Awakening (Continued)

"...Lin Yu, I was just looking for you."

"I really... missed you so much!"

Looking at the boy who was taunting her with a megaphone, a smile finally bloomed once again on the face of the Herrscher of Thunder.

A beautiful girl with exquisite features blooming a smile toward him—if this were a different time, a different place, and a different person, Lin Yu might have already fallen for it.

Yet Lin Yu, currently maintaining the state of Mirror Mind, saw not the smile blooming on the face of the Herrscher of Thunder, but the continuous killing intent she directed at him.

"Wow, such thick killing intent. Is it really necessary?"

"Of course it is."

Gazing at Lin Yu before her, the Herrscher of Thunder, exuding killing intent, smiled even more happily at that moment.

"You once told that coward that the sword in her heart had grown dull, didn't you?"

"That isn't wrong in essence, but unfortunately—I am not that coward."

"However, in return for your pointers to her, I will hold back just a little."

"I won't torture you, you'll just have to..."

"—Die a painless death!"

At that exact moment, the instant she finished speaking, the Herrscher of Thunder raised her hand and directly slashed a wave of sword Qi straight toward Lin Yu.

A flash-fast strike.

In the eyes of the Herrscher of Thunder, this blow of hers had reached the state of body and mind as one after her power increased.

And Lin Yu before her...

Hah, it wasn't that she looked down on Lin Yu.

Yet no matter how strong his conviction was, Lin Yu was still just an ordinary person.

The Herrscher of Thunder could sense right now that there were still no Honkai Energy fluctuations coming from him.

A weakling without Honkai Energy fluctuations—no matter how strong he might be in other aspects, when facing her, an Apostle of God—of course had no chance of winning whatsoever!

Things should have been this way.

Yet the moment before he saw her move, Lin Yu directly tossed aside the big megaphone in his hand and assumed a combat stance.

Royal Guard, activate!

Lin Yu, who predicted her attack relying on Mirror Mind, blocked the strike without injury amidst the utterly astonished gaze of the Herrscher of Thunder.

"This...!"

"How can this be—you want to say that, don't you, Herrscher."

Lin Yu, current wrapped in electric currents, waved his hand gently and directly dissipated the electricity on his body.

"But unfortunately, reality is just this cruel."

"Your attack has no effect on me whatsoever."

"The lofty Apostle of God doesn't seem all that remarkable either."

...!

At the mere thought of what had just happened, the Herrscher of Thunder immediately coalesced wings of thunder and began to ascend into mid-air.

In the recent clash, although the Herrscher of Thunder had won the fight, in terms of tactical thinking, she had to admit she had lost far too thoroughly.

Her idea of engaging in close-quarters combat had been seen through by the opponent from the very beginning.

And the opponent had even utilized her tactics, driving the Herrscher of Thunder herself into a desperate situation.

The Herrscher of Thunder even suspected that if the opponent had both of his hands, the enemy who had delivered that terrifying strike with both hands might actually have managed to severely injure her just now.

And precisely because of this reason, Miss Herrscher of Thunder decided this time that it would be better for her to be a little more cautious.

By widening the distance, she could still execute ranged attacks.

And though the opponent appeared to have blocked her strike, as long as he lacked long-range attack methods capable of threatening her like that man earlier, he would only be worn down to death in this manner.

Yes, that's right, calm down a little.

When all was said and done, no matter how strong he was, he was still just a human incapable of using Honkai Energy.

Facing such a human, I, as an Apostle of God...

—How could I ever lose to a maggot like this!

Watching the Herrscher of Thunder begin to hover into mid-air, Lin Yu's expression remained unchanged, yet he knew that the worst-case scenario had already occurred.

Judging from the flickering electromagnetic shield and the tattered clothes on the Herrscher of Thunder, the threat Siegfried had posed to her earlier must have been absurdly massive...

Oh, no, that shouldn't be phrased that way.

It should be said that Siegfried Kaslana naturally possessed that kind of strength.

The Herrscher of Thunder had consumed a fair bit of power against Siegfried and sustained a certain degree of injury, which was a good thing for Lin Yu.

However, because Siegfried had posed such an immense threat to the Herrscher of Thunder, beating her brain back to normal and making her capable of tactical thinking—that was disastrous.

The gap in strength between Lin Yu and the Herrscher of Thunder could be described as despair-inducingly large.

For Lin Yu to dare appear here now relied on three things: first, he possessed the HSN Serum; second, he grasped intelligence on her while she remained ignorant of his background; and third, the Herrscher's brain hadn't processed fast enough due to her arrogance.

As a result, the Herrscher's brain seemed to have been knocked back into working order...

"Hah, human, what is the matter with you."

The Herrscher of Thunder, who had successfully put some distance between herself and Lin Yu, looked down from on high at the boy below as the corners of her mouth began to curl upward slightly.

"You talked such a big game, but now it seems..."

"—You even find it extremely difficult to so much as touch me."

Oh, retract that statement; her brain was knocked back to work, but probably only just a little bit.

Yet even if it was just a little bit, the trouble grew much larger.

A method... wasn't entirely nonexistent.

Now, it all depended on how good his acting skills were.

"Touch?"

Lin Yu, having already sorted out his thoughts, raised his head to gaze at the Herrscher of Thunder in the air and spoke with utter indifference.

"If you truly believe I am unable to touch you, why did you flee as if you were terrified of me?"

"As a so-called Apostle of God, you actually began to fear an unarmed human from the very moment we met..."

"Perhaps I was wrong."

At that moment, Lin Yu took a very calm step forward.

"My expectations for an Apostle of God were simply too high, which is why I held unnecessary expectations of you the moment we met."

"Now it seems the so-called Herrscher... is nothing much after all."

...Tch.

This fellow is provoking me.

Fully aware of this, why on earth did I—still feel so furious right now!

Grasping her greatsword, the Herrscher of Thunder gazed at Lin Yu as he slowly walked toward her, and once again slashed out a wave of sword Qi intermingled with thunderous light.

Yet just as she thought this sword Qi, with its accelerated slashing speed, would at least force the opponent to take things slightly more seriously, the Herrscher of Thunder was astonished to find that she was disappointed once more.

With a completely calm demeanor yet again, the opponent effortlessly neutralized this terrifying strike.

"A look of wavering has appeared on your face; viewed thusly, my guess just now was correct."

Before the Herrscher of Thunder, Lin Yu waved his hand to dissipate the thunderous light on his body while once more strolling toward the Herrscher of Thunder before him.

"An Apostle of God, it seems, is truly afraid of a human who cannot even use Honkai Energy and is moreover completely unarmed..."

At this moment, although Lin Yu's expression remained tranquil, the Herrscher was able to sense that this boy, who gently shook his head, was indeed... somewhat disappointed?

"If you are going to run, hurry up and run. When all is said and done, there are many ways you could win against me."

"Relying on your powerful capacity to emit Honkai Energy, the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder, and the wings behind your back, you still stand a hopeful chance of easily exhausting my stamina and energy to ultimately grind me to death."

He—has even prepared a strategy for me?!

Initially, the Herrscher of Thunder suspected this was a verbal trap laid by the opponent to lure her into taking the bait.

Yet the Herrscher of Thunder wasn't a complete fool; she only needed to analyze it slightly to realize that the plan Lin Yu had offered her actually possessed a rather high success rate.

There were no traps whatsoever within this plan—if the Herrscher of Thunder truly believed in it, she figured she would genuinely be foolish to the extreme.

The enemy would never instruct her on how to fight for no reason.

Rather, the moment an enemy pointed out a clear path for you, she ought to raise her guard twelvefold.

This plan absolutely contained some loophole that he could exploit.

Therefore... should she instead refrain from acting according to this plan?

Dammit...

Dammit.

Dammit!

To think I am being toyed with like this by a human... a human who failed to touch me, failed to harm me?!

"Go and die!"

This time, channeling a massive amount of Honkai Energy into the Thunder Greatsword, the Herrscher of Thunder raised the greatsword with both hands and brought it down heavily through the air toward Lin Yu.

Guided by the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder, the Honkai Energy intertwined with lightning directly transformed into a colossal blade beam, slashing down with a single blow toward Lin Yu below.

Siegfried, who was by now nearly able to speak, looked upon this incoming strike, his eyes splitting open with rage as he frantically tried to issue a shout to warn Lin Yu.

Yet the next instant, both the Herrscher of Thunder and Siegfried were left utterly dumbfounded.

Not even Siegfried, back when his physical condition was fine fourteen years ago, would have dared claim he could easily receive such a powerful strike without using the Power of Salvation.

However, the exact instant the blade beam struck Lin Yu, Lin Yu moved.

"A fine strike."

He still did not dodge.

"Too bad, it is only fine."

Remaining right where he was, Lin Yu once again employed the exact same parrying technique, causing the blow to leave zero injuries upon his body.

Even as he looked at Lin Yu—whose expression remained incomparably tranquil—Siegfried had a feeling that this punk hadn't even gotten serious yet.

Are you kidding me? Where is the Honkai Energy on him?

Why could he still not sense any emitted Honkai Energy around him?

Could it be that he merely relied on physical body and technique to block a Herrscher's attack?!

Siegfried now began to suspect one thing.

When this kid had fought him earlier... could he have been holding back?

If he genuinely possessed the strength to defend against a Herrscher's attack, wouldn't the him from just moments ago have been...

Hiss.

This young man plays fair.

Though his words were full of hostility and dissatisfaction, he actually went extremely easy on me.

Moreover, the situation right now was far better than he had imagined.

He had originally thought that after losing to the Herrscher of Thunder, he would die at her hands.

Then, after killing him, the Herrscher of Thunder would absorb the surrounding Honkai Energy while stabilizing her own power, and after preparing herself, head to Changkong City to slaughter.

Yet right now, that process of hers absorbing power had been interrupted by Lin Yu.