Powerful magic shimmered in Rias's hands, and magic circles began to appear outside the two steel huts. The next moment, as Rias activated her spell, layers of chilling air began to spread around them.
The zombies' movements rapidly slowed, while Rias carefully controlled the speed of her freezing and the temperature of the emanating cold air.
If she continued her massacre, she could easily become the master of this dying dimensional world.
This must be avoided, because Rias didn't want to become the master of this world.
But as an experience point rose in the lower right corner, Rias's expression turned extremely grim, because before she could completely lower the temperature to her limit, the zombies died.
She lowered her hands, maintaining the outside temperature at its current level. Ice continued to form around the steel huts, pushing the zombies away.
She wasn't particularly skilled in ice magic, but disregarding the cost in mana, as a high-ranking devil, she could still accomplish this.
Thus, from the outside, a massive iceberg encased the steel hut, preventing the surrounding zombies from directly attacking its barrier.
Rias released her grip and revealed her new information.
"Damn it… these zombies are still living beings. Freezing them will kill them… but temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius are ineffective. Only when I lowered the outside temperature to -30 degrees Celsius did they begin to lose activity and start dying."
-30 degrees Celsius?
Li Ke glanced outside, unable to contain his astonishment at Rias's power.
He only knew that "Gold Finger" troupe and "Edge-lords" troupe were frequently transported to various crossover anime and manga novels, and that they were portrayed as incredibly powerful.
He never imagined Rias could also do something like this.
"Well, in short, let's proceed cautiously for now and see what the person behind this is up to."
Rias sighed. In this situation, even if she went to explore, she would be overwhelmed by the endless monsters unless they could instantly build an iron fortress. Only then could they guarantee a successful exploration.
But the question is, are there even stronger zombies and monsters?
If they find the mastermind, can they handle the person who controlling the zombie's attacks?
Rias was filled with worry, but being a devil, her pursuit of strength made her want to stay and continue her training.
"For now, this is the only way."
Li Ke didn't have any better ideas. If it weren't for his agreement with Rias and the fact that he genuinely needed the training environment here, he would have run away long ago.
The other three ladies remained silent, only looking outside with worried expressions, lost in thought.
Robin was the most relaxed of them all, as she had indeed obtained her ticket; her only concern was whether she could truly return to her world.
Rin Tohsaka, however, hesitated…
"Can I really get home just with my mouth?"
Like Lux and the others before her, she faced a dilemma: whether to trust Li Ke.
Unlike Rias, who was now fairly certain that Li Ke was just an unlucky, somewhat unusual ordinary person.
But Rin Tohsaka and Mai Shiranui were uncertain.
Even Robin used a clone created by her ability to make a deal with Li Ke, rather than using her own body.
A silent atmosphere permeated the small house.
And Li Ke, realizing he didn't need to fight anymore, once again began his trial-and-error journey.
He was now testing his limits, relentlessly courting death.
He was already capable of simply refining his Vital Blood (Blood Qi), using it to augment his physical body and internal organs, or even applying it to achieve permanent physical hardening.
However, he had yet to test the true limits of his body while operating at full capacity in "Blood Qi" combat mode.
Consequently, he was currently walking a path that led straight toward constant strokes and heart attacks.
At a rapid pace—averaging one cerebral infarction every ten minutes and a heart attack every twenty—Li Ke pushed himself to master his limits and the manipulation of Blood Qi.
Once he gained a modicum of proficiency in controlling that energy, he began attempting to use the Blood Qi itself to clear the very blood clots and cardiac blockages he had caused.
The result, however, was—
His brain was blown apart by the Blood Qi!
"Li Ke isn't breathing!"
Rin Tohsaka, who was collecting Li Ke's blood, exclaimed in shock. Rias, startled, quickly reminded Rin.
"Quick, use the medical kit!"
Rin then remembered to use the medical kit in her backpack, saving Li Ke from the brink of death.
Awakening, Li Ke felt his mind clear again, shook his head, wiped away the brain matter that had accidentally spurted from his nostrils, and then nodded firmly.
"It seems that cerebral blood vessels are definitely not something I can mess with at my current level."
He was absolutely certain of this fact, given that his brain had, quite literally, just exploded once.
"I say, is your training method really reliable? If it weren't for this kind of magical thing, you would have died at least three hundred times over. You can only train because of this medkits; other people don't have this stuff. Are they crazy? Training something like this..."
Rin Tohsaka genuinely wanted to retort. Li Ke almost died even with this kind of bug-like ability; could others really succeed?
This kind of evil thing, calling it sorcery wouldn't be an exaggeration!
Even magicians known for their madness wouldn't learn magic that's tantamount to suicide!
"Yes, indeed. In a world where this power originates, those who can learn this secret art possess special organs. It's through these organs, along with the curses and blood within them, that they are able to master this power."
Li Ke sighed. If it weren't for the drawbacks of the Ghost Hand—that it causes those who cultivate blood energy to become mentally impaired, irritable, and even lose their reason—
Wait a minute.
Li Ke suddenly realized something.
Could the Berserker's irritability, eccentric personality, and tendency to easily lose control be due to high blood pressure and various types of blood stasis?!
The emotional or rational thinking areas of the brain are damaged, coupled with the curses of devils and gods and various negative emotions…
Li Ke felt he was realizing some truth.
"Magical Organs, or perhaps they're part of Mythical Beasts? What an unimaginable world."
Rin Tohsaka was speechless.
"Yeah, pretty much right. Any powerful individual in that world who has achieved a certain level of mastery should be able to fight Heroic Spirits alright?"
Li Ke couldn't help but think about it.
Unlike the Type-Moon world, Arad is a truly high-magic world. Magic permeates every aspect of life there; even the seemingly life-force-based blood energy contains magical elements.
Sword energy, needless to say, consumes physical strength and is clearly related to 'magic power'.
After all, energy and magic are essentially not that different.
Both are energy, both capable of unleashing power beyond the reach of ordinary people.
The only difference is that one is easier to activate than the other requires some talent.
In Rin Tohsaka's era, magic was undeniably in decline. Regardless of the hype, it's undeniable that these magicians were utterly inept at pure destructive power.
Of course, magical combat power cannot be calculated this way.
As for Arad, with its various Angels active, it is undoubtedly the Age of Gods.
Heroes of the Age of Gods who have achieved some mastery can naturally confront those so-called Heroic Spirits head-on. Putting aside other considerations, supersonic slashes are nothing special to the people of Arad. Only when the speed is so fast that ordinary people can't see it at all does it barely reach the level of 'Awakening'.
"Never mind, I can't see it anyway, after all..."
Rin Tohsaka turned her head away. Although she was a magician and knew that this kind of thing was really nothing, she still couldn't help but feel shy when it came to actually doing it.
She also wanted to experience love.
But the current situation was that she couldn't afford to mess things up; she had to calculate every possibility.
So...
She had now given up on relying on exploring the unknown to return home.
That was simply a situation she couldn't handle. Such a situation would at least require the Clock Tower's special forces to resolve.
Even the Clock Tower's special forces would be wiped out inside.
After all, the enemies were endless.
So she said nothing more, simply watching Li Ke continue his training.
Dawn broke quickly, but no one showed joy. The retreat of the zombie horde had been delayed again, an hour later than before, finally ending at eight o'clock.
Li Ke stepped out of the steel hut and couldn't help but gasp at the sight outside.
The traps and other traps he had dug were completely gone. The ground had sunk over two hundred meters, a testament to the bombardment of an entire army group's artillery overnight.
Everything around him was gone. Within a radius of two to three hundred meters, only a deep crater remained. Only this seemingly invincible spot still retained some vegetation; the rest had been obliterated by the zombies carrying explosives.
Everything they had left outside was gone. Li Ke only found some blackened and twisted remnants of his barbecue skewers on the ground, clearly the result of countless explosions.
"They really wanted us dead," he thought.
Li Ke shook his head.
"Perhaps they want us to level up quickly and become the masters of the world. But if that's the case, the world consciousness's situation might be worse than I thought; it can no longer determine the intensity of the trials."
"Tsk, I don't really understand you chosen ones."
Li Ke shook his head, looking at the newbie's fixed spawn point.
"What kind of newbie will come this time? Please, no guys!"
Li Ke prayed, and then, under his bewildered gaze, a Hermione Granger and a woman in a tight-fitting suit appeared before him.
He immediately covered his face in speechless exasperation.
He recognized Hermione first, because that was her appearance from the first movie!
Li Ke saw it very clearly; it was her appearance from the first movie!
And he recognized the other one too.
Song Hana, or D.Va, the mech-piloting girl in Overwatch, and one of the top figures in the 3D zone.
The second one was alright, but the first one…
Li Ke was starting to lose his composure.
"This, is this allowed?"
He couldn't help but cover his face.
Sending the other person back would make him a scumbag.
Not sending the other person back would also make him a scumbag.
Both paths were undoubtedly options for scumbags.
"Ah… what is this world trying to do? Because it's almost dead, 404 doesn't matter?"
Li Ke accurately quipped, then thought for a long time and decided it was best not to get involved himself. So, while Rias was welcoming the two new students, he quickly began looking for a way down to find loot.
"Where… is this? Does the wizarding world have places like this? Or is this the Hogwarts entrance exam?"
Hermione looked around in confusion, holding a wand and a book. She wasn't particularly panicked; after all, she had witnessed even more bizarre things a few days ago.
But the thought that this might be an entrance exam made her suddenly nervous.
So, with Rias's magic circle, as she slowly floated down from the air, she appeared quite calm.
The other adult wasn't so lucky.
Song Hana stared in astonishment at the cliff beneath her feet, her body moving slowly through the air without any support, and couldn't help but scream.
But she wasn't too surprised, because in her world, portals and levitation technology weren't considered particularly advanced.
However, she was worried about something else: as a member of Overwatch and an ace of the special forces, her sudden appearance here was inherently dangerous. Who brought her here, and what their purpose was? She had no idea!
Just a moment ago, she was still inside her mech!
These people's methods are incredible!
So, when she saw the red-haired Rias, she immediately questioned her and shielded Hermione behind her.
"Where...where is this? What do you want?"
Hermione paused, stunned as she stared at her shamelessly dressed sister blocking her way. Only then did she realize something was wrong.
"Well, this is a terrible place. We're here because this world is on the verge of destruction, and it's searching for a dimensional lord to save it. Unfortunately, this broken world isn't habitable. But you're lucky; someone among us can send you back, though there's a price... Um, how old are you?"
Rias answered Song Hana while glancing at Hermione. Hermione hesitated, then immediately remembered something and quickly asked.
Hermione finally realized Rias wasn't from Hogwarts, but looking at the beautiful face and her answer to their questions, she answered anyway.
"Eleven years old."
Rias paused, then covered her head, took a deep breath, and asked again.
"What's the legal marriage age in your country?"
Hermione was even more confused, but still answered.
"16 years old."
"..."
Rias covered her head. Even if she were a devil, she couldn't bring herself to let a child that age do such a thing with Li Ke.
"Li Ke, are you really unable to do something?"
She immediately turned to look at Li Ke, only to find that he had left sometime earlier. She immediately understood that Li Ke was helpless.
At least, even if he had a way, he wouldn't show it in front of them.
But Rias was more inclined to believe that Li Ke was helpless.
"Okay… things might be a bit complicated, but it's not a big problem. After all, compared to life, these things are nothing..."
Rias took a deep breath and told the truth.
"In short, if you want to leave, you must..."
Hermione: ?!!
——————
It took Li Ke a full twenty minutes to climb down, and that was only because he needed to use building blocks.
When he reached the bottom of the valley, he saw a large, cratered area, littered with traces of explosions, but correspondingly, there were also many yellow packages.
"Wow, that's really amazing." Looking at the crater closest to their house, at least ten meters deeper than the others, Li Ke shook his head, carefully skirted around it, and arrived at the location of several yellow packages.
He casually opened one package, skillfully stuffing the various medicines inside into his backpack, then climbed the embankment created by the explosion to another yellow bag, from which he opened a large quantity of medicine.
This haul was quite bountiful; he easily obtained nearly three hundred medical kits, greatly replenishing his supplies.
But his bizarre luck left him speechless.
"So, this world is simply targeting me?" "
He pulled a wisp of blood energy from his hand and slammed it heavily to the ground. The violent blood energy instantly shattered the stones, and the flying debris stung Li Ke's calves.
After casually consuming a painkiller to replenish the life points lost from the drained blood energy, Li Ke's luck improved somewhat. Finally, he found a book in a package that instantly made his face light up with ecstasy.
Life Return: You have initially mastered the method of controlling life force. You are now able to manipulate your cells for targeted reproduction and proliferation. You can consume large amounts of nutrients to repair your body and restore your stamina.
However, this level of mastery, you can probably regenerate your hair follicles and stop being bald. As for treating injuries? Repairing internal organs? It has some effect, but not much.