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Chapter 159: Structures and Spiders
Ronin and his group naturally walked toward the left side. However, entering the passage didn't mean they immediately reached the newly discovered architectural area. They still needed to advance steadily along the tunnel to reach the entrance that the Royal Army had punched through at the very end, leading to the complex.
The passage grew much quieter. Aside from occasional voices, other sounds gradually became audible—a rustling noise that carried a creeping chill from deeper within the tunnel.
Ronin attempted to use [En], but sensed no anomalies within his range. However, his unleashed [En] did pick up the auras of quite a few other people. They were likely individuals who, like him, were maintaining vigilance and using [En] to stand guard.
Among them was Muhuell, who offered him a nod.
He locked the radius of his [En] at around ten meters. This was a range Ronin could maintain for an extended period. Moreover, at this distance, if anything unexpected actually occurred, he would be able to detect it immediately and launch a counterattack.
Over ten minutes later, the squad reached the newly breached entryway. Traces of artificial excavation were visible here. If the passage had continued forward, it was completely blocked by rubble. Judging by the appearance, it didn't look like a recent cave-in.
The teams walking ahead of the Rock Mercenary Group had already equipped their lighting devices and various weapons, proceeding inside through the excavated entrance. Ronin and his group didn't stop to make adjustments here either. After all, the necessary preparations had already been made well before entering the ruins.
Mashuel led Vanessa to the front of the formation, accompanied by four Nen users armed with assault rifles flanking them. Ronin and Muhuell walked in the middle of the formation.
Behind them stood a towering mecha. That was Golem, a creation forged by Conjuration Nen, an entity brought to life through the mutual cooperation of multiple Nen users. There was a pilot inside Golem, and an Emitter sat on its arm.
Additionally, four more Nen users were stationed around Golem, all of them armed with assault rifles. However, unlike the four men in front, the assault rifles held by these rear four Nen users were entirely Conjured constructs retrieved directly from Golem.
And these assault rifles didn't fire ordinary bullets, but rather the users' own aura—Nen bullets.
Golem's size was quite large, yet its movement within the passage was barely restricted. It only had to use a bit of brute force when forcing its way through the entrance. Ronin could sense danger emanating from Golem. This type of cooperative Nen ability was always capable of creating miracles.
Especially since Ronin knew perfectly well that the mercenary group led by Muhuell was a legendary outfit in its own right.
After passing through the excavated entrance and advancing about a hundred meters, the claustrophobic space suddenly broke wide open. Even though the space here was still relatively dark, as far as the eye could see, the view was filled entirely with various towering structures!
That's right. Towering.
Here, deep underground, rows upon rows of massive buildings surged upward from the earth. And where Ronin's group currently stood was right at the top of one such building, except the structure beneath their feet was built flush against the cavern wall.
Taking a few steps forward to the edge of the building and peering down, they saw nothing but pitch-black darkness resembling an abyss. Yet the height of the building exposed above the darkness was already over fifty meters. Judging by the appearance, the floor heights were built for human habitation. Fifty meters equated to roughly a dozen stories.
Tossing a piece of loose rubble into the depths yielded no echo, only deepening the mystery of what lurked in the pitch-black abyss beneath them.
"Captain, all the buildings have bridges connecting them to other high-rises." A pair of binoculars materialized in Mashuel's hands. He gazed into the distance while reporting the situation.
Ronin looked in the direction Mashuel pointed and indeed spotted a bridge swaying in the wind. It was constructed from iron chains paired with wooden planks. They could also see the teams that had arrived ahead of them lingering near the bridge, testing whether they could use it to cross over to another building.
However, Ronin cast his gaze around and noticed that the numbers seemed off. Not the numbers of their own squad, but the number of explorers who had arrived ahead of them differed from what he had observed on the way here.
"WATCH OUT!" Someone in the squad shouted, simultaneously accompanied by the abrupt roar of gunfire.
Ronin also detected the anomaly the exact moment that voice rang out. He snapped his head up, his ears picking up the rustling sounds he had faintly heard earlier in the passage. Only now, the rustling was magnified several times over, and the entities creating that noise were fully exposed to Ronin's eyes.
Giant spiders!
Massive spiders dropped down from above. Ronin's Sharingan could clearly trace the thick, white threads trailing from the spiders' abdomens. The tops of those threads were anchored to the cavern ceiling less than thirty meters above everyone's heads. As the ceiling writhed slightly, pairs of crimson compound eyes snapped open in the darkness.
Screams erupted one after another; someone had been hoisted into the air by the spiders. Blood sprayed high into the air, accompanied by the viscous fluid erupting from spiders whose bodies had been riddled with bullets.
"FALL BACK INTO THE BUILDING!"
Someone yelled this command, prompting everyone gathered there to finally realize that there were numerous entryways leading to the lower levels of the building scattered across the rooftop they stood on.
Ronin had no intention of standing out, so he refrained from unleashing a Fire Style ninjutsu to incinerate the approaching arachnids. Instead, he opted for the simplest Enhancement burst—a standard uppercut.
BOOM!
A punch carrying force that eclipsed even Uvogin's Big Bang Impact cratered into the giant arachnid. It didn't explode outright; instead, the sheer force launched it skyward, far away from Ronin's position. But down below, Ronin had already preemptively dodged away from where he had just stood.
And the massive spider hurtling into the sky completely burst apart mid-air the exact instant he moved. Severed limbs and arachnid juices splattered everywhere, completely drenching the area Ronin had just occupied.
"Ronin, over here!"
Mashuel waved at Ronin from a distance. Beneath his feet lay a collapsed section of the floor, exposing a room on the lower level. The members of Muhuell's squad had already gathered close to it. Only Ronin, the temp, lacked that synchronized teamwork and was a step behind.
Ronin sprinted over and vaulted himself down into the lower level. Right at that moment, a massive spider lunged after him in close pursuit. But before its fangs could sink into him...
It was completely knocked backward.
It turned out that the moment Ronin landed, he had already cast a ninjutsu. Not Fire Style, but Earth Style. As he descended, his hands touched the floor, instantly raising a heavy stone slab behind him. The slab slammed the falling spider away and successfully sealed the entrance Mashuel had blown open.
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