Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The faint roar was so subtle that it was difficult to catch without careful listening, but everyone at the top of the staircase heard it.

An unknown roar came from nowhere and was so faint that it must be very far away.

The Stargie's tomb has a history of more than 600 years. So, how did the grotesque venomous insects they encountered earlier survive for so long? And now, what was the source of this eerie roar?

Then, there are also the skeletons in the corridor, and now, the skeletons lying on the stairs...

When Law heard the roar, he inexplicably thought of the monster under the Golden Lake, whose true form remained unseen.

'There are still many unknown things in this world, which are beyond the known information and current cognition of human beings.'

Beyond the reach of their flashlights, the pitch-black darkness concealed untold horrors. If they continued their journey deeper, perhaps they would unravel the secrets hidden in the shadows.

No one spoke about the faint roar. Regardless of what it was, they had to go down the stairs and go deep into the tomb to find the legendary treasure.

Tap… tap…

As they descended, the sound of their footsteps echoed in the eerie silence.

The thick soles of their shoes pressed against the stone steps, kicking up layers of dust and sending out imperceptible sound waves in all directions.

The skeleton lying nearby was shattered into pieces by the almost insignificant sound waves...

Law and Biscuit walked at the rear of the group. Neither of them had gas masks, so the flying bone dust was clearly a nuisance. After all, no one wanted to have ashes flying in their faces.

God Hand!

Law activated his Nen Ability and blocked the floating ashes in front of him.

'Mr. Muscle...!'

When Biscuit saw Law's Nen Ability, a gleam of light flashed in her burgundy eyes, and she quickly came to Law's side to seek protection.

Seeing Biscuit's actions, Law didn't react much. He let her lean against him and at the same time, he expanded the range a little to make it easier for Biscuit to stay clear of the dust.

The bone dust drifting from the front was effortlessly swept aside by Law's Nen Ability, pushed to both sides before settling behind them.

The stone staircase descended steeply, twisting and turning sharply in the opposite direction every few flights. After navigating about seven turns, they finally reached the bottom, arriving at another vast stone room with an open doorway leading deeper into the tomb.

The flashlights illuminated the dark passageway ahead, but the light failed to reach its end. From the open exit, faint breezes drifted in.

This room was noticeably different from the corridors, staircases, and previous stone rooms. The walls here were polished smooth, whereas the earlier ones had been roughly hewn from stone blocks with minimal processing.

This stark contrast hinted at something significant.

There is a lot of information left over from ancient times on the walls of this room, not in the form of reliefs, but in the form of murals.

The moment Law entered the room, he noticed the murals on the wall and immediately went over to observe them. The others obviously had no interest in these murals and immediately walked towards the dark exit.

Biscuit chose to stay behind with Law rather than follow the main group.

As the others approached the exit, they noticed that Law and Biscuit were not following them.

"Law, Biscuit, keep up." Uncle Bill stopped and looked back at the two people standing in front of the stone wall.

"You guys go ahead."

Law replied without looking away from the murals.

The murals on the stone wall seem to have the same origin as the carvings on the stone gate at the entrance. The two-headed bird that had been carved on the stone door was also prominently featured in the mural here.

'This is not the Stargie's tomb…'

The thought struck Law the moment he laid eyes on the murals.

Hearing Law's words, Uncle Bill furrowed his brows slightly. To be honest, if he didn't potentially need Law's Nen Exorcism Ability later, he wouldn't have hesitated. And he would have stepped through the door without looking back.

"Let's go first."

After a pause, Uncle Bill made his decision. He realized that Law seemed more interested in the murals and didn't want to waste time waiting for him, so he decided to leave first.

If they encounter obstacles protected by Post-Mortem Nen again, they could always come back to find Law.

The four Nen Users of average skill had already deferred to Uncle Bill's leadership. Seeing Uncle Bill had already stepped through the door, they followed him without saying a word. Luby and Aya, being on the same side as Uncle Bill, naturally followed suit.

Atomu fell at the back of the crowd. He looked back at Law and Biscuit, then a flicker of coldness flashed in his eyes before he quickly followed the group.

Biscuit did not notice the ambiguous look in Atomu's eyes, as her attention was focused entirely on Law. Otherwise, given her perceptiveness, she should have been able to detect Atomu's cold look.

It seems to be a feeling of dissatisfaction caused by growing irritation.

The group of eight people walked into the pitch-black doorway, not knowing where it led to.

Only Law and Biscuit were left in the room. The silence was deafening, and the flashlight beams, far less practical than torches, barely illuminated their surroundings.

Law obviously realized this. While he could create a torch with his Nen Ability on the spot, Biscuit was beside him. So after thinking about it, he decided not to show too much of his Nen Ability and just make do with the flashlight.

"Are you really here to look for treasure?" Biscuit couldn't help but ask as she watched Law slowly walking around the wall.

"Of course." Law replied without looking back.

"You seem more like an archaeologist to me." Biscuit said.

"I just have a keen interest in the unknown. Aren't you curious too?"

Biscuit crossed her arms and said seriously, "I'm only interested in gemstones."

"Then why didn't you follow the others? If this really is Stargie's tomb, the gem called Stargie's Tear is likely to be in the sarcophagus."

Law casually responded while moving toward the side of the room.

Suddenly, his arm froze, and the flashlight's beam locked onto a particular section of the mural, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

After using a flashlight to randomly scan the surrounding walls, Law finds that the murals on the walls do not contain much content. However, they are large enough and most of them are in a semi-damaged state.

Just a moment ago, Law saw the two-headed bird in the mural, flapping its wings and flying in the air, with its five claws like sharp hooks, grabbing a giant dragon that was more than ten times larger than it.

The giant dragon had a bloated body and looked similar to a Western dragon.

After passing that depiction, Law found something even more intriguing, so he stopped and observed it.

On the mural, there is a group of naked humanoid figures, differing in height but identical in body structure. They stood in random formation, with nothing else drawn around them, only an empty, desolate backdrop.

"Nanika? No...."

The humanoids in the mural had skeletal limbs as thin as bamboo sticks, yet their torsos were plump and fleshy. Their necks were short, their heads are disproportionately large, and their faces are devoid of eyebrows. Their noses were reduced to mere holes, and their mouths, which slightly parted, revealed rows of jagged teeth.

It wasn't their grotesque appearance that caught Law's attention, it was their hollow, pitch-black eyes.

Upon seeing those eyes, Law immediately thought of Nanika from the Zoldyck Family, but the ugly figure and appearance made him reject the idea.

'This place...is definitely not Stargie's tomb. It's an ancient ruin from an even older era!'

After seeing the murals in the room, Law came to a more certain conclusion.

'Then, what was the basis for Uncle Bill and the others to determine that this was Stargie's tomb? And what about Verdin's self-narrative letter? And there were also the pair of gems.'

"Nanika? What do you mean?" Biscuit was about to respond to Law's earlier comment, but his muttered words caught her attention.

Instead of answering, Law asked her a question instead: "Biscuit, do you know about the Dark Continent?"

When Biscuit heard what Law said, her expression changed.

'This kid... actually knows about the Dark Continent?'