The screams reached them like a tear ripped open in the fabric of silence.
They were not distant enough to be ignored, nor chaotic enough to be mistaken for ordinary noise. They carried the unmistakable weight of human despair—the kind that surfaces only when survival becomes uncertain and reason collapses. Meruem halted abruptly. His gaze turned toward the winding road ahead, where a dark column of smoke slowly rose into the fading sky. Even without moving closer, he already knew. His Nen sensed agitation, fear, violence compressed into a single point.
Komugi tightened her grip on his sleeve.
"My king…" she whispered, her voice trembling.
He did not answer. His body had already decided.
They advanced swiftly, not running, yet without hesitation. As they approached, the scene revealed itself with brutal clarity: a merchant convoy ambushed on the road, carts overturned, crates shattered open, and men surrounded, their faces drained of color. The korgas, large pack beasts with thick hides and curved horns, stood frozen in place, muscles rigid, sensing danger they could neither fight nor flee from.
These were not ordinary bandits.
Meruem understood instantly.
Before he could speak, the air itself trembled.
A Nen arrow, silent and nearly invisible, shot out from the treeline. Its trajectory was perfect. Its target was Komugi. Meruem moved before thought could intervene. His body reacted on instinct older than reason. He stepped forward and deflected it with a single motion. The arrow struck a rock behind them and detonated, splitting it apart.
"Materialization…" he murmured.
This time, his anger did not hesitate.
He leapt.
The first attacker died without understanding what had happened. His head separated cleanly from his body, blood splashing across the dirt. The others recoiled in shock—but they did not scatter. They were Nen users. Trained. Dangerous.
"Formation!" one of them shouted.
The assault began in earnest.
Nen-reinforced stones, unstable and volatile, were hurled from multiple directions, exploding upon impact. Meruem weaved through them effortlessly, advancing, striking. Two heads fell almost simultaneously, torn away in the same fluid motion. Another attacker attempted to flank him from behind, only to be crushed before completing his move. A Enhancement-type user charged straight at Meruem, his aura raw and aggressive.
Two exchanges.
The third strike ended his life.
Meruem advanced like a controlled natural disaster. Each enemy possessed a different ability—shockwaves, partial terrain manipulation, compressed Nen projectiles. Some attacks grazed him, leaving superficial burns. Others struck with enough force to damage the ground beneath his feet.
None were enough.
One by one, they fell.
When silence returned, bodies littered the road.
The merchants could not move. Some still clutched weapons they had never used. Others hugged their cargo, meaningless now. Even the korgas had stopped breathing heavily, their wide eyes fixed on Meruem, as if recognizing something beyond comprehension.
Meruem turned.
Komugi was gone.
"Hey… over here…"
The voice came from behind the convoy.
"She's with me."
An unfamiliar man stood at a distance, gripping Komugi by the hair, a blade pressed against her throat. His Nen was unstable but sharp, like a jagged edge waiting to cut. He had curly hair, a scattered beard, and a gold tooth that glinted when he smiled.
"One more step and I kill her."
Something fractured inside Meruem.
His aura compressed violently, distorting the air around him. The faint humanity in his expression cracked, revealing something older, colder. Komugi struggled to breathe, her fingers trembling as they clutched her captor's wrist.
"Release her," Meruem said quietly, his voice void of emotion. "And we will kill you without pain."
The man burst into laughter.
"Oh wow, I'm terrified! Mommy, save me!"
He laughed louder.
"You know how long it took me to gather those guys? Useless trash, sure, but useful. I trained them, fed them, made them profitable. And you just destroyed my entire operation."
Meruem heard the echo of Netero's words, clear and unrelenting, as if spoken anew:
"You may be powerful, Meruem… but humans are far more vile than you could ever be."
He inhaled slowly.
And, impossibly, he calmed himself.
"…Very well," he said. "We accept."
The man blinked, stunned.
Slowly, cautiously, he began to retreat, keeping Komugi in front of him.
One step.
Another.
Then Meruem vanished.
He reappeared directly behind him, close enough for the man to feel his presence. Terror flooded him instantly. His heart failed before his mind could process what was happening.
"Die."
The narrator might say he was decapitated.
But the truth was simpler.
He was already dead, killed by the absolute certainty of his own end.
Komugi collapsed, sobbing.
"I'm sorry… I cause you so much trouble…"
Meruem knelt awkwardly beside her, unsure how to touch her without causing fear.
"It's over," he murmured.
At that moment, a man approached hesitantly.
"I—I'm one of the merchants," he said. "My name is Edrin."
Meruem rose slowly.
"Do you wish to die as well?"
Cold sweat ran down Edrin's spine.
"N-no! I only wanted to ask… if we could travel together. Toward the port."
Meruem studied the convoy. The fear. The calculation behind human eyes.
"…Fine."
Night fell as they resumed their journey.
Meruem leapt onto one of the carts, sitting cross-legged. Komugi sat beside him, her hands folded on her knees like she did when playing gungi. He watched the merchants closely—their whispers, their half-hidden intentions.
Could he truly coexist with them?
They were humans.
And humans, he knew too well, were capable of anything.
The road stretched ahead, dark and uncertain, filled with creatures and beings whose intentions could never be trusted.
Meruem felt it deeply.
This journey was no longer just a passage.
It was the beginning of a turning point.