"This person…"
Menchi stared at the wounded man's face.
The man stirred, groaning faintly as consciousness returned.
"Kojiro?"
"The Fallen… we've found the Fallen…"
"West side…"
"West…"
"Hurry!"
Kojiro's pupils shrank as he heard the voice.
Menchi glanced at Kojiro.
"You know him?"
"Yeah. I met him once—back when I was still a rookie Food Hunter."
Without hesitating, Menchi turned to her companion.
"Buhara, head west!"
"Got it."
Buhara pivoted and sprinted off at top speed.
Meanwhile, Menchi whipped out her phone and fired off a message. In her other hand, she tightened her grip on the cursed silver coin.
"They're getting closer…"
"I can feel it already."
"The Fallen's aura is… leaving?"
"No… it stopped again."
Menchi frowned, tense.
...
Finally, a pitch-black stretch of ocean came into view.
Kaizen looked out over the water.
The sea was inky and thick, like someone had poured black paint across it. A foul stench hung in the air.
Ordinary fish wouldn't dare enter that water.
But there were creatures beneath the surface—creatures clearly not fish. Their shapes were grotesque, their auras unnatural. A rotten, decaying presence clung to them.
A lone figure stood on the surface of the water.
Kaizen wasn't the only one observing. Several other Gourmet Paradise teams had arrived from different directions, also drawn to the figure.
From behind, the figure looked like a young man.
But as he turned around to face them—clearly aware of their presence—Kaizen's eyes widened.
Half his body looked like a youthful human.
The other half resembled something out of a nightmare—not an old man, but a dried-up mummy. No flesh. Just skin wrapped around bone.
The contrast between the two halves was jarring—horrifying.
From the youthful side, Kaizen could sense a powerful Nen aura.
But from the mummified side came an overwhelming aura of death.
Both auras existed independently… and both were A-class.
Even among A-class Nen users, this presence was exceptional.
"Even Hisoka's aura doesn't feel this heavy."
"I wonder how he'd stack up against Oster…"
Kaizen's expression hardened.
Three teams in total had surrounded the suspected Fallen.
Of them, Kaizen was the only A-level Nen user in his group.
The other team had just one A-level. Menchi, Buhara, and Kojiro were all B-class.
Facing an opponent like this… was not going to be easy.
...
"That's him!" Menchi said sharply. "The Fallen!"
"That face—it matches the photo Linne-sama showed me exactly!"
The other two teams visibly relaxed when they saw Menchi's squad arrive.
The pressure from the Fallen was crushing.
...
"How did you find me?"
The Fallen turned toward Menchi, his voice eerily calm.
"Can anyone answer that for me?"
Despite being surrounded, he didn't seem the least bit panicked.
Clearly, he didn't consider any of them a threat.
No one answered.
Menchi exchanged a look with the other captains.
Then she raised the cursed silver coin in her hand.
She channeled a huge surge of aura into it.
White light burst from the coin and shot into the sky.
The other captains did the same.
Three beams of white light lit up the sea like spotlights.
The Fallen squinted.
"Linne's aura…"
"I see now."
"You reversed the contract… used the cursed silver coin against me?"
"No wonder you were able to track me down."
His expression twisted into a sneer.
"But Linne… was it worth it?"
"Did you sacrifice everything just to try and kill me?"
His voice darkened, full of fury barely held back.
"Do you really think you can stop me?"
"I was stronger than you—back then."
"If not for that one encounter, I never would've fallen behind you."
"But now…"
"I've found a new path."
"Soon, I'll be back in S-Class."
"And when I return… I'll settle every score."
"Starting with the trash you sent after me."
He let out a cold snort.
...
Suddenly, the ocean surface began to roil and churn like it was boiling.
The creatures beneath started to move.
Splash!
A figure burst from the water.
Kaizen finally got a good look.
It wasn't a fish.
It wasn't human.
It was both.
A grotesque fusion.
And worse—Kaizen recognized a face.
One of the Gourmet Hunters who had gathered in the square, hired to search for the Sardines of Love.
So that's what happened to them…
Some had been turned into these... monsters.
The others were probably the ones who'd scattered the cursed silver coins.
A curse that spread like a plague.
Worse still, the contract written into each coin fed power back to the Fallen.
The more people cursed, the stronger he became.
...
One of the mer-creatures launched itself toward the group.
Sally raised her sniper rifle.
She fired.
The bullet struck the monster mid-air—right on target.
Boom!
But it barely left a mark. Just a smear of white across its tough skin.
Sally's eyes widened.
She hadn't expected that.
Their aura wasn't especially threatening—but that defense...
The monster turned its glare on her.
It twisted mid-air, changing course, and dove straight for Sally.
But just as it reached the boat—
A massive palm slammed into it.
Boom!
Buhara had intercepted it mid-flight and swatted it away like a bug.
...
Kaizen took out the Hexflare Bomb.
A crackle of thunder danced in his hand.
...
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (1047 chapters in total)