Purpose x Rules x Death Looming

Bang! Bang! Bang! Stones piled up from the altar and transformed into stone statues holding various weapons.

Manipulation.

Long didn't give the old man any time to launch an attack, and immediately used his sprint to accelerate, soaring into the sky.

With a wave of his hand, the old man caused the stone statues to line up, blocking Long's figure, and he swung his weapon to slash.

Because of a persistent, uneasy feeling, Oboro decided to end things quickly.

Using his shoulder as a shield, he charged at the stone statues with martial arts techniques as he approached. With a loud crash, several statues shattered, sending debris flying and creating gaps in the carefully arranged 'wall of formation'.

The old man tried to back away and manipulate the stone to rewind... but with the acceleration effect active, Long instantly pounced in front of him.

God Fist!

Long threw One-Punch Man, hitting the old man squarely in the chest. The sound of bones cracking was clearly audible, and the old man's body flew through the air, crashing into a pillar not far away.

Several life-sized stone statues attacked from behind, stabbing Oboro in the back with their weapons, but the weapons all shattered... having no effect whatsoever.

The old man slipped to the ground, coughing up blood. Before he could stand up, he had already rushed in front of the stone man who was entangled with him.

A barrage of punches rained down on the old man.

This left the latter with no chance to breathe...

Boom! Boom! Boom! The stone bricks beneath his feet shattered. The old man hurriedly parried and defended, but his fighting skills, including his experience in using Nen, were not very rich. He was not on the same level as Oboro at all. He could only try his best to use Nen to protect his physical body. In just a few seconds, half of his body had already sunk into the shallow pit, and cracks appeared on the stone pillars around him.

With another loud crash, the thick, upright stone pillar broke and shattered into several huge pieces of rock that crashed down. Long withdrew his hand and jumped away.

The old man was struck head-on by the boulder and buried in the pile of stones.

The stone figures he controlled with his Nen also collapsed instantly.

Oboro frowned... So weak. Whether it's Nen, experience, skills, or physical strength... she's only slightly stronger than an average Nen user. Why does she feel dangerous?

"He should be dead by now..."

Long murmured, preparing to step forward and pull out the old man's body.

After being struck hundreds of times by his fists, the old man's Nen power defenses could no longer withstand the blows... His body was deformed and bleeding profusely. In the end, he seemed to lose consciousness, his Nen power vanished... In that state, he was hit by several huge rocks in succession, leaving him with no chance of survival.

Most of it turned into minced meat...

But Long Gang took a step forward and then stopped.

Then the rubble that had buried the old man floated up again and combined to form a giant several meters tall.

Furthermore, behind him, the stone figures that had disintegrated were 'reassembled and reborn'.

"Not dead?"

Long's pupils contracted.

How could that be...

He should have been doomed... He wouldn't make such a basic misjudgment.

In the instant the stones flew and scattered, Oboro saw his opponent slowly rising from the pit. The old man was disheveled and covered in blood, with many dents and broken parts on his body, which made strange noises and were instantly repaired and healed.

These are all fatal flaws! "His Nen has become even stronger!"

Long noticed something was wrong.

Are they insects? Has the old man also been parasitized by insects?

The problem is, the other party hasn't lost their independent thinking... their bloodshot eyes are very calm.

It was filled with a will to judge him.

"Again!"

A chill ran through his hazy eyes.

Above their heads, the giant stone statue's palm slammed down with tremendous force.

The slap caused the entire altar to shatter, creating a deafening crash.

However, he failed to hit the target. Using his footwork, Long increased his speed and approached the old man in a zigzag pattern in an instant. With his fingers like a sword, he accurately stabbed the target between the eyebrows.

This time, half a finger was stuck into the other person's forehead! Oboro kicked the stiff old man away and snatched the ritual head away.

The giant stone figure and several smaller stone figures crumbled once more...

Long remained vigilant... Sure enough, the figure that had fallen to the ground in the distance stood up again... The wound on his forehead had disappeared.

Click, click...

Sounds came from all around. Long looked in the direction of the sound and found that more stones had been turned into puppets under the old man 'Nen power control... The giant, several meters tall, punched and smashed several intact pillars. The fallen stones began to be pieced together and assembled. In just over ten seconds, three more giants appeared with their heads almost touching the dome.

"His energy has increased several times... his Nen seems stronger too... how could he be resurrected? This is definitely not Post-Mortem Nen ... it's an ability, not his original Nen ..." Oboro's mind raced, analyzing the situation. "Did someone cast some kind of Nen effect on him? He's not the only Nen user among the Botswa Tribe ..."

"And there's another one with Specialization?"

"Wrong..."

"Is it because the fatal wounds are relatively minor, and it must be completely destroyed, like a parasite?"

"Each time I'm resurrected, my abilities will experience a qualitative leap..."

A large number of manipulated stone men once again surrounded him. Without much time to think, Long made a decision immediately... to attack the old man again.

But this attack was much more difficult. First, he found that the stone figures moved more smoothly, as if they had really become living, breathing people. Second, the old man seemed to have suddenly grasped some profound Nen techniques, and was actually able to counterattack and evade.

Because of the improvement in his strength, his reaction speed also kept up with his own...

However, the gap still exists... In order to avoid any changes, Oboro still chose the Precision and Domination rune pages. It's just that the related runes he used before could not be activated. But there are other runes in these two series that can increase damage, which can be selected.

Primarily based on combat runes.

"Die!"

A few minutes later, Oboro blasted a stone golem that was trying to block his attack, and with one hand reaching through the rising dust, grabbed the old man who was trying to move away.

Grab his neck and twist it off.

Not only did they remove the other person's head, but they also destroyed their physical body.

The empty underground space returned to calm once again.

Long was panting heavily, staring intently at the old man's skeleton... Then, a scene that made his scalp tingle appeared.

A piece of remnant flesh suddenly swelled up, like a rapidly growing spore, turning into a tumor... Oboro immediately made a move, his fingertips carrying immense power, resembling a wildly dancing blade of light, tearing the writhing, growing, and changing flesh to shreds.

But when he turned around, the other corpse had already fully grown, its flesh and bones completely regenerated... reviving the old man.

"Can't be killed?"

Long was somewhat taken aback.

At this moment, the aura emanating from the old Botswa Tribe in front of him was no less than his own.

The entire underground space trembled, and rubble coalesced, transforming into countless puppets controlled by the enemy...

Moreover, Oboro observed that... the skin of these stone figures was peeling away, revealing facial features and more distinct and detailed limbs, and each of the thoughts enveloping the stone figures... was extremely profound.

"Withdraw!"

Longmeng began to consider retiring.

His body reacted in an instant, transforming into a black Inazuma that passed through the gaps between the stone figures and headed straight for the cave entrance where Kaji was.

But he had only gone halfway when a sharp spear pierced his eye, forcing him to retreat. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that a stone figure holding a spear was blocking his way!

This appears to be a male stone figure, with newly grown eyes on its face, as if they could capture its image...

A chill ran from the soles of my feet into the back of my head.

After a brief pause, Long changed direction again and headed to another location.

But just as they managed to create some distance, they were blocked by a giant hand falling from above, and were almost hit head-on.

In the distance, Kaji stood at the cave entrance, his face deathly pale.

My legs are trembling...

He didn't know whether he should run or stay... He had witnessed Oboro kill the elders of the Botswa Tribe time and time again, but they kept resurrecting, each time stronger than the last. This underground space wasn't particularly large or small; with Oboro's strength, he could leap across the less than two hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

Right now, he was like a grasshopper jumping back and forth, his movements constantly being interrupted by the stone golems, who were also compressing his space to dodge. He was about to be completely surrounded.

Finally, Kaji clenched his fist, turned and ran away.

He had previously 'Patch' his eye patch to the passageway and spotted Hisoka's location...

He needs to find Hisoka quickly, otherwise... the captain might die!

A moment later, a deafening roar.

The elders of the Botswa Tribe manipulated stone figures to destroy and seal all the entrances and exits.

"Your companions have abandoned you..."

The old man looked at Long, who was surrounded by puppets and trapped like a turtle in a jar, and spoke.

Long threw away the ritual skull he had been holding like trash, his expression remaining relatively calm.

"You were able to be resurrected... because of the sacrifice, right? The rule of the sacrifice is that a member of your tribe dies in your place. In other words, once all the Botswa Tribe people outside are dead, you will no longer be able to be resurrected... And each time you are resurrected, your strength increases exponentially... because you were given some kind of ability by the ritual."

Long took a deep breath. "Although we've deduced that it's a ritual, we can only discern a small part of the rules and truths; it's not complete."

The stone figures around them, under the old man's control, ceased their attacks.

Because in his eyes, Oboro was already a person who was destined to die.

"The rules of the ritual are created for a purpose; all rules serve that purpose... Achieving the purpose is the most important thing. It's already quite surprising that an outsider like you can see this," the old man said calmly. "And the purpose of this ritual is to ensure that the last member of the clan survives, no matter what happens... Even if hundreds of clan members are still alive, once the ritual ends, only one will remain... Therefore, we will not start the ritual unless absolutely necessary."

"The Origin Bug, there are two, a mother and daughter worm. One daughter worm is responsible for fission and evolution, the other..."

"You ate the other one. The offspring and the mother worm have different missions and effects... The connection between sacrifice and resurrection, including the characteristics of your strength evolution, is also the value of the mother worm itself, which it provides to you. It's not parasitism, it's fusion. The protection you receive during the ritual is absolute! Eating the mother worm means being chosen as the last member of your clan to survive."

Before the other party could finish speaking, Long coldly said, "To be honest... if it weren't for our positions and the mission, I would personally be on your side... but now, I suddenly feel... killing you wouldn't be so bad..."

"Shouldn't the mother insect be given to someone younger? After the ritual is over... will you be able to continue the bloodline? At this age, it will be very difficult to have children, won't it?"

The tone was sarcastic and mocking.

"I am the clan chief. I have the most comprehensive and profound understanding of the clan's origins and history. Only I can pass on this heritage to future generations so that it will not be lost..." The old man replied with a firm and powerful voice.

"Is it really that hard to admit you just want to survive? Having that kind of selfish urge is normal... Don't make excuses for yourself. I know a liar right here... So, I can tell whether you're lying or not..."

"But suddenly I feel sorry for those Botswa Tribe who died."

Long's two sentences were like tearing off the old man's fig leaf, instantly enraging him. "You should think about yourself first!"