Red blood... That was the best description to give of the place where they appeared. Volcanoes with magma coming out, red rain, red lakes, red plants... It was pretty much all painted blood red.
"What the hell is this place?" Barbara exclaimed. The color of her clothes was changing color as if it had been covered in powdered strawberry juice. Perhaps the only 'good' thing was that the rainwater was not blood, but rather just red. The smell was still the same as ordinary water.
"This is the north side. It is said to be a hellish training place due to the fact that almost everything is red," Mabel answered. She looked a little excited as she continued, "Two of the items I want are here."
"Good for you," Maya sighed. She used her genes to create a barrier against the rain.
Barbara and the rest did the same.
"If I had known there would be red rain the instant we showed up, I would have used my genes to create a barrier before coming in here," Julia said as she took a towel from her locket.
Barbara and the rest then did the same.
Though they didn't know what kind of hardships they were going to go through, they were hopeful for another round of medicinal baths. If things turned out to be so lucky, it was good to be prepared. To that end, the girls had even brought their bikinis with them.
"Get ready. Some beasts are coming," Amon warned.
His sense of danger was greater than anyone else here. He could feel fury, hatred, as well as hunger...
Maisa took a sledgehammer from her holster and soon began to grow to more than 100 cm. Julia's spear had a similar effect upon contact with her hand, growing to 180 cm. Meanwhile, Barbara pulled her flexible sword from her waist, an aura of blue flame instantly enveloping the blade. Ariel chuckled, which quickly turned to laughter the instant she pulled back on the whip that was wrapped around her waist.
*Snap!*
With a loud crack, Ariel slammed the whip down on the red dirt floor.
Mabel was less spirited as the others. She just took out her Triple Flail and held it in her right hand.
Amon, it seemed, was already wearing his gauntlets on his hands. Lightning surrounded the gauntlets, causing crackling sounds of destruction. Being grabbed by Amon's hands right now would be like asking to be fried.
It didn't take more than 10 seconds for a group of 9 leopards to appear. Their power was the same as that of an Innate, and there was a reddish wind swirling around them.
By the way, these leopards were blood red with evil red eyes. They were better classified as demonic beasts.
"These are demonic beasts. Be careful, they are powerful enough to be able to damage the magnetic armor if we are not careful." Mabel, who had researched this place meticulously, warned the others.
Hearing Mabel's warning, they dared not goof around. Even if they had wanted to test their strength now that they'd become Innate, it was better to take things seriously from the start.
Amon's golden lightning sometimes showed hints of white light. It was pure and powerful light. Even if it was very thin, Amon's lightning looked even more intimidating and dangerous when these white sparks appeared.
In the next instant, Amon's body was enveloped in lightning which shot towards the nine demonic leopards. Bestial roars echoed as they watched Amon approach like lightning, and the demonic red leopards fell into formation: five in front and four behind.
Amon didn't flinch. He knew that Innate beasts were smarter than common beasts. The instant he got close and saw blades of wind heading towards him, Amon dodged with great flexibility without losing speed. The demon leopards roared and more and more blades of wind shot towards Amon.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! ...*
Amon twisted his body sideways and decreased the target proportion of his frame, then bowed and crouched. He then jumped, his hands surrounded by lightning on a larger scale simulating wings a bit. The lightning produced scary electrical sounds, even scarier than that of a swarm of buzzing bees.
*Multiple Circuits!*
It wasn't said aloud, but he activated the spell, and then all that great manifestation of lightning in Amon's hands turned into five zigzag bolts of gold lightning with thin white threads, first catching the five demonic leopards.
But it didn't stop there! Piercing the bodies of the five leopards, the attack caught four of the leopards from behind - one of them being the leader. Two of them the attack tore through simultaneously, and shooting past them, it then came back like a boomerang and caught the whole lot of them in the head.
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
...
+6x *Thud!*
One by one, the demonic red leopards fell.
"..." was the general consensus of Mabel and the other girls.
Like, what had all their prep been for? It was not even their turn to attack and it was already over!? Who the hell said these demon leopards were powerful?
"Err..." Mabel still couldn't find the words to speak in the face of this situation. She had told the others to be careful since there were powerful demonic beasts coming after them, however, had they all died just like that? All nine with just one attack?
And it was all so beautifully finished. The whole process was so amazing it took her breath away. Only after the demonic leopards fell with a thud as she watched speechlessly did she remember to breathe!
"My God!" Mabel finally uttered two words. Other than that, she didn't know how to sum up what she had seen.
Ariel pursed her lips and laughed out loud, which actually turned into full laughter. "Hahahaha! As expected; we shouldn't let that 'little monster' attack first~!"
'How can you see 'that', and still manage to use the word 'little' when talking about Amon?' Barbara, who was the one who knew most how little he was not thought to herself as she listened to Ariel.
Of course, it was just a perverted thought she had, as everything was still so fresh in her memory and in the... However, she wasn't about to say anything out loud, no matter how much she felt like saying it.
Amon looked at the nine demonic leopards and frowned a little. His eyes turned almond-shaped when he heard Ariel's words while laughing.
'I think I overestimated these leopards...' Amon thought. He didn't think they were going to die immediately. He just thought they were going to be a little incapacitated. How could Amon have ever guessed this would be the outcome?
"Amon, mind you, it wasn't like we wanted to-" Maisa stopped, she kind of wanted to fight. To tell the truth, she wanted to appear capable in front of Amon now that she got more powerful. That's why she stopped, not wanting to lie to him. So she said instead, "Well, we've just arrived. There must be a lot of other beasts out there, right?"
Mabel, who received Maisa's gaze, nodded and warned, "Mm, there are many Innate beasts in this place. After all, it is used for testing, and although it turns out that as time passes, gravity increases for us, the same cannot be said for the Innate beasts which call this place home. That's why it becomes so dangerous."
She didn't want them to underestimate this place just because Amon had killed nine Inborn demonic leopards, although she herself had been perplexed before.
"I see, don't worry. We're not underestimating this place or anything like that," Julia said to her with a reassuring smile, "It's just that we've only recently become Innate and we want to test our strength a bit."
"Oh, so that's it. I understand how you feel," Mabel nodded in understanding and added, "By the way, these demon beasts have genetic cores, which are good material."
"Used to create elemental genetic runes, perhaps?" Amon mussed to himself.
He started dismantling the demonic leopards by creating blades of lightning in his fingers. It was even better than using a knife, as it had a very powerful cutting power.
"I'll collect some materials," Mabel said, "I won't go very far. You can keep dismantling the leopards."
"I'll go with you~" Ariel said. She was interested in Mabel's fighting style, as they both had psychic genes.
"Okay," Mabel nodded gratefully.
While the two girls were gone, Barbara, Maisa, and Julia helped Amon dismantle the leopards. Shortly thereafter, they stored the items. For now, Amon kept a hold of everything. In case he gets something better and needs more space, he would just discard whatever had less value at that moment.
At the same time, Ariel and Mabel were found by a red demonic bear with a 30 cm black horn.
"This horn is very good," Mabel said.
Her eyes blinked, then the Triple Flail in her hand swung. When it swung, the three spheres were shot out and the chain stretched towards the red demonic bear.
As the spiny spheres approached, the size also expanded, soon reaching a size larger than a football, and two of the flails were controlled to go left and right while one continued going straight.
Ariel's eyes sparkled with anticipation as she watched the entire scene unfold in front of her. She saw the moment the thorny spheres increased in speed, and the one that was going in a straight line missed its target... Or that's what seemed to have happened at first, however, it soon came back and wrapped itself around the red demon bear's body. Then the two spheres attached to the chain looped their chains around the red demon bear's neck and pulled.
*Crack!*
The sound of the red demonic bear's vertebrae snapping echoed, and then the chains that swirled around the neck gave the last tug. Soon the red demonic bear's giant head was separated from its body.
'And I expected her to use the thorny spheres to slash the demonic bear's body...' Ariel muttered in her heart.
As if she had foreseen what Ariel was thinking, Mabel said, "I choose to kill like this and not attack with the spiked spheres because this way I will be able to better preserve the body, thus collecting better materials."
Ariel understood. Mabel said from the start that she wanted materials from craters found in this secret realm. Maybe this red bear was one of those, or it had some use in her research. Whatever it was, Ariel began to understand Mabel a little better.
"It makes sense." Ariel nodded in agreement.
She also started to wonder if she should do something similar with her whip, although she enjoyed seeing her target agonized in pain...
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Edited by: Azurtha