West of Shangchuan Island, in international waters... The originally calm sea surface suddenly rippled. A flurry of bubbles rose from the clear seawater, and then the water's surface slowly turned a faint red... The faint smell of blood spread through the seawater...
"This is no ordinary sea snake..." Fu Hua crouched down and gently examined the horribly mutilated sea snake before her. To be cut up like this and die... it was truly unprecedented. A legend in the sea snake world...
"Its skeletal structure has clearly mutated... and its flesh and blood contain trace amounts of Honkai energy..." Fu Hua, while turning over the giant snake's body, quickly came to a conclusion. "This is a sea snake that was on the verge of being transformed into a Honkai Beast by Honkai energy..."
"If it had continued to grow, absorb more Honkai energy, and eat more food, its bones would have broken through its body to form a hard, gray exoskeleton on the outside..." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and said. This was the evolution of a Honkai Beast...
"It's okay now, Kiana..." Mei paid no mind to Fu Hua's explanation, instead gently hugging the still-shaken Kiana to comfort her...
"I survived?" Kiana looked dazed, not having fully recovered...
"No, you're still dreaming!" Himeko said without a second thought, slapping Kiana on the helmet in a huff... "Alright, pull yourself together and get ready to move out... Next time, bring your brain with you before you act!"
Just as Himeko was nagging Kiana... the forgotten person finally got close...
"Eh... what's that?" Li Xuan suddenly noticed a dark shadow above them starting to approach...
"...A member of the class Mammalia, order Primates, named Muyue Rendong..." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and stated calmly... She still had a deep impression of this man with unique tastes who liked Major Himeko...
"...." Muyue Rendong, swimming towards Li Xuan and the others, waved his arms, a brilliant smile on his face... Especially when his gaze fell upon Himeko, his fair face shone even brighter...
"That's not right... I used force that time... how could he have woken up so quickly..." A look of disgust appeared on Himeko's face. She began to suspect that perhaps she hadn't used enough force and had missed her mark earlier?
"Ooh ooh..." Because he was wearing an ordinary diving suit, Muyue Rendong was currently flailing his arms and legs, making unintelligible sounds...
"Wait... that's not right... I think I overlooked a problem..." Fu Hua suddenly reached out and covered her diving helmet. She had felt from the beginning that she had overlooked a very important issue...
"Gurgle~..." A slight sound of flowing water came from not far away... like the sound of water currents being displaced by something swimming...
"What's wrong?..." Himeko looked at the stunned Fu Hua with some confusion...
"No, I have a bad feeling..." Fu Hua looked at the direction where the Honkai energy concentration displayed on her detector was getting higher and higher... Was that a seafloor crevice?
The corpse of the giant snake beside them was oozing thick, foul blood. The blood mixed with the seawater and slowly flowed into the distance with the currents... like the aroma of delicious food drifting on the wind...
"Gurgle..." The sound of flowing water grew louder, but Fu Hua couldn't figure out where it was coming from...
"Then let's keep moving... Even if more Honkai Beasts come, I won't be afraid anymore!" Kiana, who had quickly recovered, said with a determined expression. The 'Fairy Sword.Silven' in her hands reverted back to its dual pistol form as the energy output ceased... Kiana's unique way of thinking made her feel she had nothing left to fear. She was the woman who had single-handedly defeated a giant snake!
"We need to find someone to send this guy back..." Himeko frowned and pointed at the young manga artist who was keeping a low profile and just going with the flow...
"Uh..." Fu Hua was taken aback. That was indeed necessary... If an ordinary person continued to follow them, they would absolutely not survive for more than three days. The Honkai energy would erode and destroy their body's structure...
"What is that?!..." Mei suddenly exclaimed. In the direction of the seafloor crevice, a group of black shadows suddenly appeared... rapidly rushing towards them. Due to the earlier incident, the seawater was now somewhat murky, making it hard to see clearly...
When the black shadows got a little closer, the group finally saw them in their entirety... They were a group of creatures that could barely be identified as 'sharks'... Their jaws protruded, revealing sharp teeth like blades as they opened their massive mouths. Their backs were covered in a gray shell, and where their gills should be were now shimmering with a faint purple light*** their fins were also covered in a thin purple shell...
"Honkai Beasts!?" And a whole pack of them?!... Li Xuan's eyes widened. Had all the fish in the sea been infected by Honkai energy?! There were enough to form a soccer team...
"As expected! The smell of blood in the water only attracts more powerful predators!" A flash of understanding went through Fu Hua's eyes. This was the bad feeling she'd had all along...
"No wonder we encountered so few fish along the way....." Himeko murmured. Her willow-leaf eyebrows shot up, and she raised the Sunfire Greatsword in her hand and shouted, "Prepare to attack!!"
If Muyue Rendong hadn't shown up, they could have all escaped using the thrusters on their backs, but now that was clearly impossible...
"Hoo~" Li Xuan let out a soft breath and clenched his right fist... A golden longsword appeared out of thin air in his hand. To be honest, this was his first time fighting a Honkai Beast in the sea... He felt a little excited for some reason.
'Huh?! What is this?!' Muyue Rendong, who was shrinking behind Li Xuan and acting like a nobody, couldn't help but have his pupils shrink when he saw the golden sword in Li Xuan's hand... He suddenly looked interested, patted Li Xuan on the shoulder, and pointed curiously at the longsword in his hand.
"Xuanyuan Sword..." Li Xuan mouthed the words, feeling helpless about the dead weight behind him. If it weren't for this guy, he wouldn't have had so much trouble... He began to consider whether he should just cut ties with Muyue... so troublesome...
"Hah!" The Sunfire Greatsword cut through the seawater and heavily struck the Honkai Beast's body, but due to the water's cushioning effect and the Honkai Beast's own defensive shell, it didn't inflict the damage it should have...
"I'll suppress and block them, you guys attack quickly!" Himeko swung the heavy sword in her hand, pushing back the few Honkai Beasts that were about to pounce again.
"Alright!" Mei, Bronya, and Kiana attacked simultaneously. The muzzles of the Fairy Bow Silven continuously fired green bullets at the Honkai Beasts' bodies. The Miao Dao: Raikou, hiding behind the Sunfire Greatsword, constantly slashed at the Honkai Beasts. As for Bronya, she summoned Project Bunny 19C behind her, its right hand transforming into a sharp spear that ignored the Honkai Beasts' shells and thrust out...
"Strange." The longsword in Li Xuan's hand blocked an incoming Honkai Beast. The golden blade showed no signs of lag despite the underwater environment... The seawater seemed to automatically part for the longsword, not reducing the kinetic energy of the Xuanyuan Sword's swings...
The golden blade cut through the Honkai Beast's shell like slicing a melon, and purplish-red blood spewed from the corpse...
"Fairy Sword.Silven!" The pale green light blade appeared once again...
"Wind-Cleaving Cut!" The purple blade of Miao Dao: Raikou began to vibrate, the Honkai energy particles colliding and releasing energy waves... A crescent-shaped blade wave swept towards the last few Honkai Beasts...
The corpses of a dozen Honkai Beasts piled up on the soft sand of the seabed. Although the Honkai Beasts' bodies didn't contain much blood... the seawater was still dyed purplish-red, and because of the sand, the water where Li Xuan and the others stood became even murkier...
A massive figure was also quietly drawn over by that thick, cloying smell of blood...
"Phew~ I'm exhausted..." Kiana sat down on the seabed, panting lightly with her cherry-like mouth open... She then holstered the dual pistols in her hands back into the holsters strapped to her thighs...
"I didn't expect there to be so many Honkai Beasts..." Mei sheathed the tachi in her hand...
"Everyone, take a short break, then prepare to go down into the seafloor crevice... Jiuyou should be down there." Himeko said, leaning on her Sunfire Greatsword and taking a breath.
"What is that?!" Himeko suddenly noticed it getting dark above her head... A colossal beast's head emerged from the bloody mist. It was a Honkai Beast several times larger than the previous ones...
"Get back!!" Himeko roared, reaching out and forcefully pushing Mei and Bronya, who were beside her. Kiana and Li Xuan subconsciously jumped to the side...
A massive mouth full of sharp teeth suddenly emerged from the murky seawater. The fish's mouth, as large as a soccer goal, lunged to bite Himeko...
"..." Am I going to die? Himeko watched the approaching giant mouth, yet her heart was somewhat calm... The Honkai had taken everything from her, and she had given her life for revenge... Now it was all over...
"Ooh ooh!~" A figure suddenly appeared, forcefully pushing her to the side... Through the transparent visor of the diving helmet, Himeko could clearly see that always smiling, annoying face...
[Live on] the other person mouthed softly...
"Crunch!" The bone-white jaws slammed shut, swallowing the prey in its mouth... The Honkai Beast didn't linger; its subconscious told it that these few preys were not easy to deal with... It twisted its body and quickly fled.
The chaotic currents stirred up the surrounding sand and stones, and the bloody color in the seawater slowly faded...
(End of this chapter)