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Chapter 164: A Change in Thought
Muhuell filmed the entire metal door with his video equipment, while other mercenaries documented it with cameras.
Once the recording was complete, Golem reached out its mechanical upper arms and pressed against the metal door.
Immense power erupted from Golem's frame. Amidst a shower of dust and a grating creak, the metal door slowly yielded, revealing a crack.
The gap widened, gradually allowing everyone to see clearly what lay beyond.
It was a withered giant tree!
A question popped into Ronin's mind: Does the Alchemy Plant Metallion really grow this massive?
Massive. That was the only word for it.
Even though the plant behind the door was visibly withered, it was still gargantuan.
Its roots were at least dozens of meters thick. Looking up, they could see shriveled eggs hanging from the dried trunk.
The feeling it gave off was somewhat similar to the giant tree planted in the East Gorteau palace after it was occupied by the Chimera Ants in the manga.
The metal door was completely pushed open, kicking up the dust that had accumulated inside for years.
En swept into the space behind the door, detecting zero danger. It seemed the monsters Ronin had burned to a crisp in the underground space earlier were all the creatures this giant tree had produced over the years.
The mercenary team cautiously entered the room.
After ensuring there were no threats in the enclosed space, and leaving a few mercenaries to guard the doorway, the rest approached the base of the giant tree.
"This thing doesn't seem to have much value to us." Ronin focused more on the storage areas in the room, but time had claimed everything; no records could survive thousands of years.
As for investigating whether this plant was indeed the Alchemy Plant Metallion, Ronin lacked the capability. That required not only intel on Metallion but also extensive professional knowledge—neither of which he possessed.
So, finding such a massive tree was actually of low value to him.
"I'm a bit curious. Is there a tree like this under every building?" Muhuell examined some instruments and equipment in the room. They had long ceased functioning, making it impossible to deduce their exact purpose.
However, walking around to the back of the tree, they found a conveyor belt extending straight into its trunk. It was clearly meant to transport something inside, though the opening it entered was less than three meters wide.
Wiping away the dust near the conveyor belt revealed dried, brown stains underneath—stains that easily brought blood to mind.
Then, one word surfaced in everyone's minds: Blood sacrifice!
They just didn't know if the offerings had been humans or animals.
Their next steps were straightforward: gather anything of potential value, then seal the metal door shut.
Given the door's immense weight—requiring Golem's full power just to inch it open—even if a standard squad discovered the monsters' weakness and found the door, they wouldn't be able to breach it quickly.
"Should we explore the other buildings?" Ronin asked the key question.
Muhuell nodded. The situation beneath a single building wasn't enough to draw firm conclusions. Only with more data could they clearly determine the exact circumstances of these ruins.
If every building truly had these metal doors and ancient trees beneath them, the ruins would ultimately have to be handed over to the Hunter Association and V5's Dangerous Creatures Disposal Bureau to extract higher value.
Ronin nodded in agreement with Muhuell's line of thought.
"Cheer up. Even with just what we've found so far, the payout will be massive," Mashuel said, patting Ronin's shoulder comfortingly, assuming Ronin was disappointed with the exploration.
But the truth was, Ronin felt that exploring ancient ruins was quite an excellent endeavor. Not only did it satisfy a desire for exploration, but it also constantly offered a sense of novelty, waiting to be unearthed.
Though this specific expedition ended on a somewhat disappointing note, what if they actually found the Alchemy Plant Metallion next time?
Adventuring held far more appeal than he had previously imagined.
Before participating in this expedition, Ronin had always envisioned himself walking a path similar to Chairman Netero's.
Training bit by bit, continuously challenging himself, fighting battle after battle until he became the strongest. The pinnacle of martial arts was the scenery he wanted to witness.
With the Sharingan, having already unlocked the Mangekyou, Ronin never doubted the heights he could reach.
But what came after that?
Would he be like Chairman Netero, watching himself grow old, slowly falling from his peak as time slipped away?
Perhaps exploring the Dark Continent was a great alternative.
To witness the sights beyond the lake, and see how much he could grow in those uncharted lands.
"Ronin?"
The team had moved a fair distance ahead. Noticing Ronin hadn't kept up, Vanessa stopped and called back.
"Hmm?" Ronin snapped out of it, smiled faintly, and quickly caught up with the mercenaries.
If he really wanted to go to the Dark Continent, it wasn't something he could just decide on a whim. There was much to prepare and many issues to resolve.
He needed to retrieve the scattered Scarlet Eyes first, and deal with the remaining Phantom Troupe members.
Then there was the matter of who would accompany him to the Dark Continent. Would he follow Beyond, or build a team of his own?
Following the plot, Beyond couldn't head to the Dark Continent until Chairman Netero died. Even if Ronin didn't intervene, that was still nearly three years away.
That was a considerable wait. And if he was going, he didn't want to travel with the Kakin Empire's fleet either.
The Kakin Succession War was an obvious death trap. Besides, V5 would only permit Kakin's fleet to land on the New Continent, which was still a far cry from the true Dark Continent.
If Ronin really wanted to go, he preferred Chairman Netero's old method: organizing a small, elite squad and smuggling themselves into the Dark Continent off the grid.
But to do that, there was a lot more he needed to learn.
Pondering this, he followed the team into a new round of clearing. This time, with Golem taking the vanguard, Ronin acted as support.
The monsters that had been difficult to kill with the gatling gun quickly lost their lives under the scorching blast of the flamethrower.
Ronin's primary role shifted to using Water Style to cool the underground spaces.
Their flawless cooperation sped up the exploration several times faster than when Ronin was using Searing Migraine.
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