Ling Mo: "I'm Useless..."

The moment the demon gods appeared, this night was destined to be anything but peaceful. However...

Long Haochen was summoned away by the City Lord. Ling Mo slept.

Long Haochen and the City Lord went to the battlefield. Ling Mo rolled over, changed positions, and went back to sleep.

Long Haochen fled the battlefield carrying the heavily wounded City Lord. Ling Mo held Yae Sakura and thought, So nice.

A few days later, after Long Haochen finished cultivating the skill "Flower Transfer, Wood Graft" that he had received from Sheng Lingxin, the Demon Hunter Squads were gathered once more. According to the orders, they were to circle around behind the demon army and cut off its supply lines.

After arriving at their destination, the tactical meeting between the captains of several Demon Hunter Squads seemed utterly absurd to Ling Mo. The captain of Demon Hunter Squad Four planned to carry out tactical maneuvers, but the captains of the first three squads, led by Long Haochen, all wanted to act alone. Their sole priority was earning military merit.

All Ling Mo could say was that if there hadn't been a protagonist around, the battle at Demon Extermination City might not have been lost because a group of Fourth- and Fifth-tier rookies failed their mission, but who knew how much longer the war would have dragged on?

Sure enough, the unexpected happened exactly as expected. Their side encountered a Seventh Tier magical beast, Bloodthirsty Beta. Yet before it could even howl a few times after appearing, Ling Mo called out Feiyumaru and burned it to ashes in a single blaze.

Everything proceeded uneventfully. They completed their mission and returned to Demon Extermination City without trouble. However, perhaps due to the world correcting itself, the Demon God Emperor still came looking for them. He wanted to kill every three-headed magical beast in Demon Extermination City, even forcing the legendary Demon God's Fall Demon Hunter Squad to reveal themselves. In the end, though, after sweeping the area with his divine sense and finding nothing, the Demon God Emperor left.

When his divine sense and pressure blanketed all of Demon Extermination City, Ling Mo might have been the only one unaffected. Pressure was useless against him, and he was not afraid of divine sense scans either. If the Demon God Emperor really discovered something inside him, Ling Mo might even have to pity him. Did he not know who was inside Ling Mo's body? That old woman Finality was not someone to provoke. Once she got hold of someone, she beat them to death. If her last fight had not drawn the attention of the Honkai World's World Will, Bi Ji and the others from the Douluo World would have been burning paper offerings for Di Tian by now.

The Demon Hunter Squad trial ended, and Number One Demon Hunter Squad naturally took first place. Putting everything else aside, with Ling Mo standing there, everyone had to watch Feiyumaru's mood. Although it was obvious that Lu Xi, the hardworking captain of Demon Hunter Squad Four, was somewhat unconvinced, what could he do about it?

Number One Demon Hunter Squad was almost entirely made up of descendants of high-ranking figures. Whether in background, strength, or talent, they completely crushed the other Demon Hunter Squads. Ling Mo's presence merely widened that gap severalfold, leaving no suspense at all.

Demon Hunter Home was an area surrounding the Demon Hunter Tower that only Demon Hunter Squad members could enter. After settling in, Ling Mo and the others had enough military merit to raise their squad to General-tier. Afterward, they received their first mission.

As the Protagonist Group's first mission, it was naturally not going to be simple. After they accepted it and set off for the mission site, the originally General-tier mission was upgraded to King-tier. What was even more outrageous was that no one was sent to bring them back. All one could say was that people's hearts were too complicated.

Not long afterward, Ling Mo and the others arrived at Star Seeking City to rest briefly. Long Haochen and Lin Xin searched the city for a suitable way to enter demon territory.

Ling Mo had been idly chatting with Yae Sakura in a tavern when he was suddenly pulled into Stigmata Space. Seeing Ling Mo, who had been fairly lively moments ago, lose consciousness and collapse against her, Yae Sakura tilted her head.

Ling Mo said, "State your business if you have any. If not, court is dismissed."

Before he could finish speaking, Ling Mo felt the world spin and saw the sky. Sigh. I'm numb. Just destroy everything already. Hurry up.

Finality said, "Let me tell you some good news. You're getting another companion."

Huh? Now that got rid of his sleepiness.

Ling Mo instantly flipped to his feet. "What, are you planning to help me awaken Kallen? Or has Bella finished absorbing the Life Gold?"

Finality said, "Neither. Guess again."

Ling Mo said, "..."

Did he even need to guess? Ling Mo turned to look at the Snow Empress. Aside from Kallen and Bella, wasn't she the only one left...

What? Finality herself? Don't joke around. People would die.

Finality sat in the air, propping up her chin with one hand as she admired Ling Mo's speechless expression. "Considering your performance last time, I found you a fighter so you won't use all those excuses to brush me off next time. Her strength has improved somewhat with my help. Once you use the power of that Divine Key of yours to reshape her body, she'll be a very powerful helper. By this plane's standards, she should have 990,000 points of External Spiritual Power. Without considering equipment, there are basically no opponents stronger than her apart from the Demon God Emperor. As for the Tower's equipment, I'll leave that headache to you."

You didn't even ask the Snow Empress for her opinion? Ling Mo looked at her. She smiled faintly, without a trace of dissatisfaction, and a terrifying thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

As everyone knew, everyone in the Honkai World was into women. Could that expression on the Snow Empress's face mean Finality had brainwashed her?

Finality saw Ling Mo's suddenly horrified expression and raised an eyebrow. She had no idea what he had thought of, so she waved a hand and expelled him from Stigmata Space.

Ling Mo woke while holding his head and rubbed his brow. Wasn't this his Stigmata Space? Why did it feel like Finality's home? I'm furious, trembling, and freezing. When will I, humanity's strongest warrior, finally rise up?

That night, everyone had different thoughts as they looked at the Snow Empress seated beside Ling Mo. Chen Ying'er looked at him as if he were scum. Sheng Cai'er, whose eyesight had recovered, wore an indifferent expression, though her brows were faintly furrowed. Sima Xian was somewhat dumbfounded. Lin Xin wore a knowing smile. Long Haochen was relatively normal. "Ling Mo, who is this?"

Ling Mo said, "This is... Snow Woman. You could say she's from my family. A Level Nine Ninth Tier Ice Element Mage, known as the Snow Empress."

"Level Nine Ninth Tier?!"

Several of them cried out in disbelief. This white-haired beauty, who looked so young, was actually a Level Nine Ninth Tier powerhouse. Everyone in the Demon Hunter Squad had some sort of background, but the highest-ranked among them was only Li Zhengzhi, the Level Four Ninth Tier Wind Element Archmage and head of the Mage Temple. It could be said that aside from the Demon God Emperor, the Snow Empress was the strongest person they had ever seen.

"Big Sister Snow, are you really a Ninth Tier Archmage?! I never expected you to be so strong at such a young age!"

The liveliest of the group, Chen Ying'er, ran up to the Snow Empress, took her hand, and asked with shining eyes.

The Snow Empress said, "Hehe, what a sweet-talking little sister. I'm not actually as strong as you think. This time, I was simply ordered to serve as Ling Mo's attendant."

The instant they heard that, everyone looked toward Ling Mo. If someone could command a powerhouse like the Snow Empress, just how terrifying was Ling Mo's background?

Seeming to see through their thoughts, Ling Mo smiled awkwardly and turned his head toward the ceiling. If I could, I'd rather not have this background. Anyone targeted by Finality never ends well.

The thick-headed Sima Xian counted on his fingers as he spoke. "You had one point of Innate Spiritual Power, yet you rose to Level Nine Fourth Tier at a genius-like speed. Before even reaching Fifth-tier, you already had a Pseudo Eighth Tier magical beast at the peak of the Seventh Tier. And that's not all. A top Ninth Tier powerhouse stronger than the Six Great Temples protects you at all times, while you yourself can fight a Seventh Tier powerhouse alone. Thinking about it carefully, isn't this a bit too exaggerated, Ling Mo?"

Was it exaggerated? Ling Mo thought about it. He could fight Seventh Tier opponents because Ksitigarbha Soul's corrosive power ignored most defensive skills. Gao Yingjie had lost because he underestimated him and did not put on his mithril armor immediately. Otherwise, with Ling Mo's Level Fifty Soul Power, it would have been difficult to break his defense without using Honkai Energy to unleash the Divine Key. Feiyumaru existed because of Ksitigarbha Soul, and the Snow Empress was here because of Finality.

Thinking about it carefully, if he did not have Herrscher Mode, he could not even use Heavenly Fire recklessly. Otherwise, Heavenly Fire Sacred Judgment would become Heavenly Fire Self-Execution.

Counting it all up, without Ksitigarbha Soul and Finality, he was actually useless?! Emmm, perhaps not completely useless. Ling Mo rested his chin on one hand. Void Archive, Yu Du Chen, and Black Abyss White Flower should still be enough to deal with a protagonist.