Chapter 114: The Feeling of Death
"Lord Bihorn, allow me to deal with this guy," a giant rhinoceros beetle stepped forward from behind the minotaur Squadron Leader, speaking respectfully.
The minotaur nodded and said in a deep voice: "Don't disappoint me."
"Leave everything to me."
The giant rhinoceros beetle stopped before Mord, revealing a cruel smile as it looked at him.
"It's too late for begging now. I'll crush every bone in your body—the sound is like heavenly music, which you'll hear soon enough."
This Chimera Ant with rhinoceros beetle characteristics somewhat resembled the one Saitama had KO'd in One Punch Man, though only in appearance.
Facing the boasting rhinoceros beetle, Mord couldn't even be bothered to look at it. He raised his right hand, a thin layer of aura covering it.
He simply walked slowly toward his opponent.
"Thud!"
A blur flashed past.
Mord's right hand easily pierced through the hard shell covering the rhinoceros beetle's chest. Then Mord exerted force with his right hand, giving it a fierce twist!
"Bang!"
The entire left side of the rhinoceros beetle's chest exploded, blood splattering everywhere as it died instantly. Even in death, it couldn't rest in peace—its proud, hard shell had been as fragile as paper before its opponent.
It was worth noting that even when facing humanity's "strongest" weapons—firearms—it hadn't been penetrated. Yet this man before it had broken through with just a casual thrust of his hand.
"How is this possible?" The other Chimera Ants, including the minotaur Squadron Leader, stood frozen in place.
These past days, they had slaughtered countless humans. In their eyes, humans were all trash, born to be their prey and food. According to their intelligence, only those humans with guns could pose a threat to ordinary soldier ants.
Yet this guy before them, clearly empty-handed, had killed a squad leader in a single encounter.
"The intelligence was wrong!" the minotaur cursed inwardly.
While the enemy was shocked, Mord was secretly evaluating these Chimera Ants' strength. The squad leaders were stronger than the Lickers he'd encountered before, but only marginally so.
Of course, the learning ability of Chimera Ants is far beyond what zombie monsters can compare to.
After mastering Nen abilities, their strength will undergo a qualitative leap.
Mord looked up and slowly drew the Zanpakutō at his waist.
"I'm in a hurry. Come at me all at once."
Sensing the change in Mord's aura, the leading Squadron Leader, Bihorn, changed his expression.
"At any cost, kill him. We must not let him get close to Her Majesty the Queen," the Minotaur shouted loudly.
As soon as the words fell.
The Minotaur immediately led his subordinates to surround and attack Mord. Over a dozen massive Chimera Ants bared their sharp claws and spikes, frantically lunging at Mord.
"After all, they're just ants."
Mord watched as the Minotaur and the others closed in but made no attempt to evade. He gently ran his right hand over the blade.
Suddenly—
A piercing, dazzling dark red light flashed.
"Ah..."
"Wh-what is this?! This ominous pressure..."
Seeing that brilliant dark red light, Squadron Leader Bihorn's face showed extreme terror.
"This feeling... it's familiar!"
Nake, Benihime!
A massive, dark-red crescent-shaped blade aura sliced through the air ahead.
The Chimera Ants had no time to react and were frozen in place.
"Thud!"
Over a dozen Squadron Leaders were simultaneously decapitated, their enormous heads soaring into the sky as crimson blood sprayed down like a rain of gore.
The Minotaur's eyes widened.
"I remember now..."
"This feeling is death!"
"It's the crushing power of an absolute powerhouse!"
The massive bull head thudded heavily to the ground. The fear of death—it had the misfortune of experiencing it twice.
A second later.
Trees dozens of meters away collapsed with a roar, their cross-sections smooth and even.
Mord flicked his blade clean and sheathed it.
He instinctively glanced at his character status panel—the values, as expected, showed no change at all.
What a waste.
Mord glanced at the Minotaur's head by his feet and continued forward.
With just one swing of his blade, he had slain over a dozen high-ranking Chimera Ants, including a Squadron Leader.
They hadn't even been able to dodge.
Because the strike was simply too fast for them, far too swift for any reaction.
The red blade aura had already reaped their lives.
...
Inside the Chimera Ant nest.
"The signals of Bihorn's entire squad have disappeared?!" A Chimera Ant with special insect-like perception spoke, its face full of disbelief. "Just a moment ago!"
Colt grabbed the Squadron Leader ant in front of him and demanded, "What do you mean by that? Are you saying Bihorn and the others have all been wiped out?!"
"Colt, calm down," Turtle interjected to advise.
The Penguin-like strategist also spoke up: "I've already sent out scouts. We'll have intelligence soon."
Hearing the persuasion from two fellow Squadron Leaders, Colt finally calmed down.
"We must immediately gather all Squadron Leaders. The enemy is targeting Her Majesty the Queen. We cannot allow him to harm her in the slightest."
"Never!"
...
"Finally found you, Queen."
Mord looked up at the massive nest before him. On the muddy outer walls, worker ants were still tirelessly laboring.
The sole purpose of these worker ants was to continuously expand the nest, devoid of any other thoughts.
"Checkmate!" Mord's lips curled slightly, revealing a chilling smile.
For the Chimera Ants, the Queen was their greatest weakness.
In the original storyline, the reason why the human side—specifically the Hunter Association—became so passive during the final confrontation was that when they launched their expedition, the Chimera Ants' greatest vulnerability, the Queen, had already been killed by the King she had given birth to.
Once the Queen died, all Squadron Leaders would scatter.
Then there were the overwhelmingly terrifying strength of the Royal Guards and the King's power that surpassed everything.
Mord's arrival at this point in time was perfect—the Royal Guards hadn't even been born yet, and these Chimera Ants hadn't even learned to use Nen.
The few groups of hunters who had entered NGL earlier probably had very little Nen capacity. They were either still alive or had already died inexplicably at the hands of those grunt ants.
It had to be said, these biological hunters were truly incompetent.
If Mord remembered correctly, in Pokkle's team, even a character like Pokkle could be considered the strongest, while the others couldn't even defeat ordinary soldier ants.
And these were supposed to be professional hunters.
Regardless, this was good news for Mord.