A Lantern That Can Surmount All Obstacles

"Pfft!"

Gelman pulled the blood-drenched Meat Saw from the Magic Wolf's body, carrying away the wolf's last breath along with it.

The Meat Saw was coated in sticky blood that flowed down Gelman's right wrist, making it look like he was wearing a dark red glove.

He had killed the Magic Wolf and absorbed its grudge, but it seemed the individual wolf wasn't strong enough—its grudge brought Gelman nothing.

Gelman shook his head. Though it was a pity not to receive a "Grudge bestowal," at least he'd confirmed that the Blunderbuss and Meat Saw were highly useful.

He paused, about to leave, when he suddenly sensed something wrong. His eyes swept the surroundings.

Pairs of crimson eyes lit up in the darkness on all sides, densely packed, sending chills down the spine.

A pack of ferocious, starving Magic Wolves.

In that moment, the roles of hunter and prey seemed to have reversed.

"Click!"

Gelman forcefully twisted the Meat Saw's handle, and the blade separated from the hilt.

The entire Meat Saw extended, naturally increasing the range of its slashes.

Time to try out the Meat Saw's transformation strike.

The Magic Wolves lunged at him one after another.

He used the Flow technique, shifting the defensive method created by the aura wrapped around his body between Ken (full-body) and Ko (localized), just in case.

At the same time, he applied the Shu technique, coating the Meat Saw with aura to enhance its hardness.

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Gelman began a frenzied slaughter, using both Blunderbuss and Meat Saw. Flesh and blood flew, the scene utterly gory.

But the number of Magic Wolves was too great. One of them sank its fangs into his arm, a spot he hadn't managed to defend with aura in time.

It tore off a small chunk of skin and flesh, sending blood gushing from Gelman's wound.

Yet instead of retreating, Gelman chased after it. The searing pain only sharpened his focus.

He swung twice in quick succession, hacking the wolf that had bitten him to the ground.

Relying on the Blunderbuss, the Meat Saw, and the terrain obstacles of the dense forest, Gelman cut down the Magic Wolves one by one.

The remaining few wolves yelped in terror, turned tail, and dove into the bushes, fleeing far from this monster.

Only after confirming no wolves were nearby did Gelman lower the Meat Saw and Blunderbuss, letting out a long breath as he began to regulate his breathing.

He really shouldn't have taken on so many Magic Wolves at once.

He was still adapting to this body and to Nen ability combat, gradually grasping some tricks. In terms of fighting, he was still a novice.

His Vitality Constitution of 10 points barely sufficed under the pack's siege.

On top of that, to test his Nen abilities comprehensively, nearly every attack was overkill, which drained his 12-point Stamina Aura heavily.

For him right now, using all his Nen abilities without restraint was still a considerable burden.

But despite being drenched in blood, he was barely injured. Most of the blood on him belonged to the Magic Wolves.

He had killed over twenty Magic Wolves and finally reaped some rewards.

The grudges of the Magic Wolves coalesced, allowing Gelman to increase one "Attribute" by 1 point, while "Spiritual Vision Pressure" forcibly increased by 1.

Without hesitation, Gelman raised his Vitality Constitution by 1 point.

"Vitality Constitution: 11"

"Stamina Aura: 12"

"Spiritual Vision Pressure: 2"

Hmm... Gelman had fully experienced the combat performance of the Meat Saw and Blunderbuss. Now it was time for the Lantern's role.

A purple light flickered, and a Lantern suddenly appeared at Gelman's feet.

Four ugly Messenger Imps clung to the Lantern, on which the words "Cooldown: 0:00" were displayed.

Gelman currently had only two Lanterns. One could be freely retrieved at will, while the other was fixed at a certain location.

That was a Lantern that had existed from the very start and could not be reclaimed by Gelman.

The place where it stood was called the "Dark Continent."

He couldn't help but shift his gaze from this continent at the center of Lake Möbius toward that vast, perilous Dark Continent.

Humanity now lived only in a corner of the world, while the Dark Continent was the true world.

Gelman wanted to go there and see it.

Both to witness what the unfinished Hunter x Hunter world's Dark Continent truly looked like, and to test the limits of himself as a human.

Without such a goal, if he just followed the same old rules as in his original world, then this transmigration would be meaningless.

However, the Dark Continent was extremely dangerous—so dangerous that survivors throughout history were few and far between, and even those who did survive would bring back terrible "calamities."

Even if one insisted on going, they would first have to pass the hurdle of the world's five great nations, the "V5," and then the hurdles of the "Guide" and the "Gatekeeper," before they could possibly arrive.

The original Gelman, however, possessed a method to bypass the V5, the Guide, and the Gatekeeper entirely, traveling back and forth to the Dark Continent.

It was just that, upon seeing the Teleport Location was the Dark Continent, he had unhesitatingly chosen to seal the Lantern away permanently, and absolutely refused to let anyone other than himself know of its abilities.

Gelman could understand the original.

The vast majority of intelligence on the Dark Continent and methods of travel were held by the V5 nations, who wanted to monopolize all benefits gained from the Dark Continent.

Once the world learned of the Lantern's teleportation ability, it would invite endless trouble—that was the original's concern and choice.

Yet, even so, the Lantern had not let him off.

The Lantern had drawn out and torn apart his soul as the price for its teleportation ability.

Only then did a new soul have the chance to seize the nest and take over.

Now, Gelman had made a decision completely opposite to the original's.

He placed this Lantern, emitting an eerie purple glow, in the middle of the dense forest, and actively extended his hand toward one of the white Messenger Imps.

That Imp let out an obvious shriek of delight, pounced over, and its two bony little hands clamped tightly onto Gelman's pinky finger, as if afraid he might pull it back.

The other three Imps wailed in dismay.

"Take me to the Dark Continent," Gelman commanded.

The Messenger Imp gripping his pinky nodded frantically.

"Woom—"

After a dazzling flash, Gelman opened his eyes, and found himself miraculously transported from the Lantern in the dense forest to an open wilderness.

The forest had been night, but here it was day.

Beneath his feet was a patchwork of overgrown weeds; as far as the eye could see, there were no trees, only low hills on either side that resembled riverbeds.

Gelman blinked.

So this was somewhere in the Dark Continent? It looked pretty ordinary—not as dangerous as he'd imagined.

The Lantern here was also glowing faintly, and clinging to its base were four Messenger Imps, though it was unclear if they were the same four as before.

A line of text was also displayed on the Lantern—"Cooldown Countdown 0:59," which the next moment changed to "Cooldown Countdown 0:58."

So that was it—he had to wait one minute before using the Lantern again, and during that time, he couldn't leave the Dark Continent?

Gelman looked around for a moment, thinking he should explore a bit and not waste this precious opportunity, when he noticed something off.

That anomaly made him freeze the first step he was about to take.

Silence...

From the very beginning, it had been too quiet here. Despite so many flowing currents of air, it felt like a graveyard.