Neferpitou's body convulsed continuously.
The Nen aura around her surged, accompanied by a personal will to resist…
But a black, ink-like energy emerged from within her body along with her Nen…
It was curse energy!
The soul originally couldn't harm the cat-woman, but to injure herself, she endured the erosion of her soul, completely underestimating the power of curse energy… The characteristics of curse energy were fully unleashed at this moment.
This energy, different from Nen, was like a virus to the mind and will. Once contaminated, it would infect… Even Oboro, when his brain was invaded by curse energy from Shura, had stiffened for a moment, let alone the cat-woman's soul already being incomplete.
Furthermore, each soul might only cause the cat-woman to lose focus for a fleeting moment, but with absolute numbers, Oboro forcibly extended the duration of control…
His true killing move was the souls!
The previous attack with ghosts had a deceptive effect on Neferpitou, making her mistakenly believe she could instantly eliminate the foreign entities in her mind, causing little interference in the battle… She also couldn't eliminate all the specters, as she had to kill Oboro, the controller, first.
This was a dead end.
It forced her to engage in a protracted battle with Oboro.
Of course, this required a series of coordinated efforts and techniques during the fight, such as the timing of releasing several Nen abilities… weakening the cat-woman's condition and inflicting severe injuries upon her.
The target for soul absorption required the opponent's consciousness to remain clear… This level of combat consumed enormous physical strength and mental energy. Even with a strong will, the body's condition would have an additive effect.
Oboro won…
He won with his mind.
It was also a manifestation of his strength.
Calculating every second…
Another factor was the information gap.
The cat-woman's understanding of his Nen abilities and methods was determined and gathered on the spot. However, Oboro was intimately familiar with her abilities…
"Ahhh!"
The cat-woman screamed. One of her eyes was completely infected by curse energy, turning purplish-black. Her body was out of control.
Her mind and body were disconnected.
However, even in this state, Oboro saw a flicker of clarity in her eyes.
The cat-woman diverted some of her attention from her sea of consciousness to reality, trying to regain control of her limbs and prepare to claw at Oboro's face.
Oboro, with a blank expression, swung his other arm, which was not soul-infused, striking Neferpitou's shoulder in advance, causing her hand to drop from mid-air. Blood splattered from her shoulder. "Will is a part of the soul and is closely related to the body. Your current condition is too poor. Using Black Daze multiple times has already caused your flesh and blood to weaken and collapse… Moreover, although your flesh and blood are strong, without mental control to contract or tense the blood and aura, strengthening your defense… and without Nen's protection, you have lost control of your life. Stop struggling…"
As Oboro spoke calmly, the massive Thresh, manifested from the swirling mist behind him, raised the Lantern of Rigel and opened its cover.
It then trapped both Oboro and the cat-woman inside.
Simultaneously, within the cat-woman's sea of consciousness.
Her soul manifestation was battling an endless horde of souls!
Locust-like specters swarmed and danced in her mind, dense and numerous.
Growls, taunts, screams…
Various sounds filled the sea of consciousness, creating immense chaos.
Previously, she had been invaded by curse energy, which seemed to have created a gap in her sea of consciousness, allowing these vengeful spirits to easily enter…
She was resisting fiercely, but in her soul state, her movements were not as agile as in reality. Instead, she frequently stuttered, black energy constantly oozing from her limbs, moving against her control. She could kill the specters, but these specters could also damage her soul. In this short time, her soul had been gnawed countless times…
Wounds had appeared.
Just as the cat-woman forcefully broke through the influence of curse energy and tore apart a large group of approaching specters, the giant specters before her suddenly vanished.
Her sea of consciousness became quiet…
"Mhm?"
Then, while she was stunned.
A chain suddenly materialized on her soul body, binding her tightly.
The other end of the chain extended into the darkness.
There… seemed to be a person!
The cat-woman tried to break free but found the force exerted by the chain to be terrifying.
Thus, as the chain pulled, she was dragged bit by bit into the darkness…
After a while, she finally saw the figure standing in the darkness. To be precise, it wasn't a person… but a monster with a human form, enveloped in ghost fire, exuding a sinister and ferocious aura!
It was Thresh…
However, the voice emanating from Thresh's opened mouth was Oboro's voice.
"What a beautiful soul…"
After pulling the cat-woman closer, Oboro sighed.
Then, the chain disappeared, and a cage suddenly appeared, trapping Neferpitou inside… This cage was none other than the Lantern of Rigel!
Boom!
Fierce green flames ignited within the lantern, casting a green light, making Neferpitou's sea of consciousness appear incredibly eerie and sinister.
"Ahhh!!!"
As her soul was incinerated, the cat-woman cried out in pain.
...
In reality, Oboro's soul-transformed appearance also returned to normal.
The towering Thresh behind him held up the lantern, within which was trapped… Neferpitou's soul.
This is why his ultimate killing move was souls.
Because the cat-woman could awaken post-mortem Nen… and one of her Nen abilities, Toy Crafter, could not only heal the injuries of other creatures but possibly even her own. Therefore, Oboro couldn't delay the fight and had to meticulously calculate every moment of combat.
Post-mortem Nen is directly linked to the will and soul… His Nen ability was the natural nemesis of post-mortem Nen!
Once the soul was captured, the body became an empty shell, with no lingering obsession…
Therefore, to completely kill the cat-woman, it had to be the soul, and only the soul…
Otherwise, if she awakened post-mortem Nen, this ant would become even more monstrous.
Snap.
Oboro released his hand.
Neferpitou's lifeless body collapsed to the ground, devoid of support.
It was over… it was finally over…
Oboro also ended his breathing technique, his expression exhausted, and collapsed onto the ground in a spread-eagle posture.
The danger and difficulty of this battle far surpassed his fight with Beyond… This ant was outrageously strong. Fortunately, it was him. If it were the Chairman, even if he killed the cat-woman's body, if she awakened post-mortem Nen, the old man might also be in trouble.
In this battle, Oboro used all his means; he used everything he could.
As in the original work, if Netero hadn't prepared in advance and regained some of his state, fighting hastily, he might not have been able to defeat the cat-woman.
Of course, it wasn't absolute, but his win rate would be less than 50%…
The cat-woman's advantage lay in her physical body. Among humans, there wasn't anyone who could compare to her.
Then there was her aura, derived from her flesh and blood… which also surpassed all the characters Oboro knew.
Her only weakness was that she had only recently come into contact with Nen, and… her mind was relatively less complex.
Here, it wasn't about combat strategy… but about underestimating the limits of the weak human race.
She lacked sufficient understanding of the real world, having only recently been born…
Oboro also targeted this point when planning everything.
Focusing on the weakness!
"If this creature doesn't die by plot armor, it would be truly difficult for the Association alone… to control it…" Oboro murmured as he lay on the ground resting for a while.
He only felt tired now, no longer concerned about the pain of his wounds.
If Gon didn't go berserk, and Netero was occupied by the Ant King, the remaining Association members… would likely all die at the cat-woman's hands.
This creature was vastly different from Pouf and Youpi.
If Gon didn't go berserk, he would surely die… Therefore, the cat-woman had to perish.
Oboro closed his eyes, took a few breaths, then opened them and said, "Now that the cat-woman is dead… Gon has a high chance of not going berserk. This will have some impact on the subsequent plot, but it doesn't matter…"
He smiled.
The ant that even Netero couldn't guarantee defeating, he had killed…
What he wanted to do had been accomplished.
"Meruem…"
Oboro murmured the Ant King's name again.
The Ant King also had weaknesses.
It was a weakness shared by all ants. Because the ants born from the Queen had integrated part of human genes, it caused all ants, including Meruem… to eventually develop human emotions and a more humanized side from within. Even without meeting Komugi, the Ant King would eventually change due to some event or encountering someone else.
This was the greatest weakness…
If Meruem were a heartless machine, the situation would be different.
And… like Neferpitou, underestimating human malice… and the complexity of this world.
Oboro slowly pushed himself up, sat down, and opened the system panel.
After waiting for a while, the stats on the panel changed…
+2 Armor and Magic Power.
The cat-woman's soul… had been absorbed!
Although, judging by the numbers… it was only 2 points…
But the ghost fog that erupted outside his body had undergone an astonishing transformation.
The mist began to thicken… as if condensing into liquid.
And the ghosts traversing within it all grew larger, their limbs and features becoming clearer, no longer illusory and blurry… Mixed with the dark and foul aura of curse energy, each soul looked particularly ferocious, and some even had mutated limbs, resembling grotesque monsters.
The mist itself also changed from ethereal green to blackish-purple… becoming more oppressive and gloomy.
This was because the intensity of his Nen had improved qualitatively!
"Huh?"
Oboro raised his arm and found that his skin had developed subtle textures.
It had become more toned…
He could feel that the defense of his skin and flesh had significantly increased… but his sturdy body seemed to have undergone some kind of transformation.
He looked at the panel. The comprehensive attribute rating for physical strength was still Tier 3 Superhuman.
"Is it… my imagination?"
Oboro raised an eyebrow.
As for the Nen ranking, he had jumped directly from 7th to 4th.
This meant that in the entire human world, in terms of Nen development, attainments, techniques, intensity, and other dimensions, only three people were stronger than him.
Oboro had already absorbed the souls dropped by Kite during the battle… but the improvement was nowhere near as astonishing as with the cat-woman!
Oboro retracted his Nen ability, stood up, and glanced at the cat-woman's corpse beside him.
He turned and left…
He didn't intend to take the corpse with him, but to leave it, along with Kite's remains, for those division chiefs…
...
About half an hour after he left, several figures appeared at the battlefield where Oboro and Neferpitou had fought.
The newcomers were several division chiefs led by Colt.
They discovered Neferpitou was missing and seemed to sense an enemy invasion…
They hadn't paid much attention initially… but after such a long time, with Neferpitou still not returning, they started to worry.
Because… based on their understanding of the cat-woman, there shouldn't be any human capable of making her take so long individually. It was highly likely she had encountered some special circumstances. For example, the enemy was a group, or an army… Moreover, this place was not far from the ant nest, and some ants had sensed the aura and commotion of the cat-woman fighting a human.
They hadn't taken it seriously at first… but after such a long period of silence, with Neferpitou still not returning.
Something felt wrong…
And when they saw the devastated land, they knew… something had happened!
"That's…"
Bloster, the lobster-like division chief, suddenly saw a figure lying on the ground, tremblingly raised his claw, his voice unsteady.
"Impossible!"
Bihorn the Bull, Colt, and Peggy followed his gaze and were instantly struck as if by lightning, their minds blank.
"Dead… really dead?"
Peggy staggered forward and collapsed to the ground.
He saw clearly… it was the cat-woman, Neferpitou, one of the Royal Guards.
They knew the cat-woman's strength all too well. Just her aura alone made them, division chiefs, hesitant to act rashly…
Such a powerful fellow creature, yet dead…
The death of the cat-woman itself was beyond their imagination.
"The enemy… is only one… and… it must be human." Colt walked to the corpse, his face bloodless, and muttered.
The cat-woman's death was peculiar.
One eye was blind, the other was open, its pupils dilated.
Most importantly, although her body had suffered some injuries, they were not fatal.
Too familiar…
Colt was too familiar.
A familiar figure instantly appeared in his mind.
That man in a suit… the Nen user who commanded ghosts!
"It's him!"
Colt exclaimed in horror.
As soon as he spoke, the other division chiefs understood who he was referring to.
They all thought that human had already left… after all, Neferpitou had searched the territory for him for so long without any trace.
At this moment, Bihorn the Bull suddenly picked up something from a distance.
It was a tattered suit jacket…
"Where is he?"
"So… the other two… are also dead…" Peggy felt a chilling coldness.
He was referring to the two division chiefs who had gone to capture the human Nen user and died at Kite's hands.
"He probably ran away… Even if he killed Neferpitou, his condition is likely not optimistic." After a moment of thought, Peggy regained his composure and said tremblingly, "If he weren't seriously injured, with this strength, he could have directly stormed the ant nest and slaughtered us!"
"Then… should we chase after him while he's injured…" Bihorn the Bull swallowed.
He seemed unsure.
"Judging by the time of Neferpitou's death, it's been a while, and he's long gone." Colt's mood was heavy. "The corpse we found on the way here might be his companion… but we haven't seen them before, which means the humans have already launched an organized attack on us…"
"We need to re-evaluate the danger level of humans!"
"Perhaps we should tell the Queen, and we can relocate our base… If he comes back…"
Bihorn said fearfully.
"Her Majesty is at the critical stage of giving birth to the Ant King and cannot move at all…"
Peggy added.
"…"
For a moment, the four division chiefs fell silent.
What should they do?
____________________
For more advance chapters visit my patreon
patreon.com/kane45
Tier: 10$ Casual Reader - +20 Advance Chapter
20$ Intermediate Reader - +40 Advance Chapter
40$ Expert Reader - +80 Advance Chapter
Update: "Monday to Friday - Update 3 Chapters a Day"
"Saturday and Sunday - Off"