As long as they didn't interfere with Morrow's sucking behavior, they wouldn't be attacked or provoke him.
But to prevent Morrow from losing too much blood, Biscuit and the others had only one thought: to intervene and stop him immediately.
However, even though Morrow's counterattacks were chaotic, his sheer physical strength and aura output level were enough to render Biscuit and the others helpless.
Just as a sense of powerlessness began to fill their hearts, Sanbica, who was not involved in the frontal assault, noticed something strange.
She observed that, enhanced by Nen, Morrow was sucking his blood at an astonishing rate.
But judging from Morrow's condition, neither his body nor his aura fluctuation had changed due to the massive blood loss.
This bizarre sign immediately made her think of Zobae, the Immortality Disease.
The initial information about this disease had been provided by Ging.
However, the content itself was naturally not as detailed as what was recorded in the International Permit Agencies' system.
The reason Sanbica could quickly make the connection was more due to her professional instincts.
As a Virus Hunter, she paid closer attention to this type of suspected viral immortality disease among the information concerning the Five Threats.
And in the information Ging provided, one key point stood out.
Patients with Zobae disease sustain themselves by consuming their own blood, and this process does not endanger their vital signs.
Since Sanbica wasn't under the same pressure as Biscuit and the others who were engaged in direct combat, she was able to connect the phenomenon before her with this disease more quickly.
In contrast, the reason Morrow had immediately thought of Zobae was that he had seen a realistic depiction of a patient from the original work through a reader's perspective.
That rather profound image made it easier for him to connect the clues.
"Everyone, please assist me at once."
After judging that Morrow might be infected with Zobae, the Immortality Disease, a glint of determination flashed in Sanbica's black, jewel-like eyes.
Her tone at this moment was a complete departure from her usual soft, quiet voice, becoming clear, decisive, and unquestionable.
Her posture was like that of a chief surgeon standing before an operating table.
Calm, authoritative, with no room for hesitation.
The moment her words fell, everyone subconsciously looked at her.
What met their eyes was a rare, forceful aura emanating from Sanbica.
This surprised them all, even making her seem a little unfamiliar.
No one could have imagined that the girl who was always introverted, shy, and spoke in a whisper could have such a starkly different side.
Sanbica stared at Morrow's constricted pupils and said, "I suspect the trigger for Morrow's strange transformation is the immortality virus called Zobae that Ging mentioned. To analyze it and find a solution, I must directly touch Morrow."
"Understood."
Biscuit's eyes sharpened. She quickly shifted her feet, adjusting to the optimal position to strike.
She didn't ask for more details.
The unquestionable professional aura Sanbica was exuding at that moment was the clearest answer in itself.
Gel and Kalluto swiftly exchanged a glance and also immediately regrouped, preparing to provide support at any moment. Ponzu's frontal combat ability was relatively poor, so in this situation, she could only retreat to avoid getting in the way.
"I'm counting on you all."
Sanbica slowly rolled up her sleeves, revealing arms so pale they were almost transparent, the blue veins beneath the skin clearly visible.
Her Nen ability was called Pathogen Decoder.
The ability's effect was to actively transfer a virus from a target's body to her own through physical touch, causing her to immediately enter the incubation period.
Then, using herself as a culture medium and a laboratory, she would analyze the virus's weaknesses to find a specific cure or treatment plan.
The power of this ability lay in the fact that even when Sanbica entered the incubation period and personally endured the pain of the virus multiplying and growing, her own "life force" would not be eroded by it.
But the corresponding risk was also extremely severe.
If she couldn't succeed in her analysis within the time limit, she would face direct death.
However, the more she knew about the target virus beforehand, the lower the risk and difficulty of the analysis would be.
This ability was similar in principle to standard Exorcism.
In fact, Sanbica's ability itself was born under the influence of her master, Tessa.
With just a slight examination of the ability's essence, one could easily sense the almost sacrificial spirit of a healer contained within.
When Sanbica made her request to her teammates, she did not proactively explain the risks that "Pathogen Decoder" entailed.
Because as long as she could successfully extract the "virus" from Morrow's body and transfer it, he would survive.
Then, even if she failed to analyze its weakness and find a countermeasure within the time limit, Morrow would be safe.
As long as Morrow was fine, the team could continue to advance safely until they returned to the Six Continents.
That was enough.
Therefore, Sanbica was prepared to bear the risk alone when she asked her teammates for help.
And for this matter, she didn't want any hesitation or wavering from her teammates to affect the upcoming action.
Biscuit and the others didn't know the specific details. At this moment, the only thing they could do was to completely trust Sanbica's professional judgment.
As the most experienced Pro Hunter on the team, Biscuit had already cast aside her image. Of course, she charged to the very front without hesitation, even though she now had only one arm available.
Under her lead, Gel and Kalluto also followed closely behind.
Compared to completely restraining Morrow, simply creating a safe opportunity for Sanbica to make contact was significantly less difficult.
But the whole process was equally arduous and fraught with danger.
—--
Meanwhile.
Morrow, having completely lost control of his body, could only vaguely see his teammates seemingly organizing a new round of attacks through a distorted and blurry layer of water.
He couldn't help but worry.
But besides watching helplessly, there was nothing he could do.
Perhaps because Biscuit and the others' actions had diverted his body's attention, the head that was buried in sucking blood suddenly turned to one side.
Its slightly vacant gaze fell upon the rapidly approaching Biscuit.
Hmm?
It was this sudden shift in his field of vision that allowed Morrow's trapped consciousness to catch sight of something on his shoulder.
It was a blurry, bird-shaped silhouette.
Its entire body looked as if it were covered in mosaic fragments that were even more distorted and shattered than the surrounding water ripples, clinging there incongruously.
What is that...?!
Morrow's consciousness suddenly fluctuated.
Based solely on the faint bird-like silhouette and the initial position of the gaze he had identified, Morrow instantly linked it to the black and white feathers symbolizing Luck.
There's no mistake... this bizarre attachment was the source of that gaze, and it was the true culprit that had infected him with Zobae, the Immortality Disease.
Something that was previously invisible even with Gyo and couldn't be touched.
Yet, by a strange twist of fate after being infected with Zobae, Morrow could see it.
In my current state, I might actually be able to attack that thing, but I can't even move.
When Biscuit and the others had first tried to stop him, Morrow had already tried various methods to break free from his predicament, all to no avail.
Now, even though he could finally see the "culprit," he was still unable to take any substantial action.
Just as Morrow's attention was completely captivated by that unknown object, the offensive led by Biscuit succeeded.
Through the tacit cooperation of the group, they managed to let Sanbica successfully touch Morrow's body.
However, it came at a rather heavy price.
Biscuit's abdomen was pierced through, and a gruesome gash was torn open on her right thigh, blood gushing out like a broken dam.
If she hadn't twisted her body at the last second to avoid a fatal blow, this experienced veteran Pro Hunter might have died on the spot.
The serpentine Nen beast Gel conjured from her arm was violently torn to shreds during the struggle.
The nature of her ability caused her to suffer the same damage; her entire left arm was twisted and broken at a bizarre angle, with stark white bone fragments piercing through her flesh and exposed to the air.
Only Kalluto, who controlled a familiar spirit for combat, was able to avoid direct danger.
However, his familiar spirit Ant King was extremely severely damaged. Its tail was ripped off at the root, half of its head was sliced off, a huge gap was torn in the side of its neck by bare hands, a bloody hole was pierced through the center of its chest, and its left palm had exploded...
In the brief interval bought at such a painful cost, Sanbica finally succeeded in activating her "Pathogen Decoder" ability.
When she felt the subtle sensation of the virus flowing through her palm, her extremely tense nerves relaxed slightly.
This meant that regardless of whether she could successfully deal with this virus later, she had at least helped Morrow escape a perilous situation.
Within a mere one or two seconds, the Zobae virus that had been raging inside Morrow's body surged into Sanbica's body through her arm, like a receding tide.
As Zobae, the Immortality Disease, was extracted, the distorted, writhing ripples in Morrow's vision suddenly dissipated.
The real scene became clear again, and the sensation in his body returned inch by inch, like reefs revealed after the tide has gone out.
Everything returned to normal.
The moment he regained control of his body, Morrow's eyes sharpened. He reacted with extreme speed, his hand darting out, five fingers clamping down on his own shoulder like lightning.
This time, not only did he "see" the bird-shaped silhouette pieced together from mosaic ripples, but his hand, wreathed in aura, also firmly clenched it in his palm.
"Sha, shasha!"
Suddenly seized, the Entropy Bird let out a panicked shriek.
Its existence and voice should not have been perceptible to anyone, but as long as someone could truly "see" its form in any way, or "hear" its cry once...
That barrier of "invisibility" would be broken.
Morrow had accidentally glimpsed the Entropy Bird's existence through the special state of consciousness during the Zobae infection.
And now, this visual imprint, born of circumstance, was enough for him to cross the boundary between illusion and reality and directly touch this unknown creature.
But in the eyes of others, Morrow had just abruptly grabbed at a handful of non-existent air on his shoulder.
As for the Entropy Bird's panicked shriek, it was completely inaudible to anyone else.
Morrow held the Entropy Bird firmly, but he didn't expect Tree Rings to prompt him at this moment, asking if he wanted to absorb it.
Post-Mortem Will?
He stared at the distorted, trembling mosaic-like silhouette between his fingers, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Since it could be judged by Tree Rings as an absorbable target, it meant that this strange bird was not a natural creation, but a product forged from some intense obsession at the moment of death.
Perhaps that was why it possessed near-unreasonable abilities like "invisibility" and "the power of random Luck."
Especially the power of Luck, which had no logic or mechanism to speak of; it was purely an existence that transcended common sense.
Under the influence of extremely bad luck, extreme events like a meteorite crashing into him could occur, and it could ignore Morrow's inhuman aura output level, nearly causing his resentful demise.
Conversely, under the blessing of extremely good luck, even the Alchemy Plant Metallion could transform a single Water Droplet into a priceless rare gem.
That's right.
The results of Metallion's alchemy transformation were not always good.
It could turn gold into gravel, or it could produce a lethally corrosive poison.
The reason Morrow had been able to create that deep blue sapphire and the luminous crystal before was because he had rolled good luck from the Entropy Bird.
The one time it produced poisonous gas was because he had rolled bad luck.
"Shaaa!!!"
The Entropy Bird trembled violently, its mosaic-like silhouette distorting intensely.
It seemed to be able to sense the devouring nature of Tree Rings, or perhaps it could feel an extremely dangerous aura from the force of Morrow's grip.
This was not a simple restraint, but a premonition of an impending end.
The instinct for survival instantly overwhelmed everything else.
The Entropy Bird no longer tried to break free with brute force, instead channeling all its power into a pleading wave.
Waves of humble mental fluctuations were clearly transmitted to Morrow through its cries.
Pleading, submission...
It did not want to be destroyed.
Even though its essence was constructed from Post-Mortem Will, it possessed a strong will to live.
Morrow easily sensed the Entropy Bird's intense will to survive, even at the cost of submission.
Whether there was some hidden story behind this was a matter for later...
The thought that he had almost been done in by this strange bird made his mood inexplicably complicated.
The dangers of the Dark Continent were truly unfathomable.
Even with an aura output of Lv.125, he was still completely defenseless against certain unreasonable abilities.
Morrow ignored the Entropy Bird's pleas and did not choose to absorb it immediately.
He shifted his gaze to Sanbica in front of him.
Sanbica was also looking at him.
Although she had already transferred the "Zobae virus" into her body, under the mechanism of her Vows and Limitations, she had not completely lost control of her body like Morrow had.
However, she did not have much time left.
Morrow looked at Sanbica's dark eyes, which most of the time revealed timidity and gentleness, and did not ask her, "How are you?"
Sanbica looked at Morrow's eyes, which were mostly calm and composed, as if all problems could be easily solved, and did not say to him, "I'm confident I can solve this."
The two of them, at the instant their gazes met, simultaneously recalled the experience of destroying the Finger organization's human Virus Research Lab and treating those villagers together.
And so, as they looked at each other, they both suddenly broke into a slight smile.
Trust needs no words.
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Bonus chapter @400powerstones