Chapter 395
Leaving aside Welt and the Type-B Valkyrie with a power level of one watt, according to Tesla's speculation, this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast probably couldn't even defeat an ordinary Type-B Valkyrie.
Even in this new era of inflated combat power, this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast's combat strength is only equivalent to that of Valkyrie of Rank B to Rank A Schicksal era.
Honkai Beast with such combat power during the Schicksal era were naturally extremely powerful.
Even though it is far inferior to the Emperor Honkai, it is still one of the stronger lower-rank Honkai Beast, requiring a standard Valkyrie squad to defeat.
Regardless of its actual combat strength, considering only the enhanced species' ability to escape and its combined senses and survival skills, it is clearly the creature with the strongest survival ability in this era.
Don't even think about ambushing this Humanoid Honkai Beast a second time unless you kill it completely with one strike.
Kevin, Kiana, and Bianca all underestimated this actually weak Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast, so their casual first attacks only brought it to the brink of death.
Kiana sighed. The Humanoid Honkai Beast currently possessed very little Honkai Energy; most of it was used as biological enhancement energy to strengthen their bodies.
This enhancement method makes each Honkai Beast stronger, and the Humanoid Honkai Beast, which are about the size of a normal human, are like concentrated essences, with their physical strength becoming even more exaggerated. Although they no longer manipulate Honkai Energy to fight as before, they are no longer restrained by those abilities that counter Honkai Energy.
Freya's anti-Honkai wave not only weaken Honkai Energy and various other energies, but also have a certain degree of inhibition on life, plus double standards. However, the impact on Humanoid Honkai Beast has indeed decreased significantly.
Kiana's Loving Freeze is designed to target the Honkai Energy within Honkai Beast, just as her previous Revenge Flame used Honkai Energy as fuel. Therefore, its effect on Humanoid Honkai Beast is not as strong as before.
It's like a game being updated to a new version, and then the best-performing game from the previous version gets severely nerfed and can only be relegated to storage.
With Freya and Kiana's special abilities, no matter how many Honkai Beasts or Herrscher came before, it was useless. But now, their special abilities are not as effective, so they have to rely on their physical strength to fight the humanoid Humanoid Honkai Beast head-on.
This is why Freya, after her return, wanted to extract Biological Enhancement Technology from Kevin and SU.
As for SU's belief that Freya only wanted to beat Kevin half to death, that was indeed part of the reason.
However, while Humanoid Honkai Beast that prioritize physical strength are the future trend, the Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast that are currently causing them trouble seem more like targets designed to attract their attention.
Upon closer inspection, this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast isn't particularly strong in combat, but it possesses remarkable survivability and is incredibly sassy and cheeky.
Both Kiana and Kevin speculated that the purpose of this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast might simply be to attract their attention and provide cover for the actions of the mastermind behind the scenes.
"Unfortunately, even if we lock onto its aura, that Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast will dodge before we even get close."
It must be said that the appearance of that Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast did indeed affect her judgment at first.
After all, it was a white ape-like Honkai Beast that looked rather distorted and had a rather comical art style. It didn't have much combat power, and even Type-B Valkyrie didn't sense any danger from it, which led to Kiana's failure.
In fact, even Kevin underestimated the survivability of this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast, which was still alive even when its body was almost completely charred.
This is like a well-done steak suddenly growing two legs and running away.
"I never expected there would be such Honkai Beast, capable of manipulating airflow."
Anna said through gritted teeth, feeling particularly heartbroken about the dress she had painstakingly saved up for three months to buy, since the price of that dress could have bought a decent sports car.
"In the future, there will be more and more Humanoid Honkai Beast with Herrscher power. To be precise, they should be Humanoid Honkai Beast with partial Herrscher Authority. Crystals similar to Herrscher Core have been found in the bodies of those Humanoid Honkai Beast transported back to headquarters from the Honkai battlefield."
In reality, the current Humanoid Honkai Beast are more similar to the Tenth Herrscher. Although they possess various abilities, their abilities are not as diverse as Herrscher of a true Herrscher, nor do they exhibit the same level of dominance.
Similar to the Key of Reason currently being researched by the Alliance, it is more like a key to unlock the Imaginary Space, using Honkai Energy extracted from the Imaginary Space to drive the special Stigmata built into the Key of Reason.
"Excuse me, Miss Manager, my mission is complete, and I must leave now. Listen up, everyone, next we'll be tracking the target, so stay alert."
Regardless, Kiana had locked onto the opponent's aura.
This Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast was extremely cunning. If it hadn't been for Bianca running into it while trying to avoid Freya, Bianca, who had attacked it once, would probably never have found it in her lifetime.
Now is a rare opportunity. Kiana has also locked onto the opponent's aura. All she needs to do next is cooperate with Bianca to block the movement route of this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast as much as possible.
Moreover, only by capturing this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast alive can they find out the true purpose of the mastermind.
"Yes!!"
"Yes, sir!!"
"Receive!"
The members of the investigation team responded loudly.
452. Only these two are the truths in the void.
Of course, Kiana locking onto the aura of this Humanoid Honkai Beast using her own sensory abilities is not the main point. The key is that Honkai Energy collected by the instrument is indeed from this Humanoid Honkai Beast, the Alliance can create a targeted tracker.
Even if this Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast can sense targets within a radius of 10,000 kilometers, it will still be unable to cope with the encirclement formed by the Valkyrie.
Once the encirclement is formed, all we need to do is give Kiana and Kevin time to get to the scene. Once they arrive, they can beat this incredibly Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast to death.
Moreover, this time, they not only want to beat this Humanoid Honkai Beast to death, but also to grind its bones to dust. In layman's terms, they want to scatter its ashes.
After giving instructions to her subordinates, Kiana looked at Jana with a hint of apology.
"Miss Jana, I'm really sorry. I didn't expect the mission target to actually leave us with any clues. The promise I made to take you around this island will have to wait until after this mission is over."
In fact, Kiana was quite uncertain when she brought the investigation team to this island.
Even if they confirmed that the Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast had appeared on this island, that was three days ago, and they weren't sure if they could still find any residual Honkai Energy at this point.
It's important to know that Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, and some secret laboratories in various countries were all built on the seabed, with the intention of using seawater to isolate Honkai Energy and thus evade Schicksal's satellite reconnaissance.
There are many caves on this island that can be used for hiding. In fact, this is not the first time the League has searched this island, but this time Kiana is personally leading the search.
However, those caves are frequently eroded by seawater, making it impossible for them to leave any traces. Even the current passage is located in an underwater cave below the sea surface, which is filled with seawater every three days. Kiana originally had no confidence that they could find any clues.
Bianca chased this Humanoid Honkai Beast seven times in the past three months, and this was the closest she ever came to catching it.
However, they knew that given Bianca's current pursuit, she would eventually be outmaneuvered by this Humanoid Honkai Beast.
"It's alright, Your Honor."
Jana replied with a faint smile, clearly not dissatisfied with the matter.
Kiana's face was still full of apology. After all, how could she refuse the opportunity to kill that Humanoid Honkai Beast? So she had no choice but to break her promise to the island manager.
For the investigation team present, the atmosphere was one of "overtime pay is not an option, but that Humanoid Honkai Beast must die."
To be honest, she had a very good impression of the lady in charge, who, being from the countryside, was also curious about big cities and hoped that she could show her around the city. In exchange, the lady in charge planned to show her around the island.
Kiana apologized to Jana again, but for now, she had to prioritize completing her mission.
Both Kiana and Jana were reluctant to part ways.
But when Kiana and her investigation team left the island completely, she suddenly wondered why she felt such a good impression of the person in charge.
This unexpected goodwill led her to accept the other party's invitation, and she even took the initiative to invite the other party to travel to Kyoto City together on her day off.
Kiana merely frowned slightly before dismissing her doubts, since Kiana hadn't sensed any special abilities being used by the woman in charge during their entire conversation.
In other words, if you genuinely develop feelings for her for no apparent reason, the reason lies with you, not with the other person doing anything underhanded.
Kiana was unaware that after she left, everything on the island seemed to freeze. The villagers chatting with each other seemed to stop time, remaining in the same position as they were a second ago.
Jana strolled among the villagers, slowly making her way to her dwelling on the island. But instead of going inside, she sat down on the wooden steps in front of the beautiful wooden house, resting her hands on her knees. She cupped her round face in her hands, her increasingly vacant gaze seemingly fixed on a distant place.
"This world is really, really interesting..."
"Jana murmured to herself."
Her sentiments were indeed heartfelt.
From her perspective, which has witnessed so many years, this world is more peculiar than any other.
It is impossible for only one civilization to exist in each universe. Each universe is a world that grows on the Imaginary Tree. In addition to moving through the trunk, it can also cross the Sea of Quantum to reach another parallel world.
Tens of thousands of years ago, Jana, who had already destroyed a Galactic Civilization, sensed that the authority of the Herrscher of Finality had been stolen, and thus traveled a long distance to this planet.
Of course, due to the long distance traveled, she fell into a deep sleep shortly after arriving on this planet.
When she woke up and began to observe the civilization of this planet as an outsider, she discovered many familiar figures.
The new era of civilization on this planet seems to be a reincarnation of the old civilization.
In Jana's view, such a cycle could not break the trial of Honkai at all. In fact, the new civilization soon began to court disaster, just as she had guessed.
The new civilization narrowed the path, but then suddenly brought about a turning point.
Or perhaps, the Honkai Consciousness has been suppressed.
The person who suppressed the Honkai Consciousness was not the thief who stole the Power of Finality. According to the information she obtained by tracing civilizations through the genetic factors of others, the person who suppressed the Honkai Consciousness should be Dr. Mei from the Previous Civilization.
Because someone stole the Power of Finality and usurped the authority of the Herrscher of Finality, the Honkai Consciousness became weak and was suppressed by that doctor. It was also because of that doctor's suppression that the true consciousness of the Herrscher of Finality fell into slumber, and the authority of the Herrscher of Finality fell into the hands of the thief.
"No matter how many worlds I've seen, this one should be the most interesting one."
The frequent appearance of mortals who rivaled gods instilled in Jana both fear of the people on this planet and immense curiosity about the world's development.
She had traversed the Sea of Quantum and witnessed a similar civilization destroyed by the collapse of a young girl. She had crossed the void to reach distant galaxies, wielding the power of Honkai to bring disaster upon civilizations.
However, there is currently only one civilization that can make her stop and observe carefully.
There are people who steal the power of the Herrscher.
In every era and every civilization, there will always be gods who steal divine fire for mortals, and there will always be figures who kill gods with mortal bodies.
But the sheer scale of this planet was truly beyond Jana's expectations.
"One person stole the power of the Finality, and another suppressed the Honkai Consciousness. No wonder the Honkai Consciousness of this world chose to help me."
Although she created a strange Humanoid Honkai Beast to cover up her observation mission, and of course, Jana also used her own power to enhance the Humanoid Honkai Beast's endurance so that it wouldn't die so easily, this matter itself violated the logic of the Honkai Consciousness.
Honkai, normally speaking, just a cyclical phenomenon in the universe.
Or perhaps it's a mechanism used by the Imaginary Tree to filter the world.
Therefore, the Honkai Consciousness serves the Imaginary Tree, while the Herrscher and Honkai Beast serve the Honkai Consciousness.
The world is composed of a binary opposition between the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quantum; only these two constitute the truth in the void.
That being said, the ability to steal the power of the Finality and suppress the Honkai Consciousness makes, in a sense, the humans of this world practically have cheat codes.
"The most crucial thing is the structure of the three Herrscher of Finality. If this world completely falls into depravity, it also means that the Honkai Side will suddenly have a special trinity of Herrscher of Finality. In that case, no environment will be able to restrict the arrival of the Herrscher of Finality in the future."
Jana's empty gaze seemed to be fixed on the distant future.
In fact, she was indeed calculating future scenarios. Putting aside the thief who Finality Authority, she clearly acted in the same way as the thief and subconsciously cooperated with others to suppress the Honkai Consciousness. In fact, if it weren't for her act of stealing the Finality Authority, the Honkai Consciousness of this world would not have been suppressed by Mei from the Previous Civilization.
In reality, the permissions she stole are gradually being filled in by the Imaginary Tree. Originally just a backup vessel for the Herrscher of Finality, she is now becoming more and more assimilated with the Herrscher of Finality. Meanwhile, another clone girl who happened to be assigned the authority of the Finality has also obtained the most special Imaginary Tree permission: Imaginary Tree Travel.
If quantum travel is about traversing the Sea of Quantum to reach another parallel world, then imaginary travel is about traveling to the past or future by following the trunk of the Imaginary Tree.
Unbeknownst to the three, by dividing the authority of the Herrscher of Finality, they brought the Herrscher of Finality, who was fundamentally unable to descend under the current circumstances, to life in a very special way.
"The only problem is that this state makes it impossible to awaken the memories of the Herrscher of Finality. If the memories of the Herrscher of Finality are awakened, they probably won't be able to maintain themselves, and this planet's civilization should quickly enter its end."
As an observer driven by interest, Jana has no intention of interfering with the course of this world.
She was even curious about how the world would develop.
Having seen countless civilizations similar to this, Jana had never seen a world like this before. At least, she had never heard of any civilization that had encountered enemies like Humanoid Honkai Beast.
The way Honkai uses to filter civilizations has always been through Honkai Beast and Herrscher.
However, the Herrscher in this world are in a rather unfortunate situation. There are two girls who possess partial authority over the Finality, and they also have special abilities that completely counter the Herrscher.
Jana has seen many worlds, so she knows that Kiana is the Herrscher of Finality, Herrscher of Finality is Kiana.
However, Kiana is the Herrscher of Finality, but not Herrscher of Finality is a Kiana.
Kiana from this civilization will be the Herrscher of Finality, Kiana from that civilization will also Herrscher of Finality. Therefore, the true Herrscher of Finality has never been a single Kiana.
Once Kiana feels despair for this world, or even for all humanity, she will become the Herrscher of Finality, and then be consumed by the despair of hundreds of millions of Kiana.
As an observer of this civilization, Jana's lips curved into a slight smile, eagerly anticipating its fate.
Will it ultimately face destruction like other civilizations, become a unique Honkai Civilization, or become a hunting civilization like the civilizations that triumphed over Honkai in the vast sea of stars?
453. Wait, is it you, you bastard, who's behind this?!
Kiana was unaware that she had encountered a civilization observer. Filled with guilt, she led her energetic and murderous investigation team on a pursuit mission.
Meanwhile, Chen Tianwu and Anna returned to the Alliance and handed over the instrument that had collected the residual Honkai Energy from the Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast to the Alliance's research department.
Of course, given the difficulty of manufacturing an instrument to track specific Honkai Energy wavelengths, the First Research Institute naturally doesn't need to take the lead.
However, Freya, who was not familiar with Enhanced Humanoid Honkai Beast, happened to pass by this research institute.
"What are you doing? Anna? What are you doing here? I remember you should have gone on a mission with your sister."
Freya's previous resentment towards Kevin stemmed from the fact that she had finally returned home from a parallel world, but her older sister was busy working outside and had no intention of coming home at all.
That's right, it's displaced anger.