The coastline receded into the distance as the two of them began their trek across the rolling mountains, immediately receiving a grand welcome. Honkai beasts, mutated monsters, and death warriors emerged from caves, forests, even lakes and streams, charging toward the living creatures in front of them in a wild frenzy to encircle and kill.
Without a word from Ryan, Sakura charged ahead, her long blade moving so fast it seemed to leave no trace.
She rushed through from the front, turning everything within ten meters into shredded meat until the monsters closed in from all sides, burying her figure in the earth.
The monsters piled on top of the monsters and frantically pushed in, stabbing and stabbing with countless decompression claws until countless lines of blood appeared on them.
Swish, swish, swish...
The air was filled with flying meat, blood, and intestines, falling like raindrops. The girl holding the sword with one hand stood in the pit, an indescribable cold feeling surrounding her. Just as the stench of blood and rain was about to reach her, the figure twisted and disappeared.
In an instant, she appeared above a knight-level collapse beast, then her body twisted again and appeared behind a crossbow-type beast. When she disappeared for the third time, the two collapse beasts were already sliced in half, perfectly divided from the middle.
Ryan watched from behind, occasionally using his red sky sword to slash a straggler, his eyes filled with appreciation.
Such fast strikes, such a fast girl.
Sakura defining feature was speed. Like The Flash, she flickered in and out of sight, combined with excellent swordsmanship, making her a finely tuned killing machine.
One step, one kill, never leaving a trace. Sakura had grown even stronger.
Ryan, an expert in his own right, noticed that the girl hadn't even used the power of "Han Ying," indicating that she was gradually adapting to her mutated body.
The collapse energy lay dormant, simple, yet deadly enough.
Ding.
Her long blade tapped the shield, sending a giant, three-story-high temple-type beast's body leaning backward. The massive sword, the size of a door panel, sliced through huge rocks. Meanwhile, Sakura, clinging to the sword's edge, slipped through the gap in the giant shield.
Han Ying appeared like a toothpick before the collapse beast, but as the girl slipped between its legs, the two cylindrical legs were severed in half. Her gaze flicked sideways, and she lightly jumped, disappearing into the temple beast's chest.
Swish, swish, swish—
Several beams of light cut through, igniting the temple beast into flames. In the distance, a collapse emperor instinctively retreated, while a giant punch from a warbeast narrowly missed her head. Boom—thud.
The arm was massive, about five or six meters wide, like a human-sized shield. Then, a gleaming long sword embedded itself in it, just inches from the collapse emperor's face.
It seemed to freeze for a moment, almost as if the creature sighed in relief. Before it could use the virtual space to teleport, Sakura had already dashed out from the burning corpse.
Her feet landed on the ground with rapid steps, leaving a trail of afterimages. In an instant, she covered a hundred meters, gathering collapse energy in front of her, then slammed into the warbeast's arm.
Click.
The Hand snapped immediately, and the still blade shot forward, piercing the collapse emperor's forehead. Then, with a firm grip on the hilt, she wielded the sword like a storm.
The mutated collapse emperor didn't have time to self-destruct before being torn into fragments, and the massive warbeast's body was crushed further, only to be lifted by a giant ice spike.
It struggled in the air, and just as silver light passed through its neck, a 'boom' echoed as its head, the size of a small house, fell to the ground.
Sakura landed gracefully, holding the blade in one hand. She casually slashed down on the approaching death warriors, then returned to Ryan side, twirling the blade in a flourish and sheathing it with a soft "ding."
"This wave is completely wiped out." There is a saying that invisible pretenses are the most deadly, and Sakura's glib appearance was such that even Ryan was slightly stunned.
"Seems like bringing you along was the right choice."
"You'll only be faster than me if you do it yourself." Sakura replied in a hushed voice, her usual humble self.
"That would expose me too early," Ryan shook his head. He had encrypted communications and used codenames, not wanting to reveal himself too soon.
As for speed, the other two teams were advancing faster.
He glanced at the battlefield, littered with corpses, and casually asked, "Sakura, after this fight, did you notice anything?"
"The Honkai beasts seem to cooperate better than before, and we didn't find the high-energy collapse source."
The collapse beasts had cooperated before, but never with the finesse of baiting and blocking as they had just done. Only someone with Sakura sharp observational skills would have caught the pattern.
"The high-energy Honkai source might have disappeared, or it could have manifested in another way. Calculate how high the energy would be if all the collapse beasts that died here were grouped together." Sakura quickly scanned the battlefield, her lips moving. She didn't have Ryan mental calculation ability, but after a rough estimate, her pupils contracted.
"About 700HW, almost exactly matching the intelligence sent from the Raven!" Her heart sank. She hadn't expected the enemy to be this clever, using a false target to lure the Moths to the Flame into a chase.
"Interesting, right? This hypothesis makes a lot of sense. Thankfully, we've got three teams here. Now it's her turn to make a move." Ryan, though speaking hypothetically, was already certain that a Ruler was present here. Which Ruler it was remained unknown.
"Should we request support?"
"I've already said it's just a hypothesis. This isn't enough to get the Moths to the Flame to deploy forces worldwide. At least, not yet."
"Should we retreat?" Sakura tightened her grip on her sword.
"No, keep going. If my assumptions are correct, then Britain is done for. This is the first time we're openly confronting them. There's no reason to retreat without fighting." Ryan shook his head resolutely and pointed toward the high ground on the left. "There are two humans over there. Catch them. I need intelligence."
Sakura hesitated for a moment before closing her eyes to sense the area, then shot out like an arrow.
Like a running female leopard, she crossed a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, climbing the cliff with ease. Ryan turned his head and saw two dark figures emerge from behind a rock.
There were indeed people.
Ryan had been monitoring the surroundings with electromagnetic waves, fearing that a Ruler might suddenly drop down. In such dense collapse energy, it would be nearly impossible to detect these two humans. The sound of gunfire rang out.
Sakura, in mid-air, unsheathed her sword and slashed continuously, cutting through all the bullets, then landed in front of them. With one slash, she turned the assault rifle into scrap metal and pinned the two humans to the ground.
Ryan quickly floated over, peering down. "Children?"
Sakura was holding two half-grown children, one boy and one girl, their eyes wide with fear as they stared up at them. Their clothes were ragged, their hair a mess.
"Mm, no threat." Sakura loosened her grip slightly as the two children coughed violently on the ground.
Ryan glanced at her, knowing that Sakura was not heartless. He crouched down and ripped open the boy's sleeve, confirming that his skin showed signs of collapse corrosion.
Collapse disease patients, and naturally, they had some level of adaptation, or they wouldn't have survived this long.
Seeing that the two children had stopped coughing, Ryan squatted in front of them and asked as gently as he could, "Did you come to scout after hearing the noise? Where is your hiding point?"
"We..." The girl instinctively opened her mouth, but the boy quickly covered her mouth.
"Don't talk, Liss! They're monsters!" The boy's eyes were full of wariness, staring at Sakura. "Look, she has ears on her head, and that person can fly."
Quite perceptive, and without any joy of meeting their own kind. Ryan raised an eyebrow, about to use mental manipulation when his hand was pulled by Sakura.
"Let me handle it." Ryan gave her a deep look, understanding what she meant. Mental manipulation would leave lasting effects, especially on children, who couldn't handle it well.
"Fine, you have five minutes."
He turned away, standing at the edge of the cliff, gazing at the scattered corpses.
Ryan knew that Sakura was thinking of her own sister. This assassin was far from as cold as her blade—beneath her icy exterior was a heart full of kindness.
He, on the other hand, reserved his remaining warmth for those he knew, focusing more on efficiency during missions.
After a short while, Sakura returned, walking up to Ryan and softly saying, "I got it. The gathering point is fifteen kilometers southeast, in a valley."
"Did they believe you?"
"They're children. A little coaxing and scaring did the trick." Sakura brushed her hair back, smiling. "I told them the gathering point couldn't be far. Just search within a twenty-kilometer radius, and we'll find it. They said it doesn't matter whether they speak or not. Only by leading us there will their families be safe from misunderstanding."
Ryan fell silent for a moment, muttering, "It didn't matter whether they spoke or not."
"Hey, these survivors have managed to hang on until now. If it comes to fighting, you won't hold back, so why not give them a chance?"
"Sakura, you're truly kind, always thinking of the weak."
"You've taught me to retain more of my humanity. And Ryan, you're also kind to make this circle, I see."
Sakura winked, turning to lead the children. She made sure the boy went first to report, holding the girl's dirty hand as they walked on.
Ryan had nothing more to say. He respected each heroic character, and as long as it didn't interfere with the plan, he let Sakura go. There had to be some good people in this world.
With all the collapse beasts killed, no one else jumped out to seek death. The three of them weaved through the rocky terrain, climbing a rope ladder into the depths of the valley.
Sakura continued holding the girl, even slipping a lollipop into her mouth, occasionally chatting gently.
After about half an hour, Ryan saw flickering electric lights in the valley ahead. Using the light, he saw some scruffy men and women.
It was indeed a gathering point. Most of them had collapse disease, their hostility not too strong, but there was no joy either.
Ryan immediately made a judgment. Seeing the men holding rifles or steel pipes, as they approached, a man in tattered camouflage emerged.
His face was covered in a full beard, his brown eyes tired, and he carefully examined Ryan. "You... are the Fire Moth?"
"Yes," Ryan nodded slightly, and the crowd stirred, though there were no cheers.
Some were silent, eerily so, as if they had been detached from human society for many years, even though North Britain had only been abandoned a few months ago.
"Don't you want to return to the human world?" Ryan asked, puzzled.
"Return to be thrown into a concentration camp to die? Or escape and get stoned to death by those afraid of being infected?" The man pulled open his collar, revealing signs of Honkai corrosion, speaking in an eerie tone.
"Welcome to Hell."