I Am in Honkai, But Integrated Strategies Have Been Activated

(Huh? I feel like someone's badmouthing me?)

With her next route decided, Flame Willow began her journey of destruction.

The thirteenth floor, filled with Honkai Beasts. Burned.

The fourteenth floor, filled with Imaginary Corpses. First, the main body was burned, then the core.

The fifteenth floor, Griseo's two paintings. Burn...

"Hey, hey, hey! You can't burn those!" Xia Ling quickly stopped her.

"Yeah, you really can't. I have a feeling that if you burn them, it'll turn into some Herrscher of Corruption with white stockings, red eyes, and long legs."

(I feel like they're talking about something bad, and they even mentioned the Herrscher of Corruption? I'm so curious. When I meet her later, I'll definitely have Little Xia Ling tell me all about it.)

Flame Willow put away her flames, choosing to use her abilities to completely volatilize the power within the pigments directly.

After a round of frenzied power bursts, the power of the two "practice pieces" was finally depleted, turning into two paintings that dissolved into points of light.

Chapter 11: Imaginary Corpses are Like Bricks

After passing through three nodes, Flame Willow's negative buffs on her status bar were finally cleared.

The sixteenth node was another fixed pre-battle supply segment. However, Flame Willow's luck wasn't great this time, as she didn't encounter the cat guarding the shop.

But it didn't really matter if the cat was there or not. After all, who would actually try to steal the cat's shop?

After browsing through the shop, Flame Willow finally set her sights on two Collectibles.

[Radiant Casimir] and [Miniature Stage Model].

[Radiant Casimir: For 6 seconds after triggering an evasion, increase ATK by 70%.]

Generally, this item is useless unless it's for a specific Operator, making it difficult to get any real benefit.

Even though Flame Willow currently had the Dancer's Bracelet to provide a 10% dual evasion, it was still just a "better than nothing" situation.

But don't forget, Flame Willow's final challenge for this journey, the Herrscher Trial, was against Elysia, whom she had prepared to face in advance.

The attack frequency of Elysia in the Elysian Realm trial could be described as an arrow rain without exaggeration.

She would even summon a few Crystal Wedges to cooperate in combat, further increasing the number of projectiles.

As for Flame Willow, she wasn't a speed-type fighter to begin with. Facing Elysia's barrage, she would most likely have to rely on tanking hits and recovering quickly.

Therefore, with a sufficient number of hits taken, even a 10% evasion would trigger frequently enough. Similarly, Radiant Casimir would have an effect akin to being permanent.

The other Collectible, [Miniature Stage Model], increased deployment cost by 20 in the game.

However, in trials without deployment costs, this effect was changed to a simple and brutal doubling of initial energy.

This meant Flame Willow's Honkai Energy reserves would be doubled.

Although the extra bar of blue energy couldn't be recovered, for short-term combat, this effect was absolutely top-tier.

With these two Collectibles, Flame Willow was filled with determination.

Standing before the red [Perilous Enemy], the description of the next node was displayed to both Flame Willow and Xia Ling.

[Perilous Enemy: Imaginary Corpse - Mysticism]

[A mysterious individual that once appeared on the surface of the moon in a World Bubble, suspected to be a creation of the Tree of Imaginary. Possesses a body and attack methods strongly resembling Artiodactyla, with a core that can split. Enters a rage when awakened from slumber.]

"So, the Imaginary Corpse series of monsters are like bricks, moved wherever they're needed," Xia Ling couldn't help but comment upon seeing the familiar description. "This thing first appeared in a World Bubble on the moon, and strictly speaking, it was within the scope of the Sea of Quantum. Who knows why this monster, clearly a creation of the Imaginary, appeared there."

(Ah, speaking of which, these kinds of Imaginary monsters weren't uncommon in the previous civilization either. Is this some kind of strange ecological phenomenon? Hmm... When I go back, I'll ask Mobius about it.)

As soon as they entered the seventeenth node, four giant stone walls rose from the ground. Simultaneously, red and yellow mist converged in the center, forming a massive Imaginary Core.

Before Flame Willow could do anything to the core, it flashed with light and transformed into a giant Imaginary bull, which charged directly at Flame Willow without a word.

"So aggressive?" Flame Willow was startled. She dodged the charge with a backward leap, then unleashed her full power. A terrifying barrage of flames roared towards the Imaginary Corpse, which hadn't recovered from its charge.

Although the monster's health bar in the game looked like it had a full eighteen segments, its first phase wasn't difficult at all. As the saying goes, a long health bar doesn't mean high HP. In the game, if you don't enter the second phase within half a minute, you've definitely picked too few Sigils.

It was the same in the Elysian Realm trial. Under Xia Ling's saturation bombardment, the defensive shell made of Imaginary Energy was quickly broken, and the Imaginary Corpse also fell into a downed state.

Of course, being downed was only temporary. Before long, the Imaginary Corpse shook its head, stood up again, and entered a rage state.

This phase in the game requires guiding the Imaginary Corpse to crash into Honkai Energy Crystals to make it enter a rage state, and then successfully seeing through and breaking its high damage reduction. The process is quite complicated, and usually, if you don't pay attention to its skills, you'll be outputting damage against its damage reduction for a long time.

However, for Flame Willow, an experienced veteran player, this process was as easy as pie.

Like a bullfighter, she easily guided the Imaginary Corpse to smash through two Honkai Energy Crystals. The Imaginary Corpse's rage meter accumulated to its maximum, and it began to gather energy, charging up in place.

But such a charge was clearly useless to Flame Willow. Seeing the Imaginary Energy on the Imaginary Corpse's surface condense to a golden yellow, Flame Willow decisively condensed her flames into a spear and threw it directly, striking a weak point on the Imaginary Corpse and putting it back into a state of weakness.

(Huh? Little Xia Ling seems very familiar with this monster's weakness? Judging by her actions and responses, it's clear she's not encountering this monster for the first time.)

(Indeed, she's becoming more and more mysterious, successfully piquing the little fairy's curiosity.)

(Sigh, it would be great if I could personally test Little Xia Ling's combat skills someday. Just watching through the screen, I can't really tell anything.)

While Elysia was still contemplating how to understand Xia Ling's strength, Flame Willow had already successfully brought the Imaginary Corpse to its final phase.

With a roar, the Imaginary Core flew out from within the Imaginary Corpse, then disintegrated in mid-air and split into eight giant high-energy Starstones, scattering around the Imaginary Corpse.

This was also the monster's final mechanic. If the eight Starstones couldn't be destroyed in a short period, the Imaginary Corpse's massive damage would wipe the screen.

However, for Flame Willow, this was not difficult either.

As everyone knows, Flame Willow's third skill, Life Ember, is an area-of-effect skill that hits two targets and causes chain explosions.

Although the release technique for skills like this requires extra Honkai Energy compared to normal ability usage, don't forget that the Miniature Stage Model also grants Flame Willow nearly double the Honkai Energy storage.

Soon, amidst the chain explosions of high-energy Starstones, the Imaginary Corpse's health was rapidly depleted, dissipating into light particles.

"Well then, next..." Looking at the twelve imprinted gates that appeared before her, Flame Willow said through the channel, "Get ready to assist, hurry up and come see Ai!"

"Roger that!" Xia Ling excitedly jumped off the sofa, looking eager to try.

(Hmm? Is there still a role for Miss Fairy?)

Seeing Flame Willow standing before the portal symbolizing her True Self Sigil, Elysia's eyes widened.

Chapter 12: Ai, Bad!

Just as Elysia was still surprised, she suddenly felt the data constituting this body, including a wisp of her own consciousness attached to it, being rapidly transferred into another prepared body.

When Elysia's consciousness regained control of this new body, she found herself seemingly transferred to a very familiar place.

"Is this... the trial Elysian Realm that Little Xia Ling and the others were experiencing just now?"

Although the environment was extremely similar to the Elysian Realm, Elysia immediately recognized that this was not the Elysian Realm she was familiar with.

"So that's how it is." Elysia instantly understood the current situation.

It seemed that the system, too lazy to copy another set of Elysia's data, had directly used the Elysia from the lounge for "Material Reuse." After constructing a Combat Module and a Combat Voice Pack for this body, it had directly transformed our Mascot Girl Elysia into the Elysian Realm boss, Ai.

"Fine... Not only can I not speak, but I can't even switch between lounge and combat voice packs. This system is too lazy."

Elysia pouted in dissatisfaction, then began to feel the power within her.

There was no way around it, she couldn't solve her communication problem right now. Instead of continuing to try, it was better to help Little Xia Ling complete a satisfactory trial.

As soon as she took out the bow and arrow materialized by the system, Elysia found that directly in front of her, a familiar portal slowly opened.

Flame Willow poked her head out from the gate, and her gaze met Elysia's, who was looking at the portal.

"Uh..."

Feeling a bit awkward, Flame Willow quickly retreated inside. Without even summoning Xia Ling's assistance, she immediately adopted her combat stance.

There was no way around it, facing Elysia, even a system simulation, Flame Willow didn't dare to be careless.

Then, Flame Willow noticed that Elysia before her didn't seem to be making any moves?

Elysia: o(*≧▽≦)ツ

"Ai means, it seems she wants you to summon assistance first?" Xia Ling said through the channel, a little uncertainly.

Elysia: (＾-＾)

"As expected of Ai, she's waiting for me to be fully prepared before starting the fight."

Flame Willow quickly activated her assist, and with a flash of light, Xia Ling also appeared on the field.

"By the way, since this Ai seems to be quite friendly, just like the original, can we just consider this a win?" Xia Ling asked tentatively.

Elysia: (￣△￣;)

"Alright, it seems not." Xia Ling flickered and retreated far away: "Good luck, Flame Willow, I'm counting on you for damage mitigation."

"Can you not say it as if you're the one dealing damage?" Flame Willow said speechlessly as she condensed a weapon.

Seeing that the two had finally finished preparing, Elysia activated her voice pack and spoke the line that signified the start of the battle.

"In a sense, this is also... a date?"

Following her words, a Crystal Wedge containing excessive Honkai Energy was shot out. After gently landing, it exploded into a cluster of crystal flower seeds on the spot.

Then, arrows flew towards Flame Willow like a storm.

Facing Elysia's endless variety of attacks, it was clearly unrealistic to either tank them or dodge them. Flame Willow swung her long spear, creating a wave of fire that collided with the arrows. At the same time, Xia Ling's bullets accurately pierced through the gaps in the fire wave, flying towards Elysia.

"Hmm, as expected, the coordination between Little Xia Ling and Flame Willow is like their left and right hands, with almost no delay."

Elysia easily caught the bullets that passed through the fire wave, but she didn't try to dodge them. Instead, she took the hit from the Honkai Energy-composed bullet head-on.

After the probing from the first arrow, Elysia had a rough grasp of this body's abilities.

The Honkai Energy storage was extremely high. With the output of this body, it was basically inexhaustible. It was also very sturdy; at least, attacks like Xia Ling's didn't pose much of a threat.

As for the drawbacks, just like Elysia just experienced, the movements of this body were extremely slow compared to its output capabilities, and its attack methods were also very singular. Even though Elysia, as the controller, could react, she couldn't control the body to dodge.

In a way, it was quite similar to Flame Willow's current predicament.

"Okay, that's enough~"

As if retaliating for Xia Ling's earlier attack, Elysia drew her bow and charged, a dazzling pink light beginning to condense on the arrow.

Accompanied by pink radiance and flying crystal shards, a Crystal Wedge descended from the sky, landing beside Xia Ling.

"I have to deal with this first, I can't let her accumulate three to use her ultimate!" Xia Ling called out, then changed direction, swinging her scythe towards the wedge that was continuously releasing crystal arrows.

Seizing the opportunity when Elysia was charging and releasing the wedge, Flame Willow immediately closed the distance, her flame spearhead already swinging towards Elysia.

To her surprise, however, Elysia didn't seem to expect this, her sweet smile still gracing her face.

"Gotcha~"

The crystal flower seed that had just sprouted from the ground suddenly exploded, transforming into a pink barrier that enveloped Flame Willow's figure.

However, such a simple attack couldn't completely trap Flame Willow. As the power within her body was unleashed, three fiery red orbs rose, carrying terrifying Honkai Energy, and spun at high speed around Flame Willow, breaking through the barrier.

That's right, it was Flame Willow's second skill, Life and Death Cycle.

"Sigh, as expected, this level can't restrict little Flame Willow. After all, the output limits of this body are too rigid."

Elysia sighed inwardly and decided to change her strategy.

Elysia leaped backward, dodging a slash from Flame Willow, and then resumed her previous charging stance.

"You attack directly! I've already cleared one Crystal Wedge."

Without Xia Ling needing to say more, Flame Willow, carrying the three fireballs generated by Life and Death Cycle, arrived before Elysia, and the terrifying flames followed.

At this moment, Elysia's Crystal Wedge had also finished its release, but she didn't choose to try and dodge this attack. Instead, she stood her ground, took Flame Willow's flames head-on, and then charged again.

"Two... two in a row?"

Flame Willow didn't think much of it. The fiery red flames, carrying the explosion generated by the activation of Honkai Energy, continuously bombarded Elysia's Honkai Energy barrier.

Elysia: qwq

"If this continues, I'll cry~"

"Mmm, I suddenly can't bear to fight anymore."

"Flame Willow, don't let yourself be blinded by Elysia's beauty!"

Taking advantage of the brief moment while the two were bantering, Elysia flashed a small, mischievous smile and raised her bow for the third time.