"Roar—"
The savage roar made Lin's gaze sharpen. A giant beast, likewise spraying glaring pink blood, rose from the flames.
Sure enough, not destroying the core wouldn't do.
But the explosion had already blown apart the Chariot-class Honkai Beast's shell, and the center of the blast had been its core. Now, amid that horrifying mass of twisted muscle, the core was faintly visible.
The damaged Chariot-class Honkai Beast roared as it turned toward Lin. Its hatred for this human had reached its peak. This time, it made no preparations at all, leaping forward to crush this dying insect completely.
"Come on."
Come on!
A startling light burst from Lin's eyes. As though he could no longer feel the pain in his body, he rolled to his feet, drew his blade one last time, bent his knees, and leaped backward!
Compared to the Honkai Beast's height, his jumping ability was hardly worth mentioning.
But it was enough. He wasn't trying to collide with the Honkai Beast.
Lin performed a smooth roll in midair, dodging the Honkai Beast's arm. Then he threw his entire body backward, coming face-to-face with it.
He was close enough to see the Honkai Energy flowing through those blood vessels and muscles.
He could see the Honkai Beast's core now.
A sharp glint flashed in Lin's eyes as his dagger sliced through the flesh and plunged into the core.
Blood splashed across his face.
"Skree—"
The wounded Honkai Beast let out a miserable howl as it landed. It rolled across the ground, smashing apart the surrounding buildings.
But soon, it gradually stopped moving. It fell silent, then crashed heavily to the ground.
Lin crawled up from the ground. Steaming blood dripped over his body, making him look as though he had been pulled from a paint bucket. Dragging himself forward, he limped over to the Honkai Beast, stepped past its thick arm, and reached the core.
"Cough, cough..."
The dagger was still lodged in that fleshy pink core. Lin was completely exhausted; he couldn't even raise his hand to pull it out.
Yet he slowly picked up his gun and slowly aimed it at the Honkai Beast's core.
"Bang!"
The recoil blasted half of Lin's body backward.
He slowly crawled to his feet again.
Aim, fire, fall, rise.
Only when the magazine was empty, the Honkai Beast was dead beyond doubt, and Lin could no longer get up did that bloody battle finally come to an end.
Give You Everything I Have
"Three hours ago, it was confirmed that the Third Herrscher was born in Changkong City."
"After the Third Herrscher's birth, Changkong City was engulfed by thunderstorms. All city facilities have been paralyzed, accompanied by continuous lightning strikes."
"Based on the phenomena and detected evidence of artificial electromagnetic field manipulation, it is preliminarily concluded that the Third Herrscher's abilities are related to electromagnetic fields."
"The Third Herrscher has been provisionally designated the Herrscher of Thunder. She must be stopped before the range of her destruction expands beyond Changkong City."
The High Council meetings of Fire MOTH were more efficient than any meeting in the world. These people, whose mere stomp could cause upheaval in countless fields and nations, might normally engage in open and covert struggles over conflicting ideals, but when fighting the Honkai, they did not even need a basic vote to make the entire massive organization operate correctly.
"Additionally, Mei, the talent recommended by Mobius, is also located in Changkong City, where this Honkai outbreak occurred."
"A squad has already been dispatched for search and rescue, but no response has been received so far."
"..."
A long silence followed.
"We need talent like Mei to join us. Intensify the rescue effort."
"Records show that soldier MSA-079 attended the same school as Mei and came from the same region. MSA-079 can be asked to invite Mei to join Fire MOTH."
"Agreed. With operations against the Third Herrscher imminent, we have no additional personnel for search and rescue. MSA-079's combat strength can also be committed to the rescue. Send a mission to MSA-079's squad, assigning them an independent search and rescue operation in Changkong City."
But the news that arrived afterward made everyone frown.
"MSA-079 encountered the outbreak of the Third Honkai War while carrying out another mission in Canghai City. He was seriously wounded while killing a Chariot-class Honkai Beast. That Chariot-class Honkai Beast has been identified as a special individual and named Honkai: Overlord."
"MSA-079 has been rescued. The transport aircraft will arrive at headquarters in half an hour. He is expected to regain basic mobility after treatment. Should he still be assigned the mission?"
It was a question, which meant a vote was required.
This was not a particularly difficult issue. Sending Lin, in his current condition, on a rescue mission was practically the same as sending him to his death.
It was only one soldier's life. Even if he was elite, he was still only a soldier.
Trading one soldier for the future of Fire MOTH and humanity was a worthwhile deal even an elementary school student could make.
Therefore...
"Passed unanimously."
Lin's gaze rested on the ceiling. He seemed to want to count every stripe on it, but his bandaged head could not turn. He could only repeatedly shift his eyes back and forth between a few straight lines.
"You really got it bad this time. Usually, you can tear through a Honkai Beast nest like nobody's business, but this time, a single lower-class Honkai Beast left you looking like this."
"..."
At some point, Himiko had appeared at the doorway. The fully armed red-haired woman walked up to him, allowing him to see the stern expression on her face.
Even after receiving basic treatment, Lin's injuries were still unbearable to look at. He was riddled with holes as though he had just finished playing Blackbeard, making one wonder whether water would leak out of him if he drank.
Lin looked at her without saying a word, his gaze drifting over her outfit and the conspicuous greatsword.
Himiko glanced at her sword and smiled. "New equipment. If you'd come back sooner, you might have gotten to use it too... Heh, maybe you'll be using it soon enough."
Upon hearing that, Lin understood.
"What mission?" he asked flatly.
Himiko was clearly taken aback for a moment, then shook her head with a helpless bitter smile. "Let's not talk about that yet... You got lucky this time. If we had given you the suppressant half an hour later—or even a few minutes later—the Honkai Energy might have started corroding your body..."
"What mission?"
"You still didn't use that gun. You emptied the other gun's ammunition, yet you still didn't use your precious gun..."
"What mission?"
"Soul and the little girl she brought back have both received treatment. You don't need to worry."
"I wasn't worried," Lin said lightly. After a pause, he continued, "What mission?"
"Are you a broken record?! And you really are as tsundere as that book described!"
Himiko was at a loss over Lin's behavior. No wonder he kept emphasizing that he was a soldier, not a warrior. Was this absolute obedience a good thing or a bad thing...?
"A rescue mission. The location is Changkong City. Rescue someone very important to Fire MOTH."
"Mei."
"...How did you know?"
It was a simple deduction. A rescue mission in Changkong City for someone important to Fire MOTH—put those three points together, and it meant a talented person in Changkong City who was connected to Lin.
Lin only knew two people in Changkong City, so it was merely a choice between two.
"Don't overthink it. The reason they assigned us the rescue mission is simply that our squad's combat strength has been damaged too badly to participate in the operation against the Third Herrscher, and because you happen to know that person." In the end, Himiko chose a more tactful way of putting it. "You and Soul don't need to participate in the fighting. Focus on the rescue. I'll handle the combat."
When she learned of this mission issued directly by the High Council, she had wondered whether they had gone insane.
Lin's left hand was completely ruined. The rest of his injuries were not as severe, but "not as severe" was all they were. Being able to move at all already fell into that category.
By all rights, he should have stayed in the rear as an injured patient and recovered. Yet they actually intended to send him back to the battlefield, all for the so-called task of "rescuing someone"?
And there was Soul. Although she wasn't injured, she had suffered substantial mental exhaustion. As a newcomer, was she supposed to be thrown directly into a battlefield where the Third Herrscher was present?
Himiko actually hoped Lin would show even the slightest bit of dissatisfaction. Then she could join him in cursing out those idiot higher-ups. Even if it changed nothing, at least it would make her feel a little better.
"I understand." But Lin still spoke in that eternally unchanged cold voice, without even an unnecessary trailing syllable. Concise and forceful, as though emotion had never existed within him. With his left arm still hanging around his neck, he stood up and headed straight for the door.
Himiko clenched her fists behind his back and asked quietly, "Are you going to get your equipment?"
"..."
Lin stopped at the doorway. He raised his head and looked at the dim lights, just like the gloomy, shifting weather that day.
He took a deep breath and said, "Captain, I'll tell you a secret."
Himiko did not react in time. "What?"
"The kind of woman I like is actually Doctor Mobius."
"...What?"
"So I'm going to see Doctor Mobius now. See you later."
Himiko stood there, utterly bewildered, listening to Lin's rapidly retreating footsteps. She had yet to recover from that abrupt turn in the conversation or the inexplicable secret she had just learned.
Was that... him joking with her?
And he was actually into older women?
Whenever Lin stood outside the laboratory, he wondered whether this place would remain unchanged no matter what happened. Even if a flood came, this place would be Noah's Ark. And if it wasn't, its owner would force it aboard Noah's Ark anyway.
"Well, well~ If it isn't the slightly defective Lab Rat. What is it? Need something?"
The green-haired woman placed slices of muscle tissue from the Honkai: Overlord killed by Lin beneath a microscope. Without looking up, she greeted the silently entering Lin in her uniquely drawn-out voice.
If mockery could be called a greeting.
Ignoring the disdain in her tone, Lin said directly, "I want to replace one of my hands, like the leg you attached for me."
"...Lab Rat, you seem to have misunderstood something about me." Mobius turned around. As she moved, the perfect curves of her body resembled a graceful slender snake, while each of her words was like a venomous serpent flicking its tongue—cold and deadly. "I'm not a doctor. At most, I can replace a broken toy's parts with new ones."
"But you aren't the kind of toy I like... Oh, no. You barely qualify as a toy at all."
"Help me replace it. I'm going to save Mei."
"...Mei? You're going to save her?"
Mobius had met Mei in person. She was the one who determined that Mei was precisely the person Fire MOTH needed, so she understood Mei's value better than anyone.
"Hmph, it's only saving someone... A Lab Rat who can't even run without one leg is, in my lab..."
"I'll come to the laboratory and cook for you. You won't have to eat instant food anymore," Lin said coldly.
Mobius froze for a moment. Then she examined the man wrapped layer upon layer in bandages and sincerely asked, "...Did that hit scramble your brain?"
"Elysia is very interested in my face. I can let you look at it, so you'll have the upper hand in your conversations with her from now on."
"...What exactly are you talking about?"
"I can kill more Honkai Beasts. I can even give everything I have to kill a Herrscher and bring the body to you."
Lin's tone was very sincere. For a man who expressed himself through silence most of the time, this was his most earnest request since joining Fire MOTH.
His gaze lowered as he said softly, "I can give you everything I am capable of. So please replace my arm and let me fight."
Kevin and Mei were still alive. Lin believed they had to be.
So he could not fall into despair here.
After narrowing her emerald eyes and studying Lin for a long while, Mobius let out a soft scoff and sneered. "Interesting."
She turned and pressed an intercom button. "Bianca, come over here. We're performing a surgery."
Mobius's exquisite earrings glimmered green beneath the laboratory lights, looking especially eerie. She turned back and gave the composed Lin a meaningful smile.
"Then, in exchange for everything you have, I'll give you a brand-new arm... Shall we replace some of your other broken parts while we're at it? It won't change your Honkai Energy Adaptability or resistance, but it could still give you a completely new look."
"No need. No anesthetic either. I'm in a hurry. If you're interested, we can discuss it after I return."
Lin very consciously lay down on the operating table, casually unwinding his bandages to expose his left arm in its cast.
Mobius slowly walked to the operating table and shone the surgical light onto Lin's face. The expression on her face grew increasingly strange as her eyes moved, taking in every detail of him.
"No anesthetic? You really dare to say that. Hehe... Fine. Let me see what the limits of human endurance look like."
Before you continue