The lucky pouch was only about the size of a fist, entirely red, with a T-shaped gold pattern sewn onto it.
Seeing the pouch appear out of thin air, everyone immediately gathered around.
Tocary quickly reached out and pulled off the red silk ribbon tied around the pouch's opening.
As if a taboo had been lifted, the pouch visibly enlarged and fell toward the ground.
Immediately after, the pouch's opening bloomed like a flower stamen, expanding from small to large.
As the pouch landed on the ground, Netero, his mouth and the front of his robe soaked in blood, appeared this way, entering the sight of everyone present.
"Chairman!"
Seeing Netero in such a wretched state, everyone present felt a shock in their hearts.
Once Netero emerged from the pouch, Tocary retracted the pouch back into her body.
This was an ability she developed by combining Conjuration and Emission, possessing an effect similar to a [Spatial Gate], but it was more often used for transporting and moving supplies.
Since it could only affect one target, she had given the pouch to Netero for his use.
Judging by the current situation, it was hard to say whether it was good steel used on the blade's edge or not.
As the team's doctors, Sanbica and Cheadle quickly examined Netero's injuries.
The others watched the battered Netero with grave expressions.
Botobai was dead, and Netero was seriously injured.
This indicated that Beyond's team had extremely powerful combat strength.
However, the one who could seriously injure Netero was probably the target of this trip… Beyond.
Although they were very eager to know what had happened, none of those present asked any questions. They stood by, watching Sanbica and Cheadle work together to treat Netero's wounds.
After about half an hour, the injuries were properly treated.
Then, Netero was the first to break the silence, saying self-deprecatingly, "Old age, old age..."
Everyone exchanged glances. After a while, Morel cautiously asked, "Chairman, your injuries were..."
"Beyond."
Netero stood up.
'As expected...'
Everyone's eyes were filled with seriousness.
Netero looked at his fingers, which had been realigned by Cheadle, and said calmly, "Although I was beaten quite badly, it wasn't without gains. At least I learned about Beyond's Nen."
"That's something," Cheadle said, slightly relieved upon hearing this.
As long as there were gains, this battle wasn't a total loss.
Especially information about an enemy's Nen ability, which was extremely important.
"However..." Netero sighed. "I am very clear that even with knowledge of his Nen Ability, I alone cannot defeat him."
"..."
The members fell into silent speechlessness. After all, this was someone who could beat the Chairman to this state, and moreover... a father-son relationship.
Strength or talent, in the end, is still connected to genetics.
Thinking of Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva, Morel couldn't help but ask, "What type of Nen does Beyond have?"
"He's an Enhancer. His ability is to transfer damage inflicted on his body. Where it's transferred is up to him to decide. However, most of the time, it's probably... returned to sender."
"This..."
"Is it equivalent to reflecting damage?"
"Even the 100-Type Guanyin's attacks wouldn't work?"
Hearing the ability Netero described, everyone was utterly shocked.
Conventionally, Enhancement is the most suitable category for combat, usually straightforward.
The most common combat method is to enhance one's own body, focusing on close-quarters combat.
As long as physical strength is high enough, combined with proficient Enhancement Nen, one can multiply their powerful frontal combat strength, not simply 1+1.
Uvogin is this type. Of course, not every Enhancer is like this.
For example, Nobunaga's chosen path is enhancing external objects… his sword.
But most Enhancers follow Uvogin's path. However, based on the knowledge of everyone present, it was really hard to imagine how an Enhancer could achieve damage transfer.
Logically speaking, isn't the Enhancer's role to be a tank?
As a tank, one naturally takes the damage head-on.
Originally tough and thick-skinned enough, now adding a damage transfer characteristic on top of that.
How are damage-dealing classes supposed to compete then?
Facing the questions raised by his teammates, Netero didn't answer directly. Instead, he used narration to recreate the battle with Beyond as fully as possible.
Compared to answering questions, this comprehensive, on-the-scene narration could more intuitively convey information.
A moment later, after hearing Netero's narration, everyone had some understanding of Beyond's strength and finally understood why Netero said he alone couldn't deal with Beyond.
"Chairman, Botobai is dead."
It was also at this time that Cheadle had a chance to interject and tell Netero this news.
Botobai was also an Enhancer… theoretically, he should have had the highest survival rate among the team members.
Hearing that Botobai was dead, Netero's eyes narrowed slightly, and a shadow flashed across his face.
"This matter... indeed cannot be rushed."
He suddenly sighed.
…
Strictly speaking, within the Dark Continent, the sea, the sky, and the land are all equally dangerous.
The two most dangerous aspects of the sea are the unpredictable and changeable climate and the enormous sea monsters.
The dangers on land are almost countless but can roughly be divided into two points: towering, massive magical beasts, and various existences possessing bizarre abilities.
Compared to the sea and land, the risks in the sky are more straightforward… flying creatures.
For Law's group traveling through the air, it wasn't a completely unobstructed journey.
While following the traces left by Don, they were often targeted as prey by flying creatures.
To give a more vivid analogy, they were like insects flying in the air, while the ones targeting them as prey were at least as large as an eagle, or a large flock of sparrows.
These flying creatures might not have had hunting intentions before seeing Law's group, but upon seeing them, they usually didn't mind casually eating them up.
However, Law wasn't one to take this lying down. Often, he would take the initiative, using the characteristics of the Nyoi-bo to smash the enormous flying creatures toward the ground one by one.
The team flew uneventfully in this manner for a week and finally saw the ancient ruins mentioned by the skeleton.
But what first caught Law's and the others' attention wasn't the sparse architectural ruins on the ground, but the dark, dense mass of unknown creatures.
Let's use 'creatures' to describe them, as they could move.
As the distance closed, everyone finally saw clearly what the things crammed together in the ruins were.
"This... is way too exaggerated."
Tonpa recalled an experience in some ruins in the past where he was nearly scared out of his wits. Looking at the overwhelming number below, he couldn't help but shrink his neck.
"Strange, there weren't this many when I came before."
A look of confusion appeared on the skeleton's face… of course, a look no one else could possibly see.
He thought to himself, 'Even that human who could scare away the furry creatures with his Aura probably couldn't get inside, could he?'