Dark Jixuanyuan's departure was swift; almost in the blink of an eye, she disappeared into the darkness of the Nine Realms.
What surprised Luo Lin even more was that the gateway to the Imaginary Space, previously opened, remained firmly suspended behind Dark Jixuanyuan, following her as if carried by her warhorse.
Helix and the Herrscher of Sentience exchanged a glance, noting seriousness on each other's faces.
At the same time, the voice of Luo Lin's main body came through the mental link: "I've taken people back to the Icarus, and we've discovered quite a few signals of Honkai Beasts outside the Nine Realms. How's the situation on your end?!"
Helix transmitted a "compressed file" to Luo Lin in a telegraphic manner. Fortunately, they were essentially the same person, so Luo Lin quickly grasped the situation.
Thus, as she climbed aboard the Icarus, still soaked from the water, Luo Lin exclaimed amidst the concerned gazes of the Valkyries, "Holy cow, the tree!"
Senti shouted through the mental link, "Stop exclaiming and think of a solution!"
Luo Lin calmly issued instructions, "First, let's go after Dark Jixuanyuan. She just caused so much trouble in a few minutes; let her go around again, and I dare not imagine what might happen!"
"The problem is that this brave bull in front of us isn't very willing to let us go after her!" Miss Miss Pink Elf's arrows exploded on the "Husk - Mysticism," crystal shards flying in the air, overturning the remaining Honkai Beasts and Zombies.
Senti waved her hand and said, "I'll deal with this guy; you go after Dark Jixuanyuan. Even if you can't catch up, you need to see clearly what she's up to!"
"Okay!"
The Herrscher of Sentience looked around and saw the wandering Honkai Beasts and Zombies, as well as the Imaginary Constructs whose style didn't quite match the Honkai Beasts and Zombies. Her eyes narrowed. Before facing the boss, it's best to take care of these small fries first!
Senti raised her hand and made several gestures in succession. A crimson wind, formed by Honkai energy, swept through the depths of the Nine Realms, drawing all the remaining Honkai Beasts, Zombies, and Imaginary Constructs to the center of the battlefield.
This move seemed quite elegant, reminiscent of "Azure Empyria," but mixed with Senti's own understanding.
Coupled with her unintentionally revealed healthy smile, the onlookers, Helix, sighed with admiration. "If this special effect were made into Azure Empyrea's skin, it would probably cost 9600 crystals."
Senti was unaware of the meaning behind Helix's strange words. She just flew forward and delivered a powerful straight punch, shattering the gathered monsters into fragments and "Imaginary Cores."
"Tsk, these Imaginary Constructs are really a pain!"
The Herrscher of Sentience clicked her tongue. She had experienced many such situations while fighting in the Abyss with these guys:
Originally, according to damage calculations, Senti's punch should have left her opponent owing her two lives.
However, the unique "shell/core" mechanism of the Imaginary Constructs allowed Senti's high single-instance damage to be fully enjoyed by the monster's shell, even if it exceeded countless damage, it was all absorbed by it.
So, when the core fell out, not even a scratch appeared on its surface, looking as smooth and pleasing as the antique walnuts some elderly people in Shenzhou enjoyed playing with.
Therefore, Senti calmly delivered two more punches, smashing the cores rolling around on the ground, attempting to escape, back into their original form of Honkai energy, reintegrating them into the world's energy cycle.
The Herrscher of Sentience efficiently dealt with these small fries, then turned her gaze towards the imposing "Husk - Mysticism" standing in the center of the battlefield.
Previously, Senti's crowd-control skills hadn't had much effect on it, and it hadn't even moved from its position in the crimson wind.
Now, the Imaginary Bull finally reacted. Its semi-transparent body gradually solidified, lowering its head and aiming its shining horns at the distant Miss Pink Elf who was fleeing.
"Don't even think about running! Your opponent is me!" The Herrscher of Sentience decisively appeared beside the "Mysticism," her fist slamming into its shell. With a huge bang, the body of the Imaginary Bull even trembled slightly, barely moving a few centimeters.
Thus, the attention of the "Mysticism" focused on Senti.
The next moment, a terrifying surge of energy erupted from the core of the Imaginary Bull's chest, instantly engulfing the Herrscher of Sentience's figure.
"Using the big guns right from the start? You have no sportsmanship!"
The real Senti appeared ethereally a few meters away. She widened her eyes, watching as the energy cannon carved a hot trace on the rock wall, even severing a few stalactites, which clattered to the ground.
The "Mysticism" shook its head, the brilliance of the Dark shell armor dimming slightly. It seemed that this sudden attack had also consumed some of its energy.
However, what was even more unsportsmanlike was yet to come.
Several familiar golden balls dropped from the core of the "Mysticism," and under the guidance of its big brother, they condensed shells, and new Imaginary Constructs surrounded them.
"Why are you still giving birth? Judging from your large horns, you should be a bull, right?!" The Herrscher of Sentience criticized sharply, then engaged in combat with the newly appeared monsters and the huge Imaginary Bull.
On the other side, the Miss Pink Elf rushed forward, leaving a trail of wind under her feet. The two Signets on the back of her hand, one pink and one golden, became even brighter. In the dim scene of the lower layer of the Nine Realms, she even left afterimages as she quickly headed towards the direction where Dark Jixuanyuan was escaping.
"Thud!"
"Ouch!"
Does it sound nice? If it does, that's a good start!
The Miss Pink Elf rubbed her head, reaching out with her hand. With the touch of her fingertips, a faint golden ripple spread out, revealing a exaggerated half-spherical barrier in Helix's eyes.
"So this area has already been sealed off by a barrier..."
The Miss Pink Elf picked up her war bow, gathering strength to shoot at the barrier.
After a dull sound, the scattered crystal shards illuminated Helix's serious face.
Senti sent a voice message through the mental link.
"Helix, did you just do something? I saw an extra wound on the Imaginary Bull's body!"
The Herrscher of Sentience stared at the suddenly appeared wound on the golden bull's body. Compared to its massive body, these cracks seemed somewhat insignificant.
But the "Mysticism" also clearly felt someone at the edge of the barrier. It lowered its head and charged towards Helix like a train!
"It seems we're trapped by the barrier here. I just shot at the barrier, and the 'Mysticism' got hurt. It looks like this barrier is closely connected to it..."
"I can see that. The bull is charging towards your direction!"
Senti said as she chased after, "It seems we have to defeat this 'Mysticism' to continue. Can you continue to output damage to the barrier? Just deal as much damage as you can!"
"I'll do my best!"
Miss Pink Elf took a deep breath, pulling the bowstring towards the sky, unleashing the flawless dome of the ultimate chant, and began to output against the barrier with all her strength.
But by the time the Imaginary Bull and Senti arrived on the scene, the damage caused by Helix was only enough to leave the "Mysticism" covered in cracks.
Senti concluded that it looked fierce but didn't actually cause much damage.
"This barrier doesn't transfer much damage to the 'Mysticism'! We probably need to defeat the core to continue, right?"
Facing the aggressively charging Imaginary Bull and a bunch of imaginary minions, Miss Pink Elf pulled the bowstring of "Whispers of the Past," and two weapon skills directly hit the "Mysticism."
"Flawless Dome" and "Crystalline Seed" took effect simultaneously, slowing down the Imaginary Bull's charge, but it roared and broke free from the slowing effect, charging towards Helix again!
"Wow!" Miss Pink Elf was surprised. After all, weapon skills were related to the system, so it should have been difficult to immunize against something that directly touched the underlying rules of the world...
But upon careful thought, the "Husk - Mysticism" in front of her was a BOSS born under the Imaginary Tree, a well-known entity in the Imaginary World. It probably wasn't much different in terms of status from the Herrscher of Sentience, who had the power to change the world...
It didn't seem particularly surprising to be immune to a weapon skill.
Helix quickly adjusted her mindset and then began to output against the Imaginary Bull with her bow.
As expected, direct physical attacks were stronger than indirect damage transmitted through the barrier. With Miss Pink Elf's cooperation and the Herrscher of Sentience's attacks, they shaved off one of the "Mysticism's" horns, making the Imaginary Bull's movements become erratic.
The battle grew even more intense, with the Herrscher of Sentience and Helix fully focused on dealing with the "Mysticism's" attacks and the relentless summoning of imaginary minions, only able to spare a sentence or two in the mental link to prove the intensity of the battle.
"Why does this Bull look different from what we've seen on our battlefield before? And it's even giving birth?!"
"I'm not there!"
"Give us some help, Luo Lin!"
"I... Then I'll check on the situation with the 'Anti Honkai Energy Array'..."
Luo Lin hadn't even taken off her diving equipment yet, sitting directly on the deck of the Exploration Ship, beginning to study the "Dark Xuanyuan Sword" in her hand.
Thanks to the "Yao Guang Feather" she had dug out from the Mount Taixu vegetable garden earlier, Luo Lin also had some experience in manipulating the Dominion Key.
She quickly connected her spirit to the "Dark Xuanyuan Sword," and a torn and shaky net appeared in her mind. Clearly, this was the current state of the "Anti Honkai Energy Array" in the Nine Realms.
Among them, a bright signal was heading straight towards the location where Luo Lin had previously discovered a broken "Dominion Key," lighting up all the places it passed with massive bursts of Honkai energy.
This should be the Dark Jilin and that movable Imaginary Space channel. It seemed that Dark Jilin intended to directly dismantle the foundation of the "Anti Honkai Energy Array" to win.
On the other side, two huge signals were entangled, flashing on and off like popcorn about to explode.
This should be the situation with Helix and Senti, who were in the midst of intense battle with the Mysticism.
Finally, in the center of this net, there were two signals, one ancient and massive. Compared to the previous signals, they seemed somewhat dim.
However, with the increase in Honkai energy concentration in the Nine Realms, these two signals gradually brightened, even pulsating slowly like a heartbeat.
"This is..."
Luo Lin murmured, "The two 'Chiyou' cores sealed by Fuxi and Nuwa..."
The Valkyrie sighed, touching the cracked ridge of the "Dark Xuanyuan Sword." She slightly increased the input of Honkai energy.
Hmm... she still had a intact "Dominion Key" on hand. Let's see if she could transfer the responsibility of the 'Reverse Honkai Energy Array' to the 'Yao Guang Feather'!
"Luo Lin! What did you do?"
"What? What?"
The Herrscher of Sentience sounded pleasantly surprised through the mental link. "Continue what you were doing just now, don't stop! The 'Mysticism' is about to take a beating!"
"?"