The kunai slowly fell, but no one used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport over again.
Both Ronin and Ging looked somewhat grim.
An existence that could absorb an enemy's attack and convert it into its own was an extremely difficult type to deal with.
After the silver Gold and Silver Ingot eagle casually dealt with the shadow clone, the color of its head also changed slightly, gaining a faint golden texture.
At the same time, it did not stop there. Instead, it suddenly flapped its wings and rushed toward Ronin and Ging even faster.
Aside from this Gold and Silver Ingot eagle, which was transforming from silver toward gold, three more Gold and Silver Ingot eagles flew out from the island not far away. One was silver, while the other two were gold.
"Retreat first," Ronin decided immediately.
The Gold and Silver Ingots' ability definitely did not stop at absorbing an opponent's attack and turning it into its own. That much could be seen from the change in the color of its spherical head.
In Ronin's view, directly making contact with them using his main body was extremely dangerous. So it was better to temporarily withdraw and plan slowly.
Ging had no objections to Ronin's judgment.
In this kind of unexpected encounter, avoiding the enemy's sharp edge first was indeed the most suitable choice.
And judging from the ability the silver ingot had displayed, Ging believed that most of the copied Emitter-type abilities he used would probably be absorbed by the opponent the moment they made contact.
One could say that silver ingots somewhat countered ability users of the upper three Nen categories.
The Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique instantly changed into the Weighted Rock Technique, and the two floating men directly began falling at high speed.
The giant eagles and the Gold and Silver Ingots all changed direction in the air. But when Ronin and Ging's falling figures reached a certain altitude and entered the dark clouds, both the giant eagles and the Gold and Silver Ingots stopped moving.
The giant eagles let out frightened cries in the sky, while the Gold and Silver Ingots turned around without the slightest hesitation and flew back toward the island. Soon, they disappeared into the island's buildings, as if they had never appeared at all.
Ronin and Ging, who were falling, quickly noticed this as well.
Passing through the cover of the dark clouds, the two of them reentered the area covered by the torrential rain.
"That was close." Ronin let out a slight breath of relief.
Facing four Gold and Silver Ingots at the same time had put him under tremendous pressure. Especially after the opponent absorbed and unleashed the Rasengan, that pressure increased even more.
Although the Rasengan could not be considered Ronin's current trump card, when combined with the explosive use of the Flying Thunder God Technique, it was still one of his extremely powerful methods.
Yet that very method had been easily neutralized by the opponent. And judging by the obvious improvement in the opponent's state after resolving Ronin's attack, it made the Gold and Silver Ingots seem even more extraordinary.
"Based on what the Gold and Silver Ingots have shown so far, they don't deserve the title of calamity yet," Ging gave his judgment.
However, he did not mean that the Gold and Silver Ingots' reputation did not match their strength. Rather, he meant that the Gold and Silver Ingots had not truly unleashed their ability yet. What they had displayed was only the tip of the iceberg.
After all, even the crow inside that statue earlier had possessed such troublesome abilities. For an existence whose ferocity alone was rated B, no one could say how terrifying it would be once it truly erupted.
"The silver ingot has the ability to absorb attacks and convert them into attacks of its own. Then what about the gold ingot?" Ronin was somewhat curious.
At the same time, he was also thinking about how to send shadow clones onto the floating island to investigate the Gold and Silver Ingots' true abilities.
"You're thinking about using clones to investigate, aren't you?" Ging seemed to have seen through Ronin's thoughts.
"Of course," Ronin said as if it were only natural.
As one of his important methods, the shadow clone had a unique advantage when it came to investigating danger.
"Be careful. Some special abilities can still lock onto the main body through the clone's Nen," Ging reminded him.
Along the way, he had already noticed that Ronin was the kind of ability user who was fairly accustomed to relying on clones to act.
"I know." Ronin nodded to show that he understood.
The abilities in this world were incredibly varied. It would be completely normal for there to be abilities that could lock onto the main body through aura.
Especially since, in the previous battle, he had already revealed the existence of his shadow clones.
If the Gold and Silver Ingots also had an observation and recording function, then whether they could formulate a method to counter his attacks by observing Ronin's behavior pattern was still unknown.
"But I remember that the Gold and Silver Ingots have another name," Ronin said. "Plant Weapons."
"Right." Ging nodded, agreeing with Ronin's statement. "But as for why they have that title, I wasn't able to find any useful information."
"There must be a reason," Ronin muttered thoughtfully.
At present, the only information they had about the Gold and Silver Ingots was the name "Plant Weapon" and their parasite-like pattern.
"The information provided by V5 included photos of the Gold and Silver Ingots, but the only difference between the Gold and Silver Ingots in those photos and the ones we saw today was the body," Ronin said while thinking.
At the same time, the two of them landed back on the floating ship below.
"The Gold and Silver Ingots shown in the materials used human bodies, while the Gold and Silver Ingots we faced today used giant eagle bodies. So it should be certain that the Gold and Silver Ingots possess the ability to parasitize and control hosts," Ronin concluded.
Ging agreed with that judgment.
"Judging from their movements, the Gold and Silver Ingots also seem to have stimulated the potential of those giant eagle bodies."
Unlike ordinary giant eagles, the giant eagles parasitized by the Gold and Silver Ingots had Ren around them.
However, from that intense Nen, one could also judge that the Gold and Silver Ingots had fully stimulated the giant eagles' potential. Otherwise, with the giant eagles' bodies alone, it would have been difficult for them to erupt with such powerful Nen.
As for why Ging did not judge that the Nen had been injected into the giant eagles' bodies by the Gold and Silver Ingots, it was because, upon careful sensing, the Gold and Silver Ingots had exposed their true Nen when absorbing the Rasengan from Ronin's shadow clone.
In other words, the Nen on the silver ingot was clearly different from the Nen on the giant eagle's body.
"There are two possibilities here," Ronin said while thinking. "Either the giant eagle's body will be continuously overdrawn as it moves until it eventually can't support itself anymore.
"We could consider starting from that angle. The only thing we can't confirm is whether the Gold and Silver Ingot will weaken after losing its parasitized body, or whether it will enter a berserk state."
Ronin was used to speculating in the worst possible direction.
"The other possibility is that when the giant eagle's body suffers energy overdraft, the Gold and Silver Ingot will replenish it," Ging continued Ronin's analysis. "If that's the case, we can also try fighting the Gold and Silver Ingots through a war of attrition."
"But I doubt that'll work. After all, the Gold and Silver Ingots' ferocity rating is B," Ronin said, his expression somewhat serious.
Ging, however, smiled faintly.
"You overlooked one extremely important detail—the existence of the dark clouds."