Chapter 29

The armed forces moved through the mountain forest, gradually advancing towards the temple.

Shiwei stared at the armed personnel in front of her and said coldly, "What use can they be, relying solely on firearms?"

"Shiwei, firearms... are indeed of little use to those with Enhancement abilities, but we can't deny their practicality," Ken said as he walked, shifting his sword to the other side of his waist and then pulling out a handgun with a smile. "Look, I'm an Enhancement user too, but I like to carry a gun. Who knows, it might just turn the tide."

"Don't give me that."

Shiwei glared at Ken and then looked at her own fist, saying, "If I touch a gun, wouldn't I be admitting that my fists are less powerful than a firearm? Once that thought starts, it will only hold me back."

"Shiwei, you always manage to perfectly ignore the main point others are trying to make."

Ken shook his head slightly and put the handgun away.

Gebur, who was nearby, paid no attention to Shiwei and Ken. Instead, he turned to look at the long-haired man behind him and asked, "Cole, how's your 'preparation' coming along?"

"It's been done for a while."

The long-haired man, Cole, replied expressionlessly.

Seeing this, Gebur said no more.

The organization's goal was to collect as many Nen artifacts with peculiar abilities as possible, such as the "Dark Sonata."

The operation launched tonight was to reclaim a Nen artifact that the organization had missed out on thirteen years ago—

"The King's Scales"

Gebur, who had officially joined the organization four years ago, did not know the capabilities of this Nen artifact.

He only knew that the operation thirteen years ago had ended in failure, with heavy losses...

Narrowing his eyes, Gebur recalled the casualty statistics from the operation report thirteen years ago.

The only thing that stuck in his mind was a brief few words—

"Heavenly Stem Ding, deceased. Heavenly Stem Ji, deceased."

Losing two key Heavenly Stem members in one operation was a significant loss.

Thinking of this, Gebur couldn't help but glance at Shiwei and Ken.

In the Qinglin team, which had separated from the Hunter Association to carry on the will of the former president, there were ten key members known as the Heavenly Stems.

Shiwei was the current "Ding," and Ken was the current "Ji," corresponding to the two Heavenly Stem members who had died in the operation thirteen years ago.

If Gebur didn't know that the organization's principle for assigning mission members was always "nearest available," he would have thought the organization had specifically dispatched the current "Ding" and "Ji" to avenge the past.

"Such bad luck, I won't go to the casino after this mission."

Gebur looked ahead, thinking to himself.

Under the cover of night, the team moved through the mountain forest in an orderly manner.

Suddenly.

A whistling sound broke through the forest.

A stone wrapped in Nen energy streaked through the night, precisely hitting the night vision goggles on the face of an armed member.

With a crack, the night vision goggles shattered instantly.

The stone, still moving at full speed, pierced through the armed member's forehead.

Splat!

Blood spurted from the armed member's forehead, and he fell backward, lifeless.

"Enemy attack, find cover nearby!"

The sudden attack shocked the remaining nineteen armed members.

They instantly determined the direction of the projectile and used nearby trees as cover.

At the back of the group.

Ken and his team immediately stopped.

"An Emitter?"

The long-haired man, Cole, hesitated.

Emitters usually have two cultivation paths.

One is to materialize Nen beasts by separating "aura" from the body, and the other is to release or throw "aura" to form various abilities.

Wrapping "aura" around a stone and throwing it is a common attack method for Emitters.

Gebur narrowed his eyes and said, "It just looks like it."

"It's not an Emitter."

Ken shook his head and gave his reasoning: "If it were an Emitter, the concentrated attack like that wouldn't have shattered the night vision goggles so thoroughly. The control technique is too crude."

"It's also possible that the enemy did it on purpose to mislead us, Ken. Isn't that something you often do?"

Shiwei, an Enhancement user, seriously stated her opinion.

Ken silently glanced at Shiwei and wisely chose to end the topic.

He didn't want to waste his breath explaining.

The attacks from the night continued, with Nen-wrapped stones flying through the air and accurately hitting one armed member after another hiding behind cover.

In less than a minute, eight armed members were dead.

The remaining armed members couldn't even find the enemy's shadow and could only be passively attacked.

The four Nen users, led by Ken, gradually spread out.

"Can you see them?"

Ken asked.

"No."

"Can't see them."

"Same here."

The other three gave their answers.

Ken smiled and said, "It seems the enemy's vision ability far surpasses ours. Is it an Enhancement user or a Materialization user... For now, we can confirm that there is at least one, no, at least two enemies. Let's press forward."

"..."

The others had no objections. As the armed members continued to fall, they pressed forward, trying to locate the "stone thrower."

At the edge of the forest below the temple's steep staircase.

Kido held the "Medical Register" in one hand and picked up a small stone from the ground with the other, staring intently into the depths of the forest.

"Four of them... very impressive aura, they must be experts."

Before she finished speaking,

Kido took seven steps to the left and then forcefully threw the stone.

Whoosh—

The Nen-wrapped stone sliced through the night, disappearing into the forest in an instant.

A second later,

Another armed member in the depths of the forest was hit by the stone and died.

At the same time,

Kido picked up another stone from the ground.

She wasn't an Emitter, so she had to use the stone to make her Nen travel farther, though the power was weak.

But it was enough to deal with ordinary people who didn't understand Nen, even if they were well-equipped armed personnel...

"Since they're sure I'm not an Emitter, they're advancing without hesitation."

Kido observed the situation in the forest and muttered to herself, "Sending an armed squad as the vanguard to gather information? There must be a deeper purpose..."

She threw the stone in her hand.

With this action, another member of the enemy's armed forces was eliminated.

"Regardless, I won't allow you to get close to here."

Kido walked forward into the forest.

The battlefield could only be chosen in the forest.

In the temple kitchen.

Moyu slowly opened his eyes, his expression somewhat serious.

He had gradually adapted to using the "shared vision" ability, and the shadow he had sent out had shown him Kido's actions.

"Is she... attacking the enemy?"

Moyu frowned, then casually picked up two cups of water and headed for the main hall.

Before he reached the main hall, Moyu heard a familiar sound of retching.

Inside the main hall, Aries was biting and consuming the grudge on Hawk's body.

This meant—

Aries' "Anorexic Food" could digest the post-death grudge inflicted by "The Scales."

It also meant that if given enough time, Aries could completely remove the grudge that was causing Hawk to age.