Chapter 160: Buildings and Spiders
Ronin and his group naturally headed into the left tunnel. However, entering the
passage didn't mean an instant arrival at the ruins.
They had to navigate several kilometers of artificial tunneling before reaching
the "Breach Point" where the Royal Army had punched through into the ancient
city. The air grew still and heavy, and the sounds of footsteps were joined by a
faint, rhythmic skittering coming from deeper within the earth.
Ronin expanded his En.
He detected no anomalies within his range, but his aura brushed against several
other signatures—veteran Hunters and mercenaries who, like him, were maintaining
a constant scan.
Muherr, sensing Ronin's proximity, gave him a small nod of professional
acknowledgement.
Ronin kept his En at a radius of ten meters. This was his "efficiency zone"—a
distance he could maintain indefinitely without burning through his stamina. At
this range, if anything breached his personal space, he would have ample time to
counter.
Ten minutes later, the team reached the entrance.
Here, the crude, modern excavation met ancient stone. The tunnel ahead was
blocked by a massive, centuries-old collapse, but the army had bypassed it by
carving a narrow door through the bedrock to the side.
The groups ahead of the Rock Mercenaries had already prepped their tactical
lights and weapons, surging through the breach like water through a dam.
Ronin's group didn't pause for a final check; their preparations had been
finalized before they even entered the forest.
Mashur took the lead with Vanessa. They were flanked by four Nen users armed
with high-spec assault rifles.
Ronin and Muherr followed in the middle of the formation.
Behind them came the unit's heavy hitter: Golem.
It was a towering, four-meter-tall armored mech, a masterpiece of Collaborative
Conjuration. It required a dedicated pilot inside and a secondary Emitter seated
on its shoulder to act as a living battery.
Surrounding the Golem were four more specialists. Unlike the vanguard, their
rifles were conjured constructs provided by the Golem itself. They didn't fire
lead; they fired concentrated bursts of the user's own Nen.
The Golem was bulky, but it moved with surprising grace. It only needed a slight
application of brute force to squeeze through the breach into the ruins.
Ronin felt a distinct sense of danger from the machine. Collaborative Nen
abilities were rare and often capable of producing results that defied standard
power levels. It was clear why Muherr's unit was considered legendary.
As they cleared the final stretch of the breach, the cramped tunnel opened up
into a cavernous, staggering vista.
Despite the gloom, the sights were breathtaking. As far as the eye could see, a
subterranean city stretched into the darkness.
Skyscrapers.
That was the only word for them. Massive, jagged spires of stone and obsidian
rose from the abyss, lining the walls of a gargantuan hollow.
Ronin's group was currently standing on the rooftop of one such building, which
was built directly into the cavern wall.
Stepping to the edge, Ronin looked down. Below was a black, bottomless void.
Even the portions of the buildings illuminated by their floodlights showed
heights exceeding fifty meters—the equivalent of a fifteen-story building.
Ronin casually kicked a stone off the ledge. He waited, but no sound of impact
returned. The darkness below was absolute.
"Captain, look. There are bridges connecting the spires," Mashur reported, using
a high-powered telescope.
Ronin followed his gaze. Swaying in the drafts of the cavern were spindly
bridges made of rusted iron chains and ancient wood. He could see the groups
that had entered ahead of them already testing the integrity of the nearest
spans.
But Ronin's brow furrowed. He scanned the rooftops.
The headcount was off. There were significantly fewer freelancers visible than
the groups he had seen entering the breach.
"WATCH OUT!" someone screamed, followed by the chatter of automatic gunfire.
Ronin sensed the anomaly at the same heartbeat as the shout.
He snapped his head upward. The scuttling sound he had heard in the tunnel was
now amplified a thousandfold.
Spiders.
Colossal arachnids were descending from the darkness of the ceiling.
Through the Sharingan, Ronin saw the shimmering white threads trailing behind
them. The spouts of silk were anchored to the cavern roof thirty meters above.
As the silk vibrated, hundreds of pairs of crimson compound eyes flickered open
across the ceiling, glowing like embers in a furnace.
"ARGH!"
Screams erupted as the first wave hit. Several freelancers were snatched from
the rooftops, yanked into the air by the webbing.
Blood rained down from the heights, mixed with the greenish ichor of spiders
being shredded by return fire.
"GET INSIDE THE BUILDINGS!"
A frantic order echoed across the rooftops. The explorers realized that staying
in the open was a death sentence. Most of the towers had stairwell entrances
leading down from the roofs.
Ronin had no intention of playing the hero yet. He didn't use Ninjutsu to
incinerate the swarm; he wanted to conserve Chakra for the lower levels.
Instead, he used a simple, reinforced uppercut on a spider lunging for him.
BOOM!
The punch—more powerful than any Uvogin had ever thrown—slammed into the
creature's thorax. He didn't just break the shell; he launched the massive
arachnid back into the sky, clear of the roof.
Ronin didn't wait to see it land. He blurred, sidestepping the spot he had just
occupied.
A split second later, the spider he had punched exploded mid-air, its internal
pressure failing. Chunks of chitin and acidic slime rained down, coating the
area Ronin had vacated.
"Ronin! Over here!"
Mashur was waving from a collapsed section of the roof nearby. The mercenary
unit had already found a breach leading into the floors below.
Ronin sprinted across the stone and vaulted into the hole.
As he fell, a second giant spider lunged after him. But before its fangs could
reach him, a wall of rock slammed into its face.
Ronin hadn't used fire or lightning. He had touched the floor as he landed and
triggered an Earth Style jutsu.
A stone slab rose from the floorboards, knocking the spider back and sealing the
entrance behind him.
The team was now inside the tower. And in the dark, Ronin's eyes glowed with a
lethal, crimson light.
☆☆☆
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