The Tombs

When Zero and Poney returned, Akame's team already caught their preys for interrogation. Within just half an hour, Gozuki arrived and started informing them about the traps on the first level of the tombs.

While he was explaining everything and everyone else was listening, Zero was coating a few of his threads with something. He also filled smaller flasks with the alcohol he bought in the town, carefully sealing them so the smell wouldn't get out before putting them in his side bags attached to his belt.

"Your preparations sure are tedious..." Poney muttered while resting her chin on the back of her hands.

"That's how it should be, however, I hope it won't restrict your movement too much. Being prepared is good but overdoing it is not good either." Gozuki supported Zero in this case.

"Don't worry, I know how much I can carry." Zero nodded his head before taking a black flash out of his side bag, checking its seal.

"What is that? A poison?" Poney asked curiously while accidentally bumping into him with her hips which slightly irritated him and a mischievous smile immediately crept across his face.

"No, here, sniff it" Zero said, putting the flash under her nose before he removed a lid only for a second.

"Bleugh!! What the hell is that stench!" Poney instinctively jumped away and almost threw up while blocking her nose.

"I see, you anticipate a few Gravekeepers with an excellent sense of smell" Gozuki said in an impressed tone with a cold smile across his face.

"Use your enemy's strength against them." Zero nodded his head before attaching two daggers to his belt.

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"Is everyone ready? I will be joining you on this mission since it's extremely dangerous...therefore, don't you let your guard down just because we have information about the interior. Guy is going to take a different path from below, the rest of us will rush in a regular way. Cornelia, don't overuse your weapon, we are still not aware of how well it was repaired."

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted in determination and Akame looked especially motivated which was noticed by Zero. He only hoped that she wouldn't do anything foolish. To be honest, only now that he was standing in front of enormous pyramids, he realized that he perhaps doesn't want any of these kids to die.

'...All of them are annoying in one way or another but...I hope they will all survive this.' Zero thought while running after the others.

"You are falling behind, small fry!" Najasho shouted at him which woke Zero from his thoughts and increased his pace. Zero also realized that it was probably the first time Najasho called him the same way he calls the others.

When the group entered the tomb, they were quickly greeted with numerous traps and giant scorpions. Since Zero was at the back of the group, he just had to focus on dodging the traps and look out for any ambushed from behind.

The deeper they went, the deadlier the traps were appearing. There were even a few traps that couldn't be just easily dodged or cut through so the group quickly split up.

'The path behind me is blocked by the trap so I can't go back to regroup with the others. I guess I have to move on. Still, the halls are enormous and walking here makes it feel like I am inside one big maze' Zero glanced behind him before continuing in exploring the tombs.

"Well I'll be damned! We actually have a loose rat on the run. Seeing how you were able to evade all the traps, it seems like someone spilled the beans" The moment Zero came around the corner, he came across one of the Gravekeepers.

'4 skulls? Tch, that might turn troublesome. I wonder which animal or plant he can transform into.' Zero thought as the guy jumped in the air towards him.

Zero's eyes widened as he saw for the first time the Gravekeeper turn into what looked like a lion.

"HAA!" *BANG!* The guy struck down with his fist and Zero was ready to dodge this attack however the strength of his attack still demolished the ground.

'If I am right, ancient Egyptians used to venerate lions as war deities...no wonder his sheer strength is so high. Only his hands, feet, and head transformed, aside from the fur covering most of his body.' Zero has drawn his sword and slashed diagonally at the guy's neck but his sword was intercepted by long claws.

"Got you, hehe!" The Gravekeeper said with a sadistic laugh, ready to slash his other hand at him, however, Zero was faster and kicked off the guy's body to retreat. Despite his kick having a good amount of strength, the Gravekeeper barely moved.

As Zero was still in the air, he threw a few flasks at the guy.

"It's useless!" The Gravekeeper didn't bother dodging and swiped his claws at the flask, cleanly cutting them in half but the liquid still got sprayed on him.

*sniff* "I thought it was poison but it's actually booze? Are you looking down on me?!" The Gravekeeper roared, angered by Zero's actions before he pounced at him.

Zero dodged claws coming for his neck from the side by pulling his head back, The angered lion started slashing its claws at Zero who kept dodging without attacking which only angered his opponent further.

"Stop dodging you little shit and fight like a man!" The Gravekeeper struck down with both fists which forced Zero to jump back since the ground around the impact was once again destroyed, which would disrupt his footwork.

"I am a man but you are a lion, well, more like a rip-off version of lion" Zero wanted to anger his enemy even more.

"Grrr" Gravekeeper swung his hand once more to clear the smoke of dust blocking its vision just to feel something entangling around his arm. When he looked down, he noticed it was just a thread.

"Huh? Do you really think you can do anything with this? You don't have the strength to do anything against me and my fur is too tough to get cut by a thread...You are really starting to piss me off with how you look down on me." The Gravekeeper didn't even bother to cut the thread but in return looked like he was ready to eat Zero alive, his muscles started slowly growing as he was gritting his teeth.

"Do you really think I would let you get even stronger? That thread itself wasn't meant to hurt you in the first place" Zero said before producing a spark with his tools right above the thread in his hand. The thread instantly caught on fire and Zero quickly let go of it despite wearing a metal gauntlet, the fire spread towards the other end of the thread within a second.

"A little of fire can't h-" The Gravekeeper who was in the process of strengthening decided not to care for a little fire but the moment fire made contact with his wet fur, his entire body caught on fire.

"AAARGH!" He immediately started screaming while rolling on the ground but no matter how much he tried, the flames didn't go off.

"That wasn't an ordinary booze" Zero said before piercing the guy's neck from behind.

"...He really was a rip-off version of a real lion. The lions are much smarter than this guy was." Zero muttered and retrieved his sword, cleaning the blood off.