Kroll would rather strike down his own subordinates than attack Ron directly. First, because he believed that the other members of Ron's team were already dead.
Second, because dealing with his own subordinates was much easier than dealing with Ron. Both being A-rank Nen users, Kroll's large-scale ability could not guarantee a swift defeat of Ron.
It was similar to how, in the original story during the Chimera Ant arc, Zeno's Dragon Dive could cause widespread destruction but lacked focused single-target damage due to its vast area of effect. Such abilities were primarily meant for clearing out weaker enemies.
To Kroll, Ron was certainly no weakling.
Seeing that the plan to revive Rosgell had reached its final stage, Kroll did not want to waste any more time. It was only after all his subordinates except the muscular man had been sacrificed, and realizing that it still was not enough, that Kroll finally decided to target Ron.
Originally, Kroll's plan was to sacrifice his subordinates and complete Rosgell's resurrection, and then let the revived Rosgell deal with Ron.
It would have been a good opportunity to gauge Rosgell's strength after the revival.
But now, with Rosgell still not fully revived, Kroll was left with three options:
One, take down Ron;
Two, sacrifice the muscular man;
Three, sacrifice himself.
Although Kroll was willing to sacrifice himself for Rosgell's resurrection, he did not intend to do so just yet. Thus, he chose to attack Ron.
The muscular man charged toward Ron.
Kroll maintained the current domain and tried to restrict Ron.
This forced Ron to expend a large amount of aura to resist the power, in order to keep the moisture in his body from being forcibly extracted. Otherwise, he would end up like the others, dried into a husk.
However, Kroll did not know that Ron's aura capacity was vastly beyond that of an ordinary Nen user. Even compared to others of the same rank, Ron's aura reserves were far greater.
Such consumption was negligible to him.
Moreover, Ron specialized in using Nen beasts for combat. Nen beasts naturally had no water inside them. Which meant that Kroll's ability had no effect on Ron's Nen beasts at all.
Facing the charging muscular man, Natsu moved to intercept.
"Gravity Game, Scales!"
Instantly, the muscular man felt his body become heavy. And as he continued to fight Natsu, the pressure grew even stronger. A full thirty times the normal gravity was applied to him.
This made his movements extremely sluggish.
It was not that he could not endure the pressure, but adapting to it mid-battle was another matter, especially during intense combat with Natsu.
Meanwhile, Sasuke Uchiha provided support for Natsu from a distance, keeping enough space to maximize the effect of the gravity ability while also assisting with attacks.
"Lightning Style: Plunging Thunder!"
A bolt of lightning struck the muscular man.
Immediately, he fell into a brief state of paralysis.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu's flaming fist smashed into him.
Boom.
The muscular man's body was sent flying backward violently.
At that moment, Kroll's eyes flashed. With a flicker of movement, he appeared beside the muscular man.
Pshht.
Facing the newly fallen opponent, Kroll drew a blade and stabbed it directly into the muscular man's heart, twisting it before pulling it out, causing a fountain of blood to spray.
The muscular man's eyes widened in disbelief.
"For Lord Rosgell!"
"For Mingbo!"
"Forgive me."
"That guy's strength is too far beyond our expectations. Even with the two of us working together, we wouldn't be able to bring him down quickly, so I must do this."
"This plan must succeed! We can't afford any more delays."
The muscular man was killed.
A vast amount of life energy spilled out.
Suddenly, an overwhelming aura burst forth, filling the air. The life force gathered within the sand all surged toward a single point. The intensity of the aura was like nothing Ron had ever experienced.
Even the disasters created by the KUTE gang of thieves in Meteor City could not compare to this. Nor could the monsters from the Kingdom of Talis.
Ron's eyes flickered.
He reached out his hand.
A door appeared in midair.
Ron's figure stepped into the door but did not immediately close it. Instead, he stood inside the door, watching the scene outside.
Ron wanted to see exactly what the so-called revived Rosgell would be like.
Natsu and Sasuke remained outside. If Rosgell attacked, they would act to buy time for Ron to erase the door. Defeating Rosgell might not be possible, but they could at least give Ron enough time.
Elsewhere, Ron had already set up a secondary door. If the main door were closed, he could return to the real world through the other one.
At this point, Kroll no longer paid any attention to Ron. He did not even notice the technique Ron had used to vanish.
Instead, his face showed a crazed, fanatical expression.
Massive amounts of aura gathered together, forming a black sphere that spun violently, pulling in all the surrounding life force.
Kroll knelt on the ground, bowing respectfully.
"Lord Rosgell!"
Ron's expression became extremely serious.
"Strong."
"Already beyond the level of an A-rank Nen user. This kind of aura, I have only ever seen in my great-grandfather."
"An S-rank ability user? What was Rosgell's strength in life? And now, revived, will he be stronger or weaker?"
Ron had encountered several S-rank Nen users before. Among those he had personally witnessed, there were only two:
Maha Zoldyck, and Netero. Though, Netero had never revealed his full strength before Ron.
Through Hanma Baki, he had also glimpsed Ging Freecss's strength, but even then, Ging had not shown his true capabilities.
As for the Floor Master of Heaven's Arena, according to Maha Zoldyck's evaluation, he was merely a promising youngster who had found his own path, but it was unclear whether he could truly be considered a full S-rank Nen user.