The spherical object was entirely pale, with sprout-like appendages about the size of bean sprouts, though their wriggling motion more closely resembled meat tendrils.
Whether bean sprouts or meat tendrils, this was definitely not a vegetable.
Law stood two hundred meters away from the bean sprout sphere, already entering a combat stance as he stared intently.
A moment later, the bean sprout sphere remained suspended motionless in the air, seemingly unaware of Law's presence, while Kuro kept urging Law to hurry up and attack.
Law raised his hand, shaping it like a gun, his index finger pointed at the bean sprout sphere.
He concentrated a dense amount of Aura, forming a marble-sized Nen Bullet.
Whoosh!
Without any recoil, the Nen Bullet tore through the air like lightning, piercing through the bean sprout sphere's body in just over a second.
The sphere then fell directly to the ground, silent and still.
"So simple?"
What was meant to be a probing attack had directly taken down the bean sprout sphere.
This outcome left Law, who had a deep understanding of the Dark Continent, astonished.
"Hurry up, hurry up! See if it's suitable as an ingredient," Kuro's delighted voice emerged from the back of Law's hand.
"Are you serious?" Law gave the tattoo on his hand a strange look.
"Nonsense! This forest is so big, but there's not even a single bird feather. We finally encountered something that looks like a vegetable," Kuro said.
"That thing doesn't look like a vegetable at all."
Law shook his head slightly and walked toward where the meat tendril sphere had fallen.
Despite having shot it down and it showing no signs of life, Law remained vigilant. After all, nothing on the Dark Continent could be judged by conventional logic.
Law stopped a few meters away from the bean sprout sphere, his gaze fixed on the fist-sized penetrating wound on its body.
There was no sign of anything resembling blood, and the numerous bean sprouts that had been wriggling incessantly were now motionless.
"You go check it out."
Law called out Kuro, who dashed forward and approached the bean sprout sphere's corpse. He poked it with his claw, but there was no reaction.
"Stone dead." Kuro said.
Hearing this, Law walked over, crouched down, and examined the bean sprout sphere up close.
He extended his palm, releasing his Domain to envelop the sphere. Like unraveling a cocoon, he separated the bean sprout-like objects twisted into a spherical shape one by one.
Each bean sprout-like object was only as long as a middle finger. After all of them were unraveled and placed on the ground, no other objects, such as vital organs, were found.
Law reached out and pressed on a bean sprout-like object. The texture was somewhere between crisp and soft, lifeless and extremely fragile.
The key point was that the White Smoke Font didn't provide any information.
Silently, Law withdrew his hand. He thought that if it weren't for his Domain protecting them and keeping the rain out, those egg-sized raindrops might have broken the bean sprouts.
Yet, earlier, the bean sprout sphere had hovered mid-air not only without being shattered by the rain but also remaining completely still.
'Don's Journey to the New World only described some peculiar things of the Eastern Continent. This was the Western Continent. Without the White Smoke Font providing information prompts, it was impossible to understand what these things were.'
Looking at the numerous bean sprout-like objects spread flat on the ground, Law decided to leave them be.
Without the assurance of the White Smoke Font, there was no need to engage with them further.
"So? Can we eat it?" Kuro asked.
"No."
Law couldn't be bothered to explain and directly refuted.
Upon hearing this, Kuro was very disappointed. He really wanted to try the taste of that chicken.
Law stood up, preparing to continue deeper. The strangest thing about this forest was the scarcity of living creatures.
From the tree hollow to here, it was a good five kilometers, yet they had only found one strange and fragile bean sprout sphere.
He had only walked five or six hundred meters forward when a high-pitched, sharp cry suddenly came from behind.
Whirling around, he saw the rain curtain hundreds of meters ahead giving form to sound waves, rippling out in circles.
The source of the sharp cry was a dwarf humanoid. Its head was large, hairless and eyebrowless, with only hollow eyes and a mouth. Its body and limbs were emaciated like wood, very similar to Gon after he used a powerful Vow and Limitation and bore the consequences in the original work.
Those limbs, that body… they resembled a desiccated corpse severely lacking moisture.
The dwarf humanoid kept its mouth wide open, screaming incessantly. The sound waves rippled through the rain faster and more urgently.
After a few moments, its open mouth suddenly closed, and the screams vanished into the sound of the rain.
It took several steps forward, stopping in front of the bean sprout sphere's corpse. Then it looked up, its hollow eyes staring directly at Law.
The rain brought a cold chill to the air. The not-so-bright forest seemed suddenly shrouded by a thin, dark curtain.
Meeting the hollow sockets of the dwarf humanoid, Law's first thought wasn't of Alluka, but of a mural in the Stargie's Tomb.
"One."
Law silently observed his surroundings, reaching a judgment.
'If it's just one.'
He thought, then condensed Aura in his palm, slowly forming an Aura Blade.
Regardless of the threat level, the moment their eyes met, as long as it wasn't human, it was better to eliminate it directly.
With this thought, Law threw the Aura Blade at the dwarf humanoid without hesitation.
"Raah!"
The dwarf humanoid seemed to see the Aura Blade. Its closed mouth suddenly snapped open, emitting sharp sound waves that sent rippling circles through the rain curtain.
The sound waves seemed to contain a strange ability. Upon colliding with the Aura Blade, both dissolved into nothingness.
Seeing this, Law deemed the sound waves quite threatening.
While creating distance, he took out a throwing weapon made of patterned stone from Kuro's space, wrapped it with Aura, and hurled it at the dwarf humanoid again.
The extremely hard throwing weapon, enhanced with Aura, pierced directly through the sound waves, shattering the dwarf humanoid's head.
The dwarf humanoid's remaining emaciated body slowly fell to the ground, lifeless.
Its head shattered, just like the meat tendril sphere, without spilling any fluid resembling blood.
Frowning, Law didn't hesitate for long before walking toward the dwarf humanoid's corpse.
He wanted to use the White Smoke Font to appraise the dwarf humanoid, hoping to gain some information.
He had only taken a few steps when numerous bean sprout spheres floated over from all directions, forcing him to immediately stop.
The next second, figures emerged from the rain curtain… dwarf humanoids of identical height and appearance, about a hundred of them, surrounding him.
The light seemed to dim, as if a thin black veil had descended, adding a touch of chill.
Without any warning, these dwarf humanoids opened their mouths, emitting sharp sound waves aimed at Law at the center.
[Domain.]
Law didn't know much about these sound waves, only that they could neutralize a fairly powerful Aura Blade. He immediately deployed his Domain, preparing to defend against the sound waves.
Countless sound waves came from all sides, actually breaking through his En and striking every inch of Law's body.
"What?"
Law was shocked. He didn't feel pain, but his arms, legs, and chest all shattered, turning into meat tendril-like shapes that scattered everywhere.
In this critical moment, Law actually thought of a spider from his childhood memories.
It was a spider with a distended abdomen. He had hit it with a slipper back then, picked it up, and the spider died. But from its abdomen, at least a hundred baby spiders emerged, scattering in all directions.
Now, his own body was scattering into meat tendrils under the sound wave assault, so similar to that childhood memory.
His thoughts were suddenly cut off, perhaps because the room's light had been turned off.
Then, the next second, light returned.
The afterimage in the rain remained on his retina, but Law stared blankly at the nearly extinguished fire in the tree hollow, his face full of bewilderment.
Outside, the wind and rain continued. Everyone who should be there was present, with minimal changes.