Bai Chen turned and slashed out several more arcs of light, cutting the Dead Soldiers trying to ambush him into pieces.
Although quite a few Honkai Beasts had been instantly killed, creatures of this level had no minds and knew no fear.
The remaining Honkai Beasts did not flee. They continued charging at him one after another.
"This is so annoying!"
Bai Chen did not want to keep wasting time on them. Right now, he only wanted to find the ruins built by Shennong... or rather, Lian Shan, as soon as possible.
Not only might he find the Xuanyuan Sword there, but perhaps Lian Shan's soul as well.
But Bai Chen was curious about something. Kallen had died five hundred years ago, and her soul had already scattered. Could Lian Shan's soul, after more than a thousand years, still exist? Was that memory concerning Lian Shan really fake after all?
No. He had to look for it, at least.
Bai Chen accelerated his attacks and even split off four Lightning Clones to strike in different directions.
As Bai Chen moved, thick lightning serpents filled the underground space. Under his deliberate control, every living thing there aside from himself and Rita was swallowed by the lightning.
After eliminating all the Honkai creatures, Bai Chen let out a breath and sheathed his blade at his waist, unable to help being surprised by this sense of power.
He had not used his full strength during his last transformation, but now he could feel that even Mei in power-saving mode possessed such terrifying strength. He did not dare imagine how absurdly powerful the true Herrscher of Thunder must be.
She could probably split this entire underwater cavern, along with the sea above it, in half with a single slash!
After marveling for a moment, Bai Chen looked around. Once he confirmed all the Honkai Beasts had been eliminated, he lowered his guard and slowly walked over to Rita, who had been thrown to the ground earlier, then hoisted her onto his back again.
"Damn Anti-Entropy bastards!"
Elsewhere, Kiana and the others stood beside a golden two-handed sword embedded in the ground, warily watching the Titan robots that had appeared out of thin air around them.
"Hey! Has Anti-Entropy already applied quantum technology to this extent?"
Himeko was somewhat surprised by the Titans' appearance technology, but did they really think a few Titan robots would be enough to take down A-rank Valkyries? They were looking down on A-rank Valkyries too much!
Do not underestimate A-rank Valkyries! The A-rank Valkyrie assessment was extremely rigorous!
"Trash Valkyries, hand over that sword behind you now, and I might consider letting you die a little more comfortably."
A nimble figure leaped onto a Titan robot. With half her short hair pink and the other half purple, she arrogantly declared those words.
Then she suddenly turned toward Bronya, who was equally alert nearby, and grinned.
"But Bronya is an exception!"
"Hana..."
Bronya looked at the girl before her with a complicated expression. She was Hana Mal, once her companion at the orphanage, but now she was an enemy threatening her companions.
"Bronya, do you know that brat?"
Kiana quietly asked Bronya. The kid standing before them, smiling like a living reaction image, was exactly the kind of child Kiana hated most.
"Yes, but she is an enemy now."
With a serious expression, Bronya aimed Heavy Tank Rabbit 19c at Hana, ready to fire at any moment.
"You traitor, stop pretending to be familiar with me! Although Mother ordered that you be kept alive, crippling both your arms should be fine, right?"
Hana waved a hand, controlling the Titan robots to press forward, intending to have these latest-model Titans crush them.
"Heh!"
"Shatter!"
Before the arrogant expression on Hana's face could fade, the Titan robots that had just advanced came flying back, freezing her expression in place.
Hana maintained that stiff expression as she mechanically turned around to look at the scrap metal behind her.
Some of the Titans had suffered severe slash marks and deformation. Others had been cut in half, their steel cross-sections glowing red-hot as though they had been severed by something heated to an extreme temperature.
Hana looked again at the trash Valkyries she had just mentioned. Himeko and Mei were retracting their attacks; it was obvious the two of them had acted just now.
In the original world, Hana had only managed to snatch the Xuanyuan Sword from Kiana and the others because Himeko had suffered an accident.
Now, Himeko had avoided disaster after listening to Bai Chen's advice, and Mei had received a massive boost as well. Handling a few ordinary Titans was naturally effortless.
"Hey, brat, what did you just call us? Trash. Valkyries?"
Kiana clenched her fists and slowly approached Hana Mal. Her shadow kept growing in Hana's eyes, while the Titan beneath her feet could no longer provide even a trace of security.
"Y-you, what are you going to do?"
"What? Take a guess! Kiana, attack!"
Chi You Awakens
"Such strong vibrations. They seem to be coming from that direction..."
While Bai Chen was wandering through the cavern, he sensed tremors coming from afar, along with a familiar scent of lightning.
"Mei? I didn't expect it to have this kind of hidden function."
Bai Chen sighed at the unexpected surprise and immediately ran toward their location.
After circling around for quite a while, Bai Chen finally arrived where Kiana and the others were.
Seeing the Xuanyuan Sword on the ground radiating golden light, Bai Chen remembered that the sword seemed to be used to seal Chi You. If it had fallen to the ground, that meant Chi You was about to awaken!
They could not waste any more time.
Bai Chen leaped before the group, ready to take them away. Then he saw Hana, battered black and blue, sitting there like some kind of boss.
"Who is she...?"
"Little Bai! You're here! Don't mind that girl. She just suddenly showed up and got beaten up, that's all."
Perhaps because this Nine Nether exploration mission had taken place much earlier than in the original story, Kiana had encountered Anti-Entropy for the first time and did not take them seriously.
"D-damn it! This boss won't let you off!"
With half her face swollen from being slapped, Hana snarled angrily through slurred speech. If not for the fact that so many tactical mechs had been worn down by some Valkyrie who had appeared out of nowhere along the way, she definitely could have escaped!
Bai Chen looked at her with some pity. In the original world, she should have been riding high at this point, yet now she had been beaten so badly that even Cocolia might not recognize her.
"No, let's leave this place quickly. I felt an extremely powerful sense of danger inside just now."
Bai Chen took out a pink card. Seeing that it still did not react, he could only helplessly tell everyone.
Then he walked over to the Xuanyuan Sword and grabbed it.
Black energy immediately surged from the Xuanyuan Sword, attempting to take control of Bai Chen's body.
Being affected by transformations twice had already been embarrassing enough, but a Herrscher was one thing. What the hell were you?
"Get lost!"
That special flame suddenly blazed around Bai Chen, cleansing the ominous aura completely in an instant.
Thus, he picked up the Xuanyuan Sword without any surprise. The previously restless sword instantly calmed down, becoming like an inert object.
"Hmph."
Bai Chen snorted, suppressing the blazing flames around him. He held the sword in one hand, turned, and prepared to leave.
"Um... I actually wanted to ask, Rita, she..."
Ever since Bai Chen arrived, Himeko's gaze had never left Rita on his back.
An S-rank Valkyrie was lying there? Just lying there? She was an S-rank Valkyrie! Himeko had heard that S-rank Valkyries could use Schicksal technology to teleport their newest Valkyrie armor into battle and become even stronger. Surely Rita had not even used her armor, right?
No, was Bai Chen cursed or something? Would any S-rank Valkyrie who teamed up with him get taken out?
"Yes, it's a little complicated. I'll explain when we get back."
Bai Chen quickly urged them to lead the way out.
The exit Bai Chen knew had been blocked, so he could only leave through the route Kiana and the others had used to enter.
When they passed a massive Crimson Finch statue, the card in Bai Chen's pocket, which had shown no reaction all this time, suddenly responded!
Bai Chen hurriedly took out the card, then excitedly used the power in his hand to draw in the wandering soul in the distance.
"???"
Theresa, who had remained in contact with Kiana, asked in surprise. The last time Bai Chen had drawn in a soul, she had been lying in bed, so naturally she had never seen him use this skill.
Fu Hua, standing beside Theresa, solemnly adjusted her glasses. This familiar feeling... was it connected to someone? But given Bai Chen's current condition, he absolutely could not perform another separation.
Otherwise, if his not-yet-healed soul worsened again, no one knew what might happen.
"What is he up to now?"
Hana looked at the face identical to the woman who had cut her tactical mech in half, her expression full of surprise.
"Little Bai?! What are you doing again?!"
Seeing Bai Chen's familiar movements and special effects, Kiana thought he was about to do something dangerous again.
"No... nothing."
After a while, Bai Chen looked at the card in his hand. A long-haired man's image had appeared on it, though strangely, the portrait was black and white.
He could not draw upon the power within the card, nor could he communicate with its occupant. It seemed this soul was close to dissipating due to some accident.
It was all right. As long as the soul remained in the card, it could be nourished. Perhaps one day it would recover.
"Are you really okay?"
Mei worriedly examined Bai Chen's body, afraid that he would suddenly unleash another huge attack on them.
"Come on, I just stored something away. There's no problem."
Bai Chen explained briefly, then continued leading everyone away from the area.
After much effort, Bai Chen and the others finally saw daylight again.
"Damn it! Is this boss really going to be captured by those trash Valkyries from Schicksal?"
Hana thought about the days she would spend imprisoned by Schicksal and felt despair.
Boom!
At that moment, the sea continued to shake. The surface churned violently, as though something enormous was about to rise from below.
As the seawater split apart, a giant mouth like an abyss lunged toward them!
"Not good!"
Bai Chen instinctively reverted to his original form, then flung Rita toward the others. As Chi You swallowed everyone into its mouth, he activated his ability.
Drive: Eden's Star · Phase Transfer
A black ring lined with gold enveloped everyone and carried them out of that space. Only after Kiana and the others were sent onto the Hyperion did they react.
"Were we almost eaten just now?"
Kiana recalled the scene from before and shuddered with lingering fear. How could there be such an enormous monster?
"That was Chi You, a Honkai Beast said to grow continuously by devouring more and more things."
Fu Hua walked over and explained. Was that ability just now the authority of the Herrscher of the Void? He could even use that?
Theresa, who had fought the Herrscher of the Void head-on, naturally recognized the skill as well. Her expression darkened. It seemed some preparations had to be made in advance.
"Where is Bai Chen?"
Bronya, who had been watching Hana, asked. Everyone had been teleported over, so why had Bai Chen not come? Could it be... that skill discriminated based on gender?
Of course, it was not gender discrimination. Bai Chen had a reason for not coming out. He was now preparing to check on Ji Xuanyuan, or rather Ji Lin's, soul.
As for why he was no longer hiding his powers, Bai Chen could only say it was too ridiculous.
Otto had openly sent Rita to put on an act. He probably already knew everything he was supposed to know. Continuing to hide and sneak around would be truly ridiculous.
But there was one advantage as well. At least, aside from those few special Herrschers, he could transform into the rest without restraint.
Confronting Ji Lin
"This should be the real Nine Nether, right? The inside of Chi You's body."
Having been swallowed into Chi You's body, Bai Chen observed the ancient architectural remains and corpses around him. These were probably things that had been swallowed over a thousand years ago.
All of them bore traces of a thousand years of history. Bai Chen pressed the record button in his hand, and his helmet automatically began scanning the surrounding environment. Once he got out and connected to an external signal, he could choose to upload the data.
Before you continue