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“Captain?”

“Big brother?”

Ron didn’t respond. He simply looked in the direction the Black Beast had fallen.

A moment later, an extremely strange aura erupted from the creature’s body. It didn’t feel like Nen, nor any natural life energy. It was corrosive—unstable, like something foreign had latched onto its existence and begun to twist it from the inside out.

At the same time, its form began to undergo drastic changes—it was as if it had fallen into complete madness.

The body swelled rapidly, muscle fibers tearing and reforming in real time. Veins darkened to black, bulging against the skin like over-pressurized cables.

Across its torso and limbs, lumps grew in clusters, pulsing with sickly yellow-green fluid. Some of them burst with soft wet pops, releasing threads of sticky mist that hissed as they touched the ground.

Its face twisted grotesquely. The mouth split wider than before, stretching past the limit of bone structure, revealing jagged teeth that hadn’t been there moments ago. One of its eyes had been pushed upward by the swelling skull, leaving the other sagging and yellowed, rolling aimlessly in its socket.

The joints bent the wrong way.

Its movements became erratic.

Flesh sloughed off in strips as new growths replaced it—spines, feelers, chitinous segments that didn’t belong to any known species.

“Contamination.”

That was the first word that came to Ron’s mind.

At this point, the creature was no longer a Black Beast.

It had become a contaminated entity—stronger, yes, but completely devoid of reason.

And more than that, it was extremely unstable.

The aura leaking from its body carried an infectious weight, distorting the surrounding air. Even just being near it felt wrong. Trees nearby had begun to rot. Grass shriveled into grey husks. The forest itself recoiled.

Ron could already sense it. If Misty were struck, if even a scratch landed, contamination would take root in her too.

Misty and the others immediately tensed.

Ron glanced at them. “The battle from this point forward is beyond what you three can handle.”

With that, Ron summoned one of his Nen beasts. A figure appeared beside him.

It was Wither—the fusion of Killer Queen and Neferpitou. She possessed immense aura capacity, overwhelming strength, and speed, along with the full arsenal of Killer Queen’s powers.

“Wither, kill it.”

With a flicker, Wither vanished. When she reappeared, she was already in front of the contaminated beast.

Boom!

She launched a punch.

“First Bomb.”

The force of obliteration exploded across the creature’s body. Where Wither’s fist struck, a crater formed—the flesh and bone underneath completely annihilated.

For a normal lifeform, this would have been a devastating blow.

But the Black Beast, now contaminated, seemed unfazed.

In the next instant, the wound regenerated. Its flesh multiplied visibly.

A piercing screech rang out.

Ron could sense that the contamination clinging to the creature would affect anything it touched. If Wither were struck directly, she would likely be infected as well.

Fortunately, she was much faster than the creature.

A pebble appeared in Wither’s hand.

Whoosh!

With a snap of her wrist, the pebble was driven into the beast’s body.

“First Bomb.”

The obliteration detonated from inside. This time, the damage was more pronounced—the creature paused.

Wither seized the opportunity.

More pebbles flew toward the Black Beast.

If it had still been Killer Queen alone, it wouldn’t have had enough aura to sustain this level of assault. But Wither, with her enhanced capacity, had no such limitation.

Now, the beast’s regeneration couldn’t keep up. Its entire body was steadily reduced to nothing—erased cell by cell.

Once the job was done, Ron made a motion with his hand. Wither returned to Sumas’s space.

“Captain, what was that thing just now?”

“I call it contamination,” Ron said. “It’s an extremely dangerous phenomenon on the Dark Continent. Once infected, a creature transforms into a mindless monster. Worse than death.”

“That’s why we must be cautious. And enemies that are already contaminated become much stronger. It’s best not to let them infect others—otherwise, both sides could be destroyed in the process.”

The group pressed onward.

Though they encountered many threats along the way, they didn’t face another contaminated entity.

With Misty and Machi’s strength, they could handle everything else. Ron did not need to intervene again.

Eventually, a forest came into view.

“It’s just ahead,” Ron said, gazing forward.

A strange sense of familiarity washed over him. At the same time, new information surfaced in his mind—fragments related to the beings ahead.

He looked at Ponzu, Misty, and Machi. Their expressions were oddly similar.

“This isn’t the reverse world.”

“Could it be… a calamity-level presence?”

Ron’s eyes flickered slightly. “What did you all hear?”

Misty turned back to him. “Big brother, I heard a voice. It said the monster up ahead is called the Desolate God. It can’t be killed. Only a Desolate God can kill another Desolate God.”

“We heard the same thing,” Ponzu said. Machi nodded.

Ron gave a small nod in return.

“It seems everyone who approaches this area hears that information.”

But to Ron, the words “Desolate God” held deeper meaning.

In his previous life, he had encountered a series called God Eater. In that world, Desolate Gods were monsters immune to conventional weapons. The only way to fight them was using God Arcs—weapons forged from Desolate Gods themselves.

But the truth was that Desolate Gods weren’t individual monsters.

They were formed from countless cells working in concert. The cells were the true independent entities. When enough of them gathered, they formed a body and assigned roles among themselves, creating a kind of biological machine. That machine was called a Desolate God.

Even the God Arcs were a type of Desolate God—structured from core cells.

The core cell controlled the whole. Destroy the core, and the Desolate God would collapse. The remaining cells would scatter—only to eventually find one another again and form a new Desolate God.

Extremely dangerous entities.

“Ponzu, scan the area. I want to know how far this region extends.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Dozens of bees flew from Ponzu’s chest-mounted Nen tool.

Soon, the data returned.

Chii created a new map, marking the region around the Desolate God.

It formed an irregular circular zone spanning several thousand square kilometers.

“The cellular spread is chaotic. It’s even greedier than Chimera Ants. The only reason it’s contained in this area might be due to the presence of contamination.”

“These cells fear the power of contamination.”

Ron’s expression shifted slightly.

There was no question that contamination was one of the most terrifying forces on the Dark Continent.

But ironically, it was also what restrained other beings—making it possible for such a variety of life to coexist.

Was this ecological balance?

“Killing Desolate Gods might grant something called a Forbidden Core.”

That information had also surfaced in Ron’s mind.

Calamity-class creatures triggered a warning when approached—but they also revealed the secret treasures hidden behind them. It was as if something was deliberately trying to lure explorers in.

“Forbidden Cores can fuse with a creature’s spiritual power—faith energy.”

“But for me, it’s useless.”

“Still, maybe I can trade it to Nasubi. Kakin is a country with a massive population, which means they have access to a large reserve of faith energy.”

“If I get my hands on a Forbidden Core, it might be possible to turn Kakin into an even stronger faith-based fortress than Begerosse.”

Ron closed his eyes briefly.

The information in his mind was still clear.

These things weren’t just monsters—they were Calamities.

Each Desolate God had its own region. That alone was enough to distinguish them from the rest of the Dark Continent’s creatures.

Now, they had crossed the threshold of such a zone.

At first, there was nothing. No sound. No signs. Not even aura.

But as the group advanced further, the temperature around them dropped slightly. The surrounding light grew dimmer, even though the sun was still overhead. The leaves on the trees looked the same, but the feeling had changed.

Ron’s footsteps slowed.

A moment later, the ground ahead began to sink.

The soil didn’t cave in—something was moving beneath it.

The next instant, the surface split open, and from below, the creature emerged.

Its body was massive. Not in a conventional sense—but in the way it filled the space around it. A formless pressure pushed down on the forest, warping the air itself. Flesh twisted over bone that bent at unnatural angles, and its surface was covered in a layer of translucent tissue that pulsed slowly, like a second layer of skin.

There were no distinct features—no eyes, no face, no mouth. But inside that mass, something stirred.

From the folds of its body, a set of limbs slowly unfolded. One of them scraped the ground, leaving deep trenches as it dragged. Another hung limply, twitching in small, erratic motions. The stench of rot and something chemical drifted outward.

A moment later, information flooded into Ron’s mind again.

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Desolate God.

Type: Adaptive composite organism.

Formed from countless modular cells. Capable of reconfiguring physical traits depending on threats encountered.

Vulnerability: The core.

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Ron narrowed his eyes.

It was already adapting to their presence.

The air thickened further, and in that moment, the Desolate God raised one of its limbs and drove it into the ground.

The impact shook the area.

“So this is it,” Ron said. “The Desolate God.”

Misty took a step forward, eyes narrowing. “Ron… are we fighting it now?”

Ron didn’t reply immediately.

His aura had already begun to rise.

He raised his hand.

Wither appeared beside him.

Glottony followed.

Behind them, Natsu and Akame materialized in sequence, along with Yuzuru Yamai.

Ron took a slow breath.

“The Wild God’s movement is restricted within this area. That gives us a strategic advantage. Even you three might be able to participate.”

He gave a subtle nod to Misty, Ponzu, and Machi.

Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward—and the battle began.

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