[Zombie killed. 5 Primogems obtained]
[Zombie killed. 5 Primogems obtained]
...
"Holy shit, Durandal!" Amidst the flood of notifications, Chen Luo suddenly thought of something else.
Damn it, did I just blow up Durandal?
If Durandal really died from that explosion, this would be no laughing matter.
The skyscraper Chen Luo had chosen was some distance from the open area. If it were just an ordinary thermobaric bomb, it might have slightly affected the rooftop, but definitely wouldn't retain much destructive power.
But this bomb was clearly no ordinary thermobaric bomb...
Chen Luo watched the slowly dissipating mushroom cloud, hesitating.
The most important thing now was definitely to check if Durandal was okay.
After all, if Durandal died, things would really escalate.
But obviously, right after the explosion, that area would still be scorching hot.
After three minutes of deliberation, Chen Luo gritted his teeth and began searching for shield spells in his Basic Elemental Magic book.
Finding a Hydro Shield, he double-layered himself before activating the Teleport Waypoint.
When Chen Luo teleported to the skyscraper's location, he realized—there was no skyscraper left.
Chen Luo fell straight through the air.
Looking around, he saw the surrounding area had been almost completely destroyed by that insane modified thermobaric bomb, with the ground blasted into a massive crater.
Anemo energy swirled around Chen Luo, allowing him to barely stay airborne. Seizing the moment, he cast a Flight spell on himself before following his tracking talisman's guidance to search for Durandal.
He finally found Durandal beside a charred ruin.
Durandal's lance was nowhere to be seen, her armor severely damaged, with extensive burns covering her body. While her injuries looked serious, they didn't seem life-threatening.
"As expected of an S-rank Valkyrie, surviving this."
Noticing the faint protective shield around Durandal, Chen Luo roughly understood.
Was this the power of a bubble universe?
Starchasm Nyx?
Unfortunately, that insane modified thermobaric bomb had some magic penetration effect.
There will always be fearless beings daring to face the glory of magic penetration.
Moreover, for a disposable item to be rated four-star—even if five came as a set—one could imagine how terrifying this thing was.
This thing probably had the power of a standard five-star weapon, didn't it?
When Chen Luo spotted her, Durandal noticed him too. With great difficulty, she propped herself up against the only remaining wall fragment, glaring at Chen Luo with murderous eyes.
"Uh, if I said I didn't know that thing would be so powerful, would you believe me?" Even Chen Luo didn't quite believe his own words, but an explanation was necessary.
"You... cough."
Chen Luo had his Hydro Shield for protection, but Durandal didn't. As soon as she spoke, scorching air rushed into her throat.
Pop! Perhaps having reached its limit, the shield likely formed by bubble universe power suddenly vanished.
The so-called damage penetration effect meant no matter how strong your defense was, it could break through and slap you anyway.
Already seriously injured, Durandal collapsed to the ground with a thud the moment she lost that mysterious protection.
"Hey, Durandal, don't die on me..."
Seeing this, Chen Luo hurried over.
Just as Chen Luo reached her side and flipped her over, a powerful hand suddenly grabbed his arm.
The previously prone Durandal seized Chen Luo with her left hand while raising her right fist.
"Durandal, you have no martial honor!!!"
"Take your complaints about honor to the Overseer," Durandal said, putting her remaining strength into the punch.
And then... she hit nothing.
Though the punch's shockwave did plow a trench in the road behind Chen Luo.
"Tch, I never expected someone as righteous-looking as Durandal would resort to deception," Chen Luo remarked, floating in the air near the vanished skyscraper's former teleport point.
"And thank goodness I unlocked Teleport Waypoints," he added with some relief.
In situations where the opponent grabs your arm, even if you drag them into the War Domain, you'd still be held captive.
Chen Luo figured taking that punch would almost certainly knock him out.
But Teleport Waypoints had no such issues.
Teleport Waypoints provided instant teleportation, usable whether you're half-dead, restrained, poisoned, stunned, or immobilized.
It's like when you're swimming with no stamina left but don't want to drown—just use a Teleport Waypoint.
"Little Senti, you knew she was faking, right? Why didn't you warn me?"
"To teach you a lesson, obviously. Why else? You see her collapse and immediately rush to help, did you forget she's an S-rank Valkyrie with exceptional combat intelligence?"
"We've spent hundreds of days training you in the mental space, but you've never actually fought anyone besides me. That's your biggest weakness. Now you understand what caution means, don't you?" Little Senti sat triumphantly on Chen Luo's head, tugging his hair.
"Got it, got it. So is she still faking it or really unconscious now?" Chen Luo pointed at Durandal, who had collapsed again.
"Still faking. But she genuinely doesn't have much fighting strength left—her injuries are quite severe," Little Senti said with a laugh.
This Durandal was truly clever, understanding all's fair in war.
"Ah, I offered my sincerity to the moon, but the moon shines on the gutter instead," Chen Luo sighed before slowly flying back toward Durandal after Little Senti's reminder.
When within 20 meters of Durandal, both Chen Luo and Durandal instantly vanished.
[War Domain]
Chen Luo decided to keep Durandal confined in the War Domain.
At least for the next few days, she wouldn't bother him.
Upon appearing in the War Domain, the surroundings remained identical—charred roads and ruined debris.
But the prone Durandal keenly sensed the residual heat dissipate almost instantly.
Noticing this anomaly and realizing Chen Luo wasn't approaching, Durandal weakly propped herself up against the broken wall.
"Where is this?" Durandal asked coldly.
"This place? Want to know? Not telling. But I think you need to eat these two things."
Chen Luo made a face at her while using Anemo energy to float his last two portions of Sweet Madame over to Durandal's side.
"This is food that can heal injuries after eating. Let me be clear, if you don't trust me, just don't damage it. If you don't eat it, I can still take it back."
"..." Durandal remained silent.
"For the next few days, I'll have to trouble you to stay here, Captain. I'll let you out after five days. During these five days, if you get hungry, just imagine this bar, and I'll come deliver food."
Chen Luo snapped his fingers, and the Midnight Bar appeared within the War Domain.
"Then I'll take my leave first. Remember to eat those two chickens, they really are medicine for injuries." Chen Luo emphasized repeatedly.
Apart from Sweet Madame, Chen Luo had no other means to treat injuries. Worried that Durandal might die from severe wounds during these six days of confinement, he could only offer his last remaining resources.
After Chen Luo disappeared, some time passed before Durandal finally regained some strength.
Looking at the two fragrant, steaming Sweet Madames beside her, she thought for a moment before picking up one plate and tearing off a drumstick to eat.
Even if this chicken wasn't actually medicinal, as mere food, Durandal in her current state couldn't refuse it.
In this environment, pretending to be unyielding to the death would be the stupidest behavior.
The opponent currently held absolute advantage while she was at absolute disadvantage. That Chen Luo could still politely explain things in this situation proved they had no intention of killing her.
Though Durandal still didn't understand why he kept calling her "Captain."
[Ding! You have successfully joined the Schicksal faction. All exchange options for Schicksal personnel are now available to you.]
[You have now become a member of Immortal Blades, with Durandal as Captain.]
"Joining Schicksal doesn't always require Otto's approval."
"After all, Schicksal is a massive organization. Even a minor official has the authority to recruit members."
"For example, using the Herrscher of Sentience's authority to control someone relatively high-ranking in Schicksal to enroll you into Immortal Blades."
"Of course, if you want to keep a low profile as a janitor, that still counts as a Schicksal janitor, naturally a Schicksal member."
Hearing this notification, Chen Luo was in excellent spirits.
He had just wanted to test whether this method would work through the Herrscher of Sentience. He never expected it to actually succeed.
Though Chen Luo had only become a janitor in one of Immortal Blades' departments at Schicksal headquarters, he was now genuinely an Immortal Blades member.
As a formal combat team, how could Immortal Blades not have facilities at headquarters?
Personnel like janitors weren't personally recruited by the Captain either, why would such trivial matters trouble Durandal? These support staff were usually assigned by Schicksal headquarters.
Thus, by controlling just one logistics department head, or even a minor official, one could seamlessly join the Schicksal faction without anyone knowing.
Schicksal might be overflowing with talent, but surely not every logistics officer could resist the Herrscher of Sentience's control?
"Next, keep farming. There are still three bombs left, save one for emergencies, the rest can be used!"
During event periods, you could quickly obtain Primogems and Crystals.
This was the best opportunity to convert items into points, bar none.
That single bomb just now had yielded over 5000 Crystals and 20% Honkai Energy Adaptability.
Though it eliminated over 2000 zombies, the talent interface noted that due to using weapons of mass destruction, Primogems were halved, hence only 5000+ Crystals.
Fortunately, besides Crystals, the zombie kill count and Honkai Energy Adaptability gains remained unchanged.
As for why so little Honkai Energy Adaptability... after reaching 100%, each zombie killed only increased it by 0.01%.
2000 zombies meant 20% Honkai Energy Adaptability.
In other words, raising it to 200% would require killing about 10,000 Honkai beasts or zombies.
Naturally, defeating Herrschers, pseudo-Herrschers or high-level Honkai beasts provided greater increases.
For example, defeating a Herrscher gave 10%.
Chen Luo's current Honkai Energy Adaptability had reached 131.2%.
"Let's go, keep farming points."
Since killing them one by one was too slow, Chen Luo decided to farm three locations simultaneously. Using Teleport Waypoints, he went to three other densely populated areas to drop decoy grenades, then quickly teleported to the next waypoint to repeat the process.
After waiting five minutes, he launched thermobaric bombs at each location in turn.
Five minutes later...
Three bombs eliminated approximately 4000 zombies and Honkai beasts.
The lower count compared to the first location was mainly because Chen Luo's initial spot had the highest population density.
Crystals: 21385 (15460 + 5925)
Honkai Energy Adaptability: 170.9%
5-Star Achievement Progress: 7145/10000
"Eliminating about 3000 more zombies and Honkai beasts in the remaining five-plus days just became much easier." Chen Luo heaved a sigh of relief.
Averaging 600+ kills per day was relatively manageable for him.
The only issue was that zombie elimination would slow down later, since after clearing dense clusters, picking off stragglers would take more time.
But no worries, Chen Luo still had one bomb left as a last resort, though he preferred not to use it if possible.
This was his trump card.
Looking at the over 20,000 Crystals, Chen Luo silently took out a communicator.
[All normal. Currently tracking Traveler. Video call function affected by explosions, text only.]
[Understood, Captain. Your signal disappeared for a minute earlier, gave me quite a scare.]
[Mn.]
This communicator was purchased from the faction store for 200 Crystals, an exact replica of Durandal's device, with matching channel and codes.
Its purpose was to maintain appearances with Schicksal.
The only issue was that while this trick might fool Immortal Blades' technicians, it might not deceive Otto or Rita.
Which was where the Herrscher of Sentience's cooperation came in.
BOOM!
Some unknown distance from Nagazora City, a severe explosion suddenly rocked Schicksal headquarters' hangar.
This clearly sabotage-caused explosion, with no perpetrator found, gave the Overseer quite the headache.
[Schicksal Headquarters Demolition Plan! Commence!]