Disbelief

As they were, running through the marshlands, Leon heard it. At first, it was no more than a drone, but soon it was a cacophony of noise. It sounds like a swarm of insects. A shadow covered Leon, Netero, and the Zodiacs, and the buzzing was so loud it was like a jet plane was flying directly over them.

Looking up, Leon cursed at what he saw. It was a swarm of mosquitoes. There must have been millions as they covered the sky above them.

"Everyone stop using Nen, and use Zetsu if you don't, you die." Everyone looked at Netero wonder why they would deprive themselves of protection, but Leon immediately stopped running and concealed his presence.

The Zodiacs followed suit, and everyone waited to see if the swarm would move on. After a minute, the throng moved on, apparently unable to sense them any longer.

Everyone let out a sigh a relief, "Chairman, what was that? They were just regular insects." The one who spoke was Ging the boar Zodiac.

"Nothing here is normal even a mosquito can kill you, especially since the ones here consume your nen instead of blood," Leon said as he observed their surroundings.

"Mr. Zoldyck is correct. I suggest we don't use Nen unless the need arises or until we are out of this swamp." Everyone nodded, and Leon retook the lead. While they weren't using Nen, their bodies were more robust than the average person.

The water they were tracking through became deeper, and Leon was starting to think about changing courses when they entered a mangrove. The mangrove trees were almost as tall as building with thick, sturdy branches.

Thanking his lucky stars, Leon started to run along in the trees, and the others followed. Looking over his shoulder Leon checked that they still had everyone with them.

"How far away is this base of yours, we've been running for hours and it's still not in sight." Leon looked over at Ging who couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut.

"If you want to just run ahead and get yourself killed, now shut your lip before I do it for you." Ging looked like he wanted to say something more but a stern look from Netero silenced him.

Leon sighed "How about we focus on finding a secure, place for the night my people might even be able to send out a search party."

No one spoke up to reject the idea so that was their focus from now on, after splitting up into separate parties Netero's party reported they found a small cave inside a cliff face.

Before going inside the cave Leon activated the tracker on his personal transmitter and attached it to the cliff with a length of rope. They would wait until morning and if no one arrived to escort them to the haven they would make the rest of the trek on their own.

-Somewhere Far Away-

All members of the Phantom Troupe had their personal transmitters vibrate and they all saw that someone in their team had activated the tracker.

Machi sighed as she stood up from her meal, "It looks like Leon needs our help, are you coming." The person across from Machi smiled as he stood up as well, "Why wouldn't I want to see my Nephew. If he's anything like you described him as this should be exciting."

Back in the cave, Leon was sitting up against the cave wall, no one was talking. Everyone was tired and miserable, Leon honestly didn't know why. Couldn't they see the path ahead of them?

Their brief encounter had shown Leon how strong the creature here could be, those insects from before could sense Nen meaning they often hunted creatures with Nen.

Leon could even feel it in the air somehow the entire Dark Continent had an aura. Leon didn't know how but he was going to figure it out.

In the morning everyone was ready to set out, no one had slept a wink and they were all in somewhat dower moods. Taking back his transmitter Leon took the lead again after checking where they were on the map.

The first five minutes of the trip were peaceful as the sun had yet to fully rise. but then all hell broke loose. The first thing to attack them was a giant piranha, about the length of a school bus.

It started to slam its body into the tree they had stopped in trying to shake them loose like low handing fruits. Then it jumped out of the water snapping its lockjaw fangs, no one wanted to compete against the thing in its home territory.

Next came a swarm of bats and one of them latched on to the neck of Kanzai the tiger Zodiac. In the split second that the bat was on his neck, it ended up draining him of nearly a quarter of his Nen.

At that moment they had a discussion about whether they should continue on, Leon was insistent that they could make it but he was outnumbered. Just as he was about to give in he could sense another group moving towards them.

"Someone's coming for us, and they're ready to fight." While the Zodiacs looked worried Leon was relieved but Netero couldn't believe what was happening.

"No, it can't be. I saw you die with my own eyes."