Massive Gains

To Kang Jae, Moro's unexpected appearance was a pleasant surprise.

Without Moro's intervention, Kang Jae would not have needed to worry about his safety, but he would inevitably have been delayed in the Nen space for some time.

And right now, time was what mattered most. It was tied to the client's safety.

In that brief instant, Kang Jae shifted his focus to Saff in the room and, following Moro's suggestion, left Muer in the room to Moro.

Before making that decision, he had felt a moment of concern.

After all, he had fought Muer before. Setting aside that troublesome Nen ability with its intricate mechanics, Muer's mastery of Flow in close combat alone clearly made him no pushover.

But then he considered that both of Muer's hands were useless now, and his concerns faded. He agreed to leave Muer to Moro.

For Muer, however, Moro's appearance was a shock on top of a shock.

He had painstakingly planned everything, even staking his own life, all to temporarily trap Kang Jae inside the Nen space.

It could be said that while the plan had been proceeding steadily, Muer had only one thought in mind: keep Kang Jae trapped for as long as possible.

One more minute would be enough. Failing that, even thirty more seconds would do...

With that resolve and awareness, Muer had believed he could calmly accept death after giving everything he had.

Yet all of it had been ruined by Moro's sudden appearance!!!

Anger, unwillingness, disbelief...

The tangled mass of complex emotions twisted Muer's face.

He should have calmly accepted death after proving his worth. It should have been that way!

"You deserve to die!"

Muer's eyes were bloodshot. None of his previous flippancy remained, nor was there the slightest trace of composure.

At this point, stopping Kang Jae was nothing but wishful thinking.

Even killing Moro was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

The Nen aura around him was rapidly drawing inward. In about another second, he would be forcibly driven into Zetsu.

That was the price of failure for Cicada's Molt.

Moro noticed that Muer had withdrawn his manifested aura within just two seconds. His first thought was that the man was suffering backlash from a Nen ability's restriction.

That was the only possibility.

Thus, when Muer's Nen aura vanished completely, the words "unexpected windfall" flashed through Moro's mind.

"Looks like I came at the right time."

Ignoring Muer's twisted gaze, which seemed to want to devour him alive, Moro raised a hand and condensed a ping-pong-ball-sized Nen Bullet.

In his view, a Nen user capable of fighting one of the Twelve Zodiacs who specialized in combat could not possibly be weak. Maybe he would provide a huge amount of experience.

Muer had already entered Zetsu. Without Nen aura reinforcing him, he could not see Moro's manifested aura, but he could still sense danger.

"I'll kill you!!!"

Having lost everything, the only thing he could do now was launch one final charge with his life on the line.

His arms hung limply at his sides as he rushed at Moro with a twisted, furious face, like a malevolent ghost.

Moro answered by casually tossing a Nen Bullet at him.

The Nen Bullet that Muer would once have considered insignificant now came crashing down like a mountain.

Splat!

The Nen Bullet struck Muer in the head, and the irresistible impact instantly blew his entire head apart.

With a heavy thud, a headless corpse appeared on the floor.

Moro remained in the pose of throwing the Nen Bullet, then naturally looked toward the back of his hand facing him.

Lv.7→Lv.18

The sudden surge in levels made Moro freeze.

He had risen to... level 18?

Before he could react, the manifested aura around his body suddenly expanded by a small but noticeable amount.

This was the tangible benefit of his skyrocketing level.

Moro slowly widened his eyes. Not only had the level of his manifested aura increased, but his total potential aura had also grown substantially.

Before leveling up, his stamina in intense combat had probably only lasted around five minutes.

Now, though...

At least ten minutes!

"Does this count as picking up an easy kill?"

Feeling the changes brought by the level-up, Moro looked in astonishment at the headless corpse on the floor.

For him to jump from Lv.7 to Lv.18 in one go, just how high had this Nen user's potential level been?

There was no way to know the answer.

What could be certain was that, with Moro's current strength, he definitely could not have defeated this Nen user.

That was why he had felt as though he had picked up an easy kill.

But on second thought...

The fact that he had gotten this kill was the result of every decision and action he had taken, step by step.

If he had not rushed to the cockpit immediately, if he had not noticed something suspicious despite lacking information, if he had not decisively moved closer to Kang Jae...

Then he would not have destroyed the divine characters along the way, much less welcomed the arrival of this "fruit" now.

This had indeed been an opportunity mixed with an element of luck.

But he had seized it.

Moro suddenly clenched his fist, silently savoring the joy of his skyrocketing level.

A full eleven-level jump—how much training time would that save him...

Just as Moro was rejoicing, a jet-black Nen aura suddenly emanated from the headless corpse on the ground.

"Hmm?"

Moro sensed it and immediately looked over.

The black Nen aura detached from the mangled neck, rose into the air like ghostly phosphorus fire, and radiated an ominous presence.

"Post-death Nen..."

Moro's pupils contracted as Muer's face flashed through his mind—twisted with fury and filled with Killing Intent.

A Nen user could leave behind Nen aura driven by obsession after death due to extreme emotional fluctuations or fixation.

This kind of post-death Nen would usually attach itself to the killer.

It was Moro's first time encountering such a scene. Watching the post-death Nen fly toward him like black phosphorus fire, he instantly treated it like a grave threat.

He had no experience dealing with this sort of development. The only thing he could think of was the Growth Rings tattoo on the back of his hand.

Since the Growth Rings tattoo could absorb Nen aura attached to Nen objects, could it absorb post-death Nen as well?

If there was no avoiding it, he could only try.

Yet just as Moro prepared to defend himself, the phosphorus-fire-like post-death Nen bypassed him entirely and flew straight toward the room Kang Jae had entered.

Moro turned sideways and tilted his head, watching the post-death Nen fly toward the room as an inexplicable emotion surged within him.

Whether before death or after it, he could clearly feel Muer's Killing Intent toward him.

Logically, the post-death Nen born from that should have wanted nothing more than to drag Moro down with it.

Yet this post-death Nen was heading purposefully for the room.

In an instant, Moro understood why. He looked at the headless corpse on the floor with a somewhat complicated expression.

More important than venting the furious Killing Intent from before his death was his original objective.

What kind of obsession did it take to achieve that...

An advanced composite technique of the Four Great Principles—Flow.

Details as shown below: