Chapter 254: The Truth X Are You... Human?

"No wonder we can't understand what's on these murals."

Anthony's lips were dry as he stared at the disturbing sight before them.

Although the stone statue before them had the appearance and outline of a human, it was clearly something else entirely. Most disturbing were the carvings on its surface and the macabre accessories it wore, all made from human remains. The rings on his fingers and the necklace around his neck were made from human skulls.

"This is the worst truth," Oboro said, his voice dropping to a grave timbre.

He had just shared his theory with the three companions, but now it felt as if reality had slapped him in the face. Oboro had seen a scene in the stone carvings of the Bozwa tribe in which the tribe's ancestors surrounded a monstrous maternal figure and willingly threw themselves into its jaws to be consumed. This foreshadowed the fate of the human ancestors in the Dark Continent, but he sensed there was more to the story than that simple horror.

What they were about to witness was a terrible confirmation of the Bozwa's heritage.

Why would a human city build a stone statue of a monster and place it in the center of town? Judging from the local topography, it appeared to be a place of worship. The creature clearly had malicious intentions toward humans, yet humans worshipped it as if it were a god.

This was the truth that Oboro was most reluctant to accept, so he hadn't said it out loud.

The monument below the monster statue was engraved with indecipherable words and images that matched the patterns on other buildings in the city. The reason they couldn't decipher it was because these records did not chronicle the past or civilization of this human settlement, but rather the history of this monster before them, a race whose memories were not human.

Oboro walked around the stone statue. Though he could not fully comprehend the murals, he could still observe fragments of their meaning.

The humans were simply too weak, stripped of their mythologized halos and glorified representations.

For countless years, humanity's ancestors had survived in the Dark Continent through a despicable method, clinging to powerful creatures as parasites.

Although humans had developed their own means of survival and techniques for controlling Nen, they were no match for the powerful life forms that spread throughout the Dark Continent.

Their only recourse was to procreate.

Continue to procreate so that the human race will not face extinction.

Keeping the flame of humanity alive

Until one day, someone returning from the sea discovered a small island in a lake. It was suitable for human habitation, so they decided to migrate.

Just as Oboro had first speculated, the humans had been driven out.

Eliminated from the food chain.

"This means that for countless years, humanity never stood out in the Dark Continent, always remaining at the bottom of the food chain. Precisely because they were too weak to be considered a threat, they were ignored".

After a while, Oboro finished studying the patterns on the stone wall and closed his eyes.

The discovery of the island in the lake had saved the human race.

That was all.

The truth was always bloody and naked.

"Team leader."

Menchi looked at his expression and seemed about to speak, but stopped herself.

Several thoughts flashed through Oboros mind. There was a solid reason for his previous speculations.

The door and the wall guarded by the gatekeeper were obviously creations of the human civilization. Moreover, the patterns on the Kuruta tribe's clothing bore a striking resemblance to the door, which meant that humans lived in the core area of the Dark Continent.

"This cannot be the whole truth, only a fragment of it"

Oboro opened his eyes and breathed deeply. "The human groups living on this continent must be different. The conditions outside the wall are different from those inside the wall."

"According to my observations, from the perspective of food chain and ecological characteristics, the weaker the species, the more likely it is to be driven to the edge of the Dark Continent. The stronger the species, the more likely they are to inhabit the center of the continent. The entire Dark Continent probably represents a hierarchical sequence eliminated by countless food chains, with higher-level species inside the gate and lower-level species outside. Human groups aren't unified, they're probably fighting among themselves."

No matter what he said, the facts were in front of him, and he had no choice but to accept them.

However, some doubts remained in his mind.

At that moment, beautiful music suddenly echoed across the square where the stone statue stood.

Menchi and the other two were startled and immediately took up their fighting stances.

Looking around, they noticed many small stone sculptures of creatures identical to the main statue, each standing more than three meters tall. Whether in response to the visitors' Nen or by some other mechanism, more than a dozen small stone sculptures suddenly rotated like music boxes and began to play the instruments they held.

Although the stone creatures had the same general appearance and body shape as humans, the craftsmanship was crude at first glance, appearing as upright cylinders with minimal detailing of body lines. The objects in their hands were not musical instruments familiar to Oboro and his companions, making them difficult to identify.

The bodies of the large and small statues seemed to be covered with a thick layer of hair, and the backs of their heads protruded unnaturally.

As soon as the music began, Menchi and the other two activated their Nen for protection and tried to block their five senses simultaneously. However, their efforts were in vain.

They could still somehow "hear" the sounds.

The muscles on Anthony's face began to twitch, his skull and skin seeming to twist and deform.

Wrinkles quickly spread across Menchi's face, aging her appearance dramatically.

A soul attack!

Oboro was familiar with this ability.

A wall of black Nen mist instantly enveloped the three companions.

In Oboro's perception, as the music played, the space around them began to fill with strange fluctuations; soul lines resembling musical scores floated through the air.

"The Devil's Dark Sonata?"

"Is that the Demon King?"

Halo's pupils narrowed in alarm.

Finally, they had encountered a dangerous being with the same spiritual power as him.

This was what Oboro had expected.

But this stone creature didn't resemble a demon.

The Dark Sonata was a solo piece composed by the Devil and played on the piano, violin, harp, and flute, and the instruments held by these small stone statues weren't any of those four.

The ethereal "staff score", invisible to the others, lingered in the room and repeatedly struck Oboro's body. The notes disappeared one by one with faint crackling sounds, apparently having no effect on him.

"No wonder I couldn't detect you. As a Nen user who specializes in soul manipulation, it shouldn't be difficult for you to evade my perception."

Understanding dawned on him.

He suddenly waved his hand, and the air roared.

All the spinning stone statues were instantly shattered.

But the music did not stop.

Oboro slowly turned around, looked at the towering stone statue and calmly said: "Come out.

As the words left his lips, the pedestal-like stone surface suddenly split to reveal an open passage.

A group of bizarre creatures, clad in black robes and grotesque in appearance, emerged from the opening.

Some of them still had flesh and blood, but their limbs and faces were completely deformed, even more disgusting than the earthworms in the Yin Beast. Under a black robe, there was a moving skeleton, nothing but bones.

But soul fire burned in its eye sockets, much like the necromancers in Oboro's memories.

These strange beings were all human.

Oboro now understood what those stone statues represented: they were humans! They were just humans who had mutated after listening to something like the "Dark Sonata".

Oboro used his Hatsu Clairvoyance ability to make a quick assessment. This group of people were deformed and mutated, not only physically, but also in their aura. The Nen in their bodies didn't flow normally, but rather congealed like viscous mucus.

Only their skeletons were different.

"I should have realized this before"

With this realization, Oboro exhaled slowly.

Since weak humans had to cling to powerful creatures and live like parasites, they would naturally become "slaves" to all kinds of life forms.

In the human world, consciousness usually disappeared after death. Only a few people with special Nen abilities could maintain consciousness after death, but it was usually just a single possession, a fragment of consciousness.

But for the advanced creatures of the Dark Continent, such as the Demon King, they could completely preserve the soul, allowing it to leave the physical body and exist independently with its own will.

The soul was also a form of energy, but an unconventional energy, which further proved that the devil's methods of controlling energy were unfathomable.

Judging by this fact alone, Oboro was far from mastering such techniques.

The ghosts in his Nen Mist were controlled by him like puppets.

They retained no memory or thought of their former lives.

It was even more impossible for them to wander too far or escape his control.

Moreover, the unique environment of the Dark Continent made seemingly impossible phenomena in the human world plausible.

That skeleton in its black robe was the true embodiment of 'alive after death'.

"The devil's apostle? Followers?"

Oboro asked coldly.

The soul fire in the skeleton's eyes flickered, as if curious about Oboro.

Its jaw trembled and the words and syllables it uttered were completely incomprehensible to him.

Obviously an ancient or foreign language.

However, the two could communicate through aura fluctuations.

"Are you human?"

The skeleton's next question surprised Oboro.

This creature obviously didn't consider him a 'human'.

So what was he?