With no better plan for the time being, Kurapika's proposal was indeed the one most worth attempting.
Thus, when dawn arrived, Ronin began the operation.
During the night, large numbers of shadow clones had already moved through the flower sea and reached their predetermined positions.
After all, their goal was to lure a large number of Gold and Silver Ingots away from the ancient city, so the operation had to cover a considerable area.
When the agreed time arrived, the shadow clones began rising into the air in large numbers. Even a short distance ahead of Ronin's group, shadow clones took flight.
Ronin and the others, meanwhile, were completely concealed beneath the ground in a shelter Ronin had created using Earth Release.
As the shadow clones rose into the sky, however, the Gold and Silver Ingots in the city were not nearly as agitated as they had been before. Only a scattered few appeared and began firing golden beams at the clones.
This was not the effect Ronin's group had hoped to achieve.
Watching everything from afar, they could not help but frown deeply.
A thought then occurred to all of them.
Had the Gold and Silver Ingots gone berserk before because of the floating island?
But if that was really the case, would they have to bring the floating island back and use it as bait again?
Given how cunning the Gold and Silver Ingots were, once they had encountered something a single time, they would change their battle strategy for the next encounter.
In other words, they had failed to destroy the floating island last time. If the Gold and Silver Ingots mobilized again, there was no guarantee the island would be lucky enough to escape a second time.
Should they abandon the floating island?
Ronin looked at the small number of Gold and Silver Ingots attacking the shadow clones and quickly rejected that idea.
The reason they had been so cautious before, even planning to lure a huge number of Gold and Silver Ingots away from the city, was because they feared being surrounded by overwhelming numbers once they infiltrated it.
But from the looks of things, that would not happen.
In that case, there was no need for a plan that involved deploying so much bait. They could simply use smaller groups of shadow clones to lure away whatever Gold and Silver Ingots they encountered along their route.
"Call them back. Recover as many as you can. There's no need to continue testing. We can try breaking in."
Ging clearly had reached the same conclusion as Ronin.
Ronin, however, waved his hand.
"No need."
It was not that he did not want to retrieve those shadow clones. Rather, resealing shadow clones that had already been released from sealing scrolls would consume a considerable amount of energy. There was no reason for Ronin to go through that trouble.
The torn scrolls could still be reused. He only needed to seal new shadow clones inside them later.
Although Ging did not understand the exact reason, he could roughly guess from Ronin's expression and the choices being made by the shadow clones in the sky. He stopped trying to persuade him and instead began looking eager to move.
"Let's go." Ronin seized the opportunity.
Although the Gold and Silver Ingots had not poured out of the city in a frenzy, their attention had still been drawn by the large number of shadow clones.
Was this not the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the ancient city?
The group burst out of their hiding place and rapidly approached the city's edge.
Throughout the process, everyone wore expressions that were both tense and solemn, because they all understood exactly what might be waiting for them.
Just as abruptly as the flower sea had begun, it suddenly ended at a certain point.
It was as though an invisible wall stood upon the ground, preventing every flower from growing beyond it.
When Ronin and the others arrived and stepped across the boundary, it felt as if they had entered an entirely different world.
This area had already been scorched by the flames released by the shadow clones in the sky, so there were currently no Gold and Silver Ingots nearby.
Observing the ancient labyrinth city up close, Ronin and the others were stunned by its architecture.
It was not because of anything elaborate.
Everything was simply far too enormous.
According to their judgment, humans should once have lived here, but why were the buildings so massive?
Every stone building within sight towered well over ten meters high, with some reaching twenty meters.
Even an ordinary-looking stone doorway stood more than ten meters tall.
Could such an enormous place truly have been built for ordinary humans?
As this thought appeared, another possibility entered their minds.
Giants.
Perhaps the beings who had once lived in this city were not humans like them, but a much larger race—possibly giants, or perhaps what they called magical beasts.
Countless possibilities raced through their minds, but their footsteps did not slow in the slightest as they continued toward the center of the city.
As they advanced, they gradually discovered something unusual about the city.
At regular intervals, there would be a relatively smaller passageway, only about five meters high, leading directly underground.
It seemed that another secret was hidden beneath the city.
However, they did not rush to enter those passages and explore them. Instead, they continued moving aboveground toward the city center.
"If humans really lived here, then I think they must have lived underground," Veronica said, voicing the possibility everyone had already considered.
However, she failed to notice how conspicuous her voice sounded within the deathly silent city.
Ronin had already raised a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
But it was too late.
The moment Veronica finished speaking, a towering figure appeared from around the corner of a massive stone building ahead.
It was completely different from the Gold and Silver Ingots they had encountered before.
The creature had an ugly green face with protruding fangs and stood roughly ten meters tall. It wore bronze armor, and its enormous exposed hands were the same green color as its face.
However, neither its immense size nor its ugliness was the most terrifying thing about it.
What truly shocked Ronin's group was that the huge green-faced, fanged creature was enveloped in Nen.
Moreover, the instant it discovered them, its aura shifted from Ten to Ren.
"%￥!@￥!"
The creature shouted something none of them could understand. In the next second, it pulled a gleaming battle-ax from its back and swung it down toward them.
Boom!
The ground shattered, but the green-faced giant's attack failed to injure anyone.
By the time the massive ax descended, Ronin, its intended target, had already moved aside.
Were the guardians of the ancient city not supposed to be the Gold and Silver Ingots?
Why was there also an armored giant like this?
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Ronin's counterattack had already erupted from his mouth.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
The instant the fire-nature chakra left his lips, it expanded into an enormous fireball large enough to engulf the giant completely.
The fireball surged forward and slammed fiercely into the giant's body.