At this moment, there was only one dinosaur inside the cargo compartment.
The Carcharodontosaurus, transformed from the emergency security guard.
As Uvogin approached, a phone placed inside the truck suddenly began to vibrate.
The instant the vibration sounded, Nen surged around the Carcharodontosaurus.
It instantly entered combat mode.
Powerful Nen wrapped around its body, then rapidly gathered toward its gaping jaws.
The energy condensed onto its fangs—
forming Ko.
At that very moment, the truck's cargo door was violently torn off and thrown aside.
Sunlight poured into the cargo hold.
The waiting Carcharodontosaurus was unaffected by the sudden change in lighting.
Its mouth, lined with razor-like teeth, snapped forward in a vicious bite.
But what met its jaws was not the opener's head—
It was a fist the size of a sandbag.
BOOM!
The fist smashed into the dinosaur's mouth and struck its tongue.
The tongue, which had little Nen protection, instantly exploded into a cloud of blood.
But at the same time, the dinosaur's jaws clamped down on the attacker's wrist.
A severed arm remained inside its mouth.
Uvogin—now missing one arm—leapt backward, blood spraying through the air.
But the moment he retreated, he heard a violent whistling sound rushing toward him.
Dodging was impossible.
Uvogin roared as Nen exploded even more violently from his body.
Yet the next moment, he staggered forward.
A massive stone slammed into him.
The rock shattered upon impact as Uvogin stumbled ahead.
In an alley nearby, Nobunaga, who had returned together with Uvogin, reacted instantly.
The moment the stone exploded, his hand gripped the hilt of his katana.
The ground beneath his feet cracked as he leapt upward.
A building over ten meters tall was nothing to him.
When he landed again, he was already on the rooftop.
His gaze locked onto a dinosaur standing on another roof.
The creature was lifting a huge boulder, preparing to throw it toward Uvogin below.
An Oviraptor.
The Oviraptor noticed Nobunaga the moment he appeared.
But its movements didn't pause for even an instant.
Nen flowed over the massive stone.
Its long forelimbs—longer even than those of a Velociraptor—raised the rock high as it leaned back.
Then—
As more dinosaurs appeared on the rooftop and lunged toward Nobunaga…
the boulder had already been thrown downward.
After that, the Oviraptor glanced once toward Nobunaga—
then turned and jumped off the rooftop.
Nobunaga's En spread outward.
Before the small dinosaurs attacking him could even reach striking distance—
flashes of cold steel cut through the air.
Their bodies split cleanly in half, their remains scattering across the rooftop.
But when Nobunaga reached the edge and looked down—
the Oviraptor had already vanished.
Only a shattered phone remained where it had been.
Nobunaga picked it up.
His deadpan eyes burned with killing intent.
He quickly moved to the edge of the building and looked toward Uvogin.
Chrollo and the others had already reached Uvogin.
Near the truck lay the corpse of a man wearing a Third Hospital security uniform.
His mouth had been torn open.
The back of his head contained a massive hole—
the result of attempting to receive Uvogin's Big Bang Impact directly with his mouth.
But what worried Nobunaga now was something else entirely.
Would Uvogin also transform into a dinosaur?
By the time Nobunaga jumped down from the roof, Uvogin had already stood up again.
His head was bleeding heavily.
Blood still sprayed from the stump where his arm had been torn off.
Yet there was no pain on his face.
Only madness and brutality.
"Well done!" Uvogin laughed.
"A dinosaur that can use Nen—"
"And one that concentrates all its aura into its teeth for a suicide attack."
"The goal must've been to break my skin and infect me."
"A plan worthy of praise!"
The muscles around his severed arm suddenly tightened.
The spurting blood stopped instantly.
When he had walked toward the truck earlier, he had already been prepared for an ambush.
Especially after Chrollo's warning.
He had even anticipated that whatever was inside might use Nen.
But he hadn't expected the enemy to go this far.
The dinosaur had been treated as a disposable weapon, unleashed with maximum power.
They had underestimated him.
The dinosaur he destroyed was nothing like the weaker ones they had encountered before.
"When did you cut off your arm?" Chrollo asked calmly.
His eyes carefully scanned Uvogin's body.
If Uvogin showed any sign of transforming into a dinosaur, Chrollo would act immediately.
Not to kill him—
but to restrain him.
Though that wouldn't be easy.
"Before it bit me," Uvogin grinned.
"Still… losing an arm's a shame."
As he spoke, something strange happened.
The severed arm still in the dinosaur's mouth suddenly began to change.
Right before Uvogin's eyes, it transformed into a small Compsognathus.
The little dinosaur still carried traces of Nen.
The instant its transformation finished, it tried to dive beneath the truck.
But before it could—
A katana pierced straight through its body, pinning it to the ground.
"Even dead matter can turn into dinosaurs?" Nobunaga muttered in disbelief.
"That infection effect is ridiculous."
"The restriction on this ability must be huge."
"And this definitely isn't a hastily created ability."
"It's far too complete."
When Nobunaga killed the Compsognathus, it immediately reverted back into Uvogin's severed arm.
Uvogin stared at it with interest.
"Think it can still be reattached?"
"Keep it," Chrollo replied.
"Ask Machi when we get back."
He had already examined the arm carefully.
There was no Nen remaining on it.
"Dealing with Ivan—and whoever's behind him—will be safer."
Uvogin stepped forward and picked up his arm.
Then his gaze drifted toward the distance.
The soldiers rushing over from the palace were completely ignored.
The terrified guard near the truck didn't even register in his mind.
But something else caught his attention.
A convenience store down the street.
Meanwhile, Nobunaga opened the passenger door of the truck and dragged Pike out.
He inspected him briefly.
Then nodded to Chrollo.
"He's fine."
"Then take him," Chrollo said.
"We're leaving."
Meanwhile—
As Ivan's car drove steadily through the streets toward the western district, he suddenly felt it.
The Carcharodontosaurus had died.
At the same time, the number of dinosaurs under his control briefly increased.
A Compsognathus had appeared—
only to die immediately afterward.
Ivan could roughly guess what had happened.
The person who opened the truck was almost certainly a Phantom Troupe member.
Was it Chrollo himself?
Or Bonolenov?
Judging from the feedback he sensed, it felt more like a combination of two fighters.
Another possibility came to mind.
Perhaps a manipulator like Shalnark had controlled someone to open the cargo door while a combat specialist delivered the attack.
That explanation felt even more plausible.
After all, the appearance of a small infected dinosaur wasn't something that would normally happen if a Troupe member opened the door directly.
Ivan sighed.
It seemed he couldn't rule out the possibility that more Troupe members had arrived in Kakin.
After a moment, he took out his phone.
Scrolling through his contacts, he selected Heinrich's number.
Perhaps Heinrich could provide some new information.
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