The disc's energy beams hadn't only blasted the ruins' surface into scorched earth... they had also extensively damaged the negative first floor's passages.
The ceiling in the passages had already been worn by time, and coupled with the tough vine plants growing everywhere, the stone slabs had developed cracks and some minor fissures.
This wasn't a problem initially, but the disc's bombardment zone became the straw that broke the camel's back, causing the already somewhat dilapidated negative first floor to suffer a large-scale collapse.
The entrances from the surface to the negative first floor were mostly blocked, but the many collapsed slabs falling into the passage made the entrances meaningless.
And the large collapse on the negative first floor blocked many routes to the negative second floor, rendering it unrecognizable.
No one knew that Netero was actually still alive, buried in a pile of rocks.
Just as he was about to step over death's threshold, the Lichen and Grass Jelly had forcibly pulled his life back.
He had been sleeping, recovering from his injuries, but the sudden collapse buried him while also waking him up.
The moment his consciousness stirred, a few words popped into Netero's mind, 'Not dead.'
He raised his hand and pushed away the stone slab on top of him. The faint starlight filtering down from above reflected on his dirt-caked face.
He had actually survived. Yet, he felt no sense of relief.
Netero looked at the starry sky visible through the gap in the ceiling, like a frog at the bottom of a well.
The collapsed slabs had pinned half his body, but thanks to the protection of his Nen, he wasn't seriously injured.
He gazed at the well-sized starry sky for a moment, then sighed softly. Using both hands, he pushed away the broken slabs covering him and struggled to rise from the rubble.
Netero's clothes were torn in many places. There wasn't a clean spot on his entire body... basically, everything was stained with a mix of blood and dirt.
He looked utterly miserable, yet his life force pulsed strongly.
Netero looked down at the faint green residue on his fingertips, then at his intact chest, astonished by the perfect effect of the Lichen and Grass Jelly.
It could only be said that the products of the Dark Continent were utterly unreasonable. Not to mention the penetrating chest wound, it could even repair damaged organs...
Netero lowered his hand, strode to the passage wall, pulled down a section of vine root, and swallowed it in a few large gulps. He continued eating several more sections before stopping.
After replenishing his body's energy, Netero didn't linger. He squeezed out through the broken opening and emerged on the surface.
The massive black disc hovering in the air immediately entered his field of vision.
"What is that...?!"
Seeing the disc motionless in the distant sky, Netero's expression tightened.
He had no time to focus on the disc... he just wanted to find his teammates as soon as possible.
He turned his back to the disc and walked briskly forward.
Just then, a wave of Aura came from behind, locking onto him.
"Hmm?"
The tip of Netero's right foot, which had stepped forward, suddenly jabbed the ground, shooting his body several meters ahead.
Then, twisting his ankle, he turned to face the direction ahead.
In the night, over a dozen streaks of light shot from the bottom of the disc, like shooting stars trailing tails of flame.
Netero's gaze was steady. He opened his Aura Nodes, released his Nen, and covered his body like armor.
In the span of a few blinks, the dozen or so streaks of light had landed within a hundred meters of him, but without making a sound.
Judging by their flight speed, they demonstrated quite advanced Emission-type techniques.
They had dissipated their momentum before landing, showing similarly excellent Manipulation-type skills.
The Nen glow faded, revealing ten individuals as thin as bamboo poles, wearing white masks.
Seeing their appearance, Netero raised an eyebrow.
'Masked Humanoids...' (T/N: Changing Masked Man to Masked Humanoid since it seemed to be their species.)
'This is troublesome.'
Netero found it deeply problematic.
The Masked Humanoids had chosen their landing positions cleverly, forming a circle and trapping Netero in the center.
Each Masked Humanoid radiated a blazing Aura, very conspicuous in the night.
The patterns of various creatures on their masks seemed lifelike in the Nen glow.
Their entire faces were covered by smooth white masks, so he couldn't see their eyes, but he could feel their gazes.
From those gazes focused on him, Netero felt hostility.
That was only natural.
Netero assumed a stance equally suitable for attack and defense, his eyes shifting left and right, looking for an opportunity to break through.
He had no intention of fighting the Masked Humanoids head-on. Not to mention how many more might be inside the disc, just the ten on the scene were more than he could handle.
Using the Masked Humanoid encountered earlier in the ruins as a reference, he was confident against three or five. But here, there were ten, leaving him only with the option to flee.
If there were any chance of victory, it would rely on terrain advantages, but this was an open plain...
The Masked Humanoids didn't attack immediately, and Netero used the time to study their positions.
'No gaps at all,' Netero thought silently.
The ten stood in a circle, the distances between them almost indistinguishable, eerily uniform.
Since there were no gaps, he would have to create one himself.
Netero's expression was solemn. The direction he chose to break through was opposite the disc.
He moved his right foot slightly forward half a step. Just as he was about to act, a fluctuation from underground instinctively made him pause.
About twenty meters away, the Scarecrow emerged from the hole, reaching the surface.
The Scarecrow's position was also within the Masked Humanoids' encirclement. Its appearance caused a slight disruption in their Aura fields.
Netero silently watched the Scarecrow, which had come up from the negative first floor. He couldn't tell for the moment if this was good or bad.
'Was this a tiger in the front and a wolf in the back, or a tripartite confrontation?'
The Scarecrow first looked at the relatively close Netero, then at the surrounding Masked Humanoids, remaining very quiet for a time.
This wasn't a situation where 'wrong door' could be used as an excuse to escape.
...
Surrounding the ruins was barren land. A two-kilometer walk led to a vast forest.
The appearance of the disc made Beyond and his group retreat decisively.
After leaving the ruins, the team entered the forest and, even as night fell, didn't stop moving forward.
The exploration of the underground ruins had cost the team considerable losses, with over half its members sacrificed.
The silver lining was that the core members of the team were still present.
Their time hadn't run out yet.
In Beyond's plan, the least he wanted was to bring back a form of Hope, regardless of the Calamity that might come back with it.
This was one of the reasons Netero had wanted to stop him.
On the other side, the surviving members of the Hunter Hunter Association were camped at the forest's edge.
Their losses were similarly severe...
On Hunter Association's side, only seven members had escaped: Cheadle, Cluck, Morel, Ginta, Dafifi, Menchi, and Tocary.
Of the surviving Zodiac members, only Cheadle, Cluck, and Ginta remained.
During the evacuation from the ruins, everyone was injured, some seriously, some lightly.
Fortunately, Law had provided Grass Jelly, allowing their injuries to heal quickly.
On the Dark Continent, forests are among the most dangerous areas, but the forest's edge was relatively safe.
Cheadle and the others temporarily rested at the forest's edge. From here, looking towards the ruins, they could faintly see the black disc in the night sky.
As long as that thing was there, they couldn't act rashly.
At night, the Hunter Association's members either sat or stood on a flat area, while Morel's white smoke animals spread out around them, keeping watch.
Tocary, whose appearance and build resembled Momotaro, took stored food from a lucky bag and distributed it to her teammates.
She was responsible for transporting and storing supplies. As long as she was there, food wasn't a problem, and some important equipment was also stored in the bag.
Everyone took the food and ate silently.
Cluck seemed to have little appetite. After a few bites, she put her food aside, closed her eyes, and meditated, recharging the ability of Path of Letter's Return, hoping to use the tracking function once before midnight.
Soon, except for Cluck, everyone had finished their food.
The forest's edge was eerily quiet, without a single insect chirp.
The group sat close together, able to hear each other's breathing, and even heartbeats if one listened carefully.
Even though everyone present was a Pro Hunter, the experiences of the past day still left them reeling.
The team's morale was extremely low... no one spoke.
Cheadle looked at the others, opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again.
Perhaps, at this moment, everyone, including herself, just needed some quiet.
The white smoke animals formed a perfect perimeter, preventing the team from having to stay constantly tense.
Time passed silently like this. After about fifteen minutes, Cluck suddenly opened her eyes, a flash of light within them.
[Recipient – Isaac Netero]
Cluck's head snapped up, looking at her teammates around her. She paused, then reached for her half-eaten food, trying to calm herself as much as possible, then said, "The Chairman... is alive."
Her voice, trembling slightly, was like a sharp sword piercing the lifeless, silent atmosphere.
Everyone's gazes, shifting from dim to bright, focused sharply on Cluck.
And Cluck was now devouring her food.
She needed to replenish her energy and strength.
Because Netero was alive.
...
Inside the Hide-and-Seek Dimension.
The little fox Nen Beast monitored the black disc's movements.
Just now, it had captured the image of ten streaks of light, thin as needles, departing from the bottom of the disc.
Ging and the others watching the feed also saw the streaks fall towards the ruins.
Compared to the giant disc, those streaks were like needles... if it weren't night, they'd be hard to see.
"Could they be more Masked Humanoids?"
Ging speculated, stroking his chin.
Apart from the busy ones like Salin, Shiro, Tonpa, and others, having nothing else to do, gathered around the feed.
Hearing Ging's words, they felt it was a likely possibility.
The disc had been parked above the ruins for most of the day without any action.
Sending people down to the ruins now was a normal move.
Ging looked towards Law but decided not to disturb him.
Compared to the disc and the Masked Humanoids, intelligence from the Gatekeeper Clan was more important.
Besides, given the team's current position and situation, they could not confront the disc no matter what.
If they possessed a large relic like the Mountain Ship, that would be a different story.
Inside the makeshift room, Coo had completely lost count of how many times Kuro had mated with her.
The battle during the day had exhausted all her energy. At her current recovery rate, it would take at least two days to store enough energy to resist.
If not for the conspicuous restraints on the ground, with just one day of rest, she could have started resisting, or at least found the strength to kill herself.
Coo let Kuro ride her. What shamed and embarrassed her most was that her body had grown accustomed to Kuro's violation.
She attributed this reaction to her energy depletion.
If she weren't powerless to control her body, things wouldn't have turned out this way.
Regardless, she would not admit it.
Kuro didn't know what Coo was thinking. In his view, only Coo's active cooperation would count as conquering her body.
Unfortunately, despite his efforts for most of the day, while Coo no longer resisted, she showed no signs of cooperating either.
He had already decided to see it through. Even if it were a desert, he would dig out a clear spring.
Outside the room, Law was thoughtful.
To guard against accidents, he used En to monitor Coo's movements.
Say what you will, but after most of the day, there was still some progress.
Initially, Coo had resisted fiercely, trying to make Kuro uncomfortable no matter what. Now, she let Kuro do as he pleased.
Although there was progress, it didn't seem to align with the intended plan... in fact, it had gone completely off track.
In his script, Coo would eventually be unable to bear Kuro's prolonged violation and, to avoid further suffering, would actively cooperate with intelligence gathering.
But now, Coo had not only endured it but seemed to have adapted to Kuro's violation.
"This..."
Law felt a little desperate.
If things continued like this, not to mention extracting information or Coo's endurance, he was afraid Kuro would get bored first.
In reality, he was worrying too much.
Kuro's current thought was: Rome wasn't built in a day... it took day after day!
...
A rocky intertidal zone on a certain coast of the New Continent.
Waves crashed against the rocks, shattering into white foam.
The roaring sea echoed over the area.
Two figures, soaking wet, supported each other as they walked onto the beach and under a rocky cliff.
The two figures were Giles and Kincaid, the only two survivors of the Voyage Agency's team.
They had successfully returned to the New Continent.
They owed their return to the assistance of the Gatekeeper, Blue Shadow.
From beginning to end, Blue Shadow, guarding the gate, had not been affected by the internal changes of the clan and continued to fulfill his duties.
Thus, he did not follow Red Shadow's order and had a guide send Giles and Kincaid back to the New Continent.
"W-We... are back?"
Leaning on Giles, Kincaid's complexion was pale, his figure gaunt. Compared to before, he no longer had his former vigor.
"Yes."
Giles responded solemnly.
Compared to Kincaid, Giles, a top-tier Nen User, had not been greatly affected physically or in his complexion.
"Pity... such a pity..."
Kincaid murmured.
Giles remained silent.
Thus, step by step, they left the beach.
Looking ahead, neither noticed the anomaly on their bodies.
On Kincaid's wet hair, a single black strand stood out from the rest of his golden hair.
That was a Calamity placed by the Gatekeeper Clan.