Honkai: Oh No, I’ve Become the Herrscher of Corruption?! - Chapter 38

Niggurath leaped into the fog and, affected by Welt’s power, was automatically pulled toward the Herrscher of Ice.

A terrifying cold instantly engulfed her entire body. If not for the alien lifeform within her, which used its own cells to repair and replace her damaged organs and tissues, she would have already lost consciousness. That was why she knew—this crucial step had to be done by her.

The fog grew thicker. In the pitch-black environment where even her own hand was invisible, both sight and equipment became useless. Siegfried understood he had only one chance. Rather than relying on his unreliable intuition, he decided to wait for Niggurath’s signal.

She succeeded in her mission. A dazzling red light suddenly caught everyone’s attention—she had turned herself into a beacon.

Perhaps sensing Niggurath trick, the ice needles that had been flying toward the others abruptly reversed direction, piercing straight through her body. The red light vanished instantly, and Niggurath collapsed onto the ice.

Siegfried and his wife exchanged a glance before jumping down from the vines together. The vines, summoned by the Black Abyss White Flower, disappeared as they descended.

“Black Abyss White Flower—First Power: Holy Lance Bloom!”

A surge of white light rushed toward where the red dot had disappeared. Just as it was about to reach its target, Welt lifted the gravity restraint, and the Herrscher of Ice was once again engulfed in the light.

“Niggurath!”

Shigure Kira, the closest to her, sprinted toward the sound of her body hitting the ice. The first thing she saw was the multiple fatal puncture wounds in Niggurath chest, blood gushing uncontrollably.

Her organs had been pierced by Herrscher-level power, and the extreme cold was eating away at her. Niggurath knew better than anyone—despite being a child of chaos who had survived countless dangerous missions, she was now down to her last breath.

Feeling Shigure’s presence, she weakly touched her hand. In her dazed state, she thought she saw Salome’s figure.

“Even against a Herrscher… I was useful in the end. Salome, I finally beat you. I’ll have a lot to say to you later.”

The “Salome” beside her smiled and gently closed her eyes.

“You idiot, Niggurath… When did I ever compete with you? From now on, we’ll have all the time in the world. You can tell me everything you want.”

“Tch… You’re as boring as ever.”

The moment Shigure touched her, she felt something strange seep into her body, her mind momentarily disoriented. When she looked back at Niggurath, her eyes were already shut, her breathing gone.

The Herrscher of Ice crashed onto the ice, the white light still clinging to its body. Siegfried had already raised the Judgment of Shamash high.

“Judgment of Shamash—Zero Power: Divine Key Release!”

Watching his movements, the Herrscher felt his figure overlapping with that man’s from its memories. It didn’t understand why some force kept preventing it from retreating into the lake, but since escape was impossible—

It steeled itself. The five ice needles merged into a single boomerang-like projectile and hurtled toward Siegfried at full speed.

After unleashing the Divine Key Release, Siegfried felt as though every cell in his body was burning before he lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground. There was no way he could defend against the Herrscher’s attack now.

At the critical moment, Cheng Lixue shoved Siegfried aside—but in doing so, she became the new target.

With a sickening shink, her left arm was severed, blood spraying like a fountain. Losing her balance, she too fell onto the ice.

“Lixue! Siegfried!”

Cecilia, still some distance away, rushed toward them.

“Captain, this injury is nothing for me! Check on Siegfried first—you know better than anyone what using Divine Key Release does to him!”

Ignoring her words, Cecilia whispered under her breath:

“I am the black born from the abyss, the white descended from the heavens. I existed before creation and will remain after annihilation. I shall give the water of life freely to those who thirst.”

“Black Abyss White Flower—Zero Power: Heilige Lanze, die Welwitschie!” (Holy Lance, the Welwitschia!)

A surge of energy flowed into their bodies—but what happened next made Tesla, observing the battlefield, leap from her chair.

“Einstein, isn’t this what Schrödinger used on us back then—?!”

“No, it’s different. Remember how Schrödinger left behind a plasma barrier? There’s nothing like that here. Lady Cecilia’s Zero Power isn’t the same as what either Riana or Schrödinger used.”

Even Einstein, hurrying to the scene, couldn’t suppress a shudder.

Siegfried’s burning body cooled. Cheng Lixue’s bleeding stopped, and the risk of Honkai infection vanished. Though different from Schrödinger’s ability, they—like Tesla and Einstein—had now broken the limits of mortality. They would never age again.

“Haah… haah…”

Cecilia planted the Black Abyss White Flower into the ice, gasping for breath. In all her years wielding the weapon, this was the first time she had used its Zero Power. She felt completely drained.

Meanwhile, its regenerative abilities severely weakened, the Herrscher of Ice had no time to recover from the Holy Lance Bloom before the Judgment of Shamash’s devastating strike landed squarely on its body. It felt as though every inch of its being was burning. The attack didn’t just tear through its flesh—it also reignited a primal fear buried in its DNA for thousands of years.

Realizing the Herrscher’s body was critically damaged, Enoxia didn’t hesitate. She detonated her own Core right inside it. The power of Corruption instantly spread through its entire being, polluting its mind. If positive emotions were represented by positive numbers and negative ones by negatives, what Enoxia did was place a minus sign before every positive, erasing all will to survive. Even if it somehow clung to life, without the desire to escape, it would never flee.

Yet, just before the explosion, Enoxia sensed something—it had willingly stopped resisting.

As Welt moved in for the final strike, a blue light suddenly shot from the Herrscher’s body. Above, dark blue storm clouds gathered. Enoxia had underestimated her enemy until the very end.

The Herrscher of Ice was a being capable of crafting lifelike illusions, manipulating the minds of others. The repeated abnormalities in its body had allowed it to deduce Enoxia’s presence in its final moments.

Though it was already doomed, it chose how it would die—pushing its emotions into absolute rage and hatred before relinquishing all defense.

[If I’m going to die no matter what… then you’re all coming with me!]