Muir recorded the entire metal door with video equipment while several mercenaries took still photos.
Only after everything was documented did the golem extend its mechanical arm and push against the iron door.
Tremendous force erupted from the construct. The door groaned under the pressure, dust raining down as it slowly creaked open, revealing a narrow gap.
The gap widened. Bit by bit, the space beyond became visible.
A withered giant tree.
A question flashed through Ronin's mind. Was the alchemy plant Merion really this enormous?
It was.
Even withered and clearly dying, the tree was still colossal. Its roots alone were dozens of meters thick. Looking upward, they could see dry, shriveled egg-like pods still hanging from the trunk.
It reminded Ronin of the giant tree the Chimera Ants had planted inside the East Gorteau palace.
The door was pushed fully open. Centuries of accumulated dust billowed into the air.
Ronin spread his En into the room. He sensed no danger at all. It seemed the monsters that had filled the building had been the last generation this ancient tree had ever produced.
The mercenary team moved in cautiously.
After confirming the sealed room held no immediate threats, and with several mercenaries posted at the entrance, the rest of the group approached the base of the massive tree.
"This thing doesn't look particularly valuable to us," Ronin said. His attention had already drifted to the storage areas around the chamber, but after so many centuries nothing useful remained.
He also lacked the specialized knowledge needed to confirm whether this was truly the alchemy plant Merion. That would require both detailed information on Merion itself and a deep understanding of Dark Continent biology—neither of which he possessed.
So even finding a tree this huge didn't excite him much.
"I'm curious," Muir said as he examined the old machinery scattered around the room. None of it worked anymore, so there was no way to tell what any of it had been used for. "Does every building down here have one of these trees underneath it?"
When he circled around to the back of the tree, he found a conveyor belt that disappeared straight into the trunk. The opening where the belt entered was only about three meters wide.
After wiping away the dust near the belt, they discovered dried brown stains on the floor beneath it—stains that looked disturbingly like old blood.
One word rose in everyone's mind at the same time.
Blood sacrifice.
They didn't know whether the offerings had been human or animal.
From there, things were straightforward. They gathered anything that might still hold value, then pushed the heavy door shut again.
Given how much effort even the golem had needed to open it, most teams wouldn't be able to force their way inside even if they discovered the monsters' weakness and found the door.
"Should we check the other buildings?" Ronin asked.
Muir nodded. One building's discovery wasn't enough to draw solid conclusions. They needed more data before they could understand the full picture of these ruins.
If every structure down here had the same setup—metal door and ancient tree—then the best move would be to hand the site over to the Hunter Association and V5's Dangerous Biologicals Division. They would extract far more value from it than a single mercenary team ever could.
Ronin nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry," Maschur said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Even with just what we've found so far, the payout should be more than enough."
He assumed Ronin was disappointed with how the exploration had turned out.
The truth was different.
Ronin was realizing that exploring ancient ruins was genuinely enjoyable. It satisfied his curiosity and always left him with that fresh sense of discovery waiting just around the corner.
This particular find had felt a little underwhelming in the end… but what if they actually located the real alchemy plant Merion deeper in?
Exploration suddenly seemed far more appealing than he had originally thought.
Before joining this expedition, Ronin had always pictured himself following the same path as Chairman Netero.
Train steadily. Keep challenging stronger opponents. Keep fighting until he stood at the very top.
Reaching the pinnacle of the martial path was the view he had always wanted to see.
With the Sharingan—already evolved to the Mangekyō stage—Ronin had never doubted how high he could climb.
But what came after that?
Would he end up like Chairman Netero, watching his body slowly age and his strength gradually slip away from the peak?
Maybe heading into the Dark Continent wasn't such a bad idea after all.
He could see what lay beyond this lake, and find out what kind of growth was possible in that unknown land.
"Ronin?"
The team had already moved some distance ahead. Vanessa noticed he had fallen behind and stopped to wait.
"Hm?" Ronin snapped out of his thoughts, smiled, and quickly caught up.
If he really wanted to go to the Dark Continent, he couldn't just decide on a whim.
There were still many things he needed to prepare and several loose ends he had to tie up first.
He needed to collect the remaining Scarlet Eyes. He also had to deal with whatever Phantom Troupe members were still alive.
Then there was the question of who would actually go with him. Should he join Byande's expedition, or build his own team?
According to the original timeline, Byande wouldn't be able to head for the Dark Continent until after Chairman Netero's death—still more than two years away.
That was a long time. Even if Ronin didn't interfere with events, he had no intention of joining Kakin's royal succession team.
That whole succession war was obviously a trap. Besides, V5 would only allow Kakin's group to reach the fake continent anyway. The real Dark Continent was still much farther away.
If Ronin truly wanted to reach the Dark Continent, he preferred Netero's old method—assemble a small, elite team and slip in quietly without leaving any official record.
But to pull that off, he would need to gather a lot more information.
While these thoughts ran through his mind, Ronin stayed with the team and joined the next round of clearing operations.
This time the golem took the lead. Ronin played a supporting role.
Monsters that had been nearly impossible to kill with the Gatling gun now fell quickly under the flamethrower's sustained burn.
Ronin's main contribution was using Water Style to rapidly cool the underground spaces.
Working together, the two of them cleared areas several times faster than when Ronin had relied on Great Fire Annihilation alone.