The Forest of Medusa was the only place Coo could offer.
She could not be certain that the Mender was in the Forest of Medusa, but it was the most likely place to be.
Given the pace of Kuro and Law, traveling from here to the Forest of Medusa would take at least three months, and that was without accounting for unexpected incidents along the way.
If they encountered any trouble, it would certainly delay the journey. Moreover, Law was not made of iron and needed rest as well.
The good news was that he had synthesized a new Nitro Rice using a Surprise Box. Wearing it on his person could increase his endurance.
The giant-sized Kuro walked through the air with each step. The Domain Law released formed an invisible barrier around Kuro, blocking the oncoming gale force winds.
Outside the Domain, the roaring wind was deafening.
Inside the Domain, it was so quiet that the drop of a pin could be heard.
Coo's intelligence value had not yet been fully extracted. So, while traveling, Ging and the others continued to exchange information with Coo.
Law had to control his Nen and had no spare energy to participate, but he could still listen in.
Three months of travel time would pass in the blink of an eye on the Six Continents, but on the Dark Continent, each day felt like a year.
Even traveling by air, they often encountered some behemoths.
Every time they did, they could only avoid their edge.
Troublesome as it was, it was still better than going by land.
And so, Law's team steadily advanced towards the Forest of Medusa.
…
Two months later, at the Blackwater Lake.
Upon the lake's sticky, ink-like surface stood a giant white skull of a gorilla.
On either side of the skull were two very long white bone arms, floating on the lake's surface like outstretched mini mountain ranges.
Don Freecss, draped in a black robe, stood within the eye socket of the gorilla skull. From a distance, he looked like a small tear stain, which showed just how massive the white gorilla skull was.
However, through some unknown principle, such a huge skeleton managed to stay steadily afloat on the lake.
Surrounding the gorilla skull were floating plank settlements, arranged in the shape of a four-leaf clover, covering a considerable area.
On the edges of the floating planks stood humans with darkish skin, only about one meter tall.
They looked at Don Freecss, standing in the gorilla's eye socket, with expressions of the utmost adoration.
Over two months of contact, Don Freecss had become a god in their eyes. Especially after he had disposed of the lake's ruler, which was the very gorilla skeleton before them.
Only the gorilla's head and arms floated on the lake's surface. In reality, it had no neck, or more precisely, beneath its head was a catfish-like body, and those two long arms were attached to either side of its lower jaw.
When he first saw that deformed body structure, Don Freecss, being well-traveled, had no particular reaction. However, killing that gorilla fish had cost him a great deal of effort.
As for why the gorilla fish had turned into bone so quickly, it wasn't due to being devoured by strange fish in the lake, but because the humans living on the floating planks had cut off the gorilla fish's meat and stored it in their homes.
Having stayed here for two months, Don Freecss had mastered the language of the floating plank people and had gained a certain understanding of this ethnic group's living environment.
First, the settlement built upon floating planks was, for the humans living here, a remarkably safe place by Dark Continent standards, which is quite rare.
The strange creatures in the lake, along with the poisonous gas shrouding the entire lake, provided an excellent barrier for the humans here.
Moreover, the wooden floating planks that served as the foundation had the effect of deterring the lake's creatures.
The combination of multiple factors gave the humans here a very safe home.
It was worth mentioning that the floating plank people were not completely immune to the poisonous gas on the lake. They had to largely expel the inhaled poison through defecation, and those excretions could only be sent back to the lake.
This cycle, maintained over a long period, bought them a relatively stable living environment, but it came at a price.
Food scarcity was one reason, and the damage the poison gas caused to their bodies was another.
Their bones shrank, and they lost all their hair.
This was the sequela left behind after expelling the toxic gas.
However, Don Freecss greatly admired the humans living here. He found it hard to imagine what kind of process their bodily functions had undergone to evolve and overcome such harsh conditions.
Standing in the gorilla skull's eye socket, he looked out into the distance.
He didn't stay up there too long. He leaped down, and just before landing on the lake's surface, he abruptly changed direction and gently alighted on a floating plank.
A floating plank human with a face wrinkled like crumpled paper then tremblingly approached Don Freecss.
He was the tribe's chieftain, his single name being Day.
"Chief Day, it's time for me to leave."
Don Freecss looked at the chieftain with a faint smile.
"Won't you stay a while longer? There are several other ways to cook the sea gorilla's meat. I think you'd really like them."
"No, no."
Don Freecss quickly waved his hand. Just thinking about that sticky, pitch-black cuisine made several beads of sweat involuntarily roll down his forehead.
The human called Chief Day sighed with regret. Unwilling to give up, he suggested that Don Freecss take some processed sea gorilla meat with him.
Unable to refuse such kindness, Don Freecss had to accept.
As a parting gift, besides the sea gorilla meat jerky, Chief Day also gave Don Freecss a refined musical instrument and a palm-sized wooden maple leaf.
The musical instrument, shaped like a flute, was a weapon the floating plank people relied on for survival.
The wooden maple leaf was essentially a seed for producing floating planks... with the right cultivation method, one could create many planks.
Moreover, Don Freecss also took a packet of powder ground from the floating planks.
Once these powders were taken away from here and the interference from the foul odor was gone, one could smell the powder's unique fragrance.
That fragrance could drive away the creatures in the lake and likely also worked on other creatures on land.
Amid the bows of all the floating plank people, Don Freecss left the settlement and walked on air towards the distance.
He had stayed here for two months and gained a lot.
He wasn't referring to the items given by Chief Day, but rather the records he had made about the humans here, every detail, and the history of how they had barely survived to this day.
This information would become material for his second book.
Don Freecss carefully stored the musical instrument and wooden maple leaf. He wouldn't need these two items for now, but given their functions, he would find a use for them later.
As for the processed sea gorilla meat jerky...
It smelled rather foul, but considering its nutritional value, Don Freecss kept it.
He headed towards the shore. He didn't have a precise next target, but his next step was to go deep into the heart of the western Dark Continent.
...
Meanwhile, at the shoreline of the New Continent.
The sky was overcast, and the wind howled ceaselessly.
The Hunter Association's team had landed here.
After suffering heavy losses on the Dark Continent, being unable to continue their mission, they ultimately could only come back.
At that moment, a storm was approaching.