High-Temperature Melt Mark: The Ancient Dragon Awakens

"I'll try first!"

Gon clenched his fist, gathering Nen around his knuckles. The Ice-Soul Snow Fungus had cleansed his Nen, making it far more concentrated than when he had first entered the Ice Domain. Though the Domain Pressure still suppressed it, the glow around his fist was noticeably steadier.

The boy took a deep breath, stepped forward, lowered his stance, and drove his fist into the ice wall.

Bang!

A dull thud rang out.

The ice... did not budge.

It did not even leave a white mark.

Gon pulled back his fist. His knuckles were slightly red, and he shook his hand, stunned. "That's hard! Harder than the shell of BB Corn!"

Killua stepped up to try.

Lightning coiled around his fingertips as he struck the ice wall with a Thunder Palm.

Bzzzt—

Sparks scattered, and a thin veil of white mist rose from the ice.

When the mist cleared, the wall was still smooth as ever. There was not even a trace of melting.

"No good." Killua frowned and withdrew his hand. "This ice is too dense. It conducts my lightning away the moment I hit it. The heat doesn't stay at all."

Leorio refused to believe it and hammered the wall twice with his fists.

Then he crouched off to the side, clutching his hand and hissing through his teeth.

"...Is this stuff ice or diamond?"

Kurapika tried his Chain as well. Its sharp blade struck the ice wall, sending sparks flying, but left only a scratch so shallow it was almost invisible.

"It's far harder than I expected." Kurapika retracted his Chain, his expression grave. "This isn't ordinary Eternal Frozen Black Ice. There seems to be some kind of sealing power laid into it."

He glanced instinctively at the stone tablet.

Could the tablet be responsible?

"Let