"Where else could the Quantum Shadow come from? They're probably emerging from the Sea of Quanta."
Helix raised her index finger, pointing towards the sky. "Think about the series of events that happened before; it's obvious that the Imaginary Tree has met its opposite— its old nemesis, the Sea of Quanta showing up to make its presence felt is quite normal."
Herrscher or Sentience was half-mouthed, "You're surprisingly calm about this."
Helix's expression was extremely complicated as she spoke with emphasis, "It's fine. You'll get used to the scenes when the two big shots fight. Trust me, after experiencing it a few times, it'll be like water off a duck's back—too much talking about it would only lead to tears."
Herrscher of Sentience: "?"
Miss Pink Elf gazed at the scene of the fierce battle not far away, where the Quantum Shadow, with their elusive flashes, gained a strong tactical advantage, holding their ground against multiple opponents without falling behind.
However, Helix and Herrscher of Sentience noticed that the Honkai in the air could quickly condense, replenishing the losses caused by the battle with many Honkai beasts and Zombies, continuing the fight against the Quantum Shadow.
The reinforcements from the sea were also present, but their efficiency was significantly weaker compared to the Honkai beasts.
Perhaps because Chiyou, as a Judgment-class Honkai beast, was a member of the Imaginary Side, it was extremely difficult for the Sea of Quanta to deploy its troops within Chiyou's body, clearly putting them at a disadvantage.
After watching for a while, Helix turned to Senti next to her and asked, "We need to find a way to bypass them."
Senti scratched her head, "Bypass them? There aren't that many monsters, let's just wipe them all out before they respawn."
"With our strength, dealing with just a few monsters is indeed no problem," Miss Pink Elf nodded, "but the problem is, once we take action, the Tree and the Sea will definitely notice us, and then things will get complicated."
"Tsk... I can try to use my authority to create some illusions and divert their attention..."
Sentience clicked her tongue, lowering her head and looking at her hands, sighing, "But I'm not sure if this will work. After all, the enemies we're facing now are related to both the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta, and they might be different from what we encountered before."
Helix spread her hands, "Just give it a try. The worst-case scenario is that we'll be discovered, and then we'll just have to escape in embarrassment."
Taking a deep breath, Herrscher of Sentience moved her fingers, and Dark-red feathers floated out from between them.
Soon, they elongated into dark red threads, weaving into the shapes of Helix and herself.
Helix watched with interest as the scene unfolded before her, reaching out to poke the face of Herrscher or Sentience's illusion. As expected, her finger didn't make contact with any solid surface, passing straight through the illusion's shell.
Miss Pink Elf turned her head thoughtfully, looking at Herrscher or Sentience's face, and moved her fingers as if she wanted to pinch her cheeks.
Senti stared at Helix's mischievous hand with a subtle expression, "That's enough, now's not the time for this..."
Helix asked somewhat regretfully, "Will these illusions without physical sensation work?"
"You can't expect the illusions acting as bait to withstand the attacks of the Honkai beasts, can you? Since they'll break upon contact, whether they have physical sensation or not doesn't matter."
Herrscher of Sentience shrugged, "Besides, ordinary Honkai beasts are face blind; their target acquisition primarily relies on the fluctuations of Honkai energy on the target's body. By duplicating our Honkai energy fluctuations onto the illusions, I should be able to create better confusion..."
After explaining, Herrscher of Sentience hesitated for a moment and created a few more illusions of Honkai beasts.
"Let's just call it a stage play."
Waving her hand, the illusions of the two of them rushed out, followed closely by the illusions of the Honkai beasts, creating a scene of the two being chased by the Honkai beasts.
These illusions quickly caught the attention of the Honkai beasts and Quantum Shadow, with the vast majority of the creatures following the illusions into the depths of the Nine Hells, disappearing from Helix and Senti's view.
Now, only a few of the more ferocious, severely injured, and unable to move quickly remained on the battlefield.
Seeing this, Herrscher or Sentience scattered a handful of dark-red feathers, which flew a few meters away and turned into stars, entangling the remaining enemies.
"Let's go!"
Grabbing Helix's hand, Herrscher or Sentience rushed straight through the center of the battlefield.
The monsters entwined with the Dark-red particle effects seemed to become blind, completely unaware of the two's actions.
Helix couldn't help but exclaim, "Senti, you're amazing!"
"Hmph, it's only natural."
Herrscher of Sentience's mouth couldn't help but curl up, but she quickly restrained her expression, coughing twice, "Let's continue forward and see what mischief Dark Jixuanyuan is up to!"
"Okay!"
...
Just now, aside from the ordinary Chariot-class Honkai beasts and Seraph-class Honkai beasts (jellyfish) flying units, several Templar-class Honkai beasts floated over from Chiyou towards the research vessel.
What surprised Luo Lin was that they were crawling with zombies, just like soldiers hanging on tanks during World War II.
Luo Lin decisively activated the "White Heat Mode" and threw out a semi-finished Star of Eden Mimic while dragging them with a golden spherical attack, crashing them onto the sea surface crookedly.
The attacking Templar-class Honkai beasts were reduced to just two survivors on the spot, and the Zombies, labeled as "Human Bomb," were blown up completely.
The surviving two Templar-class beasts were also severely injured, and even if they could fly, they couldn't catch up to the reaserch ship.. They could only watch as the research vessel cut through the waves, quickly pulling away.
"Is this the power of an A-rank!? So amazing!"
"So strong!"
"Nice job!"
Whitley no longer wanted to guess if Luo Lin had any other cards up her sleeve.
Since the battle began, the Dark-haired Valkyrie had alternately used assault rifles, submachine guns, long swords, various types of projectiles... showing versatility in every aspect.
She even healed the Valkyrie who had been bruised and battered by the extreme weather with her peculiar powers.
Luo Lin: "After entering combat mode, the passive skill has been in effect all along, so it's just a waste not to use it."
The entire Icarus ship's airspace was dominated by Luo Lin alone, with no Honkai beasts able to approach her, only able to launch long-range attacks towards the research vessel from a distance.
Luo Lin even switched to a sniper rifle, accurately sniping at those white-shell, purple-rimmed jellyfish, effectively limiting the number of long-range enemies.
Unfortunately, the Icarus' shield was severely damaged, supporting for about ten minutes under the continuous attacks of the Honkai beasts, and finally collapsed completely, with even some energy pipelines on the ship exploding due to shield overload.
Seeing this scene, another batch of Honkai beasts gathered near the volcano of Chiyou, among them were naturally the "vehicle-type" Templar-class Honkai beasts that had been seen before, covered in Zombies.
This time, they had learned their lesson and spread out their formation very widely. Even if Luo Lin wanted to throw out another Eden Star Mimic Dark hole attack, she couldn't clear all these "vehicles" in one go.
Luo Lin sighed, reluctantly shouting, "Prepare for close combat! Injured Valkyries, report to me first!"
"Yes!"
The Valkyries tightened their grip on their weapons, watching the approaching flock of flying Honkai beasts.
The Dark-haired girl silently activated the "White Heat Mode" again. The Feather of Yao Guang pulled the surrounding Honkai energy, preparing to use the Edge of Taixuan to severely weaken the enemy's numbers...
"Hmm? What's going on..."
The Honkai beasts near the volcano suddenly became restless like never before, with more airborne units appearing from the smoke, forming a swirling storm.
Luo Lin suddenly turned her head and looked at the sea surface, where several cylindrical objects flew over, trailing long tails, diving straight into the midst of the Honkai beast swarm.
"Boom!"
—It's a missile!
The explosion instantly cleared the newly gathered wave of monsters, and the fragments of Honkai beasts rained down into the sea, intermingling with the mist formed by the high temperature, emitting a faint purple light.
Immediately after, several fire lines splashed from a distance, forcing the Chariot-class and Seraph-class Honkai beasts still hovering in the air to retreat.
To everyone on the Icarus Ship, this was simply the most beautiful scene in the world!
"Beep beep—This is the Schicksal Floating Battleship, Hyperion! I am Captain Ragnar Lothbrok! We have arrived!"