Hearing the crashing sounds behind them, all the Valkyries understood that this defensive line wouldn’t hold for much longer. They had no time to mourn their fallen comrades. Right now, they needed to hurry and confirm the location of the stone tablet.
But this task was far from easy. Because of the destruction caused by the Frost Emperor, many of the base’s systems were no longer operational. As Valkyries who had rushed here from other locations, they were neither familiar with the base’s layout nor knew exactly where the stone tablet was kept.
“When the tablet was delivered here before, I came by once. I remember it was placed in Sector E. But now, the base has been visibly wrecked everywhere in different ways, and a lot of places don’t look the same anymore. My inaccurate memories would only end up misleading everyone.”
“So the safest approach right now is to split into several smaller teams and scout ahead along a few passable routes to improve our efficiency. If anyone finds the tablet, send a message to the others. Of course, if anyone has a better plan, feel free to speak up.”
The remaining nine Valkyries exchanged glances with one another. None of them seemed inclined to offer an opinion.
Seeing no objections, the ten of them continued deeper into the base. But they hadn’t gone far when a loud “clang” echoed from behind them—it was the Frost Emperor smashing through the gate. A Valkyrie nearby wanted to use the same trick as before, only to find that the nearest gate wouldn’t close this time. Clearly, someone needed to stay behind and buy them some time.
“Senior Melide, leave it to me.”
Raiden Mei volunteered without hesitation, then gently patted Kiana on the shoulder.
Kiana and Bronya understood what Mei meant. If someone else stayed behind to hold the line, there was a very real chance they wouldn’t make it back. Mei didn’t want to see anyone else sacrifice themselves. And if she used the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, being exposed as a Herrscher was one thing, but the real danger was accidentally hurting her own teammates in the crossfire. That’s why she wanted to stay behind alone.
Without a doubt, this was the safest and most reasonable suggestion at the moment. Kiana also knew this was no time to hesitate. Gritting her teeth, she gave Mei a firm nod.
Once the other team members had moved further in, Raiden Mei faced the oncoming horde of Honkai beasts. Her second personality took over in a flash:
“Disappear, all of you worthless scum!”
Lightning flickered in her hand, and the charging Honkai beasts at the front were instantly reduced to dust.
Although her expression looked wildly arrogant, when it came to using her powers, she was extremely cautious and deliberate, carefully controlling her strength. She knew all too well that if she let her output surge too high, the electromagnetic pulse from the lightning storm could completely paralyze whatever electronic equipment was still functioning in this base.
“Tch, I just need to make sure this trash doesn’t get in the way. They’re not worth much effort anyway.”
Meanwhile, Melide’s team came across a fork in the path ahead. All three directions appeared passable. Following the plan, the nine of them split into three groups, each continuing their search in a different direction.
The first group, consisting of Melide, Kiana, and Bronya, headed down the lower path. Before long, they came across the corpses of Honkai beasts and wrecked mechs.
“These mechs must be part of the base’s automated defense system. There aren’t any Honkai beast signatures detected up ahead, which means the local Honkai beasts have already been wiped out by the defense system.”
“Well, what are we waiting for then? Let’s just keep moving forward!”
Kiana was about to charge straight in, but luckily, Bronya was quick to act. She had Project Bunny grab hold of Kiana and pull her back.
“Idiot Kiana. Bronya estimates that the mechs’ IFF system is highly likely malfunctioning right now. If we rush in like this, the probability of us being flagged as enemies, just like the Honkai beasts, is over 90%.”
Kiana still looked completely unfazed:
“But isn’t there still a 10% chance? Besides, time is tight right now, and Mei is back there holding off those Honkai beasts all by herself. If those big, dumb hunks of metal dare to attack us, I’ll just smash them to pieces myself. Problem solved, right?”
Hearing this, Bronya brought her left hand to her forehead and pointed ahead with her right:
“The class president was right. Kiana really does have a considerable amount of room for intellectual improvement. The control room is just up ahead on the right. As long as we can get there, give Bronya ten minutes, and Bronya will stop all of them.”
“Fine, fine. When it comes to hacking skills, I admit you’re better than me…”
Even as Kiana’s mouth kept running, her body moved with a practiced maturity. She walked up to the control room door and kicked it wide open.
“Bronya really is amazing. But we might not even need your hacking skills. I have the override key to deactivate the mechs right here.”
Bronya inputted the key into the control room terminal. In less than five minutes, the dozens of mechs up ahead had all ceased activity. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
“I’ve confirmed the location just now. We’re in luck. If we keep going along this path, we’ll reach the place where the stone tablet is kept.”
Once the mechs had stopped moving, Melide relied on her memory to lead Kiana and Bronya further forward. Soon, the three stepped into a vast, open space. Right in the center, a massive stone glowing with white light instantly captured their attention.
Just as Melide had described, you could tell at a single glance that this rock was extraordinary. But the densely packed writing covering its surface didn’t belong to any country in the known world.
“What is this jumbled mess of Martian writing? Could there really be a method for fighting the Honkai recorded on this thing?”
Driven by curiosity, Kiana stepped forward and knocked on the stone tablet.
In the next moment, Kiana felt something strange happening inside her body. It was as if the tablet was absorbing her energy.
“Kiana!”
Melide and Bronya rushed forward instantly. Working from both sides, they pulled Kiana away from the tablet.
“Sigh… this really is a case of curiosity killing the cat.”
