
"Especially since those crows that appeared did not immediately try to hunt down the person who triggered the ability. Instead, they tried to seize the Nen remaining in the giant's body and leave. That makes it even more thought-provoking."
That was indeed the situation.
The reason the flock of crows turned back was probably because they realized that under Amaterasu's burning, they had no chance of flying back.
"Right," Ronin said, agreeing with Ging's guess.
"Let's go take a look once the sky clears," Kurapika suggested.
It was not suitable to move in this kind of torrential rain. The only question was when this downpour would actually stop.
Meanwhile, more than three hundred kilometers away, in a village—
The crow statue, also shrouded by rain, did not have countless eyes on its head. Instead, it looked perfectly normal and clean.
The rain struck it, washing it until it looked even cleaner and more beautiful.
With the crow statue at the center, dozens of simple shelters made entirely of wood and leaves were scattered nearby.
One towering giant figure after another was hiding inside those shelters.
The Nen forming Ten around their bodies seemed to be their best means of protection, preventing them from shivering in the cold rain.
And all of this came from the divine statue.
It was the divine statue they had brought out from an ancient city that had given them everything.
Just as the giants gazed worshipfully at the statue, the statue's eyes suddenly opened. Its mouth, which should not have been able to move, also opened slightly, and an angry cry rang out from within.
The entire tribe boiled over at that cry.
All the giants seemed to understand the meaning in the crow statue's voice. They rushed out of their shelters into the heavy rain.
Every giant carried their own weapon. They let out earth-shaking roars, then, led by an ugly giant with pale blue skin who stood more than twenty meters tall, they all knelt on one knee before the statue.
At that moment, a small crow with glossy black feathers flew out from the mouth of the crow statue.
The small crow had Nen on its body. After circling slightly in the air, it broke through the rain curtain and flew directly in the direction where Ronin and the others were.
The giants roared.
Then, without caring about the statue in the camp, they strode after the small crow in the sky.
After all the giants had left, the crow statue at the center of the camp suddenly moved.
Cracks appeared across the statue as it shifted. When those cracks fully shattered, what was revealed inside was a strange crow with full wings, beautiful feathers, and countless eyes covering its head.
Enormous Nen bloomed from the monster crow's body. After letting out a high-pitched cry, the monster crow spread its wings and rose into the air.
At this moment, Ronin and the others had no idea that the giants had already mobilized in full force.
Amid the sound of heavy rain, the fireplace had been lit inside the house, driving away some of the chill and dampness and making everyone feel much more comfortable.
"This should count as the first crisis we've encountered after arriving on the Dark Continent," Kurapika said, thinking carefully.
Everything they had encountered before had been ordinary.
They were the kinds of beings one could encounter just by staying within Lake Mobius, without needing to come to the Dark Continent.
But the crow that had appeared now was something completely new.
At the very least, within the Lake Mobius region, even finding a non-human creature capable of using Nen was quite difficult.
Ronin and Ging reviewed the crow's abilities together for a long time and proposed all kinds of guesses.
Shizuku and the others had already gone to sleep first. Because of the thick dark clouds outside, the sky had long since turned pitch-black. In this kind of weather, listening to the sound of raindrops while hiding under blankets in a warm room was simply a kind of enjoyment.
Unfortunately, that enjoyment did not last long.
A few hours later, thudding sounds rang out from the ground. At the same time, the entire house began trembling.
Outside the small house, giant after giant, each more than ten meters tall, began appearing.