The spiders' true target had never been Benket's group.
While the squad began their retreat under the cover of the conjured off-road vehicle, the spiders completely ignored the vehicle. More and more of them poured toward the exit instead.
"You're just going to let them walk out with the golden throne?" Maschur asked, clearly surprised.
From everything he knew about Ronin, there was no way Ronin would simply hand over something that valuable to Benket's team. No matter how you calculated it, everything of real worth inside this cave should have belonged to Ronin.
Benket's actions right now were basically robbing Ronin of the fruits of his labor. How could he just tolerate that?
Ronin only smiled faintly.
"It's fine. Let them leave first."
The way he looked, he genuinely didn't care about the throne being taken away. Instead, almost all of his attention was locked on the giant serpent still coiled high in the other tree.
He admitted it—that serpent was genuinely strong.
But if the creature chose to stay glued to its tree no matter what, the outcome still wouldn't be good in Ronin's eyes.
From his senses and observations, the cliff face behind the giant trees was packed with countless spiders. With numbers like that, even if they had to trade lives, the spiders could eventually grind the serpent to death through pure attrition.
As for the fire-fearing monsters hatching from the eggs that kept dropping from the trees, Ronin didn't rate them as useful at all. There was almost no chance they could hold back a real spider assault for long.
Before the Chimera Ants had appeared, the key forces holding the spiders at bay had been the two giant serpents living in the trees at the same time, plus the large number of Chimera Ants and fire-vulnerable monsters that must have filled the cave.
Those three forces working together had maintained a delicate balance with the endless spider swarm below.
But now the Chimera Ants were completely wiped out. The fire-vulnerable monsters had just suffered massive losses and were still in a slow recovery phase. Most critically of all, one of the giant serpents was already gone.
The balance was broken.
The only fate waiting for the trees and the remaining serpent was to be drowned under an endless tide of spiders.
Should he step in and protect these two trees?
Ronin carefully weighed the options while staring up at the serpent. A new idea suddenly formed in his mind.
The moment that thought appeared, his eyes lit up. He no longer hesitated. Right there on the tree, he formed hand seals and unleashed a ninjutsu aimed at the ground below.
In this kind of environment, the absolute best way to deal with the spiders was only one thing—Earth Style!
The ground began to tremble. Rock giants created by the Earth Style: Added Weight Rock Technique burst up from the earth and charged into the spider swarm like living bulldozers.
The massive rock giants plowed forward, crushing spiders underfoot and dragging heaps of mangled corpses all the way to the edge of the cliff.
Even there, they didn't stop. With a series of heavy crashes, the rock giants never fell into the abyss. Their enormous bodies simply wedged themselves firmly between the cliff face and the cavern wall, sealing the opening.
More rock giants rose one after another, all using the exact same tactic.
Ronin's goal was simple: block the cliff first. He knew full well that this kind of seal wouldn't last long.
But it didn't need to last long.
He leaped down from the tree and walked straight toward the giant tree where the serpent waited.
The rock giants had not only nearly wiped out the spiders in the immediate area, they had also cleaned out most of the fire-vulnerable monsters that had hatched from the trees.
Eggs were still dropping, though. And the ground after the rock giants' rampage was covered in thick layers of bloody flesh and gore.
That flesh was the perfect nutrient for the fire-vulnerable monsters to grow.
Ronin stepped across the sticky ground until he stood directly beneath the giant tree. He raised his head and met the serpent's vertical pupils.
"I know you can understand me," Ronin said seriously. "I want to make a deal with you. I'll help you protect this place… but in exchange, you will form a contract with me."
Whether the serpent truly understood or not, Ronin simply laid out his entire idea without holding anything back.
Among all the ninjutsu Ronin had never been able to use, there was one particularly unique ability: the Summoning Jutsu.
It wasn't that he was incapable of performing Summoning Jutsu. He simply had never had a suitable summoning partner.
The moment he saw this giant serpent with its enormous aura coiled in the tree—and especially after Maschur had asked whether the creature possessed real intelligence—a wild idea had taken root in Ronin's mind.
If he could form a summoning contract with this serpent, would he be able to summon it anytime, anywhere through the Summoning Jutsu?
Even better… if he reversed the technique, would the Reverse Summoning Jutsu let him return to this cave whenever he wanted?
Once those possibilities appeared in his head, the urge to try became almost impossible to resist.
He didn't even need the serpent to agree willingly. If it refused, Ronin had no problem using force to bring it under control first and then forcing the contract.
But there was still one critical missing piece.
A summoning scroll.
So first he had to keep the serpent alive. Then he needed the people outside the cave to create the scroll he required.
The giant serpent stared down at Ronin with clear confusion, as if it truly didn't understand the meaning of his words.
Yet it still sensed the aggressive intent in Ronin's gaze. A low warning hiss rumbled from its throat.
Ronin completely ignored it. He simply turned his head toward Vanessa.
"Tell Kurapika I need a scroll. Have him make one as fast as possible and bring it in here."
Crunching, grinding sounds were already coming from the cliff. The rock giants sealing the opening were being chewed apart and slashed to pieces by the spiders.
It wouldn't be long before the spiders poured into this space again.
Ronin actually had a clean, simple way to permanently stop the spiders from invading—just unleash Amaterasu right at the cliff entrance.
The spiders would become perfect fuel for the black flames to keep burning forever.
But when he looked at the deep pit behind the giant trees, and the spider corpses being rapidly digested inside it, he discarded the idea.
He had no desire to see these giant trees wither away the same way the ones in the underground city had.
The best solution was to rebuild the balance so that this situation could continue indefinitely.
And doing that was actually simple. All he needed was to spend some money and hire Muir's group.
With the golem's capabilities, maintaining the balance between the two species here shouldn't be difficult at all.
Vanessa still didn't know exactly what Ronin planned, but she nodded anyway and headed for the exit.
Maschur chose to stay behind.
He wanted to see with his own eyes exactly what Ronin intended to do.
Ronin and the giant serpent fell into a silent standoff. Over at the cliff, once the rock giants were finally broken through, the Four Violet Flames Formation appeared instead.
This time it wasn't a fully sealed cube. Under the control of four shadow clones, it formed a barrier wall.
Any spider that climbed up from the cliff and touched the purple flames immediately burst into fire.
The giant serpent watched Ronin's actions. A faint, almost human look of confusion gradually appeared in its vertical pupils.
That confusion didn't last long, however.
Kurapika worked extremely fast. Vanessa had only been gone a few hours when she returned carrying the exact scroll Ronin needed.
But the look she gave Ronin now carried a strange new edge.