Collapse, I'll Transform and Punch You Directly

"Kiana, we're about to depart."

Himeko reminded them, carrying her greatsword, and then instructed Bai Chen.

"Bai Chen, you all need to be careful there too."

"Himeko, you need to be the one paying attention to safety. The Xuanyuan Sword controls the mind of whoever touches it first, so don't touch it casually."

Bai Chen replied in a voice only Himeko could hear. It's safe here, you guys need to be extremely careful.

Hearing Bai Chen's reminder, Himeko showed a surprised expression. Could this kid Bai Chen have seen the future again?

After nodding solemnly, Himeko led Kiana back to the team, preparing to depart.

"Well then, we should get going too."

Rita began to give orders, specifically waiting for Bai Chen to finish his conversation.

With yesterday's experience, Bai Chen and the others quickly reached the target entrance. It seemed that because Bai Chen had frantically cleared the area yesterday, they didn't encounter many Honkai Beasts interfering below today.

Following closely beside Rita, they cautiously approached the cave entrance. After detecting that there were no issues in the surroundings, they carefully advanced into the cave.

However, they soon discovered something was wrong. The cave was a dead end! It was completely blocked by rocks with no gaps.

"What?"

Bai Chen frowned as he scanned the surroundings, hoping to find some clues.

"Even a dead end like this has this level of Honkai energy concentration?"

Rita also carefully examined the surrounding rock walls, her suspicion growing.

At that moment, Bai Chen's peripheral vision caught sight of a conspicuously protruding stone. He swam over and placed his hand on it.

It was a little loose; there was hope.

"Lady Rita, there seems to be a mechanism here."

Bai Chen called out to Rita, wanting to prevent any potential traps from this mechanism.

Rita heard him and came over. After observing the mechanism, she instructed:

"Check the surroundings more carefully, see if there are any other similar mechanisms."

Receiving the order, Bai Chen continued to search the surrounding area. About ten minutes later, after finding nothing, the two of them gathered again in front of the stone block.

"Press it."

Rita instructed, while simultaneously gripping her weapon, vigilant for any sudden mechanisms or traps.

However, what happened after Bai Chen pressed it was beyond their expectations!

"Holy shit!!"

As the stone block was pressed, the rock wall that had been blocking them suddenly shattered, and a massive suction force attacked.

The strong suction force formed a huge vortex that abruptly sucked Bai Chen and Rita into it.

The sudden turn of events surprised Bai Chen a little, but he still reacted in time to adjust his body and prevent himself from crashing into the surrounding pitted stone walls under the vortex's sweep.

Rita, on the other hand, seemed much more at ease, even closing the distance between herself and Bai Chen, as if intending to protect him.

Chapter 37: Exploration

Seeing Rita extend her hand, Bai Chen subconsciously reached out to grasp it.

The moment Rita grabbed Bai Chen, she pulled him into her embrace and then used the blade in her hand to shatter the flying debris caused by the turbulent flow.

In the turbulent flow within the narrow cave, Bai Chen didn't dare to act rashly, lest he accidentally make things worse.

But the incoming debris gradually increased, leaving not even a sliver of space!

However, as an S-rank Valkyrie, she was naturally not to be trifled with. With flashes of her blade, the seemingly terrifying obstacles were cut into powder by Rita.

After being swept by the turbulent flow for about several minutes, they were smashed into a small lake along with the debris.

Fortunately, neither of them was seriously injured. Bai Chen was just dizzy and disoriented.

After getting ashore, Rita placed Bai Chen to the side. She retracted the mask covering her face and looked around. She hadn't expected such a large space to exist beneath the sea. The instruments detected no harmful substances in the air.

"Ugh..."

Bai Chen coughed dryly, leaning on the ground. He stood up with a pale face. He felt worse than motion sickness in his previous life. Right now, Bai Chen just wanted to lie on the ground and not do anything.

As Bai Chen was about to ask something, he sensitively noticed rustling sounds coming from the surroundings.

This was a huge underground cavern. Besides the hole they had just fallen into, there was only one exit that could be passed through.

[Arsenal Drive: Super Electromagnetic Cannon]

Bai Chen took out a pair of blue-glowing hand cannons from his phantom image and warily looked around.

Rita also drew her weapon, staring intently in the direction of the sound.

Immediately, a five-meter-tall Honkai Beast squeezed into the area from that passage. It was a battle chariot beast, its entire body engulfed in flames!

Behind it followed a group of red-dashing Honkai Beasts and some zombies.

"No way? Did we fall into their nest?"

Bai Chen looked at the lead Honkai Beast, as tall as a two-story building, and quipped.

"Looks like they came specifically to welcome us."

Rita chuckled, covering her mouth, then swung her scythe a few times, clearly not taking the creature before her seriously.

"ROAR!!"

The massive Honkai Beast leaped into the air with impossible speed, crashing down towards Bai Chen's position, attempting to crush him into a pulp!

But such an attack hitting Bai Chen now was almost impossible. Bai Chen, like a launched arrow, pierced through the charging Honkai Beast swarm, simultaneously dodging the attack of the Chariot Honkai Beast.

As the Chariot Honkai Beast landed with a roar, it caused a section of the underground cavity to tremble. The ground it struck was also covered in flames.

"Oh my, so threatening."

Rita, with a relaxed expression, closed in on the Chariot Honkai Beast. Her scythe blurred into an afterimage, slicing across the Chariot Honkai Beast's front before it could react.

The next instant, a massive fissure appeared in front of the Honkai Beast, nearly tearing off its entire head!

"ROAR!!"

Despite the injury, the Chariot Honkai Beast was not dead. Instead, it became even more enraged. The liquid spewing from its wound, red like flames, solidified to seal the injury.

"This is interesting. How many times can you regenerate?"

Then, Rita increased her speed, her figure darting around the Chariot Honkai Beast like a phantom. The enraged Chariot Honkai Beast couldn't even touch Rita, only able to watch as Rita left horrifying wounds on its body.

However, due to the Honkai Beast's large size, those wounds would heal in a short time, leaving behind red scars.

Bai Chen's situation was also going well. The seemingly numerous Honkai Beasts couldn't withstand even a few hits. Bai Chen felt like he was playing a zombie-slaying game from his past life.

He kicked the scythe out of a Death God's hand and then used his elbow to strike the Death God's face, smashing it to pieces.

These low-level mobs couldn't trouble Bai Chen, and they were also the result of Bai Chen's training.

"Your attacks are much slower than Sakura's and Fu Hua's."

Bai Chen thought as he drew his gun and shot a charging Honkai Beast that was about to attack. The powerful electromagnetic force propelled the bullet, instantly piercing its body and destroying its shell.

As the number of Honkai Beasts around him decreased, Bai Chen also found time to glance at Rita's situation...

Then he couldn't hold back. Rita was just "scratching" over there!

Was she really acting so openly? Based on Rita's performance in the game, she could bisect a Honkai Beast of that size in two or three strikes at most.

Now she was "scratching," could she be any more fake?!

Fine, I'll finish off all the Honkai Beasts around me.

As Bai Chen continued to clear out the charging Honkai Beasts, he suddenly noticed one Honkai Beast glowing with a red light as it approached, the light growing increasingly intense!

"!"

Sensing something was wrong, Bai Chen immediately kicked it aside. The immense force sent it flying towards its companions, and then the Honkai Beast exploded violently!

The sudden explosion instantly engulfed its companions, leaving only scattered limbs and fragments.

In an instant, the once numerous Honkai Beasts were reduced to a few scattered individuals. Bai Chen immediately drew his gun and finished off the last few, then muttered to himself with lingering fear.

"Wait, if even the small ones explode..."

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening roar erupted behind Bai Chen. Caught off guard, Bai Chen's ears rang so much that he could only hear the ringing.

Even from a distance, Bai Chen was blown away by a wave of heat, crashing into a wall and falling into a nearby puddle.

"No way? Did it flip?"

Bai Chen, recovering his senses, quickly got up and looked for Rita. The only thing left on the field were the shattered remains of the Chariot Honkai Beast; Rita was nowhere to be seen.

Bai Chen's heart began to race. He hurried around the cavity searching, and finally found the unconscious Rita in a pond.

He clumsily carried her back to shore. After checking her breathing and confirming it was normal, Bai Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that Rita's form-fitting armor was barely damaged, Bai Chen marveled at Schicksal's technology while finally feeling at ease.

Serves you right for trying to fool me, you fake!

If you had dealt with it earlier, would this have happened? You had to "scratch" and take a big hit!

Bai Chen angrily slung her over his back, preparing to find a flat spot to lay Rita down to rest.

Just as Bai Chen was moving, a massive rock fell from the sky and smashed onto the ground. Following this, like a chain reaction, more debris began to fall from the sky.

God! Was that explosion the cause? The cave is going to collapse!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Hana

Bai Chen, startled, quickly ran towards the cave entrance with Rita on his back, even using Chrono Break in his haste. As the world was enveloped in purple, everything slowed down quietly.

During the skill's duration, Bai Chen ran with all his might, only stopping when he felt no more vibrations.

But that wasn't the only reason he stopped. Normally, even if he didn't feel vibrations, he would have run for a considerable distance. However, now there were more Honkai-affected creatures before his eyes.

Among them were some self-detonating Chariot Honkai Beasts, though smaller in size, they were numerous.

"Tsk, did Kiana and the others encounter this many Honkai Beasts?"

Bai Chen pouted unhappily, "I had to be cautious before."

Now? Now that Rita was unconscious, were these guys going to get in the way?

"Hmph!"

[Arsenal Drive: Judgment Shadow Dance]

Several days had passed, and the transformation had naturally cooled down.

The last time Bai Chen used this transformation, his mind had been affected by it, as if he'd been possessed. This time wouldn't be any different... would it?

Flames like those of a wild beast instantly surged, and a feather fell into Bai Chen's mind.

"Last time, I didn't anticipate this. This time, I'm prepared. Go back."

Fu Hua's reassuring voice echoed in Bai Chen's mind. Just as she said, last time she hadn't expected Bai Chen to be directly possessed. By the time she reacted, it was too late. A single feather couldn't drive away the disturbance and comfort him.

But this time, she had made preparations in advance. This level of intrusion was naturally child's play.

"Ugh."

Bai Chen transformed into the Judgment Shadow Dance form within the phantom image, rubbing his temples with a slight headache.

"Thank you, Class Monitor."

"No need for thanks."

The moment Fu Hua responded, Bai Chen immediately killed his way to the front of those Honkai Beasts.

Furious lightning poured out the instant Bai Chen drew his sword. Those lightning serpents, which seemed capable of destroying everything, tore into the Honkai Beasts that hadn't reacted yet, leaving ripples in the void.

In the blink of an eye, many Honkai Beasts had already returned to heaven while still in a daze.

"Disperse."