Chapter Summaries

After a monster attack during the hunt, Kevin and the others discussed the Village’s mysteries and decided that [Coming sound] was their most urgent threat. Kevin contacted Begel to investigate it as the Festival, the Village’s strange residents, and Melusina’s interest in him remained unresolved.

• Kevin and the others discussed the hunt with Bianluoke, and Men Qi teased Kevin about Melusina after he had rescued her.
• Melusina’s Maids, including Lorraine, encouraged her to pursue Kevin, while the Village Chief confronted Rabik about the Festival and the day’s events.
• Kevin watched Rabik and the Village Chief from the inn rooftop, then told Men Qi, Buhaci, Gowen, and Xiahara that [Coming sound] was watching him and might have caused the attack.
• Kevin listed the Festival, [Coming sound], the Village, and Melusina as problems to investigate, and Gowen argued that [Coming sound] posed the most immediate danger.
• Buhaci and Men Qi proposed gathering more information, and Kevin called Begel to ask him to investigate [Coming sound].

Kevin processed monster materials with Men Qi, then accompanied Melusina through the Village and sensed sharply divided reactions to them. After returning to the inn, he learned the Village was split into three factions and that the Saintess’s supporters avoided confronting him because they feared his strength.

• Kevin and Men Qi divided the monster parts between useful materials and ingredients while working in the inn kitchen.
• Melusina visited Kevin with pastries to thank him for saving her, and Lorian arranged for him to push her wheelchair around the Village.
• Kevin chatted with Melusina and noticed villagers showing either unusually strong goodwill or hostility, especially the guards who had followed the Village Chief.
• Kevin praised Melusina’s pastries, causing her goodwill toward him to intensify, then returned to the inn at dusk.
• Bianluoke explained that the Village had a Village Chief Faction, a Hunting Faction, and a Neutral Faction, and said the Village Chief Faction treated Melusina as sacred.
• Bianluoke told Kevin the Village Chief Faction had not confronted him because they did not want to die.

Kevin and his companions hunted in the Secret Realm while investigating the increasingly frequent [Coming sound], then encountered a Griffin on their way back. During the battle, Kevin vanished into a Nen Space and faced an intelligent Evil Crow Person who intended to kill him.

• Kevin and his companions crossed the Boundary and waited near the maple forest, but [Coming sound] rang at its normal hourly interval for three days without changing.
• Kevin led Men Qi, Buhaci, and Gowen through the Dense Forest, where they gathered many materials but failed to find the Phantom Beast he sought.
• As the group headed back, [Coming sound] sped up and a Griffin swooped down, attacking them with powerful wind and Wind Blades.
• Kevin and his companions counterattacked, weakening the Griffin's wind pressure, but Kevin disappeared from Gowen's sight during their charge.
• Kevin found himself trapped in a black Nen Space, where an Evil Crow Person said he could leave only by dying and attacked him with feather blades.

Kevin was trapped in Crow’s Nen Space, where Crow used his ability to evade him and stall for time while the Griffin fought Men Qi and the others. Kevin countered with an anesthetic potion, forcing Crow to cancel the space and leave the duel unresolved.

• Kevin mapped the Nen Space and concluded that Crow could move through its boundaries, making him difficult to catch.
• Crow explained that his ability, [Long Corridor], let him travel between the space’s walls and that his group was following a Divine Oracle to eliminate Kevin.
• Kevin released an Anesthetic Potion that spread paralysis toxin through the enclosed space and advanced toward Crow.
• Crow panicked under Kevin’s pressure and canceled his Nen ability, causing the pitch-black space to vanish and sunlight to return.

Kevin returned to the battle and helped Men Qi, Gowen, and Buhaci fight the Griffin after killing Crow. With Men Qi’s Nen Beast restraining the Griffin, Kevin struck it with Meteor Strike and finally defeated it, completing the hunt.

• Kevin appeared on the battlefield, charged after Crow, and killed him while Men Qi, Buhaci, and Gowen attacked the Griffin.
• The Griffin unleashed a devastating gale that scattered the hunters, then targeted Men Qi; Kevin interrupted its attack and climbed onto its back.
• Kevin drank a Healing Potion and used a Syringe before fighting the Griffin, while Men Qi drank a Surging Potion and summoned a powerful Tentacle Python Nen Beast.
• Men Qi’s Tentacle Python restrained the Griffin long enough for Kevin to unleash Meteor Strike, leaving the Griffin mortally wounded.
• The Griffin collapsed and could no longer resist, and Kevin sent Men Qi to check on the others while he approached the defeated Phantom Beast.

Kevin and his companions returned to the Village with the Griffin and Evil Crow Person they had hunted, and Men Qi and Buhaci processed the Griffin for materials and food. Melusina welcomed Kevin’s return and hoped he would visit the Castle, while the Village Chief arranged guards for her ahead of the Festival.

• Men Qi treated Gowen’s injuries, and Kevin stabilized his fractures before recovering the Griffin and Evil Crow Person corpses.
• The group spent the night at their camp and returned to the Village the next morning, drawing a crowd of curious villagers.
• Men Qi and Buhaci took the Griffin to the Slaughterhouse and broke it down while Gowen returned to the inn to recover.
• Melusina reunited with Kevin, and Lorraine invited him to visit the Castle; Melusina agreed, despite worrying that her grandfather would object.
• The Village Chief told Melusina he would arrange guards to protect her for the coming Festival, then left after Lorraine challenged him.
• Kevin and Gowen visited the Slaughterhouse, where Kevin identified the Griffin’s valuable materials and learned that Men Qi had finished processing the carcass.

Kevin discovered that the Evil Crow People's hearts were peak C-Rank materials and learned that Men Qi could reproduce Griffin as a powerful flying Nen Beast. He then visited Melusina at the Castle, subdued her guards, and began touring the Castle with her as she rode the White Snake.

• Kevin found that the Evil Crow People's hearts were unusually powerful and speculated that their Nen abilities had improved the material.
• Men Qi explained that her Griffin Nen Beast could reproduce the creature's functions perfectly but only about sixty percent of its strength, and she and Kevin decided to stay in the Village and investigate its secrets.
• Kevin brought a Gift to the Castle, where the Village Chief's guards tried to turn him away despite Melusina's invitation.
• Kevin overwhelmed one guard with his Nen Aura and crushed the spearhead of the other guard before entering the Castle.
• Melusina's Maids brought her downstairs in her pajamas, and Kevin helped her tidy her hair before she offered to show him around.
• Melusina rode the White Snake as it carried her and Kevin on a tour of the Castle.

Kevin spent time with Melusina in the Castle and developed a routine of visiting her while he worked on potions. As the Festival approached and the Village's silence about it persisted, Melusina used her question-and-answer Nen ability to offer Kevin crucial ideas for his Griffin potion, leaving him to wonder how deeply their abilities could complement each other.

• Kevin explored the Castle with Melusina, gave her a Griffin feather, and promised to visit again the next day.
• Kevin made a Blazing Potion from Red Sparrow materials, then continued struggling to design an elemental potion from Griffin materials.
• Kevin's companions discussed the Village's Festival and Gowen concluded that many Villagers were magically restricted from speaking about it.
• Kevin visited Melusina in the garden, where she suggested extracting essence from swamp grass and using Griffin wing bones as potion materials.
• Melusina admitted that her Nen ability had given Kevin the ideas, and Kevin recognized that her ability might powerfully complement his own.

Kevin examined Melusina and discovered that a Nen ability, rather than a physical defect, prevented her from walking, then carried her to the tower and spent the evening with her. After returning to the inn, he told Men Qi, Xiahara, and Gowen that the coincidences surrounding Melusina and his own unusual experiences made him suspect someone was manipulating events, but he chose to accept her as a wife and confront whoever was behind it.

• Kevin examined Melusina with Nen Aura and a Scanning Potion, finding her legs healthy but affected by an unfamiliar strand of Nen Aura that could likely be removed within a few months.
• Kevin carried Melusina to the tower, where they watched a meteor, made wishes, and agreed that he would try to visit her every day before the Festival.
• Kevin returned to the inn, where Men Qi noticed Melusina's scent and Gowen saw that he was troubled.
• Kevin told Men Qi, Xiahara, and Gowen that his attraction to Melusina, her feelings for him, and her Nen ability's help with his potion-making seemed too coincidental to be natural.
• Kevin demonstrated that Melusina's Nen ability had helped him identify suitable potion ingredients, then said he would accept her as his wife and confront the person manipulating events.

Kevin and the others learned that Lorraine’s Nen ability had accidentally drawn them to the Village in response to Melusina’s wish. By questioning Lorraine’s reactions, Kevin uncovered that the Festival perpetuated the Curse and that disrupting it might bring a greater danger.

• Kevin and the others returned to Bianluoke and pressed him about who had brought them to the Village.
• Kevin deduced that Lorraine was responsible, and Bianluoke confirmed that her unusual Nen ability might have summoned them by accident.
• Lorraine explained that she had activated her once-in-a-lifetime Nen ability after a meteor appeared, hoping to help Melusina’s wish come true.
• Gowen reasoned that Melusina’s wish involved more than finding someone to love, while Kevin focused the group on the Festival and its dangers.
• Kevin used Lorraine’s involuntary reactions to learn that Melusina was expected to make a Sacrifice and that the Festival perpetuated the Curse.
• Gowen wondered whether the Festival was dangerous because disrupting it could repeat whatever had caused Bianluoke’s sister to die during a previous Saintess’s sacrifice.

After receiving a prophecy that pointed to a Giant Snake and an unknown ability within himself, Kevin left the Village to investigate the [Coming sound]. He followed it to a mountain cave and found a notebook sealed inside a Metal Box, whose post-mortem Nen began transmitting information when he touched it.

• Kevin read the Prophecy Poem and concluded that the Village's Curse might be the work of a Giant Snake and that the [Coming sound] could be guiding him rather than attacking him.
• Kevin told Buhaci, Xiahara, and Men Qi he would leave alone, then accepted a Gift of pink Aura from Melusina before departing the Village.
• Kevin followed the [Coming sound] for two days, fought off a Horned Tiger, and continued toward its source after the sound quieted.
• Kevin found a cave containing an old skeleton and a bandage-wrapped Metal Box that held the source of the Resentment.
• Kevin opened the box, touched the Notebook inside, and let its post-mortem Nen transmit information into his mind.

Kevin formed a contract with the Resentment to lift the Village's Curse and read An Vipera's account of how a Dark Continent snake egg caused it. The Record Book promised a solution on its final page, which Kevin was about to read.

• Kevin agreed to contract with the Resentment to remove the Village's Curse, and it marked his arm with a God Text pattern.
• The contract let Kevin retrieve the Record Book and claim a gemstone as a deposit, while the other strange items remained hidden in the box.
• Kevin read An Vipera's confession that he had traveled to the Dark Continent, brought back a snake egg, and shared it with the Village.
• An Vipera explained that the egg hatched into a Resentful Eater Snake, whose Curse transformed the villagers' appetites into suffering and drove local creatures mad.
• An Vipera revealed that his Festival had strengthened the Resentment snake instead of destroying it, and that his final pages contained a conjectured solution.
• Kevin reached the Record Book's final page and prepared to read the proposed solution.

Kevin uncovered how to destroy the Resentment Snake before the Festival consumed Melusina, then returned to the Village and shared his plan with his allies. He and Melusina promised to face the danger together, became a couple, and her Nen ability advanced to the Passionate Love Stage.

• Kevin learned that the Festival fed the Resentment Snake and that destroying its core before it devoured the Saintess could end the Curse.
• Kevin buried Ann Viper's remains, the box, and the Notebook outside the Village, then explained the Curse and his plan to Men Qi, Xiahara, Buhaci, Bianluoke, and Gowen.
• Kevin assigned the group to investigate changes to the Succession Ceremony and learn where the Village Chief and Rabik stood, then called for supplies.
• Kevin reassured Melusina that he would not let her become an offering, and she told him she wanted to protect the villagers despite knowing their affection had been false.
• Kevin and Melusina agreed to fight together, promised to save each other, and became boyfriend and girlfriend.
• Melusina's Nen ability activated their matching jewelry and advanced to the Passionate Love Stage, revealing new abilities tied to love and dating.

Kevin prepared medicine and trained for the coming battle while Men Qi and the others gathered support and planned for the dangers of disrupting the Succession Ceremony. Realizing they needed a powerful ally, Kevin offered Biscuit a rare Dark Continent gemstone, and she agreed to come immediately.

• Kevin received medicines and materials from Locke, then formulated one dose of Wind Core medicine that let its user transform Aura into wind.
• The Village Chief and Rabik told Buhaci and Men Qi that they would not obstruct the Hunters, and Rabik said the villagers would help if the group tried to end the Curse.
• Men Qi and the others identified the risks of interrupting the Succession Ceremony, including invading beasts, the weakening barrier, and Kevin being left vulnerable.
• Kevin encouraged Gowen, and the group agreed to hunt nearby monsters and prepare for the battle.
• Kevin decided he needed a powerful ally, offered Biscuit a Dark Continent gemstone, and asked her to help confront the coming threat.
• Biscuit recognized the gemstone and agreed to come immediately.

During the Festival, Kevin and his allies interrupted Melusina’s sacrifice and battled the enormous Resentment Snake. As the Snake called for reinforcements, Kevin took several potions to boost his power and prepared to end the fight quickly.

• Biscuit reassured Kevin that the creature haunting the Village was a weak, malnourished being from the Dark Continent.
• When the Festival began, Melusina was raised above the altar, and the Resentment gathered into a giant serpent.
• Kevin confronted the villagers, then accepted Gowen’s fealty and gained an ally as the serpent appeared.
• Kevin and Gowen attacked the serpent while Biscuit rescued Melusina; the villagers watched and began to regain hope.
• Kevin noticed the serpent signaling for outside monsters, then used the Wind Rider Potion, Blazing Potion, and Surging Potion to strengthen himself.

Kevin fought the Resentful Eater Snake while monsters invaded the Village, and Gowen helped defend the villagers. After Melusina awakened and joined hands with Kevin to activate their dating buff, Gowen confronted the snake with his Knightly Virtues and fired an Arrow of Mercy at it.

• Kevin battled the Resentful Eater Snake, then weakened it by forcing it to swallow several potions.
• Monsters breached the Village’s Boundary, and Rabik organized the villagers into teams to fight them.
• The snake summoned evil spirits that drained the strength of Kevin and those around him, but Kevin scattered them with Hot Wind.
• Melusina woke and signaled Kevin, who reached her and activated [Dating Start—Snake Catching Fun] by holding her hand.
• Gowen took Kevin’s place against the snake, manifested his Knightly Virtues, and followed a guiding voice to fire his last Nen Aura as an Arrow of Mercy.

Kevin killed the Giant Snake by striking its exposed weak point and pulling out its Resentment core, then began refining the core into a potion while the villagers fought off invading beasts. As the Curse faded, Melusina gained a new Nen ability and Biscuit revealed her powerful muscular form to drive the giant beasts away.

• Gowen broke the Giant Snake’s scales with his Nen arrow, and Kevin rescued him from the evil spirits before attacking the snake.
• Kevin destroyed the Giant Snake by injecting Nen Aura into its weak point and extracting its Resentment core, then started refining the core into a potion.
• Men Qi, Rabik, the Village Chief, and the other villagers defended Kevin as beasts invaded the Village after its Boundary disappeared.
• Melusina gained the new Nen ability Love Staff Group, whose maid-uniformed Nen Beasts protected Kevin and fought the invading creatures.
• A wild boar sent Biscuit crashing into a house, and she transformed into her huge muscular form and drove the giant beasts away.

After the Hunters defeated the Resentful Eater Snake and freed the Village from its centuries-long Curse, Kevin recovered and inspected the creature’s materials. As the villagers celebrated their freedom, Biscuit told Kevin the Hunter Association would likely award him One-star Hunter status before they left.

• Biscuit, Men Qi, Buhaci, Melusina, and the other Hunters surveyed the ruined Village after defeating the beasts, while the villagers realized the Curse was gone and celebrated their freedom.
• Kevin exhausted himself completing an A-Rank potion, then collapsed and slept until the next morning; Melusina later told him the interrupted Succession Ceremony had left her stronger.
• Kevin examined the Snake’s materials and discovered that only its scales gave him the desire to use them, identifying them as B-Rank material.
• The villagers held a feast featuring grilled Snake meat, and Rabik toasted Kevin and the Hunters for ending the Curse.
• Biscuit said the Hunter Association would take responsibility for the Village and that Kevin would likely receive the title of One-star Hunter, prompting Men Qi to say she needed to work harder.

Kevin and the others reflected on the souls and Nen abilities connected to the disrupted sacrificial ceremony, then received the Hunter Association’s help as they prepared to leave the Village. The chapter ended with Kevin, Melusina, and their companions departing while the freed villagers began taking their first steps into the outside world.

• Melusina described hearing the voices of previous Saintesses after waking from the ceremony, and Biscuit explained that souls existed and could be affected by post-mortem Nen.
• Gowen revealed that his dead sister had guided his final arrow, and Kevin comforted him by honoring her as a true Knight.
• Koto gave Kevin his One-star Hunter license and warned him that others were interested in Vipera’s return from the Dark Continent with a creature’s young.
• Kevin and Melusina packed to leave, said farewell to the villagers, and agreed that the manga collection would remain in the Village as a keepsake of the Saintesses’ freedom.
• The Village Chief thanked Kevin and entrusted Melusina to him, while the beggar-like Villager crossed the Boundary, broke down in tears, and gave Kevin a wine gourd as a parting gift.

Kevin returned to the Manor with Melusina, Biscuit, and Gowen after the expedition, bringing home a vast haul of materials and relics. As training resumed and Gowen joined the team, Kevin examined the Record Book he had acquired and realized it contained valuable factual information.

• Kevin and his group returned by airship, and he introduced Melusina as his girlfriend to Pairo and the others at the Manor.
• The next morning, Kevin assessed Kurapika, Pairo, and Nion at the Training Ground, told Kurapika he could begin constructing his Nen ability, and revealed that Gowen had followed them unnoticed.
• Kevin explained that Gowen's Seven Virtues Knight Armament had awakened its Loyalty Cape, which boosted him when he followed Kevin's orders and reduced his presence near Kevin.
• Kevin and the others sorted the expedition's abundant monster materials, which replenished his supplies for making potions.
• Kevin reviewed the relics he had received from Vipera and read the Record Book, discovering it was a factual record filled with useful information.