Armor +2, Ability Power +2

Neferpitou's body convulsed continuously.

Her psychic Nen power surged, accompanied by a personal will to resist...

But a dark, inky energy emerged from within her body along with her thoughts...

It's Cursed Grudge! The soul originally couldn't harm the Neferpitou, but in order to hurt herself, she stubbornly endured the soul being corrupted, completely underestimating the power of Cursed Grudge... At this moment, the characteristics of Cursed Grudge were fully brought into play.

This energy, different from Nen, is like a virus to the spirit and will. Once you are touched by it, you will be infected... Even when Asura's brain was invaded by Shura's Cursed Grudge, she was stunned for a moment, let alone the Neferpitou's soul, which was already incomplete.

Furthermore, while each soul might only cause the Neferpitou to momentarily lose her composure, the sheer number of souls would significantly extend the duration of Oboro's forced control...

His true killing move is his soul!

The previous ghost attack had a deceptive effect on Neferpitou, making Neferpitou mistakenly believe that her will could instantly annihilate the foreign objects in her mind, thus not interfering much with the battle... She also couldn't eliminate all the ghosts because she had to kill Oboro, the controller, first.

This is a dead end.

This forced her to engage in a fierce battle with Oboro.

Of course, this requires a series of coordination and certain techniques during the battle, such as the timing of releasing several Nen to weaken the Neferpitou's condition and inflict serious injuries on her.

To extract a soul, the target must remain conscious... This level of combat is extremely taxing on physical strength and energy; even the strongest will will be affected by the physical condition of the body.

Oboro won...

He won because of his intelligence.

It is also a manifestation of strength.

Every minute and every second is being calculated...

Another issue is the information gap.

The Neferpitou determined and gathered information about his Nen and methods on the spot, but Oboro knew her abilities better than anyone else.

"Ahhh!"

Neferpitou howled, her single eye completely infected by the Cursed Grudge, turning purplish-black, and her body became uncontrollable.

The mind and body are disconnected.

However, even under these circumstances, Oboro could still see a glimmer of clarity in her eyes.

Neferpitou shifted a portion of her mind from her sea of consciousness to reality, intending to attack Oboro and break free from her restraints.

She slowly raised her arm, regaining control of her limbs, preparing to grab at the man's face.

With a blank expression, Oboro's other arm, devoid of any spiritual essence, suddenly swung out, striking the Neferpitou's shoulder beforehand. The catwoman's hand fell limply from mid-air, blood splattering from her shoulder. "Willpower is part of the soul, intimately connected to the body. Your current state is terrible. Repeatedly using Terpsichora has already caused your flesh and blood to wither and collapse... Moreover, while your flesh and blood are strong, without spirit to control, to regulate the flow of blood and qi, to strengthen your defenses... and without the protection of Nen, you've lost control of your life. Stop struggling..."

With a faint voice, a massive Thresh, manifested behind him by the vast clouds or rather his Nen power, lifted the Rigge's Lantern and opened the lantern's cover.

They locked Oboro and the Neferpitou inside as well.

Meanwhile, within the Neferpitou's sea of consciousness.

Her manifested soul is battling against countless other souls!

A swarm of locust-like ghosts raged and danced in her mind, densely packed.

Roars, laughter, screams...

Various sounds filled my mind, creating utter chaos.

He had previously been corrupted by the Cursed Grudge, which seemed to have created a gap in his sea of consciousness, allowing these vengeful spirits to easily slip in...

She was putting up a fierce resistance, but in her spirit form, her movements weren't as nimble as in reality. Instead, she frequently faltered, her limbs overflowing with black energy, writhing erratically against her will. She could kill ghosts, but these spirits could also harm her soul. In just a short time, her soul had been gnawed at countless times...

A mutilated wound appeared.

Just as the Neferpitou forcefully broke through the influence of the Cursed Grudge and tore apart and dispersed a large number of attacking ghosts, suddenly, the huge ghostly figures in front of her disappeared.

Her mind calmed down...

"Um?"

Then, while she was in a daze...

A Chain suddenly materialized on her soul body, binding her tightly.

The other end of the Chain extends into the darkness.

There seems to be someone there!

Neferpitou tried to break free, but found that the Chain exerted an incredibly terrifying force.

And so, as the Chain yanked, she was dragged little by little into the darkness...

After a while, she finally saw the figure standing in the darkness. To be precise, it wasn't a person... but a monster with a human form, surrounded by ghostly flames, and exuding a sinister and ferocious aura!

It's Thresh...

However, the sound that Thresh made was a muffled noise.

"What a beautiful soul..."

After pulling the Neferpitou to his side, Oboro sighed.

Then, the Chain disappeared, and a cage suddenly appeared, imprisoning Neferpitou inside... This cage was none other than the Rigge's Lantern!

Boom! A raging green flame erupted from the lamp, scattering a green light that made Neferpitou's sea of consciousness appear incredibly eerie and sinister.

"Ahhh!"

The Neferpitou screamed in agony as her soul was burned.

In reality, Oboro's spirit form also returned to normal.

Behind him, the towering Thresh lifted a lantern, inside which was... Neferpitou's soul.

Why is it said that his prepared killing move is the soul of his strategy?

Because the Neferpitou can awaken her Post-Mortem Nen... and one of her Nen, Doctor Blythe, can not only heal the injuries of other creatures, but probably even her own injuries, Oboro cannot prolong the battle and must carefully plan every moment of the battle.

The Post-Mortem Nen is directly connected to the will and soul... His Nen is the natural nemesis of the Post-Mortem Nen!

Once the soul is trapped, the body is just an empty shell, devoid of any lingering attachments...

Therefore, to completely kill Neferpitou, it must be a soul, and only a soul...

Otherwise, if it awakens the power of Post-Mortem Nen, this ant will become even more monstrous.

Smack

Long let go of her hand.

The Neferpitou's lifeless body collapsed to the ground, unable to support itself.

It's over... it's finally over...

Oboro finished his breathing exercise, looking exhausted, and collapsed to the ground in a starfish shape.

The danger and difficulty of this battle far exceed that of fighting with Beyond... This ant is ridiculously strong. It's fortunate that it was him. If it were the chairman, even if he killed the Neferpitou's physical body, once the Post-Mortem Nen is awakened, the old man would probably be in trouble.

In this battle, Oboro used every means at his disposal, employing every available method.

Just like in the original story, if Netero doesn't prepare in advance and regain his form beforehand, he might very well be no match for Neferpitou if he hastily goes into battle.

Of course, this isn't absolute; it just means the odds of winning are less than 50%...

Neferpitou's advantage lies in her physique; among humans, not one can compare to her.

Then, thanks to the vitality of flesh and blood... it surpassed all the characters that Oboro knew.

Her only weakness is that she hasn't been exposed to the concept of "Nian" for very long, and... her inner thoughts are relatively simple.

This isn't about combat mentality... but rather about underestimating the limits of the human race, a weak and vulnerable species.

Their understanding of the real world is insufficient, after all, they've only just been born...

Oboro had this in mind when he planned everything.

Target weaknesses!

"If this kind of creature doesn't die from a plot device, it'll be really hard for the Association to control it on its own..." Oboro muttered as he rested on the ground for a while.

He was only feeling tired and couldn't care less about the pain from his wounds.

Gon doesn't unleash his full power, Netero will be drawn into the Chimera Ant King's schemes, and the remaining members of the Association... will likely all die at Neferpitou's hands.

This thing is far inferior to Shaiapouf and Youpi.

If Gon doesn't turn evil, he'll definitely die... therefore, Neferpitou is destined to perish.

Long closed her eyes, took a few breaths, then opened them and said, "Now that Neferpitou is dead... there's a good chance Gon won't turn evil, which will have some impact on the later plot, but it doesn't matter..."

He smiled.

Even the ants that Netero wasn't confident he could kill, he killed...

He has accomplished what he wanted to do.

"Meruem..."

Oboro repeated the name of the Chimera Ant King again.

Even the Chimera Ant King has weaknesses.

This is also a weakness shared by all ants, because the ants born from the queen ant have incorporated some human genes. This causes all ants, including Meruem, to eventually develop human-like emotions and thoughts. Even if they hadn't met Komugi, the Chimera Ant King would have changed sooner or later because of some event or encounter with other people.

This is the biggest weakness...

If Meruem were a ruthless machine, the situation would be different.

And then there's... just like Neferpitou, who underestimated the evil in humanity... and the complexity of this world.

Long slowly propped himself up, sat up, and opened the system panel.

After waiting for a while, the values on the panel changed...

Increases armor and spell power by 2 points.

The Neferpitou's soul... has been absorbed! Although numerically it's only 2 points...

However, the Ghost Mist that suddenly erupted around his body underwent an astonishing change.

The fog began to thicken... as if it had condensed into a liquid.

The ghosts that roamed among them all grew larger, their limbs and features becoming clearer, no longer appearing as illusory and blurry... Mixed with the dark and filthy aura of Cursed Grudge, each soul looked extremely ferocious, and some even had their limbs mutated, resembling incongruous monsters.

The fog itself changed from a dark green to a blackish purple... becoming even more oppressive and gloomy.

This is because his Nen power strength has been qualitatively improved!

"Huh?"

Long raised her arm and noticed that her skin had developed fine lines.

It became firmer...

He could feel that, in terms of the defense of his skin and flesh alone, the increase was obvious... but his sturdy body seemed to have undergone some kind of transformation.

He looked at the panel, where the overall attribute rating representing physical strength was still at the third-tier superhuman level.

"Is it just my... imagination?"

Long raised an eyebrow.

As for Nian's ranking, he jumped directly from 7th to 4th.

This means that in the entire human world, in terms of the development, mastery, skills, strength, and many other dimensions of Nen, there are only three people more powerful than him.

Oboro had already absorbed Kite's fallen soul during the battle... but the improvement was far less as astonishing as that of the Neferpitou! Oboro withdrew his Nen, stood up, and glanced at the Neferpitou's corpse beside him.

Turn around and leave...

He didn't intend to take the body with him; instead, he would leave it, along with Kite's remains, to the Squadron Leader ...

More than half an hour after he left, several figures appeared on the battlefield where Oboro and Neferpitou were fighting.

The visitors were several division Squadron Leader, led by Kourudo.

They discovered that Neferpitou was missing, and seemed to have sensed an enemy invasion...

They hadn't paid much attention at first... but after so much time had passed and Neferpitou still hadn't returned, they started to get restless.

Because... based on their understanding of the Neferpitou, there shouldn't be any humans on the human side who could individually keep her occupied for so long. It's highly likely they've encountered some special situation. For example, the enemy might be a group, or even an army... Moreover, this place isn't far from the anthill, and some ants have sensed the aura and momentum of the Neferpitou's battle with the humans.

At first, I didn't take it seriously... but after so long of silence, Neferpitou still hasn't returned.

Something's not quite right...

When they saw this devastated land, they knew... something had happened!

"That is..."

The division Squadron Leader, Brobuta, who resembled a lobster, suddenly saw a figure lying on the ground. He shakily raised his pincers, his voice unsteady.

"Impossible!"

Bihorn, Kourudo, and Peggy looked over, they were instantly struck dumb, their minds going completely blank.

"Dead... really dead?"

Peggy staggered forward and collapsed to the ground.

He recognized her... It was Neferpitou, the Neferpitou from the Royal Guards.

They knew the Neferpitou's power all too well; the sheer aura she exuded alone was enough to deter their division Squadron Leader from making any rash moves...

Such a powerful kin could actually die...

The fact that Neferpitou died did not exist in their imagination.

"There is only one enemy...and it can only be a human." Kourudo walked to the corpse, his face pale, and murmured.

The way the Neferpitou died was somewhat bizarre.

One eye is blind, while the other eye is open with a dilated pupil.

Most importantly, although he suffered some injuries, they were not fatal.

It's so familiar...

Kourudo too familiar with him.

A familiar figure instantly flashed into his mind.

That man in the suit... Nen user commands hordes of demons! "It's him!"

Kourudo was speechless with shock.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the other Squadron Leader knew who he was talking about.

They all assumed that the human had left... after all, Neferpitou had been searching for him in his territory for so long without any success.

Suddenly, Niu Tou Bihorn picked something up from a distance.

It was a tattered suit jacket...

Where are the others?

"So... the other two... are dead too..." Peggy felt a chill run down her spine.

He was referring to the two Squadron Leader who went out to capture human Nen user and died at Kite's hands.

"He must have run away... Even if he killed Neferpitou, his situation is probably not good." After a moment of contemplation, Peggy regained her composure and said, trembling, "If he weren't so badly injured, with that kind of strength, he could have easily stormed into the anthill and started slaughtering us!"

"Then...should we chase after him and take advantage of his injury..." Niu Tou Bihorn swallowed hard.

He seemed somewhat insecure.

"Judging from the time Neferpitou died, it's been a while; the other side must have left long ago." Kourudo gravely. "The body we found on our way here could have been his companion... but we hadn't seen it before, which means the humans have already launched an organized attack on us..."

"We need to reassess the level of danger to humanity!"

"How about we talk to the Queen and move our base... if he comes back again..."

Bihorn said in alarm.

"His Majesty is at the crucial moment of giving birth to the Chimera Ant King and is completely unable to move..."

Peggy chimed in.

"..."

For a moment, the four Squadron Leader fell silent.

What to do?