A team of over fifty individuals, yet only one signal was received.
But without a doubt, if a subordinate could radiate such intense fear in their final moments, it was highly likely the entire squad had been wiped out.
The Chimera Ant Squadron Leader, who had assessed his subordinates' team, deduced they must have encountered a powerful enemy.
Since they were deemed a powerful enemy, they must be a Nen User.
His eyes flickered slightly, and he headed towards the quarters of the Royal Guards.
Winding through corridors, he arrived at a room piled with numerous books. A hole had been chiseled in the ceiling, allowing a beam of light to fall upon a petite figure sitting cross-legged on a chair… Neferpitou.
At that moment, she was flipping through a book, engrossed in its contents.
Just as the Squadron Leader reached the doorway, Pitousuddenly looked back. Her ruby-like eyes raked over the Squadron Leader's body like claws.
The Squadron Leader trembled slightly and immediately bowed his head.
"What is it?"
Pitou closed her book with clear displeasure.
"I have a matter to report to the Royal Guard-sama."
"Call me Pitou."
"Yes, yes, Pitou-sama!"
"Speak."
Pitou didn't get up, maintaining her turned position as she looked at the bowing Squadron Leader.
"Just now, one of my squads was wiped out by an unknown enemy."
"Oh?"
The corners of Pitou's lips curved upward, her interest immediately piqued.
The Squadron Leader then elaborated his suspicions, emphasizing the profound fear his subordinate felt before death.
"Hmm, interesting. Their strength must be considerable. Anyway, I'll just go and see."
Pitou hopped down from her chair, her whole body radiating a combative Aura. The pressure emanating unconsciously from her made the Squadron Leader bear immense strain.
Even having opened his Aura Nodes, he was utterly powerless before the Aura of the Royal Guard.
"Without knowing the enemy's exact strength, I suggest you first send out a team to scout and probe their capabilities."
A gentle male voice suddenly came from the shadows.
Pitou looked towards the source of the voice, pressing a finger to her lips as she said calmly, "That's too troublesome, meow."
"I am merely offering a suggestion. The choice is yours. But I must remind you, your duty is to guard, until the King is born."
The figure stepped out from the shadows… a tall, handsome man with golden hair, indistinguishable from a human in appearance.
He wore a white shirt and form-fitting black trousers, with a pair of butterfly antennae on his forehead and folded butterfly wings behind his back.
This was one of the Royal Guards born after Pitou, Shaiapouf.
"That's true."
Pitou wasn't angered by Pouf's contradiction, merely feeling a bit regretful and disappointed. "I just wanted to test how strong I've become."
Pouf crossed his arms, his eyes thoughtful as he said calmly, "Our understanding of life energy is currently limited to transforming that energy into special abilities and even physical objects."
"To further grasp information about the abilities possessed by Nen Users, the fastest method would be to capture one alive for interrogation."
"However, compared to that, the King's birth is more important."
Pitou tilted her head and sighed. "I know, I know."
She was well aware of the duty she bore. So, despite her burning curiosity, she restrained herself.
This was a sense of mission stronger than her innate nature.
Having quelled Pitou's restless thoughts, Pouf turned to the Squadron Leader Chimera Ant, who stood with his head bowed, not daring to speak further, and revealed a strange smile.
"Relay this matter downwards. Order all members to increase their vigilance and refrain from acting rashly for now. After the announcement, summon all Squadron Leaders to gather here."
"Understood!"
The Squadron Leader Chimera Ant immediately acknowledged and then retreated from the room to carry out Pouf's orders.
"What are you planning to do?" Pitou asked curiously.
Pouf narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "Transform the limited information we have into power, as much as possible."
Pitou, unlike the other Royal Guard, Menthuthuyoupi, who was not inclined to deep thought, genuinely couldn't grasp the meaning of Pouf's words at that moment.
As Royal Guards, they were natural Nen Users, possessing the same power as human Nen Users and able to freely manipulate their life energy.
From the intelligence provided by the Squadron Leader, they only knew that while the life energy of Nen Users was far weaker than their own, they could transform that energy into special abilities and physical objects to enhance their strength.
Thus, it was evident that manipulating life energy might just be the most basic ability.
So, what did Pouf intend to do with this scant information?
Pitou was very curious, so she pressed for an answer.
However, Pouf did not respond to her question.
There was one thing Pitou didn't know: after Pouf came into contact with information regarding Nen Abilities, in less than three days, he had independently developed his own ability.
Pouf was keenly aware of his own strengths. He was willing to think constantly, to dissect more information from minimal clues, and to spend all twenty-four hours of the day studying books from the human world.
From the moment of his birth, he had defined his role.
That was... to assist and to devote.
To that end, possessing abilities that aided others was a fundamental requirement. So, he would experiment in this direction. The first step was to develop new abilities for the Squadron Leaders who had already opened their Aura Nodes on their own.
The Chimera Ant Queen's Royal Guards were three: Pitou, Pouf, and Youpi.
If Pouf's role was that of Intelligence, then Pitou was Dexterity, and Youpi was Strength.
Both Pouf and Pitou possessed distinct human characteristics, while Youpi was not inclined to deep thought, as he was generated purely from a mixture of magical beast genes.
…
The forest.
Law closed the book, which then dissolved into motes of Nen and vanished.
At his feet lay a corpse split into over a dozen pieces.
"Have they already developed to this extent?"
Law let out a sigh, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding corpses littering the ground, a hint of gravity in his eyes.
Through torturing the beetle Chimera Ant, he had obtained some useful intelligence.
The three Royal Guards had already been born. Moreover, based on the beetle Chimera Ant's rough description, the appearance of the three Royal Guards seemed unchanged from the original work.
Not only that, the Chimera Ants internally already had a basic understanding of Nen. That's why these two Officer-level Chimera Ants had nearly opened their aura nodes driven by emotion.
In other words, aside from the three Royal Guards who were natural Nen Users, the sixteen Squadron Leaders had likely all opened their Aura Nodes.
What should be considered fortunate was that the Chimera Ants had not yet mastered the method to forcibly open Aura Nodes. Otherwise, with their powerful physical constitutions, they could have rapidly created a large number of Nen Users in a short time.
Recalling Pitou's method of stealing Nen Ability's information in the original story, Law immediately thought of Dafifi and Ponzu.
He needed to find them quickly, lest they be captured alive by the Chimera Ants.
Thinking this, Law glanced at the surrounding corpses. He walked around a bit, used his ability to bury all the bodies in the soil, and then left the area.
Five hours later, Law arrived at a hidden cave, only to find it empty.
"Changed locations?"
Law frowned slightly, guessing that Dafifi had likely moved to avoid detection by the Chimera Ants.
If that was the case, then given Dafifi's ability, finding them wouldn't be so easy anymore.