"Gon, Killua! Biscuit!" Ryker shouted urgently, his voice cutting through the roaring turbulence as he frantically circulated his Nen.
He knew that the enemy standing before them was not just a simple phantom. Behind this projection of Ging Freecss lurked a much grander, infinitely more terrifying conspiracy. The descent of the so-called "Dark Continent" meant an unknown, apocalyptic disaster was already at their doorstep.
His heartbeat accelerated steadily. The situation was spiraling completely out of control. Enveloped within this suffocating tide of darkness, the only thing he could rely on was the unyielding, bottomless power burning deep within his own core.
"I have to shatter this..." Ryker muttered to himself, a flash of absolute resolution crossing his eyes.
The dark tide tore at the fabric of space and violently washed against his consciousness. Every wisp of the black aura seemed to be screaming, whispering, and enticing him toward madness. Ryker gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked, pushing his Lightning Core to its absolute maximum to sustain his defense. But the surface of his [A.T. Field - Modified] was already covered in a dense, spiderweb network of cracks. The pale-gold light flickered dangerously, looking as though it could completely shatter at any microsecond.
"Fall back!" he suddenly roared. He moved like a bolt of lightning, physically dragging Gon and Killua into the protective radius of his failing forcefield, his lightning aura blazing intensely.
Meanwhile, in the exact spot where Razor had vanished, the chaotic whirlpool of Dark Nen began to stabilize. The phantom of the man remained suspended in mid-air. But now, his translucent body was rapidly solidifying, as if he were using the corrupted, administrative core of the island's rules to physically manifest himself!
"My name..." the man whispered. His gaze drifted lazily across the terrified survivors before finally locking onto Ryker. The corners of his mouth slowly curled into an incredibly dangerous, predatory smirk. "Ging Freecss. But you can call me... the Terminus Hunter."
Ryker's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits!
"Ging... no, that's not Gon's father!" His mind raced at lightspeed as he stealthily condensed his Lightning Core, his combat instincts instantly flaring to maximum alert.
That wasn't the real Ging. It was some sort of conscious projection hijacked by the corrupted rules of the Dark Continent! If what the entity said was true—that it was a fragment of the Dark Continent's will projected into reality—then its appearance was truly the prelude to the complete collapse of everything.
"Your power... the System isn't registering it..." Alarm bells shrieked in Ryker's mind.
His mental System UI was currently completely grayed out—a glaring indication that the entity in front of him had exceeded the System's ability to identify its traits! This was the first time this had ever happened.
The phantom of "Ging" took a slow, deliberate step forward like a ghost. Wherever his foot fell, the ground violently fractured. Space itself seemed to catch fire like thin paper, being consumed inch by terrifying inch.
"However... your power is very interesting to me." The entity's voice echoed directly inside the minds of everyone present, mixed with a sickening combination of static noise and muffled thunder.
"Ryker! Don't engage him directly!" Biscuit roared, her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Her razor-sharp instincts screamed that this entity existed on a plane of power she had absolutely no right to interfere with.
But Ryker didn't retreat a single inch.
He gently rested his left hand over his Lightning Core. With his right hand, he mentally flipped the System UI, forcibly unlocking a deeply buried, emergency trait-awakening mechanism—
[Forced Activation: Hunter's Vestige]: When encountering an unknown lifeform whose level exceeds the System's identification boundaries, the host may utilize the residual traits of all corpses within a five-kilometer radius to construct a temporary, fused defensive module. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 30 days.
Ryker didn't hesitate for a microsecond. He triggered it immediately!
VMMMMM—!
In the next fraction of a second, countless silver-white electrical arcs violently erupted from the ground beneath him! They traced directly back to the freshly killed corpse of Gotoh, whose residual aura hadn't completely dissipated yet.
In the blink of an eye, the System screen flashed with blinding golden text:
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Enhancer: Giant Ape Arm Bones (A-Rank)]
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Needle Perception & Mind-Control Resistance (A-Rank)]
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Partial Hardening Enhancement (B-Rank)]
Read ahead with 30+ chapters now with daily updates!
@patreon.com/Authorizz