Just Like Mythology

Personnel in the main control room busily moved, casting tense and expectant gazes toward the experimental chamber within the sealed laboratory.

Further out on the periphery, the leadership team all concentrated intently on the live broadcast feed.

Wendy also tightly clenched her fists.

Please, you have to succeed!

Wendy unconsciously bit her lips until they turned pale, feeling so nervous she almost forgot to breathe.

This unspoken sentiment was shared by almost everyone present; the difference was that Wendy cared about Delta, while the others cared about the experiment itself.

Delta closed her eyes, seemingly enduring the impact of maintaining the energy, but actually handling it with ease while sharing her current experience with the other Anqis.

The new authority is clearly right within reach, yet we had to endure until today—it's finally going to be ours! I can feel it, this incredible energy. Is this the level of approaching a Herrscher?

It's coming! It's here!

Just as we guessed, the plundered authority and energy have been shared over through the Authority of Domination!

Still, a gem is ultimately just a dead object, and the primary enhancement is still on Delta as the attached target. But I am growing stronger too; we are all growing stronger!

Stay calm, hold steady, there's still a big show to play! Especially Delta, keep your sanity at all costs—Otto is not someone easy to fool!

I know.

Delta replied to the excited yet restrained other Anqis.

Then, she slowly opened her eyes, brilliant golden colors lingering within them.

"BOOM!!!"

A cyan pillar of energy soared into the sky, and the resulting gale shattered the sturdy laboratory walls. In an instant, it felt like the heavens and earth were splitting apart, and cracks began spreading across the massive laboratory bunker from the inside to the outer shell.

"She's lost control!"

"The building is going to collapse!"

"Don't panic, this is also an anticipated situation! Everyone evacuate the laboratory! Next should be the work of the Valkyries!"

Inside the experimental bunker, which had already been cleared of excess personnel, researchers scrambled toward the emergency evacuation route. Meanwhile, the high-ranking officials who had been waiting inside the bunker but outside the laboratory did not dare to retreat because Otto stood unmoving.

"Lord Otto, we..."

"Don't panic. At such an important moment, as the initiator and controller of the experiment, how could you retreat to the very back? Am I right, Lord Branch Director?"

"This subordinate wouldn't dare! You are entirely right, Lord Otto."

The Oceania branch director gritted his teeth, cast a reassuring glance at his subordinates, and then stood calmly beside the three-person group from headquarters—yet in his panic, he failed to notice the identical, chilling gazes Rita and Durandal shot his way as they glanced sideways.

At this time, the fully armed elite Valkyrie forces of the Oceania branch had already gathered. A portion of them quickly protected the area where the high-ranking officials were stationed, shielding them from flying debris and falling chunks of concrete, while another portion tightly surrounded the central laboratory, which was erupting with terrifying Honkai Energy.

"Rumble!"

The central cyan pillar of light continuously burst forth with intense energy and impacts, and the spherical experimental bunker, covering an area of up to 189 square kilometers, ultimately broke apart and collapsed completely. The hurricane kicked up by the energy pillar swept up flying dust, blowing in all directions like a sky-obscuring sandstorm, shrouding the entire Oceania branch until the sky could no longer be seen.

A Herrscher is a natural disaster!

At this moment, the Oceania branch finally understood this concept profoundly.

"We..."

"What kind of demon have we created?"

Among the researchers who had barely managed to escape, one more sensitive researcher collapsed to his knees, staring dumbfoundedly at this "sandstorm" and trembling all over with panic.

Yet this was ultimately not a real sandstorm, and the dust from the shattered bunker was eventually completely blown away by the strong wind. Beneath the newly cleared sky, that cyan pillar of light that seemed to pierce heaven and earth also grew dim.

At the scarred and barren site of the former central laboratory, a girl with fluttering cyan hair slowly straightened up from a curled position, floating in mid-air. Her golden eyes gazed blankly forward, seemingly not focusing on anything at all.

"Delta, you are now..."

The branch director spoke up amidst the stalemate.

Yet a bizarre scene occurred.

He opened and closed his mouth as if everything were normal, but the words he spat out weakened at an extreme speed, and soon failed to reach the ears of anyone else completely.

The high-ranking officials of the Oceania branch changed expressions one after another, likewise beginning to open their mouths to speak. But similarly, their voices could not be transmitted at all.

This eerie sight made everyone's hearts tighten, giving rise to an ominous premonition.

Sure enough, under everyone's gaze, the high-ranking officials, including the branch director, rapidly saw their complexions undergo drastic changes. An unnatural flush surged onto their heads, and they simultaneously clutched their throats, just like someone struggling hard to gasp for breath yet unable to inhale any air.

Immediately, these high-ranking officials collapsed to the ground one after another, struggling and rolling around. Their bloodshot eyes bulged out bit by bit, and they even began suffering from a loss of bodily control.

In the brief moment when no one had time to think or react, those formerly lofty high-ranking officials carried terrified and ferocious expressions. Their bodies swelled like balloons, bursting with massive amounts of blood in succession, before collapsing into pools of blood and moving no more.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Faced with this explosive, cruel scene, the onlookers felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as though they should have heard the sounds of these explosions. But in truth, they could not hear a single tiny sound.

Only the splashing blood seemed to encounter some sort of barrier in mid-air, being intercepted and sliding smoothly down to the ground, faintly outlining the existence of a miraculous invisible spherical shield.

Then everyone's gaze shifted to Delta, who was suspended within the encirclement, and found the true culprit of the case.

"Ha~~"

Delta merely yawned lazily, as though nothing had happened, and flashed a cute yet somewhat chillingly eerie smile toward the direction where Wendy and Otto were.

Now, with no living witnesses left, that's accomplished.

Chapter 70 Just Like Mythology

"Valkyrie Delta, in view of your actions just now, I must now ask you a question—are you still yourself?"

Durandal stepped across the encirclement targeting Delta, heavily planting a white lance—which was so exquisitely beautiful it looked more like a work of art than a weapon—beside her feet, and asked with an air of stern righteousness.

Of course she knew those people deserved to die. Luring retired and active Valkyries to serve as breeding tools, secretly cultivating armed forces without headquarters permission, and mixing personal agendas into the critical Gem of Desire experiment—these actions, even disregarding humanitarian issues, were capital crimes based purely on rules.

What Durandal cared about was not the death of the branch director and his cronies, but the reason behind Delta's strike. Whether she acted purely out of a desire for revenge or had already had her sanity controlled by the Honkai—that was the most crucial question today.

"A wonderful feeling..."

"I've never experienced this kind of power before."

"And the sound, human sounds, natural sounds, and sounds I don't know what they are... What am I... Ah, ah, ah!"

Delta clutched her head with both hands, lifting her face to the sky and letting out an extremely painful, sharp scream.

Surging Honkai Energy diffused unstably from her body, forming a strong shockwave that caused the Valkyries forming the encirclement to shield their eyes and step back. Only Durandal stood unmoving in place, her pretty face solemn as she lifted her long lance.

"Delta!"

Flustered by her friend's screams and with no time to spare for the fates of those former superiors, Wendy instinctively wanted to rush forward.

Yet a gleaming, lotus-root-white arm reached out and blocked her figure.

"Miss Wendy, please calm down first. You are not suited to directly participate in the conflict before us."

Rita said understandingly and gently, straightforwardly securing Wendy's petite body in her embrace before standing behind Otto.

Durandal might not fully understand the upper limit of Rita's abilities. To be precise, it was difficult for Durandal to perceive the gap in strength between others, because in her eyes, the vast majority of opponents were defeated with a single punch, making it impossible for her to sense any difference.

Yet Otto and Rita themselves were well aware of this in their hearts.

The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility; of the people present, only Delta was qualified to face Durandal. As for Rita, "protecting" Otto at her side was enough.

Durandal had no mind to spare for anything else at the moment. Facing Delta, she gestured backward to the Oceania Valkyries forming the encirclement to retreat—the total number of A-rank Valkyries in the entire Oceania branch didn't even reach the count of one hand, and two of them were parties involved in this experiment, which showed the average level of this force.

With Durandal present, there was no need to needlessly squander their lives.

After a brief hesitation, the Oceania Valkyries chose to accept the orders from the headquarters higher-ups.

"All personnel fall back, guard the Overseer!"

The encirclement dispersed, though not by retreating entirely; instead, they joined the troops guarding Otto, reinforcing the defense of this most important person.

Only then did Durandal, free of any concerns, slowly walk toward Delta, who was painfully clutching her head and suspected to be struggling against some kind of emotional contamination.

"Delta, are you still Valkyrie Delta? Are you conscious? Answer my question directly, and I will decide the measures to take based on your answer!"

"Don't be noisy!!!"

Seemingly pushed past a certain balance by Durandal's persistent questioning, Delta waved her hand, unleashing layers upon layers of invisible attacks.

"Screech!"

The air between the two emitted a piercing, sharp wail, and crisscrossing cut marks that rapidly closed in on Durandal appeared on the ground.

Durandal's pupils constricted, having clearly sensed an approaching threat of death even though no one else could see it clearly.

"Queen!"

At a hurried cry, a massive mecha appeared in the sky, its body engraved with golden, ornate crests like a noble and elegant queen, erecting a giant shield as tall as a building in front of Durandal.

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, the attack pierced through from behind Durandal, and the crisscrossing cutting marks spread out across the distant ground to a degree the naked eye could not distinguish.

Yet there was no loud noise of a head-on collision, only a faint, indistinct sound of cutting happening on the edge of perception. Then that giant shield turned into a pile of impeccably smooth-cut fragments right before everyone's eyes.

The shield in Queen's hand was gone, and her figure slowly faded away in the sky.

Durandal stood behind the shield, maintaining a deeply arched dodging posture. Though no wounds were visible on her, several strands of cut golden hair drifted slowly downward through the air.

"Is this the ability of the Herrscher of Wind? Such a degree of sharpness is almost impossible to defend against—so, is this your answer, Delta?"

Durandal straightened her body, gripped her lance, and bent her knees, her beautifully curved, perfect form exhibiting an explosive power held back in readiness.

"Ngh... Ngh..."

Yet Delta merely clutched her head tightly, her body swaying in mid-air as though struggling with all her might.

Durandal, even in the later stages of the plot where power levels inflated, she still deserved to be called the most unbreakable trump card in Otto's hands!

Taking advantage of this opportunity...

Let me experience your level!

Having planned this long ago, Delta suddenly stopped swaying, lowered her head, and cast an incomparably cold gaze toward Durandal with a pair of golden eyes brimming with infinite Honkai Energy.

"Whoosh!"

Ideal fluid pulled into threads, forming an irresistible, invisible blade. With a single thought from Delta, it instantly carved countless immensely deep cuts into the ground where Durandal had been standing.

Yet Durandal had already vanished.

No one could see her speed clearly; even Delta now could only feel by intuition that the other party was charging. Immediately, the sharp tip of the lance crashed head-on into Delta's abdomen.

"Bang!!!"

As a Divine Key, the Black Abyss White Flower possessed absolutely reliable hardness and sharpness. Unfortunately, it slammed into the protective barrier composed of ideal fluid, a defense infinitely close to the physical limit. The lance failed to break the defense, only transferring Durandal's terrifying force and sending Delta flying high up into the sky with a violent jolt.

Yet Durandal's objective was also achieved; she wanted to pull the battlefield high into the sky to avoid further damage to the Oceania branch as much as possible.

"Boom!"

Durandal's figure shot upward abruptly, chasing after the blasted Delta like a rocket.

Delta gradually neutralized the impact force. Protected within the impenetrable barrier, she waved her tiny hand, and a terrifying atmospheric pressure bore down on Durandal like the sky collapsing, with countless ideal fluid fine threads entangling within it to form a horrifying attack that crushed everything.

"Bang!!!"

In an instant, the low clouds across the horizon were completely shattered, and the aftermath of unimaginable impact force diffused to the ground, forming gale after gale strong enough to blow people away.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Terrifying powers akin to mythology continuously intersected in the air. The crowd on the ground could only vaguely make out a rapidly moving golden blur, and aside from that, all they could do was desperately steady themselves in the gale.

At times, distant mountain ranges could even be seen affected by Delta's attacks, abruptly fracturing and collapsing into pieces.

"Is this the level of a Herrscher and an S-Rank Valkyrie?"

"Then what is the meaning of all our efforts up until now?"

"So, what Delta said before was right—this experiment really will change history!"

The Oceania Valkyries felt their minds tremble, weeping or laughing as they looked up at this mythological battle. It was like frogs finally leaping out of a well, seeing the true sky for the very first time.

Amidst the gusts of wind, Otto calmly stood with his hands behind his back, speaking with complete composure:

"Rita, what do you think?"

"To be able to stalemate with Lord Durandal for so long, such power is extremely rare. The artificial Herrscher experiment is indeed of profound significance, making the trip worthwhile for the Overseer and Lord Durandal."