The charging ghosts suddenly came to a halt less than ten metres from the front entrance—close enough to see clearly inside the building.
It seemed that the bronze armour was the best possible equipment for preventing the ghosts from attacking.
Under everyone's watchful gaze, Ging walked out of the building and casually closed the door behind him.
Even then, not a single ghost tried to charge inside. From his hiding place, Ronin could clearly see disappointment, frustration, resentment, and other emotions on some of their faces.
Yet as long as Ging stood in front of the door, none of the ghosts intended to force their way inside. They could only turn around and continue doing whatever they were supposed to do along the streets.
As for what that was, perhaps it was simply wandering.
Veronica wanted to say something, but Ronin stopped her before she could speak.
Time passed little by little. More than an hour later, Ronin finally confirmed through his perception that no nearby ghosts were still watching their building.
At night, this ancient city truly gave off the impression of a procession of a hundred demons.
Ging did not return inside. Instead, he remained outside, observing the ghosts and studying the ancient city beneath the night sky.
At one point, Ronin turned his gaze toward the nearby fountain. He wondered whether the lotus would still attack someone wearing bronze armour.
Ronin's shadow clone put on the second suit of bronze armour.
Since the idea had already occurred to him, Ronin had no intention of wasting time. He simply sent the shadow clone to investigate.
Fearlessly wearing the bronze armour, the shadow clone left the building, briefly greeted Ging, and headed straight for the fountain.
However, a large number of ghosts had also gathered near the fountain.
They stood around in groups of two or three. Although no sound could be heard, their mouths could be seen moving.
The shadow clone's approach attracted the attention of several ghosts. They pointed at it and seemed to regard it with considerable disdain.
The shadow clone ignored them and walked directly to the fountain.
The colourful lotus did not erupt. It simply allowed the shadow clone to reach for the green blades of grass floating in the fountain.
The emerald leaves were extraordinarily beautiful. Once the shadow clone grasped one, a gentle tug was enough to pull the entire plant out of the fountain.
After all, it was not growing in soil at all. Instead, it floated directly in the fountain, giving it a rather miraculous appearance.
A pair of small eyes emerged beneath the colourful lotus, seemingly observing the shadow clone's movements.
When the clone tucked the first herb into its clothing and prepared to reach for a second, rainbow light began gathering around the lotus.
The shadow clone stopped moving and chose to retreat.
The light around the lotus faded, and the fountain returned to tranquillity. Only the remaining herbs continued swaying in the water around the lotus.
After hesitating for a moment, the shadow clone returned to deliver the herb.
Inside the building, which served as a shelter for Ronin's group, everyone gathered together. Even Ging had returned.
On a cloth spread across the floor between them lay a small, entirely emerald-green herb overflowing with vitality.
"So this is the panacea herb?" Ronin took a deep breath and indeed caught a faint, refreshing fragrance.
Moreover, it looked exactly like the image in the booklet shown to them by the Gatekeeper.
"Put it away for now. We probably won't need it yet." Ging shifted his gaze away from the herb and looked outside the window.
Only half the night had passed. The question now was how to collect more herbs during the remaining time.
Two suits of bronze armour meant two herbs. To obtain more, they would either need to take risks or wait until they acquired additional armour.
Ronin chose the latter.
The number of herbs in the fountain was limited. There were ten in total.
They needed five suits of armour and currently lacked three. With five suits, they could safely obtain at least five herbs.
Even if they failed to acquire the remaining five because the risk was too great, they would still have profited.
However, obtaining more bronze armour required finding more giants. Judging by the current situation, there might be only one living giant within a vast section of the city.
Finding the giants was therefore the most troublesome part of the entire task.
Ronin did not intend to go himself. This time, Ging did not need to go either. A shadow clone wearing the bronze armour left the building instead.
Keeping Ging inside while he wore the other suit of bronze armour also provided additional protection.
As long as he remained in the building, no ghost would attempt to force its way inside. It seemed to be some kind of rule.
The shadow clone chose a different direction from the one Ging had taken earlier.
The city at night was also entirely different from the city during the day.
During the day, it was deathly quiet. At night, wandering ghosts were everywhere. As the shadow clone moved among them, there was only one thing it needed to remember—
Do not touch any of the ghosts.
The extreme, deathly cold surrounding them would freeze any living creature that came into contact with them.
The bronze armour could provide some protection, but only to a limited extent.
After travelling several kilometres, the shadow clone stopped.
It was not because it had found a giant, but because a possibility had occurred to it.
With ghosts packed so densely throughout the city, would the giants truly choose to patrol at night?
Even the patrolling Gold and Silver Ingots that wandered everywhere during the day had completely stopped moving after nightfall. Judging from their behaviour, they also seemed highly wary of the ghosts.
And if the giants no longer moved around, how was the clone supposed to find one?
Would it have to open every building and search them one by one?
That was not impossible.
Bang!
The shadow clone kicked open the door of a building.
Countless eyes turned toward it in perfect unison.
There were no large numbers of ghosts inside the building.
There was only a single statue.
A statue Ronin had seen before.
A statue of a raven.
The eyes staring at the shadow clone were the countless open eyes covering the raven's head.
The shadow clone was slightly surprised.
The raven statue rapidly began returning to a body of flesh and blood, while its countless crimson eyes fixed firmly upon the clone.
But in the next second, flames erupted from the shadow clone's mouth and instantly engulfed the entire interior of the building.
Fire Release: Great Flame Annihilation!
The door slammed shut, leaving flames to dominate the building's interior.
Without pausing, the shadow clone moved to the next building, raised its foot, and kicked the door open.
One building after another was forced open.
The ghosts that had previously been wandering along the street began exchanging bewildered looks.
They had no idea why the fellow wearing bronze armour had suddenly gone mad.
But as they watched one building after another being opened by the shadow clone's forceful attacks, the wandering ghosts' eyes lit up.
Some buildings were empty. Once the shadow clone moved on, the ghosts following behind would immediately occupy them.
Other buildings had occupants inside. Those occupants were either destroyed by the shadow clone's ninjutsu or left to fend for themselves after the clone closed the door again.
Regardless of what was inside, once a door had been kicked open, the ghosts following behind would rush in.
But that was no longer something the shadow clone cared about.