Ronin did not go in first. Instead, he stepped aside.
Because he had already seen Pairo's head in the Fourth Prince's memories.
He had never had any connection with Pairo himself. His predecessor had interacted with him quite a bit, but they still couldn't really be called close.
Kurapika was different.
Pairo could be called Kurapika's closest friend. After all, Pairo's eyesight had once worsened because he saved Kurapika.
And it was precisely because of that that Kurapika had insisted on leaving the village and going outside to find a way to heal Pairo's eyes.
Neither of them could have imagined that once they parted, it would become a separation between life and death.
The moment Kurapika saw Ronin's action, he was already mentally prepared.
During his investigation of the Scarlet Eyes, he had also learned about the "head." Especially through certain descriptions, he had already guessed who the head with the most beautiful Scarlet Eyes belonged to.
He did not refuse or say anything. Kurapika gave Ronin one final look, then stepped into the vault.
Ronin sighed and stayed outside the treasury with Shizuku and the others.
Time slowly passed. The first sound to ring out halfway up the mountain was the wail of police sirens. Police cars were approaching.
Shizuku, Neon, and Abaki exchanged a look, then chose to leave at the same time, handing the treasury area completely over to Ronin and Kurapika.
After leaving the treasury, the three of them began cleaning up some of the remaining problems in the villa.
For example, the security guards who had been knocked unconscious, and the police cars coming up the mountain.
But the three of them did not notice that while they were busy handling those matters, several gazes had already fallen on them from the shadows.
"Leave them to me."
The one who spoke was Pakunoda.
The seven who had arrived here were naturally members of the Phantom Troupe.
After taking control of Saiyu, they soon learned about the attack happening at the mountainside villa.
Or rather, from the very beginning, all of their actions had been under someone else's surveillance. So the information about the mountainside villa had been delivered directly to them after they captured Saiyu.
Chrollo was extremely curious about the person behind all this.
And Pakunoda had dug that person's information out of Saiyu's memories.
Beyond Netero.
A man who had spent over a decade laying plans in Kakin, and who had always wanted to explore the Dark Continent.
As for what the Dark Continent was, Chrollo did not know much. But from Saiyu, he learned that it seemed to be the outside of this world.
He did not know Beyond's exact goal, but judging from the man's actions, it wasn't hard to tell that he was selecting people.
He was choosing from among the Phantom Troupe, Ronin's team, and Saiyu, looking for people who satisfied him.
As for what he wanted them for, perhaps they would only learn that after a victor emerged and met Beyond.
"Can you handle it alone?" Chrollo asked Pakunoda with some concern.
Pakunoda was not a combat-type member. Although the opponents weren't especially strong, Chrollo still felt uneasy about sending only her.
"I only need to hold them back. The real focus is on your side. If you can take down Ronin, everything else will be easy." Pakunoda's voice carried resolve. "My ability doesn't have much effect in direct combat, so let me do what I can."
Pakunoda left with the determination to hold them back for as long as possible, even if it cost her life.
She understood her own role far too clearly.
Her ability was much more suited for support, and had very little use in frontal combat.
Especially against Ronin. Even if she found an opportunity to fire, there was no way her bullets would hit him.
Or rather, if the battle ever reached the point where her bullets could hit Ronin, then whether she was there or not would no longer matter. By then, the Troupe's side should have already won.
And now, what she needed to do was fire her bullets at the three people who had left the villa and draw them away from the area.
When the gunshot rang out, Shizuku blocked the bullet with Blinky.
Abaki quickly identified the direction the shot had come from, while Neon was the first to dash out, a pen appearing in her hand.
As long as she could see the enemy and confirm their identity, Neon would immediately activate her curse.
Abaki turned and glanced toward the villa. For some reason, she had a feeling that the gunshot had been meant to lure them away from the villa entrance.
But seeing Shizuku follow Neon and rush out, she did not stop either. She only tapped her phone a few times and sent a message to Ronin.
The person in the entire team who least needed to be worried about was Ronin.
So if someone really was targeting their team, then let that person go find Ronin.
That was probably exactly what Ronin wanted to see.
After all, on the way here, Ronin and Kurapika had already predicted that if the Phantom Troupe was in Kakin, then there was a very high chance they would appear when the Scarlet Eyes were recovered.
So were the people using this diversion strategy now the Troupe?
And when facing the Troupe, Ronin had only given them one piece of advice:
Protect yourselves.
Abaki tightened her grip on her fishing rod. Although Ronin had said that, their three-person squad—or rather, what should originally have been a four-person squad—had its own thoughts and judgment too.
Inside the villa, Ronin felt his phone vibrate.
When he took it out, he saw the message Abaki had sent.
Without hesitation, he pulled a scroll from behind him. As he unfolded it and poured chakra into it, a shadow clone that had been sealed inside in advance was released.
The moment the shadow clone appeared, it headed straight for the underground passage leading to the vault. At the same time, it released En.
But in the very next second, the shadow clone's body suddenly trembled. Then it actually dispersed right there on the stairs.
At the top of the staircase stood Chrollo, wearing a black coat, holding Skill Hunter in one hand and a phone aimed at the shadow clone's location in the other.
His gaze turned downward, his eyes carrying a trace of solemnity.
If one had to ask what ability of Ronin's the Phantom Troupe feared most, the Troupe—who had dealt with Ronin countless times—would give only one answer:
Shadow clones.
Those clones, indistinguishable from the real body in both appearance and aura, were the most troublesome thing when dealing with Ronin.
Especially since these clones possessed considerable combat ability as well, making their difficulty rise by several more levels.
That was why, when Chrollo searched for methods to deal with Ronin, sealing his vision and breaking his clone ability had been the two most important priorities.
Fortunately, Chrollo had now obtained both abilities.
The ability recorded on the open page was called True Form.
All beings captured by the recording device in his hand would reveal their truest appearance.
This ability had originally been developed by a Nen user with otaku tendencies after being tormented by various makeup and beauty-filter techniques. It was meant to identify someone's true face.
But after Chrollo discovered it, it gained a new use.
Because he knew very clearly that Ronin's clones were also constructed from Nen.
And when forced to reveal their true appearance, what appeared beneath his camera lens was the red-glowing mass of energy he saw now.