A chunk of the ceiling collapsed, striking him on the head. It was likely the result of some Emitter's ability—perhaps Zeno's Dragon Dive.
After Ging stepped out of the room, he followed the energy trail leading him to the reception hall.
"Where's Ronnel?"
"According to this, there's an abandoned weapons testing facility a few dozen kilometers east." Meleoron responded in a low voice.
The man before him, with his uncanny resemblance to Gon, gave Meleoron a strange feeling.
"Thanks."
Ging glanced at Meleoron and the life-monitoring device in his hand, then gave a quick nod to Morel and the others before leaping straight out of the window.
He came in a hurry, and he left just as quickly, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
After Ging was gone, the remaining group silently stared out the window for a while before turning back.
None of them tried to stop him.
Netero's presence alone was enough to prove just how much of a monster their opponent was.
Ging knew it too, but since he had specifically asked about Ronnel's whereabouts, it meant he had his own plan.
Morel and the others understood that trying to stop him would be pointless. They couldn't even if they wanted to.
The hall fell into silence.
But the stillness was soon broken by a hesitant voice.
"Um... Excuse me, but... what exactly is a Chimera Ant? And... the Ant King...?"
Morel looked up at Komugi, who was curled up in the corner, clutching at her clothes. He fell silent for a moment before exhaling a cloud of smoke from his pipe.
...
Ging sprinted across the vast, desolate desert at an incredible speed.
Despite his rapid pace, his footsteps were eerily light—leaving no footprints, not even kicking up dust.
As he ran, he glanced at his phone and quickly dialed a number.
"Hey, Emuksu. Tell me exactly what props Ronnel borrowed from you!"
Don't you dare die before I get there, you bastard!
A deafening explosion thundered in the distance, its shockwave so intense that Ging felt it vibrate through his eardrums.
Even Emuksu, on the other end of the call, started shouting in alarm.
Ignoring the yelling, Ging snapped back to his senses, hastily ended the call, and pushed forward at an even faster pace.
That explosion—it didn't look good.
...
At the battlefield—
A deafening blast tore through the air, sending plumes of smoke spiraling into the sky like a sandstorm. Crimson flames roared through the ruins of the abandoned facility, blooming like eerie, enchanting flowers from the underworld.
But after the initial burst of brilliance, the battlefield was left in an unsettling, muted gray.
Even the fire, once burning bright red, darkened into a dull, lifeless hue.
It was as if, after the explosion and exposure to some unknown force, the entire area had transformed into a graveyard—completely devoid of life.
Then—
"Agh..."
A faint cough suddenly broke the silence.
Moments later, a dust-covered hand emerged from beneath the rubble, fingers stretching toward the sky as bits of debris tumbled away.
A second hand followed. Then, with a forceful push against the ground, Ronnel pulled himself free from the wreckage, launching out of the debris like a sprout breaking through the soil.
"Nen-based self-destruction... The power really is no joke."
Shaking the dust from his body, Ronnel let out a weary sigh.
Even though he had been caught in the explosion's aftermath, he had managed to escape with only minor injuries.
Glancing around at the devastation he had caused, a strange sense of sorrow settled in his chest.
"Even that might not be enough to take down the Ant King..."
With a swift motion, Ronnel expanded his En, scanning the area. His figure blurred as he retreated, already searching for any sign of Meruem.
The explosion had been part of his strategy all along—a trump card he had been preparing for a long time.
Aside from his usual limitations, Nen restrictions, and the few tools he carried, this was the single most powerful attack he could unleash.
It was a technique inspired by Chrollo.
Back when Chrollo fought Hisoka in Heavens Arena, he had used the abilities [Order Stamp] and [Convert Hands] to create numerous manipulated puppets. By detonating them all at once, he had effectively suffocated Hisoka to death, causing massive casualties in the process.
Of course, Hisoka had eventually revived himself through sheer willpower, but the effectiveness of Chrollo's tactic remained undeniable.
Simple, brutal—but it worked.
Ronnel had kept his clone ability hidden throughout his battle with Meruem, waiting for the right moment.
The Ant King hadn't considered the clone a threat.
That one miscalculation allowed Ronnel to maneuver his duplicate into close range and detonate it—while his real body made a rapid retreat.
Nen-based self-destruction condensed all the user's aura into a single point, unleashing a catastrophic burst of energy beyond the body's limit.
The greater the user's Nen capacity, the more devastating the explosion.
If someone of Ronnel's caliber were to self-destruct, the resulting force would rival the Poor Man's Rose.
Meruem had once declared that Netero's malice no longer posed a threat to him, implying that a single Poor Man's Rose—along with its poison—wouldn't be enough to kill him.
So, that explosion alone wouldn't have been enough.
But—
Ronnel hadn't just used a raw explosion.
At the moment of detonation, he had also infused the attack with every last drop of Death Energy and Corpse Poison he had accumulated over the years.
The Rose's poison was slow-acting.
Death Energy and Corpse Poison, on the other hand, struck with immediate, devastating force.
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (799 chapters in total)