The person below seemed to sense danger. The chain wrapping toward Ronin's leg suddenly changed direction, twisting into a shield-like shape.
In that same instant, the rock fist slammed down and crashed into the chain shield, driving it downward.
BOOM!
A deafening impact shook the entire first floor. The spot where Ronin stood shattered outright.
Below, a figure was dragged back in embarrassment by the towering Franklin—Chrollo himself, book in one hand, a chain now in the other.
But Ronin also noticed that as he fell from the first floor, another figure hurled a spear at him—
Bonolenov, the one covered in holes whose movements produced musical tones.
Ronin lifted the rock fist and blocked the spear's line—
but only for an instant.
The rock fist shattered, the spear stabbed into Ronin's arm, and the damage exceeded what the shadow clone could withstand.
With a puff, Ronin's falling clone turned into white smoke and dispersed into the air.
"So it really is him," Chrollo said, having already withdrawn his ability. Even though he'd suspected it, seeing the clone pop was still irritating.
But before they could vent that irritation, the ground under their feet changed violently.
The solid floor suddenly oozed into mud, turning into a swamp.
All five Troupe members stepped into the mire, and a suction force rose from below, trying to drag them underground.
Chrollo's gaze snapped toward the stairwell.
There, he saw a white-haired young man with both hands pressed to the ground—
Ronin.
Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld.
It was the same technique Jiraiya used in the manga to restrain Orochimaru's summoned giant snake; now Ronin's clone used it to limit the Troupe's five.
At the same time, another figure flashed out behind him—
still wearing the white-haired, masked "Kakashi" look. But this one had already finished forming seals, and his chest had swollen—sign of chakra gathering.
Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation.
Flames erupted from the clone's mouth, swallowing the entire chaotic underground.
But spears shot through the fire.
Thud—thud!
The two clones were pierced and burst into smoke almost instantly.
Yet the thing that "popped" them wasn't the spear itself—
it was the thin sword that stabbed through them from behind.
Feitan—who had evaded Zeno's attacks upstairs—had appeared at the stairwell leading down and drove his rapier into the clones.
The clones hadn't failed to notice Feitan, but the spears limited their movement, and casting two large-scale jutsu had already drained most of their chakra.
As the two clones disappeared, the flames and swamp rapidly receded as well.
Two tall walls appeared directly facing the stairwell—Chrollo and the others had been hiding behind them.
The one who created those walls was Kortopi, whose whole face was wrapped, showing only one eye.
The spot where Chrollo's group stood was also slightly elevated—also made from Kortopi's copied walls, a foothold to keep them from sinking into the swamp.
"Three tomoe… his ability evolved again," Pakunoda said, maintaining a careful distance while staying near Chrollo.
"Maybe more than that," Chrollo replied, expression grim.
This clone method was maddening. Based on what they knew, they had no reliable way to locate Ronin's true body when only a clone appeared.
And repeated encounters had shown these clones weren't "one hit and pop." They had real durability.
That made it worse.
Chrollo even considered a darker possibility: if Ronin kept growing, would that mean his clones could one day be strong enough to kill Troupe members?
If so, even teams of three would still be at risk.
Ronin's combat power was increasing in a bizarre way.
Something about it felt wrong.
Chrollo's thoughts spun. He rubbed his forehead and began reconstructing everything they knew about Ronin—especially the points where Ronin's strength had jumped.
Piece by piece, the pattern clicked.
Chrollo's eyes snapped open.
"I get it!" He'd found the key.
From Uvogin's reports: in the very beginning, Ronin was a freshly awakened Nen user, and Uvogin had been confident he could kill him.
But a few days later in Yanshui City, Ronin had already grown—he even had countermeasures. Still weak, but with terrain advantage, he could trouble Uvogin.
The third encounter was a month later at Heavens Arena.
Ronin had grown again, to the point of fighting Uvogin head-on.
During that period, Chrollo had learned something: Ronin had briefly left Heavens Arena.
And that departure was when Ronin made contact with mercenaries and later hired them to hold off the Troupe.
But mercenaries weren't the real point.
The real point was Ronin's goal in that trip:
Scarlet Eyes.
During that departure, after taking his father's Scarlet Eyes from Uvogin, Ronin gained another pair.
Then came the fourth encounter.
By then Omokage was dead. Ronin had grown again—enough to crush Uvogin head-on.
This time he didn't even need to borrow someone else's aura; his aura pool was nearly on par with Uvogin's.
His growth was too fast—
abnormally fast.
Chrollo had previously judged that Ronin was burning his lifespan for power, but once he connected everything and tied it to Ronin's identity, he realized something else:
Ronin wasn't burning his life.
He was taking revenge with the power of an entire clan.
"It's the eyes," Chrollo murmured.
Omokage had possessed two pairs of Scarlet Eyes—kept deliberately as a collector.
Those eyes likely became Ronin's spoils after the fight.
Then on September 1, Ronin acquired yet another pair from the underground auction.
If you linked it all together, the pattern was obvious:
Every major leap in Ronin's strength happened after he obtained one or more pairs of Scarlet Eyes.
"The Kurta…" Chrollo's eyes grew brighter. "Interesting. That clan must be hiding something.
No wonder Ronin is so obsessed with Scarlet Eyes—those eyes are his source of power!"
Chrollo was certain.
A word even popped into his mind:
Artifact.
A "holy tool" said to grant power beyond imagination—its origin tied to the Dark Continent.
A world-truth that had been slowly surfacing the more Chrollo explored.
Where they lived was only a small lake; beyond that lake was a far greater world. Artifacts came from that wider realm.
If Ronin possessed such an artifact, then "sacrificing" Scarlet Eyes to rapidly gain power became extremely plausible.
That could also explain why Ronin's eyes differed from other Kurta.
So—could Ronin's eyes themselves be the Kurta's artifact?
And could the Kurta—called "Apostles of the Devil"—have come from beyond the lake in the first place?
Chrollo's interest in the Kurta, and in Ronin—the survivor who might hold secrets he didn't know—only intensified.
But before seeing Ronin again, he needed to collect more Scarlet Eyes into the Troupe's hands.
As long as they could limit how many Scarlet Eyes Ronin obtained, they could limit Ronin's growth.
And an enemy that didn't produce variables—
that was the kind of enemy Chrollo could calculate to a 100% win rate.