[Notification: Monster Encyclopedia... Recorded...]
A massive tail swept over, stirring up the wind and clouds, blotting out even the sun in the sky!
Roy leaned back, struggling to capture the Sandworm's appearance. Finally... under the enhancement of [En], he caught a glimpse of the Sandworm's full form and recorded it in the [Monster Encyclopedia]...
A familiar notification sound rang out...
[Sandworm Lord: Class-A Monster (Note: Rating based on Ants; Squadron Leaders are D, Division Commanders are C, Royal Guards are B, Ant King is B+)]
[Manifested Aura Output: 3,741,254 / 10,000,000]
[Potential Aura Output: 7,412,812 / 10,000,000]
[Racial Talents... Known 1: [Earth Escape] (Note: Sandworms treat rock layers as air, moving freely underground without resistance)... Known 2: [Lending] (Note: Sandworms can lend their "Nen Abilities/Talents" to the lice colonies living on their body surface)... Unknown Talents: Unknown.]
[Believers: Between 100,000 - 500,000]
[Power of Faith: 1,784 points]
[Evaluation: It is the king of a forest, the lord relied upon by thousands of beasts, an entity recognized by forest spirits, and a guardian protecting a region from "Calamity."]
[Note: Humans rashly intruded into its territory without providing "Proof," thereby igniting its wrath...]
"You aren't following the rules!" Roy looked up at the massive tail crashing down. It was so huge that his naked eyes couldn't even measure its full scale. In that instant... he seemed to hear this existence, which far surpassed the Ant King Meruem... roaring in anger!
'The world of humans belongs to humans; the world of magical beasts belongs to magical beasts.' The sentence his grandfather Zigg had once noted in the book Chronicles of the West suddenly surfaced in Roy's mind. His vision went black... and then he lost consciousness...
In his dazed state, he seemed to see Netero manifesting the "100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva" avatar... Linne blew a breath at herself, instantly swelling into a giant... Grandfather Zigg threw out a card, conjuring a two-headed troll that waved a spiked club and howled as it smashed towards the Sandworm's giant tail...
Only... he could not participate in this battle at all for the moment... Even though Zigg intentionally shielded him behind his back, he couldn't save Roy's life under the angry strike of the Sandworm wrapped in the "Power of Faith."
With a "Bang~", he was whipped out of the Dark Continent and returned to the Hunter world.
"Attention... [re; The Game of the Dead] has been saved..."
The airtight door blasted open. The Demon Eye looked at Roy lovingly, coiling its tentacles to send him out of the room.
Because creating the [God Spear] by combining [Swamp Space], [Sword], and [Ken] had nearly drained all of Roy's aura, this time... the boy couldn't even return to [The Game of the Dead] through the "Gate to the Dark Continent" in his "Cognitive World," and directly returned to the real world.
"Whew~"
Physical fatigue and mental weakness struck him all at once. The boy leaned his Short-hilt against the thundering, closing airtight door and rested for a brief moment. Then, carrying a belly full of questions, he staggered forward, slowly walking out of the tunnel and appearing before Scarface and One-Eye.
"Twenty minutes and thirty-seven seconds. Congratulations, Young Master, on breaking your own record."
One-Eye held a pocket watch in his hand, timing him. He bowed to Roy, the respect in his tone genuine... clearly astonished that the boy, who he hadn't seen for a month, had made such huge progress and a massive leap compared to last time, when he had only lasted a little over three minutes in [The Game of the Dead]...
Scarface held the security door open for Roy with one hand and placed the other over his chest, bowing to him. He spoke with relief in his eyes:
"Master knows; he will definitely be happy for the Young Master."
It was said that the Madam would give birth again in two months. If it was a silver-haired child... then the Zoldycks would have a Young Master and an heir. Having a successor was far more "prosperous" than three consecutive generations of only children.
As Zoldyck family servants, Scarface and One-Eye shared in the glory...
However, Roy was repeatedly mulling over the two columns—"Believers" and "Power of Faith"—as well as the matter of "Proof" that had suddenly appeared under the [Sandworm] panel. He simply didn't see or hear what the two were doing or saying, and just slowly walked right through the space between Scarface and One-Eye...
Scarface and One-Eye were slightly stunned. They watched the boy slowly walk away from the basement, looked at each other, and exchanged glanced.
Some people might become complacent because they achieved certain results... others might not care at all or even feel dissatisfied... It all depended on the fact that today was different from the past. After standing at a different height, one's perspective and angle of viewing things would also undergo significant differences subliminally.
"Twenty minutes and thirty-seven seconds" sounded nice, but after experiencing a battle side-by-side with Netero, Linne, and Grandfather Zigg, Roy knew deeply... that the current him was still too far away from the "peak."
Tap... tap...
At that time, the sun was slanting westward. The afterglow shone through the glass windows onto the boy, outlining Roy with a layer of human-shaped light...
He left the basement and walked unhurriedly through the mottled yet clean stone corridors of the castle, heading towards the main entrance. Unknowingly, he passed a dim little room. The boy stopped, looked through the window, and glanced inside...
The thin, dried-up old man was just like always, listening to cartoons, happily rocking in his rocking chair with his eyes closed, seemingly resting his spirit.
Roy opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but eventually bowed towards the room and lifted his foot to walk away...
Unexpectedly, an aged voice drifted over, stopping him.
"Say what you want to say. While this old man isn't senile yet, I can still help you kids a bit."
Roy paused and took a deep breath. "It's faith..."
"Great-grandfather... I suddenly discovered that faith can also be used as power!"
That final "Whip Tail" from the Sandworm, wrapped in the "Power of Faith," had instantly shattered Roy's understanding of "Nen abilities"!
Once upon a time, he had always thought that "Nen abilities" were essentially just "the power of 'I reckon'"... simply opening the Spirit Nodes, clapping one's hands, and following one's "will" to turn "imagination" into a "combat method"—that was the essence of "Nen abilities."
But when the [Monster Encyclopedia] expanded the [Sandworm] attributes, and "Believers" and "Power of Faith" appeared out of thin air...
Roy suddenly realized that "Nen abilities" weren't as simple as he had imagined. It wasn't just the "power of 'I reckon'," but potentially the "power of 'he/she/it reckons'" from a multitude of believers!
As an existence worshipped by a multitude of believers, one could completely seize the "power of 'I reckon'" from the faithful to strengthen oneself and obtain even more formidable power!
"You only realized that now?"
Maha let out a scoffing laugh, far calmer than Roy had imagined... He tapped his fingers on the armrest and asked, "Do you know why your grandfather kills people every day?"
The old man glanced sideways at the boy and said faintly, "Isn't it just to collect faith and spread the Zoldyck name?"