Phinks' lower torso had been obliterated by Insidious Shooting Star, his internal organs severely damaged.
Though he wasn't dead yet, death was already at his doorstep.
Lying in a pool of blood, he lacked even the strength to speak, yet his bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Morrow, burning with fury and malice.
Such willpower in the face of death was commendable, but unfortunately, a glare couldn't kill...
Morrow looked down at Phinks, his expression calm.
Seeing that Phinks couldn't even speak, he didn't rush to deliver the final blow. Instead, he slowly uttered:
"Feitan."
The name was like a dagger, instantly stabbing deep into Phinks' nerves.
His pupils contracted violently, his breath nearly stopping, the shock momentarily overwhelming even the agony of his impending death.
"Shalnark."
"!"
"Bonolenov."
"!!"
"Franklin."
"!!!"
With each name Morrow spoke, Phinks' pupils trembled violently, as if struck repeatedly by an invisible hammer.
The one who killed Feitan and Shalnark was him!
Even Franklin and Bonolenov...
A hoarse, guttural sound escaped Phinks' throat, his bloodied fingers clawing spasmodically at the ground, unable to even form a fist.
Rage, resentment...
A storm of emotions raged within his dying body, but there was nothing he could do now. All he could manage was to sear Morrow's face into his retinas with eyes so bloodshot they seemed ready to burst.
He could feel darkness creeping in from the edges of his vision, his eyelids growing heavier. The scent of death washed over him like a tide, filling his mouth and nose with a cold, suffocating sensation.
Morrow watched coldly as Phinks struggled helplessly at death's door. He had initially intended to finish him off with a single Shooting Star through the skull, but he soon noticed Phinks' pupils were already dilating.
Realizing Phinks was about to breathe his last, Morrow dismissed the thought of a final strike. Instead, he simply watched as the last glimmer of light in Phinks' eyes faded into despair and fury.
Phinks was dead.
But the 'scene' Morrow had hoped to see didn't unfold.
Nothing, huh...
Morrow looked slightly disappointed at Phinks' motionless corpse.
He had deliberately mentioned Feitan and the others at the end to further stoke Phinks' rage and resentment.
Based on his current understanding of Post-Mortem Will, emotions like fury, hatred, and resentment that a Nen user experiences before death were more likely to leave behind such a will.
And most Post-Mortem Wills born from these emotions were forged for revenge.
The other scenario was like that soldier loyal to a prince of the Kukan'yu Kingdom he'd encountered on the airship last year, or Franklin not long ago.
The former clung to loyalty until his dying breath, while the latter sought only to protect the Spider's survival.
What Morrow sensed from the dying Phinks was hatred and similar emotions.
So he deliberately intensified them, hoping Phinks would leave behind a Post-Mortem Will bent on vengeance.
But it didn't happen.
Still, even without a Post-Mortem Will, Phinks' death had served its purpose.
Morrow quickly glanced at the Tree Rings level on the back of his hand; it had risen from Lv.59 to Lv.61.
The experience points Phinks had provided directly boosted him by two levels.
One more left...
Morrow temporarily set aside the thought of retrieving the Poultry Scarlet Knife and instead turned his gaze to where Shizuku had been standing moments ago.
However, all that met his eyes was a dense cloud of smoke spreading across the desolate red earth.
It was clearly the smoke Blinky had previously inhaled, now fully expelled.
Beyond the smoke, Shizuku, Kurapika, and Kalluto were nowhere to be seen.
But Morrow could sense three Nen auras rapidly retreating behind the smokescreen.
Decisive, huh.
Morrow immediately understood the situation.
The moment Phinks was critically wounded by Insidious Shooting Star, Shizuku had realized that continuing the fight would only lead her to the same fate.
So this seemingly airheaded girl had displayed the decisiveness befitting a member of the Phantom Troupe in a life-or-death moment. Even seeing Phinks still clinging to life, she had chosen to flee without hesitation.
And of course, Kurapika and Kalluto wouldn't simply let Shizuku escape.
No doubt, the three of them were now engaged in a fierce chase across the red wasteland beyond the smoke.
No way I'm letting you get away.
Morrow sheathed Abyssal Sheath, conjuring a dark green Shooting Star in his right hand before hurling it backward.
Both Kalluto and Kurapika bore his Star Marks.
Using the tracking ability of Deceptive Shooting Star, he could pursue them at maximum speed.
Meanwhile, Shizuku was running for her life.
To increase her speed, she decisively dismissed Blinky's Conjuration.
Her mastery over Conjuration allowed her to summon and dismiss Blinky with ease, meaning she could quickly recall it for defense even if Kurapika and Kalluto interfered.
With that in mind, she knew the priority now was to widen the distance.
Faster...!
Shizuku coldly assessed the situation.
If she couldn't shake off her pursuers soon, her chances of survival would plummet to near zero.
It wasn't that she feared Kurapika and Kalluto's strength; the real threat was the man who had defeated Phinks.
She absolutely couldn't afford to be held back by these two.
Otherwise, once that man caught up, escape would be impossible.
Shizuku's response after Phinks was struck down, her decisiveness and reasoning, were flawless.
Even commendable.
But in the face of overwhelming power, even the most correct judgment and flawless execution...
Couldn't change the inevitable.
Just as Shizuku steadily widened the gap between herself and her pursuers, Morrow suddenly closed in from behind.
Riding atop a Shooting Star, he soared through the air, closing the distance in an instant.
Kurapika and Kalluto sensed the disturbance almost simultaneously, whipping their heads around.
Shizuku, sprinting ahead, also felt Morrow's approaching aura and cast a swift glance backward.
When she saw Morrow gliding on a Shooting Star, her heart clenched.
A jolt of intense danger shot down her spine.
Without hesitation, she snapped her gaze forward, gritted her teeth, and pushed her body to its absolute limit, striving for even the slightest increase in speed.
In this situation, even the tiniest advantage could mean everything.
Morrow soared through the air behind Kalluto, then suddenly exerted force beneath his feet. Shattering the Shooting Star beneath him, his entire body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, streaking past Kalluto toward Shizuku ahead.
Whoosh.
The speed was so blistering that Kurapika and Kalluto, watching from behind, could almost see a faint layer of starlight shimmering over Morrow's figure.
Shizuku heard the sound of displaced air, her pupils contracting slightly.
"Blinky."
She decisively channeled her aura output, swiftly conjuring Blinky into her hands.
This was a mistake.
Because she had underestimated the explosive burst of speed Morrow gained after shattering the Shooting Star.
By the time she tightened her grip on Blinky and turned to counterattack, Morrow had already vanished from her line of sight.
Eh?!
Shizuku focused her Gyo, but through her lenses, the world before her was suddenly covered in fine, web-like cracks.
For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though the world itself was shattering before her eyes.
But in the next instant...
She realized.
It wasn't the world that had fractured.
It was the black-framed glasses on her face.
By the time she registered this, a sharp sting in her eyes reminded her that she had just been attacked.
He's already behind me...?!
As her glasses shattered into fragments, Shizuku ignored the pain in her eyes, relying on instinct to raise Blinky, attempting to immediately 'pinpoint' Morrow's exact position.
But as she twisted halfway, casting her gaze backward, her vision was already flooded with crimson, as though red paint had been smeared across her eyes.
Her eyes... hurt.
Shizuku froze for a split second before finally spotting Morrow's figure through the haze of blood obscuring her sight.
Suppressing the discomfort in her vision, she raised Blinky to strike.
But Morrow's right hand reached her first, covering her face.
Boom!
A surge of Nen erupted from Morrow's palm, like a burst of steam, driving Shizuku's head into the ground with crushing force.
A dull thud echoed as the back of her skull embedded itself into the earth, spiderweb cracks violently spreading outward.
Blinky dissolved into motes of aura in her hands, and her arms, now devoid of strength, limply dropped onto the cracked, blood-red soil.
Having secured his victory, Morrow slowly stood up, glancing at the Tree Rings level on the back of his hand.
Lv.61 → Lv.62
The level-up signified the death of the second spider in the field.
The experience provided by the two spiders had granted him a three-level increase.
Morrow exhaled slowly, feeling the flow of his aura.
His aura output had grown denser, and his potential aura reserves had noticeably expanded.
Yet, this period of growth had also made him acutely aware of how much harder it was becoming to grow stronger.
Over the two months of developing 'Insidious Shooting Star,' he had never slacked in his training, yet the increase in his aura output had been minimal.
Without the leveling ability of Tree Rings, he had no idea how long it would have taken him to climb from Lv.61 to Lv.62.
This stark disparity made one thing clear to Morrow.
Hard work alone could no longer fuel leaps in progress.
Of course, effort remained an irreplaceable foundation.
But talent had become the key to how far he could go.
Without sufficient talent, the path ahead would only become narrower and more difficult to traverse...
Morrow's eyes flickered faintly.
Fortunately, with the Tree Rings ability that directly plundered the 'fruits of time' from others, he could break free from the constraints of his innate limitations.
Level 62 now. In terms of aura amount alone, he should be able to rank among second-tier experts.
Compared to relentless hard training, this method of improvement was far more efficient...
So, accumulating aura can be left to the Tree Rings' leveling ability. From now on, the real focus of training should be advanced application techniques like 'Ryū' and 'Ken,' which are crucial to actual combat prowess.
With each step forward, Morrow's vision for his future path grew clearer.
Aura output and potential aura were the hardware; rapid improvement in these areas was certainly not a bad thing.
But software like Nen techniques also had to keep pace.
Otherwise, even with a decent aura output level, he would struggle to unleash his combat potential against masters like Biscuit.
Morrow understood this well.
Tap, tap.
Kurapika and Kalluto caught up, their eyes falling on Shizuku's corpse on the ground.
The battle had been evenly matched, but because Morrow had eliminated Phinks so quickly, Shizuku, who should have fought them to the end, had instead chosen to disengage and flee with startling decisiveness.
Kurapika and Kalluto hadn't anticipated this.
After all, just moments earlier, they could sense the clear intent in Shizuku's attacks to crush their skulls.
Not to mention the thick smoke initially sucked in by Blinky...
At that critical moment, it had provided Shizuku with significant assistance in escaping.
Fortunately, this swift runner had ultimately been caught by Morrow.
"Kalluto, handle the body. I'll retrieve the knife."
Morrow glanced at Kalluto, who had approached, and issued the order.
"Got it!"
Kalluto responded swiftly, manipulating paper shreds to wrap the corpse before preparing to transport it to the car.
Meanwhile, Morrow headed in the direction he remembered, running to retrieve the Poultry Scarlet Knife he had earlier thrown as a projectile.
Kurapika, watching Morrow and Kalluto handle the aftermath, hesitated for a moment before walking toward Phinks' corpse.
He could help move the body to the car as well.
Soon after.
By the time Morrow found the Poultry Scarlet Knife, Kalluto and Kurapika had already loaded the bodies onto the vehicle.
This time, the Spiders' car hadn't been destroyed, so there was no need to burn their own vehicle.
To ensure faster combustion, Kalluto followed the usual procedure, using paper shreds to wrap, slice, and compress the bodies, a task he completed with relative ease.
Kurapika, however, still couldn't bring himself to do such things.
Yet he didn't look away, silently observing Kalluto's process from the side.
Once Kalluto was nearly done, Kurapika fetched a can of gasoline from the car and doused every corner of the vehicle.
Kalluto glanced at him, then at the flip-top lighter he had just pulled out.
"Your turn."
After a brief pause, Kalluto tossed the lighter to Kurapika.
Kurapika caught it steadily, silently flicking it open with his thumb.
Click.
The spark ignited, the dancing flame casting light on Kurapika's face.
He flipped his wrist and threw the burning lighter toward the car, now reeking of gasoline.
Boom.
The blazing flames instantly engulfed the entire car, the rolling tongues of fire dyeing Kurapika's pupils crimson.
Waves of scorching heat assaulted his face, yet he never blinked.
Morrow arrived behind them, gazing at the fiercely burning vehicle.
In this short time, they had efficiently dealt with four members of the Phantom Troupe: Franklin, Bonolenov, Phinks, and Shizuku.
Now, half of the spider's legs had been torn off...
But they couldn't act recklessly anymore; they had to wait for Hisoka's feedback.
Morrow stared at the towering black smoke.
If they could successfully wipe out the spiders in one fell swoop, he wondered if he could directly level up to 70.