The Ant King's Punitive Expedition, Part 2

ps: Daily request for votes ╭(╯ε╰)╮ mwah~ Some readers said the Ant King has had too little screen time. Next world, the Naruto arc will basically be his solo album. Judging by the votes, Naruto still gets the most. But rest assured, other worlds will be visited too. By the way, what do you all think of the female lead?

Because of Morel and the others, most of the ants' attention was drawn away. Inside the palace, the majority of the ant clan was rushing toward the city wall.

"Hmm? What's this feeling? They've started moving? Interesting." Meruem seemed to sense some kind of aura, suddenly lifting his head, a faint, enigmatic smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Pouf, Youpi, warm up. Get ready to welcome our incoming guests soon. Quite a few of them, too. And notify all the ant clans—this time, we're going big." He hadn't expected that, after losing Knuckle's "Four-Dimensional Mansion" spatial Nen ability, the Hunter Association would still find another spatial Nen user. Truly, no one should be underestimated. But it won't be long now. I can feel it—soon, I'll be able to leave this world. Until then, I'll indulge myself a little and savor the joy of battle. A few of those people have decent power.

"Pitou, stay here with me."

"Yes, my King." Nyahaha. I am the one the King values most. Pitou squinted happily, standing behind Meruem, her tail twitching constantly, betraying her elation.

High above the East Gorteau Palace, hundreds of meters in the sky, a giant strange bird flew, with several figures standing on its back.

"It looks like Morel and the others' plan is working well." If anyone saw them, they'd gasp—among those standing on the bird were several members of the world's strongest assassin family, the Zoldyck Family.

Silva, Zeno, and Maha.

"The Zodiac Twelve and Illumi's group should be moving soon too. Our target is just to kill the King. Take him out and leave immediately. Those ants aren't weak—if they get us tangled up, escaping will be tough." The speaker was a man who had never appeared in the Hunter world manga. He was a slightly delicate-looking long-haired man, standing at the edge of the bird's body, gazing down at the palace below. But anyone who could stand and chat with world-class assassins was no ordinary person. In the original story, Zeno and Netero had launched a similar assault on the palace.

"Thank you all for coming to avenge my father. After this incident, I'd like to invite you to join me in heading to the Dark Continent, to explore the mysteries of that world." Beyond Netero, son of Netero, the initiator who revealed the Dark Continent's existence and organized an expedition in the original story. His strength was unknown, but the original narrative mentioned that he was suppressed while Netero was alive, so his direct combat ability should be weaker than Netero's.

"Don't get it wrong, kid. First, we're not here to avenge that old man Netero—we're here on commission from the Hunter Association. Second, we have zero interest in that Dark Continent you're talking about." Maha's aged voice rang out, though his lips never moved.

Ventriloquism.

"I didn't think that just to deal with one monster, the higher-ups would have the Hunter Association gather all of us. Aside from Ging and those two who've lost contact, two of us Five Great Nen Users are here, right, Xiao Jiang?" The unkempt, stubbly, slovenly uncle scratched his head lazily as he spoke, sending tons of dandruff falling like snow from his right hand. He then patted the long-haired man, though "patting" was generous—it was more like wiping his hand on the other's clothes like a rag.

"I told you, don't call me Xiao Jiang, and don't bring up that 'Five Great Nen Users' nonsense you guys made up yourselves. And get your dirty hand off me." The long-haired man grimaced, yanking his clothes back from the stubbly uncle, though a suspicious yellow stain was already there.

"Ah~ yes, yes." The slovenly uncle yawned, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, along with some unwashed brown eye gunk. He looked utterly wretched.

"Hmph, I don't care about your Five Great Nen Users. If I remember right, that title was self-proclaimed by you five, wasn't it? I heard Netero even joined in the fun. You guys can't even match Netero in a direct fight, and you dare call yourselves the world's top five? Overreaching." A man with a muscular, inverted-triangle physique, a square face, bright, piercing eyes, and eyebrows thicker than Rock Lee's—clearly a martial artist and a bodybuilder. Much better than that gorilla-looking guy from before. "All I know is that bastard who calls himself King destroyed my Heaven's Arena while I was away. I swear by my title as Heaven's Arena Strongest, this time I'll make him pay double."

"Everyone, sorry to interrupt, but it looks like we've been spotted." Silva spoke. Honestly, Silva was under immense pressure. Everyone present was stronger than him. Unless it was an assassination, a direct confrontation would likely end with him dead.

At some point, the strange bird was surrounded by winged soldier ants.

Leading them was the Chimera Ant air force—the Heavenly General Unit, commanded by Lei Zhenzi Kolt.

"Ah, hahaha! Humans, you damned invaders! We spotted you from the very start. Today is your funeral!" An ant that looked seven or eight parts like a fly pointed a spear-like weapon at everyone, laughing arrogantly, as if victory was assured.

"Might as well tell you—our Heavenly General Unit's commander, Kolt, is on his way. Let me, Bi De of the Heavenly General Unit Third Army, claim the first merit!"

Crack. The sound of bone breaking.

Without warning, Silva attacked. The fly-like Chimera Ant's head was instantly torn off by Silva. The whole process took only a split second, and not a single drop of blood was spilled.

"Ahh! My body! If you know what's good for you, put my head back on my body, or I'll make your life a living hell!" Chimera Ants had tenacious vitality—even with their heads off, they could survive a little while. If treated in time, they wouldn't die.

"Annoying." Silva crushed Bi De's head like a tomato. Strangely, even so, not a trace of blood or flesh clung to his hand.

"Anyone else?" Silva coldly swept his gaze over the surrounding soldier ants. Wherever his eyes landed, the soldier ants quickly retreated, not daring to meet his gaze. With one move, Silva had cowed them all.

"Everyone, don't panic."

"Heavenly General Unit Second Army, Bu La." "Heavenly General Unit Fourth Army, Bi Ke." "Heavenly General Unit Fifth Army, Jiu Ku." "Heavenly General Unit Seventh Army, Long Bao Bao."

"Reporting in!" Countless ant soldiers swarmed through the air, appearing before Silva and the others in overwhelming numbers.

At their head—Chimera Ant Heavenly General Unit's Sky General, Kolt.

"Whoa, that's quite a number." The stubbly uncle made a gesture of looking into the distance, though his tone suggested he couldn't care less about the Chimera Ants.

"Hmph, no matter how many flies, they're still just flies!" A massive dragon of light appeared before the ant swarm, instantly clearing out the surrounding soldier ants with an unstoppable force.

But more soldier ants surged forward, seemingly ready to launch a full assault.

"No choice, then. Let's wipe them out in one go—Dragon Dive!" The giant light dragon dimmed and dispersed as Zeno moved.

"Not good!" Cold sweat dripped from Kolt's forehead. He sensed Zeno's technique. That guy was about to use a large-scale attack! The soldier ants couldn't withstand it! Aside from the King's Royal Guards, this was the first time Kolt felt his life threatened. Even with his greatly increased strength now, the opponent was far stronger!

Then, the giant light dragon suddenly split into countless figures, each one a small dragon. Their targets were the Chimera soldier ants surrounding the strange bird carrying Zeno and the others.

Even if ordinary soldier ants were stronger than normal humans, when facing human elites, they were no different from real ants before humans.

It was a one-sided massacre.

"I said, even beating a dog means checking its owner. And I don't like people standing above me." By then, Meruem had walked out of the palace with Pitou, standing in the square, looking up at the sky with clear displeasure. He slowly raised his right hand. "No one gets to act tough above me. Get down here!" He swung his hand fiercely toward Zeno and the others' position.

"Caw!" The giant strange bird shrieked, plummeting rapidly as if a thousand-pound weight had been tied to its feet.

The people on the bird were thrown into chaos by the sudden movement. Even Zeno's Dragon Dive lost control and gradually dissipated.

"We're... saved!" The surviving Heavenly General Unit members breathed a long sigh of relief. Facing human elites, they were as fragile as infants.

"The King saved us," Kolt said. "No, I have to tell the King—these guys are no ordinary people!" Realizing something, Kolt flew swiftly toward Meruem's location.

"That Ant King must be behind this! Everyone, get down by your own means." Someone on the bird proposed first and acted on it, leaping off.

The other figures on the bird followed suit.

"My King!" Just as Kolt reached the Ant King, the strange bird crashed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust that spread to the surrounding buildings.

"No need to explain. They're here." Meruem raised a hand to silence Kolt, staring straight at the dust cloud, as if talking to himself.