After the War

Specifically, Vil-V and Sakura were divided into two teams. Sakura led the team to ensure the front line, while Vil-V's other team focused on rescue and resettlement.

Liu Bai's main task now is to take care of Sakura and Kosma, the two hosts who are on the front lines, while communicating with Vil-V mainly through a communicator.

"The search and rescue operation is proceeding in an orderly manner... but for now, I suggest we be a little pessimistic." Vil-V's voice was somewhat heavy. "The scale of this operation is incomparable to the last one. The influence of the Herrscher has covered most of Asia... If we hadn't been somewhat prepared, the entire Asia might have become a disaster area by now."

"... That's right, there are more Honkai Beast this time than last time."

This is the third time Liu Bai has experienced the battlefield that Third Honkai Eruption.

The first time he brought Hua, the second time he brought Kevin, and the third time he brought Ying and Kosma.

I didn't think much of it before, but compared to the second Honkai last time, the difference is obvious. If it had been this scale last time, even with Liu Bai's cover, the Sakura sisters and Pardo might not have been able to escape unscathed. After all, Liu Bai's distraction is limited.

Herrscher growing wildly... tsk.

"Can the front lines hold out?"

"Yes, so far, it seems that the preliminary research results from Mobius and your reminder over the past six months have played a greater role than we imagined. Once the soldiers are familiar with it, they are performing quite actively on the battlefield."

For various reasons, the anti- Honkai weapons created by Vil-V are mostly melee weapons, but this has not caused any difficulties - in fact, as long as the defenses can be broken, the fear of Honkai among these elite soldiers will be greatly reduced.

As long as they can effectively cause damage, in the eyes of these soldiers, the Honkai Beast have changed from "monsters" to "terrifying beasts" - although the actual casualties are still a glaring figure.

"... That's great." A relieved voice came from Vil-V's end. "After this, it should be possible to make it widely available, right?"

"I hope so—by the way, is there any possibility of rebuilding this time?"

"... there is a certain possibility."

Vil-V's tone became cautious.

"Or rather, the current situation necessitates a rebuild—even if it's very difficult."

Most of Asia—how many Asias are there in the whole world?

To abandon most of Asia at once is unacceptable to the world.

"Keep it up, I'm leaving the logistics to you."

"I will do my best."

Liu Bai ended the call and looked at Sakura, who was wiping her weapon beside him.

"Sakura, have you rested well?"

"I'm fine." Sakura put away her handkerchief. "But the soldiers probably need some rest."

Although Sakura was covered in dust and dirt, a resolute look appeared in her eyes.

"The satellite message says there's a group of Death Soldier ahead, about two to three hundred in number, and they seem to have multiple command nodes—we need to find a way to take down their commander." Liu Bai glanced at the other information on the communicator and brought bad news.

—As the war against Honkai intensifies, the threat posed by Death Soldier soldiers has surpassed that of Honkai Beast to ordinary soldiers.

Individual Honkai Beast, with intelligence mostly resembling that of wild beasts, can have their casualties kept within a relatively acceptable range thanks to organized command. Furthermore, the strength of Honkai Beast is almost immediately apparent—its combat power can be largely determined by its size and aura.

It's perfectly normal to back down temporarily or simply deploy heavy firepower to end the battle if you can't win.

As for the Death Soldier... to be honest, apart from the Death Soldier serve as command nodes and have distinctive appearances, most people can't tell the difference between Death Soldier nowadays. Some Death Soldier look exactly the same, all with white hair and scythes, but when you start fighting, you'll find that some are invulnerable to blades and spears, some can teleport, and some can enchant their scythes with attributes like fire and frost.

If we fight recklessly, we might collapse instantly due to the special abilities of some Death Soldier.

Moreover, the existence of the commander is also crucial, as the commander of these things must know some basic tactics—after all, their original form was also human.

Its intellectual growth potential is clearly higher than that of lower-ranking Honkai Beast.

"... Perhaps we should call for backup."

This bad news made Sakura's breath catch in her throat.

"There might not be enough time, but if we evacuate, these Death Soldiers could pose a threat to the logistics forces behind us." Liu Bai rejected the suggestion. "Prepare anti- Honkai mines for battle. Also... I remember Vil-V gave you that failed prototype, right? Give it to me later, I might be able to use it."

That stupid weapon that is extremely powerful against Honkai, but whose kill radius is greater than its range.

On this expedition, Sakura practically emptied Vil-V's arsenal—but by now, all the practical weapons have been used up, and what's left are mostly these stupid, failed attempts.

However, even failed products have their uses.

The failed product from Vil-V only had some functional issues; its power was absolutely fine. This kind of thing was perfect for a ghost like Liu Bai to use, and he could even fine-tune and enchant these weapons by possessing them.

With Liu Bai's help, those stupid weapons will become less stupid to some extent.

"...I understand." Sakura nodded, then ordered someone to fetch the rocket launcher. "I'll leave it to you then."

"It's nothing... but don't rush too fast."

On this battlefield, Sakura, who had previously had to hide, revealed her demonic side—when necessary, she would not hesitate to charge into small waves of Death Soldier and slash them with her sword.

While Sakura's behavior, which most people would consider almost insane, earned her the respect of others, it also brought her considerable danger.

Liu Bai was quite worried about this. Ying's behavior was too much like that of someone driven by hatred, so much so that even when he was by Ying's side, Liu Bai had to remind her of this matter again and again.

"...yes."

Sakura nodded with a gentle smile.

She knew her own situation well; in fact, there was no special reason why she rushed so fast—she just wanted to do her best to accomplish what Liu Bai hoped for.

Then, Sakura turned to her teammates and began assigning combat tasks, while Liu Bai began fine-tuning and enchanting the rocket launcher.

The Possession modifiers are Armor Penetration and Burning... very good modifiers.

Before long, a Death Soldier wave of hundreds of Death Soldier appeared before everyone's eyes.

"There are approximately seven command nodes."

The commanders among the Death Soldier, whose coffins float behind them, are quite recognizable.

"I'll snipe about five command nodes in the rear, the first two or three might not die..."

"I will take care of them."

Sakura, along with her remaining combat-ready teammates, indifferently drew her sword.

Seeing this, Liu Bai said nothing more, but silently leaned over the rocket launcher and aimed at the sea of Death Soldier in the distance...

Boom--!

"Still running..."

Elysia looked at the devastated city and the enormous Honkai Beast corpse before her with a headache.

I feel like I'm not quite up to the task of dealing with the Third Herrscher right now—I can still beat her, but if she wants to run away, I don't think I can stop her.

This time, they only managed to kill the opponent's Companion Honkai Beast.

Well, Elysia wasn't dissatisfied with the outcome of the battle, but rather she realized a certain fact—the strength of her kind far exceeded her expectations.

Elysia originally wanted to try to solve the problem of her kind on her own, but the main problem now is that... in a one-on-one fight, Elysia, who is constantly growing, can still suppress her kind.

However, there was absolutely no way to stop the other party from destroying the world, and if the other party wanted to run away, there was little that could be stopped.

If things continue like this, the collapse of civilization may not be far off... Some changes must be made.

"Captain Elysia, what should we do next?"

The teammate next to her asked Elysia.

"Ah... let's request support. It's necessary to organize a large-scale encirclement and suppression operation before the Third Herrscher causes another large-scale destruction. The good news is that the opponent should lie low and heal for a while."

Elysia sighed.

"By the way, I heard that quite a few newcomers have already started to become active on the battlefield?"

I drifted off to sleep, then was suddenly jolted awake by some unease and continued writing...

Chapter 363 After the War

Several months later

"Finally, the dust has settled..."

Sakura looked at the city, now reduced to ruins, her face showing exhaustion.

"Haha, Sakura, you seem to have completely adapted to the atmosphere of the battlefield."

Elysia gave Sakura a bright smile.

Seeing the smile on Elysia's face, Sakura's mood recovered slightly from her melancholy.

"Yes, after being on the battlefield for so long, I've gotten a little used to the way of life on the battlefield."

"Just getting used to it a little won't do," Elysia said with a reassuring expression. "Sakura, do you want to come to the Moth Chasers to Fire's victory celebration? Everyone will be there to celebrate this victory~"

"Including Liu Bai?"

Sakura gave a slightly mocking look.

"Wow, Sakura, if you keep hitting the nail on the head like this, we can't be best friends anymore." Elysia exclaimed with exaggerated surprise.

"You bastard..."

Sakura shook her head slightly. Actually, this guy didn't care about the boss's love life at all—she had heard some of his extremely outrageous remarks from Eden.

—But how does this conflict with her?

On the contrary, Sakura is also very accepting of Liu Bai having multiple wives and concubines—traditional women are actually more open-minded than modern women in some aspects.

Unlike Eden's barely compatible relationship, Sakura and Elysia have the foundation to become allies.

However, at this moment, Sakura really wasn't in the mood to talk about these things with Elysia.

"As for the victory celebration banquet..."

Sakura is prepared to politely decline Elysia's invitation.

"Everyone you fight alongside will be there," Elysia interrupted Sakura somewhat domineeringly. "If you don't attend, your teammates will be very sad, won't they?"

"... Oh, is that so?"

Sakura only paused for a moment before understanding what Elysia meant.

"For those who are still alive?"

"Of course!" Elysia made no attempt to hide her radiant smile. "We have to bring them hope."

"—Just like how the boss treated us back then?"

Elysia looked at Sakura, who had a faint smile on her face, and couldn't help but show a little surprise. "Sakura, you seem to have become a lot more straightforward."

In Elysia's memory, Sakura should have been a reserved and virtuous traditional woman.

"After all, I've been on the battlefield for a long time, and I know how fleeting life is... Over time, I feel that hiding my thoughts is somewhat unnecessary."

Yeah?

Elysia felt that Sakura was currently in a period of post-battle melancholy—if she really had that kind of awareness, why was she saying these things to her? Shouldn't she just go find Liu Bai?

You're already so young, why aren't you hurrying up and finding a way to carry on the family line? Do you expect your sister to continue your family line?

Well, it seems that Liu Bai can't do such a thing now. The gifts he received in his dream ultimately point to the future, but in reality, he is obviously not comparable to his dream self.

However, Elysia is good at reading the atmosphere and doesn't care about those unimportant details, so she didn't sabotage the situation.

Moreover, Sakura is clearly more willing to talk now than before.

"Sakura, what would have happened if you hadn't had Liu Bai back then?"

Since Sakura had started the conversation, Elysia didn't mind continuing along that line.

Why not do it in a way that can both comfort Sakura and build a good relationship?

"Without a boss... that's a really scary statement."

Sakura gave a bitter smile.

"Actually, from today's perspective, if the boss hadn't come to our aid back then, Rin and I would probably still be struggling to survive, right?"

"Struggling to survive?"

"Yes, the two sisters, who had no social experience whatsoever, lost the protection of their home... If it weren't for the boss, I can't even imagine the worst-case scenario. Rin and I might still be wandering around, or I might have had to sell my dignity or come into contact with the dark side; Rin might be seriously ill because of wandering, poverty, and hunger—fortunately, Rin and I were really lucky back then."

"Ah..."