The palace, front courtyard.
After delivering Netero to the medical team, Knov swiftly returned to the front courtyard and transferred the remaining hostages into Hide and Seek as quickly as possible.
Once all the hostages were out, his next task was to establish a route that would let his teammates retreat safely.
"Palm, head back first."
After ushering the last hostage into Hide and Seek, Knov turned toward Palm, who wore white and had her hair hanging loose like Sadako.
As support-oriented Nen users, neither he nor Palm was suited to fighting the Chimera Ants in this battle.
There was no longer any need for Palm to stay on the battlefield.
"Ah..."
Palm hesitated at Knov's order.
But a slightly stern look from Knov followed, and she obediently slipped into the passage to Hide and Seek.
Watching Palm leave, Knov closed the passage, stood up, and looked toward Morel's battle.
"You can never expect too much from people you hired with money..."
Knov habitually pushed up his glasses with a finger, his eyes growing grave.
With Zeno and Silva of the Zoldyck Family withdrawing, the pressure on Morel and the others had instantly doubled.
If not for the enormous margin for error afforded by Deep Purple, Morel and the others would probably have fallen in very short order.
Since Knov was not fighting, he could see the situation clearly from an outsider's perspective.
Zeno and Silva had played a crucial role in this confrontation.
Without their ranged suppression, Youpi could slaughter with impunity.
Although the "people" he killed were all members of Deep Purple that Morel had created from smoke, every fallen Smoke Soldier meant a little less time that Morel could hold out.
And although Kanzai and Dora were both Enhancers, the inherent disparity in their manifestation aura prevented