Chapter 156: Chrollo's Agonizing Scream
Beyond's team! True explorers of the Dark Continent! They had been lurking on the sidelines all along, waiting precisely for this fatal moment when power surpassing limits collided and space was at its most fragile!
"The crystal is mine!"
Beyond laughed maniacally. His massive palm, covered in dark red patterns, blazed with scorching Nen flames. Ignoring the raging energy storm around him, he violently grabbed at the seven-colored crystal so close at hand! The dark red patterns on his body seemed to come alive, exuding an even more ferocious aura, as if some giant beast from the Dark Continent had awakened within him!
"Seeking death!"
Zeno snorted angrily. The 100-Type Guanyin's other giant palm, with the momentum of overturning mountains and seas, swept towards Beyond's trio!
But the foul curse beam shot by Kakkin had already reached him! Zeno only felt a cold, soul-eroding power instantly wrap around him, causing his freely flowing Nen to stagnate slightly! The speed of the sweeping giant palm inevitably slowed by a fraction!
Mizaistom's Nen threads were like maggots adhering to bone, frantically tangling around the sweeping Guanyin palm. Although the vast majority were instantly shattered by the majestic Nen, they succeeded in pulling and deviating its trajectory!
It was this slight deviation and delay that gave Beyond a fatal opening!
"Old man Zeno, you'd better worry about yourself first!"
Riku's cold voice, like a freezing spring, rang out clearly amidst the chaotic storm.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and a point of crimson light suddenly flared on his left fingertip!
A card phantom, composed entirely of pure blood and resentment, instantly condensed and took shape at his fingertip! On the card, Hisoka's signature clown makeup was twisted and maniacal, carrying endless vengeful glee!
"Blood Soul Card: Hisoka—Target: Chrollo Lucilfer! Go!"
Xiuh—!
The Blood Soul Card, as if possessing life, ignored spatial distance. It transformed into a mournful streak of blood-red light, instantly piercing through the chaotic energy storm and vanishing into the vast void outside the arena!
The target aimed straight for Chrollo, who was currently being hunted by Hisoka's Blood Soul in the real world and was in desperate straits! Riku wanted to send him a "big gift" from Hisoka at the moment of his greatest wretchedness and despair!
"You!"
Zeno was both shocked and angry. He had to maintain the 100-Type Guanyin to counter the residual power of Riku's Lightning Core and the suction of the spatial rift, while also splitting his attention to deal with Kakkin's curse and Beyond's sneak attack. Now, his focus was further scattered by Riku's long-range strike! The Guanyin's giant palm stagnated once again!
The fierce light in Beyond's eyes burned brightly. His flaming giant palm met no further resistance, less than three feet away from the seven-colored crystal!
"Riku!"
Gon's eyes practically split open. He recklessly erupted all his Nen, wanting to rush forward and intercept, but was firmly pinned down by the violent energy storm! Killua was even more so locked in place by Illumi's bone-chilling gaze, unable to move!
Right at this critical juncture!
Hum—!
That torn spatial rift shook violently, its expansion speed suddenly accelerating! The viscous, cold aura of the Dark Continent surged out like a tide!
A foot wearing a worn, mud-covered hiking boot abruptly stepped out... from that profound, pitch-black rift!
Immediately after, a figure, as if taking a leisurely stroll, steadily stepped from that Dark Continent rift symbolizing death and the unknown, into this apocalyptic arena!
The newcomer wore a faded, dust-covered green hooded jacket. The brim of the hood was pulled low, covering most of his face, revealing only a chin with a cynical curve. He casually held a rough walking stick, seemingly fashioned from the bone of some massive beast. He emitted no powerful Nen fluctuations, looking exactly like an ordinary traveler who had stumbled onto a battlefield.
However, the instant he set foot on the white floor tiles of the arena...
Whoosh—
An invisible, indescribable "field," centered on him, spread out silently.
It wasn't Zeno's heaven-destroying Nen pressure, nor Riku's violent lightning might, and certainly not the suffocating, decaying aura of the Dark Continent.
It was a feeling... as if "rules" themselves had descended!
Like a gentle breeze blowing past, or like silent drizzle.
The raging energy storm, upon touching the edge of this "field," actually bizarrely calmed and dissipated.
Falling rocks hovered in mid-air, the cracks in the flashing seven-colored barrier stopped spreading. Even Beyond's flaming giant palm reaching for the crystal, and Zeno's sweeping 100-Type Guanyin giant palm, seemed to have sunk into an invisible mire, their speed becoming incredibly slow!
The flow of time and space in the entire arena seemed to... have been put on slow motion at this moment!
Everyone froze.
Whether it was Beyond erupting with all his might, the shocked and angry Zeno, the administrators struggling to hold on, or even the players gripped by fear—all were as if immobilized by a binding spell, looking in absolute horror at the figure walking out of the Dark Continent rift!
He casually lifted the brim of his hat, revealing eyes that seemed to contain endless stars yet carried a hint of a lazy smile. His gaze swept across the arena, finally landing on the hovering seven-colored crystal and Riku. His voice, carrying a bit of helplessness and mockery, rang out clearly, breaking the bizarre silence:
"Hey, hey, hey, have you had enough fun? All this fighting and killing, you're getting my 'key' dirty."
He pointed at the [Ruler's Blessing] crystal, his tone as casual as discussing the weather. "This thing isn't some small game-clearing prize. It's the... key to opening the true door to 'that place'!"
Ging Freecss!
Gon's father, one of the creators of Greed Island, the legendary Hunter rumored to have stepped into the Dark Continent and returned alive—at this moment, he stepped into the final battlefield of Greed Island from the Dark Continent rift so abruptly, in a manner that shocked everyone's cognition!
The "key" he spoke of was like a spark thrown into boiling oil, instantly detonating the final stormy waves in everyone's hearts!
A key to open the true door to "that place"? Deep in the Dark Continent... what else is there?!
Zeno's 100-Type Guanyin phantom froze in mid-air, the flow of Nen clearly stagnating. Deep within those eyes that had seen through the world, unprecedented stormy waves surged.
Beyond's flaming giant palm was only three feet from the crystal, yet it was as if frozen in invisible amber. The wild greed of inevitable success on his face was instantly replaced by disbelief and the furious indignation of being toyed with by a higher-tier power.
The entire arena fell into a bizarre, suffocating absolute silence.
Only the cold, primeval aura pouring from the spatial rift still flowed silently.
Ging Freecss's appearance, and the sentence he tossed out so lightly, were like two heavy bombs, completely shattering everyone's ingrained cognitions and plans.
"Ging... Ging Freecss?!"
Razor was the first to cry out involuntarily, his voice dry and hoarse, carrying a disbelieving tremble. The light sphere [Aluka's Yearning] in his hand flashed violently, as if also resonating with the descent of one of its creators.
"Father...?!"
Gon's eyes widened, his mouth slightly agape, his mind completely blank.
He had imagined reuniting with his father countless times in dreams, but never expected it to be in the center of such an apocalyptic battlefield, in such a shocking manner! Ecstasy, excitement, grievances, and a trace of inexplicable timidity instantly assaulted his heart, making his body tremble slightly.
Killua's shock was no less than Gon's, even holding an extra layer of chill.
The fear Illumi brought him temporarily receded under the shocking impact of Ging's appearance. But when Ging's eyes, which seemed able to pierce through everything, swept past him, Killua felt as if all his secrets had nowhere to hide.
The Zoldyck family's intelligence network had only four words to evaluate this man—unfathomable! Experiencing it personally now, it surpassed the rumors!
Biscuit let out a long breath, silently retracting her pink Nen, looking at Ging with complex emotions. Her sharp intuition as a Stone Hunter told her that this man's appearance meant the situation had completely slipped from everyone's control.
"Key?"
Riku's eyes narrowed slightly. The lightning arcs dancing wildly around him slowly subsided, and the light film of the [AT Field - Modified] dimmed, but his vigilance didn't relax in the slightest.
He stared at Ging, then looked at the hovering seven-colored crystal, countless thoughts instantly flashing through his mind.
The Dark Continent rift, the crystal's true purpose, Ging's sudden appearance... all these connected, pointing to a massive mystery far exceeding the Greed Island game itself! The instinct to plunder traits made him develop an unprecedented interest in "that place" the "key" pointed to.
"Ging Freecss!"
Zeno slowly withdrew his palms that had pushed out the 100-Type Guanyin. The massive Guanyin phantom silently dissipated like a bubble.
His archaic face was solemn to the extreme, his voice low like muffled thunder. "You... came back from there?"
His cloudy gaze locked fixedly onto Ging, especially the spatial rift still slowly writhing behind him. His eyes were full of inquiry and... a hint of wariness even he was unwilling to admit.
That was an absolute forbidden zone that even the Zoldyck family kept as a deep secret!
"Ah, you could say that. My luck wasn't bad, didn't die in there..."
Ging casually scratched his messy hair, his tone as relaxed as if he had just taken a trip to the neighboring mountain.
He lifted his foot, casually kicking aside a piece of rubble blocking his path, and walked towards the center of the field. His gaze swept over Zeno and Riku, finally landing on the livid-faced Beyond.
"Beyond, after all these years, you still haven't dropped that mad obsession of your old man's about 'conquering the Dark Continent', have you?"
Ging's tone carried an undisguised mockery. "Unfortunately, you and your old man both got the direction wrong. Brute force? Heh, you couldn't even move a decent rock in there with that."
"Ging!!"
Beyond squeezed the name out from between his teeth. His crimson hair seemed to burst into flames, his eyes full of the furious indignation of being looked down upon and the humiliation of having his ambitions punctured.
He forcefully suppressed the stifling feeling of being constrained by Ging's invisible "field" and growled low, "Stop acting mysterious here! The energy contained within this crystal is enough to change the landscape! It must belong to a powerhouse who can truly utilize its power! Not..."
His wild gaze swept over Riku and Ging, "...not guys like you who only know how to play games within the rules!"
"Change the landscape?"
Ging sneered, stopping right below the seven-colored crystal.
He extended a finger and lightly flicked the iridescent crystal.
Hum! The crystal emitted a crisp hum, its seven-colored light rippling slightly.
"Its true power is 'resonance' and 'guidance', not to be used as a bomb by you, idiot."
Ging's gaze suddenly became as sharp as a hawk's, piercing straight at Beyond. "You and your old man have heads full of plundering and conquering, but you can't even find where the 'door' is! Using a key to crack walnuts is exactly what people like you do!"
Beyond trembled with rage at Ging's merciless reprimand. The dark red patterns on his body writhed and flashed like living things, exuding an even more violent and ferocious aura.
The gray eyes of Mizaistom behind him showed no fluctuation, but the Nen threads wrapped around his fingertips tightened to the extreme.
Curse Practitioner Kakkin subconsciously took half a step back. His hands holding the glass jar trembled slightly, the giant eyeball within staring fixedly at Ging, revealing primal fear.
Ging ignored Beyond, turning his gaze to Riku, carrying a playful inquiry: "As for you, kid... very interesting."
His gaze seemed to pierce through Riku's skin, seeing the countless shining trait lights within his body. "Plundering? Evolution? The essence of your ability is... subtly similar to some things in 'that place'."
Riku's heart gave a violent jolt! Ging's eye was terrifyingly toxic! This was his greatest secret, and the first time someone had so directly pointed out a connection! But he showed nothing on his face, merely staring back coldly: "Similar? Perhaps. I'm more interested in what's behind the door the 'key' can open."
"Heh, curiosity is the driving force of exploration, and also the catalyst for death."
Ging grinned, revealing white teeth. His smile carried an open-mindedness from having experienced the vicissitudes of life, and a hint of an imperceptible warning. "But for now..."
Before his words finished, another sudden change occurred!
"Arghhhh—!!!"
A mournful howl, so agonizing it hardly sounded human, like the cry of a night owl, suddenly tore through from the distant void outside the arena! That voice was filled with extreme pain, despair, and... a spine-chilling, familiar madness!
It was Chrollo's voice!
Immediately after, a twisted phantom composed of blood and resentment, as if violently torn by an invisible force, was forcefully yanked back from the void, instantly appearing in the sky above the arena! It was precisely the Blood Soul Card: Hisoka phantom that Riku had released earlier to pursue Chrollo!
At this moment, the Hisoka phantom's state was extremely bizarre.
His maniacal clown face was filled with extreme agony and an indescribable... feeling of "bloating"? As if he had swallowed something far exceeding his own capacity! The phantom's body twisted and expanded violently. Countless faces belonging to Chrollo Lucilfer, filled with pain and venomous resentment, frantically surfaced, struggled, and roared within the flesh and blood of Hisoka's phantom! It was as if countless souls of Chrollo had been forcefully stuffed into Hisoka's phantom, biting and devouring each other!
"No! Let me out! Hisoka! You lunatic! Ahhhh—!"
Chrollo's twisted, distorted voice echoed repeatedly from within Hisoka's phantom.