Colin stepped up, demonstrating his raw power once again. Javelin after javelin ripped from his grip, each shot piercing through one or even several flying ants mid-flight before pinning them to the earth. The rest of the squad mobilized instantly, unleashing their Nen abilities or firing high-caliber weaponry at the descending swarm. However, the sheer volume of the swarm made holding the line nearly impossible.
Then, an incredible sight unfolded—multiple Nen users synchronized their auras, conjuring a massive, reinforced all-terrain vehicle out of thin air. The heavily armored chassis shrugged off the diving ants effortlessly, protected entirely by a thick layer of defensive aura coating the hull.
Once everyone piled inside, Colin ceased his barrage. His javelins weren't conjured; they were physical weapons he had carried in. Even with his teammates lugging extra quivers, he couldn't afford to waste his entire stockpile on mere fodder. Because no matter how you looked at it, these flying pests were clearly not the main threat.
The driver floored the accelerator, the massive engine roaring to life. Simultaneously, hulking soldier ants began flooding the path ahead. But as the ATV tore forward like a runaway train, the soldiers were instantly flattened beneath its massive treads.
It was during this slaughter that the expert's prior analysis proved crucial. Ronin's shadow clone had killed the ants so quickly they couldn't utilize their inherited arachnid traits. But now, facing the unstoppable metal behemoth, the soldiers synchronized their movements, pivoting abruptly to aim their abdomens at the oncoming vehicle. A second later, a torrential barrage of thick, white webbing erupted from their spinnerets, blanketing the path of the ATV.
However, with the expert's prior warning, the fourteen-man squad was fully prepared. The side windows slid open, and two burly Nen users hoisted heavy-duty flamethrowers into position. Ever since they discovered the flora-based monsters in the subterranean city were weak to fire, flamethrowers had become standard issue. They had used them earlier to confirm that the beasts roaming this forest were equally flammable. While the Chimera Ants themselves possessed some heat resistance, their silk was highly combustible.
Squeezing the triggers, pressurized streams of liquid fire sprayed outward. The incoming webbing ignited mid-air, incinerated into harmless ash before it could tangle the axles. The mechanical beast blasted right through the blazing inferno, its heavily spiked front bumper acting as a gruesome scythe. With horrific crunches, the heavy armor plowed into the ant vanguard, sending shattered exoskeletons flying like morbid confetti. Those that survived the initial impact were left with devastating, jagged gashes across their carapaces.
The ATV rampaged through the forest, snapping massive tree trunks like twigs in its unwavering advance. But inside the cabin, the complexion of one of the operators was rapidly draining of color amidst the violent turbulence. He was the linchpin of the Conjuration team—the one actively sustaining the protective aura shell enveloping the vehicle. The sheer kinetic trauma of ramming through solid wood and dense carapaces was burning through his reserves at a terrifying rate. In barely a minute, he felt as if his entire aura pool had been vacuumed dry.
The Nen shielding around the hull began to flicker and thin. With a sickening crack, a diving ant finally breached the failing barrier, its razor-sharp claws screeching violently against the vehicle's reinforced steel roof.
Instantly, the cold barrel of a handgun was pressed directly against the creature's temple. Bang.
The insect's skull exploded, its headless carcass tossed violently into the brush by the vehicle's momentum. A man wearing sunglasses, dual-wielding heavy pistols, now stood firmly atop the speeding ATV. Immersed fully in Ren, he anchored himself to the chassis, walking across the violently lurching roof as if strolling down a paved street. His hands moved in a flawless, rhythmic blur. Every muzzle flash sent another diving ant crashing lifelessly into the dirt.
Two minutes later, the skies were clear, the ground forces had been trampled, and the gaping maw of the cavern finally loomed into view. The conjured ATV had reached its absolute limit, dissolving into thin air right as they arrived. The squad, however, was prepared. They hit the ground in controlled rolls, expertly mitigating the momentum before springing to their feet.
The five core Conjurers immediately fell back, collapsing onto the dirt to desperately recover their breath while three vanguards stepped up to guard them. Four of them were responsible for materializing the vehicle, while the fifth had solely sustained the aura shield.
The dual-wielding gunman was panting heavily as well, but instead of resting, his grim gaze locked dead onto the cavern entrance. He sensed something.
But before he could even shout a warning, a colossal, serpentine tail exploded from the soil beneath him. It impaled him clean through the torso, skewered from below, hoisted violently into the air.
The rest of the Nen users panicked. Some instantly flared their auras, preparing to retaliate, while others violently backpedaled to establish distance from the monstrous appendage. But a split second later, two more hunters were skewered from beneath, hoisted violently into the sky.
"Watch out!" Bencot roared.
Beside him, a squad member violently hurled a metallic disk at the earth. The moment the disk made contact, it expanded explosively. A massive, dark-green net blossomed outward like a snare, aiming to ensnare whatever subterranean nightmare was hunting them.
But before the net could even settle, a gargantuan snake head materialized directly behind the man who had thrown it. The massive jaws snapped shut with a wet crunch, leaving nothing but a pair of severed legs standing on the ground.
Terror flashed in Bencot's eyes, but his hands didn't freeze. He immediately lobbed a spherical orb at his own feet. With a soft pop, the orb detonated, releasing a thick, obscuring smokescreen that instantly swallowed his figure.
The giant snake whipped its head toward the smoke, its slit eyes narrowing in confusion. One of its tails retracted into the earth and instantly erupted from within the cloud, thrashing wildly, but hitting absolutely nothing.
Just then, a javelin screamed through the air from the perimeter, slamming dead center into the snake's skull before it could even register the threat. Aura and scales shattered simultaneously upon impact, but the spear barely penetrated the thick, fibrous muscle beneath the armor.
"Detonate!"
Colin growled the command. Instantly, the javelin lodged in the creature's flesh exploded with the force of a heavy bomb. The snake's scalp was reduced to a mangled crater of shredded meat and shattered bone, infuriating the subterranean beast. It released an ear-splitting hiss, and the ground began to quake violently as its colossal main body prepared to unearth itself.
The remaining squad members went deathly pale. Colin immediately nocked another javelin, his expression grim; he knew a second strike wouldn't be enough to put the monster down.
But right at that moment, a violently rotating sphere of pure energy was launched from the edge of the treeline, hurtling straight toward the snake's mangled head.
BOOM!!
A deafening roar tore through the clearing as the sphere of high-speed wind blades collided squarely with the beast. The sphere instantly expanded into a maelstrom of blue wind chakra, entirely consuming the snake's upper half. The tremors ceased. The thrashing tails went limp, slamming heavily back into the dirt.
Ronin stepped out from the shadows of the forest edge, his hand still extended from throwing the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!
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