Gel's Guardian Spirit Beast was an Ouroboros, a snake swallowing its own tail.
Its ability was to block one fatal injury for Gel by shedding its skin.
In terms of its nature, this ability maximized the characteristics of a Guardian Spirit Beast.
The reason Gel was able to manifest such a Guardian Spirit Beast was rooted in her experience of setting foot on the Dark Continent.
There, she had witnessed too many existences that could not be fathomed by common sense and had seen countless behemoths from afar.
Before those beings, humans were as insignificant as a speck of dust.
It was precisely this experience that allowed Gel's Guardian Spirit Beast to develop the "Substitute Death" ability.
And it was this ability that allowed her to escape a situation of certain death.
That was no ordinary calamity...
Having used the shed skin to teleport to a place far from the Death God's location, Gel, completely naked, didn't dare to linger for even a moment. She fled at full speed in the opposite direction.
After being used, the Ouroboros's shedding ability would enter a "three-month" cooldown period.
During this time, the Guardian Spirit Beast's defensive power would be greatly reduced.
It would only recover gradually over time.
Only when the three months were up would it regain the chance to be reborn through shedding its skin.
Having lost the protection of her Guardian Spirit Beast and knowing full well what a terrifying ability that calamity possessed, Gel could only flee with all her might.
Even as the distance between them grew, she couldn't feel the slightest sense of security in her heart.
An indefensible instant-death ability... The recent large-scale death incidents must have been the work of that calamity.
Gel ran headlong, the scene from just moments ago flashing repeatedly in her mind.
Although Pro Hunters were prepared to sacrifice themselves at any time when accepting high-risk commissions, to be robbed of one's life in an instant without being able to do anything... it was too absurd.
This sense of absurdity, brought on by the visual shock, made Gel feel as if she had returned to the Dark Continent in a daze.
And now, a bizarre and dangerous entity that should only exist on the Dark Continent had actually come to the six continents.
Gel was absolutely certain.
The threat level of this calamity, which could take a person's life from a distance, was far beyond comparison to the other known calamities.
This was... a calamity that could very well push the entire human world to the brink of destruction!
By human standards, that member of the Zodiac Twelve who luckily escaped from you certainly has her merits.
Regarding the Death God's failure to kill Gel, Morena considered it a potential problem but didn't pay it too much mind.
The outcome of this encounter had already given her even greater confidence in the Death God's power.
She had bet all her chips on the Death God, pushing forward her world-ending plan at any cost and with considerable brute force.
Now, it seemed she hadn't made the wrong move.
After giving the Death God a way to save face, Morena's gaze fell on the shed skin left behind after Gel fled.
A very interesting ability, but it's slightly different from the intelligence I have.
Morena had a deep understanding of the Nen system and had even spent a great deal of time and energy collecting relevant data and conducting in-depth research.
So, she could tell at a glance the preciousness of Gel's ability and the difficulty of its development.
But now, she was no longer interested in such things and didn't investigate further.
The Death God hovered to the side, shedding his playful and casual demeanor. "That human... has probably been to the Dark Continent."
Oh?
Morena turned her head to look at him and said coolly, "You said 'probably,' so this is just an uncertain guess?"
"It is indeed just a guess."
The Death God extended a slender arm, picked up the shed skin, and said, "Or rather... it's a certain feeling, a feeling that's very difficult to explain to you."
"In that case, your feeling might be correct."
Morena withdrew her gaze. She recalled how she had barely been able to perceive Gel's Zetsu and the vibrant life force she exuded, like that of a giant tree, which indeed carried an unusual air.
Moreover, when faced with the Death God's bizarre and unpredictable ability, the calm composure Gel displayed was truly worthy of a second look. To her, an observer, Gel's reaction was almost as if... she had encountered beings similar to the Death God many times before.
"V5 is moving quickly, and with the Hunter Association's assistance, we don't have much time left."
Morena looked at the silent, dead city before her, her eyes devoid of any human emotion. "We must immediately initiate the second phase of the plan."
The Death God tilted his head with great interest. "That Cyborg Legion is something you spent a lot of effort building. Are you really willing to just give them up like this to speed up the plan?"
"This isn't giving up."
Morena's tone was flat, yet it carried an icy resolve. "This is a sacrifice."
By using ordinary human bodies to carry the power of the Death God's Death Plague, as long as the number of infection sources was large enough, an incalculable number of deaths could be caused in a single day.
This would be enough to plunge the entire world into chaos.
However, the V5 was, after all, a coalition of superpowers with some knowledge of the Dark Continent. They had ample preparation and experience in contingency planning and emergency response.
Therefore, V5 would soon restrict the spread of the Death Plague and, at the same time, coordinate their efforts to annihilate the Cyborg Legion.
Although the individual strength of the modified humans was close to top-tier, they would ultimately be no match for the V5's profound resources and the intervention of professional organizations like the Hunter Association.
So, rather than watch V5 and the Hunter Association join forces to gradually bring the chaos caused by the Death Plague and the modified humans under control... it would be better to let the value of the Cyborg Legion be maximized in its destruction.
That is, to transform the modified humans themselves into sources capable of spreading the power of the Death Plague.
Then, at the cost of their lives, the Death Plague's power would erupt with even greater might and cover a wider area in a short period. This would crush the elite extermination forces organized by V5 in one fell swoop.
As long as this method could buy more development time for the Death God, by the time the second and third waves of mass death occurred, no force would be able to stop the Death God's advent.
Morena's goal was crystal clear.
Even if she herself were to die in the process, as long as the Death God could concretely receive the second, and even third, wave of power enhancement, she would die without regrets.
She could be fearless of death, and she didn't need to personally witness this cesspool of a world meet its end.
As long as this event... was destined to happen without a doubt.
That was enough.
The Death God could clearly feel the resolute will in Morena's heart.
Sometimes, he even felt that Morena was more of a Death God than he was.
At the very least, she was more worthy of the title of Devil than that Devil who was engrossed in music.
If Morena could survive the final battle against the entire world, the Death God would even consider finding a time to erase that Devil who only wanted to compose new sonatas and let Morena take his place.
Of course, who could say for sure what the future held.
"Morena, it seems it wasn't I who 'found' you, but you who 'found' me."
The Death God suddenly let out a low, emotional sigh.
Fate, sometimes, was truly wonderful.
Morena intended to use a calamity to destroy the human world.
And it just so happened that the Death God, who most wanted to come to the six continents, encountered this opportunity.
At first, he thought Morena needed his power to do this.
Now, it seemed, it was he who needed Morena's power.
—--
Eye of Truth's base.
The Wolf Spirit had devoured all the card's Nen Spaces.
According to the mastermind behind the Eye of Truth, the Nen space inside each card was a utopian fragment left behind by members who were willing to die, using their intense will.
In terms of Post-Mortem Nen intensity, these could indeed satisfy Morrow's absorption needs.
But with his own Tree Rings energy being very abundant, Morrow ultimately chose to forgo the conversion and instead used them to expand the Wolf Spirit's internal Nen space.
After the Wolf Spirit swallowed the last Nen space card, Morrow didn't rush to inspect his gains. Instead, he casually finished off the mastermind, who had lost his composure in shock at the scene before him.
But strictly speaking, this matter wasn't over yet.
After all, the Eye of Truth had many members. Just killing the mastermind wasn't enough.
Fortunately, most of these members were concentrated within the base, so he didn't have to go to the trouble of finding them.
Morrow remained where he was, quietly waiting for them to come to him.
Reasonably fast.
Morrow looked towards the passage leading out of the cave, sensing the approach of one aura after another, his expression calm and unruffled.
A long time later, in this cave, partially embedded with temple architecture, corpses lay strewn all over the ground.
Morrow, without a single speck of dust on him, calmly left the place.
From this moment on, the Eye of Truth, which had sought to profit from the world's turmoil, was annihilated during its dormant phase before it could even surface. For Morrow, achieving all this was a trivial matter.
But for the members of the Eye of Truth, this absolute crushing in terms of strength, and the casual manner in which he dismantled the cards that were the fruit of their many years of hard work, was an unreasonably powerful existence.
In a sense, in the eyes of the people of the Eye of Truth, wasn't Morrow also a kind of calamity?
After leaving the Eye of Truth's base, Morrow soon mounted Chimera's back.
Only then did he begin to inspect the state of the Wolf Spirit's Nen space.
As his consciousness sank into the Wolf Spirit's Nen space, what entered his eyes was a boundless, ethereal land.
The Spinning Top Sky Island, which had been directly transferred in earlier, was quietly suspended above the land.
The ceaseless waterfalls that fell from the island flowed into the ground, forming winding, interwoven streams.
Morrow looked at this empty land, not feeling surprised.
The Wolf Spirit's spatial devouring ability could choose to transfer the target Nen space whole, or it could choose to format it and then integrate it into its own space. After learning the origin of these card's Nen Spaces, Morrow naturally wouldn't choose to transfer them directly.
After all, each card contained an ideal land built from the obsessions of extremists.
If there were only one or two, he might have brought them into his space like opening a blind box out of curiosity.
But with so many, he decided against it.
He would absolutely not allow uncontrollable hidden dangers to be buried within his Nen space.
The total area is about the size of East Gorteau.
After roughly scanning the entire internal space with his consciousness, Morrow was somewhat surprised.
A full seventy-two card's Nen Spaces had actually expanded the Wolf Spirit's internal space to the scale of a small country.
Initially, he had indeed hoped for the Nen space to be as large as possible.
That way, when he went to the Dark Continent, he could plunder spoils to his heart's content.
But now, when the space was truly as vast as a small country, Morrow instead felt a subtle sense of not knowing what to do with it. All in all, the gains from this trip were more than worth it.
On the way back to the Kukan'yu Kingdom, Morrow received a call from Gel.
"Morrow, we... might need your help."
As soon as the call connected, Gel stated her purpose directly.
Morrow immediately heard the gravity of the situation in her tone and asked, "What exactly happened?"
"The calamity that caused the mass death incidents... has an extremely tricky ability."
Gel's tone was incredibly grave. "He can block aura from a medium to long range, forcing the target into a state of 'Zetsu,' and then, without even needing physical contact, he can cause them to die on the spot."
She paused here, her breathing unconsciously becoming slightly ragged.
Morrow keenly picked up on this subtle change.
Even just through her description, he could feel how unsolvable that ability was.
So much so that even Gel, who had returned tempered from the Dark Continent, was this wary.
It seemed this was no ordinary calamity.
Gel continued, "Botobai and Ginta were sacrificed. If my Guardian Spirit Beast couldn't block one fatal injury for me, I would have also died at the hands of that 'calamity.' That ability... is almost impossible to counter. The only countermeasure I can think of is probably the 'Entropy Bird.'"
Previously on the Dark Continent, they had survived so many dangers, most of which were overcome by relying on the Entropy Bird's ability.
It could be said that humans were very insignificant in the face of the various calamities of the Dark Continent.
Even for the strongest of humans like Morrow, once they encountered a "rule-based" calamity, their formidable aura would be rendered useless, unable to have any effect at all. The calamity that had taken the lives of over a hundred million people and killed Botobai and the others was a prime example of this.
Conventional methods would likely be ineffective against this calamity.
"What about V5 and the International Permit Agencies?"
Morrow asked, "Didn't they make a move against the 'calamity'?"
"They did."
Gel said in a low voice, "The International Permit Agencies have an elite unit specially trained for exploring the Dark Continent. Every member of the team possesses both powerful Nen and professional skills, but... that team was completely wiped out the moment they met."
"It seems to be an ability similar to the 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'... If even aura can't defend against it, then it's indeed tricky."
Listening to Gel's description, Morrow gained a clearer understanding of the calamity's characteristics.
"But the 'Entropy Bird's' 'Luck' is not an invincible ability either. I can't guarantee it can deal with the calamity you're talking about."
Gel was silent for a moment, then said, "Perhaps it's because of my experience on the Dark Continent... I always have this blind faith in you. So even after witnessing the terror of that calamity firsthand, I still feel... that if even the 'Entropy Bird' can't handle it, there's still you, Morrow."
(Translated by yourtl.app)