Bai Yan frowned. He had never tested the effects of One Sword Startling Swan on an individual like Gray Serpent.
But this was no time to hesitate. Hearing Rita say that, he charged straight at Gray Serpent without looking back.
The mechs had thermal imaging, so Optical Camouflage was useless. Bai Yan had no choice but to rely on brute force to destroy some of the mechs.
Just then, Gray Serpent had already analyzed Rita's condition and immediately deployed the Death Weavers.
These weapons were modeled after spiders and were specially designed to counter Valkyries.
There were six Death Weavers in total. They surrounded Rita at once, but did not immediately engage in a decisive battle, merely circling to restrain her.
After several exchanges, Rita's already unhealed injuries immediately worsened.
She clenched her teeth and searched for an opening in the enemy's defenses through sheer tenacity.
Finally, when the enemy suddenly changed tactics, Rita seized the opportunity instead and consecutively cut down two Death Weavers.
The remaining four abruptly shifted from defense to offense, attacking from four directions.
Rita ignored the others and only struck at the one in front of her.
She had already prepared herself for everything.
Yet the next moment—
Bang!
Bang!
Two heavy mechanical arms flew in and smashed into the Death Weavers' heads.
The mechs on the left and right veered off course, crossing behind Rita. They immediately turned around and prepared to attack again.
The one behind her seemed to have been frozen in place.
At that moment, Bai Yan arrived with a sword strike.
Its head flew off, followed by the human body on the machine being sliced away entirely. It completely shut down.
Using the Wind Authority to propel himself, Bai Yan moved at incredible speed. After cutting down one, he immediately rushed toward the next, dispatching all the remaining Death Weavers in the same manner.
Rita turned around and saw the mess scattered across the ground, unable to stop herself from sighing in relief.
However, at that moment, the head Gray Serpent had lost to Bai Yan at the beginning spoke from the ground.
"Quite an impressive harvest... but have you truly figured out our objective?
"Have you considered where the Herrscher of Thunder and K423 are right now?"
The two of them changed expression at once.
Volume One: World Serpent's Executives
Bai Yan quickly put on a grave, puzzled expression, just as Rita secretly glanced at him.
Seeing his reaction, she turned to stare at Gray Serpent's head. "What do you mean by that?"
"Hehe." Gray Serpent said nothing.
Bai Yan said, "It's trying to mislead us.
"If we believe it now and rush off to stop its so-called real objective, we'll miss our chance to provide support and free Bianca, a valuable fighting force.
"On the contrary, if we help Bianca escape first, the strength of the three of us working together will far exceed that of fighting separately."
The more Bai Yan spoke, the calmer Rita became. In the end, she looked at him with a mixture of gratitude and admiration.
"I was too anxious... but Mr. Gray Serpent's intelligence truly is astonishing."
"Hehe, you are no less impressive, especially this young lady. To remain so calm in a situation like this is maturity quite unlike your appearance.
"So why were you sent here by Schicksal alongside the Herrscher of Thunder and the others?"
Bai Yan waved a hand impatiently. "Such an unoriginal attempt at sowing discord. Switch to a human operator."
"Haha, even so, I still wish to express my goodwill. World Serpent welcomes you at any time."
Crack!
Bai Yan walked over and crushed the head beneath his foot. Then he turned to Rita. "Rest for a while."
Rita shook her head. "I'm fine. Let's keep moving."
Bai Yan could only follow her onward helplessly.
Elsewhere.
Kiana smashed apart a Chariot-class Honkai Beast and turned to Mei. "This area is cleared! Mei, did you get through?"
"Not yet!"
Mei sat in the driver's seat of a mech, doing everything she could to establish communications, but all her efforts were futile.
The moment the mech had been captured, the communications system inside had been completely destroyed. There was no way to contact anyone.
Bronya and Bai Yan had not returned since leaving, and there was no one at the scheduled meeting point either.
Raiden Mei finally gave up on repairing the communications system, grabbed her katana, and rushed to Kiana's side.
"Kiana, let's head to the evacuation point first. Maybe the Valkyrie squad stationed nearby has already come to reinforce us."
"But Xiao Yan and the others are still missing. How can we just leave them behind?"
"If we stay any longer, World Serpent's forces will eventually arrive and surround this place. None of us will be safe then. We should find reinforcements first."
Kiana hesitated for a long while before finally gritting her teeth. "Mei, you go. I'll hide here and wait for you to come back with help."
"Kiana!"
"Don't say anything, Mei. Just go. I'll be fine. I'm good at sneaking around too." Kiana patted her chest.
"I..."
Raiden Mei tried to pull Kiana away, only to find her utterly resolute and unwilling to budge.
She felt terrible, but reason told her that if she did not leave quickly, everyone would be doomed.
So Raiden Mei left behind all the supplies, keeping only a katana and one load of ammunition for herself.
"There are still two intact mechs that can be used for transportation. Remember them if you have no other choice. I'm going to get reinforcements now, Kiana. Don't run around!"
"Don't worry. Go already!"
Raiden Mei looked back several times, only to see her best friend wave before vanishing into the ruins.
Only when Mei could no longer find her did Kiana suddenly leap out and wave goodbye again.
Mei knew Kiana was doing it to reassure her, so she quickly turned and left.
Once she was gone, Kiana hid herself again.
The city was in chaos, but the number of Honkai Beasts was relatively limited, and some had already been dealt with. The people still had room to maneuver.
Before long, a squad of Valkyries descended from the sky and immediately began suppressing the Honkai.
Kiana covertly moved closer and discovered that she had met one of them before.
Anna Saniate. She had been present at the previous tournament.
After World Serpent's provocation had abruptly ended, the tournament had been temporarily postponed, and every branch had entered a state of alert.
Anna had therefore temporarily returned to her team and resumed responsibility for regional security.
"The Snow Lotus Squad?"
As soon as the Valkyries arrived, the Honkai Beasts fell like wheat beneath a scythe.
Their fierce firepower and sharp assaults displayed the strength of this unit in every way.
However.
An enormous Honkai Beast suddenly emerged from the darkness and immediately launched a charge.
With powerful limbs and hard twin horns, its mere appearance sent the Snow Lotus Squad retreating for their lives, abandoning the battle at hand.
An Emperor-class!
Without an S-rank Valkyrie, every member of the Snow Lotus Squad was in mortal danger!
Flames immediately flickered in Kiana's eyes as she watched the Emperor-class smash through a building, burying groups of civilians beneath the rubble.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
She pounded a stone slab with all her strength, her eyes bloodshot.
Wait.
Save them.
Wait!
Save them!
Save them, save them, save them!
Kiana turned, tore away the branches concealing her position, jumped into a pit, activated a mech, and charged toward the Emperor-class.
The mech opened fire at full power, but the attacks against the Emperor-class were like scratching an itch. It could not even be bothered to turn around and look.
Kiana pushed the mech to maximum speed. The instant it reached its limit—
The seat ejected!
She separated from the mech while it rammed into the Emperor-class with all its weapons onboard. At the moment of impact, the entire arsenal detonated.
Boom!
The Emperor-class was finally affected. Its body shuddered slightly, and it immediately turned its head toward Kiana.
Seeing that, Kiana began running at once, taunting it as she ran without caring whether the Honkai could understand her.
The Snow Lotus Squad's pressure greatly eased. After reorganizing their formation, they spotted her and immediately spread out around the Emperor-class, beginning restraining tactics.
They could not defeat it, but they could lure it away and reduce civilian casualties.
For a time, the Emperor-class was temporarily restrained.
At the center of the city, atop a building.
Jackal wore a mask and looked down at everything from above. She made no move, as though she had stood there forever.
"Is it ready? What about Feather Rabbit's side?"
Jackal did not look at the newcomer. "She's holding Durandal back."
"That S-rank is in poor condition and has suffered considerable injuries. The other one is beside her. I believe they have the ability to interfere."
"It doesn't matter. Everything is within calculations. Otto believes the contingency he left behind is more than enough, unaware that he miscalculated the most crucial point." Jackal spoke confidently.
"That was already quite difficult. Durandal is his strongest fighting force, after all. Unless he comes personally to show his hand."
"The Emperor-class has been released. I'll leave this side to you while I go support Feather Rabbit.
"However, Gray Serpent, it seems Raven has failed again."
Gray Serpent shrugged. "As expected."
"Fine, I'll leave this to you. Don't fail like that useless Raven."
After saying that, Jackal waved her hand, and a group of people emerged from the shadows.
Some of them operated a massive vehicle at high speed, seemingly transporting something enormous.
A dull sound slowly began to rumble, and the surrounding space warped in an inexplicable manner.
Something terrifying moved.
Gray Serpent watched his colleague's departing figure and shook his head in amazement.
"Ever since obtaining Thousand Worlds One Step, Jackal has become more and more arrogant. Is this the confidence she gained from defeating Otto once... Forget it. I should carry out that one's orders."
Volume One: Kiana: Who Says I'm Not Cunning?
"Over here, over here!"
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