Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 273 Pap, the Human-Raising Beast

Having absorbed the thoughts of the dead on the stone gate, they had already gained a great deal.

But for Moro, the unexplored ruins were like a blind box full of unknowns.

If you're lucky, you might even be able to get some more annual ring energy for free.

Moro originally intended to ask Jin directly to see if there were any other relics or tombs attached to the spirits of the dead.

But then I thought, since we'll be spending at least a year together anyway, there will be plenty of opportunities, so there's no need to rush.

Time passes slowly.

While waiting for her colleagues to come down, Jin didn't sit idle.

He first went to the circular stone gate and used "Circle" to probe it. After confirming that there were no traps, he returned to the cave entrance and asked Morro for more specific information about "Starlight Condensation".

Moro answered this in great detail, even explaining the various thought processes behind developing this ability, showing that he was completely open and honest.

After all, in his view, the fact that Kim took the initiative to ask these questions showed that he valued the one-year training agreement very much.

Then he will definitely cooperate without reservation.

This matter concerns whether he can break through the shackles of his talent and thus have a chance to climb to the peak of a new world.

In fact, Kim really valued this agreement very much.

This is not only because he highly values ​​the spirit of contracts, but also because he has the expectation of fulfilling the "agreement" ahead of schedule.

If we can finish early, we can save a lot of valuable time.

If that doesn't work, he won't waste Moro's Nen removal abilities during this year.

Simply put, time is extremely precious to him, and he wishes he could use it every minute.

In this respect, Morrow actually shared King's opinion.

He had only a year to spare before considering asking Bisky to come over.

More accurately, we asked Miss Cookie for help.

This would significantly reduce Jin's sleep time, extending the one-year period by at least three times.

It could be said that both sides wanted to turn each other into beasts of burden in order to maximize each other's talents and value.

After a long time.

One by one, the excavation workers, dressed in diving suits, came into the cave.

They removed their diving equipment, their faces beaming with excitement.

"After preparing for more than half a year, I can finally find out!"

"Quickly, bring the lighting equipment and testing instruments."

"What's the rush? Change into your wetsuit first."

With the arrival of the staff, the once quiet cave suddenly became as lively as a market.

Jin, who had already made preparations for the excavation, stood aside and smiled as he watched his like-minded colleagues.

The feeling of about to unlock a long-sealed history will never change, no matter how many times I experience it.

Compared to the enthusiastic excavation staff inside the cave, Moro stood in the corner, looking more like an outsider.

His gaze swept over the excited expressions of the staff, and then fell on Kim, who was smiling.

this moment,
The person hailed as one of the world's five greatest Nen users seems to be just an ordinary person among the masses.

This is probably what makes gold so special.

Moro thought to himself.

"Let me introduce you to our technical advisor, Moro, who just joined our team. He's the one who helped us open the entrance to the ruins. It was all thanks to his expertise."

After his colleagues had all changed into their gear, Jin solemnly introduced Moro.

Upon hearing Jin's words, everyone present turned to look at Moro and immediately gathered around him, offering him the warmest welcome.

Moro smiled and talked with them, gradually memorizing each person's name.

After exchanging names, led by Jin, the group walked along the cave passage to the end and finally pushed open the circular stone door.

rumble.

With the sound of the heavy stone door moving, the stone door, which resembled a tai chi symbol, moved away from both sides and slowly embedded itself into the rock wall.

After the stone gate,

However, it was a stone staircase leading upwards.

Looking up at the end of the passage, you can see a red light.

It seems that there is an unknown light source in the space on the other side of the passage.

After putting on gas masks and checking the air quality with instruments, everyone entered the stone staircase passage in an orderly manner.

Jin walked in front.

With his strength and ability, he can resolve potential threats in the first instance and protect the entire team.

Morrow, in second place, watched as Jin released "Circle" in front of him.

Judging from the "circle" that stretches all the way forward, it has a radius of at least one hundred meters.

However, he noticed that Jin's reaction was particularly relaxed, and that a circle with a radius of 100 meters was probably far from Jin's limit.

Soon, the group arrived at the end of the passage.

Beyond the exit of the passage was a flat stone platform that extended all the way to a huge archway.

The archway was made of massive blocks of stone, its surface covered with intricate relief carvings, but many roots entwined around the carvings obscured most of the details.

The archway has a pointed arch shape, with bronze strips inlaid along the edges, subtly revealing the traces of time.

The sight of this giant archway immediately drew everyone's attention. On the quiet platform outside the passage, only the sound of breathing emanating from inside the protective shield could be heard.

This was the first time Moreo had explored a crypt of this size. He shifted his gaze from the archway entwined with numerous roots to other areas.

This is a huge stone platform, but long and dense roots can be seen everywhere.

Looking through the archway, one can see a magnificent palace shrouded in red light deep within.

Around the palace, there are neat rows of statues of soldiers holding ancient cold weapons.

However, the faces of each soldier statue are completely smooth, without any trace of facial features being carved.

Moro looked up with curiosity in his eyes and followed the red light source towards the top of the underground palace.

What came into view were countless unknown roots, hanging down a distance from the top of the underground palace like a blood-red beaded curtain, densely suspended in mid-air.

At the end of many of the roots is a shriveled, withered miniature human body, its limbs shrunken like a dried mummy.

However, in stark contrast to those shrunken bodies were swollen and deformed heads.

Each head looked as if it had been filled with water, swelling more than ten times its original size, to the point that the skin was almost transparent, making it difficult to discern the presence of facial features.

Moreover, the surface of its head was covered with thick, gnarled roots, like bulging veins at the temples, exuding a ferocious aura.

The red light that filled the entire underground palace was emanating from inside these translucent skulls.

Upon seeing this, Moro's pupils contracted slightly, his expression one of surprise and uncertainty.

Corpse?

wrong.

Moro subconsciously gathered Nen in his eyes, using the Condensation technique.

As the spiritual energy gathers in the eyes like a torch, one can see that the human bodies attached to the roots have a faint layer of spiritual energy floating slowly with a stable breathing frequency.

"These people are still alive...!"

Upon realizing this, a chill ran down Moro's spine.

In the eyes of Nen users, even without using Nen, they can see the life energy that naturally flows away from ordinary people.

Previously, when Morrow attacked the Ten Elders gang, he used this phenomenon to quickly identify the lurking snipers.

However, the life energy emanating from these strange human figures hanging from the ceiling of the underground palace is so weak that it can only be seen clearly by using "condensation".

Yet, it is precisely this faint life energy that possesses an visibly palpable vitality.

Jin also noticed the faint life energy emanating from these people, and his eyes immediately lit up with intense curiosity.

As for the other excavation workers who didn't possess Nen abilities, although they had witnessed many strange things in different ruins and tombs, they were still slightly pale with fright when they saw those bizarrely shaped corpses.

Those who do not understand the concept of "chan" cannot see the faint life energy on those human bodies. They simply define these human bodies as corpses based on common sense.

"What a strange corpse."

A middle-aged staff member exclaimed in surprise.

After a brief silence, another person said in a trembling voice, "Judging from the appearance and structure of that archway, this is indeed the underground palace ruins of the Kingdom of Akashar, but there is no such eerie record in the existing relevant documents."

"This underground palace looks very much like the final resting place of members of the royal family."

One person, rather calmly, said, "And those corpses might be a unique form of burial practice among the royal family of Akashar?"

"impossible."

The only female archaeologist on the team stared intently at the roots tied to the strange heads and said in a deep voice, "These plant tissues are clearly formed later. Look at the connection between the head and the roots; there are very obvious traces of vine-like growth."

"really."

Several other staff members with excellent eyesight also noticed this after careful observation.

After the initial shock and fear, everyone gradually calmed down.

The historical documents they possessed about the Kingdom of Akashar were completely inadequate to explain the bizarre scene before them, and they could only look to the leader of their team.

Facing the inquiring gazes of his colleagues, Jin did not make any arrangements immediately, but instead glanced at the magnificent palace in the distance.

There was the aura of death within it.

Moreover, it has formed a kind of ability connection with the human bodies above.

Thinking of this, Jin turned his head to look at Moro beside him.

"Did you feel it?"

"Ah."

Moro shifted his gaze to the palace, the surprise and doubt in his eyes gradually fading as he calmly said, "There is an aura of 'death intent,' though not as strong as the death intent on the stone gate, it is still more threatening."

"Yes, it seems we still have to take it slowly."

Even though Jin doesn't understand exorcism, he can still make similar judgments to Moro based on his keen perception.

Thoughts about the afterlife can take many forms.

The thoughts of death found in ancient ruins are especially varied.

The most common are the deathly thoughts attached to ancient objects in ruins and tombs. These are usually not threatening and, due to their intensity, will slowly disappear over time.

There are also some resentments that are more common in tombs and mausoleums, which mainly originate from those who were buried alive with the deceased, or the craftsmen who were responsible for the tombs and mausoleums.

This kind of post-mortem thought, when accumulated over time, can form an energy capable of manipulating the remains of corpses.

However, as the body decomposes and decays, this sense of death will gradually disappear.

Another type is the kind of afterlife consciousness that clings to the entrance of ruins or tombs, or even the kind of sealed afterlife consciousness that can envelop every corner.

The existence of these thoughts after death is all for the purpose of protecting the ruins and tombs from unauthorized intrusion.

Finally, there's the lingering consciousness, filled with various lethal mechanisms, which will indiscriminately attack intruders.

This type of post-mortem thought is usually highly aggressive.

Based on this, even without direct contact, Nen users can distinguish it from the aura emanating from it.

The lingering aura of death within the palace at this moment exudes a chilling and highly aggressive killing intent.

Therefore, it is clearly impossible to begin excavating this underground palace ruins until this lingering thought about death is completely resolved.

"You all leave first."

Jin's gaze shifted to his colleagues.

Having worked together for a considerable period of time, under these circumstances, without much explanation or elaboration, everyone knew that there were still some deadly risks hidden within the underground palace.

Normally, they would wait until the risks are completely eliminated before officially starting work.

"King, Morrow, be careful."

"Let's go, we can take a look at the reliefs on the stone gate first."

"Then we'll head out first."

Watched by Jin, his colleagues returned to the passage one after another.

After his colleagues left, Jin looked once more at the human figures that resembled the living dead above and suddenly asked:
"Moro, do you know about the Dark Continent?"

"Know something."

"Moro said calmly."

In fact, he was basically aware of all the information about the Dark Continent that had appeared in the original work.

Jin was surprised that Moro, at such a young age, knew about the forbidden Dark Continent.

For a moment, a hint of surprise appeared in his gaze as he looked at Moro, and he tentatively asked, "Then how much do you know about the Dark Continent?"

"Jin, I've read the book 'Travels in the New World: East'."

Moro gave an irrelevant answer.

But this answer made a bright light flash in Jin's eyes.

Humanity's understanding of the Dark Continent is primarily derived from the book "Journey to the New World: East".

This book, published hundreds of years ago, has long since become a book of illusion.

In Jin's view, since Moro had read the book, it meant that he was likely also interested in the Dark Continent.

At this moment, Moro's position was directly established in the future blueprint for exploring the Dark Continent.

A smile appeared on Jin's face. He pointed to the many human bodies above, still clinging to life, and asked, "Pap, the human-nurturing beast among the Five Calamities, do you think he looks like one?"

"Now that you mention it..."

Moro paused for a moment, and information about the human-breeding beast Pap flashed through his mind.

It is one of the five known calamities from the Dark Continent, possessing a power of near-equivalent exchange.

The withered, miniature human figures on the ceiling of the underground palace do indeed resemble humans dominated by Palu, except...

"Some features are quite similar, except for the head."

"Ah."

Jin nodded, saying that there were some similarities, but he couldn't be sure if it was related to the human-breeding beast.

Moro thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we try attacking them? If you think they're still alive, then disregard what I said."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Jin finally accepted Moro's suggestion.

Even if Moro hadn't said anything, he would have done it anyway to eliminate the risk.

"Let me do it."

Moro volunteered.

Jin glanced at him in surprise but did not object.

Moro immediately conjured a psychic bullet at his fingertips.

call out!
The telekinetic bullet pierced the air and struck a living dead man.

With a soft crack, the enormous head suddenly exploded.

next moment.

A wisp of black smoke and deathly aura flew out from it, heading straight for Moro.

Upon seeing this, Jin immediately stood in front of Moro.

"It's okay, you don't need to shield me."

Moro then dodged and swept the wisp of black smoke into the tree rings.

What the hell……

Isn't this just a buffet?!
(End of this chapter)