The power of Binding is this game's most genuine damage / Elysia: I just... love everyone a little more than the others, that's all!

Xia Ling shrugged. "As for that instant kill mechanism... you can think of it as a sword that freezes space. There's basically no way to block it except by taking it head-on."

"So, you still have to memorize the template, right?"

Bronya, who had absolutely no gaming experience, covered her face. "It's okay, this Bronya is familiar with..."

"Alright, alright, now that you've finished, let's start the second playthrough. This time, Theresa will lead the team."

In a pleasant atmosphere, the second group began a new round of strategy.

In the days that followed, Xia Ling began to leisurely watch Kiana and the others explore Elysian Realm.

After all, in her plan, just triggering all the events would probably be enough for Kiana and the others to grind for a month.

She put all the texts and dialogues from her previous life, as well as some events not mentioned in the plots collected in the Elysian Realm, and even some Alternate History into the node.

For example... what they've been discussing lately is whether Mobius is the daughter of Chijie, and whether Kevin really loves telling corny jokes.

Of course, Xia Ling wasn't exactly relaxed either. After all, Theresa was undergoing special training in the Elysian Realm, but Schicksal still needed someone to make the final decision. When there were matters that Amber couldn't decide, she still had to exercise the functions of a bishop on Theresa's behalf.

As for Elysia, she has been appearing less frequently lately.

This was also Xia Ling's idea, since she discovered that Kiana and the others were quite strong in combat.

Now, only half a month has passed, and they are already able to reliably pass through the Third Floor, and then randomly die at some nasty nodes in the Fourth Floor or Fifth Floor.

In other words, if they get a lucky draw with their collection, or if they're particularly fortunate, they'll immediately reach the first ending of the Roguelike game, which is the first chapter of the Elysian Realm in the original work.

And... hearing Elysia's conversation, which serves as an important "foreshadowing".

"Ah... we're down to the last two nodes. Hopefully, nothing unexpected will go wrong this time..."

Theresa looked at the map of the Fifth Floor with a weary expression. There were only two nodes left in front of them.

One is Unexpected Encounter, the other is a perfectly safe Crossroads of Fate.

Based on their experience over the past few days, most of these Unexpected Encounter events don't turn out badly—but some that trigger battles are extremely prone to backfiring.

For example, there was a time when they accidentally broke a painting and were attacked by a boy who looked quite young.

Heavens have mercy, Durandal only thought this thing was somewhat similar to Xi's ability and wanted to give it a try. Who knew that the boy's strength was actually on par with the boss level of the Third Floor.

Even after fighting for a while, there was a second phase—that guy picked up the other monsters and swallowed them whole.

This fighting method caused Theresa to directly hallucinate Vishnu —and they later discovered that it was indeed him.

"It's okay, we've encountered this situation before."

Fu Hua breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the scene inside the node.

"This is the incident where Elysia gave me my induction training... There was no battle, and we received a small gift from her."

"It's that guy again..."

Theresa muttered to herself, "I feel like so many things are related to her."

"That's not wrong. After all, Elysia is very good at getting along with people. She can quickly draw people in and make them her friends, even those who were hostile to her in the past."

Fu Hua thought for a moment and added, "Well, she's actually quite similar to Xia Ling, but Xia Ling is often more passive. If you don't take the initiative to communicate with Xia Ling, she won't deliberately try to gain other people's favor like she's trying to get all the achievements."

"I see, Bronya understands." Bronya clapped her hands. "One is an active skill, and the other is a passive skill."

"That's not wrong, but if I remember correctly, Xia Ling's attitude towards the headmaster was very proactive."

Mei smiled and said, "I remember I caught Xia Ling and the headmistress being intimate more than once... to the point that Bronya wouldn't let me open the door for a long time."

"Mei! Don't suddenly bring up these irrelevant topics!"

Theresa blushed and stopped Mei from continuing to reveal her past romantic history.

It can only be said that Theresa was a bit submissive back then; who could have imagined that Xia Ling, who took the initiative back then, would become like this in the future?

"In short, someone who actively maintains social relationships and meddles in all sorts of things is definitely suspicious!"

Theresa remained unchanged in her previous opinion.

"I agree with that. Elysia doesn't seem like a bad person, but she's definitely not as simple as she appears."

Mei analyzed, "For example, in the node we encountered before, Mobius referred to Elysia as 'traitor'."

"However, based on Elysia's previous spoilers, it seems that she is the final boss in the first ending," Kiana said. "Based on my experience, there is a related storyline after completing the ending."

"Maybe by then, we'll have a better understanding of her situation?"

"You're right, Kiana." Theresa activated her Collapse Form: "So, I'm full of energy now."

"I deliberately waited until now to activate the Collapse so that I would have enough energy to deal with Elysia."

"Therefore, we will definitely succeed this time!"

Theresa was full of confidence.

Five minutes later, in [Perilous Enemy - The Final Tomb of the Vanished Fire].

The girl, as beautiful as a flower, easily captured Theresa, who was trying to argue that archers were not good at close combat.

As for Theresa's prized Collapse Form... it was completely useless.

"Qi Ling pulled away Wu Si's (L Seven) crying | Ling s>+ fierce power~"

Bound by the pink crystal, Theresa's energy was rapidly drained away like a floodgate being opened, successfully transforming Theresa from a young girl back into a loli form.

"What?! This woman is practically cheating!"

With Theresa's frustrated cry, having lost her fighting ability, she was temporarily sealed in the crystal, awaiting rescue by her teammates.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Power of Restraint is the Most Realistic Damage in This Game

"Aunt Flo has been sealed directly into the crystal..."

Watching Theresa's swift defeat, Kiana couldn't help but remark, "I really shouldn't have made any pre-battle promises."

Please accept these flowers with gratitude.

"Wait, so this isn't a real person?"

Elysia's sudden move startled everyone, after all, her lifelike imitation had led them to believe that it was the real Ellie herself.

But this is actually her. After discovering that Kiana and the others had entered the Fifth Floor, Elysia secretly went to Little E and asked for control permissions.

Pink arrows, like raindrops, fell from the sky and reflected in all directions after hitting the Flawless Dome.

Fortunately, both Kiana and Bronya on the Trialers' side have skills to counter the barrage. It's a pity that Theresa has been sealed away, otherwise, the Divine Prayer Barrier could have been a better choice.

"I'll go and rescue the headmaster first. In the meantime, I'll ask you to cover me."

Durandal casually waved her hand, and her armor instantly transformed into a black warhorse— Khrishna.

"No problem!"

Back in Kolosten, Kiana and Durandal had already developed a certain level of combat synergy. With Kiana's snap of her fingers, golden voids appeared around Durandal, absorbing the scattered arrows for her.

Meanwhile, Mei and Fu Hua launched attacks on Elysia from the left and right.

However, it wasn't Sirin controlling the body here, after all... Fu Hua was well aware of Elysia's resistance to mental attacks.

"Damn it, I don't think many of these bosses are affected by my mental attacks!"

Sirin was indignant inside Fu Hua's body.

"After all, without mental resistance, Sirin would control you for quite some time... Sister Xia Ling wouldn't allow such a bug to occur, would she?"

Bronya guessed.

"It's okay, Sirin, you can control the body instead."

"Then let's forget about it. You, Old Fossil, should have more experience in fighting Flame-Chasers."

When designing the Fifth Floor boss, Xia Ling specifically limited Elysia's ability to seal opponents with crystals. At least, with Theresa just sealed, the task of close-range control of Elysia became much simpler.

Meanwhile, Durandal's attacks were rapidly reducing the Crystal Flower Seed's health.

Ultimately, the boss in the first ending is just Elysia's initial form, and a weaker version at that. Apart from using pink arrows to attack, she doesn't even have many melee combat moves.

This meant that even with the real Elysia as the pilot, she couldn't unleash much of her power.

Otherwise, Elysia would definitely have given them a demonstration of what it meant to be the first owner of the Black Abyss White Flower.

"I'll cry if you keep hitting me, okay?"

As the first phase ended, Elysia enveloped herself in a pink crystal.

"As expected, there's a second phase..."

Bronya remained on guard, feeling helpless.

A moment later, the crystal suddenly burst open, and the Miss Fairy's Honkai Energy was once again fully restored.

Unlike the bosses Ai Elysia that Xia Ling Lao fought before, this time they are going to fight a raid, so they will definitely need to give Elysia a little buff.

If Elysia in the first stage was an all-rounder, then Elysia in the second stage is the ultimate danmaku specialist.

After entering the second phase, Elysia's position will not move, and she will begin to charge up her power in place.

Every so often, a cluster of crystal flowers will be generated on the battlefield to launch a coordinated attack. At the same time, a shield will be generated based on the number of crystal flower clusters. And this so-called period of time... is exactly equal to the pre-attack animation of Elysia's charged attack.

"What kind of overpowered skill is this?!"

Durandal was a little dumbfounded as she watched as Elysia generated a cluster of crystal flowers to attack in tandem with each of her attacks.

The crystal that had just trapped Theresa had taken her quite some time to work, and the sturdiness of these crystal flower clusters was almost the same as that crystal.

Khrishna spent half a day painstakingly creating it, but Elysia restored it with a single arrow. Is this something a human can fight?

"We can't clear all the flowers. Kiana, take me to the middle. Let's just tank the damage and fight it out."

Although Theresa's strength wasn't particularly high in her non-collapsed state, she still had decades of combat experience, and she immediately noticed the problem— Elysia's skill of releasing flower clusters seemed to be rapidly consuming her own energy.

To put it simply, for a data entity, the amount of Honkai Energy directly determines the amount of "health"—if it can't survive until the attack ends, then competing with Elysia for damage output is also a viable option.

As expected, Theresa's experience proved correct; Elysia's second phase was something that needed to be dealt with quickly—and Theresa's Power of Restraint was indeed a countermeasure.

Other attacks would need to break through the layers of crystal protection around Elysia's body, while Theresa's Power of Restraint was as smooth as a hot knife through butter for this pure Honkai Energy construct.

"As expected, the Power of Restraint is the most real form of harm..."

After enduring tons of damage, Theresa's five-protect-one strategy did indeed achieve excellent progress—after all, Xia Ling had carefully designed the boss's abilities, ensuring that everyone had an advantage.

After the protective crystals completely dissipated, everyone successfully completed the first ending of the game.

"Sigh, we lost, we lost. Your growth rate is truly frightening."

After the battle ended, Elysia did not disappear like the other bosses. Instead, she jumped down from a high place and came to stand in front of everyone.

"However, considering that my opponents were so many outstanding girls, I think my performance wasn't too bad, right?"

"It feels like... Sister Elysia wasn't even using her full strength..."

"That's right. I remember Elysia told us that she knows more than one weapon."

Mei nodded, agreeing with Kiana's statement.

"Mei is indeed very meticulous, that's for sure. And, whether it's Fu Hua's Feather Dust or Durandal's Black Abyss White Flower, I have extensive experience using them."

Elysia did not deny that she had hidden her strength, but said with a smile, "However, I also took some shortcuts. Based on my understanding of Vishnu, Theresa was essentially 'banned' by me from the beginning."

"You... you scoundrel, you really did this on purpose!"

"Uh-huh?"

"In exchange for your passing the first ending... I will tell you one piece of information, but with a limit. At the same time, I will also grant you some access to unlock the Memory Plate."

"Limits?"

"That's right~" Elysia smiled mysteriously.

"So, be careful about the questions you ask. Although each of you has one chance to try, if you fail six times, you'll waste your chance to pass the level."

Chapter 70 Elysia: I just... love everyone a little more than the others, okay?

"Only one question...?"

Seeing everyone's eyes focused on her, Theresa for a moment and said.