Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The Dark Continent is the humanity's greatest taboo, and an area that cannot be easily touched. It is the world outside the known world map.

It was a place of mysterious otherworldly beings, unimaginable monsters, and unspeakable disasters.

It was said that the magical beasts found in the human world were once creatures that crossed the seas from the Dark Continent long ago.

Two hundred years ago, the United Nations of the Five Continents, V5, signed a treaty that prohibited the incursions into the Dark Continent. They even attempted to erase its presence from human consciousness.

To this day, it is basically difficult for the new generation to access information related to the Dark Continent.

"I know a little... why?" Biscuit's eyes gradually fell on the mural illuminated by the flashlight, and her brows were slightly frowned.

"These murals... might have something to do with the Dark Continent."

Law swept his flashlight across another section of the wall, and walked around.

He only vaguely recalled bits and pieces of information about the Dark Continent from the original work. At least, he knew that Nanika came from the Dark Continent.

Now, the eerie humanoid figures in the mural bore an uncanny resemblance to Nanika, especially their hollow, pitch-black eyes.

Therefore, Law didn't jump to conclusions and instead said 'might have'.

"So what?" Biscuit scoffed.

"That's right, you are only interested in gemstones."

Law chuckled and focused his attention on the next mural.

Every Hunter he'd encountered, whether it was Sanbica, Buhara, or Biscuit, are only focused on one field. Sanbica was only interested in viruses, Buhara was only interested in food, and Biscuit was only interested in precious gems.

However, Law's interests will not be limited to just one field.

The flashlight beam skimmed across various murals. Though partially damaged and faded, the general content was still decipherable.

The murals depicted all sorts of bizarre creatures, seemingly born from the wildest human imagination, looking fierce, grotesque, and extremely dangerous.

In these murals, humanity was portrayed as nothing more than insignificant prey, so one can feel the despair that the murals want to convey.

'Could this kind of place really be the tomb of the female city lord who left her name in history?'

"This place... doesn't seem like Stargie's tomb." Law suddenly turned around and looked at the door that Uncle Bill and the others entered.

Although all clues point to this being Stargie's tomb, seeing it with his own eyes is ultimately necessary.

"Not Stargie's tomb? Why not just go check it out and see for ourselves?" Biscuit's tone carried a hint of impatience. If Netero had not instructed her and she had not happened to meet Law here, she wouldn't have wasted her time staring at these murals.

"You're right. Who knows how far ahead they are by now."

Law nodded decisively, as if he didn't hear the impatience in Biscuit's tone, and walked towards the door. The sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the room.

Seeing this, Biscuit quickly followed. She didn't have a flashlight, so if she didn't follow Law closely, she'd be left stumbling in the dark.

After passing through the stone door, there is another corridor.

The rhythmic tap-tap of their footsteps was the only sound breaking the silence of the corridor.

After passing through the corridor and turning right, they were met with a distant glow of blue light.

From afar, it looked like someone in a cave suddenly saw the white light of the exit, except this glow was an ethereal shade of pale blue.

In the beam of the flashlight, Law and Biscuit looked at each other, then silently quickened their pace and went out towards the exit.

After walking briskly for about five minutes, the two arrived at the exit. What came into view was an immense hollowed-out cavern within the mountain, stretching into the distance.

The cavern walls were crisscrossed with thick, glowing blue tendrils, each as thick as a python, spreading like an intricate spiderweb.

Law and Biscuit were shocked. They could hardly imagine that there would be such a wonderful sight in the belly of the mountain.

Their foothold was no larger than an ordinary balcony. In front of them lay a steep downward staircase leading directly to a vast stone platform. Upon the platform, bathed in an eerie blue glow, stood the ruins of a small ancient city.

The glowing blue tendrils that covered the ceiling and mountain walls appeared to be an unknown type of plant. Upon closer inspection, one could see liquid flowing within the tendrils. The platform below was suspended in mid-air, surrounded by an abyss of unfathomable depth.

Law caught the distinct scent of vegetation in the air. As he tilted his head to listen, he could also faintly hear the soft sound of water flowing deep within the abyss below.

The texture of Gru Mountain is hard enough that it is difficult to imagine how much it would cost to create such a unique internal space in the belly of the mountain.

Even with modern convenient tools, such thing was unfathomable.

The glowing plants on the top provided enough illumination for the entire cavern, so Law silently turned off the flashlight.

With the help of the blue light, Law and Biscuit spotted Uncle Bill and the others gathered at the bottom of the staircase near the ruins. They stood in front of the ruins of the ancient city, motionless, as if they were shocked by the scene before them.

Also, there was a man lying on the ground, and it is unknown what had happened.

"This discovery alone could easily earn any Hunter a Single-Star ranking." Even though Biscuit has seen a lot of the world, she couldn't help but be dumbfounded when she saw the ruins of the ancient city on the suspended platform.

If this were merely the tomb of a historical figure, it wouldn't be anything extraordinary. But this... this was an ancient relic site.

When Law saw the ruins of the ancient city under the blue light, he only thought about how many items he could find inside that could enhance his strength.

This discovery also further confirmed his suspicion was not Stargie's tomb.

"Let's head down and regroup with them."

Law said as he descended the staircase.

Biscuit suppressed her amazement and followed Law silently.

The sound of the two people walking down the stairs immediately attracted the attention of Uncle Bill and the others below. One by one, they turned to look up at the steep staircase.

Soon, Law and Biscuit arrived before them.

Law glanced at the man lying on the ground. He was one of the weaker Nen users. His eyes were wide open, his mouth and clothes were covered in blood, and there was an obvious dent on his chest. He was undeniably dead.

Biscuit also took notice of the corpse. When she was above just now, she only saw the person lying on the ground and could not tell whether he was dead or alive.

"What happened?" A hint of vigilance flashed across Law's eyes. The way he died was obviously caused by a punch to the chest.

Uncle Bill took a deep breath and replied, "We don't know either."

"What do you mean?" Law frowned.

"Vincent suddenly went crazy and tried to kill us. We couldn't stop him, so we just killed him." Aya answered bluntly on Uncle Bill's behalf. Perhaps because it was done in self-defense, she spoke about the killing with unsettling calmness.

'So the corpse was called Vincent.'

"With his level of skill, it shouldn't have been too difficult to restrain him, right?" Law questioned, immediately sensing something off.

"That's the problem." Uncle Bill pointed to the most conspicuous and magnificent palace in front of him with a puzzled look in his eyes and said, "Before you arrived, we were planning to go into that palace. However, before we could get there, we were forced to retreat."

"And the one who drove us back... was Vincent himself."

'The number of people and disparity in power was obvious. How could a mere third-rate Nen User, who is not even a second-rate, force back several skilled second-rate Nen Users?'

'Was this the truth, or were they hiding something?'