Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 276 Officially begins

Everything is ready.

The excavation team immediately sprang into action.

Under Jin's guidance and hands-on experience, the stone gate of the palace was quickly opened.

As a two-star professional relic hunter, Jin's greatest strength lies in his practical skills.

As the stone gate opened, the dark, gloomy hall came into view.

In the depths of darkness,

A chilling, malevolent aura of death permeated the air.

Jin raised his hand, and the low-powered beam of his flashlight pierced the darkness, reaching the throne deep within the hall.

There, a figure could be vaguely seen sitting on a throne.

The beam of light shone on it, revealing a corpse entangled in root-like plants.

The corpse's head was tilted back, and roots as thick as a baby's arm were emerging from its eyes and mouth.

At the same time, wisps of black smoke floated along the edges of the roots.

The throne was surrounded by a dense network of roots, which seemed to have spread to an unknown destination.

This place seems to be the source of those plant roots outside.

Everyone looked at the corpse entangled in roots on the throne, their faces showing astonishment.

Before opening the palace, the excavation team had considered many possibilities, but they never expected it to turn out like this.

As more beams of flashlight shone into the palace, Jin glanced around and frowned slightly.

These roots, which are spread to every corner, are simply the biggest obstacle to the excavation and research work.

In contrast, the deathly aura emanating from the edges of the corpse's roots seemed rather benign.

Moro, however, was not troubled by this. When he saw the thoughts of the dead clinging to the corpse, a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

Once the lingering thoughts of death in front of us are absorbed, the excavation and research work on this site can be accelerated.

Once the excavation work is finished, Jin will have more time to help him improve his ability to condense starlight.

Tessa stared intently at the deathly aura emanating from the corpse.

As an exorcist, the most feared thing is an Nen that has become stronger through death.

What they consider is not the capabilities of these thoughts after death, but the success rate of transferring and digesting these thoughts after death, as well as the extremely high risks.

Tessa was not good at dispelling the thoughts of the dead, and when she observed those thoughts from the perspective of transference and dispelling, she sensed a strong sense of danger after only a few glances.

This aura of deathly thoughts...

It is undoubtedly an offensive type. To completely remove it, the most troublesome part, compared to the final stage of sublimation and purification, should be the transfer in the first stage.

Thinking of this, Tessa glanced at Morrow's profile without leaving a trace, but she didn't notice the slightest bit of tension or seriousness in him.

They seem very confident.

The most important skill for a chanting master is the ability to assess risk.

When faced with some challenging targets, we should eliminate them if possible, and never take risks if we cannot, based on the assessed risk level.

In Tessa's view, the fact that Morrow was so calm meant that removing the item was not difficult for him.

Nevertheless, Tessa offered, "I'm not good at dispelling the thoughts of the dead, but I know some sealing techniques that can suppress some of its threat, which might reduce the pressure on you during the transfer."

"Uh."

Moro was somewhat surprised to hear Tessa's suggestion.

"Thank you, but it's not necessary."

After politely declining Tessa's help, Moro looked at Sambika, who had already entered the palace.

Sambica noticed the gaze, turned around and nodded to Moro, indicating that there was no problem.

Moro was confident in Sambica's abilities, so he grabbed a flashlight and headed straight for the depths of the palace.

Just in case, he used the ability to condense starlight.

In an instant, the manifested energy surrounding his body surged, then shattered into a sky full of starlight, creating a dazzling and beautiful starry sky within the dark palace.

Sambica and the others couldn't help but focus their gazes on Moro.

After spending this time together, Jin has gained a clearer understanding of Moro's methods of exorcising Nen.

Therefore, even though the spirit of the dead attached to the throne's corpse possessed a strong desire to attack, he was not worried at all, or rather, he had complete trust in Moro's ability to exorcise spirits.

But Sambica was unaware of this, and when she looked at Moro, who was surrounded by dazzling starlight, her eyes revealed worry.

After a while.

Moro came to the foot of the throne.

As they walked along, the surrounding starlight did not detect any unusual activity.

But just as Moro stepped onto the golden staircase, the thick roots that emerged from the eyes and mouth of the throne corpse seemed to suddenly come alive, attacking Moro like pythons.

The starlight condensed and immediately read the attack information from the roots.

Moro remained calm, and with a slight thought, he withdrew his ability to condense starlight.

In an instant, the surrounding starlight receded like a tide.

Centered on him, it was as if space itself was rapidly collapsing, absorbing all the starlight back.

The speed at which this ability can be controlled is one of the results of his arduous training during this period.

Now, he no longer has to resort to rudely abandoning his magnanimity when faced with emergencies, just like before.

However, Moro knew that he still had room for improvement in the speed at which he could control his abilities, but that would require more time to hone his skills.

As the starlight transformed into psychic energy and returned to his body, Moro immediately used the "Blitzkrieg" ability.

Swish.

Moro vanished into thin air.

The thick roots that pierced through the air naturally landed on empty air.

next moment.

Moro had already revealed himself beside the throne, extending his right hand to grasp one of the roots.

absorb.

With a thought, the power of the tree rings was activated instantly.

Faced with the suction from the rings of time, the thoughts of death that had been gestating within the corpse suddenly began to fiercely resist.

Unfortunately, it was no use in resisting the even stronger growth rings.

It only takes a second or two.
The thick black spiritual energy was continuously swept into the tree rings, leaving no trace of its presence.

After absorbing this intensely aggressive deathly intent, the energy ring of the third growth ring grew at a visible rate.

However, Moro was not in the mood to pay attention at the moment.

Because the moment the thoughts of the dead are transformed into energy, some fragments of memory come with them and are forcibly stuffed into Moro's head.

Moro reflexively closed his eyes, immersing his mind in his consciousness to receive these sudden fragments of memory.

Scenes flashed through my consciousness.

On a dark gray beach littered with corpses, a black object, shaped like a "message in a bottle," was propelled by the waves, tumbling over the many bodies before finally coming to rest in the arms of one of them.

From within that pitch-black, bottle-shaped object, thin, hair-like lines slowly emerged, burrowing into the corpse like parasites.

next moment,
The corpse suddenly opened its eyes.

The picture rotates.

Inside the pure white and holy temple.

Kneeling were devout believers dressed in white, and from the top of the temple, tendrils hung down, gently enveloping the heads of the believers.

As these tentacles took root completely, the believers' faces lit up with wonderful expressions, as if they had entered a beautiful virtual world.

The speed at which memories flashed back increased dramatically.

In an instant, all sorts of illusory and unreal images swept through Moro's consciousness like a storm.

These overwhelming images of memory seem to be another virtual world created by the believers solely through their imagination.

Fortunately, Moro's "tolerance limit" is much higher than before, and he managed to weather these memory storms with great difficulty.

quickly,

The memory fragments come to the final scene.

Dark clouds rolled in the sky, and a sudden downpour began.

Through the rain-blurred vision, a palm-sized gray feather drifted vertically down from the clouds.

Amidst the raging wind and rain, the feathers seemed to exist in another dimension, completely unaffected.

His slightly blurred vision remained fixed on the gray feather until it gently landed on the ground, which was mixed with blood and rain.

In that instant, the earth cracked and then shook violently, centered on the gray feather.

In the palace, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, Moro suddenly opened his eyes.

Around him were Kim, Sambika, and others.

Seeing that Moro's expression remained normal, Sambica breathed a sigh of relief.

"nailed it."

By withdrawing his arm, Moro clearly saw the status of the third ring of energy, which was around 85%.

This thought about death brought him a 13% return.

There is only 15% left to accumulate the energy of the third annual ring.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Jin walked over and patted Moro on the shoulder with a smile.

With such a reliable exorcist, I no longer need to worry about various problems arising from thoughts after death.

Moro smiled, ignoring the subtle look of surprise coming from Tessa's side, and gave up his seat.

Having dealt with his posthumous concerns, the team can now focus on studying the palace. It shouldn't be long before Jin no longer needs to guard this place.

Soon, the members of the excavation team entered the palace one after another, each with a look of shock on their face.

After finishing his work, Moro left the palace and came to the platform outside.

blah blah.

A soft, slow footstep came from behind.

Moro turned around and saw Sambika jogging towards him, so he stopped to wait for her.

Sambica stopped in front of Moro, looked up at him, and said softly, "Moro, it's been over a year since I last saw you, you've changed so much."

"is it?"

Moro's gaze swept over Sambika's unchanging attire, finally settling on her soft, beautiful black eyes. A slight smile played on his lips: "You haven't changed at all."

"what……"

Sambica thought Moro was talking about her clothes, so she unconsciously lowered her head and explained in a low voice, "I'm used to this outfit... so I've had many of the same ones made, and I've never thought about changing to other styles."

"It's great. I don't have to worry about choosing clothes, so I have more time to focus on what I want to do."

Moro laughed.

Sambika's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded, "Yes."

What have you been busy with lately?

Moro walked toward the passage and casually asked.

Sambika followed beside him, her voice soft as water: "I joined a virus research team, and in addition to providing free treatment to some underdeveloped medical areas, we have also successfully developed two vaccines."

"Amazing."

Hearing the word "free of charge," Moro was not surprised at all and praised it sincerely.

Sambika turned her head to look, and belatedly realized that she now had to look up to see Moro's profile.

"What about you?"

she asked softly.

Upon hearing this, Moro reflected on his experiences over the past year and a half, realizing that he had spent most of his time striving to become stronger.

Even now that the death point has been resolved, there is no sign of letting up.

Because there's still something I want to do, and that is to keep my word and kill Illumi.

“I spend most of my time cultivating myself, unlike you, who will take the initiative to do good deeds that benefit mankind.”

Moro looked ahead and said with a smile.

Sambika lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, then stared intently at the Nen aura emanating from Moro.

Compared to her level a year ago, the difference was like night and day. It was hard to imagine how much effort and energy she had to put in, and what kind of willpower she had to rely on to achieve this level of progress.

"You're awesome too."

Sambika spoke softly.

Moro glanced at Sambika with some surprise, but could only see the hood hanging down. After a moment of silence, he changed the subject to free treatment.

"Those areas you mentioned with scarce medical resources must have very difficult living conditions, right?"

"Yes, food shortages are a common phenomenon in these areas."

Speaking of this, Sambika's tone became noticeably somber, and she sighed, "War is truly cruel."

"..."

Moro fell silent upon hearing this, realizing that Sambica's team was likely heading to areas affected by war.

In regions like this, it's common for the healthcare system to collapse, and the deaths of a large number of civilians lead to hunger and the spread of disease.

From this perspective, the medical team in Sambica truly embodies the brilliance of humanity.

This seemingly cruel, dog-eat-dog world is, in fact, clearly divided into black and white.

There will be criminal groups like the Phantom Troupe that disregard human life, and there will also be selfless entities like the Sambika Medical Team.

Thinking of war, fragments of memories that Moro had absorbed when he was absorbing the Death Thought earlier surfaced in his mind, which were also related to war.

That seems to be the reason for the rise of the Kingdom of Akashar: to plunder and annex through war.

"Yes."

Moro nodded in agreement with a slight sigh, then reminded him, "Then you must be careful, especially with your abilities. Even if your team is very reliable, don't expose them easily."

"Ah."

Sambika smiled through her mask.

Although she had heard similar words countless times from her master...

"Didn't I disturb you?"

Suddenly, Jin's voice seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Sambika was startled.

Moro remained calm, as if he had sensed something before Jin spoke.

Jin looked at Morrow with a hint of mockery in his eyes, and quietly pointed to Tessa, who was walking briskly from the palace.

"I tried my best, say thank you quickly."

"Thank you so much."

Moro gave Jin a look, then his eyelids drooped.

As expected, Tessa found an excuse to take Sambika away.

Moro and King watched the two head towards the palace.

Jin raised his hand and patted Moro on the shoulder, sighing, "It's tough."

"..."

Moro shook his head slightly in exasperation, then brought up the main topic, asking, "Jin, do you think the improvement to the Starlight Condensation will meet my expectations?"

"That's too difficult."

Jin withdrew his hand, his expression serious.

Over the past few months, the two have conducted numerous drills during their spare time.

With his understanding of the Nen system, Kim has realized the difficulty of making improvements.

Upon hearing this, a hint of disappointment flashed in Moro's eyes.

Seeing this, Jin said seriously, "Why rush? Even if the final result doesn't meet expectations, the process will not be wasted."

"Oh, then let's officially begin tomorrow."

Moro then made the suggestion.

"Okay."

Jin readily agreed.

This was unexpected for Moro, who had thought that Kim would be involved in the upcoming excavation and research work.

(End of this chapter)