057 (Vol 4) HxH: Tombbound Power

'Sorrow' corroded like acid. 'Anger' exploded like nitroglycerin.

So then—'joy' and 'sorrow' must be different attack types too.

Ronnel made the deduction while staying alert. He stepped back cautiously, widening the distance between himself and the rolling fruits.

He quickly noticed something—their mobility and speed had dropped sharply after triggering the corrosive and explosive effects.

"Not bad power, but manageable. Judging by this, their overall danger level shouldn't be too high."

The "danger level" referred to the V5's standard system for assessing threats across the Six Continents.

Take chimera ants for example—they were classified into basic insects and subhuman types. The subhuman ones, as intelligent as division leaders, raised the rating of any nest with humanoid behavior to a B-level threat.

That was for the whole colony. The king himself—Meruem—wasn't even on that chart. If he were listed alone, his level would be A at the very least.

Incidentally, the comprehensive danger level of human nations typically ranged from B+ to A-, assuming they were major powers like those in the V5.

Ronnel's current target was the "The Twin-Tailed Snake, Hellbell, which had been spotted near Nitro Rice. It was ranked A-class—a top-tier predator even among the monsters catalogued on the Dark Continent.

Even though chimera ants ranked below that at B-level, their prolific breeding and numbers made them far more ecologically destructive overall.

In contrast, these so-called "expression fruits" seemed to cap out at around C-level.

If they were any more dangerous, the human military teams surveying Nitro Rice would've never made it into the swamp.

Still, Ronnel kept his guard up. These evaluations were based only on what he'd seen so far. If the fruits had more surprises up their sleeves, their rating could easily jump.

"Now for 'joy' and 'sorrow'…"

He took aim at the two remaining fruits and fired.

Whoosh!

Both shots hit their marks cleanly. The fruit marked with a happy face burst first—its pulp and juice shot outward, froze midair for a beat, then all at once came flying back at him, like a dozen bullets screaming out of their barrels.

Ronnel could tell each droplet had hardened mid-flight—sharp like steel needles.

"A hidden weapon effect?"

He didn't flinch. Just shifted slightly and let the barrage sail past, dodging everything effortlessly.

The sad-faced fruit landed next. It burst against a tree trunk, and as its sap spread, Ronnel saw the bark begin to shrivel and dry—rapid dehydration in real time.

In under two seconds, the moist, healthy bark withered into something yellowed and lifeless.

"Liquid absorption? If that got on skin, it'd drain a person's water and blood dry."

At last, Ronnel grasped the unique dangers of all four fruits. And once you understood your opponent, they were that much easier to neutralize.

Whoosh—!

A square of cloth appeared in his hand: the Fun Fun Cloth, the same Nen he'd obtained from the Owl of the Shadow Beasts. It was ideal for this kind of strange enemy.

The cloth fluttered, then wrapped itself tightly around the rest of the oncoming fruits.

Before they could even react, the cloth shrank and bundled them into a neat little pouch.

"Perfect for dealing with unknown beasts. I can just toss these out as bait or a trap."

Ronnel stored the cloth with a satisfied smile, then turned toward the bizarre tree in front of him—the source of all those fruits.

Without its twenty-something purple-red offspring, the branches looked bare. But at the tips, something was taking shape.

Three new green leaves were rapidly forming—vibrant, lush, and full of life.

"So danger really does come with opportunity…"

A flicker of insight crossed his eyes.

He'd known for a long time—from studying humanity's records on the Dark Continent—that each of the five Great Calamities also came paired with one of the Five Great Hopes.

Disasters and miracles… two sides of the same coin.

If you wanted the miracle, you had to face the disaster first. Hope came only after you endured.

In other words:

"No reward without risk."

The leaves' slow unfurling only confirmed it for him.

Truths existed even here, on the most dangerous continent in the world. They simply took unfamiliar forms.

After reflecting a bit, Ronnel had come to divide the hopes of the Dark Continent into two categories.

First: standalone miracles these had inherent power, but were guarded by separate, deadly threats.

Like Hellbell—it lurked near Nitro Rice, guarding nothing in particular, but dangerous all the same. In that kind of situation, the hope and the threat were unrelated.

The second kind, though… were like this strange tree.

Here, the danger and the hope were part of the same being.

Defeat the expression fruits, and you earn the life-giving leaves.

It was as if the tree were saying:

"Prove your strength—then you may take my treasure."

Even most of the terrifying, oversized beasts on the Dark Continent could fall into this second category. Kill them, and you might discover their meat or organs had incredible effects.

Ronnel understood that principle well.

Not that he believed in it blindly.

He wouldn't take everything at face value—not in a place like this.