Touched?
It didn't dare move!
Its Honkai Cores clutched in the other's grasp, Shesha, recognizing its dire situation, finally fell silent.
As for Lu Xing...
He was currently admiring the Honkai Cores embedded in the serpent tendon.
The Honkai Cores of lower-tier Honkai Beasts only differed in size, their forms largely identical. However, when it came to upper-tier Honkai Beasts, their Honkai Cores were vastly different.
Take the Emperor, for example.
Mastering the powers of ice, flame, and space-time, its core was an exceptionally standard sixty-four-faceted polyhedron, interwoven with streams of red and blue light—symbolizing order within space and imperial authority.
Shesha was different.
Mastering the powers of "infinity" and electromagnetic fields, its core was a dark green gemstone, formed by lightning twisted into a ring, its head and tail connecting to create an "∞" shape.
Regardless of which type.
The cores of Judgement-class Honkai Beasts could not be described by the simple word "magnificent"; they were, without a doubt, the most beautiful collectibles in the world.
"Your body is too large."
"?"
"If I bring you along, 'opening the door' will consume too much energy."
"??"
The now-silent Shesha.
Listened to Lu Xing's incomprehensible monologue.
If it could have moved even a little, it wouldn't have just sat there awaiting its doom—Shesha sensed a profoundly ominous aura from the intent Lu Xing conveyed.
"Anyway, you can revive, so why not just..."
"Hiss!!"
Wanting to do something now was already too late.
Or rather, from the very first moment it encountered Lu Xing, Shesha, having failed to decisively choose flight, found that any decision it made now was already far too late.
"Crack—"
The ring on his back flashed for an instant.
A halo of red and blue light, flowing from Lu Xing's gauntlet that gripped the serpent tendon, surged madly towards Shesha!
"Boom!!"
The pale white tentacles disintegrated into flying ash.
Spiderweb cracks simultaneously emerged from the center of the three Honkai Cores. The next second, the gems symbolizing infinity shattered with a resounding crack!
"Your mission (Kill one Judgement-class Honkai Beast) has been completed."
"Your level has increased to Lv.57 (Transcendence)."
(Note: Lv.56 was reached when the mission for killing the Honkai Emperor was incidentally completed, which also incidentally unlocked the skill [Cutting: Manipulate wing plates to slash the target].)
"Please select one of the following abilities to unlock."
"[Infinity] [Super Perception] [Electromagnetic Mastery]"
————
It had to be said, truly befitting a Judgement-class.
The "items" Shesha dropped were all top-tier gear—a full three special abilities, each capable of significantly enhancing survival, perception, and attack respectively.
"[Infinity]: Efficiency of absorbing Honkai energy is greatly increased. Upon individual death, the core and body will be reconstructed at the cost of 'Rank Drop'. This process requires a large amount of Honkai energy support and may result in a temporary loss of sanity.]"
"[Super Perception]: Perception ability is greatly increased, simultaneously unlocking Thermal Perception, Magnetic Field Perception, and Wave Perception. The amount of information obtained while in the Super Perception state is related to the Honkai energy level consumed during the state's duration.]"
"[Electromagnetic Mastery]: Herrscher of Thunder's authority, weakened companion version.]"
Lu Xing didn't hesitate much.
He directly unlocked [Infinity], Shesha's signature ability—in this increasingly dangerous world, playing it safe and having an escape route were always the top priority abilities.
As long as there was a choice.
Then there was absolutely no need for hesitation.
"Ding!"
Inside the Temple-class body.
On one surface of the perfectly cubic 'Honkai Crystal', the '∞' symbol representing infinity slowly materialized.
Lu Xing couldn't see the changes occurring within his Honkai Crystal.
Just as he had never discovered that on the opposite face of this '∞' symbol, a 'polyhedron' pattern sketched in crimson had already been engraved upon it the moment the crystal was completed.
The color represented 'flame'.
The pattern symbolized 'space'.
————
With its Honkai Cores destroyed.
Shesha's massive body ceased its struggles, its solidified husk lying motionless like a shed snakeskin, until it was slowly dispersed by the moist sea breeze.
However—
"Bang!!"
Lu Xing thrust his lance forcefully into the ground!
The erupting shockwave frantically scoured everything within its blast radius... be it above ground or below.
"Not coming out?"
Since the opponent deemed this move too weak, then he would give it something substantial!
"Clack!"
The greatshield's form began to transform.
The wing-shaped shield rims detached, rapidly converging towards the sharpened head of the lance.
In about half a second, the spear and shield combination in Lu Xing's hands had morphed into a colossal double-bladed battle axe!
An axe to cleave mountains, a sharp blade to sunder seas.
Gripping the heavy weapon tightly with both hands.
Towards the ground beneath his feet, Lu Xing swung with all his might—
"BOOM!!!"
"Kyaa!!"
A terrifying tremor struck with insane force!
Amidst a piercing shriek, a gigantic snake head was the first to burst forth from the earth!
That's right. The moment its Honkai Cores were destroyed, Shesha had used its shed skin as a diversion while its revived main body hastily burrowed underground—it hadn't even dared to break the surface to flee, as any slightly larger movement risked discovery.
Who would have known...
"Swoosh!"
Hefted the axe, spun, a decapitating blow—Whirlwind Slash!
"Schlick!!"
The giant snake head.
Flew backwards along with Honkai energy that dissolved into particles of light!
Having died again, Shesha's strength could no longer even be maintained at the Emperor-class. Lu Xing didn't even bother using [Spiritual Perception]; just from its shrunken fifty-meter frame and an aura barely on par with 'Frost Lightning,' he knew this pitiful Judgement-class had its rank knocked down once more with death.
"Boom!"
Shesha's corpse once again slammed onto the ground.
To slay lower-tier Honkai Beasts, Lu Xing didn't even require skills; the mere sharpness of [Midnight's Black Light] was sufficient to easily disembowel them.
"Pluck!"
Facing the headless snake corpse, its shell still twitching relentlessly, Lu Xing employed his old trick. Reaching into the freshly made hole in its neck, he once again yanked out Shesha's serpent tendon—a head was also not strictly necessary for Shesha, but that was contingent on it possessing enough Honkai energy to reform one.
The larger the body.
The more Honkai energy this process consumed.
For the just-revived Shesha, this was truly asking too much of a snake.
To ensure the other party could communicate properly—or at least, stop thinking about escaping—Lu Xing once again heated Shesha's core until it resembled molten glass.
But.
Something unexpected occurred.
When he killed Shesha for the second time, the mission in the system, which displayed as 'Completed', actually flickered again!
"Your mission (Kill one Judgement-class Honkai Beast) has been completed."
"Your level..."
"Your mission (Kill one Judgement-class Honkai Beast) has been completed."
"Your level..."
The System's voice glitched twice in a row.
A Honkai Beast like Shesha, capable of infinite revival, had clearly triggered some kind of bug in the System's definitions—killing it once was sufficient to declare the mission complete, but after Shesha revived, its status, marked as 'dead' in the System's cognition, reactivated the corresponding mission.
This 'small' problem.
Was directly glitched past by the System—Lu Xing's level didn't continue to increase, but the subsequent system prompt appeared with perfect clarity in his mind:
"Please select one of the following abilities to unlock."
"[Super Perception] [Electromagnetic Mastery]"
"..."
"Oh ho?"