Chapter 129

Another faint, suppressed laugh came through.

The atmosphere in the Chat Group was more silent, but Raven could clearly sense that the atmosphere was about to burst out of control, as calm as the calm before a tsunami.

Raven: "Laugh if you want, don't worry about me."

Himeko Murata: "Ahem, Miss Raven, you've clearly misunderstood. This isn't funny at all. Besides, you invited us to your villa island. How could we possibly be laughing?"

Raven: "Really?"

Theresa: "Pfft~ Hahaha, I'm sorry, Teacher Himeko, I just couldn't help it."

Pardofelis: "No, don't laugh! Your laughter makes me want to laugh too."

This was supposed to be a very sad story, but with the Raven's house gone and the cheerful atmosphere of the Puppet Academy, it's impossible not to feel joy.

Kiana: "Pfft, hahaha, don't laugh, or you'll attract Theresa."

An untimely laugh rang out, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

Raiden Mei: "Kiana, weren't you on the run?"

Bronya: "Could it be that the difficult dungeons aren't as dangerous as I thought?"

That's impossible! Everyone has witnessed the power of Theresa. There's simply no chance of defeating that massive army of Theresa.

No matter how powerful Kiana is, she couldn't possibly destroy an entire city Theresa, right?

Kiana: "Hey! Who do you think I am? I am Kiana Kaslana!"

Himeko Murata: "So, you beat up Theresa in the entire city?"

⑧56⒈0⒐78② (Linglong)

Durandal: "As expected of someone I had high hopes for, Kiana, well done."

Kiana: "No, I don't have that ability. I just found a military base to hide in. Theresa's not very bright, she just uses her head to smash things... Holy crap! They're in!"

Chapter 213 Who Killed the Gray Serpent?

The moment the military base fell, Kiana ran towards the exit without hesitation, using her physical abilities to force her way through.

Kiana's lithe figure streaked across the sky like a shooting star, her current posture reminiscent of Durandal presence.

Unfortunately, it would have seemed even more like it if she hadn't been running away.

Raiden Mei: "Kiana, are you alright?"

Kiana: "Don't worry, Mei, I'm super strong now. I can jump as high as twenty stories. They can't catch me at all."

Theresa: "The effects of Gluttony are quite obvious. It seems we don't need to worry about Kiana anymore."

Raven: "Are all the Valkyrie of Schicksal monsters?"

A student still in school can jump over 100 meters without relying on the Valkyrie armor. Raven may only now understand what the so-called Far East Demon Cave means.

Theresa: "It's nothing, it's nothing."

Raiden Mei: "Headmaster, Raven wasn't praising you just now."

Himeko Murata: "Speaking of school, Xiao Kong and the others haven't been to school in a long time, right? Raven, have you considered sending them to St. Freya?"

The orphans adopted by the Raven on the island were mostly children who lost their homes in the Third Honkai Eruption. They were taken from their nests only after the Raven's Island was completed.

The child is very obedient. After wandering in Nagazora City for a long time, he has finally found a place to settle down.

Teacher Himeko immediately had the idea of sending them to the St. Freya Academy.

Raven: "Hmm... forget it. I raised Xiaokong and the Xiao Kong myself. I'm not comfortable leaving them with Schicksal."

Are there any children in the nest who are Stigmata Adept?

Raven has witnessed the dark side of Schicksal, and now has her own island villa. Raising a group of children is no problem for her, so how could she possibly entrust them to Schicksal?

Raiden Mei: "But Miss Raven, you can't just let them skip school, can you?"

Raven: "What does it matter? Aren't I the Principal Raven of the Puppet Academy? At worst, I'll just open a school on the island to take in these kids and teach them survival skills."

Elysia: "That's a good idea, but where are you going to find a teacher?"

Since Raven the principal, she certainly can't be the only teacher.

Among the Flame-Chasers, there are many who love children, but since they are all in the Death Space, they certainly cannot take care of children often.

Raven: "Um... Teacher Himeko, have you ever considered coming to my school? I heard that St. Freya Academy is always behind on your salary, but that won't happen here. You don't need to worry about the pay."

Theresa: "?!!"

Holy crap, how could this person be so shameless as to try and steal Theresa's boyfriend?

Do they think Theresa's defenses are too weak, that a single shovel could break through them?

Himeko Murata: "Oh? Theresa, Miss Raven's invitation is too much to refuse. What do you think I should do? Should I switch jobs? Or should you give me a raise?"

Theresa: "Hmph!"

The headmistress originally wanted to suggest a raise, but she wasn't short of money.

But now St. Freya Academy has a new, gluttonous student who's hard to feed, needing several energy potions every day to fill his stomach, plus Welt's research lab...

Expenses are skyrocketing; she hasn't bought Humo in a week!

Himeko Murata: "Well, I was just teasing you, Miss Raven. Thank you for your kindness, but I think I still don't want to leave."

Raven: "It doesn't matter. Those children are already used to their old lives, and as Stigmata Adept, I personally feel that it's more suitable for me to teach them something than for them to receive formal schooling."

Not everyone in the world is as stupid as Theresa.

The Raven knew very well that the children in the nest had to be able to protect themselves, and that because of the Stigmata, they would not be able to enjoy the peace that normal children had.

Kiana: "Damn it! System, why is there absolutely no food in the Project Ring dungeon?!"

Raiden Mei: "Food?"

Bronya: "Idiot Kiana, the city is destroyed, of course there's no food, and we can't hunt."

Pardofelis: "What happened?"

Welt: "I think she's extremely hungry. Kiana's body already consumes energy excessively, and now she also has Gluttony tendency. With prolonged exercise, hunger will constantly put pressure on her mind."

Simply put, they're starving and have no energy, but they can't find food in the apocalypse.

After all, in this godforsaken place, only Theresa; there's no stockpiling of supplies, and you can't even see a single living creature.

Kiana: "Tsk... I can't take it anymore!"

During the great escape just now, Kiana was in a state of high intensity, jumping off a 100-meter building without hesitation, and from the bottom up!

Taking advantage of the fact that it's a dungeon, they wanted to conserve their stamina.

She didn't possess the inner universe of Durandal herself, and soon the hunger and weakness caused by the massive loss of physical strength took over her mind.

"Teriteri!"

Kiana collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, as a large group of Theresa swarmed around her.

This difficult-level Theresa's Great Escape dungeon has now ended in a delightful GG (game over).

Kiana: "This is no good, this dungeon is inhuman. I'd rather face Judgment-class Honkai Beast head-on than be surrounded by a bunch of Theresa."

Raiden Mei: "Alright, alright, it's good to be back. I made you something delicious."

Kiana: "Mei, you're still the best!"

The Himeko was so moved it almost cried. It wanted to hug Mei, but then it realized it was all dirty and its clothes were tattered, so it could only stand there and give up.

[Q&A begins.]

[Gray Serpent has spread the word that she knows Kiana's whereabouts. Who killed Gray Serpent before Theresa could?]

[A: Durandal.]

[B: Otto.]

[C: Rita.]

[D: Fu Hua.]

Raven: "The Gray Serpent was taken down?"

Upon hearing the news, the Raven was initially a little shocked, then a little happy, and finally calmed down.

That Gray Serpent guy is tough; he's not going to be so easy to kill.

Kiana: "Oh, all four options are from Schicksal. If I remember correctly, Gray Serpent is a member of the World Serpent leadership, right? And the one with the most influence. It seems the World Serpent isn't all that great after all."

Pardofelis: "Hmm... it's a bit of a letdown for Boss Kevin."

Theresa: "Even I feel a little sorry for Kevin."

What the heck?

Kevin is the number one Flame-Chasers, the strongest among the strong. Since your World Serpent people are his followers, even if they aren't incredibly powerful, they should at least show some skill, right?

To die before even achieving one's goal, to be killed by someone—that's a disgrace to your lord!

Chapter 214 Concept Card: Shed the Golden Cicada's Shell

Bronya: "Of the four people in the answer, at least two are capable of taking down the Gray Serpent: Durandal and Bishop Otto. As for Rita..."

Bronya says she's not familiar with the other S-rank Valkyrie from Schicksal.

Theresa: "Rita, she probably doesn't have the ability to kill Gray Serpent. After all, Gray Serpent is a high-ranking member of the World Serpent, although I've never actually seen Gray Serpent."

Durandal: "Rita... still has a lot of potential to be explored."

After all, he was a colleague, and also her adjutant, Durandal chose a more tactful way of describing him.

Pardofelis: "Hua, I think you can do it too. How come there are only two of you?"

Fu Hua: "At that time, I probably hadn't recovered my strength yet and didn't have the ability to kill the Gray Serpent, but if the answer is me, then the Fu Hua in the option might refer to Little Senti."

Kiana: "That's right, with my Little Senti, killing a Gray Serpent would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?"

Theresa: "Little Senti, confess! Did you kill the Gray Serpent?"

The Herrscher of Reason: "No, the World Serpent is Kevin's underling after all. At most, I'll just beat them up. How could I really cause Kevin any trouble?"

They simply smashed a bunch of useless scrap metal, essentially doing a free demolition of a place in the World Serpent that had been in disrepair for years and needed repair.

Kevin was too grateful to her to call it causing trouble.

Theresa: "So, do we still have to choose between Durandal and Otto?"

Durandal: "Logically speaking, I certainly wouldn't make a move against someone who's just an information broker."

If we're going to take action, it has to be by directly bringing back the Herrscher of the Void —an efficient and difficult command.

A mere intelligence broker is far from being on par with Schicksal directly dispatching its ace Valkyrie.

Bronya: "But if that's the case, then Bishop Otto won't personally get involved, will he?"

Raven: "Um, I wanted to say something. Actually, the Gray Serpent might not be really dead. It has quite a few ways to survive, or rather, is there really a way to kill it?"

Kiana: "It's that unkillable ability again. It reminds me of someone."

Pardofelis: "Sister Snake, huh? I thought of her too."

Elysia: "Hmm, World Serpent, Mobius... Gray Serpent and Mobius really do have a connection. The killing mentioned in the question and answer is quite intriguing."

Gray Serpent is certainly not as skilled Mobius, but he must still have some survival techniques such as Shed the Golden Cicada's Shell, switching the beams and pillars, or deceiving the heavens.

Theresa: "So that means we didn't take down the Gray Serpent... I know who to choose, I choose Rita!"

[Correct answer.]

Durandal: "Senior Theresa, how did you know?"

She thought to herself that she was the one who understood Rita the most; they had spent every day together in Schicksal, and Rita even cooked for her.

Why did Theresa choose the answer that he himself didn't?

Theresa: "Because if it were my grandfather or Durandal made the move, Gray Serpent would have been severely injured, if not killed, right? But not only did that person fail to kill Gray Serpent, he was also outmaneuvered by Gray Serpent."

The gist is that, among the bottom-ranked S-rank Valkyrie, Theresa is certain that the Valkyrie who embarrasses herself is Rita!