The struggle didn’t last long.

Soon, the person hanging from the rope stopped moving and lost all signs of life.

“Bang!”

It was as if some kind of mechanism had been triggered.

The massive balloon suddenly burst, spilling not air, but blood—countless streams of blood rained down from the sky, drenching the people below.

Gradually, the people began to change.

Their emotions grew wild and frenzied.

Some had lustful gleams in their eyes.

Others cursed uncontrollably.

Still, others started destroying things recklessly.

But no one noticed the noose that had appeared around their necks.

At the end of each noose, a balloon had started to inflate.

As their emotions surged, the balloons grew larger.

Dominica’s expression darkened again.

“Ron, can you handle this?” he asked.

Ron nodded firmly. “Yes.”

“Good. I’m leaving this to you,” Dominica said. Despite his lingering doubts about Ron’s strength, he had no choice. With another monster appearing, he could only entrust the task to Ron. It was the best option at the moment.

“Filthy pests from Taris!” Dominica shouted.

“Maggots! When I catch you, I’ll grind you to dust!” His hatred for Shusuke Ito burned brighter than ever.

Ron turned his attention to the enormous fish ahead.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke stood by his side.

Wendy, fending off smaller creatures, couldn’t help but glance at Ron’s direction.

Meanwhile, the civilians at the airship station had descended into utter chaos, gripped by sheer terror.

—

“Monsters!”

“Oh no, is this the end of the world?”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to die; I want to live!”

“Mom, save me!”

…

Ron focused his aura into his hand and channelled it into the Rotten Life Blade.

With a powerful swing, he slashed through the air toward the massive fish.

A ghostly light emanated from the blade.

The next moment, it struck the fish directly.

Countless eggs appeared instantly, attaching themselves to the fish’s body, and consuming its aura.

Sensing this, the fish instinctively shook its body, trying to dislodge the eggs.

But this was the ability of the Rotten Life Blade.

Forged from Nen-infused materials extracted from the Cockroach Desaster and refined through Ron’s repeated infusion of aura, the Rotten Life Blade couldn’t be shaken off easily.

“Akutagawa Ryūnosuke!” Ron called out.

Akutagawa stepped forward.

“Fangs!”

The fabric on his back transformed into massive, dark-red jaws that lunged ferociously at the fish.

“Crunch!”

The fish, seemingly disdainful of Akutagawa, didn’t even attempt to dodge, instead choosing to take the attack head-on.

Perhaps this was because Akutagawa’s aura didn’t feel particularly strong.

At this point, Ron had allocated only one-fifth of his aura to Akutagawa.

The jaws clamped down hard. Flesh, skin, and bone—all were severed under the crushing force of Akutagawa’s fangs.

Blood sprayed out in torrents, along with white, yellow, and black fluids.

A shrill sound erupted from the fish—not from its throat, but from various parts of its body. This piercing noise was emitted by the humans composing the fish.

The sound was sharp and grating.

Some civilians who hadn’t managed to escape far enough had their eardrums ruptured by the noise.

Ron couldn’t help but recall a scene from the original storyline.

When Uvogin of the Phantom Troupe fought the Shadow Beasts, he used his voice to roar one of their members, Porcupine, to death.

Though the fish’s sound was eerie, its destructive power was far less potent.

It had no effect on Ron.

Ron raised his Rotten Life Blade again and slashed at the fish.

A ghostly light flashed, and the number of eggs on the fish’s body increased.

The more eggs there were, the faster they absorbed the fish’s aura.

At the same time…

“Chii, infiltrate the city’s surveillance network. Report any anomalies to me immediately,” Ron instructed.

With that thought, Chii appeared, moving to a corner with a phone in hand instead of joining the fight.

Within moments, Chii completed the infiltration.

This wasn’t a particularly large city, and its network defences were mediocre at best.

But even in cities with top-tier network security, they wouldn’t stand a chance against Chii.

Chii’s technology was far ahead—not just by one era but by several.

“En!”

Aura radiated outward from Ron, spreading in all directions.

If anyone entered his En, Ron would detect them instantly.

The massive fish roared and charged toward Ron.

However, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke made it difficult for the fish to reach him.

“These monsters lack proper attack power,” Ron observed.

“By Nen-user standards, the fish is clearly stronger than Akutagawa Ryūnosuke.

“Akutagawa Ryūnosuke is only C-rank, while the fish is B-rank.”

“But the fish’s attack power isn’t superior to Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s.”

As a result, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke completely blocked the fish’s attacks.

Each time the fish tried to advance, Akutagawa’s jaws bit into it viciously.

This forced the fish to halt, giving Ron time to create more distance.

“The fish only has two advantages over Akutagawa Ryūnosuke: greater vitality and more aura.”

“But both of these advantages are countered by the Rotten Life Blade.”

The longer the battle dragged on, the more Ron swung the Rotten Life Blade, increasing the number of eggs on the fish’s body.

And the more eggs there were, the faster they absorbed the fish’s aura.

“A monster that relies purely on attrition meets someone even better at attrition: me,” Ron thought.

“With just Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and the Rotten Life Blade, I can take this monster down.

“It’ll just take a bit of time.”

Through this fight, Ron gained deeper insight into battles between Nen users.

A higher Nen rank didn’t guarantee victory.

It all depended on whether the individual excelled at combat.

Someone who wasn’t skilled in battle could lose to a lower-ranked opponent.

“These artificial monsters have a second weakness,” Ron noted.

“They’re not very smart.”

“Neither the earlier monster girl nor this fish is as cunning as some wild beasts.”

Ron swung his Rotten Life Blade again, and this time, the fish’s entire exposed body was covered in eggs.

At this point, the fish’s aura recovery rate was far slower than the absorption rate of the eggs.

Its recovery capabilities dropped to zero, leaving it dependent on its remaining aura reserves.

As time passed, the fish’s condition worsened.

Ron didn’t even need to intervene further. Akutagawa Ryūnosuke alone could finish the job and kill the fish.

Ron then turned his attention to Wendy.

———————–

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