The giant serpent's appearance posed an enormous threat to Benkt's team. From the moment it emerged, it had already killed several members in quick succession.
Ronin had been following behind the squad the whole time, but not because he wanted to watch them get wiped out here.
In his eyes, the fact that they had managed to break into this place and lure out the giant serpent already meant they had done very well.
So when he saw that Colin's javelin wasn't enough to kill the serpent, he chose to act.
The instant Wind Release: Rasenshuriken exploded, it was like a massive meat grinder had been created in midair. In a single moment, the entire area around the serpent's head, along with more than half its body, was shredded into bloody pulp.
Blood rained down from above. Although Benkt and the others were completely caught off guard, all of them secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, from the moment that giant serpent appeared, it had placed far too much pressure on them.
But when Benkt saw that the one who had acted was Ronin, his expression turned somewhat ugly again.
Because in that instant, he realized that his group had definitely been used by Ronin as a pawn.
But how had Ronin done it?
Benkt was puzzled, because he was certain that before they arrived here, this place should have just gone through a battle.
Especially along the path they had taken, they could clearly see traces of combat. The trees still burning along the road and the ant corpses scattered everywhere all proved that Ronin's group had already fought their way in ahead of them.
That was also why Benkt had charged in without hesitation.
Because in his plan, Ronin's group, who had impulsively broken away from the team, was also a weapon he intended to use.
Both sides understood that, so Benkt really had no grounds to look angry. Not to mention, Ronin could have chosen not to step forward, yet he still helped them deal with the giant serpent.
Strictly speaking, he should have thanked him.
Ronin merely nodded at Benkt from a distance, then focused his attention on the cave behind Benkt's group.
The ant queen from earlier was no longer visible there, but that ominous feeling had only grown stronger.
Following Ronin's gaze, Benkt also turned his eyes toward the cave.
However, he did not immediately lead his people over. Instead, he quickly gathered his companions and began counting casualties.
During that time, Ronin and the other two also walked out from the forest.
The two groups gathered in one place, though they did not truly merge together. At the same time, everyone's gaze fell on the cave.
As for the cliff wall above the cave, the situation there was rather intriguing. There were many openings in the rock face, and they could even see ants appearing at some of the entrances.
But those ants had no intention of coming down at all. It was as if they were deliberately allowing Ronin and the others to enter the cave.
"You got here first, didn't you? What exactly is going on here?" Benkt was the first to break the silence.
Ronin nodded. "We did arrive a step earlier, but before we could enter the cave, that giant serpent blocked us."
Benkt didn't entirely believe Ronin's explanation.
But looking at the area around the cave, all he could see were traces left behind by the giant serpent's movements. There were no signs of battle at all.
And if Ronin's group had really had a chance to enter the cave, the situation probably wouldn't be this calm right now.
Benkt also had a premonition that something inside that cave was absolutely hiding a danger equal to, or even greater than, the giant serpent.
So should they still go in?
Benkt hesitated. But they had already come this far. Stopping here would be far too regrettable.
Another point was that reward often grew in proportion to risk.
Perhaps the true treasure hidden in this ruin was inside that cave.
Benkt turned to look at the companions behind him. Most of them gave him slight nods, showing their resolve.
Ronin, meanwhile, had no intention of still using Benkt after things had reached this point.
So he simply took Mascher and Vanessa with him and walked toward the cave first.
He had been thinking about one question the entire time: when his shadow clone had attacked the ant queen with a kunai earlier, how exactly had that kunai been blocked?
Under the Sharingan's perception, he had clearly seen that the closer the kunai got to the ant queen, the smaller it became.
That made him think of an ability.
In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, there was a Green Baby whose Stand ability caused objects that approached it to shrink the closer they got.
When Jolyne Cujoh and Anasui tried to approach the Green Baby, every time the distance between them and the baby was reduced by half, their bodies also shrank to half their original size. When the distance became one-fourth, their bodies became one-fourth. When the distance became one-eighth, their bodies shrank to one-eighth, continuing endlessly.
A similar ability also existed in Jujutsu Kaisen: Gojo Satoru's Limitless technique.
If the ant queen truly possessed such an ability, then attacking her would indeed be almost impossible.
Because anything dangerous that approached her would gradually shrink as the distance between them narrowed, becoming infinitely small and never truly touching her.
But was that really possible?
This ability of the ant queen's should belong to the spatial category, which made it most likely a manifestation of an Emission-type ability.
And as long as it was constructed through an ability, then it had to have one weakness: using it would inevitably consume the user's own aura.
This kind of fully reactive Nen would be passively triggered whenever an attack approached. And as long as that was confirmed, then could continuous attacks exhaust the ant queen's aura?
However, there was something odd about that.
In Ronin's observations, the ant queen had not mastered Nen. It did not seem like she was pretending.
But inside her body—especially around her abdomen—there was aura being emitted.
In other words, the one most likely creating this fully reactive protective Nen was the child inside the ant queen's belly.
Would that be the next generation's Ant King?
How great would an Ant King's aura be? While they were trying to exhaust its aura, would it be born?
And after its birth, how strong would that Ant King be?
Ronin thought of Meruem, the Ant King born in NGL. His strength was already beyond anything Ronin could deal with.
But the current situation was different from NGL.
At least judging from the royal guard ant—the giant serpent that had been killed—the Ant King currently being produced by this queen might be completely unable to compare with Meruem in strength.
However, what made it troublesome might lie in its Nen ability.
That Limitless-like ability would make most methods incapable of threatening it.
But the other party was not Gojo Satoru either. If it wanted to break through its own "Limitless" and attack its enemies, then it would need to actively master this reactive Nen ability.
Otherwise, this reactive Nen would protect both it and its opponents.
Thinking of this, Ronin found himself somewhat looking forward to the possibility of its birth.
~~~
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