Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The poisonous seeds fired by the gramophone could render its victims unconscious within three seconds, causing them to die without ever realizing what had happened.

Law removed the poison for them, and when they woke up, they merely assumed the pale red poisonous mist from the exploding seed was nothing more than ordinary knockout gas.

No one knew just how long this path of white bones leading to the Millennium Imperial Capital truly was. But with such deadly plants right at the start, Law didn't believe the Desert Hawks could safely traverse this bone-filled road.

As he had said, he could help them once or twice, but he couldn't bail them out every time.

There was no denying that the members of Desert Hawks were all above average in terms of physical ability. But many dangers couldn't be avoided by physical strength alone.

Seeing Law remain silent, Ali frowned slightly and said solemnly, "Tam, we're truly grateful for your help along the way. Indeed, without you, half of our group might have been lost, and we might not even have made it this far. But do you really think the effort we've put in all this time is so cheap? That we'd just turn back in fear of potential danger?"

At this, Ali glanced around at his teammates and raised his voice, "Are any of you afraid of death?"

The Desert Hawks' members didn't respond with words… Instead, they answered with laughter. In an instant, the silent mountain path was filled with the imposing presence of the entire group.

"I overstepped."

Law nodded and released the gold bracelet in his hand, letting it fall onto the pile of bones with a crisp clink.

His warning to Desert Hawks had been justified. But everyone had their own stance. He believed that pushing deeper would only lead to meaningless deaths for them. Yet if Desert Hawks' members weren't afraid of dying, then his warnings were meaningless.

Ali walked over to Law, bent down to pick up the gold bracelet, and handed it back to him, "I heard that a long time ago, in the Kandhia Desert, there was a puddle that appeared whenever it rained. The water there was muddy, but it was always filled with fish covered in thick sludge."

"People risked their lives to travel thousands of miles for those fish, even chasing after rain clouds. So I don't understand why you'd just throw this away."

Without waiting for Law's response, he shoved the gold bracelet into Law's hand.

In his eyes, this was the first treasure Law had obtained since entering the Forbidden Zone. It shouldn't be treated so lightly, as the meaning behind it surpassed its material value.

"Maybe it's because I don't need it." Law said, glancing at the golden bracelet in his hand. He had dug it out from the bone pile as a way to remind Desert Hawks that there were riches hidden beneath their feet… riches they could obtain without taking unnecessary risks.

"Then you shouldn't have come here in the first place."

Ali gave Law a deep look, then, undaunted by the dangers lurking in the darkness ahead, led the Desert Hawks forward.

Law watched their retreating figures and sighed softly.

William approached him and said coolly: "You don't have to take certain responsibilities."

Having said that, he too walked into the mountain path. The 'responsibilities' he referred to were Law's habit of helping Desert Hawks, and even him, whenever danger arose.

Law silently put away the gold bracelet, called out to Buhara, and followed them.

Gel gradually recovered from her earlier shock and followed in silence as well. Along the way, her gaze remained fixed on Law.

The group continued onward, advancing over five hundred meters without major incident… until another sudden change occurred. A Desert Hawks' member holding a torch abruptly collapsed onto the bone pile.

The unexpected incident brought the group to an immediate halt.

Someone crouched down to check on the fallen member. Under the torchlight, they saw blood seeping from the man's chest… right where his heart should be.

Ali turned back and pushed through the crowd to approach.

The person crouching beside the body looked up at Ali and shook his head: "Dead."

The dead man's shirt was pulled open, revealing a bloody hole the size of a thumbnail in his chest.

Ali clenched his fists, then shifted his gaze to the several people standing near the deceased, "What happened?"

The group looked at each other in bewilderment. After a moment, someone spoke up, "Bichu just collapsed out of nowhere. We don't know what happened."

At that moment, another person fell. Like a chain reaction, every two or three seconds, someone else dropped. The group erupted into chaos.

Law, Buhara, Gel, and William immediately entered combat readiness, warily scanning their surroundings.

"There's something in..."

Law's gaze darkened as he stared into the shadows beyond the torchlight.

Before long, the number of people falling to the ground increased to ten. A bloody hole suddenly appeared at the heart position of each of them, and then they died without a sound.

"Shields up, form a circle!"

Ali had no time to tend to the corpses. At his command, Desert Hawks swiftly moved into formation, shields raised as they scanned their surroundings for any movement.

Law stood at the perimeter, his body shrouded in Aura.

When no one spoke, the mountain path was eerily silent.

Suddenly, Law reached out and snatched something in front of Buhara's chest. A sharp, screeching sound pierced the dead silence of the mountain path, startling everyone as they noticed Law's action.

Buhara stared at the thing clutched in Law's hand and asked in surprise, "What the hell is that?"

Law didn't answer, as even the White Smoke Font provided no information.

It was a black, finger-length soft-bodied creature covered in over a dozen compound eyes, its head indistinguishable from its body.

As Law gripped it, the creature's eyes opened and closed erratically, emitting a shrill screech.

Crack.

At this moment, another person collapsed, this time with a hole punched through their skull.

The attacks weren't limited to the heart, making the shields ineffective for full protection.

Law tightened his grip, crushing the creature in his palm. The screeching ceased abruptly. He then expanded his En, leaving his own defenses at their weakest.

Without hesitation, Buhara moved closer to Law, taking on the role of his protector.

Within his perception, the air was filled with floating, dandelion-like entities… each no larger than a fingernail, vastly different from the black creature he had just caught.

As Law pondered, one of the tiny objects suddenly transformed. Its elongated body, previously drifting lazily, shot forward like an arrow, piercing straight through the skull of one of Desert Hawks' members.

"We need to leave. Now."

Law decisively snatched a torch from one of the members and spoke in a deep voice.

The number of floating entities was substantial, but fortunately, their attack frequency was slow, and they didn't swarm all at once.

Aali gritted his teeth upon hearing Law's words and shouted, "Let's go!"

The Desert Hawks' members immediately sprang into action, forced to abandon their fallen comrades where they lay.

"You all, go ahead."

Law raised the torch, motioning for Buhara and the others to proceed.

They nodded and hurried ahead, stopping only after putting some distance between themselves and the danger.

Law retreated several dozen meters toward Buhara's group, activated his Domain, then hurled the torch into the area teeming with the floating entities.

Whoosh!

The torch ignited as if hitting invisible gasoline, erupting into a violent wave of flames that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared… taking the floating entities with it.

Before Law could even process what the entities were, a series of agonized screams echoed from further down the mountain path.

Exchanging glances with Buhara and the others, Law rushed toward the source of the screams. There, they found Desert Hawks' members under attack by a swarm of plant-like creatures.

They were vine-like plants covered in dense, needle-sharp thorns, their spiny protrusions branching out like leaves. When they lashed out, they skewered their victims like kebabs.

In less than a minute, over thirty members of Desert Hawks had been impaled and killed.