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Chapter 171: Forceful InterceptionRonin couldn't help but overthink things.
From the moment he stepped into this underground space, everything he saw seemed unnaturally warped, twisting into bizarre spirals.
If he hadn't recalled his predecessor's memories of the Kurta Clan before arriving here, he might not have noticed anything particularly special about the presence of these spirals. But enclosed within this subterranean environment, their existence was glaringly obvious!
The worst-case scenario, however, would be a curse.
At the very least, Ronin hadn't felt any unnatural twisting or warping taking hold of his or Kurapika's bodies.
"Is he a member of the Kurta Clan?" Vanessa asked. She had already approached the corpse and was staring intently at its eye sockets.
However, the ravages of time had long since reduced them to empty voids. There wasn't a shred of evidence left to prove that Scarlet Eyes had ever existed there.
Ronin couldn't provide a definitive answer either.
He left the tent and ventured deeper into the area. As he pressed further into the ruins, he discovered an increasing number of artifacts and structures identical to those from the hidden Kurta village in his predecessor's memories.
At this point, even if he wanted to deny it, he couldn't find a single reason to do so.
Besides, there was absolutely no need for denial. Finding a Kurta Clan ruin here was actually a massive stroke of luck for him. At the very least, it proved that the secluded branch they belonged to wasn't the only group of Kurta in the world.
It was highly probable that even more Kurta Clan members still existed in some unknown corner of the globe.
After a brief initial survey to confirm that this was indeed a sealed space—with the only exit being the tunnel they had dropped through—Ronin went back out to explore the other two diverging tunnels.
Interestingly, these two paths completely lacked the distinctive vortex style of the Kurta Clan.
One tunnel was eerie and oppressive, littered with macabre sacrificial symbols and ancient bloodstains.
The other was completely ordinary. It housed various structures built from piled stones, tracts of land that showed clear signs of agricultural cultivation, and even a subterranean river cutting straight through the middle of the zone.
After completing his preliminary sweep of the three distinct areas, Ronin made a decision: he was going to temporarily seal this place off.
He might be able to unearth far more information regarding the Kurta Clan here. Between the various theories he had read in the manga before his transmigration and the knowledge he had gathered about the clan since arriving, everything pointed to the fact that this race was far from simple. In fact, it was highly likely that they originally hailed from the Dark Continent.
Seeing the state of these ruins only solidified that hypothesis.
If no more Kurta Clan members could be found within the borders of Mobius Lake, then perhaps venturing outside to the Dark Continent would yield unexpected discoveries.
But all of that would have to wait until he had completely mapped out these ruins.
"That's not going to be easy," Vanessa reminded him.
Her words meant it was entirely possible, but highly difficult. Ronin simply offered a faint smile of understanding.
If it were just a matter of physically sealing the tunnel, it would have been effortless. But he also needed to send a clear message. He had to take a forceful stance to make sure any eager explorers understood that as long as he stood guard, no one was getting in.
Once he had his strategy sorted out, the execution was simple.
If he wanted to be truly malicious, he could have just used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to wait at the entrance, letting the opposing explorers exhaust themselves digging through the rubble, only to kick them all out the moment they broke through.
But that would undoubtedly incite massive resentment.
Instead, he opted to use Earth Style to quickly tunnel his way back toward them.
When both parties finally met face-to-face in the passageway again, Ronin looked at the measly few dozen meters of progress the excavation team had made over such a long period. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. If the Nen users had personally stepped in, the digging would have been exponentially faster.
Furthermore, to Ronin, this kind of physical labor would have served as excellent training for the Nen users present.
But clearly, the people here had a different mindset. They possessed the typical arrogance of Nen users, believing that manual labor should be left to ordinary humans while they conserved their strength to deal with sudden emergencies. To them, it was the most optimal and secure approach.
And they weren't entirely wrong.
After all, no one could guarantee that the unexcavated sections of the tunnel weren't crawling with monsters. If this path turned out to be a monster den—just like the central tunnel of the ruins—having fully rested Nen users ready to strike would be vital.
The excavation crew definitely hadn't expected Ronin to burst out so quickly.
On one hand, they were quietly marveling at his sheer capability. On the other hand, the gazes they directed at him had grown noticeably sharper.
It was as if they were trying to decipher, from the slightest trace or shift in his demeanor, whether he had scored any major loot in the depths of the ruins.
At the very least, Vanessa's absence from his side was a dead giveaway that another hidden space existed beyond the collapsed tunnel.
A few of the sharper minds in the group had already connected the dots, and their eyes began to burn with mounting irritation and hostility toward Ronin.
Ronin naturally caught every shift in their expressions.
So, he dropped the act. "Sorry, everyone. What's ahead is too important to me. As of right now, this tunnel is closed."
As he spoke, Ronin smoothly shifted into a combat stance.
His meaning couldn't be clearer: Let our strength do the talking.
The moment his words landed, the tunnel erupted into chaos. The ordinary workers instinctively turned toward their respective captains for guidance.
The Nen users leading the teams immediately began shouting, hurling curses and threats at Ronin. However, a closer look revealed a glaring truth: they were all just running their mouths. Not a single one of them actually dared to step forward and make a move.
The incessant barking quickly wore down Ronin's patience.
"STEP THE HELL UP! I'll count to three. If no one steps forward, then all of you can GET LOST!"
Ronin's commanding shout instantly snuffed out the clamor in the tunnel, as if someone had just hit the mute button.
But the silence was immediately broken by the sound of slow, deliberate clapping.
It was an entrance Ronin was intimately familiar with. Back then, Brennan had walked out doing the exact same thing.
Is there actually a real threat hiding among this garbage?
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