As the distance closed, Selia preemptively activated acceleration before the Veteran Butcher could raise his axe to defend.
Compared to the Honkai Energy materialization ability, the acceleration talent actually consumed relatively little Honkai Energy, but it demanded very high physical fitness.
Therefore, Selia couldn’t maintain acceleration for long periods, so its common use became a burst of speed to seize the initiative.
However, the skill Selia wanted to use here was not acceleration.
On Selia’s Crescent Rose, a faint red glow had already enveloped it, indicating Honkai Energy attached to it.
Reinforcing weapons with Honkai Energy is a very common practice.
With a flash of red light, Selia had already arrived in front of the Veteran Butcher before his axe could be fully raised.
Her scythe blade slashed upwards, its sharp edge deeply embedding itself into the Veteran Butcher’s body.
Such damage alone would certainly not be enough to kill the enemy in one blow, but at that moment, the Honkai Energy attached to the surface of the scythe blade began to materialize, and then it started to spread wildly into the soft body tissues around it.
Pulling out the scythe blade, all the Honkai Energy attached to it had now disappeared.
Shaking off the blood from the blade and returning it to her waist, Selia, adhering to the principle of never looking back at explosions, directly activated her talent and once again vanished from the battlefield.
Behind her, from the wound on the Veteran Butcher’s chest, a blood blossom composed of sharp, materialized Honkai Energy spikes burst forth, tearing a huge gash in his front chest.
At the same time, the splashing Honkai Energy crystals automatically exploded, sending the surrounding Thugs sprawling.
[Host, when did you learn that move?
I don’t remember it at all.]
“It sounds a bit hellish.” Selia rubbed her nose.
“The inspiration for this move actually came from the Originium crystals I saw on the Crossbowman’s body just now, which reminded me of how Originium spreads and explodes before a patient with Oripathy dies.”
“Considering its visual effect also has a strong sense of déjà vu, I might as well call this move Heart Blossom Burst.”
[A certain former Prime Minister of the Far East: I have no objections.]
As Selia cleared a large group of enemies with a single strike, Bronya’s pressure was completely relieved.
After a short rest, Selia, whose energy had slightly recovered, used the same trick again, giving another Veteran Butcher a Heart Blossom Burst.
At this point, Selia and Bronya had completely averted danger, finishing the battlefield cleanup and concluding work in less than five minutes.
“Phew…
it’s finally over.” Sitting on a broken wall, Selia rubbed her sore arm and dangled her feet, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Sister Selia you’ve worked hard.
I didn’t realize how strong Sister Xia Ling was before.
Bronya is very impressed.” Bronya floated nearby, handing the collected spoils of war to Selia and giving her a thumbs up.
“It’s only because of the trial’s buffs that I dare to use acceleration with such high intensity…” Selia muttered softly, “The me in the trial, no matter how strong, is fake.”
“Let’s see what we got from this emergency harvest.” Selia took the spoils of war from Bronya and opened the system interface.
“Guard Recruitment Voucher, good, useless, next.”
“collectible: Termination Agreement, hope +4, restore 2 HP.
It’s a good item, but unfortunately, it’s not much use to me either.”
“Foldartal two-choice…
Hmm?”
At this moment, both Foldartals displayed on the interface were good items.
[Silence: Our maximum HP increases by 50% when fighting here.]
[Surprise: Transform into a Shrewd Merchant.]
If Selia hadn’t obtained the Shaman Foldartal before, she might have deliberated between the two for a while.
However, since she already had Shaman, the combined effect of Shaman and Silence would allow Shield Guards to appear at the three combat nodes on the third layer.
For Selia, who was currently short on personnel, Shield Guard was an irresistible temptation.
Decisively choosing the Silence Foldartal, Selia’s bad mood, caused by the useless collectibles, immediately vanished.
She happily jumped down from the wall, reopened the detector, and began to identify the next path.
Yaya, who didn’t understand why Selia’s mood fluctuated so much, seemed to have several question marks appearing above her head as she quickly followed, propelled by her exoskeleton.
The next part of the journey was quite long.
According to the detector’s map, whether moving up or down, the subsequent nodes were all ‘Unexpected Encounters.’ And since they were ‘Unexpected Encounters,’ it was very possible for events to trigger either upon entering the node’s range or when nearing its exit.
The good news was that this node didn’t keep Selia on edge for too long.
The bad news was that Selia felt the current situation was even worse than being on edge.
Because as Selia advanced, she suddenly heard a strange crying sound, as if something peculiar was constantly sobbing in her ear.
Selia couldn’t help but shiver.
Even the usually expressionless Bronya subtly moved a little closer to Selia.
“Sister Selia…
what is that sound?”
“How should I know where that ‘b’ noise is coming from?” Selia said fiercely, “If I catch it, I’ll definitely teach it a lesson!”
If one ignored the slight tremor in Selia’s voice as she spoke, it would probably have been quite convincing.
As Selia continued to advance, the sobbing not only didn’t stop but seemed to grow louder.
Finally, Selia saw the source of the crying.
A constantly sobbing Perro.
Damn it, it’s the Crying Kid.
Selia felt her blood pressure rising.
She really wanted to rush over and punch this guy who only cried.
But unfortunately, she didn’t dare, because she had too few people and couldn’t win.
This wasn’t a game where being stunned just meant letting a few monsters slip by or missing a collectible.
If they fought, and the Crying Kid hit her and Yaya, directly one-shotting them and initiating an infinite stun, then Selia truly wouldn’t be able to cry even if she wanted to.
Damn it, you’ve really messed with me, Selia.
You’ve kicked a cotton ball; not only can I not beat you, but I also have to come and comfort you.
Taking a deep breath, suppressing the urge to punch him twice, Selia asked with a smile, “Excuse me, are you lost?”
Of course, Selia knew she wouldn’t get an answer to this question, because this guy would just keep crying.
However, if there was no fight at this node, only one dialogue was needed to pass, so Selia decisively took Yaya and bypassed this annoying guy.
Having passed this node, Selia, feeling relieved, immediately rushed to the last node of the first layer, the Shrewd Merchant.
“A huge sum of 45 originium shards, I hope I get some useful good stuff…”
Arriving at Kannnot’s familiar little shop, Selia didn’t bother to greet him and quickly looked at the items in the display case.
[Support Landmine Set], [Medic Recruitment Voucher], [Hand of Swiftness], [Hand of Grasping], [Broken Crossbow – Training], [Spectrometer], [Seaweed Salad], [Game Room Administrator Access Card]
“Hmm?
There’s Hand of Swiftness?” Selia’s eyes lit up.
According to the system’s description and previous trial tests, Selia could directly be considered any one of the Guard, Sniper, or Specialist classes, and naturally, she could enjoy the attack speed boosting effect of Hand of Swiftness.
Moreover, when she and Bronya fought, they already operated separately, so the restriction that Hand of Swiftness couldn’t take effect around teammates was meaningless to Selia.
“Kannnot, I’ll buy these two!” Selia took out the Hand of Swiftness and Support Landmine Set from the counter and, with a grand gesture, said, “Refresh the items.”
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”