"Cough, cough."
Ging felt as if his throat were full of gravel, burning, itching, and aching.
His hair was singed, curled, and charred black, while only scraps of clothing remained on his body.
Fortunately, they were wrapped around his thighs. Otherwise, this would have been his most humiliating moment.
Still, the fact that he had only suffered a few burns was already a stroke of luck—and quite a feat.
Perhaps it was trying to get revenge, or perhaps it wanted to restrain him. Ging had only just staggered to his feet when he felt the ground shake violently.
Crack—
A three-meter-long fissure split open before his eyes, then rapidly widened.
It revealed the abyss beneath the ground, its depths threaded with blue nerves.
Ging had already seen that abyssal world after jumping into the heart of the "Rift of Joy."
The nerves of the creature stretched throughout the entire underground cavern, branching out like tree roots.
It used those nerves to manipulate the terrain.
Caught off guard, Ging was nearly dragged back into the abyss by the powerful suction pulling from the fissure!
It was easy to imagine what would happen next: once he fell in, the fissure would immediately close, trapping him underground like a prisoner.
Ging didn't panic. He raised his arms, ready to gather his "Nen Energy" again, destroy the fissure's structure, and then break through the ground.
But the next moment, he heard a shout.
"Ging!"
Through the swirling smoke, five fingers on a giant white hand clamped around Ging's waist and pulled him out just before the fissure closed!
Smack!
The "Smoke Arm" dangled Ging like a fish on a line, then flung him onto the ground nearby.
Ging rolled twice before steadying himself and getting back to his feet.
"Are you okay?"
The one