During the crucial election assembly to decide the next chairman, an unidentified man suddenly barged in, throwing the venue into complete chaos.
In the end, both the chairman candidate Pariston and Saiyu of the Zodiac Twelve were killed in the attack.
The remaining members of the Zodiac Twelve also suffered varying degrees of injury, with Mizaistom being the most severely wounded.
Morrow had kicked his arm, shattering the bone into several pieces.
"My ability allows me to directly restrain criminals with binding force once their crimes are confirmed."
Instead of tending to his injuries immediately, Mizaistom joined the discussion and provided a key piece of information.
"But that man was guarding against me from the very beginning. Clearly, he understands my ability. On the other hand, as Cheadle pointed out, he didn't attempt to kill any of the rest of us."
Facing the gazes of everyone present, Mizaistom let his shattered arm hang limply at his side, his eyelids slightly lowered to conceal a trace of confusion as he continued:
"Yet when he killed Pariston and Saiyu, he was exceptionally ruthless and decisive. To be honest, it's contradictory."
"If he truly had such strong killing intent and considered my ability a threat, the most logical course of action when I attempted to use my ability the first and second time would have been to kill me without hesitation, or at the very least, completely incapacitate me."
After speaking, Mizaistom subtly glanced at his intensely painful and powerless arm.
Pyon had already shared the video she recorded in real time with all her colleagues.
Hearing Mizaistom's analysis now, a glint of interest couldn't help but sparkle in her eyes.
"If that's the case, that guy is practically like an assassin with extremely strong principles. Even if someone gets in his way, he only targets his intended victims. That style is kinda cool!"
"..."
Her words sounded particularly jarring in the heavy atmosphere, and everyone simultaneously turned their attention to Pyon.
Her carefree demeanor made it seem as though she had already calmly accepted the sudden deaths of Pariston and Saiyu.
Although they also disliked Pariston and the foul-mouthed Saiyu, having worked together for many years, encountering such a sudden change inevitably left them with heavy hearts, even if they weren't exactly grief-stricken. They certainly couldn't be as lighthearted as she was.
Pyon paid no mind to the strange looks her colleagues gave her.
She never liked Pariston or Saiyu to begin with, and their relationship was shallow, so she naturally wouldn't waste emotions on such matters.
However, as a member of the Zodiac Twelve, she would still seriously assist in the subsequent investigation of the perpetrator in her capacity as a "colleague."
Everyone soon stopped paying attention to Pyon's indifferent attitude and brought the discussion back on track.
"Mizaistom, are you saying... that the perpetrator might know you, or has had contact with you before?"
Botobai Gigante crossed his arms, his brow furrowed ever since Morrow's escape.
Mizaistom nodded. "We can't rule out that possibility." Hearing this, Kanzai's expression beside him turned somewhat subtle.
He glanced at Mizaistom, thinking that this matter might be related to Morrow, and opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately said nothing. Cheadle didn't notice Kanzai's unusual behavior. Resting her white-gloved right hand against her chin, her eyes revealed deep contemplation as she said, "Regardless, our investigation must begin with 'appearance'."
The possibility of the perpetrator using a disguise couldn't be ruled out, nor could the possibility that they had previously crossed paths with Mizaistom.
However, before untangling these clues, the safest approach remained launching an investigation based on the assailant's appearance to quickly verify their identity.
Yet before initiating the investigation, the chairman election assembly still needed to proceed.
After such a major incident, the Hunter Association needed to elect a new chairman more urgently than ever to stabilize the situation.
Fortunately, the election hadn't been made public, allowing the Association to immediately seal off information after the incident occurred, preventing internal turmoil and loss of face.
Shortly after the election resumed, Cluck of the Chicken Zodiac hurried into the venue.
According to election rules, voting required Association members to be physically present, though attendance wasn't mandatory for all members.
Those choosing to forfeit their voting rights needed to submit written explanations with their signatures.
Cluck's task involved sending notifications to these members and collecting their signed abstention statements.
After completing this process, these unstable votes would be officially excluded, and during final tallying, all abstention notices would be publicly displayed to ensure the election's credibility.
Since she needed to handle letters returned from various locations in real time, Cluck hadn't remained at the venue earlier.
Only when she returned with the latest batch of abstention notices did she learn about the recent attack, momentarily unable to conceal her shock.
Pariston and Saiyu were taken down single-handedly by one man during the election assembly?
When Cluck first heard this news, she even thought her colleagues were collectively playing a prank on her.
After all, such a thing was simply too unbelievable.
After Cluck brought back the latest abstention notices, the election results were quickly announced.
With Pariston, her formidable opponent, gone, Cheadle ultimately won the election with the highest number of votes.
Immediately after the election concluded, Cheadle led a team to investigate the assailant's identity.
The Hunter Association demonstrated remarkable efficiency, identifying crucial information within an hour.
The man who killed Pariston and Saiyu was an ordinary fugitive convicted of murder.
However, all records of this fugitive's whereabouts had completely vanished as if he'd evaporated from the world just one day earlier.
Synthesizing this intelligence, it became clear that the perpetrator must have used some form of disguise or transformation to assume this fugitive's identity.
—--
Meanwhile, Morrow sent Sanbica a message containing a meeting location and time before directly leaving Swardani City.
He had originally come for Sanbica but happened to notice the news about Netero stepping down as chairman and leaving the Hunter Association Headquarters.
Considering Beyond might make a move against Netero, he temporarily changed plans and rushed to Linne's secluded residence.
There, he coincidentally saved Netero and ended up fighting Beyond.
It's just that someone like Beyond always keeps trump cards, so Morrow only managed to severely injure him rather than leave his life there.
But precisely because of this, after returning to Swardani City, Morrow straightforwardly and publicly assassinated Pariston and Saiyu.
After completing this task, he naturally wouldn't seek out Sanbica again, instead arranging an alternative meeting location.
Morrow left Swardani City and quickly arrived at a nearby forest, reuniting with Chimera who had been waiting for some time.
He was fully aware that his assassination attempt on Pariston and Saiyu during the election assembly would inevitably trigger a full-scale investigation by the Hunter Association.
But he didn't care.
Even if the Association eventually suspected him, as long as they lacked concrete evidence, they would have to carefully consider the consequences before taking action.
His targeted operation specifically against Pariston and Saiyu was precisely designed to make Beyond clearly understand that it was Morrow who had done this.
Morrow wouldn't bother counting how many of Beyond's fingers he had already broken.
From this moment on, he would continue breaking the remaining fingers regardless of time or occasion.
At this point, even if Beyond managed to find a way to remove the Limitation imposed by Netero, if his team members kept dying one after another, his plans to explore the Dark Continent would still come to nothing.
Unless Beyond could find suitable replacements within a short time.
But how easy would that be?
Every current member of Beyond's team had been gradually selected through his extensive investment of time and energy.
He was like a master mechanic, needing to assemble these precision gears (elite talents) perfectly to truly form the capital required for exploring the Dark Continent.
If any single gear went missing, it could prevent the entire team from functioning smoothly, let alone facing the harsh environment of the Dark Continent.
Deep in the forest, silence prevailed.
Morrow leaped onto Chimera's broad back, sitting cross-legged while casually patting to signal.
"Let's go."
"Roar!"
Chimera let out a powerful roar before flapping its wings and soaring into the sky.
The surrounding silence in the forest wasn't just due to Chimera's bloodline dominance in the ecological hierarchy naturally forcing creatures to retreat, but also because it had cleared out numerous nearby organisms.
Like Chimera Ants, it seemed to be a gourmet in the biological world.
It never discriminated against any prey that could be consumed.
Moreover, its appetite appeared bottomless, essentially because it possessed an efficient energy conversion mechanism that allowed its size to visibly grow continuously during massive feeding.
Chimera flew high into the sky, heading toward East Gorteau.
Morrow currently didn't need to worry about improving his strength.
Given the upper limit of human Nen users' levels, it was already difficult to provide substantial growth benefits for him.
Even experts like Pariston and Saiyu offered negligible experience gains.
Morrow's current level was simply too high.
To continue leveling up, he needed to defeat Nen users approaching Lv.100.
However, across the six continents, those who could reach this level could be counted on one hand.
Among those Morrow had encountered, only Ging, Beyond, Netero, and Maha numbered among this handful.
Of course, superpowers like V5 and Kakin likely concealed top-tier Nen masters within their ranks.
But compared to various killing machines developed by national mechanisms, and potentially even strategic trump cards involving Nen abilities, the importance of individual top experts became relatively less prominent.
These deterrent forces controlled by superpowers often possess practical value that can easily overwhelm even a top-tier individual.
Morrow didn't dwell excessively on future upgrade plans.
What mattered more to him now was assembling a team capable of withstanding the harsh conditions of the Dark Continent.
Thus, he needed to recruit professionals like Sanbica and also take the initiative to seek out Ging, to see if the latter had any interest in such an endeavor.
Beyond that, he still had to fulfill the agreement he had made with the King.
—--
In the palace at the heart of the capital of the Kakin Empire, Beyond awoke from a profound darkness.
The life-threatening injuries that had previously haunted him now seemed to have vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.
"It seems I've 'luckily' survived once again."
Beyond propped up his upper body and casually moved his shoulders and arms.
Though he called it luck... In reality, it was merely a prearranged trump card coming into play at the critical moment.
This had nothing to do with luck; it was simply the embodiment of the strategy of having multiple escape routes.
Beyond swung his legs off the bed, unsurprised by his body's intact condition.
He could indeed rely on Sawa's Twin Flower Crossing ability to escape danger at any time, but due to the ability's mechanics, he was always in a critically injured, near-death state before each transfer.
Therefore, in such situations, Sawa had to be accompanied at all times by someone with highly efficient healing capabilities.
And Pekotero in the team possessed exactly such an ability.
Beyond knew that it was Pekotero who, during his unconsciousness, had used his Mushroom to absorb the "nutrients of injury" from his body.
However, this time the injuries were exceptionally severe... Coupled with the portion borne by Sawa, he wasn't sure if Pekotero could smoothly resolve the heavy cost behind this healing.
"I never expected that his current strength... has already reached a level where he can effortlessly overwhelm me."
Beyond stopped moving his arms, his mind repeatedly replaying scenes from that battle.
Although superficially, his Nothing External to the Mind ability was completely suppressed by Morrow's Emission-based assault, fundamentally, it was due to the level gap in their aura output.
"However, I've only seen aura of that intensity in 'mutual assistance-type' cooperative abilities."
The image of Morrow, his entire body radiating soaring aura, seemed to reappear before Beyond's eyes.
Based on Beyond's experience and knowledge, that level of aura intensity... was simply unattainable for an individual human.
Unless he had employed a Vow and Limitation with extremely stringent conditions.
Otherwise, it could only be achieved through the mutual assistance characteristics of Enhancement or by temporarily borrowing aura from others using the mechanics of Manipulation abilities.
From this perspective, Beyond deduced that Morrow must have made thorough preparations before intervening in his actions.
In other words, if it were an unexpected encounter without prior warning, dealing with Morrow would no longer be such a difficult task.
Beyond reached this conclusion.
After all, even though he believed that Nen held infinite possibilities, it was hard for him to accept that Morrow could elevate his aura output to an inhuman level in such a short time.
"Enough. For now, the primary goal remains 'lifting the Limitation.'"
Although he had suffered a great loss at Morrow's hands, Beyond didn't harbor strong thoughts of seeking revenge or reclaiming his pride.
For him, personal grudges were far less important than the grand ambition of exploring the Dark Continent.
I can't afford to fail next time... Perhaps I should seek out Hui Guo Rou and borrow Kakin's 'regalia'.
To definitively lift the Limitation on himself, Beyond thought of the three great regalia passed down through Kakin Empire's inheritance mechanism.
What he needed was the sword named "Sword of Good Omens" among the three great regalia.
Just as Beyond was contemplating this, hurried footsteps sounded outside the room.
One of the core team members came rushing in, but hesitated upon seeing that Beyond was already awake.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing the team member's strange reaction, Beyond slightly furrowed his brow, a bad premonition suddenly rising in his heart.
Knowing Beyond's temperament well, the team member steeled himself and said: "Pariston and Saiyu were killed, and... Sawa is dead too."
"What!?"
Beyond's face instantly changed dramatically.
He rarely lost his composure like this.
But the news of Pariston, Saiyu, and Sawa's deaths struck his heart like a heavy hammer.
Who could have done this?
The moment this question emerged in his mind, he immediately found the answer.
Morrow!
Overwhelming rage surged in Beyond's heart.
In the dead silence, his face flushed crimson with fury.