Its pure white body stretched over two hundred meters long. Pale green crystals formed a continuous line across the serpent's surface, extending all the way to the sides of its maw.
[Anantaboga Shesha]
The Judgement-class companion Honkai Beast of the Third Herrscher, the Herrscher of Thunder. It possessed formidable combat strength, and its "infinite" regeneration ability was particularly troublesome.
However...
"So weak!"
Lu Xing was initially impressed by the creature's existence—it was a Judgement-class, after all—but after seeing the data fed back by his [Spiritual Perception], these two words became his most direct assessment.
Shesha in its complete state was a "thousand-headed serpent." While its actual manifestation wasn't quite that exaggerated, it typically had at least five "standard" heads.
But the Shesha before him not only was countless times smaller than the original, but its manifested form also had only a single, solitary head.
This wasn't Shesha's fault. The Herrscher of Thunder had been eliminated a long time ago. Shesha's corpse had also just been lying here, growing cold. Although its special ability prevented it from dying completely, reconstructing its body would inevitably require a vast amount of Honkai energy as sustenance.
And this blasted place... Although the city ruins provided excellent cover for its existence, relying solely on the scarce, free-roaming Honkai energy—Lu Xing couldn't even sense the aura of a single Honkai energy rift—it would probably not fully recover even by the time Finality scoured the earth clean.
To have repaired itself to this current state was already quite an achievement for Shesha.
————
Race: Shesha
Level: 61
Abilities: Omitted
Attack: 192
Speed: 164
Constitution: 210
Evaluation: Infinite Little Snake
————
Look at these pitiful stats. The current Shesha was exactly like a newly-ascended Emperor-class. Even a slightly more powerful Emperor-class Honkai Beast could probably dust it—of course, only a Variant could pull off such an upset of the lower overthrowing the higher.
"Hiss!"
Its tongue flickered out like a thunder whip, arcs of electricity dancing around it. Lu Xing's appearance made Shesha feel threatened. The opponent belonged to—no, although it looked like a bizarrely shaped Temple-class, the aura on it indicated it was the leader of some Honkai Beast legion.
It couldn't accurately perceive its opponent's strength.
Perception, magnetic field control, infinite regeneration—these were Shesha's three greatest strengths. The first had helped it evade several crises from humans in these ruins.
For this ability to malfunction... either the opponent's direct strength far surpassed its own, or the Honkai energy within the opponent's body was so immense it could muddle perception!
As a Judgement-class, Shesha naturally possessed considerable intelligence. But no matter what, it didn't believe a Temple-class could be far stronger than itself. Although its strength had severely declined, it was still, at the very least, at an Emperor-class level. The opponent might be a little troublesome, but a mere lower-tier Honkai Beast could absolutely not be its match!
If it could devour it...
Shesha, having starved for too long, inevitably had a teeny tiny problem with its reasoning.
Therefore—
"Sss-ha!"
————
Looking at the "former" Judgement-class Honkai Beast, Lu Xing fell into thought. This creature's existence was clearly very important, so important that Lu Xing needed to carefully consider whether to kill it or spare it as an ally and find an opportunity to help it recover its strength later.
The former was due to mission requirements.
After advancing to Temple-class, Lu Xing's main mission had changed again. Three missions appeared simultaneously in his mental world, with no particular order, and the prompt was clear: only after all three missions were completed could Lu Xing proceed to the next step.
————
Mission 1: Kill one Honkai Emperor.
Reward: All attributes +3, Level +1, unlock one skill adapted to the current race (self-selected).
Mission 2: Kill one Emperor-class Honkai Beast.
Reward: All attributes +4, Level +1, upgrade one skill adapted to the current race (self-selected).
Mission 3: Kill one Judgement-class Honkai Beast.
Reward: All attributes +5, Level +1, obtain one ability belonging to the slain target (self-selected).
————
Lu Xing considered his current skill set sufficient. Apart from ultimate moves that could decide a battle in one blow, minor skills weren't really necessary. So, killing a Honkai Emperor wasn't urgent at all.
But Missions 2 and 3 were entirely different.
Judging from his own attributes, Lu Xing's current strength was roughly equivalent to the Emperor-class tier—referencing the stats of Himeko and the Ice Emperor. Killing either an Emperor-class or a Judgement-class would be difficult (and very difficult, respectively) for him.
But the kill rewards for these two tiers were enticing enough for Lu Xing.
Especially Mission 3—Judgement-class Honkai Beasts generally possessed rather unique abilities. If he could obtain them, it would definitely be a rare enhancement for Lu Xing.
The problem was, Judgement-class beasts mostly appeared as companion Honkai Beasts to Herrschers. Provoking them was tantamount to opposing a Herrscher. The extremely rare "wild" Judgement-class beasts were each outrageously powerful; Lu Xing felt that with his current strength, he probably couldn't afford to provoke them.
Now, a ready-made feast was laid out before him. Shesha, whose strength had plummeted to Emperor-class, was an ultra-rare SSR shiny Honkai-mon (a legendary one, at that) with "infinite" regeneration. If he could devour its Honkai Core...
"Ahem."
The only thing standing in Lu Xing's way was the teachings of the old Emperor.
As one of the apex Honkai Beasts, Shesha possessed not only combat power but also high intelligence and the ability to command legions. To covet its abilities and eliminate it... such an act was truly a reckless waste of a heaven-sent gift. If he could find an opportunity to restore it, the Honkai side would directly gain a top-tier combatant.
There was another point. In the original work, the Honkai Beast Mobius fused with had genes originating precisely from Shesha... At that time, Shesha had been "solo-killed" by a still "ordinary human" Mobius through unknown means.
Lu Xing didn't know how far the plot had progressed. But regardless of his own plans, the best course of action currently was to discuss with Shesha and have it relocate. If they fought here and ended up getting third-partied by The Flame-Chasers, it would truly be a case of losing the lady and forfeiting the soldiers.
Just as Lu Xing was about to lower his weapon—the moment he sensed Shesha, his spear and shield were already firmly in his grip—and have an honest discussion with the creature.
"Sss-ha!"
The pure white head rammed forward like a locomotive!
BOOM!!!
The shockwave sent everything in the surroundings flying! The dilapidated factory, having just revealed its original appearance, was flattened by the ensuing impact!
However... Lu Xing, at the center of the impact, remained motionless!
With [Echo] deployed in front of his shield, the fierce, lightning-imbued ram was received by Lu Xing without a scratch.
"It seems," Lu Xing had originally wanted to emulate the Emperor and say to Shesha, "Judgement-class, are you lucid?"... but decided against it, considering the Flag concentration was too high.
However, given the opponent's current berserk state—
"Looks like I'll have to beat it up first, then talk."