Oboro's figure shuttled between the massive tree roots, then flew upward, arriving instantly at the "face" of a tree man. His arm, burning with ghost fire, pierced into the trunk.
This single strike was enough to disperse and absorb the tree man's soul.
The tree man withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
On the other side, countless ghosts led by Meruem and other spirits launched a massive attack on the tree people.
The attack methods of the Ant King, cat woman, and others were very similar to Oboro's. They didn't need to drill into the creatures' bodies to devour the souls. Their pure external strikes could cause great damage to the tree men. Meanwhile, the smaller evil spirits continued their usual tactic, rushing into the creatures' bodies to share the soul fire within.
These tree people resembled the monsters from the desert before. Although their life energy was immense, their spiritual will was relatively weak. The fire of their souls didn't burn fiercely, let alone resist the attack of "soul erosion."
The problem was their sheer number. Dealing with so many was tremendously troublesome.
Furthermore, Menchi and her companions weren't as strong as Oboro, so he needed to fight quickly to prevent harm coming to the three of them.
Fortunately, as soon as the battle began, the spirits of Netero and Menthuthuyoupi floated before the three hunters, surrounded by black mist, attacking nearby tree people.
On the earth below, one towering tree after another withered.
Oboro flew back and forth between the giant trees while monitoring Menchi and the others. Although their strength had improved significantly, the tree roots powerful enough to smash through skyscrapers kept crashing down. Even with their improved speed, the three hunters struggled to avoid them.
There were simply too many, and the attack frequency was relentless.
Moreover, the area covered by the tree roots was so vast that they had nowhere safe to stand.
Menchi lay on a tree root as wide as a road. Using the sharp knife in her hand, she drove it into the branches, barely maintaining her position.
She spun wildly in the air along with the shaking tree root, in danger of being thrown off at any moment.
If she fell to the ground, the surrounding tree roots would crush her instantly.
She gripped the knife hilt tightly with both hands, unable to see where Gabwich and Anthony had gone. She fought with everything she had to avoid falling from the tree root, but she was already at her limit!
Everything happened incredibly fast.
But Oboro had only killed a dozen tree people.
"We can't continue like this. Although we could eventually destroy this sea of trees, I can't protect the three of them at the same time It's too dangerous."
After shattering another large tree's soul with a powerful punch, Oboro frowned.
Then, all the ghosts in the space, including the Ant King and other spirits, transformed into smoke. A black tide like a tsunami swept outward in all directions.
Oboro himself changed again. A figure as tall as the tree men rose from the sea of fog, holding a lantern hanging from a chain.
It was Thresh.
He suddenly grew so enormous that all the tree people shifted their attacks toward him.
The surging tree roots rushed through the black fog toward him like tumbling dragons.
"The Netherworld Prison!" Oboro commanded.
Instantly, within the area covered by the ghost fog, soul buildings resembling walls rose from the ground, trapping the tree people inside.
Immediately afterward, a faint green flame erupted from the black fog, spreading rapidly and turning into a sea of fire. Menchi and the other two hunters were wrapped and protected by the ghost fog.
The will-o'-wisp fire burned fiercely, and Thresh's Rig's Lantern swept through the prison, collecting souls wherever it passed.
After two or three minutes, the battlefield finally returned to calm.
The battle ended, and the black sea of fog dissipated
Oboro, who descended to the ground from mid-air, wore a solemn expression. Looking up at the sky, he noticed something peculiar before those tree people died, the treetops above their heads had trembled, as if releasing something.
Tiny, but definitely there
Against the backdrop of the light from the sky, Oboro's pupils constricted.
He saw the glint of scales reflected in the air.
"Tree powder?"
He stretched out his fingers and caught the falling particles.
This dust-like powder was not easy to detect.
The next second, an even more shocking scene unfolded.
As soon as his fingers touched the powder, the tree particles took root on the spot, ignoring the defense and protection of his Nen, and in an instant, a small sapling grew at his fingertips.
The tenacious and sharp roots pierced Oboro's skin, sucking away life energy, causing half of his finger to age and wrinkle in the blink of an eye, showing signs of atrophy!
Oboro's blood vessels suddenly constricted, and he pulled the sapling out of his finger.
Looking around, he saw the ground was already covered with small saplings. In the short time since the battle ended, they had grown to human size.
"No wonder this creature became an overlord What kind of reproductive medium is this? It's terrifyingly efficient"
Oboro realized these new saplings had almost no souls, with only the thinnest soul thread maintaining basic life. They grew recklessly, driven entirely by instinct.
The amount of pollen shed by a single large tree was incalculable. Even accounting for external factors, each one would produce thousands or even tens of thousands of saplings.
He observed tree pollen that had fallen on bare rocks even there, green saplings sprouted, though they grew more slowly.
This demonstrated that these creatures had virtually no requirements for a 'conception body' or their requirements were extremely minimal.
If your life energy was strong, this was not a good place to gain experience.
But these saplings were very weak and had basically no value.
It was just that due to some innate biological talent, they posed considerable danger.
Tree powder floated through the air, covering an unimaginable area. This was the devastating attack released by the tree men before they died.
All living things in the area, once contaminated by the tree pollen, would eventually become nutrients for the seedlings.
"Ah!"
At that moment, Oboro heard a scream.
He turned suddenly and saw Menchi swinging her knife, chopping off Anthony's bony arm without hesitation.
Seven or eight saplings had been growing on the man's arm.
If Anthony had hesitated even a moment longer, he would have been completely drained.
This kind of powder couldn't be hidden from or avoided.
Menchi had just severed one of Anthony's hands when small sprouts began growing on every part of her and Gabwich's bodies.
The three hunters looked desperate.
Would they need to cut away all the parasitized body parts? That would be tantamount to suicide.
"Fine."
At this critical moment, Oboro immediately flashed in front of the three.
He unleashed his Nen pressure.
Immediately, the small buds that had emerged on the three hunters and even those beginning to grow on Oboro's own body lost their vitality and fell away from their flesh.
Oboro's ability couldn't stop the tree people's talent for reproduction, but once the tree powder took root and sprouted, showing signs of "life" with soul lines appearing, he could kill them by erasing their souls.
The problem was that tree pollen continued falling from the sky in waves, and the number of saplings on the ground would only increase. Solving this problem would take time.
It was a matter of both quantity and area.
As for the red liquid they'd come to collect, there was likely no way to take it now, as it had mixed with the tree powder.
Given the saplings' terrifying growth ability, Oboro couldn't be sure the saplings wouldn't burst from his stomach if he ingested the contaminated liquid.
"Go," he decided.
After quickly assessing the situation, he gathered his teammates and retreated.