Relying on the True Sight Eye's teleportation ability, five first-class Gatekeeper Clan's combatants appeared before Don.
Before manifesting fully, their robust bodies were already enveloped by the Gatekeeper Clan's unique, vast Manifested Aura.
Their undisguised hostility, amplified by Nen, formed an aura field, locking onto Don's calm expression.
Don was actually surprised by the Gatekeeper Clan's members' sudden appearance.
Based on his intel, Gatekeeper Clan's members wouldn't personally interfere with outsiders' actions.
He realized these five magical beasts wanting to kill him indicated some change in the Gatekeeper Clan's stance.
The language Don used wasn't the common tongue but the Gatekeeper Clan's language.
The five attacking magical beasts weren't surprised, as if already knowing this.
"Rules? What are those?"
The leader, a crocodile-faced magical beast, opened its fanged mouth, sneering.
They weren't the type to chatter before acting, but this Ink Plain was one of the death zones. Since they had just arrived, they needed time to adapt.
Thus, before adapting, they didn't mind wasting useless words.
Don looked at the crocodile face, seemingly unaware of their calculation, continuing in Gatekeeper Clan's language: "Something? Always strictly abiding by rules, even with your souls… now you discard them thoroughly."
"Though unclear what happened within your clan, it's unrelated to me. So go back where you came from."
Hearing Don, including the crocodile face, all five magical beasts showed icy killing intent.
"We've observed you long. If left unchecked, someday..."
The speaker had a parrot face, halting mid-sentence, expression suddenly changing, quickly taking algae, suspending it in its open beak, converting it to copious clean water with Nen, gulping.
After replenishing substantial water, the parrot-faced magical beast's tense expression slightly eased, seamlessly continuing: "Someday, the boundary of non-interference between lands will be shattered by you. Then humans will suffer."
Don remained calm, dehydration reaction not as exaggerated as the parrot face, leisurely raising his right hand, drinking a few sips of Nen-converted water.
The other four magical beasts also took algae, replenishing body water.
"Then, what's the truth?" Don asked after drinking.
"..."
The parrot face froze, silent.
Don remained silent momentarily, gaze at Gatekeeper Clan's members particularly serene. After a moment, he said, "Don't seek death. Return."
Finishing, he turned and left, steps slow, stride short.
The five magical beasts stared at Don's back, eyes flickering with anger, notably killing intent.
"Arrogant."
They didn't seize the chance to ambush Don from behind but stood silently, quickly adapting to the Ink Plain death zone environment.
As one of the Dark Continent's death zones, the Ink Plain had its perils.
Any living being stepping onto the Ink Plain would rapidly lose body water, and no method could inhibit this phenomenon.
To stay on the Ink Plain, constant water replenishment was needed.
But if a bucket of water was brought onto the Ink Plain, even without touching ground, the water would visibly disappear.
Here, an unseen force seemed to extract water… where it went, unknown.
Don and the Gatekeeper Clan clearly knew the Ink Plain's dangers, so both carried key items… water algae.
With sufficient Potential Aura, algae could convert Nen into clean water, constantly replenishing water extracted by the Ink Plain.
Without algae, a normal person would die from severe dehydration within ten seconds.
Water loss speed was controllable, requiring body adaptation. Based on movement amplitude, water loss speed varied accordingly.
Greater movement meant more water extracted per second.
Don clearly had adapted here long, as even water intake during replenishment was precise, neither too much nor too little, not wasting Nen.
In contrast, the five attacking magical beasts… the parrot face had poorest mentality, first needing urgent water replenishment.
Don ignoring them and leaving left an arrogant impression, but this was precisely what they hoped to see.
'Control loss speed to about one minute, avoid large movements. For a prolonged battle, we have advantage,' The Gatekeeper Clan's members contemplated.
Neither side spoke further… the area fell silent.
Time passed bit by bit. Several minutes later, Don had walked less than ten steps.
Only sustained small movements maintained controlled water loss speed without imbalance.
Ten minutes later, Don walked about twenty more steps, closer to the 'Y'-shaped amber leafless tree.
Simultaneously, the five magical beasts completed 'adjustment'… Aura flowing over their bodies emitted clear aggressiveness.
Don sensed this, stopped, sighing lightly.
He disliked staining this beautiful ink plain with other colors, but since the Gatekeeper Clan decided, he had to act.
Slowly turning, looking at the five magical beasts building momentum, his hat brim automatically flipped back, revealing short black hair, an unkempt face with several shallow scars.
"Why?"
Speaking, outward Manifested Aura rivaling magical beasts erupted from his body, manifesting a quivering black shadow behind.
The five magical beasts prepared for assault showed grave expressions. After adjusting state, no more wasted words… they manipulated Nen, launching variously colored ranged attacks at Don.
"Seems prepared."
Seeing variously colored, differently shaped Aura Blades coming, a glint of understanding flashed in Don's amber eyes.
On the Ink Plain, large movements accelerated death. So only Emission-type specialists had assault qualifications here.
The five teleported magical beasts were clearly all ranged attack specialists.
Don lowered eyelids… the black shadow behind darted before him, landing as a silver-black giant wolf, directly blocking the five magical beasts' ranged attacks.
Boom!
Amid violent explosions, the giant wolf remained unharmed.
"Impossible!"
The parrot-faced magical beast saw the attack result, exclaiming involuntarily.
"That eye is quite a surveillance ability. But what you see is up to me. Now, no need to hide further."
Don's gaze passed the astonished magical beasts, landing on a certain spot in the Ink Plain, calmly saying: "Observe clearly, then reconsider carefully."
Before finishing, the shadow-transformed giant wolf charged at the five magical beasts, splitting into five black sharp beams, extremely fast, tracing black trajectories in the air.
Seeing this, the five magical beasts' expressions changed… all released ranged attacks, attempting to block Don's assault.
Here, avoiding large movements meant only ranged attacks could clash!
However, the five comet-like sharp beams transformed from shadow effortlessly pierced through magical beasts' attacks, then pierced their defenses.
Magical beasts' bodies shuddered but felt no pain.
Before thinking what happened, their bodies flew up involuntarily. Large movements caused rapid body water loss.
Like manipulating yo-yos, Don swung the five magical beasts in the air once, then slammed them onto the Ink Plain before him.
Magical beasts, landing, were critically weakened… eyes, ears, noses, mouths bleeding continuously, barely breathing.
"You... you knew... about True Sight Eye... all along?"
"Oh, that's called True Sight Eye?"
Don calmly replied, then turned and left before the five magical beasts' gradually dimming eyes.