Recaps

Joey, Cluck, Gel, and Cheadle discovered that the Forest Sea’s night fog was a living organism that drained life energy and planted seeds in people and trees. As the group faced the choice between enduring the fog or traveling through the night, Beyond revealed the Forest Sea’s secret and spoke the name that would mark them as challengers.

• Joey studied Cheadle’s map and realized the team might not leave the Forest Sea before the fog exhausted them.
• Cluck showed that tiny plants produced the fog, while Gel explained that it entered people, stole life energy, and left seeds that could turn them into fog.
• Cluck explained that the Forest Sea’s trees amplified the fog, and Joey found that Weather Report could not block it efficiently over a large area.
• Cheadle demanded to know why Beyond and Zigg stopped the group at night, and Beyond said they would have to face the Forest Sea’s nighttime predators to keep moving.
• Zigg said it was time to reveal the Forest Sea’s secret, and Beyond described two ways through it before speaking the name that would mark everyone as a challenger.

Joey passed the Forest Sea’s trial by setting the tree creatures in its white space on fire, and the flames also burned trees in the real Forest Sea. He joined Beyond and Zigg on Fog Beasts, leaving the Forest Sea and heading deeper into the Dark Continent.

• Beyond spoke a name, and the fog transported Joey into a white space where a towering tree challenged him to a trial.
• Joey used Sheer Heart Attack to break the tree apart, then burned the tree creatures that emerged from its fragments until the trial ended.
• Joey returned to the Forest Sea, where trees within two hundred meters turned to ash because of the fire he had set in the white space.
• Beyond invited Joey to join his team, but Joey declined, and Zigg explained how the Forest Sea’s recognition protected them from the fog.
• Joey, Beyond, and Zigg found Fog Beasts and rode them through the Forest Sea toward the Dark Continent.

Joey, Beyond, and Zigg escaped the Forest Sea and reached a lake where Beyond fought the monsters guarding a giant mushroom-shaped tree. They claimed the tree as a refuge and ate its life-force-rich fruit, while Joey learned that eating more than one could be harmful.

• The Fog Beast vanished into a tree, and Joey, Beyond, and Zigg continued through the Forest Sea until they reached its edge on the third day.
• Joey realized the Forest Sea had kept him from thinking of flying out and grew wary of similar psychological suggestions.
• Beyond led the group to the trees by the lake and provoked the monsters living in one of them.
• Beyond defeated the monsters, and the tree’s roots dragged their bodies underground before withdrawing from Beyond.
• Joey, Beyond, and Zigg climbed into the tree’s crown and ate its fragrant fruit, which gave off a powerful surge of life force.
• Zigg warned Joey that eating more than one fruit could be harmful, and Joey watched an uneaten fruit shrivel away.

Joey studied the Giant Tree’s God Script and watched its protective abilities shield them from the Dark Continent’s nightly dangers. By noon, Kakin’s reduced group emerged from the Forest Sea and headed toward the lakeshore, including the First and Second Princes and members of the Phantom Troupe.

• Joey translated the God Script in the Giant Tree’s trunk and inferred that its fruit might contain poison if eaten in excess.
• At night, the Giant Tree emitted blue light and a protective barrier that repelled butterfly powder as the butterflies crossed the plain to collect water from the lake.
• Multi-tongued Monsters preyed on the butterflies, while Muscle Rabbits uprooted rapidly growing trees and ate them before burrowing underground.
• Joey watched the powder-covered plants come alive and recorded the strange events, then spent the morning observing challengers who approached the Giant Tree and became its food.
• At noon, Zigg spotted Kakin’s group emerging from the Forest Sea; Joey recognized the First and Second Princes, Phantom Troupe members, and their guards among the roughly twenty survivors.

Joey sent messages to Botobai and the scattered Hunter Association and Beyond’s people while Kakin’s party prepared an ambush with Pap’s help. As night fell, Kakin’s fire drew the butterflies into a curtain of flame, where Flame Butterflies and falling fireballs confronted the Dark Continent creatures.

• Beyond fired a Signal Gun, alerting Botobai, Kakin’s soldiers, and people waiting at the Forest Sea.
• Joey created hummingbirds with Gold Experience to guide Botobai and deliver written instructions to people in the Forest Sea.
• Benjamin questioned Pap about stopping the Hunter Association and Beyond’s party, while Balsamilco explained that Kakin could still ambush them later.
• The Second Prince urged Chrollo to attack Joey, but Chrollo refused because the timing was wrong.
• In the Ancient Labyrinth City, silver- and gold-headed beings grew human-shaped Brions from flowers and sent them toward the Forest Sea.
• As butterflies rose at dusk, Kakin’s fires erupted into a curtain of flame, and Flame Butterflies joined the fireballs against the Multi-tongued Monster and Muscle Rabbit.

Joey watched Kakin’s fire devastate the Plain, then discovered that the lake was unnaturally devoid of wildlife and that dangerous creatures were emerging from it. A colossal Black Dragon landed nearby as the shell-backed, tentacled creatures crawled toward the Plain, leaving Joey wondering whether they feared the dragon.

• Kakin’s flaming butterflies ignited the Plain, while ordinary butterflies sacrificed themselves to weaken the flames spreading toward the Forest Sea.
• Joey watched the fire subside and suspected that the strange odor from the smoke might be Kakin’s real killing move.
• Joey noticed no beasts had approached the lake and asked Zigg what lived in it, but Zigg said he did not know and Beyond warned against entering Dark Continent waters.
• Snail-like creatures emerged from the lake and crawled toward the Plain as Joey and the others watched.
• A colossal Black Dragon flew in and landed on the Plain, while the shell-backed creatures continued toward it.

Joey's team avoided the Black Dragon and the lake monsters, regrouped after detouring around the lake, and recovered in a giant tree. As Ging and Pariston argued that Kakin might be anticipating their route, Cheadle agreed to consider crossing the lake instead of following the familiar path.

• The Black Dragon and lake monsters occupied the plain, while Kakin's team built rafts and crossed the lake without being attacked.
• Joey received word that the others had found a route out of the Forest Sea, and his team detoured to reunite with them.
• The reunited team sheltered in a giant tree, where Joey restored injured members and sent flying cameras to record the plain.
• Ging argued that Kakin could be preparing traps along their expected route, while Cheadle questioned how Kakin could predict their direction.
• Pariston backed Ging's proposal to cross the lake using a ship built by the Hunter Association's specialists, and Cheadle ultimately agreed with them.

The team investigated the lake before taking the water route and discovered enormous eyeballs underwater that produced shell-bearing monsters. Botobai’s Nen Beast damaged an eyeball, but it quickly healed, leaving the team to conclude they needed to cross the lake before the monsters returned.

• Joey and the team reviewed information about the Savage Beasts and Chimera Ants inhabiting the mountains along the route.
• Joey sent hummingbirds and turtles across the lake, where they discovered giant, seemingly lifeless eyeballs and found no other aquatic life.
• The team sent Nen Beasts into the eyeballs and discovered empty shells inside; one Nen Beast was transformed into a shell-bearing monster after entering a shell.
• An eyeball released viscous matter and shells containing monsters, which charged toward living presences in the lake.
• Botobai’s Nen Beast cleaved an eyeball in half, but it healed within a minute, convincing the team to cross the lake before the shell-bearing monsters returned.

Joey and the others began crossing the eyeball-filled lake while preparing to lure the Black Dragon away before it could threaten them. Ging's attempt to obstruct the returning shelled monsters revealed that giant-tree roots actively cleared their path, and Cluck gave Joey a shell fragment to study.

• Cluck reported that the shells were the actual organisms and that their tentacled bodies were Nen Beasts created through Emission-type Nen.
• Joey deployed camera-carrying creations with Piyon's assistance, and Cheadle led the team aboard a boat that turned transparent as it crossed the lake.
• Piyon's surveillance showed the shelled monsters returning toward the lake as the strange smell over the plain faded.
• Pariston urged a preemptive diversion of the Black Dragon, and Cheadle approved proceeding with preparations that included a dangerous lure supplied by Ging and reproduced by Botobai.
• Ging's branch barricades halted the shelled monsters until giant-tree roots dragged the branches aside in response to a monster's cries.
• Cluck explained the limits of her findings and handed Joey a shell fragment for his own research.

Joey and his allies crossed the lake while Botobai’s Nen Beast attacked Kakin’s hidden team and drew the Black Dragon away. Exploding eyeballs unleashed living bloody threads across the water, while falling flames threatened the ship ahead.

• Joey deactivated Gold Experience to divert the shelled monsters from his allies and preserve the ship’s secrecy.
• Piyon spotted Kakin’s people near the giant trees, and Botobai sent Nen Beasts to attack them and approach the Black Dragon.
• Botobai’s Nen Beast killed the hidden Kakin team, but two concealed people launched fuel boxes toward the ship before they were killed.
• The Mercenaries’ Combat Robot blasted the fuel boxes, which exploded in midair and drew the Black Dragon’s attention.
• The shelled monsters devoured the fallen flames, triggering nearby eyeballs to burst and spread living bloody threads across the lake.
• Cheadle and Ging urged the ship to speed up as bloody threads spread toward it and more flames fell ahead.

Joey and the others fought through the lake’s swarms of crimson thread-snake monsters while preparing an escape and trying to conceal their ship. As they neared the opposite shore, the Black Dragon appeared, and Joey, Ging, and Piyon used God Script to hide the group as it approached.

• Cluck trapped many crimson thread-snake monsters with underwater plants while Gel poisoned the lake, and the mercenaries and Hunters joined the fight.
• Joey and Cheadle’s vehicle-making trio prepared an airship as the mercenaries’ robot blasted a path through the lake and Ginta steadied the ship after an explosion beneath it.
• Many-tongued monsters descended from the sky, Beyond knocked them away, and damage to the ship’s hull began exposing the group’s presence.
• Botobai warned that the Black Dragon was coming, and Ging assigned Joey, Piyon, and himself to carve God Script around the ship to conceal it.
• Joey carved the stern while Piyon marked the bow and Ging inscribed the hull, as the Black Dragon appeared behind them and roared.

Joey’s team crossed the lake, evaded the Black Dragon, and landed safely before pushing through a dangerous rocky region. As Joey and Ging experimented with God Script to strengthen their scouting creations, Botobai tracked the Black Dragon, and the team discovered that Kakin’s people were traveling unharmed among the Brion humanoids approaching them.

• Ging concealed the ship with God Script, allowing the Black Dragon to pass overhead without finding the team.
• Joey captured crimson Line Snake monsters and concluded that Kakin had used the creatures that absorbed life energy.
• The team landed, rejected Beyond’s old route, and advanced through rocky terrain where monsters destroyed many of their scouts and Joey’s creations.
• Joey, Ging, and Piyon began creating God Script-enhanced living scouts, helping the team explore faster and withstand danger.
• Botobai devoted himself to tracking the Black Dragon while cameras revealed gold- and silver-headed Brion approaching by three routes.
• Joey’s team saw Kakin’s people pass among the Brion unharmed, suggesting that the creatures were Kakin’s trump card.

Joey and the others encountered Brion, whose silver frost and golden life force turned living targets into trees that produced more Brion. As the group searched for a way through, Joey used a God Script Boar to test Ging’s theory about how Brion’s power worked.

• Brion’s attacks froze the group’s Nen Beasts and hummingbirds, then made them sprout into strange trees bearing Brion-like fruit.
• Joey explained that Brion’s power could reach targets in the air only within a limited distance, and the group abandoned Pariston’s suggestion to fly over it.
• Cluck, Gel, Joey, and Ging conjectured that silver planted seeds while gold accelerated their growth, with Ging proposing that the seeds parasitized targets from the outside.
• Ging wrote a skin-enhancement God Script, and Joey used Gold Experience to create a God Script Boar for testing.
• Piyon followed the boar with a drone as it entered Brion’s domain; frost formed on its hide, then cracks spread and branches emerged, showing that its reinforced skin could not stop Brion.

Joey and the others studied Brion’s frost and seeds, then fought the advancing Brion with Nen Beasts and weapons as they sought a way through. When Cheadle and Pariston chose to detour toward Labyrinth City, Joey and Ging instead formed a new team to investigate Brion, and Hisoka and three Zoldycks joined them.

• Joey, Ging, and the others reviewed footage and confirmed that Silver Brion’s frost carried seeds that entered living bodies, while Gold Brion’s Nen activated them from about thirty meters away.
• The Hunter Association and Mercenaries sent Nen Beasts to probe Brion, learning that even small Brion fought fiercely, regenerated rapidly, and fired explosive energy bullets.
• The Mercenaries used fire to slow Brion, but Silver Brion expanded the frost and Gold Brion repelled attacks with golden light as the calamities advanced.
• Piyon told Joey that Cheadle and Pariston planned to fly around Brion, while Ging revealed that the Black Dragon was nearing Labyrinth City and that the city held secrets about controlling Brion.
• Joey chose to stay and study Brion, and Ging invited him to form a separate team after a disagreement with Beyond’s Team.
• Hisoka joined Joey and Ging, accompanied by Zigg, Illumi, and Kalluto.

Joey tested Heartbreaker Attack's chariots against Brion and found they could erase them while using little Nen. With help from the others, the team guided the chariots with heat and resumed its steady advance toward the forest beyond the Rocky Region.

• Joey proposed using a power that could erase Brion, then sent Heartbreaker Attack chariots toward the group.
• A chariot erased a gold Brion, and another erased a silver one before Brion counterattacked with frost and golden energy that knocked the chariots away.
• Joey confirmed that the chariots remained unharmed and explained that they chased heat, while Dwun, Razor, Kalluto, and Zigg offered ways to guide their attacks.
• Killer Queen released the remaining Badges, and the team used chariots, Nen Bullets, and flame-marked paper airplanes to erase Brion and continue advancing toward the forest.

Joey and the others encountered ancient statues in the forest and discovered that they devoured creatures touching them while unobserved. Their tests ended with a statue absorbing Joey's God Script Boar and standing up.

• Ging, List, and Razor captured a Fierce Beast for research after finding creatures bearing God Script markings that resisted Brion's aura.
• Ida spotted ancient statues depicting clothed humans, Fierce Beasts, and insects, and Dwun warned that unusually few Brion appeared nearby.
• Joey tested the statues with coin-created animals, and he and Ging deduced that the statues attacked creatures touching them while no one watched.
• Razor shattered a distant statue with a Nen Bullet without provoking any apparent response.
• Ging calmed Joey and arranged for everyone to look away while Joey's God Script Boar charged another statue.
• Joey and Ging saw the statue fusing with the boar before it absorbed the creature completely and stood up.

Joey, Ging, and the others fought through a territory of strange statues and investigated a dead Gold Brion before stopping to rest as night fell. At camp, Joey learned that List had brought special Greed Island items with him.

• Joey used hummingbird bombs while Ging and Razor attacked from a distance, destroying the statues as they charged, though the statues began reassembling afterward.
• Joey used En on a statue and briefly perceived drifting green aura strands that chilled him on contact before the hummingbird bomb shattered the statue.
• The group hurried through the statues’ territory, where Joey and Ging found a dead Gold Brion and dissected its hollow body, discovering only cotton-like material inside.
• After the Brion disappeared, Ging halted the group for the night, and the twins and Illumi took guard duty.
• Joey entered List’s tent and learned that its furnishings were a Greed Island reward and that List could bring only a limited number of game items out.

The Hunter Association and Beyond’s team faced a Nen-using monster during a rainstorm, while Kakin’s group reached ruins near the Labyrinth City after losing its mysterious weapons. The groups continued toward the city, wary of the dangers and their competing plans.

• Joey and Ging discussed Brion’s disappearance, the hidden clawed creatures, and the statues’ connection to God Script.
• Beyond’s airship crashed after dark clouds, lightning, and torrential rain forced it down in the forest.
• Beyond’s group traveled through the rain and encountered a monster that turned its victims into cotton fluff; Beyond killed it, and Mikhail killed the fatally wounded mercenary.
• More monsters appeared in the trees after Beyond’s attack, then concealed their auras and vanished.
• Kakin’s group reached ruins outside the Labyrinth City with about twenty people remaining and discovered that the weapons accompanying them had disappeared.
• Benjamin viewed the Second Prince and the Phantom Troupe as pawns and looked forward to reaching the Labyrinth City.

Joey and Ging’s team traveled through a torrential, possibly dangerous rain and discovered that monsters were attacking them at exact five-minute intervals, appearing out of thin air in increasing numbers. They continued through the forest while Joey suspected the rain might be causing the attacks.

• Joey examined the monster Illumi had killed and learned from Illumi’s notes that it was fast, regenerative, and capable of using Nen.
• The team found a metal message from Piyon, then continued through worsening rain that obscured the forest and disabled their Compass.
• Joey detected faint monster auras and noticed that attacks came every five minutes, with more monsters joining each successive wave.
• Ging’s team cut down nearby trees to test the pattern, but five monsters appeared out of thin air at the next five-minute mark and were swept away in the floodwater.
• Ging concluded that they should keep moving while searching for the source, and Joey wondered whether the torrential rain was driving the attacks.

Joey and the others tested how the forest monsters chose their targets, but Zigg disappeared after the group split up. Joey continued alone and found the storm had given way to an unnervingly peaceful forest, where poplar fluff and bark-like insects suggested a connection to the Brion corpses.

• Illumi, Zigg, and Kalluto left to hunt monsters while Dwun distributed thermal goggles and List handed out radios.
• The group split into pairs and found that monsters still appeared at timed intervals, while Zigg alone was not attacked and then stopped responding.
• Ging and Razor tested splitting up, and Hisoka left Joey to travel alone as the others agreed to meet at the forest's edge.
• Joey continued alone as the monsters vanished, the rain eased, and his radio crackled and exploded despite being switched off.
• Joey noticed poplar fluff resembling the Brion corpses' fibrous tissue, then found god-script-like markings and bark-colored insects on a poplar that sprang toward him.

Joey explored a poplar grove on the Dark Continent, deciphered the trees’ divine patterns, and uncovered how they restrained targets and produced explosive creatures. He realized God Script could grant people abilities but was dangerous, leaving him to consider its risks and how far V5 had studied it.

• Joey observed insects and butterflies emerging from poplars, deciphered divine patterns linked to restraint, roots, supply, and teleportation, and found that the creatures lacked signs of life.
• Joey approached a poplar bearing goat-headed humanoids, escaped their explosive attack, and destroyed a tree after its roots tried to bind him.
• Joey inferred that poplar roots restrained targets and drew them into trees, while beasts with suppression patterns hunted the explosive creatures; he created a cat to study those patterns.
• Joey connected divine patterns to sequences from novels and considered experimenting on Gold Experience creations rather than inscribing patterns on himself.
• Joey noticed the God Script on his chest was also a divine pattern and wondered how much V5 knew about using it, concluding that its dangers might explain why it remained obscure.

Joey struggled to cross the Poplar Tree Grove and uncovered signs that the cavern, its barriers, and mechanical dragons had been deliberately created, while Kakin’s team and the Hunter Association’s United Team advanced through the Forest amid recurring attacks and disappearances. As Ging hesitated to set the poplar fluff alight, he spotted a great fire burning to the northeast, showing that someone else had acted first.

• Joey found that the Poplar Tree Grove’s cavernous underground world and mechanical flying dragons bore traces of human intervention, and reasoned that Labyrinth City might lie below.
• Benjamin’s Kakin team followed Balsamilco’s map toward the Ancient City, rotating defenders to handle monsters that appeared every five minutes.
• Piyon’s United Team followed Kakin’s trail, but members kept disappearing, and the Hunter Association and mercenaries grew wary of one another.
• Ging considered burning the flammable poplar fluff but hesitated over the danger to his companions.
• Ging saw a large fire blazing to the northeast and realized someone had set the poplar fluff alight before him.

Joey burned away the Poplar Fluff, then destroyed the Poplar Trees spawning monsters and rescued List. They traveled toward other detected life signs while discussing the Mechanical Dragons and how to use their parts.

• Joey used fire and wind to hold back the monsters, then destroyed the nearby Poplar Trees with Killer Queen’s First Bomb, causing the monsters to turn on one another.
• Joey heard fighting nearby and flew toward it, destroying the activated Poplar Trees until List escaped in a large robot.
• List explained that he had created the robot with King of Models and that it could detect Life Energy.
• Joey climbed onto the robot and used First Bomb to clear their path as List piloted them toward other life signs.
• Joey told List that the Mechanical Dragons were machines and gave him Spherical Orbs taken from one, and List agreed to examine them after they rescued the others.

Joey, List, Dwun, and Ging explored a forest of poplars whose monsters and burning fluff followed a repeating cycle, then discovered that the forest lay atop an enormous tree root above an ancient city. By the second morning they had found nearly all their companions, but they planned to keep searching before venturing toward the ruins.

• Joey and List found Dwun badly burned while he fought monsters with a giant beast created by his Monster Creation ability, and they helped clear the area.
• Joey and List realized the forest cycled between drifting poplar fluff, flames, rain brought by flying dragons, and a brief outbreak of monsters; smoke then formed small animals that ran through the forest and were absorbed by the trees.
• Joey treated Dwun, and the group found Ging, who joined them in digging down to an energy barrier and seeing Kakin's team among the ruins of an ancient city.
• Ging identified the forest's location as a specially developed root, possibly belonging to a stunted World Tree, and the four searched the forest for their missing companions.
• Joey and Ging decided to delay entering the ruins while they continued searching, wary of Brion and the flying dragons guarding the root's boundary.
• By sunrise on the second day, Joey, List, Dwun, and Ging had found almost everyone, and Joey healed their injuries.

Joey’s group regrouped above the roots and considered how to reach the Ancient City, while the Kakin party struggled through repeated monster attacks below. Benjamin used a fiery red sphere to blast a path through the forest, and Piyon monitored the explosion as Cheadle chose to let Kakin continue scouting ahead.

• Razor told Joey and Ging that Nen-wielding monsters had attacked him, and Joey restored his missing arm and leg.
• Ging proposed taming a flying dragon to reach the area below, but List said he first needed to study the part that prevented him from copying one.
• Joey watched the Ancient City while the Zoldyck family observed nearby and the Greed Island members examined the roots.
• The Second Prince repeatedly died to activate The Cat Who Lived a Million Times and became increasingly hysterical as her exhausted guards fought the monsters.
• Balsamilco advised Benjamin to burn through the forest, and Benjamin threw a Nen-charged red sphere that exploded and cleared a path.
• Piyon monitored the Kakin group’s attack, while Cheadle rejected Beyond’s suggestion to attack them and decided to let them scout ahead.