Sakura skill was among the very best in the Fire Moth. After countless major Honkai Eruptions and troop rotations, few remaining soldiers could rival the recently joined female assassin.
But that was only the "peak among humans."
It was mentioned before that even seemingly clumsy large Honkai Beasts could match the speed of a car with the accelerator floored, causing landslides and tremors with every movement. Humans were virtually incomparable; combat with them relied more on "experience."
What Sakura lacked was precisely the "experience" of fighting large monsters with strange abilities.
"Bang!"
After grappling the barely conscious Sakura, who was about to be crushed into pulp, Lin caught her arm with one hand. Her usually strong arm muscles felt incredibly weak and soft now, more like a girl's arm than ever before. Large patches of burned skin were peeling off half her face.
Sakura had tried to dodge, but was still hit by the attack.
Heart rate, blood pressure, organs...
Lin quickly scanned Sakura condition. The situation was not optimistic; she needed immediate medical attention.
While dodging the Honkai Beast's attack, he decisively took out a syringe, plunged it into Sakura neck, and then quickly retreated using his grappling hook.
The grappling hook, an obsolete piece of equipment, should have been phased out. Constantly improved high-mobility jet devices were faster over short distances and allowed brief flight in the air, but Lin insisted that the R&D department include it when making his new armor. Keeping a backup plan was a habit for him.
As it turned out, keeping it was the right choice.
Lin instantly put distance between himself and the Honkai Beast, landing beside their transport plane. It was too late to take off from this distance; he had to find a place to secure Sakura and then fight the Honkai Beast.
"Bang!"
A tentacle swung toward Lin. He jumped away, and the transport plane beside him was cleaved in half.
Incorrect...
This Honkai Beast, did it intentionally destroy the transport plane?
He hadn't noticed it initially, but Lin now realized that this Honkai Beast was not as frenzied as other Honkai Beasts. It calmly hid underground to ambush and consume two Emperor-class Honkai Beasts, prioritized targeting the inexperienced Sakura, and destroyed their means of escape...
And its flexible technique of combining different abilities to attack...
Lin gaze darkened.
...
These... no, this Starlight was not some refugee who fled because their home planet was contaminated by Honkai energy; it was a bona fide planetary predator.
This type of species, possessing a collective consciousness, had a strong drive to assimilate other races. After completing its racial modification, the only thing the Starlight retained was its desire for species continuation, leading it to abandon emotion and begin invading other planets.
Its military strength might not be comparable to its research in space-time technology, but it was enough to make humanity difficult to resist. Its goal was to obtain everything on Earth with the least possible loss.
Starting with the Fire Moth, the leading organization of humanity, it would slowly infiltrate and modify humans step by step, making Earth into the Starlight's planet from the inside out.
As for the Honkai... having experienced one civilization's Honkai collapse, it had sufficient coping experience. The only element it couldn't fully grasp was the Herrscher, a Honkai creature that had never appeared on its home planet's Honkai. Therefore, the Herrscher Core was also something it absolutely had to obtain.
And currently, it seemed that Herrschers could be communicated with.
However, when coincidences converged, common sense and inference were shattered.
"Is this what a creature that has abandoned emotion looks like..." The girl murmured. She had slowly stood up.
"The Starlight's mode of existence is superior to humanity. The instability of emotion leads to..."
"Clang!"
The Starlight's body instantly split in two.
The azure visual display watched silently as the Starlight's corpse fell. She knew that even if this single individual died, it would have no effect on the Starlight's collective consciousness.
The Starlight's true form would not be revealed by death, and their combat ability was greatly weakened when they had not shed their outer shell.
Thus, the girl's surprise attack had achieved excellent results both times.
"…"
What should she do next?
The girl coldly observed the Starlight's blurred corpse. Even if she left it as it was, it would be difficult for anyone to find it.
But she was contemplating another question.
Should she tell the other humans? Although her identity would be exposed, considering her actions, the worst that would happen would be isolation, observation, and research.
So, should she tell them?
Lin face flashed before her eyes.
No...
Out of a psychological reason she couldn't quite articulate, she felt a strong reluctance to expose her identity, a reluctance she hadn't felt even when she first awoke in this era.
...
Earth fell upon Sakura. She woke up groggily, and the tearing pain in her body immediately sharpened her mind upon waking.
The vision her hazy brain captured was the aftermath of a night sky ripped apart, with clouds swirling backward.
The smell of high heat and scorching entered her nose. She couldn't tell if it came from her own body or the surrounding environment.
"Rumble!"
Something shook the ground, like a small earthquake, and after a heavy impact sound, the surroundings returned to silence.
What... happened?
Her memory stopped at Lin urgent command and the sudden purple lightning that surged through her body. Her memory was fractured at that moment, but it didn't stop her from guessing what happened next.
She had passed out, and Lin must have chosen to fight the Honkai Beast to protect her.
So... is the battle... over now?
Sakura guess was correct; the battle had indeed ended.
Lin knelt on the ground. He didn't even have the strength to gasp for air. His injuries were no less severe than Sakura. The entire left side of his body, from his left hand to his left shoulder, was gone, bitten off and consumed by the Honkai Beast.
This Honkai Beast had three cores.
Lin barely found an opportunity to get close to the Honkai Beast during the fight. It controlled the distance to Lin, constantly using its abilities to interfere with his actions. Its precision was so accurate that Lin at one point thought the Honkai Beast was controlled by an AI.
Furthermore, the battlefield was unsuitable for Lin combat style, and coupled with the unconscious Sakura, he was immensely restricted.
So Lin gave the Honkai Beast a "chance."
This Honkai Beast's attack pattern was very "restrained."
Lin speculated that it was preventing him from gaining intelligence on its fighting style, thus choosing a cautious but inefficient attack method.
So Lin deliberately exposed himself to its attack range, allowing it to bite through him with one snap. At that moment, he silently clenched a collapse bomb in his left hand.
Precisely because it was cautious, it was rigid.
Lin destroyed its body cavity, then quickly destroyed all three cores.
Rescue was on its way.
He had already realized that the Honkai Beast's origin was suspicious, but even with a mind full of questions, they both urgently needed medical treatment.
What Lin didn't anticipate before losing consciousness was that this Honkai Beast was only the beginning.