The four of them were not discouraged. They had only gone with the intention of giving it a try in the first place. There were plenty of Special Class Danger Beasts in this world; they would find opportunities to grow stronger eventually.
That evening, as they gathered beside the stream to grill fish, a figure emerged from the darkness, and Leone excitedly ran over.
"Boss! I missed you so much!" Leone called enthusiastically.
"She hasn't been sneaking off to the imperial capital to drink lately, has she?" Boss ignored her and asked the others directly. Lubbock nodded without hesitation.
"Lubbock! This isn't over!" Leone shouted and tried to run, only to be caught and dragged back by Boss's iron claw.
Akame and the others cheerfully watched Boss teach Leone a lesson. Afterward, they sat around the campfire and listened as Boss told them about her findings on this trip.
The situation on the Revolutionary Army's side was not optimistic either. Danger Beasts around the world had suddenly become active, and many powerful ones had charged into towns, wreaking havoc.
Both the Empire and the Revolutionary Army had been affected. By comparison, only large cities like the imperial capital had suffered the fewest casualties. These Danger Beasts were highly intelligent; they first picked small towns or villages they could conquer, then launched their attacks.
Tatsumi's heart tightened at Boss's words. Didn't that mean his village was in grave danger?
"I understand your worries, Tatsumi. But have you considered what you could do even if you stayed and guarded your village? Those Danger Beasts are incredibly destructive. They aren't something human strength can stop."
"I understand, Boss! I'll work hard to get stronger. Only by overthrowing the current Empire can we protect more villages."
Boss smiled and patted his shoulder, leaving Lin Ran dumbfounded. Was this the heart of justice of a hot-blooded adolescent? As expected of the man who had earned the Operated Armor's recognition.
The next day, Leone took Tatsumi into the city. Lin Ran thought back. It seemed it was about time to meet that girl from the guard, who had a battle-pet-type Teigu. What was it called again? Xiaobi, if he remembered correctly.
And this was also where the members of Night Raid began suffering casualties.
Carrying Divine Abyss, Akame took Sheele to search for Danger Beasts in a more distant mountain range. She did not bring Mine this time; taking too many people along was difficult. Next time, she would swap in Mine.
They ran all the way to a mountain range they had never visited. It had not been explored yet, and no one knew how many Danger Beasts were inside.
Akame led the charge, with Sheele close behind. Sheele had used her original Teigu like a sword anyway, so she quickly got the hang of the Blade of Devouring. Her combat instincts were also excellent; Mine fell far short of her in that respect.
As Akame ran, she suddenly leaped up and split an attacking Danger Beast in two with one slash.
The deeper they went, the more vigilant Akame became, because there were actually no low-rank Danger Beasts to be seen here! All these signs indicated that a very powerful Danger Beast lived here.
Lin Ran also noticed something was wrong and stood ready to take human form and act at any moment.
Suddenly, a beast's roar came from afar. Lin Ran sensed an immensely powerful presence hurtling toward them.
Akame and Sheele also stared ahead with their full attention. As tremors spread through the ground, a dragon-shaped Danger Beast more than sixty meters tall smashed through the trees and appeared before them.
Akame's pupils contracted. This Danger Beast's presence was far too powerful!
What Lin Ran did not know was that this Danger Beast had been among the first to be corrupted by the strange energy. It had already fully fused with the strange energy inside its body, and its destructive power was no weaker than that of the top Super Danger Beasts from a thousand years ago.
Lin Ran was itching for a fight, but this Danger Beast would make an excellent training opponent for Akame, so he held off for now.
The Danger Beast roared, and a purplish-black domain enveloped Akame and Sheele. Sheele immediately felt as though she could barely take a step. To protect her, Akame attacked first, buying her time to retreat.
After one exchange, the Danger Beast warily studied Divine Abyss in Akame's hand. That sword was far too formidable-it had severed its sharp claws with a single slash! Its claws had slaughtered countless humans, and even those bizarre weapons had struggled to damage them.
A ray of purple light shot straight from its eyes, and Akame froze. By the time she came to her senses, the Danger Beast's gaping, blood-filled maw was already right in front of her. Lin Ran appeared and smashed a fist into its forehead, the tremendous force hammering it straight to the ground.
With a beckon of his hand, Divine Abyss flew into his grasp on its own. A cross-shaped sword radiance a hundred zhang across tore through space and slammed into the Danger Beast just as it tried to rise.
This move was enough to finish off Danger Beasts that had only just entered the Super Danger Beast tier. Clearly, however, the one before him was a veteran Super Danger Beast. The strike merely left two enormous wounds on its body.
Even the power of the curse poison was forcibly ground away by its strange energy.
The power of this curse poison was only lethal to the frail bodies of humans. Many exceptionally powerful Danger Beasts had no fear of it.
Lin Ran turned into a blur, trading blows with the Danger Beast. Overall, he still held the advantage. The Myriad Spirits Body was no joke-anything produced by the system was guaranteed to be top quality!
Realizing it was outmatched, the Danger Beast actually feigned an attack on Akame, then turned and fled!
Lin Ran smiled helplessly, and his aura instantly rose to its peak. Divine Abyss erupted with unprecedented power, and a sword radiance more than ten times as condensed as before pierced through the beast's body. Its fleeing movements froze, and a few seconds later, its enormous body crashed to the ground.
A vast amount of energy was devoured completely, then fed back to Akame. She felt her physical attributes soar once again. The energy fed back from this one Danger Beast equaled that of all the previous Danger Beasts combined!
"Are you all right?" Lin Ran hurried over to Akame and looked at her with concern.
"I'm fine." Akame shook her head, indicating that she was not injured.
"No, I have to check. What if you've suffered internal injuries?" Lin Ran ran his hands all over Akame. Blushing, she punched him twice, then let him do as he pleased. Fortunately, Sheele was not here, or Akame would never have indulged him like this.
Afterward, they found another three Special Class Danger Beasts and let Sheele kill them all. Her physical attributes nearly doubled, almost catching up to Bulat's!
Sheele hugged Lin Ran gratefully. This was the first time she had hugged him in human form, and all he could feel was how wonderful her body was.
Sheele was a little taller than Akame, with a more slender figure and a pair of long, slim legs that a leg fetishist could enjoy for a lifetime! Don't ask why Lin Ran knew so much about them-he had just secretly felt them up a couple of times. The airheaded Sheele blinked, not understanding why Divine Abyss was touching her legs.
The three returned to base under cover of night and enjoyed a good night's sleep. Early the next morning, Akame got up early to cook again. It seemed the role of little cook was already engraved in her genes.
Divine Abyss floated lazily beside Akame, which meant Lin Ran was still asleep. Without his control, Divine Abyss was like this-as though it had drunk counterfeit liquor.