HxH : Pokemon Master-Chapter 164: Zazan Squadron

"Buzzzzzz..."

Deep in the forest, a bee-like Chimera Ant moved sluggishly through the trees.

Its wings buzzed so fast they created afterimages, and its big eyes and sharp mouthparts really stood out on its head.

It had black-and-yellow stripes all over its body, ending with a shiny stinger at the back.

The complete absence of human features marked it as a lower-tier soldier ant born from animal DNA—so it couldn’t talk at all.

Yet even this basic grunt posed significant threat compared to ordinary humans.

This scouting party had entered the forest seeking more meat to satisfy their queen’s demands.

The entire ant squadron had mobilized for this hunting expedition.

After multiple rounds of scavenging, it seemed the forest’s meat supply had been nearly depleted.

?

The bee Chimera Ant shook its head from side to side, its big eyes flashing with streaks of white.

Suddenly, patches of thin white smoke began appearing in the previously lifeless woods.

The smoke grew increasingly dense, saturating the entire area.

At first, there was no noticeable change, but now the bee Chimera Ant began sensing something amiss.

Though its genes lacked human DNA, resulting in low intelligence and only the ability to follow basic commands...

Its primal instincts as a beast were sounding the alarm on its mind—danger was approaching!

Right as the bee Chimera Ant was about to run off and find its Squadron Leader, The slowly drifting white smoke suddenly transformed into a needle, swiftly stabbing toward the head of the bee Chimera Ant.

The speed of the white smoke needle was so fast that even the bee Chimera Ant couldn’t evade it.

It could only watch helplessly as the needle enlarged in its big eyes.

Pshh—

With a piercing sound, the bee Chimera Ant’s head cut off from its body, its headless body collapsing to the ground.

The headless corpse twitched several times before finally going still, completely lifeless.

This demonstrated the tenacity of Chimera Ants—even after being decapitated, they could still convulse a few times.

Ordinary creatures would cease all movement immediately upon losing their heads.

However, scenes like this with the bee Chimera Ant were not isolated incidents.

Similar events were happening all over the forest.

One Chimera Ant after another fell under Morel’s white smoke assault.

Hmm?

Deep in the forest, a baddie Chimera Ant clad in a yellow corset frowned slightly, sensing that something was amiss.

This Chimera Ant had long, pinkish-purple hair, strands of which coiled atop her head like serpents.

Paired with her eerie yet alluring face, she bore a striking resemblance to the mythical Medusa.

However, the long scorpion tail behind her betrayed her identity as a scorpion-type Chimera Ant.

This was Zazan, one of the Squadron Leaders of the Chimera Ants.

"The scent in the air is rapidly dissipating—clearly, the number of soldier ants is dwindling."

"There are enemies in the forest!"

Zazan swayed forward with a catlike gait, a faint smirk curling at the corner of her lips as she leisurely advanced, her expression tinged with excitement.

Her outing wasn’t just about gathering food for the Queen—she also wanted to test her newly acquired abilities.

Whoever was strong enough to eliminate those soldier ants would surely make for a worthy first batch of test subjects.

"Pike, go ahead and take control of those enemies first." Zazan continued forward unhurriedly, issuing her command toward the trees on the other side.

***

"Such a convenient ability." Knov watched as Morel continuously exhaled and inhaled smoke, sighing in genuine admiration.

He could see it clearly—Morel exhaled white smoke and manipulated it with Aura, guiding it deep into the forest.

Only a small amount of Aura was concealed within the smoke, allowing it to sense enemies, mimicking the effect of En.

This ability expanded his detection range.

After all, a top-tier Nen User En typically spanned about 50 meters and Morel was no exception, unlikely to exceed that by much.

But by utilizing his white smoke field, he could expend minimal Aura to indirectly achieve the effect of En.

The range far surpassed what he could achieve with En alone, making it perfect for reconnaissance.

Moreover, the smoke infused with Aura could be condensed at critical moments, forming weapons like needles to attack enemies.

That was how those soldier ants had fallen to the white smoke.

This ability combined reconnaissance and offense into one, proving incredibly practical.

It could be said that Morel had elevated an otherwise ordinary ability to an extraordinary level.

First, he leveraged his natural gift of lung capacity far exceeding that of ordinary people, allowing him to exhale vast amounts of smoke in one go.

Second, he utilized his Manipulation affinity, granting him exceptional control over Aura.

This enabled him to effortlessly manipulate and reshape the white smoke into various forms.

Morel had truly refined the ability of ’White Smoke Manipulation’ to its fullest potential.

There were the ’Purple Smoke Soldiers’ and ’Purple Smoke Clones’ responsible for offense.

There were the ’Purple Smoke Rabbits’ and ’Purple Smoke Field’ for reconnaissance.

And there was the ’Purple Smoke Carpet’ for mobility.

Beyond these, he could also manipulate white smoke to create tough "ropes" and indestructible "cages"...

One could say his abilities covered multiple aspects, making him a well-rounded fighter with exceptional overall performance.

"Hahaha, luckily these beast aren’t strong. My heart was racing there for a second." Morel let out a hearty laugh.

After confirming through the Purple Smoke Field that his opponents weren’t strong, he simply used white smoke to eliminate them.

It was clear that Morel’s tense mood had eased slightly—thankfully, the enemies weren’t as exaggerated as he’d imagined.

Now, all the ordinary Chimera Ants in the forest had been wiped out.

"But there are still more beast coming." Akira gazed thoughtfully at the dense canopy above, where layers of thick green leaves cast shadows, making the surroundings dim.

Even with the naked eye, it was hard to see what was happening up in the trees.

Hearing this, Morel expression stiffened.

His Purple Smoke Field only covered the middle and lower grounds.

Covering everything would have drained too much Aura.

But what if Chimera Ants were approaching from the treetops?

In an instant, the four figures flickered and vanished from their spots simultaneously.

The moment they disappeared, a massive spiderweb—or rather, a web of Aura—descended from above, landing squarely on the grass where they had just stood.

The web was thickly coated with an overwhelming concentration of Aura.

The speed and range of this Aura web were nothing to scoff at—others would have struggled to dodge it.

Standing off to the side, the four instinctively looked up diagonally.

At the top of a large tree crouched a grotesque Chimera Ant, its shape resembling that of a spider.

"Grotesque" mainly referred to its ugly face.

A massive yellow spider with the smug, greasy face of an old man—utterly revolting.

"Oh? You dodged it?" Pike peered down, speaking in a sickeningly affected tone.

Pike, huh...

Akira crossed his arms, staring up at Pike with undisguised disgust.

Everything about it—the face, the tone—made him want to punch it.

From what he remembered, this Chimera Ant named "Pike" was a Squadron Leader under Zazan’s command.

It was also the one who had captured Pokkle and its strength was decent.

Chimera Ants were ranked into several tiers, roughly indicating their power levels: Soldier Ants, Squadron Leaders, Division Commanders, Royal Guards and the Ant King.

The ones Morel had just killed were ordinary Soldier Ants, while this Pike was one of Zazan’s Squadron Leaders.

And there was an even stronger presence in the forest, rapidly approaching.

Most likely, it was Zazan herself.

In other words, they had encountered Zazan’s Chimera Ant squad.

In the original story, Zazan had chosen to flee to Meteor City with her loyal Chimera Ants.

In the end, they were all wiped out by the Phantom Troupe.

"Damn, this thing is disgusting. Do all Chimera Ants look like this?" Morel swung his large pipe a couple of times and voiced what everyone was thinking.

Pike was truly uglyyyy.

"Oh, it’s fine if you dodged. I can just attack again, you know." Pike muttered to himself, his deep, gruff voice making his already ugly face even more unsettling.

With that, he began to turn around, intending to face the group with his butt—his method of attack, much like an ordinary spider, involved shooting webs to ensnare his prey.

After learning Nen, he had developed his own Hatsu—Love Shower.

This was the very same web of Aura that had just fallen to the ground.

But as he turned, the corner of his eye caught sight of Akira and the others.

Huh? Three people? I thought there were four...?

In his peripheral vision, Pike could only see three figures now.

"Did I miscount?" He scratched his head with one hand, dismissing it as a simple mistake.

The next moment, his head was cleanly split in two.

The upper half vanished into thin air, while the lower half, along with the rest of his body, plummeted toward the ground.

"Scream!" Knov, who had seemingly "descended from the sky," said coldly, his hands spread wide as a stream of Aura connected his palms.

The severed half of Pike head had completely disappeared.

This was one of Knov applications of his Nen ability, the [Four-Dimensional Mansion].

And one of his few offensive techniques.

Much like opening a window in an apartment, Knov created a Nen space between his palms—effectively carving out a section of the [Four-Dimensional Mansion] and enveloping his enemy before closing it.

The enclosed portion was forcibly sealed within the Nen space, severed from the rest.

The enemy would experience something akin to a ’Dimensional Slash’.

In other words, half of Pike head was now inside Knov [Four-Dimensional Mansion].

Leaping down from the tree, Knov had cleanly sliced off half of Pike head with precision.

To ensure a fatal blow, he had deliberately targeted the head—after all, with creatures like these, it was best to destroy their brain.

Reports indicated that Chimera Ants could survive for an entire day even if bisected at the waist, so long as their heads remained intact.

Knov landed gracefully, dusting himself off before adjusting his glasses.

Behind him, Pike corpse crashed heavily to the ground, the impact of his massive body sending up a cloud of dust.

"Not bad at all. You said my ability was strong, but yours is even better," Morel remarked, clapping Knov on the shoulder with his enormous hand, his tone full of praise.

"Hohohoho, quite the swift reaction" Chairman Netero chimed in, equally generous with his compliments—he had clearly seen the details of Knov maneuver.

The moment the four of them had dodged the web attack, Knov had immediately crouched and activated [Four-Dimensional Mansion], slipping inside.

The next moment, he reappeared atop of the tree, leaping down and cleanly "slicing" off half of the enemy’s head mid-fall.

"Just luck. The Chimera Ant happened to be on a tree I’d already marked," Knov replied humbly, waving his hand dismissively.

After witnessing Gon and Killua talents, he had shed much of his former arrogance.

Perhaps due to his nature, Knov had a somewhat "cowardly" habit.

That was to place several markers of the [Four-Dimensional Mansion] around the area during combat.

This would have a miraculous effect at critical moments, allowing one to slip into the Four-Dimensional Mansion at any time and emerge from another location.

Coincidentally, there was a marker he had placed on the large tree where Pike was stationed.

"Hohohoho, it seems another uninvited guest has arrived." As Chairman Netero finished speaking, a figure appeared among the trees.

It was none other than Zazan!

"How dare you! How dare you kill my subordinates!"

At this moment, Zazan had completely shed her usual facade of "elegance," her delicate features twisted with rage.

Zazan didn’t care much for ordinary soldier ants, but she valued subordinates like Pike, who had considerable strength.

As a Chimera Ant with feminine traits, Zazan harboured ambitions to become a queen.

That was why she placed such importance on her forces and developed her Nen ability—Queen Shot.

Using her scorpion tail, she could inject a liquid formed from her Aura into others.

Those injected would face only two outcomes.

One: they couldn’t withstand it and died instantly.

Two: they survived but mutated into monsters, gaining greater power while becoming loyal to Zazan.

This was her means of ascending to a queen status.

With this Nen ability, she could effortlessly create more and more subordinates.

"Since you killed Pike... then you’ll take his place!" Zazan eyes flashed fiercely as her scorpion tail lashed out toward Knov at blinding speed.

She thought the seemingly "frail" Knov would be the easiest to deal with.

Unfortunately, Knov had noticed Zazan tail from the start and was on guard.

When Zazan struck with her tail, Knov had already spread his hands, waiting for it.

Sure enough, as the unstoppable tail thrust between his hands, the front half of it vanished into thin air.

Sensing something wrong, Zazan hurriedly retracted her tail—but it was too late.

With a single thought from Knov, the Aura passage was closed and the severed half of Zazan tail fell into the Four-Dimensional Mansion.

Instantly, an excruciating pain radiated from her tail, spreading throughout her entire body.

Zazan frantically pulled back, but only half of her tail remained.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Zazan stared at her tail, her face contorting further as a wretched scream echoed through the area.

For Zazan, the psychological pain far outweighed the physical.

She prized her appearance above all else.

Even the slightest damage would drive her mad, let alone losing half her tail.

Now utterly unhinged, Zazan cast aside all caution and decided to unleash an ability she had sworn to keep hidden!

With a ruthless resolve, she severed the remaining half of her scorpion tail and her body began to swell rapidly.

"Crack, crack..."

Akira watched quietly as Zazan form and appearance underwent a frenzied transformation, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes.

Among the Chimera Ants, Zazan had been one of the most striking in appearance—even more so than Neferpitou, in Akira opinion.

Her beauty and figure were undoubtedly among the finest of all female characters in Hunter x Hunter.

But a beast was still a beast and her transformed appearance was nothing short of horrifying.

Her originally dark purple skin turned into a sickly green and her graceful figure transformed into a muscular, hulking form.

The contrast could be described as "beauty and the beast."

This was Zazan trump card, a newly developed ability.

Being particularly vain about her appearance, Zazan had sworn she would never use this ability in her lifetime.

Who would have thought that shortly after developing it—just as she was preparing to test her Nen ability on someone—she’d be forced to use it.

Facing the beast-like Zazan, Akira took a light step forward, signaling to the other three.

This Chimera Ant would be dealt with by him.

As a Squadron Leader, Zazan was already worthy of harvesting for experience points.

In an instant, a flash of white light erupted, followed by a dazzling array of multicolored beams!

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