Encounter

Humans controlled by the Puppet Master Technique lost their shadows, but their strength could be enhanced with Nen.

Before the airship exploded, Kawahara hid inside an ordinary person's shadow, then used more than a dozen puppet humans to wrap around that person before plunging from the sky into the lake.

Despite the puppet humans being reinforced with Nen, several were still damaged by the impact of hitting the water.

As for the ordinary person wrapped inside them, he died on the spot.

Kawahara emerged from the shadow space and swam toward the shore.

The puppet humans under his command also returned to shore with him.

After coming ashore, Kawahara collapsed onto the ground, his face full of exhaustion.

Shadow's End had an exceedingly complex ability type. While it offered diverse applications, the price was an excessive consumption of Nen.

After all that trouble, Kawahara's physical strength and Nen were basically depleted.

"Damn it... Only seven were saved."

Looking up at the seven puppet humans who could barely be considered intact, Kawahara gritted his teeth.

Given the circumstances, he had had far too little time to operate.

Had he delayed by even a few more seconds, he might have died in the explosion.

Being able to preserve seven puppet humans in such a critical situation was already a decent result.

He was merely angry that all this nonsense had disrupted his mission.

There was no way to determine Moro's whereabouts now, much less continue making a move against him.

Kawahara struggled to calm his emotions, let out a long breath, and closed his eyes to rest.

He had lost an excellent opportunity to strike, but that did not mean the mission had failed.

Once he recovered, he could naturally look for another opportunity.

Beneath the moonlight, Kawahara leaned against a tree, surrounded by seven motionless puppet humans that looked like zombies, protecting him in their midst.

Compared to Kawahara's profound exhaustion, Moro was still in fairly good condition in terms of physical strength and potential aura.

That was thanks to the level-up benefits brought by the head on the airship.

Nen surged around Moro as he walked straight along the shore toward the three people who had just hunted a Great Horned White Deer.

He hoped to get some information from them and borrow a phone while he was at it.

"Excuse me, everyone."

To prevent them from overreacting, Moro raised a hand and greeted them from some distance away.

At that moment.

The three were excitedly cutting apart the massive antlers when they suddenly heard Moro's greeting. Their expressions changed at once, and without hesitation, they grabbed their hunting rifles and pointed the muzzles toward the source of the voice.

When they saw that the person who had spoken was a filthy-looking boy, they involuntarily exchanged glances.

"It's a kid."

"So what? He saw us."

"Kill him?"

"Obviously... What do you think we're doing here?"

The bearded man, the oldest of the three, made the decision immediately.

Poaching Great Horned White Deer was a serious crime, with sentencing based on weight. The coral antlers of an adult white deer alone carried a minimum sentence of twenty years.

Killing intent flashed in the bearded man's eyes. What they were doing could not see the light of day, so he could not be bothered to ask Moro why he was there. He aimed and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Even silenced, the gunshot still rang across the lake.

The bullet tore through the air, heading straight for Moro.

Moro sensed the bearded man's killing intent the moment it surfaced and immediately moved out of the line of fire.

The bullet flew past his side and vanished into the night.

The bearded man froze when he saw Moro evade the shot, then hastily worked the bolt and ejected the still-warm casing.

"What are you standing around for? Shoot!"

As he urged his companions, the bearded man raised his rifle and aimed at Moro again.

But Moro did not give him another chance to fire.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Several Nen Bullets crossed the distance between life and death and blew apart the heads of the three armed men.

Blood sprayed through the air as the three men fell to the ground alongside their hunting rifles with dull thuds.

Moro walked over to the three corpses, then glanced at the deer carcass nearby.

"Poachers..."

He withdrew his gaze, his expression cold.

He did not recognize the Great Horned White Deer, but judging from how decisively these three had opened fire, they were most likely criminals engaged in poaching.

Perhaps they did not care why a boy had appeared in the dense forest. They only cared about concealing their crimes.

Moro crouched down and searched one of the corpses, finding a phone. After turning it on, he dialed Kang Jae's contact number.

Beep, beep...

After a minute of ringing.

There was no response from Kang Jae's side, and the call disconnected automatically.

Moro dialed several more times, but there was still no answer.

Could his phone have been crushed too? Unlikely... As a combat-oriented member of the Twelve Zodiacs, he must be highly proficient in advanced techniques like "Zhou."

Moro lowered the phone and glanced at the faint, wispy mist surrounding him.

He couldn't have been unlucky enough to fall into a swamp, could he...?

The humidity in this area was heavy, so there were probably swamps nearby. In terms of probability, it was possible.

At that thought, an image of Kang Jae plunging into a swamp like a javelin surfaced in Moro's mind, making him shudder.

That image was too miserable...

Moro shook his head, then sent Argo a text. Without waiting for a reply, he put the phone away and continued searching the bodies.

A handgun, cigarettes, a lighter, a compass...

After setting aside the useful items, including the handgun, Moro checked the backpacks on the corpses and found some rations, clean water, and poached goods.

Claws from unknown creatures, sharp beaks in several colors, and even emerald-green animal eyes preserved in bottles...

Finding these items taken from various animals essentially confirmed the identities of these people.

"No wonder they were so vicious."

Moro glanced at the corpses beside him.

He had only intended to ask for directions, yet these people had brought it upon themselves.

Moro pulled over a backpack, took out a can of meat, pried it open, and began eating.

After filling his stomach a little, Moro emptied out one backpack and packed it with the useful items and food.

As for the claws, beaks, and the severed antlers lying on the ground, there was no way he would take them.

Based on the regional map he had found in the backpack, he had already confirmed that he was in a forest within the Minbo Republic.

Strictly speaking, his identity made him an illegal entrant as well.

If he also carried around these likely valuable poached goods, that would be a double debuff.

After packing his backpack, Moro suddenly became alert. He raised the handgun toward the low-visibility woods ahead, while Nen naturally gathered in his other hand.

From the moment he had killed the poachers until now, he had never relaxed his vigilance.

Now that he had heard faint noises, he naturally went on guard at once.

Rustle.

A man pushed aside the dense bushes and swaggered into Moro's view.

As though he had not seen the gun in Moro's hand, the man's gaze swept over the corpses on the ground and the half-cut antlers, his eyes shifting slightly before he looked over the poached goods scattered carelessly nearby.

Then the man's gaze returned to Moro. Calmly, he said, "Let's get acquainted. My name is Benjamin, and I'm a Gourmet Hunter."

"..."