"You can come along and take a look too. I haven't really wandered around the Imperial Capital yet."
"Boss, I request permission to go along. Divine Abyss said he wanted to see the Imperial Capital," Akame said, raising her hand after hearing Lin Ran's words. Lin Ran couldn't help rolling his eyes. Did she have to be so blunt?
"All right. Be careful, and don't act on your own if anything happens." The latter half of Boss's instructions was naturally directed at Tatsumi. As a professional assassin, Akame gave her little cause for concern.
That night, Akame and Tatsumi slipped into the Imperial Capital. Since Tatsumi wasn't wanted yet, the task of luring Ogre out naturally fell to him.
Akame stood on a rooftop, seemingly casual but actually surveying her surroundings warily. Once the banquet ended, Lin Ran and Akame saw Tatsumi respectfully lead Ogre into an alley.
When Tatsumi dropped to his knees without warning, Lin Ran couldn't hold back his laughter. Memories surfaced, and only then did Lin Ran remember this part.
Seeing Ogre send Tatsumi flying with a single sword strike, Akame's heart tightened, and she was about to intervene.
"Relax, relax! That kid's swordsmanship is pretty impressive. If he can't even deal with Ogre, wouldn't he have no chance of surviving when he fights those Teigu users later?"
"Why didn't you give him a clone?" Akame asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Do you think my clones grow like cabbages?" Lin Ran tapped her little head with his blade.
"Then why did you give them to Sheele and Mine? Were you coveting their beauty?"
"No, of course not! It's mainly because their ability to survive is relatively weak. Look at Mine. If an enemy gets close, she's in serious danger. At a time like that, couldn't she use my clone to protect herself?"
"And Sheele is a natural airhead. She isn't very guarded against enemies, so it's easy for them to catch her with a sneak attack. My clone can protect her at a critical moment."
"Then it looks like I misjudged you. Divine Abyss, I'm sorry!"
"It's fine. Just don't protest so much when I examine your body tonight," Lin Ran said with a chuckle.
"Pervert!" Akame glared at Lin Ran, her face red. Lin Ran didn't feel much about it, though. He was a sword now. What kind of expression could you expect a sword to make?
"Look, that kid's about to turn the tables and kill him!" Even without Lin Ran saying it, Akame could sense that Tatsumi's rage had reached its peak.
The next instant, Tatsumi severed both of Ogre's arms with one slash, then hacked him into eight pieces.
Akame landed lightly on the ground and nodded at Tatsumi, indicating that he had passed her test.
After the two left the city, they were heading back to base when a massive claw suddenly thrust up from below. Akame reacted instantly and swung her sword, severing the thickly armored claw with almost no resistance.
It was actually a Special Class Danger Beast, a lesser dragon type whose body stood over ten meters tall.
Just then, the System made a sound. Lin Ran hurriedly checked and discovered that the System had issued a side quest: killing Danger Beasts would earn Origin Points.
A Special Class Danger Beast was worth one hundred thousand Origin Points, and a Super Danger Beast was worth five hundred thousand. Killing anything below Special Class offered no reward.
This was the first time Akame had directly experienced Divine Abyss's sharpness. Normally, Demon Sword Murasame might need many strikes to break through the defenses of a Special Class Danger Beast like this.
Curse Poison began spreading along the wound. What Akame hadn't expected was that the Danger Beast would bite off its own foreclaw, immediately rendering the Curse Poison ineffective.
Akame pushed off the ground with both feet, her figure turning into an afterimage. Sword light flashed, and the Danger Beast's massive body crashed to the ground. Devouring power surged from Divine Abyss, directly consuming all the energy contained within the Special Class Danger Beast. It was then absorbed by Divine Abyss, and Akame also received Feedback.
Akame's physical attributes immediately rose a little. In terms of physical attributes alone, she had now surpassed Bulat, who focused on Body Tempering.
"Divine Abyss, killing these Danger Beasts can increase my strength?"
"Yes, but that only works on Danger Beasts of Special Class or above. You can ask Boss to find out where Special Class Danger Beasts have appeared. This is also your chance to greatly increase your strength in a short time."
"All right, I understand!"
After returning to base, Akame immediately reported to Boss and also mentioned that she wanted to go out hunting Danger Beasts.
"Special Class Danger Beasts? Let me think." Boss frowned in thought, took out maps of several nearby mountain ranges, and marked them up.
"These are a few places where Special Class Danger Beasts have been spotted recently. You can look around; you might find something. Be quick about it. Zank the Beheader's actions have grown increasingly inhuman lately. Once we pinpoint his general location, we'll need to move out immediately. He's a troublesome enemy. I'll only feel at ease with you there."
"All right, Boss. I'll set out now!"
With that, Akame grabbed Divine Abyss and ran out of sight. Watching her retreating figure, Boss couldn't help smiling and shaking her head.
Akame ran all the way to the nearest marked Special Class Danger Beast location, but after looking around, she found no trace of any Danger Beasts.
"Let's go. There aren't any Danger Beasts here. Head to that mountain range ahead!" Lin Ran said lazily.
Over an hour later, under Lin Ran's guidance, Akame slashed at a cave. The ground shook immediately afterward, and a lizard-shaped Danger Beast charged straight out.
"Be careful. Something's wrong with this Danger Beast. I'm afraid it may already rival a Super Danger Beast!"
Akame was startled by his words. A Super Danger Beast! The immense power of Teigu came from Super Danger Beasts. She had thought they were already extinct.
Unfortunately, this Danger Beast had encountered Akame wielding Divine Abyss. The fight hadn't lasted long before all four of its limbs were severed. Just as Akame was about to finish it with one strike, a hooked tail suddenly shot out of the ground. The Danger Beast, which had already lost the ability to resist, also began emitting an eerie purple light.
Bathed in that eerie purple light, Akame actually fell into a daze. Just as the hooked tail was about to pierce her body, Lin Ran suddenly appeared behind her, grasped her hand, and raised the sword to block. Both of them were sent flying.
Only then did Akame come to her senses. Still shaken, she looked toward a Danger Beast slowly emerging from underground.
"A Super Danger Beast!" Akame cried out in shock. There was no helping it. This was her first time seeing a Super Danger Beast, and the aura it gave off was simply too terrifying.
[Host, be careful! The strange energy contained within these Danger Beasts is the energy I told you about before, the one eating away at this world's Heavenly Dao! Danger Beasts corrupted by this energy have greatly increased destructive power and even more tenacious vitality. However, this energy is also highly nourishing for Divine Abyss.]
Lin Ran frowned, took Divine Abyss from Akame's hand, and told her to leave the battlefield.
"Can you handle it? Why don't we run first?" Akame said worriedly.
"Don't worry! I don't fight battles I'm not sure I can win. Besides, I still have to go back and examine your body! This is a good opportunity to show you Divine Abyss's true power!" Lin Ran patted Akame's little head and gave her a gentle push, sending her out of the battlefield.
Divine Abyss blazed with black light, endless devouring power flowing over its blade. Lin Ran pushed off with his feet and instantly appeared before the Super Danger Beast, severing both its forelimbs with one slash. The other Danger Beast had actually already regrown the limbs that had just been cut off.
With a casual swing, Lin Ran unleashed a blade ray a hundred zhang long, cleaving it in two. Terrifying devouring power rapidly consumed all the energy within its corpse, and Lin Ran immediately felt himself grow a little stronger.
The next instant, Lin Ran appeared directly above the Super Danger Beast. A cross-shaped blade ray descended like heavenly punishment, slicing the Super Danger Beast below into pieces.