Green smoke came surging from all directions, and all living beings died in utter silence.
There was no wailing or obvious struggle as their bodies fell to the ground.
It was impossible to count, impossible to measure.
Whether it was massive magical beasts or bugs no bigger than a thumbnail, none could escape the poisonous gas that invaded the forest.
Law moved swiftly through the forest, but still couldn't find any trace of the Seirin Group.
At this time, he suddenly noticed green smoke rapidly sweeping in from afar.
He was a human, and possessed knowledge far beyond that of the forest creatures. The moment he saw the animals at the edge of the smoke collapse abruptly, he made a quick judgment.
'Biochemical weapons?'
Law's eyes instantly turned cold, and he decisively turned toward the mountain where Sanbica was.
His Domain could keep the green smoke out, but Sanbica couldn't do the same, so he has to rush to Sanbica's side as soon as possible and protect her with his Domain.
"No wonder I couldn't find them."
Law rushed toward the other side of the mountain as fast as he could. He didn't expect that the enemy had biochemical weapons of such a large scale in their hands.
But considering the distribution of power in this world, it wasn't all that surprising.
There are six continents in this world. Besides a handful of major powers, most were smaller nations caught in between.
To secure a foothold, these smaller nations often poured their national power and finances into researching nuclear-level weapons.
Biochemical weapons, as a type of weapon of mass destruction, have always been a favorite research direction for small countries.
By focusing mainly on bacteria, viruses, and toxins, they'd developed low-cost, devastatingly effective weapons throughout wartime history.
Among them, the most famous is the Poor Man's Rose.
With enough technical skill and knowledge, and taking advantage of the resource-rich Hunter x Hunter World, it is not difficult to create the catastrophe before him. The real difficulty lies in whether it can be mass-produced.
The Poor Man's Rose is the most used weapon of mass destruction in this world's history.
According to reliable statistics, it had 'bloomed' in over 200 nations, with a total of 2,500 deployments… claiming over five million lives.
The International Convention Organization had long since banned the use of the Poor Man's Rose. However, before the ban was enforced, countries around the world had already stockpiled hundreds of thousands of them.
How to deal with these inventories remained a major issue.
Compared to the Poor Man's Rose, this green smoke rushing through the forest was even more terrifying!
There are a great number of bacteria, viruses, and even toxins on Alcatraz Island, so it wasn't surprising the enemy could release a weapon like this.
Law dashed ahead at full speed, just barely outpacing the green smoke. When he arrived at his destination, the green smoke was right on his heels.
Kuro, who is guarding outside, noticed from Law running towards him from afar, along with the thick green smoke behind him, and was slightly stunned.
In the next instant, even without Law's reminder, Kuro changed from the housecat form into a leopard one, but his size was about five times larger than that of an ordinary leopard.
He raised his claws and slammed them into the mountain wall, tearing out a huge chunk of stone and hurling it backward.
He had to get Sanbica out of the cave as quickly as possible!
This was his first reaction after seeing the green smoke. He couldn't wait for Law to arrive, but had to do it himself.
And he did just that. His claws quickly digging out pieces of stone as if they're tofu.
Kuro made a vow to protect Sanbica's safety while on Demon Island, which was why his reaction had been so quick, after all, it was tied to his own survival.
Law was surprised by Kuro's actions. He had originally planned to signal from a distance for Kuro to dig through, but Kuro had already taken the initiative.
By the time Law reached the mountain wall, Kuro had nearly finished digging. Law quickly joined in, and together, they soon broke through to the cave where Sanbica was.
"Come with me."
Law grabbed Sanbica's hand. There's no time to explain and they needed to leave the cave immediately.
Sanbica didn't know what was happening, but seeing how rushed and serious Law looked, she followed without resistance.
With Sanbica in tow, Law led her out of the cave and headed straight for the mountaintop.
Kuro reverted to his small, nimble form and followed close behind them.
"What happened?" Sanbica asked.
Law didn't say anything, but just pointed toward the green smoke sweeping in from not far away.
Only then did Sanbica notice the thick green fog and the flood of creatures being driven before it. There were huge beasts, insects the size of a palm, and all kinds of creatures, charging together toward the mountain.
These surviving creatures were those fast enough to outrun the spreading green smoke, and are able to stay alive temporarily.
And they all had the same destination, which was the few tall mountains within the forest, including the one where Law and Sanbica currently stood.
The green smoke could reach higher than any tree in the forest, but it couldn't rise beyond the mountains themselves.
Law intended to take Sanbica to the summit to assess the situation.
Likewise, the creatures fleeing for their lives seemed to understand that the mountaintops were the only safe haven… their Noah's Ark.
There were several such mountains scattered across different directions in the forest, positioned far apart but visible to one another, forming a rough triangle.
Law and Sanbica climbed to the top of the mountain and looked at the situation below with solemn expressions.
The beast tide driven by the green smoke was vast and chaotic. Animals were often knocked over and left behind in the frenzy, only to burst back out from the edge of the smoke.
But the moment any creature was engulfed, even if they managed to escape the fog, death was inevitable.
Countless creatures died one after another in this desperate flight for survival.
Law just watched quietly as the green smoke reached the foot of the mountain. Then, many creatures rushed out of the green smoke and climbed up the steep mountain paths.
The green smoke only wrapped around the foot of the mountain. Although it could cover the entire forest, it didn't threaten the mountains themselves.
In other words, as long as they stay on the top of the mountain, they should not be affected by the green smoke.
However, driven purely by instinct, the creatures were swarming toward the summit.
Some of them had already been infected by the poison, so if they used their last breath to reach the top, they could spread the unknown toxin even here.
In fact, the other mountains had already been compromised. While the green smoke hadn't reached those peaks, the infected creatures that had made it there brought the contamination with them… putting the surviving refugees in danger.
Law narrowed his eyes as he watched the crazed horde below. It wasn't hard to figure this out, and his brows instantly furrowed.
He suddenly looked at Sanbica and said, "No matter what happens next, you must not stay too far away from me."
Sanbica nodded heavily, though she looked like she had something on her mind.
She wanted to touch the green smoke herself and figure out what it was, but since she couldn't identify the main components of the green smoke, it would be very risky to touch it rashly, and she also didn't want to cause Law any trouble.
When Kuro heard what Law said, he immediately turned into a black rope and tied Law and Sanbica together.
Both of them were a bit taken aback by the move, but they both agreed with Kuro's approach.
At this point, figuring out how to escape was truly a difficult problem. Even though Law had a decent amount of Potential Aura, it is unrealistic to maintain his Domain and break out of the green smoke's range.
If a biochemical weapon with such aggressive infectious properties were unleashed in a densely populated human city, it would be catastrophic.
Meanwhile, in the plain area outside the forest, Linne and the others were traveling at a fairly fast speed.
When they saw the outline of the forest, they immediately noticed something was off. At the same time, they saw members of the Seirin Group coming out of the forest, as well as a large number of artificial creatures.