As the gleaming dagger came thrusting toward them,
A Luo simply couldn't hold back and let out a piercing scream of terror.
"Help!"
Chrollo nimbly leaped backward, even finding time to glare at A Luo and order her to shut up!
If she kept screaming in his ear and interfering with his capture of the man in the room, he might really use her as a human shield.
A Luo understood Chrollo's threat perfectly and hastily clamped her mouth shut, clinging to him for dear life without daring to make another sound.
A flicker of surprise crossed the face of the man called Robin when his first strike missed.
"Who exactly are you?"
Chrollo chuckled, answering his question with another:
"And why do you stay in your room all day? Why won't you ever let anyone inside?"
Before coming upstairs, they had already investigated the situation with this room. Apparently, ever since the man had moved in, he had never gone out or allowed anyone else inside.
Old Granny Heidi brought his food and drinks up every day on trembling legs.
After hearing Chrollo's question, Robin stopped pressing them about their identities.
Instead, he halted, retreated to the doorway, and gave them an eerie smile.
"So you want to come into my room? Then come on in!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man withdrew into the room.
Chrollo immediately moved to follow.
But A Luo interrupted him... the Phantom Troupe's resident useless little cook timidly raised her hand to point out that there was definitely something wrong with this man's room!
She was still just a little newbie whose Nen had only just been awakened. If she ran into danger, one little mistake could get her killed, so for the sake of her safety, could she please stay outside?
Unfortunately, the boss cruelly ignored A Luo's request.
Faced with such a heartless response, A Luo huddled miserably in the boss's arms, clutching the hem of his shirt and burying her face against his chest, refusing to face reality.
The next second, unwilling to let A Luo hamper his movements, Chrollo mercilessly peeled the little girl off him.
He casually switched to carrying Lola in one hand, even brushing off the front of his shirt with a look of disgust.
Then he walked into the obviously suspicious room with A Luo in tow.
Behind Chrollo, Feitan, who had followed them at some point, lowered his voice and spoke excitedly:
"What are all these? Leftover body parts? How can someone still be alive with only half a head? And look at that twisted, screaming expression, yet there's no sound at all. Is that just because his throat's gone? How interesting!"
Feitan picked up speed and rushed straight past Chrollo, leaning in close to examine the dismembered human body floating in the air.
He seemed to be studying what had reduced them to this state.
A Luo likewise had no choice but to face the horrifying scene inside the room.
The otherwise empty inn room had its windows tightly shut, and scattered human limbs seemed to float in the air. Half a human head had even been nailed to the wall.
That wasn't the important part. The eeriest thing was that the man reduced to half a head seemed to still be alive, silently screaming right there!
Strangest of all, the room was extremely clean.
Normally, dismemberment on this scale would have sprayed huge amounts of blood everywhere.
Unless the room had undergone special treatment and extensive, meticulous cleaning, it couldn't possibly have been this spotless.
With the man on the wall screaming silently, A Luo hugged herself tightly, trying to ease the terror and unease welling up from deep inside her.
There was definitely something wrong with this room!
What kind of Nen ability did that man called Robin have, and how had he turned a living person into this?
Feitan looked toward Robin, who stood at the far end of the room, and asked with unabashed curiosity:
"How did you do it? That man on the wall is still alive even in that state. That's incredible! I always have to be extra careful if I want to play a little longer! Can't help it. Life is often so fragile that one little slip kills the toy."
Hearing this, Robin arrogantly addressed the Spiders:
"Want to know how I did it? Sure! I'll let you experience it yourselves. Once you're just like that fellow on the wall, we can take our time chatting, all right?"
The moment he finished speaking, the door behind the boss locked with a click.
Then numerous long, pale, almost translucent monstrous fish slowly began appearing in the room.
Chrollo, who had remained silent since entering the room and had watched the show up to this point, suddenly addressed Robin with a look of realization.
"I see! Are these fish your Nen ability? Is this why you always stay in an enclosed space? Could that be it? Do these things need a sealed room to survive?"
Robin's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out:
"How did you know?"
The boss sighed in boredom, then turned and instructed Feitan:
"Break the window. Let's end this."
Feitan gave a wicked smile and spoke softly to the terrified man in his raspy voice:
"Robin, was it? You're so little of a challenge that the boss is already too bored to play."
With that, he darted to the window and punched a large hole through it.
Cold wind instantly rushed inside, carrying the town's distinctive floral fragrance, and the monstrous fish vanished in an instant.
At the sight, Robin knew it was all over. This was the first time he had encountered someone who could identify his Nen ability's fatal weakness at first glance.
He tried to escape amid the chaos, but just as he reached the window, Feitan brought him down with a chop of his hand.
Once that was done, Feitan turned to ask Chrollo:
"Boss, this man's Nen ability has such a fatal weakness. Do you still want it?"
Chrollo's lips curved into a smile as he looked at the unconscious man on the floor.
"Every Nen ability has a weakness! As far as I'm concerned, as long as you put it to good use, there's no such thing as a weak Nen ability, only someone who doesn't know how to use it!"
With that, Chrollo tossed the little girl aside, walked over to Robin, and bent down, conjuring Skill Hunter.
Then he placed Robin's hand on the black handprint on the book's cover.
After a while, Chrollo opened the book to the page labeled Indoor Fish. He activated his Nen, and the monstrous fish from earlier appeared in the air.
Unfortunately, the fish dissolved again in the gusting draft.
Throughout it all, A Luo stayed silently off to the side, doing everything she could to make her presence as unobtrusive as possible.
Once he had finished, Chrollo stood up.
He told Feitan to take the unlucky man named Robin away and find somewhere suitable to keep him.
And so, dragging Robin along, Feitan leaped through the large hole he had punched earlier and disappeared to parts unknown.
Once Feitan had left, Chrollo turned to Lola and suddenly asked in an unsettlingly quiet voice:
"A Luo, you didn't seem surprised at all to see that I could steal other people's Nen abilities!"
Before you continue