Heavenly Stem

The armed forces moved through the forest, gradually closing in on the temple.

Sivir stared at the armed men up ahead and said coldly, "What use are they when all they can rely on is their firearms?"

"Sivir, firearms... They really aren't much use to Enhancers, but you can't deny they're practical."

As Ken walked, he shifted the knife at his waist to the other side, then took out a handgun and smiled. "Look, I'm an Enhancer too, but I like carrying a gun. You never know—it might be the key to turning things around."

"Give it a rest."

Sivir glared at Ken, then looked at her fist. "If I picked up a gun, wouldn't that mean admitting my fist was weaker than a firearm? Once I start thinking that way, I'll only hold myself back at every turn."

"Sivir, you always manage to completely miss the point someone's trying to make."

Ken shook his head slightly and put the handgun away.

Genbul, walking nearby, ignored Sivir and Ken. Instead, he looked back at the long-haired man trailing behind them and asked, "Cole, how are your 'preparations' coming along?"

"They've been done for a while."

The long-haired man called Cole replied without expression.

Seeing this, Genbul said no more.

The organization's goal was to collect as many Nen Artifacts with uncanny abilities as possible, such as the Dark Sonata.

The operation launched tonight was to retrieve a Nen Artifact the organization had missed out on thirteen years ago—

the King's Balance.

Genbul, who had only officially joined the organization four years ago, knew nothing about the artifact's ability.

He only knew that the operation thirteen years ago had ended in failure, with heavy losses...

Genbul narrowed his eyes. A line from the casualty report of that operation, thirteen years ago, flashed through his mind.

Only a few brief words had stayed with him for so long—

"Heavenly Stem Ding, dead. Heavenly Stem Ji, dead."

Losing two of the organization's pillars in a single operation had been a devastating blow.

At the thought, Genbul couldn't help glancing at Sivir and Ken.

The Qinglin Squad, which had inherited the former chairman's will and then split from the Hunter Association, had ten pillars, each bearing a title from the Heavenly Stems.

Sivir was the current "Ding," while Ken was the current "Ji"—the very titles held by the two members who had died in the operation thirteen years ago.

If Genbul hadn't known that the organization always assigned members based on the principle of "acting where they're needed," he would have thought they had deliberately sent the current "Ding" and "Ji" on this mission to avenge the past.

"Not a good omen. Once this mission is over, I'll stay away from the casino for a while."

Genbul looked ahead, thinking to himself.

Under the night sky, the two groups advanced in order through the forest, one behind the other.

Suddenly—

A whistle cut through the forest.

A stone wrapped in Nen streaked through the night, leaving a thin trail of light as it struck the night-vision goggles on one armed man's face with pinpoint accuracy.

The goggles shattered in an instant with a sharp crack.

The stone, still flying at full speed, pierced straight through the armed man's brow.

Thud!

Blood sprayed from the man's forehead. He fell backward, lifeless.

"Enemy attack! Find cover!"

The sudden attack jolted the remaining nineteen armed men.

They immediately judged the direction of the shot and took cover behind the nearest trees.

At the rear of the group,

Ken and the others stopped at once.

"An Emitter?"

Cole, the long-haired man, hesitated.

Emitters usually had only two paths of training.

One was to use "aura" outside the body to conjure a Nen Beast. The other was to release or throw "aura" to create abilities in various forms.

Wrapping a stone in aura and throwing it was a fairly standard attack for an Emitter.

Genbul narrowed his eyes. "It only looks that way."

"It wasn't an Emitter."

Ken shook his head, then explained, "If it were an Emitter, an attack concentrated on a single point like that wouldn't have shattered the night-vision goggles so thoroughly. Their control over the amount of aura was far too crude."

"It's also possible they did it on purpose to mislead us. Ken, isn't that the sort of thing you do all the time?"

Sivir, an Enhancer, offered her opinion with an air of conviction.

Ken glanced at Sivir and very sensibly chose to end the discussion.

He didn't want to waste his breath explaining something pointless.

The attacks that had shot out of the darkness continued. One stone after another, each wrapped in Nen, whistled through the air and struck armed men hiding behind cover.

In less than half a minute, eight armed men had been killed.

The survivors couldn't even find a trace of the enemy and could only take the attacks helplessly.

The four Nen users led by Ken gradually spread out from one another.

"Can you see them?" Ken asked.

"No."

"I can't."

"Same here."

The other three answered in turn.

Ken smiled. "Looks like their vision ability far surpasses ours. Are they an Enhancer or a Conjurer...? What we can confirm for now is that there's only one of them. No—at least two. Let's keep pressing forward for the time being."

"..."

The others had no objections. As the armed men continued to fall, they advanced, trying to locate the "stone thrower."

At the edge of the forest, beneath the sloping steps leading up to the temple,

Cheadle held the Medical Ledger in one hand and casually picked a small stone up off the ground with the other, keeping her eyes fixed on the depths of the forest.

"Four of them... Their aura is impressive. They must all be skilled."

Before the words had left her mouth,

Cheadle walked seven steps diagonally to the left, then hurled the stone with all her strength.

Whoosh—

The stone, wrapped in Nen, cut through the night and vanished into the forest in an instant.

The next moment,

another armed man deep in the forest was struck by a stone and killed.

At the same time,

Cheadle picked up another stone from the ground.

She wasn't an Emitter. She could only use the stone to make her aura travel farther, and its power was weak.

But it was enough to deal with ordinary people who couldn't use Nen, even if they were well-equipped armed men...

"They're certain I'm not an Emitter, so they're closing in without a care."

Cheadle took in the situation in the forest and spoke to herself. "They sent an armed squad in first just to gather information? There must be something more to it..."

She threw the stone in her hand.

That meant the enemy's armed forces had lost another man.

"Whatever the reason, I won't let you get any closer."

Cheadle walked into the forest.

The battle had to take place among the trees.

In the temple kitchen,

Moyu slowly opened his eyes, his expression somewhat grave.

He had gradually gotten used to using Vision Sharing, and the shadow he had just sent out had shown him Cheadle's actions.

"Was she... attacking the enemy?"

Moyu furrowed his brow, then picked up two cups of water at random and headed toward the main hall.

Before he reached the hall, he heard a familiar retching sound.

Inside, Arieser was biting into the Grudge on Hawk's body.

That meant—

Arieser's Appetite of the Anorexic could digest the Post-Mortem Nen imposed by the "Balance."

It also meant that, given enough time, Arieser could completely remove the Grudge that was making Hawk grow old.