Honkai: Oh No, I’ve Become the Herrscher of Corruption?! - Chapter 30

As Shub-Niggurath returned to reality, the light behind the final door gradually faded. The rift between reality and dreams collapsed—yet, Enoxia and Welt Yang remained inside the body of the IceFall Herrscher.

Before them stretched what appeared to be a small river, but instead of water, it was pure energy. Welt’s instruments detected both Honkai energy and another mysterious energy similar to it.

At the far end of their vision, the river forked—a larger main current and a smaller tributary flowing in different directions.

“The energy inside the Herrscher is in complete chaos. Tesla and Einstein must have already reached the same conclusion and devised a plan. Since everyone else has left the dream except us, they should have returned to reality. The outside team will likely act soon.”

Welt held an instrument created with the Authority of Reason, carefully observing the fluctuating readings.

Enoxia merely glanced at it and felt her head itch—as if a brain was about to grow there. Though the Herrscher of Corruption had no language barriers, and she recognized every word on the display, their combined meaning eluded her.

“Leave specialized tasks to the specialists,” she thought. All she needed to know was that an external attack was imminent, and she had to be ready.

…

Outside, the moment the black mist dissipated, countless ice spikes shot toward the group. Everyone moved at once, doing their utmost to prevent interference with Sirin’s actions.

High above, Sirin hovered in the sky, surrounded by three rotating points of light—blue, purple, and black—as the skies of Siberia twisted in response.

“I am the Herrscher, crowned with conquest. I command thunder to rend the heavens, mete out divine punishment with celestial wrath.”

“I am the Herrscher, wielding desire. I command gales to sunder the earth, storms to rage without end.”

“I am the Herrscher, cloaked in serenity. I command graves to bloom anew, life and death to cycle eternally.”

Lightning, tempests, and entropy intertwined, coalescing into a lotus flower roughly her own size. Using the Authority of the Void, Sirin teleported the lotus—the most Honkai energy-intensive construct she had ever created—directly beside IceFall Herrscher.

The timing was perfect. The moment the lotus appeared, the Herrscher opened its maw.

“If it’s right in front of you, why not eat it?”

Without hesitation, it swallowed the lotus whole.

Crunch.

Tasted like chicken. But something felt… off.

Seconds later, IceFall Herrscher seemed to realize it had ingested something catastrophic. It tried to vomit the lotus out—but it was too late.

A muffled explosion erupted inside its body. The shockwave tore through its flesh, but the wounds healed instantly. The dispersed energy was rapidly absorbed, and within minutes, the Herrscher swelled like an overinflated balloon, its size increasing tenfold. Though its movements slowed drastically, there was no sign of self-destruction.

There was good news and bad news.

The good news: The Herrscher had taken the bait, swallowing the energy-packed lotus without hesitation.

The bad news: Even Sirin’s full-power strike—amplified by four Herrscher Cores—had failed to reach its absorption limit. Like a person overeating, the Herrscher’s energy was now leaking uncontrollably.

Inside the IceFall Herrscher, the already turbulent river surged like a flash flood. Despite their preparations, Welt—tethered to the Core of Reason—was swept downstream as the core was carried away, separating him from Enoxia .

“Then let’s divide the work.”

Welt Yang’s situation was grim, but as the toughest survivor among them (likely to outlive everyone else even if the outside team was wiped out), Enoxia wasn’t overly concerned. Instead, she followed the tributary, flying in the opposite direction.

…

Time blurred. Eventually, the current slowed, and Welt came to a stop—as if washed ashore. Before him lay an immense lake.

“The energy here is less violent, but its corrosive power is dozens—if not hundreds—of times stronger than standard Honkai energy. If this were a living being… I’d be in its stomach?”

He knocked on the ground beneath him. It was rock-hard yet slightly elastic, coated in a harmless mucus. Under magnification, the “walls” were lined with countless microscopic pores—uncannily like gastric lining.

The best course of action was clear: sabotage from within, support the external assault, and escape when possible. And his most destructive option was…

“Star of Eden, Zeroeth Power—Pseudoblack Hole!”

Miraculously, this time, the pseudoblack hole formed without interruption.

But its effect was… underwhelming.

The black hole was palm-sized—“Tiny, but cute, I guess?”—so feeble that even light (let alone a person) could escape it.

Welt wasn’t surprised. A pseudoblack hole wasn’t a real singularity, and the IceFall Herrscher was the Herrscher of Earth. In theory, anything the Star of Eden could do, it could counter. If Welt increased gravity, it could negate it.

But even for a modern-era Earth Herrscher, resisting a Zeroeth Power strike would drain an enormous amount of Honkai energy. Welt’s goal was simple: exhaust the Herrscher’s reserves, immobilize it, and create an opening for the killing blow.

Minutes later, the pseudoblack hole suddenly expanded—from palm-sized to half Welt’s height.

“Is the Herrscher’s control over Earth’s Authority limited due to energy instability? Or did the outside team do something?”

Then, in an instant, the black hole swelled larger than Welt himself—and kept growing. The energy-lake, the stomach-like terrain, everything was devoured.

When the chaos subsided, Welt found himself staring at a familiar sight: the Siberian tundra.

In the distance, the Anti-Entropy team had driven their weapons into the ground, desperately resisting the black hole’s pull. Their faces were strained with effort.

Realizing the danger, Welt immediately deactivated the Star of Eden. Shub-Niggurath and Kira collapsed, gasping for air.

The IceFall Herrscher’s skyscraper-sized body had been entirely consumed by the pseudoblack hole. Only a single Herrscher Core remained, suspended midair.

Welt recognized it instantly—the Core of Earth.

But… wasn’t this a dual-core Herrscher? Where was the second core?

Before he could ponder further, Siegfried’s voice snapped him back to reality like thunder:

“The Herrscher—it got away!”