14. The Thousand Herrschers: I really hate clingy couples who have no sense of personal space

"Of course... these!"

As the puppet deliberately drew out its voice, various Honkai Beast, puppets, and some Imaginary Constructs began to fall from the platform.

However, Xia Ling could clearly sense that there wasn't even a single puppet with Herrscher Core among them, meaning that all of these things were controlled puppets.

As expected... their target wasn't me at all; these things were just there to buy me time.

Since it wasn't directed at me, then it must be... Theresa?

Moreover, these groups of mobs are indeed difficult for me to deal with, especially since they are all manipulated creations, which is equivalent to having an additional health buff that ignores damage.

Wait a minute, looking at it this way, I've become Skadi?

Xia Ling experienced firsthand the helplessness of Skadi in her blue form when facing a swarm of Originium Slug.

Fortunately, she didn't rely on pure strength, but on a system.

Using the Seven Thunders of Retribution, I'd probably suffer serious injuries at such close range, not to mention the enemy could launch another wave of minions... Forget it, I'd better not bother.

Almost instantly, Xia Ling made a decision. She opened her backpack and prepared to find a suitable disposable item to finish the job quickly.

Or rather, as long as we can hold out until we find Theresa's location, that's fine.

"In that case..."

Xia Ling's lips curled into a mischievous smile.

"You're the one who put me in the theater, so don't blame me for being impolite!"

"System, implement the Collapse Paradigm and feed them something good."

"Give it to me, and go eat your thesis defense!"

[Collapse Paradigm: Spreading Collapse, triggered. Current extent: Theater of Domination platform.]

A black "kingdom" began to spread from the center of the platform.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

"Hehe, hehe, you can't do anything~"

"Just like before, you can only watch Xia Ling die in front of you, and you won't even get to see her body warm!"

"Because you've always just been a mascot~"

"It's so noisy!"

The golden chains pierced the doll's heart and brain in an instant, but it seemed to have no effect.

The broken doll lay on the ground. Soon after, a new doll would randomly appear next to Theresa, perhaps beside her, behind her, above her head, or even at her feet.

Theresa's breathing became rapid. Although her long career as a teacher had given her some resistance to such harassment, the constant verbal attacks from someone beside her still affected her mood to some extent.

"Oh dear, I'm in a panic, I'm in a panic!"

"Hehe, there's no use in being anxious, you'll just have to worry to death!"

The two dolls beside Theresa with their own words.

"Save your energy. You've already taken down so many puppets, hehe, but we can still harass you, and you can't do anything about it!"

"Right, right, let's save some Honkai Energy; you still need to find Xia Ling ~"

"Oh~ Speaking of Xia Ling, she's really pitiful. A sniper without a protector, what awaits her?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, that black mist, that number of enemies, it sounds terrifying!"

"That's strange, where are the people responsible for her safety?"

"Where? Where? I didn't see it either... Do you think it's possible that person bought Xia Ling a huge insurance policy and listed herself as the beneficiary?"

Theresa took a deep breath. She understood that this was probably a way for the Thousand-Man Herrscher to disturb her mind. However, since entering the Theater of Domination, apart from the harassment from these puppets, there had indeed been no attacks targeting her.

This generation of a thousand has been confirmed to be unlike the individually weak individuals of the Previous Civilization. Judging from the giant golden hand that attacked Seele, the opponent possessed considerable strength. And the fact that she hadn't been attacked meant that...

Theresa bit her lip slightly, trying her best to control herself from overthinking and to trust Xia Ling's abilities.

What I should do now is to find an exit as soon as possible, or find Xia Ling's whereabouts. Achieving either of these two goals will break the current situation.

The platforms that Theater of Domination are connected by a kind of floating corridor, but these corridors are not necessarily all accessible.

For example, the passageway in front of Theresa is a dead end.

As if venting her frustration, Theresa slammed Judah against the wall in front of her. After all, this wasn't her own home, so she didn't feel bad about smashing him.

"Hey, why is this person smashing every wall they see? Is that how you treat a guest?"

"What a violent maniac! I really don't know how Xia Ling could like someone like you!"

"But... hehe~"

"Smashing things will be punished, you know?"

Is an enemy about to appear?

Theresa's gaze sharpened. Although she didn't stop what she was doing, she immediately activated all her senses, remaining alert for any potential enemies.

However, as the walls crumbled one by one, Theresa never saw the enemy she was wary of.

Until... the final blow that smashed through the wall, Theresa clearly felt a softness different from the wall itself.

A body, covered in blood, flew out of the wall following Judah's blow.

Chapter Fourteen: The Thousand-Man Herrscher: I Hate Some Couples Who Have No Affection for Each Other

"!"

Theresa was startled and looked toward the body that had been sent flying backward.

Then, she saw a familiar face.

Xia Ling's chest was dented from being struck by the front of the cross, and judging from the large pool of blood on the ground, it was clear that...

Theresa's pupils contracted instantly, and almost instinctively, she grabbed the chain hanging from Judah.

Then, she quickly calmed down.

"This is not Xia Ling."

A golden spear of light flew out instantly, lifting the body up. Sure enough, upon contact with the spear, the body quickly transformed into a puppet.

"Hmph, all they do is use these little tricks."

"A little trick, but it works, doesn't it?"

"Look, our headmistress was almost scared to death just now. If this happens a few more times, will she develop a heart condition?"

"However, what follows won't be an illusion anymore, will it?"

The two puppets slowly parted to clear the way.

Theresa could clearly see that in front of her was a huge floating platform, and a black mist that made people feel uncomfortable was spreading over the platform.

Through the mist, Theresa could still see numerous severed limbs of Honkai Beast and dolls, as well as... familiar screams.

"This is... Xia Ling?"

Theresa's heart jumped again. Although the distance made the voice a little distorted, the timbre did sound very similar to Xia Ling's.

"Oh dear, that's a really pitiful scream..."

"Yeah, yeah, Theresa, should we go check on Xia Ling and see what kind of state we've put her in?"

The voices of the two dolls buzzed around Theresa's ears like flies.

Calm down, Theresa... This might be the same trick of the Thousand-Man Herrscher, just like the body we just saw.

If it's an illusion, just use Judah as an example...

A golden chain, under Theresa's control, slowly moved forward until it touched the black mist.

"What's this?"

Almost instantly, an indescribable sense of repulsion rose from Theresa's heart, which made her immediately realize that this black mist was not an illusion, but something real.

She didn't know how to describe the feeling; the only sensation the black mist gave her was that it felt like something foreign.

Could this also be the ability of Thousand-Man Herrscher? Damn it, if it's true, then Xia Ling might...

Theresa turned her gaze to the center of the black fog, where everything was shrouded in mist and nothing could be seen except for screams that could be heard from within.

Given her current condition, the only way to get Xia Ling out of here would probably be to either activate the Divine Prayer Barrier or completely degrade it...

So, should we take a gamble? Gamble on whether we can rescue Xia Ling and then leave this theater with Xia Ling?

What Theresa doesn't know is that her current thoughts are exactly what the doll wants.

From the very beginning, the puppets' purpose was not to target Xia Ling. Just as Xia Ling guessed, they only wanted to stall Xia Ling and then focus their attack on Theresa.

However, they absolutely cannot afford to kill Theresa has two trump cards. In fact, even from a purely combat perspective, they might not be able to defeat Theresa if she fully unleashes either the Divine Prayer Barrier or artificial Honkai outbreak.

Therefore, they never intended to solve the problem through combat from the beginning. Instead, they planned to artificially create openings to force Theresa to reveal her trump card.

The Divine Prayer Barrier is essentially a one-for-one skill, and the Thousand-Man Herrscher is never short of people. If Theresa uses the Divine Prayer Barrier, the Thousand-Man Herrscher only needs to avoid her and come back to collect the loot when the barrier ends.

However, artificial Honkai outbreak is a power that Theresa cannot fully control at present. Excessive release of genetic restrictions will cause Theresa to be affected by the bestial nature contained in the Honkai Beast genes, which may cause her to lose control.

Furthermore, this effect can accumulate. Although Xia Ling helped Theresa alleviate some of the effects during her rest period through certain methods, this was still a psychological weakness.

If Theresa is forced into a state of collapse during the Theater of Domination, even if she recovers later, this mental vulnerability will make it easier for the Thousand-Man Herrscher to target her.

Therefore, the plan of the Thousand-Man Herrscher was to gradually erode their power from the very beginning.

However, since Xia Ling disappeared after "pulling" a large area of land, the Thousand-Man Herrscher dared not let Theresa run around.

Based on the idea that Xia Ling wouldn't return to the spawn point to search for resources, they led Theresa back to the place Xia Ling initially entered, which was that kingdom.

Then, by imitating Xia Ling's voice, he used half-truths and half-lies to lure Theresa into a contest with the Kingdom.

Moreover, even if the provocation ultimately fails, the Thousand-Man Herrscher still retains one tactic...

Turning our attention back to Theresa, she seems to have made a decision.

Golden light has begun to shine on the Judas' Vow.

Is she trying to activate the Divine Prayer Barrier? An unexpected choice. After she dealt with the black mist, did she think Xia Ling could take her out, now that she was on the verge of death?

The Thousand-Man Herrscher were a little confused by Theresa's thinking, but they still intended to do their duty and complete the final harassment.

However, what happened next seemed to be somewhat different from what they had expected.

Judah did not fully unfold; the golden light representing the Power of Restraint lasted only a short while before it immediately went out. In its place, eleven spears of light carrying the Power of Restraint appeared.

Then, the light pierced directly into the mouths of the two puppets that had just opened their mouths, performing a one-step journey to their stomachs.

The Power of Restraint prevented the two puppets from transferring their cores and consciousness at all; they could only watch as they were pierced by the light spears and then thrown into the black mist.

More dolls subsequently appeared.

"Hehe, look, you're in a hurry again!"

"What's the use of killing more puppets? Your Xia Ling is gone forever! Hehehehe~"

"Really? So I was already dead? How come I didn't know?"

Xia Ling's voice suddenly rang out from the air.

At the same time, a crack was forcibly torn open in the space between Theresa and the dolls.

"The spatial density here is really high... It's rare to find a place where opening a door is so troublesome for me."

"And... Theresa, how are you feeling?"

"Um..."

Theresa thought for a moment, then reached out and pulled.

A chain, one-twelfth the length of Judah, that only she could sense, immediately gave Xia Ling a positive answer from Xia Ling collar, just as she had sensed it before the black mist.

Theresa smiled as she watched Xia Ling, who seemed somewhat bewildered by her grasping motion at thin air.

"Yes, it really is you!"