Kite didn't rush to leave. Instead, he looked toward Gon, whose face had gone pale.
"Remember what I told you. These things don't die right away. You okay?" he asked.
"Hm?" Gon looked up, brows furrowed.
"This won't be the last time you see something like this. If you start sympathizing with your enemies, your mind won't survive it."
Kite's gaze swept across Killua and Joey, but didn't linger—he could already read the cold indifference in their faces. Neither had so much as flinched at the sight of Chimera Ants strewn about, some still twitching.
Their expressions didn't see them as people. Just insects. Dead ones.
Gon, however… his look carried both intensity and something closer to hesitation.
"I'm fine," he said. "They don't value life. Not their own. Not each other's. I'm not going to pity things like that."
But his response didn't ease Kite. If anything, it made his expression even more grim.
Joey didn't bother mincing words.
"What if… one of them isn't like that? What if there's an Ant who actually does care about their comrades, who values life?" he asked.
Gon's expression froze.
"Will you still be able to kill it?"
Joey didn't doubt Gon's kindness—but that kind of idealism had no place here. Chimera Ants would never see humans as equals. Even their King—who found Netero admirable—still only planned to pen humans like cattle in the corner of a controlled world.
As for the few Ants who sided with humanity? That was less idealism and more desperation.
Gon hesitated—but then responded:
"I'll do what I have to."
"Hope so," Joey said coolly, noticing the sharp side-eye from Killua.
He shrugged. Man, those two really are close.
"Let's split here," Kite announced, turning his gaze skyward. The dragonfly-headed Chimera Ant that had been observing them earlier was nowhere in sight—likely scared off by Kite's display.
But that meant more information had leaked. Again.
From what he'd seen, the surveillance type wasn't observing directly, but rather using dragonflies scattered throughout the forest as monitors.
And just as that thought settled, a wave of pure dread surged over them.
The kind of oppressive malice that made skin crawl.
Kite's instincts kicked in instantly—his mind racing.
He'd been feeling a subtle sense of unease since nightfall. At first, he assumed it was the presence of a Chimera Ant Squadron Leader.
But all the Ants they'd encountered so far—base grunts, even mid-level elites—had posed little real threat.
He'd gauged the Ant army's power level. The elite soldiers weren't even on par with Gon or Killua. The grunts? Joey, a fresh Nen user, could take them down with Killer Queen.
Even if a Squadron Leader was ten times stronger, Kite had no doubts he could handle it.
But this… this aura?
It was beyond anything he had imagined. A hundred times stronger. Maybe more.
"RUN!"
The order snapped through the silence. At the same time, Crazy Clown's roulette spun—and landed on the long rifle, one of the few weapons they'd seen before.
Kite leapt to the front, shielding the other three.
And then—
It emerged.
A towering shadow lunged from the forest, cloaked in a swirling mass of pure, black hatred.
Its target wasn't Kite.
It wasn't Killua or Gon.
It was Joey—lagging slightly at the rear.
Kite intercepted it—but the creature's sheer force hurled him through the trees, crashing into the distance.
Joey saw it clearly now.
It wasn't Neferpitou.
It was something worse: a massive crocodile Chimera Ant, cloaked in black aura so thick it looked liquid.
The same Squadron Leader he and Bokur had supposedly killed.
How is it alive?! The thought barely had time to form before Joey raised his pistol and opened fire.
The bullets never even pierced the aura.
But then—Killer Queen's thumb came down.
Boom!
The bullet behind the aura exploded—not its body, but the air beside it. The blast was muffled, but the shockwave still shoved the beast a few centimeters off course.
Joey, blasted back even harder, managed to avoid a direct hit.
From the dirt, he saw Killua flash forward, electricity dancing along his hands. A thunderous jolt slammed into the croc's skull.
Gon followed from behind, aiming a powerful strike at its nape.
But the beast's massive tail whipped around like a tree trunk—forcing Gon into a defensive stance. Even so, the blow sent him flying.
The creature's head snapped again toward Joey.
Killer Queen dropped the Sheer Heart Attack tank from Joey's left hand. At the same time, it grabbed Joey and hurled him out of danger.
The tank let out a mechanical screech—
Boom!
The explosion rang through the forest.
And did… nothing.
The black aura writhed but remained. Barely disturbed.
But Sheer Heart Attack doesn't stop.
The second blast followed instantly.
At the same time, far off, Kite reappeared, rifle aimed.
He fired.
Two explosions—one from Sheer Heart Attack, one from Kite's rifle—landed nearly simultaneously.
The first pushed the croc slightly.
The second—Kite's bullet—blew a hole straight through its forehead.
And still—it didn't fall.
Its eyes, burning with grudge-fueled madness, locked onto Joey once again.
It surged forward.
"Damn pest," Kite muttered.
Crazy Clown's roulette spun again—numbers flickering with a dramatic sound effect—and stopped on 7.
The weapon became a hand cannon, barrel wide enough to fit a fist.
"Of course I didn't get the one I wanted," Kite sighed.
He moved to fire—
But the gap between the croc and the battered, scrambling Joey was too small.
He couldn't pull the trigger without risking a kill shot on his own student.
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