"Oh, that? It's just a little something I fashioned out of boredom." Said Ashton, staring at the white-haired child.
Kite also seemed to find this suspicious. Depending on the contents of the 'lumber' Ashton used to keep the fire going, there would be a fight.
Gon also gained a serious look on his face, probably begging to realize that something wasn't quite right.
"You can come and look, the fire is about to die down anyway." Said the hunter, beckoning the three of them at the edge of the hole.
At this point, they didn't think Ashton would just try to attack them. So the three of them just proceeded forward.
Upon reaching the edge of the hole, the could see a lot of bodies. All of them belonging to Chimera Ants. The fire was still raging on and burning away at their still bodies.
Killua became a bit curious about how this pit came to be. Ashton certainly didn't look like the type to just start digging a hole. Kite had similar thoughts, whilst Gon just thought that 'Ashton is really strong!'
Some of the ants were still twitching, indicating they weren't all exactly dead when they started burning. Looking more attentively, Killlua could see a red canister at the other side of the burning hole.
It was gasoline, no doubts about it.
"Did you dig the hole yourself?" Killua finally decided to ask what was on his mind.
"Of course not. Wouldn't want to stain my coat. I just 'kindly asked' a few ants to do it for me." Killua just nodded, the response was about what he expected. Kite did the same.
"And they just accepted!?" Asked the oblivious Gon. Who Killua was currently glaring at.
"I threatened them a bit, but they're fine now. Probably resting..."
'Underneath the others.' Was left out of the actual answer, but the more perceptive of the group could easily tell what he was implying.
Gon just nodded his head.
"I thought you didn't want to get involved in this?" Asked Kite, with some anger in his voice.
"I still don't. I just don't take kindly to being attacked. Figured I might as well play around a bit." After he said that, he was back to his usual look.
"Anyway, this isn't very important. I think I know where their hideout is, but I can't be too sure. I didn't care enough to check." Said Ashton, somewhat changing the subject and looking Kite in the eye again.
"And where would that be?" Asked the curious Killua.
"Big mountain that looks more like an anthill? It's a few dozen kilometres from here." Said Ashton, as he blew away some of the smoke coming his way with his breath.
"Could you accompany us there? It would be helpful to have one more capable Nen user with us." Said Kite, probably trying to make the mission easier on him and the kids.
"I can hang around you guys for a day or two. But don't expect me to do much in terms of fighting." Said Ashton, looking at Killua and Gon.
It was hard to say what he was thinking about. But he seemed to be somewhat intrigued by the two children walking around with a two-star ranked hunter.
Besides that, he could also sense that they were both decent Nen users. Becoming a Nen user at a young age wasn't as common as you'd think. Many people only discovered Nen in their adulthood.
These children were a bit ahead of the competition.
"Oh! That's great! Can you tell me more about Ging?!" Asked Gon, probably hoping to get a better gauge on his father's personality from a source other than Kite.
"Sure thing..." They started talking and walking in the direction of the mountain where the Ant Queen was resting.
Kite and Killua followed the two of them. Looking around them and being vigilant. To the outsiders peering in, it looked like only the two of them were watching their surroundings.
But both Gon and Ashton were accustomed to forests and were still vigilant. Although they both looked like they were speaking to each other. They were both splitting their attention evenly.
And, when they were eventually surrounded by a few hundred ants, no one in their group was surprised in any way.
Both Kite and Ashton quickly judged that the ants weren't Nen users of any kind. The realisation seemed to somewhat relax the tense Kite. Ashton's expression remained unchanged.
"HEHEHE! It looks like the food is coming to our doorstep!" Said one of the ants, laughing creepily. His intimidation didn't seem to faze any of the hunters present. As they just looked at the ant without any fear.
"Say, how about you two kids get some combat experience whilst I hang around somewhere?" Said Ashton, not really paying much attention to the ants after judging their strengths properly.
He just jumped on a branch and sat down on it. It was quite high, most of the ants were enraged by his dismissive attitude. But they were currently watching the other three intently.
Kite just nodded. "It would be good for you two to experience fighting a few ants before we head straight to their nest." He didn't really consider them a threat individually.
Gon and Killua only fought ants once or twice, it was better for them to learn more.
The ants all started laughing. "They want to fight us! Alright then, who wants to get to kill the children first?!" Said the one that looked more like a leader.
He was rousing up the other ants, as they jeered Killua and Gon and cheered him on.
The fights weren't that bad. It showed Ashton that Killua and Gon weren't exactly pushovers.
It was somewhat satisfying to see little naive Gon crush the armadillo looking ant in a bear hug. It was a bit scary for the other ants. They cheering somewhat stopped after seeing their fellow ant get crushed.
Killua was a lot swifter in his methods. Deciding that the best course of action would be to snap its neck by rotating its head at 360 degrees. He didn't even stop there, impaling its chest with his hand and throwing it into a tree.
A bit of an overkill, but he didn't really know if they could die through normal means.
As Ashton was sitting down on that branch, observing the situation underneath him, he could feel a flying ant approach him. It had the looks of an eagle with a strong exoskeleton. It tried to grasp Ashton with its claws.
But just as it got close to touching his coat. It was slapped by Ashton. The slap was powerful enough to send it hurtling towards the ground, but not enough to make it bleed.
Ashton retracted his hand and just hummed a bit. "What a waste..." He said under his breath, as the Eagle Ant landed in between a few other of his brethren.
After a few more gathered to give it assistance, they were all engulfed in flames. As the body of the eagle became akin to a bomb. There was no warning for the other ants. By the time they realized what was happening their limbs were blown off.
Most of the ants were dazed by this. Kite was also a bit surprised. But he still proceeded. Using his Hatsu and taking out the number 2 on the slot machine.
The death scythe, after that he just performed his move, 'The Silent Waltz' and cut apart every ant in their vicinity just as Gon and Killua jumped.
It looked like a tornado of wind blades just passed through this part of the forest.
"How bothersome..." Said Ashton, as the tree he was sitting on began to tilt and fall to the ground. He just jumped back to the ground.
Looking around, he could see that every tree near them was cut in half. Gon and Killua were in awe. Ashton didn't seem too interested.
"Oh well, let's just keep going." Said Ashton, as he turned away and started walking.