Chapter 77: Extraordinary Power
"Hmm?"
Haze's expression changed.
He sensed something unusual about the wild animals emerging from the forest.
There was a clear increase—or rather, a strengthening.
"It doesn't seem like they've awakened their thoughts… their life energy has just been stimulated. A trigger, maybe?" he muttered.
"Ah!"
Slash!
The enormous horde before him included both the living and the dead.
What emanated from the corpses wasn't Nen—
It was another kind of energy, faint but denser.
"They're not posthumous thoughts… It feels like resentment, but still, different…"
A wave of creatures roared and charged, shaking the ground as they came. The scene was terrifying.
Haze murmured under his breath, preparing to strike.
But even though Hisoka was behind him, it was Hisoka who got attacked first.
A gray-furred rabbit leapt forward, springing like a coil. In a blink, it was before Hisoka, baring its teeth and biting with murderous aura.
Haze noticed and was surprised.
It didn't attack me… Maybe because I don't harbor an immediate intent to fight the Bozwas—or hostility?
And just moments ago, Hisoka was about to go after them...
With a whistle through the air, Hisoka swung his arm. Cards sliced forward, cutting the rabbit into a dozen mangled pieces.
Then, both he and Haze burst into motion, charging into the stampede.
Despite the beasts' enhanced state, their Nen was weak—undeveloped and untrained. Against two seasoned killers, they were helpless.
Hisoka used his cards to strike at their weaknesses with frenzied precision,
while Haze fought with pure martial skill—powerful punches and rapid kicks sweeping through the field.
One by one, the creatures fell like stalks of grass under a scythe.
But due to the intensity of their attacks and the sheer number of beasts, not every one was destroyed—some corpses began to rise again.
Bang!
Just as Haze (Haze) had crushed a green, spiked tiger-like beast with one punch, he froze, sensing something. He reached to his neck—
—and grabbed a small, black insect, almost invisible.
The sight sent chills through his heart.
Even though his body was guarded by telekinesis, the little creature had been gnawing through his aura barrier, trying to burrow into his skin.
"Let's go!"
Haze dodged another predator and shouted to Hisoka.
Then, springing from a tree trunk, he vaulted through the air, descending the mountain.
With his flexible Bungee Gum ability, Hisoka followed, propelling himself effortlessly as the two vanished into the dense forest shadows.
They didn't need to kill all the beasts—destroying them completely was too time-consuming.
The objective was achieved.
The horde didn't relent, but due to the vast difference in speed, they quickly lost track of the two hunters.
A few minutes later, Haze and Hisoka reappeared at the mountain's base.
"Look…"
Hisoka raised his hand, revealing seven or eight insects wrapped in his aura, squirming inside it.
Haze held one as well.
"It's eating your aura…" said Haze.
Looking closer, the insect clung to Hisoka's aura like glue, its tiny thoracic legs twitching, its mandibles opening and closing as it chewed through the Nen barrier. Within moments, Hisoka's aura visibly weakened.
"Hehehe…"
Hisoka chuckled softly, amused.
He'd never seen such a bizarre little creature.
Half an hour later, the two returned to the team's hideout.
"What is that…"
Kanji and Lance were stunned at the sight.
After hearing Haze's account, their skin crawled.
Even for Hisoka and Haze—both terrifyingly strong—such a tiny bug could devour Nen. That meant… even a Nen user could be vulnerable if caught off guard.
"There are Nen users in the Donggodot Army. If it weren't dangerous, they wouldn't be struggling so much," Haze said calmly.
He glanced around.
Everyone shook their heads—none recognized the insect species.
Even the kidnapped villager… it wasn't native to the region.
It would've been much easier if a biological specialist were on the team.
"Kanji, escort Darma back to base. Send the photos to the Association and search the net for similar cases," Haze ordered.
"Got it."
"The movements of this insect are subtle, hard to notice—even while it's eating Nen. Get a bottle and contain it," Haze added, handing it to Kanji.
"Yes."
Kanji left with Darma. With proper travel documents, they could slip across the border safely through official channels.
Haze looked at Hisoka silently.
Hisoka smirked, understanding. "It's kinda like the berserker effect... but also like being on drugs."
The fallen bodies that rose again, stronger than before—it was all the insect's doing.
Haze nodded, holding the creature up against the moonlight. "This… is its power."
He stared at the tiny insect writhing in his palm, his heart heavy.
Unlike the wild creatures of the forest, this one carried intent—like awakened telekinesis.
But it was just an insect, mindless and instinct-driven.
How?
"Don't you think… it's on a mission?"
Hisoka leaned in close behind him, peering at the insect with playful curiosity.
"It's imbued with a kind of will," Haze replied evenly.
He believed it too.
Though small, it radiated Nen—and it wasn't natural aura.
Worse still, the Nen felt… sinister.
"Rest," Haze ordered.
Then turned to Lance.
"You can go now."
"Thanks!" the villager said joyfully, dashing off.
Lance followed at a slower pace.
…
Perched on a branch, Haze sat with one leg bent, his silhouette framed by the silver moonlight.
The insects circled helplessly in his palm.
Hisoka sat below, sorting through his favorite cards.
"This aura… it's very similar to Malice."
The thought crossed Haze's mind.
Malice—a concept from a stage adaptation of the original novel.
Simply put, it's an energy opposite to Nen. Both are driven by human spirit and emotion—but Malice is born from darkness, corruption, and hatred, a pollution of the heart.
Functionally, it behaves like Nen, yet its properties differ entirely because of its origin.
Malice carries abilities tied to death.
In the film, a man named Jade—leader of the "Dark" organization—once worked alongside Netero and the Guild Master within the V5.
Netero stood in the light; Jade in the shadows—a blade beneath the sun.
He led a covert squad handling assassinations, silencing witnesses, and other blood-soaked missions.
Eventually, the group was abandoned.
Jade was slain by the Guild Master—then resurrected.
Those later seen in Heaven's Arena, possessed by Malice, were undead remnants of his former comrades.
Haze believed Jade's resurrection came from this new energy—Malice—a force unattainable through Nen. More importantly, it stemmed from Jade's burning will: resentment and vengeance.
It wasn't ordinary posthumous Nen; something—perhaps an object—served as the medium that allowed it.
Of course, that was only speculation based on the movie.
He didn't know the true details.
Both Nen and curses originate from the human heart—one tied to life, the other like death inverted.
"It's not quite the same as a curse… if it were, things wouldn't be this complicated," Haze murmured, leaning against the trunk, eyes closed.
These insects carried a will—transmitted through thought.
In that sense, they were very close to posthumous thoughts.
Yet there were still many mysteries.
Posthumous thoughts don't appear easily. Could anyone with a strong enough will create them?
The more Haze learned about Nen, the more he realized how difficult true manifestation was.
It required purity—absolute, unwavering purity.
Even if these were posthumous thoughts, they came from a single will. How could one person's spirit radiate so widely?
If someone had such strength, they wouldn't need to die—they'd have been monstrously powerful in life.
If the Bozwas had truly all awakened their "beyond," the Donggodot army would have been annihilated outright.
Thinking about this, Haze's gaze drifted toward Hisoka, still shuffling cards under the tree.
Sensing it instantly, Hisoka smiled, looked up, and waved cheerfully.
Haze shut his eyes again. Out of sight, out of mind.
If every Bozwa had "awakened" after death—it was absurd.
They weren't Nen users in life; their spiritual will was too undeveloped.
Even if they could, their afterlife power would've been self-contained.
Piecing everything together, Haze concluded: the only explanation lay in the tribe's origin.
A power beyond the human world…
Something tied to the Dark Continent.
All his knowledge was confined within the framework of the human world—the one described in the original novels. He knew little of what lay beyond.
But the Dark Continent… was vast, strange, and full of impossibilities.
Perhaps the Bozwas had inherited something—an artifact, a method, a legacy embedded in their memory.
If it was generational memory, its potency would've faded with time… but if it was an object, something tangible—
"…then it might still hold its original strength."
Haze exhaled, opened his eyes, and murmured softly,
"How terrifying that the first version of such a thing must have been."
(End of Chapter)