Chapter 36: Fish That Use Nen × Automatic-Type Nen Beasts

In the long corridor, Borksen clung tightly to Dia's back, acting in a way that was entirely contrary to her usual demeanor, as if she were a shipwreck survivor clutching a piece of driftwood.

Just as Dia was wondering if she was getting this close to attempt a surprise attack, a ripple of disturbance made him instantly alert. He stopped abruptly, pulled Borksen behind him, and turned to hide in a corner shrouded in thick mist.

His Ripple Radar still showed nothing, but his Ripple intuition warned him that the enemy was lurking right there in the fog ahead. Dia thought for a moment, then pulled Misty from his hair and shoved it into Borksen's arms.

Borksen, coming into contact with this strange, soft creature for the first time, subconsciously squeezed it, causing it to emit a faint "Mist~" sound. As a materialized Nen beast, although Atmosphere Maker was still in its juvenile form, it was more than capable of protecting Borksen in a pinch.

Dia gestured for her to stay back, then, ignoring the woman and the cloud behind him, slowly poked his Stand out past the corner, his eyes locked on the dense fog ahead.

'It must be those floating monsters. I didn't get a chance to figure out what they were before. If there aren't many of them, this is the perfect opportunity to study them...'

The mist churned. A grotesque, massive fish head slowly emerged from the gloom.

'Is that... a catfish?'

Dia's eyes widened. The monster before him was, undeniably, a giant black catfish with a significantly more hideous appearance. Judging by the size of its head, its total length had to be at least five meters!

Fortunately, there was only one. Catfish were notorious for their tenacious vitality and prolific reproductive capabilities; the fact that they hadn't appeared in a swarm was actually surprising.

Dia steeled his breathing. His 9mm pistol was already silently aimed at the giant, vacant-looking pupils.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The thunderous report of the gun echoed through the hall. The monstrous fish reacted instantly, thrashing its body. It completely ignored the high-velocity bullets aimed at its eyes and lunged directly toward Dia!

The bullets sank into the creature's eyes without resistance, blasting out three massive craters and shattering its entire left eyeball. They traveled almost unobstructed toward the brain, finally wedging deep into the tough skull.

Yet, the monster acted as if it hadn't felt a thing. Its movement slowed by only a fraction of a second, but it remained relentless, diving straight for Dia's head.

Dia ducked and lunged forward, sliding beneath the fish to dodge the snapping jaws, then spun and fired again!

Bang! Bang!

Two more shots rang out, shattering both of the creature's pectoral fins. The fish finally displayed an obvious reaction. It writhed, emitting a bizarre hiss, then turned once more to lunge at Dia with suicidal desperation, though its speed was now significantly reduced.

Despite that, Dia felt no relief. At this close range, some things that had been unclear before were now perfectly obvious.

A thin layer of Nen was shimmering on the surface of the monster's skin!

Previously, it had been obscured by the fog, but at this distance, Dia could clearly see his Metal Silver Ripple Nen dissolving that aura.

'Its left eye was shattered by my shots, yet it was still able to track me perfectly when I moved to its rear-left. Why?'

Dia dodged the slowed bite with a nimble step, a question forming in his mind: 'And even after taking this much damage, it hasn't lost its mobility. Its brain is protected by that hardened skull.'

While Dia knew that destroying the body entirely would eventually do the trick, the ammunition consumption would be far too high. More importantly, he needed to understand the logic behind how this creature tracked its prey.

This Nen beast was undoubtedly an Automatic-Type. Such beasts always followed a set of rules.

Dia dodged another attack and began to recall his movements before the fish had initiated its strikes. 'Was it the gunfire? Did the sound attract it?'

He looked at the creature's smooth, featureless flanks and narrowed his eyes. It didn't even have ears. Could sound really be the attractor?

He shook his head internally. A new possibility flashed through his mind:

'Could it be... that? If that's the case, it wouldn't need ears.'

Dia leaped backward to create distance and pressed his palm against the wall. A subtle pulse of the Ripple flowed into the masonry.

"The World!"

The world faded to monochrome. Everything froze in the instant the time-stop activated. Dia decisively jumped back further.

Time resumed!

Clang!

A giant maw clamped down on the spot where Dia had been standing a moment before, the clash of teeth sounding like metal striking metal!

The fish snapped at empty air. Just as it began to lift its head to lunge again, a strange sight unfolded. For no apparent reason, the creature suddenly turned and slammed a powerful, heavy tail-whip against the wall beside it.

The tail struck the wall with a dull thud, leaving the stone unharmed. Having failed, the fish didn't give up; it strangely pivoted again and smashed itself headlong into the ceiling!

Dia, watching from a distance, looked on with cold eyes, his right hand still pressed against the wall. He had figured it out:

'Just as I thought... this thing has no sight or hearing. It detects enemies using...'

…

"Vibration! And the higher the frequency of the vibration, the higher the processing priority!"

Lakshya tossed out a delayed Nen blast. After leaving his hand, it slid for a distance before hitting the wall and detonating.

The blast didn't produce the expected thunderous roar; it was as if it had been absorbed by some sound-dampening material, exploding silently. Yet, the instant it detonated, several three-meter-long monsters swarmed over, frenziedly gnawing at the wall like wild dogs smelling carrion.

'The Nen blast didn't make a sound because of my Silent Snowfield ability, but I deliberately spoke to create noise.'

'The wall itself wasn't destroyed by the blast, but it produced a high-frequency vibration that couldn't be dampened.'

'So these Nen beasts didn't come for me; they went for the wall where the blast occurred!'

Synthesizing his observations, Lakshya had determined the tracking mechanism of these fish-type Nen beasts.

With that, he turned and gestured for the silent Maror to step into the radius of his ability. His Silent Snowfield could create a five-meter spherical zone of silence centered on his body, a technique originally intended for assassination. He hadn't expected it to have such a neutralizing effect on these monsters.

As everyone knew, sound traveled via the vibration of air. The principle behind Silent Snowfield was to use Nen to cancel out those very vibrations.

Lakshya tossed out another Nen blast from time to time, walking silently against the wall, careful not to let his footsteps land too heavily.

Around the two of them, the monster fish formed a long, single-file line, like people queuing for a public restroom in the middle of the night, and glided silently toward the depths of the third floor...