The smoke-wreathed shaft of the Nyoi-Bo reached down to the bottom of the ruins, as if trying to hammer Coo into the lowest depths.
The entire ruins shook without stopping, dust suddenly scattering everywhere, the roar of the impact ringing in their ears.
Law stood suspended in mid-air, one hand pressed against the staff's shaft.
He looked down, following the shaft's length straight down into the lower levels of the ruins.
The swirling dust obscured most of his vision.
This crushing blow, from an outsider's perspective, was indeed spectacular. But they couldn't see the Nen consumed by this move.
To enlarge the Nyoi-Bo to this size required injecting a massive amount of Nen, while also maintaining the high-level Nen Technique, Shu, over the staff.
Both Nen output and control were indispensable.
In other words, doing this was very difficult.
Among human Nen Users, only Law could likely accomplish it.
'It doesn't seem very effective.'
Law's gaze seemed to pierce the dust, landing on a certain spot at the very bottom.
After this blow, Coo's Nen fluctuations were still very active, indicating the effect was unclear.
Law didn't know what means Coo had used to avoid damage. Although this attack had wasted a lot of Nen, with Lichen as a backup, it wasn't a big problem.
With this thought, Law stopped his Nen output. The Nyoi-Bo began to visibly shrink and shorten.
When the staff returned to its normal size, Law put it away into Kuro's space, then landed on the ground, looking at the distant Hunter Association's members. "What are you idiots standing around for? Why aren't you leaving? Get as far away from here as possible."
Hearing Law's blunt words, the Hunter Association's members were taken aback.
After a moment, Cheadle said conflictedly, "But..."
"I don't need your help."
Law interrupted Cheadle, then suddenly looked at the hole broken by the Nyoi-Bo. "Aren't you leaving yet? Once the fighting starts, I won't be able to look out for you."
At this point, Cheadle and the others hesitated no longer. She and the remaining companions turned and ran.
From Law's words, it was clear that the earth-shattering blow just now hadn't killed that monster.
They might be deeply unwilling, but staying truly accomplished nothing.
Neither that monster, nor Law as he was now, were on their level.
The Hunter Association began to move away. Beyond's side had already long since fled.
Only fools would stay.
"Ging, you head to the surface too."
"No need for backup?"
Law thought for a moment. "Backup is still necessary, but you need to keep your distance."
Ging raised an eyebrow, looking at the hole smashed by the Nyoi-Bo. "Seems tough to handle. You're not planning on taking prisoners, are you?"
"It's not that I don't plan to... it's that I can't."
Law took out half a chunk of Chasefire Stone, holding it in his palm.
"Understood."
Ging's eyelids lowered. He didn't hesitate, leaping up through the exit pierced by the Nyoi-Bo, reaching the surface directly.
His choice was far quicker than the Hunter Association or Beyond's team.
Back on the surface, Ging immediately retreated, widening the distance. He glanced around but didn't see his teammates.
Presumably, Biscuit and the others had found a relatively safe area. At worst, they could waste some time and energy to create another entrance to the Hide-and-Seek Dimension.
'Nique's Unseen Thing should still be on Kuro...'
Ging thought silently, retreating a considerable distance.
He knew Law didn't intend to fight that Gatekeeper Clan Magical Beast inside the ruins.
That kind of cramped, narrow space favored the Magical Beast.
Inside the ruins' passage, Law watched Ging leave, then looked down at the still dusty lower levels. He cut the half chunk of Chasefire Stone in his palm into several pieces and tossed them into the dust.
Watching several streaks of fire descend through the dust, Law kicked off the air, shot up through the upper hole back to the surface, and quickly stuffed a piece of Lichen into his mouth.
Meanwhile,
In the dark, dusty space of the ruins, a wisp of black smoke was rising upwards, nearly merging with the darkness.
That black smoke was Coo, who had just been smashed to the bottom by the Nyoi-Bo.
At the critical moment, she had used an ability similar to Kuro's form-switching, changing from physical to smoke form, thus avoiding the powerful impact of the staff.
Otherwise, that blow might not have killed her, but she would have been hurt.
Now, seeing several streaks of fire plunging through the dust, Coo immediately became alert.
Then, a dazzling blaze accompanied by terrifying heat filled every visible space in an instant.
A tidal wave of flames thus raced into every corner of the ruins and shot upward, erupting from the hole broken by the staff as a scorching pillar of fire reaching the sky.
By this time, Law had already retreated a hundred meters, calmly watching the massive pillar of fire shooting into the sky.
Even from this distance, the heat blew against his face.
The pillar of fire lasted only a moment before disappearing.
The Chasefire Stone's characteristic was its instantaneous burst, so its duration was very weak.
Having used a full half chunk, Law didn't know if it had any effect. He watched the hole intently while taking out his Shin from Kuro's space.
Given the Manifested Aura that Magical Beast had shown, even with God's Hand combined with the restriction of Shin, it wouldn't be easy to cut through her defense.
As the flames dissipated, leaving only residual heat, a figure suddenly shot out from the hole, landing on the ground completely unharmed.
It was still Coo, in her black leopard form with silver spikes and silver markings.
As Coo landed, Law was already before her.
The White General materialized behind Law, stabbing downward with its blade towards Coo's back.
Simultaneously, Law drove his own blade in a sweeping cut.
Two bright blade glows, one high and one low, struck Coo.
With a resounding clang like metal striking metal, Coo, just having regained her balance, flew backward, smashing through buildings along the way.
At the last moment, she had used her silver spikes to block the blades of Law and the White General.
Seeing Coo flying backward, Law kicked off the ground and chased through the air.
Just then, Coo's cold, slightly angry gaze swept over him, followed by the extended spikes, like dozens of silver serpents with jaws wide open.
Law flipped in mid-air, stepping on pockets of air. By using his exceedingly precise Nen control, he managed to twist and turn in the air, dodging the dozens of thrusting spikes.
Watching this, a flash of surprise appeared deep in Coo's eyes. For a moment, she seemed to see a shadow of Don Freecss in Law.
As this thought flashed through her mind, Law had already arrived before her.
'Chance.'
Law's eyes gleamed. He rapidly mobilized his Nen, concentrating it mostly on Shin.
Taking advantage of Coo having most of her Nen dispersed to her spikes, he seized this opening to slash her in two with one stroke, securing victory.
However, just as Law swung his blade down, Coo's body suddenly expanded, forcefully knocking him back.
Law stabilized himself in mid-air, astonished at Coo's rapidly inflating volume.
Meanwhile, Beyond's team emerging from the ruins, the Hunter Association's team, and even Biscuit and the others watching through Nique's ability, all witnessed Coo's giantification.
A colossal beast, exuding an ancient, ferocious intent, thus burst into everyone's view.
"Roar!!!"
Coo, now giant-sized, opened her massive maw and bellowed.
In an instant, the invisible shockwave reduced the nearby buildings to rubble, sweeping up swirling dust clouds that spread far into the distance.
…
Giantified, Coo stood like a mountain in everyone's sight.
Her appearance hadn't changed, but the Nen covering her body had actually increased along with her size.
Normally, whether Magical Beasts or Nen Users, there is a maximum value for Manifested Aura, and it does not change with body size.
Among human Nen Users, those who can even double their size are practically nonexistent.
Take Kuro, for example. His giantification limit is around 6-7 times, because he can only support that much Manifested Aura.
But the Coo before them didn't seem bound by this rule. Even though her volume had become as large as a mountain, the Nen covering her body hadn't diminished at all, still stably layered over her form.
In an area further from the scene, Nique's fox Nen Beast transmitted the images from near Kuro, projecting them onto a rock.
Biscuit and the others saw the giantified Coo, surprise appearing on their faces.
What surprised them wasn't the volume of Coo's change, but the Nen covering her body. They had never seen anything like it.
People like Shiro had been on the Dark Continent for a while now. Although they hadn't seen the indescribably colossal creatures Law had mentioned, they had seen their share of giant lifeforms.
Nevertheless, this was the first time they had seen a giantified creature maintain a state of Ken!
'Wasn't that a bit too terrifying?'
Unable to hide their shock, they couldn't imagine how strong the destructive power of such a large volume, enhanced by Nen, could be.
Watching the image of the giantified Coo in the projection, the skeleton's eye sockets flickered red at a rapid frequency.
He seemed to have thought of something, and Kuro's figure was involved.
If he told the humans beside him about that possibility, they would probably scoff.
After all, that possibility seemed like a fantasy.
But that was also the source of Coo's ability to achieve such a feat.
'How to escape...'
The skeleton stealthily glanced at the icy-faced Stargie, sighing inwardly.
Although he felt that this human team's overall strength was very formidable, he could also see that they were heading towards an abyss.
So, he didn't want to fall into the abyss with them.
Back at the ruins, the change brought about by Coo also stunned Beyond's team and the Hunter Association's members.
The terror of the Dark Continent was gradually revealing itself to them.
The Hunter Association, led by Cheadle, now deeply understood what kind of place the Dark Continent really was.
Beyond's side, while shocked, hadn't lost their motivation to challenge the unknown.
"Ha."
Beyond revealed a complex expression mixing fear and excitement.
Thinking that existences like Coo might be commonplace on the Dark Continent, he couldn't tell if he was more afraid or excited.
At the very least, he would be afraid, but he wouldn't back down.
"This..."
Ging looked up at the giantified Coo, his eyelids twitching.
His gaze quickly swept over, landing on Law's back.
'Under these circumstances, should I pull Law into the game space and quickly disengage?'
Ging was considering this, but Law hadn't given him any signal.
'Did Law still plan to engage?'
Within the battle circle, Law watched Coo's Manifested Aura, which had increased along with her size, his eyes filled with deep astonishment. He too was taken aback.
As for Kuro, he was already so frightened, only thinking of pulling Law away.
The earlier Coo had been a worthy opponent.
Now?
Kuro felt they should just run away.
But his nearly incoherent words didn't elicit any reaction from Law.
Because Law didn't intend to back down.
It wasn't that he wanted to see if this monster was a paper tiger, but that temporarily avoiding the fight was meaningless.
The opponent was of the Gatekeeper Clan and had come specifically for him.
If he didn't deal with it now, it would forever be a sharp blade hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment.
Besides, the opponent clearly had some tracking ability... otherwise, how would they know to be here?
Considering all this, Law hadn't decisively avoided the fight.
While resisting the sound waves of Coo's roar, he retreated, widening the distance.
At this moment, he was probably only the size of one of Coo's eyes.
The size difference between them was too vast, not to mention the Manifested Aura...
The giantified Coo seemed to become even more violent. She suddenly stopped roaring and looked down at the ant-like Law.
Suddenly, the silver spikes on her ears and back all thrust towards Law with tremendous force.
The scene was like someone using canned cola to smash an ant, and not just one or two cans, but dozens.
Seeing dozens of giantified silver spikes falling straight down, Law's expression changed.
He made an immediate decision, leaping into the air and landing on one of the spikes. After ensuring his safety, he ran forward along the spike.
In the distance, Beyond and his group saw Law not running away but actually trying to fight the enlarged Coo. They thought Law was insane!
"Go."
Beyond made an immediate decision to get far away from this place of trouble as quickly as possible.
Thus, while keeping an eye on the battle behind them, they headed in another direction.
On the spike, Law ran, trying to reach Coo's head via the spikes.
He could see that Coo's three animal eyes were now completely bloodshot, emanating a cold and furious killing intent.
Suddenly, the surrounding spikes converged upon him, especially one ahead that pressed down from above.
Law's expression changed. He leaped up and summoned the White General.
The White General raised its blade in an upward slash. Surprisingly, this cut deflected the spike and even carved a deep gash into it.
'Defense weakened?'
Law's heart stirred, 'Could it really be a paper tiger?'
Thinking this, Law became ferocious. He turned back and, again directing the White General, slashed at the same gash.
Those watching the battle saw one of Coo's silver spikes severed by Law, falling to the ground with a resounding crash. The ground shook violently, mirroring their internal turmoil at that moment.
'This is utterly insane.'
This was the feeling of Beyond and his group right now.
But how could they know that Law had already taken down many colossal creatures deep under the sea?
Though those deep-sea behemoths didn't have Manifested Aura spread throughout their bodies, they were still not something humans could easily dispatch.
After severing one of Coo's silver spikes, Law gained confidence and put away his Shin into Kuro's space.
In the current situation, Shin was practically useless.
However, there weren't many other options right now: the Nyoi-Bo, which could grow and shrink freely, a potent mixed toxin, and the Chasefire Stone that could release high-temperature energy.
Realizing that Coo's defense wasn't that strong, Law's thoughts became more active.
The first method that came to mind was the mixed toxin enhanced by Surprise Box.
Deciding to act, he took the mix of toxins he had stored away and injected them all into the spike.
The means by which an ant can overcome an elephant are essentially rare.
Perhaps poison was one of them.
But Law didn't hold out too much hope.
After injecting the toxin, he continued to close in on Coo's head.
During this time, he severed three more of Coo's silver spikes, but to the giantified Coo, this damage was insignificant.
Conversely, Coo also found it harder to catch Law.
And because of her increased size, she hadn't yet realized that Law had injected a large amount of mixed toxin into her body.