Dark Grief

Countless enormous petals appeared out of thin air around Meruem, wrapping him within them. Then, petal by petal and blossom by blossom, their vivid colors gradually faded to withered yellow. They shriveled away and finally turned to ashes.

"This is my strongest move. Even if he doesn't die, he'll be severely injured. Cough, cough." A trace of Fresh Blood trickled from Long-Haired Man Xiedi's lips. Though it was only a trace, it was his heart's blood—the blood from around his heart. It was obvious from the look of him that the attack had inflicted tremendous damage on him as well. Half of his originally black hair had turned white at some point, and faint wrinkles, the kind only seen on the elderly, were slowly appearing on his hands. It was a move that injured the enemy for a thousand while harming himself for eight hundred. Unless he had no other choice, Xiedi would never have used it. Meruem's existence was simply too unsolvable.

"Were you talking about me? That move just now really gave me quite a scare. But unfortunately, while it was certainly powerful, I neither died nor suffered serious injuries." Meruem's vigorous voice made Xiedi's expression turn incomparably ugly. It was a slap in the face, delivered directly across it. Why could even a move that consumed his life force not inflict any substantial harm on this monster? Why?

"Still, that was quite a nice move. It actually made my skin a little dry and shed several layers of dead skin." Meruem appeared in midair before descending to the ground. Just as he had said, there was no visible injury on his body. As for whether any dead skin truly fell away while Meruem rubbed his hands together, no one knew.

So it only dried out his skin and made him shed dead skin? Chairman Netero had been fighting a monster like this before? What Five Great Nen Users? I really am still too young. Saying I'd surpass you was far too premature.

Xiedi closed his eyes as though resigning himself to his fate, assuming a posture of waiting for death. But even if he refused to accept it, there was nothing he could do. He no longer had the slightest bit of strength left. Even standing up was already difficult.

"Father, it looks like this mission is going to fail," Silva said breathlessly to Zeno beside him. The two of them were only in slightly better condition than Xiedi. After all, they had not expended their life force; they had merely exhausted too much stamina and Nen.

"Damn it, how can I die here?" Beyond stubbornly tried to force himself to stand, but his condition was truly terrible. "I still have to go to the Dark Continent. I still have to witness this vast world. How can I fall here so easily?"

Meruem looked down at them. Unlike Lofikis, he had no intention of sparing these people. Some people had to pay a price for their actions. As for whether Killua would later make a wish to Yalujia for revenge on behalf of his grandfather and father, Meruem had no way of knowing. By then, he would already have left this world anyway. The countdown to his departure had begun. As long as nothing too unexpected happened, Meruem had nothing to worry about.

"This feeling of holding other people's lives and deaths in my hands isn't bad. All right, no more playing around. It's time to deal with you. Those little bugs who came with you are quite strong. I don't want the subordinates I worked so hard to gather to all end up dead or injured. Some of them may have their own little schemes, but they're still my subordinates." Meruem looked at the others with an evil grin, and the Guanyin Statue behind him appeared once more.

At that moment, countless unusual streams of Nen suddenly emerged throughout East Gorteau Palace. They shared one trait: each gave Meruem an extremely strange feeling, and all of them were very powerful.

"What is this?" There was no reason for this. He had clearly sensed the surrounding space earlier; if anyone else had infiltrated it, he should have noticed immediately. And since when had so many experts appeared in the Hunter World? Each stream of Nen was weaker than Silva's and the others', but not by much. Judging by what he had sensed, there were at least twenty such experts. If these people clashed with his subordinates, then aside from Pouf and Youpi, everyone—including the Anbu Twelve Stars—would likely be wiped out. Though the Squad Leaders and Squad Captains had become much stronger than before, there simply had not been enough time. They could not compare with seasoned veteran Nen Users.

"Haha, they've finally acted." Xiedi lay on the ground and spoke weakly. This was one of their trump cards: Phantom Beast Hunters and Demon Beast Hunters. The leaders of every nation had gathered all the skilled Nen Users across the continent for this operation, selecting twenty from among them. Every one of their Nen abilities specifically targeted nonhuman creatures such as Demon Beasts and Phantom Beasts. This was another subplan apart from their Decapitation Plan, called the Chimera Ant Extermination Plan. Only, the timing had gone somewhat wrong. By rights, they should have acted against the other Chimera Ants while Xiedi's group fought Meruem and held him back. After all, there were not many experts in the bait and infiltration plans carried out by Morel, Illumi, and the others. They had more than enough strength to protect themselves, but it was basically impossible for them to kill the Chimera Ants that came to support Meruem. But with these twenty super experts joining them, things were different. They were professionals at dealing with Demon Beasts. Chimera Ants also fell within the category of Demon Beasts, though they were intelligent Demon Beasts. The Ferocious Fox, one of the Hunter Exam examiners, was also an intelligent Demon Beast, albeit only a low-level one.

"Hmph, aren't you celebrating a little too soon? Do you think I don't exist? As the King of the Chimera Ant race, do you think I'd watch my beloved subordinates be slaughtered by you? Once I deal with them, I'll deal with—pfft!" Something like a sharp sword ignored Meruem's powerful flesh and easily pierced into his back.

"Who?" The intense pain in his back made Meruem feel faint. Someone had actually broken through his defenses and injured him, and what had pierced into his body was no ordinary sword. The pain was like being stabbed, magnified tenfold. Even someone as powerful as him could not endure it for a moment.

Drip. Drip. Purple blood continuously flowed from the wound.

"King!" Pitou's first reaction upon seeing Meruem injured was to rush forward, but just as she moved, she found that her body could not move at all.

"Damn it, that weirdo!"

"Little miss, I told you. All you need to do is stay here and watch the young man perform." The Bearded Uncle's frivolous, somewhat flippant voice rang out. At some point, a black magician's hat had appeared atop his head.

"You panicked. This old one finally found your opening!" An aged voice sounded from behind Meruem. The attacker was none other than Maha Zoldyck, who had vanished without a trace from the very beginning.

"Every moment, even while fighting this old one's grandson and the others, you maintained considerable vigilance. That left this old one with no opportunity to act. This old one had nearly decided to abandon this mission, yet you exposed an opening for the sake of a few subordinates. Could a monster like you actually have feelings?"

"Monster this, monster that. That's what I hate about you people."

Though wounded, Meruem did not show weakness. I really am too young. Wouldn't it have been better to finish these people off sooner?

Why did I have to drag things out here, showing off and acting all smug?

Fine, I thought I was about to leave this world anyway. I thought everything was secure.

And now I've capsized in a gutter, huh? There's only one word for it: trash! Still, it's fortunate that I'm only injured. I haven't been defeated yet. There's still a chance.

"Stop struggling, monster. This old one may have failed during the battle with Netero, but that does not mean this old one is much weaker than him. Netero may not have been able to kill you, but that does not mean this old one cannot." Maha, dressed like a youth despite having an ET-like head, withdrew the strange sword from his hand and spoke calmly.

"A killer waits in the darkness to deliver a fatal blow to his enemy. Unfortunately for you, the Nen ability you mentioned earlier—the one capable of ignoring another person's defenses—is precisely the ability I possess. I am amazed by your vitality. You actually took my sword and did not die, but you must die today!"

It hurts. What kind of bizarre move is this? A curse? Even after the sword had been pulled out, my body still hurt terribly—worse than before. Meruem's muscles contracted, though the blood flowing from his wound had already stopped.

But the pain from the wound did not lessen in the slightest. Instead, it showed signs of growing more intense. Meruem's body was rather similar to Superman's, though it was a weakened version. It could basically ignore most physical attacks. But against special attacks or magical attacks, there was little it could do. Though he was not completely defenseless like an ordinary person, his defensive ability was not particularly strong either.

"Give up, monster. This sword is called Dark, and it is my Nen ability. Once this sword pierces someone's body, a special mark called Dark Grief appears at the wound. Dark Grief will spread more and more over time until it covers the entire body. Though until now, anyone struck by this sword has died immediately. Do you remember Jed? He died to this sword."

Back then, Netero only survived under my hands because I did not use it. "Wait for death, monster. You do not have long to live."

"So Grandfather still had to act in the end. Hehe. Such a powerful monster still died at the hands of our Zoldyck Family." Zeno weakly raised half his body and spoke with some self-mockery.

"So what? You think victory is already yours? Before I die, I'll definitely kill every last one of you!" Madness flashed in Meruem's eyes. This time, he was prepared to risk his life.

This is the first time I've been this miserable since coming to the Hunter World! Though I was careless, it's still unforgivable!