Looking at Saori's serious expression, Ming Yu also realized the foolishness of his action.
Frankly, he didn't have a Kaslana-like constitution that could easily manipulate large amounts of Honkai Energy, so his mana pool was not superior to that of other Valkyries.
Even though he practiced the Taixu Sword Qi passed down from Fu Hua, it couldn't change this disadvantage. While he wouldn't be out of breath after a few slashes, he hadn't reached the point where he could squander Honkai Energy wantonly.
"Understood, I'll be careful next time."
Nodding, Ming Yu indicated that he had taken his captain's advice to heart.
As for the power of that last slash, he wasn't worried that Saori and the others would become suspicious.
Although an attack filled with special effects wasn't scientific, it was very Honkai-like, so it wasn't something unacceptable. At the very least, it wouldn't be difficult for Pulse Armor to achieve such an effect.
Seeing that Ming Yu had accepted her suggestion, Saori breathed a sigh of relief internally. Although she was nominally the squad captain and had command over Ming Yu, the order from the higher-ups made her quite concerned.
If Ming Yu insisted on doing things his own way, she wouldn't be able to control him much. But, at least for now, it seemed Ming Yu was not the type to completely ignore advice.
Glancing at the Honkai Beast remains on the ground, Saori said to her two team members, "The first battle went very smoothly, but we can't let our guard down. After all, the enemies we encounter next may not be stragglers."
Although two Chariot-class Honkai Beasts dozens of meters tall couldn't be considered small fry—their hard carapaces were comparable to steel plates of the same thickness, and in terms of strength, they could easily defeat a squad of conventionally equipped soldiers—in front of Squad 16 of the Far East Branch, they could only be considered stragglers, equivalent to training equipment.
"Alright, mission continues!"
With that, Saori once again walked to the front of the team, fulfilling her duty as captain.
Ming Yu and Lia exchanged a glance and followed. They had both prepared themselves; although this kind of rookie mission wouldn't be too difficult, it also wouldn't be over after just one battle.
If there were only a few Honkai Beasts, even the intelligence department would have no trouble dealing with them.
Or rather, if even a few Honkai Beasts couldn't escape the surveillance of the Far East Branch, should they give the intelligence department a double-tap 666?
Soon, the silent forest returned to tranquility, with only the white remains indicating that a not-so-fierce battle had taken place here.
...
"Haa... Haa..."
Pulling her greatsword out of an Arbalest-class Honkai Beast, Saori couldn't help but gasp for air.
"Let's rest here for two hours. Everyone's armor needs to recharge its energy."
Looking at the ground littered with Honkai Beast remains and her two equally exhausted team members, Saori commanded in a deep voice.
"Mmm."
Ming Yu flicked his Sakura Fubuki, sheathed it, and deactivated the burst mode of his Domain Armor: Cold Night. He leaned against a large tree and answered wearily.
"Understood!"
Leaning on her black long spear with one hand and a large tree with the other, Lia also forced herself to answer loudly.
Just as Saori had predicted, they encountered more Honkai Beasts. The types were no longer limited to Chariot-class; Assault-class, Arbalest-class, Knight-class, and others began to appear.
But this was not surprising. Although the mission requirement was to clear out Chariot-class Honkai Beasts, the Valkyries couldn't possibly ask the intelligence department to verify the type of every single Honkai Beast, so you never knew how different what you encountered would be from the mission description.
As the number and variety of Honkai Beasts continued to increase, even Saori had to join the battle, rather than just stalling as she had before.
In the three hours of the mission, including the first two, they had encountered a total of four waves of Honkai Beasts, with the largest wave consisting of more than twenty.
And in this high-intensity combat, the stamina of the three, as well as the Honkai Energy in their armor, was rapidly being depleted.
After all, in terms of physical constitution, they were all just ordinary people without a built-in infinite stamina buff. Although they weren't completely exhausted, they were clearly not fit to continue the mission.
Moreover, the energy in their armor was almost depleted. Although the armor could absorb ambient Honkai Energy from the air, this also required time.
Fortunately, Saori was skilled. Her greatsword, combined with the Iron Wall Form of her Drive Armor, perfectly blocked the onslaught of the Honkai Beast swarm, ensuring that the three-person squad had not suffered any serious injuries so far.
This also showed that Theresa had not been indifferent to Ming Yu's squad assignment. Even though this setup was a far cry from the future main trio's starting A-rank Valkyrie Murata Himeko plus the Hyperion floating warship, they at least had a reliable elite Valkyrie in Saori.
After catching their breath, the three of them moved away from the messy battlefield, found a cleaner open space to sit down, and took out their food and energy drinks to replenish their stamina.
Yes, you guessed it, compressed biscuits and saline, Bronya's favorite food, very fitting for the current environment. Not only were they simple and convenient, but they also served to replenish stamina.
In the current atmosphere, the food the three carried perfectly fulfilled its most basic purpose: replenishing energy.
While chewing on the hard-to-swallow biscuit, Ming Yu couldn't help but miss Mei's cooking even more.
He figured that, given Mei's personality, even on a mission, she wouldn't let her teammates chew on this kind of stuff.
"Everyone's doing great. With just a little more effort, today's mission can be successfully completed."
Taking a sip of water to wash down the compressed biscuit, Saori encouraged the two rookies.
Although they had eliminated quite a few Honkai Beasts so far, the mission couldn't be considered complete until they confirmed that the Honkai Beasts in this area were completely cleared out. At most, the mission rating would be increased later due to the increased number of Honkai Beasts.
Frankly, the mission had progressed to a point where it was vaguely exceeding the capabilities of average rookies. But Ming Yu and Lia's performance had indeed surprised Saori; even when facing so many Honkai Beasts for the first time, they still held their ground.
Plus, the current difficulty of the mission was still far from exceeding the squad's capabilities. Turning back now would be too embarrassing.
Even though they couldn't stay here overnight due to logistical supply issues—rookie missions were generally not too complex, so they hadn't prepared to stay overnight, not even bringing tents, and only had one day's worth of food rations—to leave the Honkai Beasts here unchecked, knowing they existed, would be an extremely irresponsible act.
If they couldn't clear out the Honkai Beasts in this area today, it would mean Squad 16 would have to spend the next few days here.
And if a rookie mission took several days, even if the higher-ups would be understanding about the increased mission difficulty, the jokes from their fellow Valkyrie squad leaders would be inevitable.
Thinking about the days to come, Saori couldn't help but sigh and complain, "This is all the Third Herrscher's fault. If she hadn't triggered the Great Eruption in Nagazora, the Honkai Beasts wouldn't be so active!"
With the awakening of a Herrscher, the global scale of the Honkai would also strengthen to a certain extent. This had been confirmed by Schicksal's research. And the most direct manifestation of this was the activity level of the Honkai Beasts.