Following the last sensation before the control link was cut, Shalnark found the examinee with the antenna quite easily.
However, that examinee had already become a corpse, hanging on a spear of an armor.
The bloody upper half of the examinee slumped lifelessly over the armor's shoulder, and the pure gold crown that had been in the victim's hand was now stuck on the horn of the armor's helmet.
Seeing this scene, Shalnark confirmed his earlier guess.
There are too many armors and head-holding human statues here, and some of the armors have their speed enhanced several times.
With the puppet in automatic control mode, it was clearly unable to cope with such a situation.
'Not too bad.'
Shalnark thought as his gaze swept over the antenna on the corpse and the crown on the armor's helmet, feeling a slight sense of relief.
Then, with a light leap, he crossed over the numerous armors and head-holding human statues in front of him, landing in front of the armor carrying the corpse.
Gyo!
Shalnark concentrated his Aura in his right hand and casually slapped the armor.
Bang!
The armor shattered instantly from the heavy blow.
Shalnark then retrieved the antenna from the corpse and steadily caught the falling pure gold crown.
'It went smoothly. Now, it's time to get out of here.'
Looking at the pure gold crown in his hand, Shalnark smiled slightly.
Perhaps there were other treasures within the ruins, but the current situation did not allow him to collect more.
Just having a pure gold crown of incalculable value was enough.
Seeing the surrounding armors and head-holding human statues closing in, Shalnark leaped into the air again, easily breaking free from the encirclement.
As long as there weren't any fast-moving armors, these surrounding entities were as slow and harmless as zombies.
However, Shalnark was overly optimistic.
In just a few seconds, more than a dozen fast-moving armors burst out of the encirclement and directly chased after him.
Judging by their speed, they had been enhanced three or four times. They looked like cars racing down a highway.
Shalnark, unwilling to be entangled with these things, quickened his pace after glancing back.
But soon, some armors, who became 'stronger due to death', rushed over from another direction.
"So many?"
Shalnark was slightly surprised and then thought of a possibility.
Most of the examinees who had entered the ruins earlier had likely perished.
Before they died, they had probably defeated many armors, and it's not just once or twice, but three or four times.
After all, these examinees weren't Nen Users and couldn't see the black lines parasitizing the armors.
Now.
There are probably only a few people left in the entire ruins, including him.
Therefore, the armors and the head-holding human statues that were supposed to be wandering around were gradually converging on their location.
Bang, bang—
Dozens of armors as agile as cheetahs attacked Shalnark from all directions.
Shalnark quickly jumped onto a four or five-story building.
From this place, he can see what is happening over at Moses's side, and he can also avoid the group of clumsy armors and head-holding human statues that have not been strengthened.
But the nimble armors quickly followed Shalnark to the rooftop.
'So troublesome…'
Shalnark frowned deeply.
There were too many armors, and they were incredibly fast, making it impossible for him to shake them off.
Left with no choice, Shalnark could only choose to fight back.
He aimed at the black lines parasitically attached to the armors, and with a single blow, he shattered one of them.
Instantly, the sound of armors' pieces scattering and falling filled the air above the building.
One by one, the armored men disintegrated under Shalnark's defensive attacks.
At the same time.
Countless armors and head-holding human statues surrounded the building where Shalnark was.
Most of them have not evolved, so their movements of climbing the stairs look extremely clumsy.
Shalnark ignored them and focused on dealing with the group of enhanced armors.
'Fortunately, it was only their speed that was 'enhanced'.'
Shalnark thought to himself.
Before long, the ground around Shalnark was littered with armors' parts, and there were only a dozen or so armors left on the roof still besieging Shalnark.
'That should be the last of them.'
While observing the situation on Moses's side, Shalnark raised his hand and slapped the black line on an armor.
Clang.
The armor instantly scattered to the ground.
Shalnark stepped back, dodging a large sword slashing from the side, then kicked apart the black parasitic line on the chest of the attacking armor.
Immediately, he turned and punched an approaching armor.
Clang, clang——
The two armors in front and behind disintegrated almost simultaneously.
However, Shalnark didn't notice...
Inside the armor wielding the large sword wasn't a corpse inside, but rather a shadow.
This shadow was exactly the second shadow clone that Moses had strategically placed in advance.
Through shared vision, Moses had observed Shalnark's situation and controlled the shadow to enter an armor that had been enhanced several times.
In its two-dimensional state, the shadow, after concealing its presence, could perfectly hide inside the armor.
Even by using Gyo, it was impossible to see through the armor and see the two-dimensional shadow attached to the inside. People could only see the black lines parasitic on the outside of the armor.
At this moment, with the disappearance of the black parasitic line, the armor where the shadow clone hid suddenly fell to the ground.
But the shadow broke away from the armor and appeared behind Shalnark in an instant, with a Nen glow all over its body.
After condesing its Aura, the shadow forcefully punched towards the back of Shalnark's head.
"Hmm?!"
At the last moment, Shalnark sensed the Aura's fluctuation and his heart skipped a beat.
'How did it sneak up on me?!'
He had seen Moses's abilities, so Shalnark had remained highly vigilant, but he still failed to defend properly this time.
Sensing the Aura now, Shalnark hurriedly made an evasive move by lunging forward.
However, it was too late.
The shadow's punch landed on Shalnark's back as his upper body leaned forward.
Bang!
A muffled sound echoed.
An undulating jellyfish-shaped wave of Aura erupted from Shalnark's back.
"Pfftt."
The powerful impact caused Shalnark to spit out a large amount of blood, and his whole figure was sent flying off the rooftop, plummeting like a meteor towards the numerous armors and head-holding human statues below.
The pure gold crown he had been holding inevitably slipped from his grasp, and fell to the ground on the rooftop.
The shadow clone, who had knocked Shalnark away with one punch, caught the pure gold crown with great accuracy.
At the same time…
Outside the temple…
Moses had no intention of paying attention to the situation on Shalnark's side. Instead, he stared solemnly at a magical beast that looked like a monster that had just walked out of the temple.
If it weren't for this magical beast that suddenly appeared and exuded such a powerful Aura...
Just now,
Moses would have used [Shadow Shift] to teleport behind Shalnark instead of having the shadow clone directly attack.