The knight lance swept horizontally through the air.
A silver-black humanoid machine was bisected at the waist, its deep crimson "eyeball" seeming to glint with a craving for a welding torch.
Bang!
Lu Xing launched a direct kick.
The force imparted by [Power Strike] sent this bizarre contraption flying over a hundred meters—
BOOM!!
A violent explosion erupted in mid-air!
"Self-destruct..."
This was already the fourth [Armed Doll] Lu Xing had taken down.
The Honkai Beast legion had completed its encirclement, but the human army's resistance was still slightly exceeding Lu Xing's expectations.
To be precise.
These fellows seemed utterly reckless, with no regard for their own lives.
Under the saturation strike of the Chariot-class beasts, any slightly inferior conventional forces had already been vaporized. Those remaining were...
————
Type: Prototype Type-IV Autonomous Armed Doll
Level: 30
Abilities: None
Equipment: High-Frequency Cutting Blade
Attack: 30
Speed: 45
Constitution: 25
————
That's right.
Lu Xing's [Spiritual Perception] could identify their true nature, which meant these humanoid machines were undoubtedly driven by Honkai energy.
As for the name "Armed Doll"...
It forced Lu Xing to think of a place that didn't exist in reality, a place possessing the highest level of technology in the Honkai Impact 3rd series: the "Mu Continent"—this landmass in the Pacific Ocean had an even more widely known name:
Atlantis.
If it were just one or two, it wouldn't be a big deal.
But such an "abundant" quantity... the Armed Dolls hidden within the city, launching attacks on the legion, were essentially being used like common soldiers.
In other words.
The opponents the legion currently faced were likely no longer the initial Australian local forces.
These Armed Dolls, driven by Honkai energy, naturally possessed excellent resistance to Honkai energy themselves; the ambient Honkai energy concentrations from the battle couldn't affect them at all.
This was only part of it.
The Armed Dolls possessed speed attributes exceeding their level, implying they were initially designed to combat a range of smaller Honkai Beasts, including Ranger-class units.
As for the larger threats like the Chariot-class, those were left to...
————
Type: Prototype Type-II Sensory Tactical Machine
Level: 40
Abilities: None
Equipment: Anti-Field Tachi Type-7 (Heavy Armament), "Rager" Heavy Cannon, "Phaethon" Rocket Pod, "Meteor" Multi-purpose Missile Launcher.
Attack: 60
Speed: 40
Constitution: 40
————
That's right.
Humans had brought out Gundams.
As the city was instantly leveled by the Chariot-class, the "Tactical Machines" hidden within were all exposed—these massive constructs, driven by Honkai energy and standing over fifteen meters tall, were the upscaled products of the Armed Dolls.
Although there were some beast-type variants, over 70% of the Tactical Machines were humanoid—their numbers weren't vast, with only a mere fourteen appearing in Lu Xing's field of vision.
As for why they manufactured humanoid mechs...
Aside from the romance of it.
Perhaps the most crucial reason was a system strikingly similar to Gundam's "Psycho-Frame"—Cheche, with its size advantage, dispatched Tactical Machines with absolutely no finesse, basically ramming and smashing them into instant write-offs.
Such combat.
Made it impossible for Lu Xing to discern any particular strategy—on the contrary, to avoid being caught in the collateral damage between these behemoths, Lu Xing had to temporarily abandon the safe haven atop Cheche's head.
On the battlefield's edge.
The Temple-class beasts, displaying their might, had achieved significant results.
Through actual combat, it became clear that countering large units with large units was evidently not a wise tactic for humans—the offensively powerful Tactical Machines, in order to damage a Temple-class, had to break through their massive shields, which were as large as their bodies.
And when a Temple-class attacked... a gentle thrust of its lance was enough to tear a gash in a Tactical Machine large enough to cripple its movement.
Precisely because of this.
Lu Xing noticed something peculiar from the inside of a Tactical Machine whose shoulder had been sheared off by "Frost Lightning."
Within the fluorescent green cockpit, the pilot, despite not being directly hit, wore an expression of extreme pain, as if... the Tactical Machine had become a part of his own body.
————
The scene was chaotic yet orderly.
The assembled human forces were being rapidly annihilated.
The appearance of Armed Dolls and Tactical Machines was somewhat unexpected, but their presence failed to halt the legion's advance.
In the process of this annihilation battle.
Lu Xing deeply understood what it meant to "ride on coattails"—compared to the efficiency of gaining experience by killing monsters individually, grouping up was indeed the best choice.
"Your level has increased to Lv.41."
The first System prompt came the instant Cheche impacted the ground.
Lu Xing still hadn't figured out the experience acquisition algorithm—was it because he was "riding" Cheche, so Cheche's damage output was counted as his own; or, as a member of the legion, was a portion of the legion's total damage output shared with him?
But regardless of which.
It didn't stop Lu Xing from enjoying the freely obtained experience.
And... he had a feeling his main quest plan was about to go awry—with Cheche's opening salvo, Lu Xing's quest progress bar instantly encountered a major problem!
In terms of kill counts.
The human and mech portions surged by over two thousand in an instant!
Excellent!
The doubt was resolved in a flash!
Cheche, whom Lu Xing was using as a mount, had truly become a part of the "Knight Captain" individual—the kills it achieved were all counted towards the main quest progress!
And just as Lu Xing was spacing out—for only about three seconds—Cheche's "Roar" had already taken shape.
As the devastating beam of light ravaged the city.
The progress bar filled up directly...
"Your mission (Kill a total of 10,000 Honkai Beasts/Humans/Mechs) has been completed."
"Your level has increased to Lv.42."
"Based on the proportion of kill types (4310/4256/3074), your skill [Dash] has advanced to [Ice Dash]."
"Your evolution path has been locked to [Temple-class]."
"New mission unlocked."
————
Mission: Kill a total of 100 Variant Honkai Beasts/Non-natural Humans/Sapient Machines.
Reward: Attack/Speed/Constitution +3, Level +1; Unlock [Thrust] skill.
————
Lu Xing's first reaction upon seeing the mission completion was "Crap!"
But the next second.
He began to doubt himself—why, when the "Human" and "Mech" progress bars had skyrocketed, did the "Honkai Beast" portion also increase significantly?
Cheche's attacks hadn't caused any casualties among the Honkai Beasts at all...
"Wait a minute!"
"..."
"No way, right?"
Lu Xing carefully examined the prompt in his mind.
It seemed, this increase in the progress bar... the new System was classifying "objects driven by Honkai energy" under the Honkai Beast category as well!?
————