059 (Vol 4) HxH: Tombbound Power

"Does it improve eyesight or something?"

Ronnel examined the trophy in his palm—a delicate, snow-white blossom—and thought his vision did feel a little clearer.

Still, in this dim environment, a bright object like that could easily draw the wrong kind of attention.

After admiring it for a moment, he tucked the flower into his space backpack, then turned his gaze—smirking slightly—toward a certain spot in the distance.

There, the remains of a carnivorous flower lay motionless on the ground, its body torn and its juices seeping into the earth. But Ronnel wasn't looking at the flower. His attention was focused on a tree behind it—or more accurately, on the creature hiding behind the tree.

A short, squat thing wrapped entirely in vines, with the number 863 etched into its leafy coils, shuddered visibly under Ronnel's gaze.

It glanced at the defeated carnivorous flower, seemed to realize its original plan was a bust, and immediately bolted. No hesitation. It spun around, took off running on stubby legs, and didn't look back once.

Originally, it must have thought it could swoop in after the fight like a vulture.

"Vine monster?" Ronnel gave the fleeing creature one last glance, then dismissed it. "Not bad speed~"

Only its limbs and round eyes were visible through the writhing vine mass—it looked like something straight out of Pokémon. Still, Ronnel knew from experience that the vines were their only valuable part. Not worth chasing.

That one had only been a C-level threat. If it were B-level or higher, maybe Ronnel would've cared.

But it told him something important—these "disasters" weren't strictly unique. They could repeat.

He'd just encountered the same carnivorous flowers and vine creatures that Beyond and his group had run into earlier. That meant Beyond and company might run into the bizarre fruit monsters he himself had seen...

...

The rest of the journey passed without incident.

It was as if the forest itself had decided not to mess with Ronnel and Beyond's squad. Neither his team nor the others ran into trouble.

Strolling along casually, Ronnel eventually used his enhanced vision to spot the edge of the sea of trees ahead.

The moment he stepped out of the dense canopy, the air shifted—lighter, less oppressive. Without the thick layers of branches overhead, his eyes, long adjusted to darkness, could now fully take in the scene.

Victor's voice buzzed in his ear. Beyond's team was close behind; they'd be exiting the forest shortly.

Three teams, zero injuries. That was something.

Ahead of them stretched a vast prairie of vibrant grass, each blade at least seventy to eighty centimeters tall—some even taller.

And beyond that, just barely visible with his super vision, was a black-and-yellow swamp. In its center, a flicker of faint light blinked out of sight.

"That must be where Nitro Rice is..."

The moment Ronnel had the thought, he locked onto the target.

But he didn't move right away. His eyes drifted to the sparse, scattered trees near the edge of the swamp. They were stunted and short—nothing like the towering sea of trees they'd just passed through.

Strange.

Could the Nitro Rice in the swamp's center be absorbing most of the nutrients from the soil? That might explain the weak growth nearby. Still, something felt off.

If things played out like he suspected, Hellbell—the two-tailed snake—would be lurking in those trees.

Then again, it could also be hidden somewhere in the tall grass before him.

The prairie was eerily silent. Just like the forest had been.

Too quiet.

Ronnel wasn't about to act recklessly.

This time, instead of using a clone, he reached into his space backpack and pulled out a human puppet.

He hadn't used this ability much lately—his [Beelzebub] and [Body Structural Reorganization] abilities were more flexible for creating clones—but this was a good situation for it.

Hellbell was infamous for amplifying murderous intent in any living creature. But puppets? Immune.

Ronnel planned to send a puppet forward to trigger Hellbell while a clone shadowed it, ready to adapt.

Hellbell had an overall threat level of A. The V6 had even labeled it one of the most dangerous known creatures. That danger likely didn't stem from its bell alone.

If the Chimera Ant King was ranked A despite sheer combat ability, Hellbell's ranking had to be for its special abilities.

Creatures like this demanded patience and precision.

If the puppet could soak up the worst of the bell's effects, all the better.

Even if the clone got caught in it, Ronnel could use encyclopedia points to cancel the status effects. But if he could save those points by using a puppet instead?

Much more efficient.

Decision made, Ronnel cut off contact with Victor and the others, ignoring their concerned expressions on the monitor.

He pulled out one of his finest puppets—modeled after Chairman Netero.

To face a creature like Hellbell, only someone like Netero... or Jed could really match it.

Besides, Netero had supposedly eaten Nitro Rice in the past, meaning he'd likely been here and fought Hellbell before. That made him the perfect choice for this role.

Unfortunately, the [Psychometry] ability couldn't extract any memories from the puppet version of Netero.