A Textbook Example of Two Noobs Fighting

The echoing words were not particularly loud amid the clamor, but that baseless hostility...

To be honest, Fang Jie did not quite understand.

What had changed now?

Shouldn't it have been a fox first? A fox wandering around Chang Kong City!

Then, around two months later, it would be your turn to fully develop and send the invading Theresa fleeing in defeat, twice over.

But it had only been one day!

Faced with bombardment on this scale, Fang Jie could only avoid the edge for now. He did not even want to directly test artillery fire, let alone this... Forget it.

Retreat, retreat, retreat. He retreated back into Chiyu Academy and changed direction...

Then came the second building, followed by the third, the fourth—

One modern building after another shattered and collapsed, flattening Chiyu Academy while forming a massive circular arena on the surface!

Layer upon layer of vines formed the arena itself. Along with the building debris flung high into the air before finally falling back down, they created a rough and spectacular sight.

Having endured such an impactful scene more than once, Fang Jie was utterly dumbfounded.

Amid explosion after explosion, he stopped fleeing outward and instead darted about inside the arena. He watched the enormous vines flamboyantly rise from the ground, beginning to construct a vast, lush, apocalyptic jungle. With soft rustling, they used the original buildings as frames, leaving them broken and scattered yet barely standing, while spreading themselves high into the sky.

They were all ammunition that would keep smashing down if he dared run!

Before the suddenly erupted Pseudo-Herrscher, all of Chiyu Academy had become a "tree realm."

Wasn't she supposed to be the Herrscher of Poison?

Shouldn't vines... Well, before using poison, Sato Yuno had been able to use vines to contend with Theresa until the poison took effect. Theresa had Fusion Warrior-level poison resistance, so the vines that could hold her off for that long were definitely not weak.

She laughed maniacally.

"Ha ha ha ha, you can't escape, you can't escape—you have nowhere left to run! You should draw that sword! Come!!"

When had she become such a battle-crazed lunatic?

She had clearly looked so frail before, like she would cry for ages after one punch.

Was this what they meant by being wary of the harmlessness of the weak? They simply lacked the strength to trample the strong.

Fang Jie drew a deep breath.

"You leave me no choice."

Though he had initially sought victory by avoiding battle, he still drew his blade and even spoke aloud. His continuous sprinting had long shattered the ice armor covering his body, making contact with the outside world unavoidable.

Then he would stop avoiding it. He trusted the poison resistance granted by his pioneering divine power.

"Slash!"

The vines reinforced with Honkai energy felt as tough as Honkai Beasts when he did not drain their Honkai energy, but they still could not withstand Fang Jie, who wielded a three-star weapon.

—Slash!

Wherever the blade pointed, all things split in two.

The roaring whistles ceased, fell, then surged forward again without pause.

Continuous slashes!

Six strikes per second was indeed not Fang Jie's limit, but neither did it reach Sato Yuno's limit.

Whenever one vine was severed, two more grew out.

Even the severed cuts could reconnect and heal after Fang Jie passed through, then withdraw beneath the earth.

Before long, vines drilled out from underground once again and flooded toward him.

No matter how he looked at it, this was bad. Even without being linked to Imaginary Space, the previous river of blood had shown that her Honkai energy would not be easily exhausted.

She was even growing stronger! Continuing to evolve!

Did he have no choice but to end this quickly?

Staring at Sato Yuno, hidden behind layers of vines, Fang Jie circled around her. He kept swinging his blade to clear a path while maintaining his distance.

Their lack of follow-up speed was probably the vines' only weakness. They were only threatening when bursting out of the ground, so Fang Jie avoided getting close to the surface as much as possible, using the vines themselves to perform aerial acrobatics.

Thankfully, he had honed his footwork in the snow earlier. He had barely managed to overcome his tendency to slip.

As Fang Jie "wasted time" like this, he carefully observed Sato Yuno.

Unable to leave Chiyu Academy, he was at a serious disadvantage in a mid-to-long-range battle of attrition, and he also had to worry about poisoning. Could he engage in close combat?

Like hell he could!

Fang Jie activated the Composite Blade: Willow Leaf's slash once more. Crescent-shaped sword energy tore apart the tidal assault Sato Yuno had built up. He flashed through it like lightning, absolutely refusing to approach her.

She was a Herrscher!

What did that mean? Even Death Troopers corrupted by Honkai possessed physical abilities far surpassing humans, and even surpassed the main combat force among Valkyries, B-Rank Valkyries.

Once they could actively use Honkai energy, the latter had to rely on advantages in equipment, intelligence, and other areas to defeat them.

If they evolved into high-level Death Troopers and gained powers akin to supernatural abilities, only A-Rank Valkyries could deal with them.

Of course, those judgments were based on ideal one-on-one battles. Actual circumstances were complex and ever-changing. Valkyries usually fought in squads, for example, while Honkai Beasts also tended to move in groups.

Like Honkai Beasts, Death Troopers could continuously evolve by bathing in Honkai energy. A Chariot-class one might not be weaker than a Temple-class one, and the upper limit of that evolution was a Pseudo-Herrscher, possessing power close to that of a Herrscher.

In other words, that seemingly frail humanoid figure was actually stronger than any giant Honkai Beast.

Even if naturally occurring Pseudo-Herrschers did not begin as Death Troopers, instead directly becoming powerful beings without experiencing those repeated evolutions...

Fang Jie did not want to take the risk.

He had initially viewed Pseudo-Herrschers with something close to admiration. Aside from Herrscher Cores and God Keys, they had previously been the most attainable power in the Honkai field for him.

After all, before he had any way to contact World Serpent and obtain safe, powerful Fusion Warrior surgery, Fang Jie's efforts to expand the possibilities of Honkai naturally took Pseudo-Herrschers as a reference.

Unfortunately, to become a Herrscher—even a Pseudo-Herrscher—you either had to be "chosen" or have the aptitude.

You had to possess the potential to serve as a Herrscher vessel from the start, like Yae Sakura or Sato Yuno before him.

Or you could artificially implant a Pseudo-Herrscher Core. This method could even turn Honkai Beasts into Pseudo-Herrschers, like the little companions Sirin had made by hand.

If I kill her, a core will probably drop, right?

Thinking that, Fang Jie had no intention whatsoever of approaching Sato Yuno.

"Why can't I hit you? Why won't you come closer? Kill you, kill you, kill you..."

Sato Yuno used her power almost ventingly. The explosive vegetation destroyed and reshaped Chiyu Academy, burying everything beneath layer upon layer of vines rising from the ground. The river of blood from before had long since disappeared.

There probably would not be any omissions this time. She had plowed through everything.

Even Honkai Beasts caught in this battlefield would be torn to pieces within minutes.

Fang Jie had not quietly fallen apart.

After enduring the initial fury and unfamiliarity, vegetation was still vegetation in the end. No matter how alive it looked, it only had a few methods of attack. Not to mention these were merely vines that were not thick enough. One slash severed them all, enough for him to maneuver around.

Fang Jie had not even detected any "poison." Forget the Honkai energy in the air being poisonous—even when he inevitably came into contact with the vines, he felt no signs of poisoning.

As for the offensive power of this massive spectacle...

To be honest, once he calmed himself, it was not a hard battle.

So—

"You won't let me leave, yet you're holding back everywhere—you want to die?"

Surprise filled his voice.

Watching Sato Yuno, Fang Jie could not help wondering whether she was the same type as Raiden Mei.

Wants to jump off a building and commit suicide.jpg

Fang Jie's words caused the raging serpents around him to pause, as though they had heard some profoundly shocking... mockery?

The next second, they erupted again!

Though Sato Yuno's explosive power was not outstanding despite her extremely high Honkai energy intensity, she suddenly found the drive to break through herself and evolve into something stronger.

Emotion drove power.

She had not been holding back.

"Kill you!!"

The spectacle was still immense, but vegetation piled upon vegetation, vegetation obstructed vegetation. Even though the enemy outnumbered him, Fang Jie only ever had to face the portion as strong as Honkai Beasts.

Once he drained the Honkai energy from that small portion, it became no different from rotten wood.

A Pseudo-Herrscher could not be this weak. She had been so earth-shattering before. She definitely wanted to die!

"You do not need to blame yourself for a disaster that was never your responsibility. None of this is your fault. Do not torture yourself. You may think someone like you no longer deserves to live, but you're wrong—life is precious."

Fang Jie did not really want this to become a fight to the death, so he tried courtesy before force. "Sato Yuno, stop. If you keep fighting, I'll get... mad to death. Pah. What I mean is, you're still young. You mustn't go down the path of crime—if you keep pressing me like this, I'll have to make you come to your senses."

"Kill you..."

She was still pretending, trying to provoke him into killing her.

So there was no need to listen. She seemed so furious that she had lost her mind, leaving no need for conversation or communication. Whatever she thought, Fang Jie's thoughts were the correct ones.

Friendship Face-Breaking Fist, ready—

Fang Jie no longer merely mixed Honkai Killer into his slashes against the vines coming from every direction.

Why should he fear this little poison?

You're underdeveloped.

He had dared leave the Domain Anchor to search for Belobog despite Honkai energy corrosion. The Honkai energy resistance in his body had long stacked up enough that he could withstand Honkai energy concentrations exceeding 1000 hw for two hours with his physical body alone.

If he activated Fantasy Killer as well, Honkai energy would pose almost no threat to him.

Question: Why had Judah, like Cecilia, been recognized as S-rank?

Counters reigned supreme; Holy Blood Sun was godlike.

"Then let me beat the fantasy out of you."

A textbook case of two noobs fighting

Those of you with ninja-level dynamic vision surely saw the battle clearly. Fang Jie had finished his move; this turn was over.

At an age when I haven't even fought an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, I have to fight a Herrscher... Is this really the pressure I should be bearing?

Thinking that, he had no time to pursue. He looked ahead at Sato Yuno, whose flesh at her chest had collapsed and shattered so badly that bone was visible. In the hollow, a dense radiance of Honkai energy shone—the location of her core.

Clearly, she had suffered a devastating blow. Even its radiance had dimmed considerably.

But—

"I didn't manage to pierce her heart in one strike."

Fang Jie had instantly burst forward, turned back, launched a surprise attack, and used Honkai Killer in one fluid motion. Yet in the end... he had not dealt a killing blow. Otherwise, severing her head would have been the sure kill.

And against the energy level of a Pseudo-Herrscher Core, his current level of energy absorption was insufficient.

"Pain, it hurts, liar, liar liar liar—die!"

Having suffered a severe injury and agonizing pain, Sato Yuno retaliated explosively. Her incoherent arms flailed, causing the ground to tremble once more as countless twisted, raging serpents burst from the earth.

And the hollow in her chest was rapidly being filled with flesh.

Was this... cellular reconstruction?!

Fang Jie's pupils constricted. How was he supposed to fight a boss with built-in healing? As expected of the lower authority of the Herrscher of Death. Before he could spare more attention for it, he slashed out sword energy and swept aside the rampaging tide.

Chiyu Academy was now completely unrecognizable. The ground had become a twisted jungle in an entirely different style.

Two "people" hung within it.

Sato Yuno was supported in midair by vines resembling limbs, and the wound on her chest had completely healed.

Not far from her, yet definitely not close, Fang Jie hung more than a hundred meters away like a roast duck.

Obviously, before the rampaging Sato Yuno, the pressure of resisting her waves of attacks was increasing. The vines specialized for speed made it impossible for him to charge through or shake them off.

He looked like an insect trapped inside a Venus flytrap.