058 (Vol 4) HxH: Tombbound Power

Ronnel hadn't forgotten where he was—the Dark Continent, a land of extreme danger where anything could happen at any moment.

Even with the sight of those three vibrant green leaves just ahead, he remained cautious.

He didn't move his main body. Instead, after confirming through En that nothing felt immediately threatening, he flicked his fingers, sending out a small clone toward the branch.

Under Ronnel's watchful eye, the clone moved without any unexpected interruptions.

It reached the branch, plucked the three leaves, and returned.

The branch didn't show any abnormal reaction while the leaves were being picked, but the moment the green leaves were gone, the entire branch began to recoil.

In a blink, it vanished into the surrounding mist.

And as it disappeared, the thick fog that had blanketed the area began to clear. Soon, the forest returned to its previous state.

Only a few signs remained—the damaged branch, the cloth tucked in Ronnel's spatial backpack, and the three green leaves now held in the clone's hand. Those were the only traces that anything had happened here.

Ronnel examined the leaves. Despite their ordinary green color, he could sense a strong, vibrant life force pulsing from them.

"I wonder how effective these really are..." he mused aloud.

He picked one leaf from the clone's hand and handed it back to him.

Using the clone as a guinea pig was the perfect choice.

If the leaf was poisonous or caused any abnormalities, he could simply sever the link. If it had a beneficial effect, then the clone could return—and Ronnel would gain the benefit.

Without hesitation, the clone popped the leaf into his mouth and chewed.

A warm, pulsing sensation bloomed on his tongue. Deep within his body, it felt like his very cells were cheering. The vitality in that little leaf was the real deal.

"Rejuvenating, energizing... definitely not bad," Ronnel muttered.

Still, that was it. It didn't offer anything more than a short-term recovery. Given that it came from a C-level disaster, he hadn't expected anything groundbreaking.

Still, it could be useful in a pinch.

He stored the remaining two leaves carefully.

...

Just then, a voice buzzed through the communicator in his ear.

"Ronnel-san, can you hear me?"

Victor.

"Yeah, I hear you. What's up?"

"Thank goodness! We've got a signal again," Victor said with obvious relief. "After you cut contact, we noticed strange activity in your area. We figured you were in the middle of something and didn't want to distract you."

"But then the feed froze altogether. No sound, no visuals. We were this close to sending a team out to look for you when the image finally came back."

"I'm fine," Ronnel replied calmly.

Back during the fruit battle, he'd cut the sound feed himself, and used his encyclopedia point to block the visual projection. Now that everything had calmed down, Victor's monitoring tools were picking up again.

"As long as you're okay. Meanwhile, you should know—leader Beyond, Pariston, and Ging-san's teams all got ambushed."

"Oh?" Ronnel perked up. "What happened?"

Looks like they'd run into trouble too.

"Fortunately, it wasn't anything too serious. Some vine-type monsters, carnivorous plants… I even saw flowers blooming on branches. First time I've ever seen that kind of thing."

From Victor's relaxed tone, Ronnel could tell the threats weren't major.

Victor went on, "It all happened suddenly, but Beyond and the others handled it just fine. Based on our evaluations, it was another C-level hazard. Nobody was hurt."

...

After a few more exchanges, Victor wisely ended the call.

Unlike Beyond and Pariston's footage, which had stayed uninterrupted, Ronnel's signal had gone completely dark during the fight. Victor and the others weren't stupid—they'd figured Ronnel had shut off the feed intentionally. Either he disliked being watched mid-battle or didn't want others seeing what he was doing.

They understood. Honestly, Ronnel was more reliable than Beyond. Stronger, too. And when someone's got that kind of strength, they get certain privileges.

The forest around him grew quiet again. Ronnel looked deeper into the woods.

...

"Time to move~"

The three green leaves and earlier fruit incident were just side notes in the larger journey. The real objective—reaching the swamp where Nitro Rice awaited—was still ahead.

His figure flickered and vanished into the dense trees.

The forest canopy was thick, with faded yellow leaves creating a ceiling overhead. As he moved deeper, the light dimmed even further, casting everything in shadow.

Beyond the strange fruits from earlier, Ronnel also encountered the vine monsters and carnivorous flowers Victor had mentioned.

One of them stood out.

It looked a lot like the purple, wide-mouthed flower from Plants vs. Zombies. What first caught Ronnel's attention was a faint glimmer—just a flicker of light in the gloom.

He followed it and found a small, strange flower glowing softly in the trunk of a deep purple tree.

When the clone approached, the harmless-looking flower suddenly flared wide—snapping into a white-purple maw that lunged at the clone.

Just as Victor said, the flower's danger rating was low—C-level at best. Beyond's group hadn't even been slowed down by them.

So the moment it attacked, the outcome was already decided.