"Someone... is summoning something." Killua's face changed instantly, arcs of electricity snapping involuntarily at his fingertips.
With a thunderous crash, one of the rust-covered stone pillars collapsed completely, revealing a hidden chamber entrance beneath it. The lockdown over what had once been a classified zone belonging to the Game Masters had been forcibly broken by some unknown power.
Ryker moved in a flash, lightning cloaking his body as he stepped into the entrance.
The passageway was deep and narrow. The air was thick with the smell of old rust and rotting corpses, but beneath that lingered something even older—
the smell of death itself.
"System, scan below."
[Detected: High-density death-aura fluctuations.]
[Warning: Traces of high-level post-mortem Nen entity activation present.]
[Recommendation: Eliminate contamination source.]
"Post-mortem entities?" Ryker frowned.
In the world of Hunters, Nen after death was no myth. It was the malignant residue of hatred, obsession, and unfinished will—something like a curse, but more persistent than a simple Nen Beast, and often just as dangerous in battle.
At the end of the tunnel, a stone door rumbled open.
More than a dozen figures in ancient Hunter uniforms slowly rose from within rows of stone coffins. Their faces had long since rotted away, but eerie aura-light still burned inside their empty eye sockets.
"Welcome, intruder."
The one in front spoke in a voice like rusted iron grinding against itself.
"We are the discarded test subjects. The dead... also long for revenge."
Ryker's gaze hardened.
"System. Begin combat recording."
[Identifying targets...]
[Enemy units: Hunter Remains No. 14-A through 14-N]
[Average trait rank: B to A]
[Several targets possess fragmented S-rank Nen techniques. High plunder value confirmed.]
"Good."
Battle intent ignited in Ryker's eyes.
In the next instant, the undead Hunters attacked all at once, moving with startling speed as black mist-like aura boiled around them. The leader's fingers twisted into claws as he tore toward Ryker's chest with a strike called Soul-Devouring Rupture!
Ryker did not retreat.
Instead, he surged forward like a bolt of living lightning, closing the distance in a heartbeat. His right arm throbbed with the transformed Lightning Core, and the fist carrying Lightning Core Mutation: Detonation Core smashed directly into the undead Hunter's chest!
BOOM!
The revenant's upper body exploded apart, rotted flesh and black aura scattering everywhere.
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Soul-Devouring Rupture (A-rank, Specialist)]
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Combat Reversal (A-rank, Manipulation)]
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Crimson Gaze (B-rank, Disruption)]
Ryker had no time to inspect the details.
Two more revenants were already on him from behind—one with shadow-claws, the other with both fists burning in pale ash-gray flame.
Ryker spun sharply, instantly activating Combat Reversal. A strange afterimage split from behind him and struck one revenant in the shoulder, disrupting its attack mid-motion.
In the same breath, he twisted through the opening and swept out with his leg like a lightning whip, smashing the second enemy away!
In mere seconds, two more post-mortem Hunters were shattered, their remains blasted apart as the black mist leaked out of them.
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Ashflame Wildfire (A-rank, Conjuration)]
[Plunder Successful: Trait — Reverse Breath Puppet Body (B-rank, Manipulation)]
[System Energy Restored: +14%]
"Good... keep coming!"
Lightning flowed over Ryker's entire body like water. His combat rhythm accelerated further and further, and trait notifications poured into the System like a waterfall—plundered, fused, reconstructed, evolved.
"Lightning: Ashflame Lock!"
He activated a fused trait without hesitation. A chain of ash-gray lightning fire erupted from his body, binding the remaining four revenants in an instant—
and then detonating!
BOOM!
Black flames roared upward. In the midst of the blaze, Ryker drove one last punch forward and shattered the head of the final post-mortem Hunter.
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