Ponzu's eyes trembled violently. The bumblebees hidden in her hat seemed to be able to sense their master's fear and began to emerge of the hat one by one, flapping their wings and making a buzzing sound.
Geretta pulled out a blowgun made from local materials from his waist, and his eyes behind his sunglasses quickly swept in the direction where the black shadow flashed.
Then, his sunglasses faintly reflected a humanoid figure.
"A person?"
Geretta was slightly stunned, but he soon saw the figure's true appearance.
The other person's body shape is no different from that of a human, and he has short purple hair.
However-
There was a pair of animal ears standing up in the purple hair, and the figure's body bore no resemblance to any human anatomy. It also had a tail that swayed back and forth.
The most eye-catching thing is that the other party's arm contains the biological arthropod structure of the Chimera Ant.
This wasn't a humanoid magical beast, but a Chimera Ant that had absorbed the genes of humans, cheetah, and other creatures.
"!!!"
Seeing that the other party was not a human in the true sense, Geretta's right hand, which is holding the blowgun, trembled violently, and a huge wave of emotion arose in her heart.
Pokkle and the others also saw the appearance of this semi-humanoid Chimera Ant, and they all inevitably showed expressions of horror.
"Oops, I was supposed to knock him out."
The cheetah Chimera Ant turned around and sighed in a slightly annoyed tone.
However, its tongue playfully licked the bloodstains at the corner of its mouth.
Hearing this semi-humanoid Chimera Ant speak the common language, Pokkle and the others were even more horrified.
'This…'
'How is this possible?!'
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed it.
Rustle-
"Cheetu, I saw it... Your bite was completely aimed at 'fresh brain matter'."
A tall figure stepped out from the low grass, standing in the opposite direction of the cheetah Chimera Ant.
The cheetah Chimera Ant, who was called Cheetu by the tall figure, casually raised its hands and rested them behind its head, curled his lips and feigned innocence: "Then you must have seen wrong. I just accidentally used too much force."
"Hey, their bodies..."
The tall figure ignored Cheetu's act and instead kept glancing at Ponzu, Pokkle, Geretta, and Urtaido, and asked in surprise: "Cheetu, can you see it?"
"Yeah."
Cheetu also looked at Pokkle and the others, and asked curiously, "They're glowing. Is that life force?"
After hearing what Cheetu said, Pokkle and the others' heartbeats quickened.
'What on earth is going on with these two Chimera Ants with human-like features!?'
'They clearly only have a small amount of naturally leaking Aura in their bodies, and they can't even use the most basic Ten, but why can they see Aura...'
In an instant, Pokkle felt a chill spread throughout his body, a strong sense of foreboding washing over him.
…
On the road, still a short distance from NGL, a small truck was driving, its wheels kicking up clouds of dust as it moved.
Inside the truck's cargo area sat Kite and his team.
"The Chimera Ant Queen will continuously migrate based on her needs for a suitable location. During this time, the number of Chimera Ant Peons will increase to protect the nest and hunt for food."
"Once the Chimera Ant Queen finds a location she likes for building her nest, she will quickly produce a large number of Chimera Ant Drudges."
"When the nest begins to take shape under the Chimera Ant Drudges' efforts, the Chimera Ant Queen's appetite will reach its peak. At that point, the Chimera Ant Peons will leave the nest to hunt large amounts of food for the queen."
"And this sudden surge in food demand is all for the purpose of giving birth to the Chimera Ant King."
"Additionally, the Chimera Ant Queen will continue to live in the nest until her death. Before that, she will give birth to new Chimera Ant Kings at regular intervals."
"And the Chimera Ant Kings she produces will split from the racial hierarchy of the Chimera Ants, and then mate with various creatures while traveling, causing them to give birth to new queens."
"In other words-"
"To stop the proliferation of Chimera Ants, we must eliminate the queen before she gives birth to the Chimera Ant King."
Inside the truck, a woman with long, wavy red hair was explaining various details about Chimera Ants to Gon and Killua.
This woman was a member of Kite's Wildlife Exploration Team. Her name is Spinner Clow, and her main role was to gather information and integrate intelligence.
Stick Dinner, who was also a member of the Wildlife Exploration Team and had an afro, raised his index finger and took over the conversation:
"If our previous speculation is true, then as the Chimera Ant Queen's appetite increases dramatically, there should be a large-scale disappearance incident. However, in a place like NGL where information leakage is strictly prohibited, it will be difficult for us to get accurate information in time."
"NGL and the mutated Chimera Ants..."
Kite lowered the brim of his hat and said in a deep voice:
"Based on the information we have so far, there's no worse combination than this. Just in case, I've already reported the relevant information, and reinforcements will arrive soon. Our task is to gather as much information as possible."
They were also a Wildlife Exploration Team, so they had also came across information about Chimera Ants.
However, Pokkle's team chose to directly enter the NGL Autonomous Region to conduct their investigation.
Kite, on the other hand, prepared for the worst. He first reported the collected information and the seemingly alarmist conclusions to the Hunter Association before heading to NGL as an advance team to conduct on-site investigations.
The advantage of this arrangement is that-
Once he further confirmed the danger level, the Hunter Association will be able to respond as quickly as possible.
This difference in response also reflects the gap in 'experience' between Kite's team and Pokkle's team.
The truck drove along the sandy road and stopped at the NGL border checkpoint.
Kite and his team got out of the truck one by one and looked at the rocky mountains and forests in the distance.
What lay ahead-
What would they find?
…
"Little Bean, are you saying... the Hunter Association already knows about the mutated Chimera Ants?"
Inside the temple on the mountaintop of the scenic area, Moses was holding a mobile phone with a look of surprise on his face.
On the other end of the line, Beans's tired voice replied:
"Yes, the Chairman has already set out to deal with the matter."
At this point, Beans paused, his tone showing hesitation: "Moses, it's really good that you're back. It's just... could you... come and help?"
"Help? You mean with the Chimera Ants matter?"
Moses's eyes narrowed slightly, and waiting for Beans to respond, he said bluntly: "I never planned to stay out of it."
"No, it's something else..."
Beans quickly added.
"Huh?"
"Recently, there have been many strange incidents..."