Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

They certainly wouldn't cut off Netero's hands and feet simply because they wanted to know his name, after finding a weakness in Netero.

At that moment, he had only one thought—

Cleanly and decisively, Nitero's head was removed!

From the perspective of the Ant King at this moment, he had already won.

'He won't have time to react; my needles will pierce his brain before he can react…'

The thought had just flashed through Meruem's mind.

Swish!

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and Netero, who had been standing perfectly fine in front of him, vanished without a trace!

The needle shot out like lightning, but missed its target!

Instead, Neferpitou appeared before Meruem in a similarly bewildered state.

But as an observer, she reacted even faster than Meruem—

A massive, terrifying black aura suddenly coalesced in front of her, spreading wildly and unrestrainedly, instantly transforming into a deep black hole!

The space around it seemed to be twisted and turned by an invisible force, and any light that shone through it would be captured by the deep black hole.

'【Abyss Howl】'

Neferpitou's penultimate ability, developed within Nob's Nen space, possesses immense destructive power!

All of this happened in an instant.

Meruem's eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, he tried to leap backward to avoid it.

However, he was shocked to find that his body was as if it were filled with lead, and he could not move!

'What's this?!'

Meruem was shocked and furious, realizing that a huge amount of greenish-blue "life energy" had been poured into his body without him noticing!

The sheer magnitude of this energy took even Meruem by surprise.

'Such a huge amount, even if it were replaced with water, it would take time to fill the pool. How could I have been affected without even realizing it…'

boom!!!

The black hole suddenly trembled, expanded a size, and then exploded instantly, completely engulfing Meruem's figure!

Rumbling--

The rain lashed down violently, causing the entire ruins to tremble. A powerful, rolling wave of air, carrying raindrops, surged wildly in all directions...

A few seconds later.

Dia and Netero leaped out from behind a rock, staring intently at the center of the explosion.

There, Neferpitou floated silently, her aura plummeting like a rollercoaster. Opposite her was Meruem, her body tattered and battered.

He didn't die, and he wasn't even seriously injured.

Snapped!

Meruem completely ignored Dia and Neferpitou's intentions, instead staring coldly at them and reaching out to grab her neck:

"What a boring trick, you deserve to die!"

[Kuroko Mai], hovering behind Neferpitou, effortlessly controlled her body to dodge the grab.

[Kuroko Masashi] then skillfully conjured a black key, inserted it into mid-air, and a familiar door appeared out of thin air, opening wide!

"Dia!"

Nitro's eyes lit up, and he quickly spoke up to remind him.

As he spoke, Neferpitou moved swiftly, narrowly missing Meruem's tail needle, and flashed into the door!

Boom!

The gate slammed shut with unshakeable force.

In the white space of thought.

【Kuroko Mai】calmly controls Neferpitou to float and recover his stamina.

This isn't the first time such a scenario has happened.

Over the past few dozen hours, he has tried more than once to kill Meruem with [Abyss Scream].

But they never managed to hit it; the enemy was just too fast.

After the explosion, Neferpitou's stamina will be depleted, forcing him to use the "Cat's Master Key" to escape.

Fortunately, Neferpitou is also extremely fast, so she manages to escape every time...

[Kuroko's Thoughts] My thoughts suddenly paused.

Before him stood a familiar figure in dark green, observing the surrounding white space with an inscrutable expression.

"Is this the trick you've been using to escape?"

Meruem looked at [Kuroko Mai] who was so close by, his voice mocking.

Time seemed to stand still.

In that extremely brief moment, [Kuroko Mai]'s eyes darted around frantically, trying to find the door to get out.

The cat's master key can open and close all doors, so he still has a chance to escape Meruem!

But his hopes were dashed.

The exit gate was behind the Ant King...

Chapter 489 Demon × Countdown Begins

The yellow sand howled.

At the southernmost tip of the NGL Autonomous Region, just over a hundred kilometers from the tail of the Miyala Mountains, lies a naturally formed red soil canyon.

Because its cracks and outline, when viewed from above, are extremely similar to the head of a ram, which represents a demon, locals call it Devil's Canyon.

Also.

It was once a site where some major powers tested military weapons.

Before the establishment of the NGL Autonomous Region, Devil's Canyon was already listed among the world's top ten canyons. It was only after Zayro closed its borders under the pretext of ecological isolation that this mysterious and magnificent canyon gradually faded from people's sight.

The afterglow of the setting sun grew even more crimson, like a long red tongue hanging down from the sky and dotting the clouds.

Vultures circled overhead, and some deformed birds emitted mournful cries.

On the towering El Capitan stands a man in a suit, gazing up at the sky.

Nob remained silent, watching the sun gradually set and darkness slowly spread from the horizon.

His right hand, wrapped in bandages, gradually clenched into a fist.

It's almost time.

He desperately wanted to escape; his hands were trembling with the urge.

But it's too late now.

He personally shut down all the exits of the [Four-Dimensional Apartment]. Even if there were other methods, it would be too late to implement them now.

'One foot is already on the edge of the cliff...'

Even if he can hide in the Nian Space now, he can only come out from here in the end.

Coming here was a strategy and plan that he, the chairman, and Dia had devised long ago.

Theoretically, on another battlefield, the target has been forced into the Nen space of the [Four-Dimensional Apartment].

So now there are three possibilities.

First, the two monsters in the [Four-Dimensional Apartment] fought to the death, and in the end, the Ant King will definitely survive and be trapped in the Nen space.

This is the optimal scenario, and it's what Nob advocates.

In this situation, the ant king is nothing more than a turtle in a jar; for humans, killing him would be an easy task.

Second, the King Ant and Neferpitou suddenly reconciled during their entanglement, and Neferpitou escaped from the Nen space with the King Ant, causing the containment to fail again.

This is Netero's theory, which suggests that in this situation, only some kind of trump card can eliminate the two monsters.

To prevent that trump card from affecting the surrounding environment and causing adverse political consequences, Netero instructed Nob to leave the only exit of the [Four-Dimensional Apartment] in Devil's Canyon.

In other words, Devil's Canyon is the graveyard Netero chose for himself.

For Nob, if things were really going to come to that, it would be more convenient to just lay down high-yield bombs all over Devil's Canyon.

However, he couldn't get his hands on bombs of that caliber.

Even as a Star Hunter, Nob cannot bring a high-yield or even polluting bomb into a sovereign nation; this is a blatant slap in the face to international peace organizations.

So even though Nob had already infiltrated the Ant King's palace in the original story, and the extermination team had countless opportunities to plant high-yield bombs, they just didn't do it.

It's not that they don't want to, it's that they really can't get it.

Of course, besides the two possibilities mentioned above,

There is also a worst-case third possibility.

The King Ant and Neferpitou fought fiercely, and after Neferpitou was completely killed, the King Ant was not trapped in the Nen dimension.

Instead, like Neferpitou, he cracked the [Four-Dimensional Apartment] and successfully escaped.

This is the situation as claimed by Dia.

His basis was the true power of the Chimera Ant King, namely the terrifying ability to absorb the Nen and Nen abilities of others through eating!

In the original story, the Chimera Ant King Meruem gained his abilities by consuming the cells of Yupi and Pouf.

Given the current situation, it's not impossible that Neferbitt's abilities could be absorbed.

If this happens,