Vanessa's change in attitude mainly happened after she left the cave.
Because Benkt's group, who had left the cave first while carrying the golden throne, hadn't managed to transport it away at all.
The moment they left the cave, they were attacked.
Vanessa didn't recognize the person who attacked them.
But she did recognize the person who ended up taking the golden throne.
It was Shizuku.
In other words, one of Ronin's people. Right before everyone's eyes, the golden throne vanished into the vacuum cleaner Shizuku was holding.
Benkt and Colt both stepped forward at the same time, clearly intending to demand back the golden throne they had paid such a heavy price to obtain.
But the one who moved before them was the orange-haired young man who had attacked them as soon as they came out of the cave and snatched the golden throne away from them.
He had a cheerful-looking face, but his expression was extremely serious, and what he did had absolutely nothing to do with being a good person.
He called himself Yahiko.
And Shizuku had taken the golden throne from that orange-haired youth, Yahiko.
By the time Vanessa returned, the matter had already been settled. Benkt and the others were no match for Yahiko at all, but Yahiko couldn't break through Kurapika's group either. And Kurapika's group, naturally, had no intention of handing over the golden throne they had already obtained.
In the end, Benkt and the others could only slink away from the central passage area in disgrace.
Because they knew very clearly that Vanessa's appearance completely confirmed that they would never be able to take the golden throne back from Ronin's team.
But Benkt also understood that he had been played by Ronin this time.
They had never seen that guy called Yahiko before. They had no idea where he had come from. Benkt even had a feeling that Yahiko was actually part of Ronin's group too, just a convenient tool used to make Ronin's seizure of the golden throne look better.
If Ronin knew what Benkt was thinking, he would have given him a thumbs-up.
After all, with a name like Yahiko, how could he possibly be an outsider? He was just a shadow clone Ronin had prepared before entering the cave.
Anyone with eyes could tell Yahiko was on their side, but the necessary face-saving performance still had to be done.
Now that Ronin had obtained the sealing scroll Vanessa brought, he wasted no time returning beneath the tree.
Ronin had no idea where Kurapika had found someone to make the sealing scroll. Although it was still somewhat different from what he had imagined, its appearance was already close enough.
The question now was how to complete the contract.
Ronin's idea was simple: he would follow the method Naruto used in the manga when leaving his name on a summoning scroll. Ronin would also write his name on the summoning scroll.
But before that, the giant snake's mark needed to be left on the scroll as well.
Ronin understood it as the giant snake leaving both its blood and Nen on the scroll, after which the scroll would remain with the snake.
With that thought in mind, he strode toward the giant tree.
The giant snake on the tree bared its fangs at him again and let out a warning hiss.
But Ronin had no intention of stopping. Either way, today, even if the giant snake resisted, he was going to put its blood and Nen onto the scroll. At worst, he would just do it by force.
The giant snake clearly understood Ronin's determination as well.
Its thick tail suddenly turned into a blur, vanishing for an instant—
only for a loud bang to follow.
Its high-speed slashing tail had been blocked by Ronin in an instant.
A large amount of rock had already covered Ronin's arm.
Earth Release: Rock Fist.
The giant snake's slash failed to break through the stone. Instead, Ronin's rocky fist immediately reached out to grab the snake's tail.
A clash between Enhancement types was ultimately just a comparison of numbers.
The giant snake's total aura far exceeded Ronin's, but the amount of aura it could unleash in a single instant was not enough to contend with Ronin's explosive output when he used ninjutsu.
In other words, in a brief collision, Ronin's numbers surpassed the snake's.
But in terms of endurance, if Ronin didn't activate the Strength of a Hundred Seal, he was absolutely no match for the giant snake.
The giant snake clearly hadn't expected a human's strength to be able to contend with its own.
Its thick tail failed to avoid Ronin's massive stone hand, though it hadn't really intended to dodge in the first place. Instead, the moment it was grabbed, it erupted with even greater strength.
From the look of it, it seemed to be trying to fling Ronin away outright.
But the giant snake was destined to be disappointed.
Because the moment Ronin's stone hand seized it, a new ninjutsu activated.
Earth Release: Added-Weight Rock Technique.
The giant snake's tail began showing signs of petrification. At the same time, the snake's tail became incomparably heavy in an instant. Forget flinging Ronin away—even lifting it became nearly impossible for the snake in that moment.
This sudden change made confusion flash through the giant snake's bell-sized eyes.
But what shocked it even more came next.
Because Ronin's arm exploded with power, and he actually began pulling in the opposite direction, trying to drag the giant snake down from the tree.
Once the giant snake realized that, it could no longer worry about the change in its tail. Its body rapidly coiled around the giant tree.
It tried to resist Ronin's strength this way.
But in the face of raw numbers, every choice it made was futile. A force stronger than its own could simply drag it down from the tree.
The giant snake, being hauled down, suddenly turned its head, opened its enormous mouth, and spat a mouthful of venom toward Ronin.
The completely colorless venom, looking no different from water, hadn't even reached Ronin before a Water Release: Water Formation Wall formed, directly rolling the venom back toward the giant snake.
The giant snake had no time to dodge. Driven by the water current, the venom swept over its own body.
Even diluted, the venom instantly corroded a large number of wounds into the giant snake's body.
Ronin had no intention of holding back. The moment the Water Formation Wall dispersed, Susanoo appeared, and its massive hand reached straight for the critical point seven inches below the snake's head.
With the Mystical Palm Technique as insurance, Ronin could accept anything as long as he didn't directly kill the giant snake.
And besides, under the current circumstances, if he didn't teach the giant snake a lesson, it would never understand who was in charge.
Susanoo's giant hand met almost no resistance as it pinned the giant snake directly to the ground.
The giant snake's body still twisted with all its strength, but the rock spreading upward from its tail restricted its movements.
Ronin stepped forward, formed hand seals, and activated the Gōremu-style technique again.
A rock giant began replacing Susanoo in suppressing the giant snake, while Ronin approached and unfurled the scroll.
Blood was simple.
He could even soak the entire scroll in the giant snake's blood if he wanted.
The real question was how to leave the giant snake's Nen inside the scroll.
But Ronin quickly thought of a method.
Sealing jutsu.
With that in mind, he simply tore off a chunk of the giant snake's flesh and placed it onto the scroll.
Then, as the Four Symbols Seal activated, that piece of flesh, still carrying the giant snake's life energy, slowly melted into the scroll and disappeared.
Ronin could feel that after completing this step, the nature of the scroll had changed.
Filled with anticipation, he bit his finger and quickly wrote his own name on the scroll.
~~~
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