The claws materialized by the leopard man were utterly incapable of penetrating the defense Law had established.
However, he had successfully halted Law's advance. Now, all he needed was for his companions to get into position and overwhelm Law through sheer numbers.
Their powers clashed in a static deadlock, sparks blooming ceaselessly in the air between them.
The leopard man had invested the majority of his Aura into the attack without considering the consequences.
Or rather, in that moment, his only thought had been to stop Law… he hadn't thought any further.
Life often withers away on the turn of a single thought.
Law's long sword shattered the stalemate, cleanly slicing through the leopard man's crossed claws before landing on his neck.
The leopard man's head flew into the air, a look of astonishment on his face.
He hadn't felt himself get injured, and he could still feel control over his body.
Pfft!
The leopard man suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, as his body had just taken a heavy blow.
As his head spun through the air, his shifting perspective allowed him a difficult glimpse of his own body being thrown back over ten meters.
Yet, he could still control it perfectly.
He had no idea what was happening, but at the very least, he wasn't dead. He could still fight.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, a palm suddenly pressed towards his face.
A warm sensation touched his cheek.
Despite the seamless contact, it radiated a needle-like chill.
The leopard man realized his head was now clutched in Law's single hand.
Darkness filled his vision, and his heart began to pound wildly.
Law, holding the leopard man's head, landed back on the ground. He stood still, raising his eyes to survey the twenty-plus demi-human Magical Beasts forming an encirclement.
Even without deploying his En, he could sense more aura signatures approaching from further away.
He didn't crush the leopard man's skull because the effect of God Hand had already taken hold.
Sssss…!
The Aura wrapped around the leopard man's head was steadily shaved away by Law, dissipating like swirling snowflakes.
The surrounding twenty-plus demi-human Magical Beasts stared at Law with a strangely human-like expression… one of unconcealed apprehension.
Even though they had formed an encirclement, they did not launch an attack. Instead, they waited patiently as more and more of their companions arrived.
This approach went against their usual style, but they had all seen the blood-soaked earth, witnessed the leopard man being easily overpowered, and seen his head severed yet still living.
Law's left hand slowly tightened its grip, squeezing the leopard man's nerves, forcing his fear to grow deeper.
'I must break through.'
It was impossible to risk his life fighting so many demi-human Magical Beasts, as there was no benefit to such an action.
Law pushed off with his foot, pointing his blade forward.
In an instant, the three Magical Beasts blocking his path of retreat closed in.
The jade-white humanoid phantom materialized, its giant blade descending with imposing might.
The three Magical Beasts' expressions changed. They sensed the immense threat from the giant blade and didn't dare block it head-on, scrambling frantically to avoid it.
The giant blade struck the ground, instantly carving a hundred-meter-long fissure.
Law stepped on the air, moving above the fissure and passing through the defensive line formed by the three Magical Beasts.
Their reactions were swift. In less than a second, they adjusted their stances and launched themselves toward Law's back with the fastest, most explosive force they could muster.
Suddenly and without warning, Law hurled the leopard man's head backward. One of the Magical Beasts instinctively raised a hand to swat it away.
Boom!
The leopard man's head shattered like a watermelon.
The Magical Beast froze for a moment.
Immediately after, two engraved stone projectiles drilled into its eye sockets, bursting out from the back of its skull and pulling two vivid lines of blood with them.
In a very, very short time, two more companions had died.
The Aura of the two Magical Beasts closest to Law suddenly became streaked with crimson threads.
Their speed instantly increased by a notch, allowing them to catch up to Law.
Boom! Boom!
Unfortunately, their combat skills were no match for Law's martial arts.
Both were repelled, but they successfully delayed Law for about two seconds.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the two were sent flying backward, more figures leaped over them, charging toward Law.
Law expressionlessly glanced at the numerous demi-human Magical Beasts pursuing him from behind.
Although each individual demi-human Magical Beast was strong, he felt no pressure for the time being.
As long as he wasn't trapped in layered encirclements, he could continuously use [Instant] to create distance and shake off the pursuit. The only thing he needed to watch was the Aura Consumption of the technique.
While tangling with the pursuing Magical Beasts, he silently calculated the distance between himself and his companions, and how many more times he could use Instant.
Several minutes later, Law began using Instant in short bursts, which consumed a significant amount of Aura, instantly putting distance between himself and the Magical Beasts.
However, after running just over two hundred meters, Law noticed the Auras of the pursuing Magical Beasts behind him begin to tinge with streaks of red.
Looking closer, he saw their eyes were also now glazed with a faint red light.
Their speed had increased.
Law's expression remained calm.
This meant he would have to invest even more Aura than originally budgeted.
After discovering the demi-human Magical Beast's settlement and learning their numbers were at least nearly two hundred, Law concluded that it would be best to avoid encountering any more of them on the journey through the forest.
Given his strength, he wasn't afraid of them personally. However, the team still had Tonpa and Bruna, and even Biscuit would likely struggle against the demi-human Magical Beasts.
Actually, what worried Law more were threats similar to the shadowy figure and the slashing attacks.
Somehow, as soon as Law thought of the shadowy figure, speak of the devil, it appeared.
A hundred meters ahead, the shadowy figure hung in the air like viscous sludge. It seemed to have detected the fluctuations of Aura.
The irregularly writhing, mud-like form suddenly solidified into a hard, cement-like state.
After pausing for a moment, it madly charged toward Law's location.
Law's eyes narrowed intently.
He made a bold decision: he suddenly stopped running, closed his Aura Nodes and used Zetsu, causing the Aura on his body's surface to vanish.
He stood there, calmly watching the shadowy figure charge toward him.
Behind him were twenty-plus demi-human Magical Beasts shrouded in abundant Aura. Further behind them was an unknown number of additional Magical Beasts.
The shadowy figure's approach was fierce, its speed extreme.
In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of Law.
However, the shadow ignored Law completely, sweeping past him and charging straight toward the group of demi-human Magical Beasts.
Law took a deep breath, then looked back at the receding shadow.
'As expected. When hunting, the shadow prioritized targets with stronger Aura or life force, even passing up closer prey.'
"If it could just eliminate all of them for me, I would be immensely grateful." Law murmured to himself before turning and leaving without glancing back.
He hoped the shadow would wipe out all the demi-human Magical Beasts.
He was certain of one thing: if they encountered demi-human Magical Beasts in the forest again, they would absolutely become targets for hunting.
Perhaps the innate advantages of demi-human Magical Beasts were indeed one or two levels above humans.
However, humans also possessed an advantage over them: a complete and systematic knowledge of Nen Abilities.
Because Law knew how to use Zetsu, the shadow bypassed him to prey on the demi-human Magical Beasts.
Still, Law had yet to figure out what the shadowy figure actually was.
After several encounters, he only felt it was truly terrifying, something to stay as far away from as possible.
Several hours later, Law returned to the forest's edge and reunited with Biscuit and the others.
Through this incident, not only Law, but Biscuit and the others as well, gained a clearer understanding of the latent threats within the forest.
What else would they encounter if they continued forward?