Hunter: I'm Really Not a Nen Exorcist - Chapter 26

skin, like the bark of a withered tree, revealed a skeletal frame beneath.

This was the condition of Erisel’s body, reminiscent of someone who’s suffering from anorexia.

However—

A striking feature about Erisel was his mouth. When tightly closed, it spanned almost the entirety of his face.

Now,

Driven by the use of Nen, the size of Erisel’s mouth started to gradually shrink.

“The Appetite of the Anorexic”

This was Erisel’s Exorcist ability.

He had to ‘consume’ in order to transfer the Nen that needed to be exorcised from the subject onto himself.

During this process, the amount consumed with each bite was fixed, which was why his mouth shrank.

Moreover—

The process of consuming Nen was torturous for him, akin to a severe anorexic eating food. Every bite was agonizing.

And after consuming the Nen, he had to deal with the problem of ‘digestion’.

If he couldn’t completely digest the consumed Nen, the threat posed by that Nen would be directly transferred onto him.

This is the essence of exorcism.

It’s risky and a challenging process.

This is why there are so few exorcists, not only due to the talent required but also the difficulties of the job.

Given the choice, would one rather be a powerful combat Nen user or a more supportive exorcist?

Most would probably lean towards the former.

After a short time,

The flow of Nen around Erisel ceased, and his once enormous mouth had shrunk to the size of a ping pong ball.

Observing this transformation, Moyu, Hawk, and Cheadle showed varied expressions.

Erisel slowly turned to look at Hawk, not uttering a word, his eyes conveying his thoughts.

Hawk seemed to understand and, without saying anything, walked to the edge of the pond, under everyone’s watchful eyes.

Seeing Hawk approach the pond, Moyu’s pupils slightly narrowed.

Having heard Cheadle’s account earlier, he subtly touched Hawk, but did not detect any presence of Post-mortem Nen.

He had found it odd, but now it seemed—

Hawk must have used some method to store the price harbored within him, along with the ‘Relic of the Dead’, at the bottom of the pond.

Facing the watchful eyes of the others, Hawk subconsciously clenched his fists.

Life or death, it all depended on this moment.

He took a deep breath and activated his ability, summoning ‘Rat Jewel’ from its sealed place.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind arose, ripples spreading across the pond’s surface.

Mid-air, a small dot glowing with the sheen of Nen appeared.

Everyone immediately turned to look at this dot, which rapidly expanded to the size of a grinding wheel. It looked like an abyssal round portal.

And in the center of this portal floated a sign gleaming with a green light.

“That’s Hawk’s Nen beast ability…” Moyu observed the black portal floating with the sign.

The Nen beast system is arguably the most complex and difficult type of Nen ability to master.

One must first manifest Aura as a base, conjuring various forms of ‘pseudo-living entities’, and then endow these entities with abilities.

Hawk’s Nen beast leaned towards spatial abilities.

This reminded Moyu of Knov’s ‘Hide and Seek’ ability from the original series.

“Rat Jewel.”

Hawk shouted towards the portal.

The sign within the pitch-black portal suddenly shone bright green.

Soon after, a round figure emerged from the glow, Hawk’s Nen beast, Rat Jewel.

It jumped out of the portal and landed beside Hawk.

Hawk squatted down, patting Rat Jewel’s head, then looked at its tail where there was an expression made of Aura.

Half a month ago, it displayed an angry face. Now, it bore a spiritless expression.

“Rat Jewel, release it… Huh?”

Just as Hawk was about to command Rat Jewel to release the ‘Power of Price’, a massive surge of Nen emanated from the dark portal hovering above the pond.

Shadowy tendrils of Nen squeezed out of the portal, writhing and clawing like menacing vines.

Upon closer inspection, deep within this mass of flowing Nen, one could discern a tilted scale.

Terrifying malevolence poured incessantly from this scale.

The oppressive atmosphere seemed to manifest as thick black threads, raining down like a heavy storm on everyone present.

Moyu and Cheadle’s expressions changed drastically, both simultaneously releasing their Nen to shield themselves.

Erisel, who was already prepared for the exorcism, could only stare with wide eyes at the Post-mortem Nen trying to force itself out of the portal. His withered face revealed an uncontrollable terror.

“Rat Jewel!!!”

Hawk abruptly stood up, his eyes trembling.

Rat Jewel, standing beside him, sharply turned its gaze towards the dark portal floating in mid-air.

The previously green sign within suddenly turned red.

“Access Denied”

The black Nen, which seemed ready to flood out like a deluge, was suddenly drawn back into the depths of the portal by an irresistible force.

The overpowering aura in the area vanished abruptly.

“Chirp!”

Rat Jewel squeaked, and the floating dark portal vanished into thin air.

After closing the portal, Rat Jewel sat on the ground, its tail expression looking even more drained and weak.

“The aura… it’s different from before. Could it be… an evolving type?!”

Cheadle’s forehead was dripping with sweat, clearly shaken by the force of the Post-mortem Nen she had just experienced.

As a Nen user, she has, at least, the power to resist.

But her concern was for the threat this Post-mortem Nen posed to ordinary people.

If this Nen was allowed to spread unchecked…

Perhaps—

Ordinary people without the knowledge of Nen might wilt and crumble to dust under its oppressive field, just like withered leaves.

This was now a calamity-level entity!

Moyu was equally baffled.

Compared to the grudge he encountered that night, this was in a completely different league!

It could be said that the resentment he witnessed that night was just a small fraction.

Can the exorcism ability bestowed by ‘The Observer’ truly unconditionally exorcise this Post-mortem Nen?

After personally experiencing the oppressive aura conjured by this relic, Moyu began to doubt.

He couldn’t even be certain of what would happen upon directly touching that Nen.

“With that level of Post-mortem Nen… I can’t possibly consume it, and even if I could, I definitely can’t digest it!!!”

Erisel’s gaunt face now displayed a wealth of emotion, largely that of terror.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Hawk spoke.

“Mr. Erisel, you’ve targeted the wrong ‘entity’.”

He then pointed at Rat Jewel’s spherical expression made of Aura and solemnly said, “That is the actual subject of your exorcism.”

“Huh?!”

Erisel’s expression froze.

In the distance, on a mountain road.

Several cars sped along.

“Hmm?”

Inside one of the cars, Ken, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly looked in the direction of the temple. His slender eyes narrowed slightly.

“This is serious, truly serious…”