"No bloodbath, then!"
Twelve hours later.
That pretty much summed up Lu Xing's current state.
The bombing hadn't managed to take Lu Xing's life. In fact, the Honkai Beasts wiped out by that saturation attack didn't even amount to a third of the total number on site.
As for the reason...
Lu Xing had personally witnessed the power of the "Leader Absolute Zero Knight Captain."
The violent explosions weren't the impact and flames from missiles hitting the ground, but the sounds triggered after they were pierced mid-air by icicles. The Knight Captain had swung its long lance heavily in the air, and a fierce cold aura combined with Honkai energy, rapidly condensing into countless suspended, rotating lances of ice.
Frigid frost formed their bodies.
Solidified energy created their armor.
This special skill, akin to a fusion of [Stab], [Ballista], and [Honkai Lance Projection], made an incomparably spectacular debut.
Its magnificence was practically the Honkai version of the Gate of Babylon.
Subsequently—
Fireworks filled the sky, perfectly round from every angle.
Although Lu Xing was shocked by the opponent's strength, he didn't just freeze on the spot.
Taking advantage of the opening while the enemy dealt with the missiles, Lu Xing completely ignored the injuries to his wings, unleashed his Honkai energy to its limits, and vanished from the Knight Captain's sight in less than two seconds.
He rushed out of the city's edge.
He only dared to stop when he was deep into the desert, where the city's silhouette was but a faint outline.
This was far enough. A Knight-class wouldn't chase him all the way out here.
As for the rest...
He would probably need to think things through carefully.
————
"I need to think of another way."
After clashing with the Paladin squad led by the "Heavy Cavalry Leader," defeating two more Ranger-class beasts, and taking a spear thrust from the Knight Captain, Lu Xing had successfully leveled up to Lv.26.
But it was all for naught.
Even now, Lu Xing couldn't say he had a guaranteed victory in a head-on confrontation with a Paladin squad—once he took to the skies, he'd surely be targeted by anti-aircraft fire again—let alone fighting that terrifying Knight Captain.
Lu Xing hadn't considered giving up.
If he only fled whenever he encountered a strong enemy, he would never be able to grow stronger. Besides, that wasn't Lu Xing's personality.
"Since a direct confrontation is not advisable."
"Then I'll have to make use of the tactics engraved in our DNA."
Lu Xing's method wasn't clever; it was simple and practical: "guerrilla warfare."
Well... Lu Xing hadn't studied tactics in the slightest. His idea didn't even qualify for a sophisticated term like "guerrilla warfare." To put it bluntly, it boiled down to two words:
Sneak attacks.
His speed far surpassed ordinary Honkai Beasts. Apart from the Knight Captain, he hadn't yet found any Honkai Beast in the city faster than himself.
Sneak attacks and gradual attrition.
He would specifically target Honkai Beasts he could kill in one hit, absorb their Honkai Cores to replenish himself after defeating them. The enemy would be continuously weakened as he grew stronger, until only the Knight Captain remained.
But this tactic needed a bit of insurance.
That was "balance"—if Lu Xing killed too many Honkai Beasts, some sort of equilibrium in the city would inevitably be broken. If the human side decided to wipe out all the Honkai Beasts, including the Knight Captain, then his meticulously planned strategy would go down the drain.
Yes, a plan.
Combat was not the goal; it was merely the means to achieve the plan.
Although Lu Xing had arrived in this city somewhat like a tourist, he hadn't forgotten his objective: complete the mission.
And the current Lu Xing.
He was no longer fixated on acquiring a specific skill.
As long as he could defeat the Knight Captain, any of the three branch missions would do.
To achieve this goal, Lu Xing needed to "slightly" reduce the number of humans while hunting Honkai Beasts, to ensure the plan's progression to the greatest extent possible.
Lu Xing hadn't realized.
From his last encounter with humans until now, his thought process had unknowingly started to develop in the direction Xiū had "worried" about:
Whether human or Honkai Beast.
Their lives were gradually becoming mere numbers in the process of his mission.
————
After setting his goal.
Lu Xing re-evaluated the skills he possessed and what else the system might offer.
"The gacha and random missions, huh..."
Due to his level increase, and with the 7-day cooldown period having passed, Lu Xing's gacha function had reactivated.
Now he had to agonize over it.
Should he go for a direct gacha pull, or try his luck with a random mission again?
The gacha was, of course, simple and direct, but whether it would yield anything useful was hard to say. It wasn't impossible to get a whiteboard item and end up with 26 bullets.
The issuance and rewards of random missions followed no discernible pattern.
Although the difficulty was unknown, based on previous experiences, it would likely select based on the currently available conditions in his surroundings.
Meaning.
It was possible for Lu Xing to get a mission like "Defeat the 'Leader Absolute Zero Knight Captain'."
"No more hesitation."
Lu Xing decided to give the random mission function another chance to redeem itself!
Ding!
————
Mission: Be Stepped On
Reward: Constitution +1, Obtain Item [Knight Lance]
————
Name: Knight Lance
Type: Weapon
Grade: Whiteboard
Effect: A sharp, long-handled weapon, generally used for throwing and thrusting in combat. Although the shaft has no edge, if used properly, it can easily pierce an opponent's defense.
Skill: [Dissociation] — Increases [Stab] damage by 20%. If the target's constitution is lower than the user's attack, a throwing technique can be executed.
Note: This is a special limited-time mission (Remaining completion time 71:59:59). The reward has a subsequent advancement option.
————
"???"
Had this random mission function accidentally fallen ill?
Compared to the high difficulty and seriousness of the main missions, starting from [A Salted Fish], the random missions had displayed an unusually quirky style—from "eating crabs" which was practically a dark culinary experience, to this unique "X.P. Check" now... Was this really something that would appear in the same system?
Complaints aside.
Lu Xing felt that he actually quite liked these random missions.
Although Lu Xing, as a Ranger-class, couldn't use the Knight Lance yet, and it wouldn't be much help in his future battle against the Knight Captain; however, once he advanced to Knight-class, this lance with room for improvement would become an essential weapon.
Moreover, the difficulty of completing this not-so-hardcore random mission was definitely far lower than the former—Lu Xing had never experienced anything so stimulating (whether proper or improper), but as an L (for 'Learned') SP, after a little bit of fantasizing... his "desire," which had been suppressed to a considerably low level, became extremely active on a spiritual level!
Even if reality differed greatly from imagination...
A kink that could be ignited by mere imagination alone—how could it be such a trifling matter!