056 (Vol 4) HxH: Tombbound Power

That way, if anything unusual happened, they'd catch it immediately and relay the information.

"I finally get to experience the charm of the Dark Continent!"

That same thought echoed through the group as they stared at the screen, eyes burning with excitement.

On screen, Ronnel had just stepped into the forest sea.

"The air here's thicker than outside~"

That was the first thing he noticed. He stepped carefully across the twisted, knotted tree trunks beneath his feet, moving deeper between them.

Each step was like walking on a slab of fat, water-logged pork.

"These trees must have soaked up a ton of moisture to get this slick outer layer…"

Ronnel mused casually while walking. He wasn't a botanist, and frankly, he didn't care to be.

Others on the team, more interested in the environment, sliced off pieces of bark and gathered the drifting leaves.

They pressed forward for some distance before the air shifted—thick white fog began to rise, blanketing the forest in a heavy haze.

Even the screen projection couldn't pierce it.

Ronnel didn't seem fazed. With En he'd obtained from the Chimera Ant King and his own honed perception, lack of visibility wasn't much of an issue.

Still, for a place like the Dark Continent—infamous for its horrors—it was strange how little danger he'd run into so far. Apart from the Pac-Man creature back on the beach, nothing had shown itself yet.

That thought had barely formed when Ronnel's gaze snapped toward the mist.

Speak of the devil.

The fog thinned in one direction, and from within it, slender branches crept forward—silent and fresh, sprouting from nowhere.

Clusters of deep purple-red fruit dangled from them.

There wasn't a breeze, and yet, as soon as Ronnel looked, the branches began to sway, making a soft rustling noise.

He narrowed his eyes and instinctively pulled away.

"Ronnel-san, be careful—your comm—"

The voice in his earpiece cut off as Ronnel deactivated the connection without hesitation.

The shared intel was useful for teamwork, but for someone operating solo—and with heightened perception like his—it was often a hindrance. In this kind of situation, when something strange demanded full focus, distractions could be deadly.

Even a half-second delay could cost him.

Besides, in this place, he trusted only his instincts.

What you see isn't always what's real.

The fruits looked like oversized apples, closer in size to papayas, and a shade too dark to be natural.

He sniffed. A faint, unnatural scent teased his nose.

Ronnel instantly held his breath.

Just as he backed away, the fruits dropped from their branches one by one. They bounced off the wet bark below and began rolling toward him.

As they moved, something horrifying became clear:

Each fruit had a face.

Two hollow eyes. A carved slit of a mouth. A crude nose-hole in the center.

Not organic, natural faces—but something more like jack-o'-lanterns. Hollow, grotesque masks formed by natural gaps in the fruit's skin.

Inside, only blackness. No core. No seeds. No life.

But each face bore a distinct expression—etched into the pulp, curling at the edges.

Ronnel's eyes narrowed as he stepped back again.

Joy.

Anger.

Sorrow.

Grief.

Those four basic human emotions were etched across the dozens of fruits rolling toward him, a grotesque mimicry of mankind.

There were over twenty of them, maybe six or seven per emotion, moving fast. Some began to fan out, trying to encircle him.

"You're trying to trap me?" Ronnel's eyes flashed. "Too bad."

With a flick of his wrist, a revolver materialized in his hand—one he'd recovered from Kay Taylor back during the Cruise Cemetery incident. His Nen ability: Unlimited Firepower.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

High-velocity Nen bullets, formed from compressed air, tore through the air toward the oncoming fruits.

Crack!

The first shot struck a fruit with a sorrowful face. It exploded like a real fruit, pulp and juice splattering everywhere.

But the moment the liquid hit the bark—

HSSSSSS!

A horrible sizzling sound filled the air.

"Corrosive...?"

Ronnel's expression turned grim. The fluid had eaten through the moist bark in seconds. If that had landed on a person…

His thoughts were cut off by another blast—this one not from him.

BOOM!

An explosion erupted ahead, flinging several other fruits into the air in a wave of flame and pressure.

Ronnel's sharp gaze caught the origin.

"Was that the one with the 'anger' expression…?"

The second Nen bullet had hit it dead on—and the reaction had been wild, like tossing oil into pure ethanol.

A volatile chain reaction.