There was a clear gap in combat power between the International Permit Agencies side and the five magical beasts sent by the Gatekeeper Clan.
Even with a Nen User as strong as Giles, the fundamental gap wouldn't change much.
Between the two, it was like Netero and the Ant King Meruem in the past… an immense chasm difficult to bridge.
After fighting, Giles truly understood what real racial disparity meant.
Manifested Aura, physical strength, nerve reaction speed, body structure suited for combat...
In every aspect, Giles, as a human, was completely outmatched, let alone the powerful techniques displayed by Ancient Claw.
Yes, although incredible, Ancient Claw indeed knew how to use advanced Nen Techniques.
Whether it was Ryu or Ken, even the most difficult Ko, Ancient Claw could use them skillfully.
This hopeless gap made Giles gradually see no chance of victory.
However, Giles possessed a strong will to survive.
He didn't want to die here, so he could only flee.
He couldn't run into the forest, as the survival rate was too low.
The only place to flee was the Ancient Labyrinth City.
Although he didn't know which human Ancient Claw referred to, he couldn't care less now.
The Nen Flames erupting from his staff propelled Giles into the air.
Numerous injuries didn't affect his Nen output. His speed flying into the air was quite fast.
Ancient Claw didn't expect Giles, who seemed already at death's door, still had the strength to flee. Surprised, he gathered strength in his legs, cracking the ground, his body shooting like an arrow, pursuing Giles flying upwards.
But Giles was staking everything on escaping, not sparing his Potential Aura at all. His instantaneous burst of flight speed was extremely fast. Even though Ancient Claw reacted promptly, he was ultimately a step too late.
The aerial pursuit failed. Ancient Claw's body fell towards the ground, only able to watch Giles fly towards the Ancient Labyrinth City.
His close combat ability was extremely strong, but he wasn't skilled at long-range attacks.
His first aerial pursuit failed to bring Giles down, so afterwards, he had no means.
"Tch, misled."
Ancient Claw's expression remained cold as he landed heavily like a cannonball, raising a large cloud of dust.
He steadied himself, raised his arm to disperse the dust around him, and coldly stared at the distant Giles.
In the previous fight, after gaining the initiative, he had continuously attacked fiercely, suppressing Giles until he couldn't catch his breath. However, from start to finish, Giles had maintained a posture of fighting to the death without retreating.
Ancient Claw despised humans but admired Giles's warrior style.
As a result? His face felt slapped.
Ancient Claw shifted his gaze from the fleeing Giles to the almost completely wiped-out humans in the area.
'There were only a few left now. Further away, Dice Nose was chasing the remaining humans.'
"Think you can escape?"
Ancient Claw sneered coldly.
'Even if they ran into the Ancient Labyrinth City, with just that tiny number of people, they were still heading to their deaths.'
Being assured of victory, the displeasure from Giles's escape quickly dissipated.
Ancient Claw charged fiercely towards the temporary camp built by the humans, assisting his other three companions to eliminate the remaining scattered humans in the camp. Then, he followed Dice Nose, who was chasing the few humans fleeing towards the Ancient Labyrinth City.
Dice Nose was the fox-like female magical beast. Earlier, the human soldiers in the camp frantically restrained them, allowing sixteen humans to escape.
She was responsible for pursuing the fleeing humans. During the chase, she successively killed ten soldiers who stayed behind, sacrificing themselves as rearguard. The remaining still-fleeing humans numbered six.
Seeing those six humans about to enter the Ancient Labyrinth City, Dice Nose wasn't panicked at all. She was well aware that Brions in the ancient city particularly liked using humans as hosts.
Furthermore, Brions were the bane of humans. With just these few people running into the ancient city, it probably wasn't even enough for the many Brions to toy with.
Dice Nose turned into a streak of red light, tearing apart the last human running with her bare hands.
Shredded flesh and blood splattered on her fur, but she didn't mind at all.
Dice Nose's alluring long tongue extended from her mouth full of fine teeth, sweeping all the blood on her face into her mouth. Watching the five humans who successfully ran into the Ancient Labyrinth City, a trace of fascination flashed in her eyes.
She chuckled lightly, then, without waiting for Ancient Claw and the others, directly chased inside.
There were six escaped humans in total. Besides Giles flying into the air, the other five were: Kincaid, who didn't know Nen, Norman, the research old man holding the Herb, and three burly soldier bodyguards.
Kincaid and Norman had physical qualities superior to ordinary people, but it wasn't enough to deal with pursuers who were Nen Users.
Therefore, the reasons they could successfully escape into the Ancient Labyrinth City were, on one hand, the desperate rearguard action and restraint by the camp soldiers, and on the other hand, it was because of these specially selected bodyguards.
These bodyguards didn't need to be too powerful in strength, but their physical qualities absolutely had to be strong, and most importantly, they had to run fast.
Kincaid and Norman were carried on the shoulders of the specially selected bodyguard soldiers and escaped into the Ancient Labyrinth City.
"Damn it, damn it...!"
Norman was carried over a soldier bodyguard's shoulder, his gaze fixed intently somewhere, muttering to himself.
His hands tightly held the glass chamber containing the Herb, his appearance quite disheveled.
The strength of the attacking magical beasts directly overturned his preconceptions. The initially nonchalant attitude when first hearing of the attack was completely crushed without a trace.
Even protected by soldier bodyguards, he was so panicked he nearly lost his composure.
Compared to Norman, who was so flustered he almost lost his soul, Kincaid, also a non-combatant, remained very calm.
He glanced at the Herb protected so tightly by Norman, pushed up his glasses, and said calmly, "Please don't give up. We are not without hope."
The two soldier bodyguards carrying Norman and Kincaid remained silent, clearly holding little expectation.
The force landing on the Dark Continent was so massive, yet now Giles's fate was unknown, and only they, a few, were left struggling to survive.
Even if they luckily escaped the magical beasts' pursuit, there were still the strange Brions here. Even if fortunate enough to escape the Ancient Labyrinth City, to return to the coastline, they still had to cross the dangerous tree sea.
'Hope... where was it?'
Those two soldier bodyguards deeply felt hope was slim, yet they still faithfully performed their duties.
The other, younger crew-cut soldier bodyguard looked back at the empty corner behind them and said gravely, "We... where should we flee?"
Kincaid took a deep breath and said, "I'll guide you. As long as we follow the explored route straight to the destroyed Brion plant nest, there's a possibility of escaping alive."
…
After harvesting Herb from seven locations, Law's group quickly reunited with Salin's team, thanks to the characteristics of God Hand.
Seeing Law and the others return, Shiro's first question was: "How was the harvest?"
"Didn't count carefully, but should be over four hundred leaves."
"Over four hundred leaves!"
Hearing this, Shiro's eyes lit up instantly, but remembering he hadn't contributed much this time either, he couldn't help but sigh regretfully.
"And you guys? Any results?"
Law first glanced at Ging, then looked at Salin, who was lying on the ground without a care for her image, carefully observing the carved pictograms.
Ging also looked at Salin and said, "We checked twenty-five rooftops, but the pictograms on each rooftop were the same content."