The Battlefield Is Set / Who Deserves to Die

The boy shuddered, looking around blankly as if searching for something.

The girl smiled, "Looking for something?"

"The way back... I need to go back." The bewilderment in the boy's eyes gradually disappeared, and determination revived in his eyes. "The Fifth Herrscher is not dead yet, I need to go and save her."

Something was flowing from the socket of his right eye. The boy put his finger in and grabbed the eyeball.

The pain came from within.

"Really? That's wonderful." The girl sat in the chair, tilting her head and chuckling. "I've been waiting for you to accept my proposal, but now, you don't need to answer me anymore."

"Have a safe journey, Lin."

Lin grabbed his eyeball and, with all his might, ripped it out, blood still dripping from its root.

At the last moment, he saw a man with dark circles under his eyes wearing a white coat smiling and waving at him in the distance.

"Sizzle—"

With his right hand, he pulled out the necrotic eyeball along with the ice spikes. Under the shattered helmet, boiling blood flowed from the tightly closed eye.

Whether it was a hallucination caused by the Honkai Sickness or a vision of death, Lin didn't know.

But flowing in those drops of blood was one's own will.

The remaining left eye solidified, and then the anti-gravity flight device was activated.

Chapter Ten: Opening of the Battlefield

"MSA-079 has been shot down! Vital signs are deteriorating!"

The monitors couldn't bear to watch the soldiers' vital signs disappear instantly on the screen. Several soldiers died in just under a second. Shortly after, Lin's movement also stopped, and his vital signs ceased abruptly.

"What did you say?" Sigma was issuing the combat orders, stared at the monitor with wide eyes upon hearing his words. "Where is Hen's squad?"

"The team with the scars has suffered more than half casualties... They are pursuing the Fifth Herrscher."

"No, it's too late! We can't afford to cause any more damage. We need to keep them away from the Fifth Herrscher and wait for them to regroup with the other teams!"

However, the monitor's next words made Sigma's heart feel even colder than the air outside.

"In the heart of the city, a cryogenic reaction is spreading rapidly! It is expected to freeze an area of Tland!"

The Fifth Herrscher hovered in the air, and beneath her feet, an inconspicuous little ice block fell to the ground.

"Click".

The instant the ice block touched the ground, a terrifying cold swept across an area with a radius of tens of meters, and then began to spread relentlessly outwards, freezing everything in its path.

The saying "the frozen soil is three feet deep" is insufficient to describe such power.

After expending a significant amount of her powers, the Fifth Herrscher descended back to the ground, preparing to freeze herself for self-protection.

Not far away, after a Ballista-class Honkai Beast was smashed into the ground, the tattered cloth covering the man's face fell off, revealing his muscular upper body. He raised his head and looked around.

"Cold... leave..." he muttered to himself, then seemed to be preparing to leave this icy, snowy place.

However, the direction he headed was exactly where the Fifth Herrscher was located.

"This is the Squad One, led by Captain Kevin."

Kevin dodged the attack, which was mixed with shards and ice particles, and the ice block that suddenly formed above his head was shattered by his gun before it could completely fall.

While directing the rest of his squad to spread out, he jumped high into the air, narrowly avoiding the impact of the behemoth, and then reported over the communications channel, "Squad One unable to provide support, new enemy has appeared on the battlefield."

The massive, sky-covering figure only stopped after crushing through hundreds of meters, leaving behind only vast ruins and rampaging Honkai Energy.

Two deformed, long teeth swayed restlessly, and countless Honkai Energy were transmitted through white lines within the black body.

"Preliminary conclusion is..."

"Howl----"

The enormous mouth, which occupied half of its body, opened wide, and the beast-tooth-like mouthparts emitted a roar that shook the air.

An even colder chill descended.

"Emperor-class Honkai Beast".

The battle resumed, and the boar-like Honkai Beast closed its mouth after seeing Kevin. Judging from the chilling aura and Honkai energy emanating from between its teeth, it was gathering a ray-like attack.

"Switch to Formation B. Everyone except me, stay away from the Emperor-class Honkai Beast." Kevin charged towards the Honkai Beast without hesitation, his armor joints snapping shut, allowing him to exert more speed with less effort, and then...

"Laugh--"

His calves, like Jetpack, provided him with a second burst of speed, transforming him into a blur as he charged toward the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

Compared to Lin's armor, which is equipped with complex devices to deal with all situations, Kevin's armor is just a lighter armor and some simplified devices added to match his burst of power. Because his core strength has surpassed Lin's, he focuses more on his own abilities.

"Roar!"

The moment the Emperor-class Honkai Beast condensed its power to its limit, it opened its enormous maw, unleashing a terrifying torrent of energy that transformed into an icy blue beam. Anything it touched was first frozen by the cold air and then Honkai Energy, annihilating everything it touched like a bulldozer.

But Kevin, facing the sweeping beam of light, simply ran straight toward the target, and then activated Spatial Fracture at the last moment, passing over it from above and arriving at a relatively close position in mid-air.

With his rifle pointed at the Honkai Beast, Kevin wanted to find the weakness of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast, such as its eyes, but at first glance, this Honkai Beast did not have any eye-like parts, only thick black armor and cushioned white stripes.

However, there is one more place!

Calm Kevin immediately pulled out a portable compressed bomb and threw it at the open mouth of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

As the Spatial Fracture ended, Kevin also managed to skip the beam attack. Before the Emperor-class Honkai Beast could finish its beam attack, the bomb exploded directly inside its unprotected mouth.

"Bang—"

Kevin immediately commanded, "Now! Fire!"

Upon hearing Kevin's command, the standby squad members immediately fired their ranged weapons at the blasted area, bullets flying everywhere and raining down on the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

"Squeak."

However, the Emperor-class Honkai Beast curled up into a ring in full view of everyone, its carapace blocking all attacks.

"It's going to look like that again—" Kevin turned and ran backwards without hesitation when he saw it start to spin on the ground.

The devastating roulette wheel, like a boulder sliding down a mountain, pressed down on Kevin's head.

"Stop everything and wait for backup."

Hen stopped the team members, especially Kosma, who was charging forward relentlessly. He grabbed Kosma's shoulder to bring him back to his senses from the state where his eyes were stained with blood from killing Honkai Beast.

The others were in the opposite state from Kosma. While he vented his anger on the Honkai Beast, the others were demoralized and even retreated or fled during the battle. If it weren't for Hen's strong adaptability, there would probably have been many more casualties along this route.

While both Kosma and his companions witnessed their tragic deaths, Kosmo's experience was drastically different.

But Hen didn't want to blame them, and he didn't have the right to, because many of them joined the Firemoth not really to fight the Honkai.

Some were driven to seek revenge after losing their homes in the Honkai, but when they actually arrived on the battlefield, they realized that their targets were a group of bloodless and tearless alien monsters. Others joined the Fire Moths out of necessity, and their enthusiasm was even lower than the former.

Very few soldiers like Kosma choose to become Moths of Fire solely out of passion; even Kevin joined because of May.

"Kosma, listen up, you're not fighting alone."

Hen's words instantly calmed Kosma, whose head was spinning from the battle. He looked at his dejected teammates behind him, took a deep breath, and nodded to Hen.

"This is Elysia. Hen, please lead your squad to remain in place and keep watch. We will arrive in three minutes."

At that moment, the communication device rang.

Chapter Eleven Who Should Die

Covered in jet-black armor, the pig-shaped Honkai Beast leaped into the air with a jumping power disproportionate to its enormous size. The terrifying destructive force that would be if it were to crash to the ground with its astonishing weight would be unimaginable.

Kevin was surrounded by crushed wreckage. He could find nowhere to hide from the impact and could only try his best to retreat backward to meet the collision.

"Bang!"

Kevin bent his knees and put his hands in front of him, and broken bricks and tiles rained down on him like cannonballs.

We can't delay any longer. We need their support to defeat the Fifth Herrscher, so we must act quickly.

"Captain, we've figured it out. The weak point of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast is in its lower abdomen near the tail! The skin there is relatively soft and is used to store Honkai Energy, but it still requires considerable external force to pierce through the skin."

Abdomen?

The descending Emperor-class Honkai Beast arched its thick waist and abdomen, its two long fangs poised to strike. Kevin could just see the skin on its abdomen folded together.

It does look very soft compared to its other parts, but the Emperor-class Honkai Beast has never exposed its lower abdomen so far. At most, it raises its upper jaw to smash, and you need to get close to attack that area directly.

However, this Emperor-class Honkai Beast is clearly different from those Honkai Beasts that specialize in their abilities. It can cause earthquakes and landslides at any time. If you get close to it, even just being grazed by one of its four legs will cause you a serious injury.

Kevin stared at the Emperor-class Honkai Beast charging towards him, put down his gun, and drew his dagger. "I'll handle this."

He was the one in charge of the front line in the team, and by his own strength, only he could remain unharmed in close combat against Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

No one in the Squad One objected. Kevin needed their obedience, so he had established a similar culture within the squad early on to prevent anyone from disobeying orders and causing accidents when necessary.

The only exception is Kosma. Most of the time, Kosma follows Kevin's orders just like everyone else. You could even say that as Kevin's little fanboy, he would be absolutely obedient. But occasionally, Kosma would have different opinions from Kevin, and he was particularly persistent about those differences.

Aside from that, Kevin was quite satisfied with the team's discipline.

The Emperor-class Honkai Beast wasn't fast, but its oppressive aura was like a moving mountain crushing down on Kevin.

"Boom!"

In the blink of an eye, they were already in front of him. The two giant teeth that were used as weapons slammed down on Kevin. At this moment, he seized the opportunity to run quickly, then slid to avoid the attack and came to the body of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast. He prepared to cut open the skin with a dagger in his hand.

However, the intelligence of Emperor-class Honkai Beast far exceeds that of ordinary Honkai Beast.

"Howl!"

The black pig immediately jumped up on the spot. Kevin watched in astonishment as its target rose into the sky, then spread its four legs and attacked Kevin in the simplest and most brutal way.

It's foreseeable that if Kevin doesn't dodge this attack, he'll be crushed into a pulp.

"Boom!"

The violent impact blasted the debris of the ruins away. The black pig lying on the ground shook its head before slowly standing up.

Kevin was nowhere to be seen beneath it.

"Captain..." The team member who was closest to the scene was so stunned that he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Was Kevin crushed to death?

"Everyone, fire all at once in three seconds."

However, a familiar, calm voice came through the communication. Three seconds passed in the blink of an eye, and at the moment that arrived as expected, everyone watched as a bright light burst forth beneath the black pig.

A dagger couldn't kill a tough-skinned Honkai Beast outright, but cutting an opening and stuffing in a few grenades was a piece of cake for Kevin.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The instant the Emperor-class Honkai Beast landed on the ground, Kevin stuffed three compressed bombs into its body. The recoil and power of the explosion were enough to flip it over, tearing its entire abdomen open.

It was at the very moment that the Emperor-class Honkai Beast howled in agony, lost its balance, and flipped over that Kevin commanded the others to fire simultaneously, focusing all their firepower on the Emperor-class Honkai Beast.

The one who brought it to its final, death-defying state descended from the sky and plunged a dagger into its core, which was now exposed to the air.

Kevin, his face covered in blood, stood up from the corpse of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast and said in the communicator, "This is the Squad One. The Emperor-class Honkai Beast has been confirmed dead."

"This is Elysia, who has rejoined Team Hen."

Elysia walked up and was still communicating with Hen on the communicator with a serious expression. However, she had been doing this for a while, and her quirky behavior actually eased the tense atmosphere quite a bit.

Unlike the others, Elysia wasn't covered in dirt and grime; she seemed to possess an unblemished quality.

Hen shook his head at Elysia and said, "The situation is not optimistic."

"Hmm... I can tell." When Elysia saw that the members of Hen's team were all looking like they had lost their souls and their numbers had decreased sharply, she knew what had happened.

"The Fifth Herrscher's coordinates haven't moved again, but we can't get close to her there. The only way is to airdrop us there via a transport plane." Hen pointed to the Herrscher's coordinates on the locator. "But judging from the Honkai Energy reaction, the Herrscher is probably recovering from overuse of her powers..."

The transport plane was fast, but it was extremely dangerous to transport all the squads together to the location of the Herrscher due to the interference of the weather and Honkai Beast.