Nagazora City, being near the tropics, isn't very cold even in winter. The afternoon sun shining on people didn't feel stuffy but instead brought a sense of warmth.
And at this moment, on a small road in the originally deserted Nagazora City, two figures, one large and one small, stood motionless at a crossroads... surrounded by the corpses of Honkai Zombies...
"I didn't expect there to be so many Honkai Zombies in such a remote place." Li Xuan casually wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the corpses on the ground around him, then looked with some reverence at the certain white-haired loli standing at the crossroads... and the golden cross beside her.
"Principal Theresa... what are the dimensions of your 'Judah's Oath'?" Li Xuan asked with an envious expression, looking at the 'Super Huge Judah' which was a full size larger than the 'Judah's Oath' he transformed from 'Seele's Toy Box'.
"What are you asking that for...." Theresa stared intently at the blueprint in her hand, not even lifting her head, but she still answered, "Whatever, it's not a secret. You can find it in the academy's library..."
"Height 1.98 meters, width 0.93 meters, weight 152 kilograms..." Theresa said casually without even thinking.
"I see..." Li Xuan's eyes lit up as he looked at the golden cross 'Judah's Oath' standing like a mountain beside Theresa. They were both Judah, so why was there such a big difference? Li Xuan looked at the golden cross before him, somewhat puzzled.
"...Sigh~" It seems the original version of anything is always better... Li Xuan sighed, feeling a bit regretful.
"Principal Theresa..." Li Xuan turned to look at the certain white-haired loli who was sweating profusely as she stared at the map, unconsciously biting her thumb out of anxiety. "Still haven't found it?"
"Ahem..." Theresa looked up from the map, glancing at Li Xuan with some embarrassment. She said with a serious expression, "I'm ab-about... to find it..."
"But you said the same thing ten minutes ago..." Li Xuan said helplessly. It was precisely because the two of them had been standing here foolishly for ten minutes that so many Honkai Zombies had gathered...
After all, the scent of humans was like a bright lamp in the dark night to Honkai Zombies...
"Ahem... It's all because this map isn't detailed enough!" Theresa's face flushed red as she forcefully blamed the map in her hands...
"..." Li Xuan was speechless. At the very least, he had once been a top student who had studied geography... The map in Theresa's hands had a scale of 1:250,000... which was already considered a relatively detailed map. After all, there were eight basic map scales: 1:5000, 1:10000, 1:25000, 1:50000, 1:100000, 1:250000, 1:500000, and 1:1000000.
So... the map Theresa was holding was already quite detailed...
"...Sigh~" Li Xuan covered his forehead as he looked at Theresa, who was acting like a stubborn duck. After some hesitation, he finally spoke up, "Principal Theresa, why don't you give me the map? I'll help you take a look..."
"Er....." Theresa glanced at the map in her hand and said with some resentment, "Alright... I'll give you this chance." Theresa reached out and handed the map to Li Xuan, turning her small face away unwillingly.
"Yes, yes, yes..." Li Xuan took the map helplessly... and looked at it carefully...
"...." Hmm... it's a bit difficult... Li Xuan stared at the map with a grave expression.
"Hey, Li Xuan, you're holding the map upside down..." Theresa leaned over, her white hair brushing against Li Xuan's face, creating a ticklish sensation and even carrying a faint milky scent...
"..." Li Xuan awkwardly turned the map in his hand right side up. "Ahem... wait a moment, I'll find it right away..."
"Hmm... Yae Village, right?..." Li Xuan found the name Yae Village on the map...
"It feels quite far away..."
"Are you sure you want to go?" Li Xuan estimated their current location and the distance to their destination and said with some resignation.
"Of course..." Theresa nodded with a determined expression and said, "I must find it..."
"Alright, alright... then follow me..." Li Xuan held the map, his finger pointing at the intricate routes on it, and began to walk while checking the route, slowly heading towards Yae Village.
"Why are there so many Honkai Zombies?!" Li Xuan and Theresa watched as groups of Honkai Zombies on the small path continuously charged at them like moths to a flame. They could only kill the Honkai Zombies while on the run...
Along the way, the path behind them was littered with corpses... The Honkai Zombies that were attracted by the human presence were almost all the ones from the vicinity, which led to this area being empty for a period of time...
.......................
"Drip, drip..." Purplish-red blood slowly dripped from the golden spear. The blood drops fell onto the green grass, shattering into tiny beads of blood. The blood, carrying Honkai energy, completely corroded the originally verdant grass. The grass blades turned withered and yellow upon contact with the blood drops...
"This is Yae Village?!" Theresa looked at the forest before her and said, her voice trembling slightly.
"..." After repeatedly checking the map and the route, Li Xuan showed a somewhat awkward expression and said, "Theoretically... this should be the place..."
"I followed the map exactly... how could it be..." Li Xuan murmured, "...Th-this isn't scientific..."
"Sigh~ It's almost four o'clock..." Theresa took out a golden watch from the pocket of her nun's habit, glanced at the numbers inside, and sighed.
"I can't walk anymore... I'm so tired." Theresa leaned against the golden cross 'Judah's Oath' beside her with a weary expression. Not only had she been protecting Li Xuan along the way, but she had also been carrying the 152-kilogram Judah the entire time. Even for an S-Rank Valkyrie, her body couldn't take it.
"Impossible..." Li Xuan said to himself as if possessed, "As a top student... my geography scores were never below 99!... I once traveled alone with just a map... Logically, this has to be the place."
"This is absolutely the place... it can't be wrong..." A trace of determination flashed in Li Xuan's eyes. He casually threw the map in his hand to the ground and rushed into the forest.
"Hey, hey. Wait, Li Xuan..." Theresa shouted anxiously as she watched Li Xuan suddenly dash madly into the woods. "Don't, don't go in... there might be Honkai Beasts in the forest!"
But Li Xuan, who had already run into the unusually dense bushes, possibly due to Honkai energy, didn't hear her at all...
"Sigh~" Theresa helplessly used her last bit of strength to pick up 'Judah's Oath' and followed Li Xuan's footsteps, plunging into the dense bushes.
"Ugh..." Numerous small branches brushed past Theresa in the dense bushes. Even with Judah held in front of her, some branches still scraped against her. Fortunately, the nun's habit she wore was also specially made by 'Schicksal' and wasn't torn by the somewhat sharp branches...
The rustling of the bushes as her body brushed against the branches made a "swish, swish..." sound.
"Where did that guy Li Xuan run off to?! Running around like that..." Theresa murmured through gritted teeth. She decided that when they got back, she would make Li Xuan copy the St. Freya High School student handbook ten times!
Just then, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead of Theresa... She lost her footing and fell forward...
"Ugh... that hurts..." Theresa fell completely to the ground. Her head had accidentally hit 'Judah's Oath' in her arms when she fell, so it was still aching faintly, and a burning sensation spread through her hands and feet.
"I told you so..." Li Xuan's voice reached Theresa's ears. "How could I have found the wrong place?!... Following the map, it's impossible to make a mistake!"
"This is Yae Village!..." Li Xuan said with delight.
"Huh...?" Theresa raised her head in a daze and looked ahead. Li Xuan, who was standing in front of her, was wearing a long robe embroidered with a dragon pattern, its sleeves swaying slightly in the breeze. Then her gaze went past Li Xuan...
"Yae Village?!" Theresa said in surprise.
In the gentle breeze, at the end of a path covered with pink cherry blossom petals, was a small, indistinct village. Typical Japanese-style buildings were visible at the end of the path. A red torii gate stood there quietly, as if it had been there for hundreds of years. The plaque on the gate, made of vermilion-painted round logs, was written with somewhat archaic characters... which could be faintly discerned...
[Yae Village]...
"Phew~ Swish, swish~..." A gentle breeze blew past, lifting Theresa's long white hair... A faint floral scent wafted from the cherry blossom trees blooming on both sides of the path, and even the ground covered in cherry blossom petals exuded a floral fragrance.
"The speed at which cherry blossoms fall is 5 centimeters per second..." Li Xuan suddenly recalled an anime he had watched in his previous life and said softly with some emotion.
"..." Theresa stared blankly as the snow-like cherry blossoms slowly drifted down from the branches. The dim red Stigmata on her back lit up again...
"It's truly beautiful..." she murmured.
.....................
And at this moment, in Nagazora City's Senba Academy...
A small figure looked up at the silver airship parked on the grounds of Senba Academy with an excited expression... It felt the package on its back, took out a screwdriver and a wrench from inside, and looked at the airship before it with glowing eyes.
The small figure surveyed the behemoth, waving the screwdriver and wrench in its hands like a butcher surveying a fat pig, ready for the slaughter, its expression somewhat excited.
Then... it charged forward...
(End of this chapter)