Shizuku, your ability is honestly amazing.
Deep within the dense, ancient forests of Kukuro Mountain, Liam moved so fast he was little more than a dark blur darting through the trees. The wind whipped past his face as he navigated the thick, thorny underbrush in the fading light.
Extending from his hand was a vicious, roaring chainsaw made entirely of pure, razor-sharp aura. He held it casually, swinging it like a deadly whip to clear his path. It was the physical manifestation of the talisman he had just pulled from Jade Nen beast's sleeve, a one-time borrowed copy of Shizuku's unique ability.
As he ran, Liam quickly tallied up the remaining talismans the Nen beast still had stored away. He had exactly one Seventy-Two Transformations talisman left, and two copies of Shizuku's Chainsaw Woman.
In Liam's opinion, the destructive cutting power and sheer killing efficiency of Shizuku's manifested chainsaw were completely on par with the lethal lightning transmutation Killua would eventually develop.
By using the talisman, Liam's aura had taken on the exact properties of the roaring weapon. The destructive force it produced was probably several times greater than his own standard attacks. Slicing through a solid stone palace wall that was over ten meters thick had felt exactly like dragging a hot knife through soft butter. The stone simply melted away at the touch, allowing him to easily slip out of the basement and avoid the guards.
Speaking of Shizuku...
He had absolutely no idea where she had been thrown by that ridiculous hidden level system on Greed Island.
He had been inexplicably dumped directly into Alluka's highly secure containment room. And Alluka's terrifying special feature was undoubtedly tied to the unknown, wish-granting creature known as Ai from the Dark Continent. It was the second personality residing in the kid's body, the entity Killua called Nanika.
If Liam had been thrown there because of some unique condition attached to his own existence, then it was highly likely Shizuku and the others had not been thrown into equally unlucky, dangerous locations. At least, he hoped so.
Liam continued his wild sprint, glancing up through the thick canopy of leaves. The sky was painting itself in the deep oranges and purples of late dusk.
He just needed to wait a little bit longer. Once true nightfall hit, the communication range of his Moon Mark ring would increase infinitely. Until then, he had absolutely no way to contact Shizuku.
Judging by the distance he had covered, Liam figured he was far enough away from the continuous string of the Twelve Palaces built into the mountainside. He completely retracted his aura, plunging his body into a perfect state of Zetsu. The roaring Nen chainsaw in his hand vanished quietly into thin air.
Nen abilities borrowed through the talismans were strictly one-time use. The rules for that limit were simple. The ability would vanish if his aura was completely exhausted, if he actively switched to using a different Nen ability, or if he just chose to manually release it.
Relying on the wilderness survival skills Bisky had drilled into him back on Greed Island, Liam found a highly secluded, rocky hollow deep in the dense forest. He carefully brushed away his tracks, tucked himself into the deep shadows, and completely hid his physical presence.
He settled in to wait for the sun to fully set, taking the quiet moment to recover his stamina and clear his head.
While he waited, he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, sensing for the active Star Marks attached to Lumos and Jaku.
Far away, a pair of tiny, dark eyes suddenly blinked. Jaku came online.
Is this a cave? Liam thought, processing the visual feed.
The little gray bird was currently hiding in the deep shadow of a damp, rocky wall. Jaku tilted its small head, scanning the immediate environment. To Liam's massive relief, he did not see any signs of the other five great calamities from the Dark Continent that he had been so worried about.
Perhaps the strange DICE system on Greed Island had simply picked random destinations that were not inherently lethal, intentionally avoiding the ominous disasters associated with the Dark Continent. Or maybe the specific condition of being drawn toward things contaminated by the Dark Continent was entirely exclusive to Liam himself.
Liam could not be entirely sure. Controlling the bird's body directly, he quickly transmuted the thin layer of aura clinging to Jaku's feathers into a wind attribute. Almost instantly, the dark cave felt like an extension of his own body. He could clearly feel the subtle, shifting direction of the airflow moving through the tunnel.
The little gray bird took flight, flying directly against the incoming wind. Thanks to the aura, it felt absolutely zero wind resistance, moving as smoothly as a fish gliding through the ocean. Jaku navigated the shadows and flew straight toward the source of the draft.
Is that the sound of crashing waves? Liam wondered. Did the bird get sent to a cave right on the seaside?
Jaku flapped its wings and burst out of the cave entrance. The view suddenly opened up entirely.
Liam had originally assumed the bird might not have even been teleported off Greed Island. But the vast, endless horizon of the open ocean, the massive, jagged rocks scattered across the beach, and the heavy, isolated atmosphere of the landscape told him otherwise.
Under the fading light of the setting sun, the little gray bird circled high above the rocky shoreline. The entire area was completely desolate. There were barely any plants or trees in sight, let alone any signs of human habitation. As for the cave Jaku had just flown out of, Liam noticed that the tunnel seemed to lead diagonally downward, plunging deep beneath the earth.
Since there is a steady draft of air flowing directly into that tunnel, where exactly does this wind lead? Liam thought.
Jaku fluttered down and landed lightly on a rock right at the entrance of the cave, its dark eyes twinkling with curiosity as it peered back into the pitch-black tunnel.
Well, I am just a bird right now, Liam reasoned. So curiosity definitely will not kill the cat.
Liam shifted his focus. Lumos blinked his massive green eyes.
Liam quickly realized the giant tiger was actually lying down comfortably. Moreover, he was resting directly on top of a normal-sized bed inside a very standard-looking bedroom.
Of course, the heavy wooden frame of the bed had completely collapsed under the sheer weight of the massive beast.
Cowering in the absolute furthest corner of the small room was a tall young man with spiky black hair and a pair of round glasses. His dress shirt was completely wrinkled and messy, and he looked like he was suffering from profound, clinical shock.
The young man was pressing his back so hard against the corner that he looked like he was desperately trying to sink directly into the plaster wall. He was tightly clutching a medical stethoscope in one hand, sweating profusely as he nervously stared down the terrifying, moon-white tiger occupying his destroyed bed.
He did not dare to move a single muscle.
The young man had been frozen in this exact, awkward position for several hours. Every muscle in his body was screaming in sore, stiff agony, but his survival instinct kept him completely paralyzed.
This ferocious, impossibly huge tiger had just suddenly appeared out of thin air right in the middle of his apartment. It had nearly frightened the young medical student entirely out of his mind. The heavy, oppressive gaze radiating from the beast's eyes made him feel like he would be instantly torn to bloody pieces if he even twitched.
Looking into those highly intelligent, almost human-like eyes, the young man fully understood that the beast recognized him as an intelligent species. He also recognized the creature. It was an incredibly rare, highly valuable magical beast known as a Misery Moon Tiger.
If I dare to shout for help, or if I dare to act rashly, or if I do anything to expose its existence, I am absolutely going to die, the young man complained miserably in his own head. But if this standoff just keeps going, I am going to die from dehydration anyway, right? I have to figure out a way to survive this.
Why in the world is it him? Liam thought, observing the scene through the tiger's eyes. Isn't that Leorio?
Lumos shifted his weight, casually raising one massive front paw. The broken remains of the bed frame let out a loud, cracking groan.
Leorio flinched violently, letting out a stifled gasp.
The poor kid is absolutely terrified, Liam noted, feeling a little bad.
Just as Lumos raised his heavy head, a loud crash echoed from above. The ceiling of Leorio's bedroom suddenly splintered and gave way, and a human figure fell straight through the plaster, crashing heavily onto the floor.
Back in the dark forest of Kukuro Mountain, night had finally fallen completely.
Liam reached down and rubbed the cold metal of the A ring on his finger, immediately activating the Moon Mark's communication channel.
Almost as if she had been sitting there expecting the call, Shizuku answered the mental connection instantly.
[Shizuku, are you doing okay over there?] Liam asked, projecting his thoughts directly into her mind.
[Liam, what about you?] Shizuku's calm voice echoed clearly back to him.
Just listening to the steady, unbothered tone of her mental voice told Liam that she was not in any immediate, life-threatening danger. He let out a long breath, feeling genuinely relieved.
[I am fine], Liam replied through the link. [But that completely broken hidden level on Greed Island literally threw me directly into the main estate of the most arrogant, dangerous family of assassins in the entire world.]
[Do you mean the Zoldyck family?] Shizuku asked.
[It is genuinely rare for you to remember a name like that], Liam smiled into the darkness. [Where exactly are you? Is your current situation dangerous? It is not exactly convenient for me to move around freely where I am right now. If it is safe on your end, try calling Bisky and ask her what her situation is.]
Far away, Shizuku was currently standing in a sterile, brightly lit room, dressed from head to toe in a heavy, airtight hazardous materials protective suit.
She pressed her gloved finger against her own B ring. Through the thick glass visor of her protective helmet, she calmly scanned her immediate surroundings.
Lined up in neat rows across the massive room were dozens of towering, cylindrical glass containers filled with cloudy formalin preservative. Floating suspended inside the chemical liquid were various grotesque, highly twisted human remains. Some were mangled into unrecognizable strips of raw meat. Others were only the bottom or top halves of human bodies, preserved perfectly in their horrific state.
She sent her reply back across the mental link. [I heard some people walking past the room earlier. They mentioned that this facility is a highly classified place called the Special Voyage Bureau.]
What the hell? Liam thought, his heart skipping a beat in pure, sudden shock.
He knew exactly what that place was. It was the V5 organization's top-secret storage facility for the horrific victims of the Dark Continent.
Liam's eyes snapped open in the dark forest.
The moment he did, he found himself staring directly into a pair of massive, glowing green eyes that were easily as large as paper lanterns.
A terrifying, ten-meter-tall giant wolf was standing completely silently right in front of him. Its massive jaws were slightly open, and it looked like it could effortlessly crush Liam into the dirt exactly like a fragile kitten with a single, careless step.
"Get lost" Liam commanded, his voice completely cold and flat.
The giant wolf had already raised one massive, razor-sharp claw to strike. But at those words, it froze completely solid in the middle of the air. The thick fur across its entire massive body stood straight up on end in pure, instinctual terror. The huge green eyes staring down at Liam began to rapidly dilate and blur in panic.
Oops, my aura accidentally leaked out for a second, Liam realized.
He did not stick around to see if the beast would recover. He immediately ducked low, slipping past the frozen monster and sprinting silently into the trees.
But before he could get very far, a sharp, metallic whistle tore through the quiet night air. Several heavy metal coins shot out from the darkness, ripping through the foliage and flying directly toward his head with the terrifying speed and kinetic force of high-caliber sniper bullets.
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