"Are you surprised?" Uvogin's face was filled with a smug expression. "As long as I was certain you were heading to Smoky Water City, I just had to get here a step ahead of you. The local thugs became my best eyes."
Even if Uvogin hadn't said it, Luo Ning could have guessed as much.
Since Uvogin had provided the answer, Luo Ning simply raised his hand and made a tiny gesture with his fingers to represent 'a little bit.' "Well, I am a bit surprised. You're quite a bit smarter than I imagined. I thought you were just a barking gorilla!"
What actually surprised Luo Ning was that a guy like Uvogin would have the patience to lie in wait for him here.
Simple-minded guys really did hold grudges, and like him, they didn't like letting a grudge last overnight!
"Sharp-tongued brat! Once I rip your tongue out, I'll see what else you have to say!" The Nen on Uvogin's body had already formed into Ren.
Adhering to the principle of striking first, Luo Ning's hands blurred as they formed signs the moment Uvogin moved.
Snake－Ram－Monkey－Boar－Horse－Tiger.
These six signs were completed in an instant. Immediately after, Luo Ning took a sharp breath, leaned back, and lunged forward as he exhaled in one go. Flames erupted instantly!
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!
The scorching fire formed a massive sphere. The rolling, surging flames lunged toward Uvogin amidst the continuous popping sounds of exploding glass.
Uvogin, who was stepping forward, was prepared.
The moment he saw Luo Ning's eyes change and his hands form signs, he knew the boy was about to use an ability.
However, seeing him spit fire directly from his mouth still gave him a massive shock.
This kind of ability—even for a Transmuter skilled at changing Nen into flames—shouldn't be so easy to manifest!
But currently situated in the hallway, he was in a position where there was nowhere to dodge.
He simply halted his steps, dropped into a horse stance, and twisted his body. An even more powerful Nen condensed on his fist.
The moment the flames rushed into his face, Uvogin exhaled a shout and threw a punch directly at the fire.
[BIG BANG IMPACT]
This was his Nen—a simple and rustic straight punch belonging to the Enhancement category that fully unleashed his immense physical strength and Nen.
Boom!
After the punch was thrown, an explosive sound rang through the air. A powerful shockwave followed the punch, colliding with the sweeping flames.
The front of the fireball dented inward, and in the next second, the flames were punched clean through.
The air current caused Uvogin's long hair to fly wildly, but the fire could no longer pose a threat to him.
However, as he looked through the hole he had punched in the flames, he could no longer see Luo Ning at the other end of the hallway.
'Escaped again?'
'Or is he trying to launch another sneak attack like before?'
'But where can you run on this airship?' The corners of Uvogin's mouth curled slightly. If the brat wanted to use an airship to leave, he would turn this airship into a coffin and gift it to him!
Luo Ning was indeed no longer in the hallway.
However, he hadn't moved toward the passenger cabins. Instead, he had used the Fireball Jutsu to blow out a window and had positioned himself outside the ship's hull.
Uvogin's strength didn't seem quite as high as it was portrayed in the manga.
Even though Uvogin had punched through the Fireball Jutsu, Luo Ning felt this way regardless.
He even felt that, in his current state, he wasn't entirely powerless against Uvogin.
Luo Ning felt this was likely due to two factors. First, the current Uvogin wasn't the Uvogin from three years later; his development of his own Nen hadn't reached its peak yet.
In fact, even the Uvogin in Yorknew City three years later probably hadn't reached his true growth peak.
The other factor was the confidence he gained from having more chakra after his Sharingan evolved.
Combined with the insight of the Sharingan, Uvogin's movements couldn't even be called fast in his eyes. He was confident he could keep up with Uvogin's pace.
However, even if he could keep up with the movements, Luo Ning knew he would need some external force to actually defeat Uvogin.
Otherwise, breaking through Uvogin's defense would be a problem.
Furthermore, the key to his ability to fight Uvogin was maintaining the Sharingan, and his consumption while maintaining that state was much higher than Uvogin's.
Therefore, a battle of attrition was out of the question.
A sneak attack was best, or... Luo Ning's gaze swept across the outer hull.
Noisy sounds came from the hallway; someone had discovered the anomaly there.
After all, from the moment the window shattered, wind had been continuously pouring into the airship.
Luo Ning pressed himself against the outer hull and remained still. He knew very well how sharp the five senses of an Enhancer like Uvogin were.
If he made even a slight scraping sound on the hull now, he likely wouldn't escape the observation of a fully alert Uvogin.
Additionally, he was on guard against Uvogin using En. With the current distance between him and Uvogin, if Uvogin used the advanced application of Ten and Ren to spread his Nen, it would be very easy to find him on the outer wall.
Uvogin's expression was somewhat ugly.
A large number of crew members appeared in the hallway. They surged toward Uvogin with good intentions, wanting to understand the situation on one hand and lead Uvogin away from this 'dangerous' place on the other.
At the same time, Uvogin's sharp hearing caught a crew member contacting the captain, requesting the damaged airship to return to base for maintenance.
'This must be Luo Ning's true goal!'
'As long as the airship lands, it will give Luo Ning more room to escape.'
Thinking of this, Uvogin turned and walked directly toward the cockpit. He couldn't let the airship land.
The sky was the best place for him to catch that little mouse.
"Sir..."
A crew member wanted to say something else, but an irritated Uvogin simply raised his hand and grabbed the crew member's head like a basketball.
Squelch!
The hard skull couldn't stop Uvogin's immense strength. The crew member's head was crushed by Uvogin just like a watermelon.
The instant this happened, the crew members and the passengers observing the situation in the hallway fell into total chaos.
But as Uvogin walked forward, he suddenly stopped and looked out the window.
From the moment Luo Ning spat the flames to the moment he punched through them, only a few seconds had passed.
Immediately after, the crew members had entered the hallway. This meant that if Luo Ning had truly rushed out through the hallway, it would have been impossible for no one to see him.
"Before these people came in, did anyone leave the hallway?" As Uvogin spoke, his Nen had already expanded.
Though he wasn't skilled in using En, he wasn't a piece of trash like Nobunaga who could only expand his En to three or four meters.
Twelve meters.
That was the current range of Uvogin's En.
As long as Luo Ning was within this range, it was impossible for him not to notice the other party. After all, the boy entered a state of Zetsu once battle began, and remained in Ten after disengaging.
A guy who had just opened his Nen nodes didn't seem to have enough mastery to perfectly blend into a crowd of ordinary people to hide.
Uvogin didn't get an answer from the crew members' mouths.
But he didn't need one.
Because Uvogin's En had already fed back information to him: someone was hiding outside the airship.
"Found you!" Uvogin suddenly leaped, his large hand clawing toward the side wall!
The wall made of iron plates was pierced through by Uvogin's hand as if it were tofu, but Uvogin's hand failed to grab Luo Ning.