Boom!!
A fireball rose from the river mouth. Honkai energy bombs were much more powerful than gunpowder. The fire engulfed the entire research institute, and the strong shockwave threw the egg-shaped shell, sending it several kilometers away into the sea.
The professional demolitions expert had placed it to ensure nothing would remain. Fragments created ripples on the water surface, and the black-haired Herrscher had already landed at the center of the explosion.
Bare feet could feel the slightly warm ground. The Herrscher of Death slowly turned her head, seeing the huge crater in the center of the island emitting thick smoke.
"It's really thoroughly destroyed." She showed a strange smile. This was the first counterattack of the Fire Moth against this continent, and the idea was simple.
"Equal retaliation, and by the way, to test our reaction? To be honest, if they want to cause destruction, it's quite difficult for us to defend."
"Hmm, after all, they have twelve branches and a treacherous leader. I can't access core secrets now. For small-scale movements, it's really hard to find intelligence." The blonde woman passed through the dust, the wings of the giant beast beneath her blowing the dust away.
Her face wasn't looking good. Since Mei reorganized the Fire Moth, her intelligence capabilities had been greatly weakened because commands didn't need to be transmitted layer by layer; they could be given directly to each captain.
Originally, infiltrating one or two captains would have been more effective, but the battle of Dongong allowed that man to usurp some authority, and approaching would expose them.
The Honkai Beast, covered in blue flames like a ghostly dragon, lowered its head, letting the Herrscher of Domination easily land on the ground, and said indifferently: "Human counterattack is reasonable, but the recent restraint is puzzling."
"Yes, their strength has clearly reached a peak now, they should have rolled over us already. After all, it's not easy for us to leave now."
"Are we really going to be tied down by those humans? We used to be more flexible."
"I don't know, but I only know that doing this is right, and it should be done."
Even with smiles and rich expressions, the conversation between the two Herrschers was essentially devoid of emotion, without even rebuttal or debate, because even they themselves didn't know why they were doing this.
Why form an organization? Why accept human traitors? Why protect them?
These questions were like why destroy the world; they couldn't be answered, just stubborn instincts.
"So humans are interesting. Why didn't they give us a fatal blow? I came here with the intention of a great battle." The Herrscher of Death covered her mouth and chuckled, her indifferent eyes scanning around, lingering on the jungle filled with Honkai Beast corpses.
"I don't know, perhaps they are not confident, because even if we are all killed, Herrschers will still descend, and dead humans cannot be resurrected." The Herrscher of Domination had no answer, only suggesting: "That man cannot be predicted, perhaps that's why he should be eliminated."
"This is the only explanation." The Herrscher of Death agreed, gently spreading her hands and raising them slightly, "Then let's go back for now, stay vigilant. I estimate humans won't give up, next time we must leave a few behind."
Splash!
The river surface bulged, and hundreds of octopus tentacles emerged. Those hands were covered with sharp fangs and teeth, like countless piranha mouths, and they gently held the Herrscher, as if sharing a meal, disappearing in an instant. The Herrscher of Domination also stepped onto the ghostly dragon, quickly disappearing into the sky.
The wreckage still stood silently. Within a thousand meters, in the pile of corpses, the air distorted, and black armor became visible.
The power armor came with a mirage system, directly powered by an energy backpack. This internal circulation greatly reduced energy leakage, which was why Ryan dared to hide under their noses to observe.
"How was it, feel exciting?"
"Hmm." Hua nodded heavily. She had faced a Herrscher once offshore of York, and that battle had gone so poorly she blamed herself for a long time. She never thought she would be spying under their noses.
"That short black-haired one is the Herrscher of Death, and the blonde woman is the Herrscher of Domination?"
"Just one of the Herrscher of Domination's body. This Herrscher is quite troublesome." Ryan narrowed his eyes, almost couldn't resist making a move earlier.
Both the Herrscher of Death and the Herrscher of Domination were support-type Herrschers. Alone, their combat power wasn't strong, but teamed up, they were formidable, like a BOSS with a healer. As for the Herrscher of Domination, not to mention infiltration, reconnaissance, and setting the pace, she almost caused him to fall.
"Forget it, these two Herrschers came prepared. If they escape, I'll only return empty-handed."
"If Dr. Mei had sent Kevin and the others, maybe we could have defeated them."
"You're overthinking it. Herrschers aren't stupid. They would retreat inland immediately if they saw an ambush. Engaging them on this continent isn't rational."
Hua looked at the scattered corpses and slowly nodded. Having uncovered so many 'treasures' just after landing, there was no need to engage in battle. Honkai energy was, after all, limited and could be exhausted.
"Senior Brother, Rio is still thousands of kilometers away from here, how do we get there?"
"Let's try to move in that direction. Reconnaissance as much as we can. Remember to keep good records." Ryan had no intention of going solo. As brave as he was earlier, he was equally cautious now.
The two immediately set off. Ryan still carried Hua in front of his chest, then activated the mirage field. Anyway, he had plenty of Honkai energy, so this consumption was nothing.
Heading south along a river branch, they saw many peculiar sights:
Hundreds of meters tall giant trees, with mutated 'fruits' hanging from their branches, emitting energy fluctuations. It seemed that if someone invaded, they would fall, and some monster would burst out.
In the shimmering river, undercurrents surged. When they turned on the detector, it was filled with tens of thousands of piranhas, each the size of an arm, covered in heavy armor-like scales, gnawing away everything in the river water.
Occasionally, the soil in the jungle would churn, and a judgment-class Honkai Beast resembling an earthworm moved underground, its sand worm-like mouthparts capable of swallowing a building in one gulp.
This no longer looked like Earth, enough to drive environmentalists and biologists crazy. Only Honkai scholars would be excited. From what Ryan had seen and heard, they could re-establish a list, enumerating dozens of new Honkai Beasts and dozens of mutated subspecies.
If not for the occasional sight of a ruined town, Ryan would have truly believed he had traveled to another world. Then he quickly discovered the first anomaly.
The distribution of Honkai Beasts was not uniform, nor were they all hidden underground like they were two days ago. Most patrolled in the jungle, but unlike ordinary animals, they didn't hunt or fight.
"Aimlessly wandering around. Did you notice, their range of activity is actually fixed."
Ryan was lying on a rusty water tower, having observed the Honkai Beasts in the city for half a day. He was used to wandering the world, but this situation with only one person by his side was rare.
"Is this territorial behavior?" Hua had been a diligent student these two days, as if back in biology class, holding a notebook.
"Uh, I don't think so. Actually, there are two main sources of Honkai Beasts: one is random generation, and the other is Herrscher accompanying beasts. Like the Herrscher of the Void can summon a large number at will. Theoretically, they are not subordinate to each other."
"But what we're seeing is different. Their movements are very regular, like the legions during the Battle of Britannia."
"Hmm, to some extent, all Honkai Beasts have mutated." Ryan shrunk back behind the low wall and took off his helmet. Few people could do this kind of stealth reconnaissance, even he had to be extremely careful.
"Honkai Beasts are also formidable opponents, and did you notice, the quality of the beast groups here is very high."
Hua bit her pen, reminiscing, and indeed it was true. Along the way, the worst were giant chariot-type, and Temple-type with thick shields and armor were countless. As for high-ranking Honkai Beasts, she saw no less than ten, which couldn't even be listed according to the Fire Moth's previous naming convention.
"They feel more elite. If they can cooperate with each other, it will be very troublesome."
The giant shields of the Temple-type could resist large-caliber artillery. Even fusion warriors had a hard time killing them. It seemed that the firepower was still insufficient.
Thinking of this, a hint of worry flashed across her face: "Honkai is accumulating strength, strengthening across the board, and our potential has already been largely exploited."
Ryan eyes became relieved. Hua had indeed grown, being able to think of such deep-seated problems.
Indeed, humanity's potential, after his excavation, was close to its limit. After all, there were only so many people with the aptitude, and a new warrior would need at least sixteen years.
His blood could indeed increase the success rate, but the problem was that even if he bled himself dry, he couldn't produce many people.
"Fighting the entire Imaginary Space with Earth alone doesn't have much chance of winning. And there's another problem here: where did the most numerous lower-level Honkai Beasts go?"
Eh, that's really true.
The deeper they went inland, the fewer lower-level Honkai Beasts there were. Hua had a flash of inspiration: "Could it be that they merged with each other, just like big fish eating small fish?"
This idea was very bold, and even more terrifying. If this were true, wouldn't it be possible to form an army entirely of Judgment-class Honkai Beasts in the future?
"Probably not. If Honkai Beasts really had this characteristic, it would have shown up long ago, and they could have drowned us with a beast tide tactic." Ryan cautiously shook his head. He came this time because he was afraid Honkai would come up with new surprises.
Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Now that their side had reached a critical point, they should focus on the enemy.
Just as he was thinking about whether to organize a battle to bleed Honkai, Hua, who had been observing silently, suddenly patted his head.
"Senior Brother, look southeast, it seems there's a beast herd moving."
Ryan instantly raised his head. His eyesight was better than Hua, and he indeed saw a group of Honkai Beasts arranged in neat formations, even with synchronized steps, moving south.
This army-like scene was very strange, and even stranger was that it was entirely composed of charging-type and knight-type, the lower-level Honkai Beasts, which were the least seen along their way.
"They're even separating by type? Has their control reached this level?"
"Separating? That doesn't make much tactical sense, does it?" Hua observed carefully and casually said, "It's all white, like a flock of sheep driven by a shepherd. Remember when you took me to the grasslands to challenge that person?"
Sheep?
Ryan narrowed his eyes, his fingertips gently tapping the rusty wall, recalling the scene he saw several years ago when he went to the northern grasslands to challenge a Bokh wrestler.
It looks like it, very much alike.