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Chapter 140: Assessing the Situation
Ronin's mere proximity completely shattered Zachary's remaining will to resist. After surrendering all of his cards to Ronin, the teen revealed his identity.
He identified himself as Zachary, confirming he was indeed one of the players hired by Battera. However, judging by the pitiful handful of Designated Slot cards he had handed over, he was absolute bottom-tier trash. No wonder he preyed on rookies.
Killing him was undeniably the fastest way to open up a game slot, but Ronin wasn't the type to slaughter people indiscriminately. So, his question was straightforward:
"Do you know where the port is?"
If Zachary's answer was 'no', Ronin wouldn't mind disposing of him. After all, the kid was the one who had come at them with malicious intent. If he died here, he'd only have himself to blame. There was a stark difference between 'not killing indiscriminately' and 'not killing at all.'
"I know! It's about fifty kilometers from Masadora. It's marked on the map I just gave you!" Zachary panicked. He could clearly feel the faint, suffocating killing intent radiating from Ronin.
Though he didn't know why Ronin wanted to find the port, he knew his answer was the only thing keeping him alive. Sure enough, as soon as he spoke, the killing intent gradually faded.
"We can keep him around as a temporary bait. Once we reach the port and acquire the [Leave] card, we'll send him packing to Kurapika," Ronin outlined his plan.
Zachary wasn't an idiot. Despite being openly branded as bait, he immediately and obediently embraced his role as a guide.
"If we head straight north, we'll hit Antokiba. A ton of players hang out there since it's the easiest place to earn living supplies; it's practically overflowing with bounty missions. Eighty kilometers past Antokiba is a lake. Masadora is to the northwest of the lake, and the port is directly west of Masadora." Zachary paused, shooting Ronin a terrified, tentative look.
"Spit it out," Ronin said, noticing his hesitation.
"If you can get an [Accompany] card, I can take you straight to the port," Zachary pitched his idea.
[Accompany]: When used, transports the caster and all challengers within a 20-meter radius to a designated location (must be a place previously visited) or to a designated challenger (must be someone met in-game).
It was a genuinely good strategy. There were plenty of Accompany cards in circulation—130 in total—yet Zachary didn't have a single one.
"I sold mine," Zachary muttered weakly. "Spell cards sell for a decent price. Ones that transport groups can easily fetch double the market rate. For a solo player like me, selling them is the most profitable choice."
"So, what's the current clearance progress like for the players in the game?" Ronin didn't dwell on the card issue. Instead, he attached a subtle thread of Chakra to Zachary's back, ensuring the guy couldn't bolt, and began probing for intel.
This was another reason he hadn't immediately gotten rid of Zachary. Trash or not, he was a game veteran. He had to know at least some non-classified information.
"I'm not sure, but some people are forming clearing groups to pool their cards. I even got an invite a while back, but I turned it down," Zachary explained. "Organizations like that pop up on and off all the time, but they always end in bloody infighting. I know my own strength, so I have no intention of wading into those muddy waters."
Ronin nodded. That was par for the course. Even though Battera's bounty was currently 'only' thirty billion Jenny, it was still an astronomical sum. Even an average professional Hunter would need to spend an immense amount of time to amass that kind of wealth. While money-making tasks rarely received high difficulty ratings from the Hunter Association, raking in that kind of cash still presented a very real challenge.
From Ronin's knowledge, the Bomber trio had been laying the groundwork five years prior to Gon entering the game. That meant their current organization had likely been founded two years ago. I wonder if Genthru and his crew had already combined their powers to create the [Countdown] ability yet.
Regardless, he possessed complete intelligence on how [Countdown] worked, so he wasn't the least bit worried about falling victim to it. In fact, rather than clashing with the Bomber, he was much more interested in facing off against the game's final boss, Razor. Not in a fight to the death, but in a game of dodgeball.
If he could pull that off, Ronin wouldn't mind taking three cards out of Greed Island as a reward. However, before challenging Razor, he needed to confirm whether any Phantom Troupe members were still inside the game.
Given that the Troupe had stolen copies of Greed Island, it was a given that Bonolenov had suffered severe injuries from his Amaterasu flames. Ronin could easily deduce how he had survived: Nen! In Naruto, utilizing a Chakra Cloak could easily fend off Amaterasu. In the Hunter x Hunter world, a Chakra Cloak was functionally identical to the layer of Nen that protected a user—Ten!
Therefore, by using Ten and mastering a method to completely shed that active layer of Nen from the body, one could nullify the effects of Amaterasu. But saying it was one thing; actually managing to flawlessly discard that entire layer of Nen in practice was no easy feat.
To heal Bonolenov, the Troupe needed to acquire the [Breath of Archangel]. But securing that card came with a prerequisite.
From the manga, Ronin knew the condition: one had to collect all forty distinct spell cards to exchange for the [Breath of Archangel]. In the original story, right up until Gon's group entered the game, no one had managed to obtain that precious SS-rank card. He wasn't sure if players were bottlenecked by the difficulty of gathering all forty spells, or if they simply didn't know the exchange conditions.
If it was the former, it wouldn't be too hard for the Troupe to gather them, though it would cost them time. If it was the latter, then Ronin believed the Troupe was highly likely still wandering around Greed Island right now. That meant if he found them while they were separated, he'd have a golden opportunity to eliminate several Troupe members right here, right now.
"Do you know the conditions for obtaining the [Breath of Archangel]?" Ronin cut straight to the chase.
Zachary shook his head. "That's the card Mr. Battera wants the most. We've seen its specs in the Binder's index, but as for how to actually get it? No one's figured out the method yet."
Ronin nodded. That was perfectly normal. At this point in time, the [Breath of Archangel] was likely just like the [Strip of Beach]—its event hadn't been triggered yet. Only by fulfilling the prerequisite conditions would players learn the actual method for obtaining the card.
Then the key had to lie in Masadora. It was the "birthplace" of all spell cards; naturally, any intel regarding the [Breath of Archangel] was highly likely to be found there. And if the Troupe had uncovered any clues—whether they needed to horde spell cards or trigger the prerequisites—they would undoubtedly be converging on Masadora!
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