Where the black smoke coiled, a terrifying Aura emanated.
Everyone present instinctively stopped their actions, their gazes drawn to the Aura of the black smoke.
The Hunter Association's members didn't even dare to check on Pyon's condition.
They feared that averting their gaze would invite an attack from the black smoke.
'How did it get here?'
A flicker of fear flashed deep in everyone's eyes, their faces full of gravity.
Coo's arrival had truly caught them off guard.
The writhing black smoke did not have surging, powerful Nen.
Yet, the Aura of one who had experienced countless killing fields and devoured countless living beings gave a feeling of being insurmountable.
The scene was utterly silent, so quiet that the drop of a pin could be clearly heard.
A single vertical eye appeared on Coo's smoke-form body, floating with a dense mass of Nen that gave the pupil a shining glow.
She swept her gaze over every human present.
'Not here?'
She murmured to herself, then landed on the ground.
The black smoke writhed but did not solidify into physical form.
The only visible vertical eye might be the avenue for Beyond and the others to gather information.
From that vertical eye, one could sense the black smoke's hostility.
No one dared to act rashly. It was like a group of unarmed people suddenly encountering a fierce beast... whoever moved first might become the primary target.
If those present weren't divided into two factions, things might not have turned out this way.
Because the factions were divided, neither wanted to shoulder the threat on behalf of the other.
Coo looked at the people present, contemplating whether to expend the effort to eliminate these humans.
"Among these humans, the strongest is..."
Coo suddenly looked at Beyond.
Meeting Coo's icy gaze, Beyond ignored Morel in front of him, withdrew his arm, calmly mobilized his Nen, and prepared for battle.
Watching Beyond's reaction, Coo remained silent.
After a moment, a thin slit suddenly appeared beneath the vertical eye.
"Exploring endlessly, then destroying yourselves... that's what you humans... have always been doing."
The language spoken from that slit was the common language of the Six Continents.
Hearing Coo's words, everyone was shocked.
Not by the content of her words, but by the language she used.
'What exactly was this black smoke? A Nen Ability? Or an unknown Nen User?'
'No, the words 'you humans' revealed her stance.'
The appearance of the black smoke and her words shocked and bewildered everyone present.
Just then, the black smoke began to take shape as it floated.
Its volume, previously smaller than Biscuit in her untransformed state, after the change directly swelled in size, forming a four-limbed biological form about the size of an ordinary leopard.
In an instant, silver lightning patterns spread across the jet-black, leopard-like body, like the root-like stems of a peanut buried deep underground.
Over a dozen sharp silver spines spread out on either side of its back, resembling a pair of steel wings.
While on its head, there was still a tuft of black smoke writhing like flames, not yet materialized. But now it had a pair of quite cool, jet-black animal eyes, and on its forehead, the same intimidating vertical eye.
Without those sharp silver spines and the silver lightning patterns covering half its body, it would look quite similar to Kuro's leopard form.
"Magical Beast?"
Watching Coo take physical form, everyone tensed, many questions arising in their minds.
Seeming because it hadn't transformed into physical form for a long time, Coo felt very stiff.
She forcefully shook her head, shaking out a pair of ears with spikes that extended backwards like long hair.
In her black smoke form, there were many things she could do, but also many she couldn't.
Directly turning into physical form also indicated that she did not underestimate any of the Nen Users present.
The clear hostility turned into killing intent at this moment.
Coo had developed lethal intent.
She hadn't come here to deal with these humans.
But she didn't mind wasting a little time to eliminate them.
"We, after all, have no obligation to bear the risks for you humans."
Nen suddenly appeared on Coo's body, shaking like a raging current.
In that instant, everyone felt an intense sense of crisis.
Coo's words upon arriving seemed less like communication and more like talking to herself.
She suddenly moved. Everyone only saw a ghostly shadow flash by.
Coo's primary target was… Beyond.
Deal with the strong first, then take care of the weak.
This was a completely different approach from Beyond's.
Dozens of seconds ago, Beyond had picked the weakest to bully, attacking Pyon.
Dozens of seconds later, Coo specifically picked the tough nut, so she attacked Beyond first.
Her speed, perhaps faster than lightning, left only a blur in everyone's eyes before she appeared before Beyond.
Then, directing the silver spikes on her ears and back, she thrust straight at Beyond, who was right in front of her.
The overwhelmingly dense Nen that accompanied the thrust seemed capable of scorching the air.
Facing Coo's attack, Beyond, mentally prepared, calmly kicked backward, simultaneously bending his limbs and holding them before him as a shield.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Dozens of blood sprays suddenly erupted from the limbs Beyond held before him, and he flew backward.
Coo's silver spikes had not only bypassed Beyond's damage-reflection ability but had also easily pierced through his defense.
Seeing the smoke-formed, leopard-like Magical Beast injure Beyond in a single exchange, every Nen User present moved in their own way.
The Hunter Association's side quickly retreated from Beyond.
Morel, who was closest, had picked up Pyon, who had fallen to the ground, before retreating backward.
That Magical Beast had targeted Beyond, which was the most welcome result for the Hunter Association's side.
It was like a lottery draw... whoever got drawn was unlucky.
The Nen Users on Beyond's side, however, couldn't simply retreat as decisively as the Hunter Association.
The sight of Beyond being injured in a single exchange had also been witnessed by them.
No time to ponder just how high the Magical Beast's attack power had to be to pierce Beyond's defense.
What they needed to do was support Beyond.
Golem and Muherr reacted the fastest. As Beyond flew backward, they quickly adjusted their gun barrels and unleashed their strongest firepower at Coo.
Countless Nen Bullets shot from the barrels, weaving a dense barrage that rained down on Coo, who had just landed.
Cunningly, the line of fire Golem laid down also encompassed the Hunter Association's members, attempting to kill two birds with one stone.
However, the line of fire he laid was dodged by the Hunter Association's members before reaching Coo.
Standing before the barrage, Coo made no move to dodge. The spikes extending backward suddenly softened, turning into whips that created an impenetrable wall of whip shadows before her, smashing the incoming Nen Bullets to pieces.
Every Nen Bullet hit by the whips shattered instantly.
All Nen Bullets, without exception, were knocked down by the whips.
Suddenly, Coo disappeared within the flurry of whip shadows, and the subsequent barrage passed through where she had been standing.
The next moment, she appeared before Beyond, who had just stabilized himself.
By now, dozens of bloody holes dotted Beyond's limbs. Individually, none were severe, but the number made a difference.
Seeing Coo acting on the principle of 'striking while the iron was hot', Beyond's expression was solemn. His pupils reflected Coo's silver spikes thrusting again, but he wasn't flustered, nor did he make any move to respond.
The hedgehog-like cluster of spikes thrust straight at Beyond.
However, Beyond vanished into thin air, replaced by a fish weighing perhaps a dozen pounds that materialized out of nowhere.
The silver spikes went straight on, piercing the large fish.
The large fish struggled violently a few times, then transformed into a mass of Nen that burrowed into Coo's body.
Facing this unexpected turn, Coo was disturbingly calm, without a ripple of emotion.
Because she had lived long.
She could feel that the mass of Nen, after burrowing into her body, directly converted into her own life energy.
Meanwhile, Beyond was standing dozens of meters away, beside Usamen, who had a white headband tied around his forehead.
The scene just now was Usamen using his ability, substituting Beyond with a Nen Fish.
"16.8 pounds, feels like a big loss."
Usamen checked the amount of Potential Aura he had lost.
The man, who had grown up by the sea, now had a pained expression on his face.
Beyond raised an eyebrow, knowing it's not the time to mock Usamen. He looked at Coo dozens of meters away and said candidly, "This guy's tough, let's just run."
'Run again?'
Everyone's faces darkened slightly, but their bodies reacted honestly.
The moment Beyond finished speaking, they quickly concentrated their Nen into their legs and bolted like rabbits.
The Hunter Association, naturally, also ran away without hesitation.
Regardless of the ghostly speed Coo had displayed, the attack that pierced Beyond's defense, or the precision of the whip shadows that knocked down all Nen Bullets…
Every single point made everyone present want to avoid a fight.
Watching the humans flee in different directions, a shadow swirled in Coo's eyes, as if recalling some unpleasant fragment.
She stood still, not pursuing. But the Nen within her body erupted like a bomb. The shockwave of Nen cracking the hard ruin's stone floor with fine lines.
If the negative first floor of the ruins was in darkness, then the Nen Coo erupted with was a bright lamp in the dark, exceptionally dazzling at that moment.
Feeling the Nen eruption from behind, every member of both Beyond's team and the Hunter Association's team was terrified.
That kind of Nen Fluctuation surpassed their existing understanding, seeming to be a realm humanity could never touch.
It was simply... too dangerous!
At that moment, the only thought in everyone's mind was to get as far away from that entity behind them as possible!
The Nen erupting from Coo, after wildly expanding and contracting, suddenly retracted into her body, bringing the threshold for the next eruption under her control.
She silently watched the fleeing humans, coldly saying to herself, "Wasting my strength here is not my wish."
The retracted Nen suddenly erupted once more.
As if a special skill was activated, the silver spikes growing on her ears and back, wreathed in Nen, extended with lightning speed, stabbing towards every fleeing person.
The speed was beyond extreme.
No one successfully dodged... all were hit by the silver spikes.
And the spikes struck them all in the back.
This indicated that when the spikes came swiftly, they didn't even have time to turn around and respond.
Everyone, including Beyond, was hit.
Whether in vital areas, limbs, or insignificant places.
Those struck in vital areas naturally died instantly.
Those struck in the limbs were in deep peril.
Those struck in insignificant places were less affected.
This wasn't a matter of luck.
Coo had aimed at everyone's vital points.
But some were gravely injured and killed, while others had minor injuries.
This reflected different outcomes based on ability level.
This special skill of Coo's, which consumed a vast amount of life force, directly took out over half of the Hunter Association's personnel, while Beyond's side also suffered heavy losses, losing one-third of their number.
Those who survived by avoiding vital areas were all horrified.
Primarily on Beyond's side, they had come to the Dark Continent mentally prepared to challenge the harsh environment.
At least before Coo unleashed her special skill, they thought the most difficult aspects of the Dark Continent were its unsolvable environments, not any individual entity.
But now, this scene before them completely overturned their understanding.
Even Beyond had to admit that this Magical Beast, which had inexplicably appeared here, was purely a monster.
Having achieved results with one move, Coo was unwilling to expend more life force and retracted her extended silver spikes.
Frankly, she was very dissatisfied with the result.
After infusing so much life force, she had thought she would wipe out these humans, leaving only a handful. She hadn't expected so many to survive.
However, remembering the evaluation given by the Red Shadow, she let it go.
After all, it was one of the few groups worthy of high alert in the history of voyages. It was normal for them to perform this way.
Coo coldly watched the humans who had survived by avoiding vital areas. Since she had already expended considerable effort, she had no intention of letting any escape.
Even if they scattered and fled, it didn't matter. She was prepared to hunt down these humans one by one.
"Dying here would be a blessing for your species."
The Gatekeeper Clan had come into contact with the concept of order.
They had more self-awareness than any human, and from beginning to end, they had never agreed with humanity's behavior of exploring endlessly only to self-destruct.
Even broadcasting the Warning to the Sacred Land couldn't change the situation.
Gradually, Coo understood that human actions were driven by curiosity. Only when disaster struck would they learn what it meant to be afraid, what it meant to be desperate.
Now, as the Gatekeeper Clan, they had begun to show signs of shedding their current identity.
When order ceased to exist, even if disaster destroyed the Sacred Land, it would be none of their concern.
The ice-cold killing intent washed over them, causing cold sweat to bead on everyone's foreheads.
They were not ignorant Nen Users, but the strength Coo displayed seemed to transcend the framework of Nen itself.
That gap in strength left only Beyond capable of putting up any fight. Everyone else, even Marione, ranked second in combat power, could only feel the despair of the gap.
...
Coo's Nen was very pure, without a trace of impurity.
It was strength honed over an immense span of time, overwhelmingly strong.
Thus, although her location was very far from the Hide-and-Seek Dimension's exit, Law and his group, who had just come out of the apartment, could still feel Coo's Aura.
Including Law, a chill ran up everyone's spines.
"Like needles," Biscuit said gravely.
"Yes, countless needles!" Shiro added with feigned seriousness.
Tonpa said nervously, "So, that dangerous thing that was above is now down here."