The instant the ball was struck, No. 6 and No. 7 fused directly in front of Razor, crossing both arms to block the incoming ball.
The two sides only clashed for about a second before the fused No. 13 player's arms shattered outright, and a hole was punched through his chest.
But thanks to No. 13's block, the ball's power had already dropped sharply.
Behind No. 13, Razor clasped both hands together in a volleyball receive posture and drove them upward with force, striking the incoming ball.
Bang!
The ball was hit by that tremendous force and flew upward. Razor, meanwhile, was carried several meters back by the massive impact, sliding all the way into the outfield.
The ball shot into the air and smashed straight through the fortress ceiling, vanishing from sight.
Razor looked at his swollen wrists and smiled bitterly. "You really are strong."
"So are you," Ronin said.
What he was thinking of at that moment was Hisoka's ability. If that ball had also been wrapped in Hisoka's Bungee Gum, then Razor's strike absolutely wouldn't have been able to send it flying into the sky.
But judging from the state of Razor's wrists, Ronin figured he probably could have blocked that hit.
Overall, Razor's aura capacity should have already broken past one hundred thousand. He was a true powerhouse.
Outside the court, the pirates were all staring in stunned silence.
Their captain had actually lost in a one-on-one match.
It was unbelievable.
Beside them, Neon had already started cheering.
"I lost. We'll leave this town as promised." Razor carried out his role as an NPC tool character.
Ronin showed a relieved expression. Being able to defeat Razor head-on in the match gave him a much deeper understanding of his current strength.
He didn't have any further conversation with Razor. The pirates packed up and soon left the fortress.
The previous NPC also reappeared at the fortress, and as dawn arrived, he brought Ronin the hardest designated-slot card to obtain: Strip of Beach.
With that card obtained, many people in the game began guessing that Ronin's team now had the strength to clear the game.
Genthru was one of them.
He felt unwilling, but having met Ronin face-to-face, he knew very well just how terrifyingly strong Ronin was.
Unless he could plant a bomb on Ronin, there was no possibility of defeating him.
But during their last encounter, Ronin had given him a deep, unreadable feeling. If he got too close and Ronin noticed anything unusual, the result could be catastrophic for him.
Genthru hesitated.
But that hesitation didn't last long.
After years of planning, there was no way he could easily hand over a reward worth tens of billions. No matter what, he had to meet Ronin again.
After leaving the fortress, Ronin kept thinking about one question: once he cleared the game, which card should he take out?
Also, he currently only had ninety-three cards in hand. The six he was missing would have to be completed through Genthru.
He already knew that after the previous incident, Nickes had mysteriously died.
The one who did it was obviously the Bomber, Genthru. It was just that no one currently knew his true identity.
In fact, after Nickes's death, all the cards from that previous organization had ended up concentrated in Genthru's hands.
Genthru had obtained control over the cards through an even simpler method than in the manga, where he had threatened people with bombs.
But precisely because of that, Ronin had set his sights on Genthru.
Ronin had already canceled all of his shadow clones, and the card in his hand had been switched to Accompany.
He believed Genthru should already know that he had obtained Strip of Beach, so next, even if Ronin didn't move against Genthru, Genthru would probably find an opportunity to strike at him.
Ronin simply didn't intend to give him that chance.
Accompany activated instantly.
The target was Genthru.
When Ronin and the others landed, Genthru had already gathered every member he could summon.
Ronin immediately realized that they had landed right in the middle of the enemy's encirclement.
And every person there was holding a card binder, fully prepared for battle.
Ronin raised an eyebrow and instantly understood what Genthru was planning.
At that same moment, the cardholders activated the cards in their hands.
All of them were spell cards.
The tactic felt strangely familiar.
Back when Ronin dealt with the Phantom Troupe trio, he had done the same thing: use spell cards to directly attack the enemy and seize all the cards in their possession.
But a faint smile appeared at the corner of Ronin's mouth.
Because right now, not only did he also have spell cards in hand, he was also holding a shield. In addition, a beautiful necklace hung around his neck.
The moment the surrounding attackers activated their spell cards, Ronin also used the spell card in his hand.
Holy Water.
Its effect was simple: it could defend against ten offensive spell-card attacks from opponents.
And the shield in his hand wasn't an ordinary item either. It was the designated-slot card Shield of Faith, with an acquisition difficulty as high as S-rank and a limited quantity of only fifteen.
Its effect was very simple: when he raised the shield, it nullified all movement-type spell cards used by players within a twenty-meter radius centered on him.
The necklace on his chest was called Paladin's Necklace. When equipped, it could not only reflect spell-card effects, but also remove spells from any card it touched.
In other words, Ronin had come here fully prepared.
Holy Water, Paladin's Necklace, and even Shield of Faith had all been prepared to stop Genthru from escaping.
What he hadn't expected was that Genthru had already prepared to seek fortune amid danger.
Genthru also had a spell card in his hand.
But it was Leave.
He knew very clearly that he was no match for Ronin. He also knew that this trap-like setup would completely offend Ronin.
So his plan was to have his team members seize Ronin's cards and escape quickly.
At the same time, he, the one holding a large number of cards, would temporarily leave the game and go outside.
Of course, the cards in his possession had already been transferred elsewhere.
For now, no one in the game knew about his relationship with Sub and Bara. As long as those two remained in the game holding the cards, he still had a chance to turn things around.
But he never expected Ronin to raise the Shield of Faith.
The Leave card in his hand instantly lost its ability to activate. Genthru stepped backward. As long as he could get out of the Shield of Faith's effective range, he would still have a chance to escape.
Even so, a sharp, calculating gleam reflected off his triangular glasses.
Amid the spell-card attacks, Ronin saw Genthru's movement.
In truth, even if he hadn't made such complete preparations, Genthru's people still wouldn't have been able to take many cards from him.
One reason was that, at the moment, all of the cards weren't actually in his own binder, but in Shizuku's binder.
The other was that Genthru had simply gathered too few people. Compared with the number Ronin had used to target the Phantom Troupe trio back then, this was nowhere near enough.
Even the defensive effect of Holy Water alone would have been more than sufficient.
~~~
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