"Surprised?" Uvogin's face was full of smug satisfaction. "As long as I'm sure you'll head to Yanshui City, all I have to do is get here before you—and the local thugs become my best eyes and ears."
Even if Uvogin hadn't said it, Ronin could've guessed as much.
So when Uvogin spelled it out, all he got in return was Ronin lifting a hand and making a short gesture—barely an inch wide—like he was indicating "just a little."
"Yeah, a bit surprised. You're a lot smarter than I thought. I figured you were just a barking gorilla."
What truly surprised Ronin was that Uvogin actually had the patience to camp here and wait for him.
That simple-minded brute… really did hold grudges—and just like Ronin, he didn't like letting hatred sit overnight.
"Sharp tongue. Once I rip that tongue out, let's see what you can still say!" Uvogin's aura had already formed into Ren.
Ronin believed in striking first. The instant Uvogin moved, Ronin's hands snapped into seals in front of his chest.
Snake – Ram – Monkey – Boar – Horse – Tiger
He completed all six seals in a blink. Then Ronin sucked in a sharp breath, leaned back, snapped forward—and exhaled in one burst.
Flames detonated outward.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
Scorching fire formed into a massive sphere. With a rapid series of bang bang bang as glass shattered, the roaring fireball surged straight at Uvogin.
Uvogin had been ready.
The moment he saw Ronin's eyes change and his hands form seals, he knew the kid was about to use an ability.
But seeing Ronin literally spit fire still shook him.
Even a Transmuter who specialized in turning Nen into flames shouldn't be able to do something like this so casually… right?
But in a narrow corridor, there was nowhere to dodge.
So Uvogin simply stopped, dropped into a solid stance, twisted his torso—and condensed even more Nen onto his fist.
As the flames rushed toward him, Uvogin exhaled with a shout and drove a punch straight into the fire.
Big Bang Impact!
This was his Nen—his raw, simple, brutal straight punch, fully unleashing both his monstrous body and Enhancer aura.
BOOM!
Only after the punch launched did the air crack with a sonic blast. The shockwave from his fist slammed into the onrushing flames.
The front of the fireball caved in. The next instant, it was pierced straight through.
Uvogin's long hair whipped violently in the gusting air, but the flames could no longer threaten him.
Yet when he looked past the hole punched through the fire, he didn't see Ronin at the other end of the corridor.
Did he run again?
Or was he trying to ambush him again like before?
But on an airship—where could you even run?
Uvogin's lips curved. If the brat wanted to leave by airship, then Uvogin would turn this airship into his coffin and gift it to him.
Ronin really wasn't in the corridor anymore.
But he hadn't moved toward the passenger cabins.
Instead, after the Great Fireball blew out the window, Ronin slipped outside onto the ship's exterior.
Uvogin's toughness… didn't seem quite as terrifying as the manga had made it look.
Even though Uvogin had punched through the Great Fireball, Ronin still had that feeling.
He even felt like, at this moment, he wasn't completely helpless against Uvogin.
Ronin figured two factors were at play:
First, this wasn't the Uvogin of three-plus years later. His Nen development hadn't reached its peak yet.
In fact, even the Yorknew-era Uvogin from three years later probably hadn't hit his true ceiling.
Second, the Sharingan's evolution had given Ronin more chakra—and with that came confidence.
With the Sharingan's perceptive power on top of it, Uvogin's movements didn't even look fast to Ronin. He was confident he could keep up.
But even if he could keep up, Ronin knew he'd still need external leverage to actually beat Uvogin.
Otherwise, just breaking Uvogin's defense was already a problem.
And the key that let him even contend at all was his Sharingan state—but maintaining it drained him far faster than it drained Uvogin.
So a war of attrition was impossible.
Ideally, he needed an ambush… or—
Ronin's gaze swept across the airship's outer wall.
Inside the corridor, noisy chaos broke out. People had discovered something was wrong.
After all, once the window shattered, wind had been pouring into the airship nonstop.
Ronin pressed himself flat against the hull and didn't move.
He knew how sharp an Enhancer like Uvogin's senses were. If Ronin made even a scraping sound against the metal skin, a fully alert Uvogin might catch it.
He was also wary of Uvogin using En—the advanced application of aura that combined Ten and Ren. At their current distance, if Uvogin spread his aura outward with En, it would be easy to detect Ronin clinging to the outside.
Uvogin's expression turned ugly.
A bunch of crew members flooded into the corridor, approaching him with "helpful" concern—partly to ask what happened, partly to escort him away from the "dangerous" area.
Uvogin also heard someone contacting the captain, saying the airship should turn back and land for repairs.
So that was Ronin's real goal.
If the airship landed, Ronin would have far more room to escape.
Realizing this, Uvogin turned and strode toward the cockpit.
He couldn't let the airship land.
The sky was the best place to catch that little rat.
"Sir—"
A crew member tried to speak, but an irritated Uvogin snapped his hand up and grabbed the crewman's head like it was a basketball.
Crunch!
Even a hard skull couldn't stop Uvogin's strength. The crewman's head burst like a watermelon in his grip.
In that instant, the corridor erupted into panic—crew and passengers alike.
But Uvogin, who had started walking forward again, suddenly stopped and turned his head toward the shattered window.
From Ronin spitting fire to Uvogin punching through it, only a few seconds had passed.
Then the crew rushed in.
Which meant if Ronin had really sprinted out of the corridor, someone would've seen him.
"There was someone here before you came in—did you see anyone leave the corridor?" Uvogin asked, and as the words left his mouth, his aura spread outward.
He wasn't great at En, but he wasn't trash like Nobunaga either—someone who could only extend En three or four meters.
Twelve meters.
That was Uvogin's En range right now.
If Ronin was within that range, Uvogin would feel him. Ronin entered fights in Zetsu, and outside of fights he used Ten.
A newly awakened Nen user couldn't control aura well enough to perfectly blend into ordinary people and disappear.
Uvogin didn't get an answer from the crew.
He didn't need one.
Because En had already fed him the information he wanted: someone was hiding outside the airship.
"Found you!" Uvogin leapt, his huge hand lunging toward the wall to the side!
The metal plating was like tofu in his grasp—he tore straight through it.
But the hand that punched through the airship's wall… still didn't catch Ronin.
~~~
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