Lin leaped high, supporting himself with his right hand on the car roof. In a stylish, acrobatic spin, he drew his dagger and beheaded the Honkai Zombie that was loitering near the car.
The person and the head hit the ground simultaneously.
Lin quickly pulled open the car door and slid inside, immediately sticking the knife into the passenger seat. He then hit the engine start button, shifted gears with one hand, and steered the wheel. The car roared to life and, after a brief start, shot out like an arrow released from a bow.
The Chariot-class Honkai Beast, realizing its prey intended to escape, angrily smashed the ground. The earthquake-like vibrations from the close proximity traveled up to Lin's hands. It arched its body like a fully drawn longbow—a precursor to its pounce attack.
Many people misunderstood the speed of Honkai Beasts, believing their massive bodies, thick shells, and deformed structures couldn't support rapid movement. But in reality, except for certain specialized Honkai Beasts, most can move at speeds of sixty to one hundred kilometers per hour. Knight-class Honkai Beasts can even reach terrifying speeds of nearly three hundred kilometers per hour during a charge.
The most misunderstood were the Temple-class and Chariot-class Honkai Beasts. The Temple-class moved by levitation, so its heavy armor didn't slow it down. The Chariot-class, on the other hand, could use its sheer strength for explosive leaps and charges, combined with the inertia from its weight for devastating crashes. On flat ground, escaping one was virtually impossible.
The Chariot-class Honkai Beast converted its Honkai energy and muscle power into propulsion. Its body, equivalent to a small hill, pressed deep furrows into the ground before it launched itself into the air, swooping down toward the vehicle Lin was driving.
The crushing heavy hammer of muscle was about to flatten the small car into an iron pancake. In the second before impact, Lin increased speed again, using a feint to make the attack miss.
The resulting air pressure caused the car's front wheels to drift and even momentarily lift off the ground, but Lin steadily controlled the car's movement, completely unfazed.
He had piloted a Titan; what was a small car?
Lin used the rearview mirror to confirm that the Chariot-class Honkai Beast was preparing its crushing attack once more. He calmly zeroed in on the raised section of road ahead, fiercely slamming the accelerator to the floor!
"Screech!"
The friction between the tires and the asphalt ignited a smell, but Lin, whose sense of smell was already numb, focused entirely on the road ahead. He made the entire car "fly" to a height level with the Honkai Beast's shoulders. Inside the car, the internal structure groaned and creaked, close to its limit.
"Howl—"
The Honkai Beast swept down again, bringing with it a gust of wind pressure. It spotted the small car, which was now airborne and had nowhere to hide. It rushed forward without hesitation the moment the front wheels lifted, determined to completely flatten it into scraps.
"Bang!"
"Creak—"
The two arms slammed down, crushing the driver's seat and the passenger seat into a metal disc. Exploding fluid splashed out.
"Howl—"
It cheered in mid-air, cheering for the death of yet another human.
But it didn't see that there was no human "blood" among the splashing fluids.
Nor did it see the gas station directly ahead of its landing zone.
Lin, also airborne, felt time nearly stop.
He had broken free just a fraction of a second before the attack landed. This near-miss with Death pushed the processing speed of his mind beyond its limits.
His five senses briefly failed after the impact. All he could see was pitch black. He couldn't hear, smell, or feel anything. He was in a silent space, just like...
The time he used the Phase Transfer Device.
Even pain became a luxury.
He closed his eyes.
"..."
Was this the limit of a human? Without external aid, just a heavy impact was enough to disrupt his senses.
"————"
No!
"Click."
Lin, whose eyes were vacant in mid-air, instantly drew his loaded pistol.
He could not see or hear anything, nor did he have any sense of touch, but at this moment, relying only on memory and calculation, he executed his planned movement.
He didn't aim, yet without the slightest hesitation, he fired the gun directly at the half-section of the car still held in the Honkai Beast's hands, hitting the fuel tank.
He hit the fuel tank in a single, fluid motion.
"Boom————"
The explosion swallowed the Honkai Beast, triggering a chain reaction at the gas station. The towering flames illuminated the night sky. Glass shattered in nearby buildings. The terrifying boom shook the entire city.
This included Seele, who was moving up the building with Hua. She shuddered at the shocking explosion.
"That explosion was..." Hua, distraught, clearly thought of Lin. She looked out the window with worry.
"..." Seele gritted her teeth, looking at the Honkai Zombies who were stirred up by the sound of the explosion. She crouched low and shouted, "You hide well. Don't worry about that for now."
Hua looked at the hideous walking corpses and hesitated: "Let me help you..."
"No!"
Hua was a civilian. Seele had to protect her. In her current state, struggling just to stand, how could Seele explain it to Lin if something happened to her?
That's right, Lin will be fine. He was the one who subjugated an Emperor-class Honkai Beast in his first combat mission during the Second Eruption. It was just an evolved Chariot-class Honkai Beast; Lin could definitely handle it, even without his gear.
She tried to convince herself, but she couldn't stop thinking about Lin's uncoordinated body and his injured head, and she thought of the mother and son. Her dagger trembled.
Fear.
She didn't know if she was afraid Lin wouldn't come back, or if she was afraid of the increasing number of Honkai Zombies.
But—
Seele squeezed her trembling arm with her free hand.
Lin's perpetually calm voice echoed in her ears.
"We carry the burden of their lives..."
At that moment, her eyes became aggressive, and her body stopped trembling.
Because she was afraid, she had to... fight.
She shielded Hua behind her, pistol in her right hand, knife in her left, calmly observing every Honkai Zombie.
Kill them.
Save them.
Her heart told her so.
Lin was slammed against the wall of the second floor of a building by the shockwave, then crashed heavily onto the floor.
"Ugh—"
His five senses returned.
Lin immediately vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with internal organ fragments onto the ground, staining the floor crimson.
He lay weakly on the floor. His peripheral vision caught a piece of iron shrapnel lodged in his thigh, a result of the explosion's impact. Blood escaped from his body as if it were free of charge.
After a quick assessment of his injuries, Lin's gaze settled on the raging fire.
Did he win?
No. Based on experience...
"Howl—"
A ferocious roar made Lin's eyes narrow. A giant beast, also covered in striking pink blood, rose from the flames.
Sure enough, it's impossible without destroying the core.
But the explosion had destroyed the Chariot-class Honkai Beast's outer shell, and the center of the explosion was its core. Now, amidst the horrific, twisted muscle, the core was faintly visible.
The damaged Chariot-class Honkai Beast roared, turning toward Lin's location. Its hatred for this human had reached its peak. This time, it prepared nothing, leaping forward, determined to utterly crush this dying insect.
"Come on."
Come on!
Lin's eyes burst with stunning intensity. Ignoring the pain in his body, he rolled to his feet, drawing his knife for the last time. He bent both knees and leaped!
Compared to the Honkai Beast's height, his leap was pathetic.
But it was enough. He wasn't trying to collide with the Honkai Beast.
Lin executed a smooth mid-air flip, dodging the Honkai Beast's arm, and then arched his entire body backward, brushing against the Honkai Beast's face.
The distance was so close that Lin could see the Honkai energy flowing through the blood vessels and muscles.
The Honkai Beast's core—he saw it.
Lin's eyes flashed with brilliance. The dagger sliced through the muscle and plunged directly into the core.
Blood splashed onto his face.
"Hiss—"
The pained Honkai Beast landed and howled, rolling on the ground and crushing the surrounding buildings.
But soon, it gradually stopped moving, falling silent, and finally collapsing heavily.
Lin crawled up from the ground, hot blood soaking his body, making him look as if he had been pulled out of a paint bucket. He dragged his body, limping to the side of the Honkai Beast, moving past its thick arm toward the core.
"Cough, cough..."
The dagger was still embedded in the fleshy, pink core. Lin's body was exhausted; he couldn't even raise his hand to pull out the knife.
But he slowly picked up his pistol and, just as slowly, aimed it at the Honkai Beast's core.
"Bang!"
The recoil threw Lin back halfway across the floor.
He slowly crawled up again.
Aim, fire, collapse, crawl up.
He repeated this until the clip was empty, the Honkai Beast was utterly dead, and Lin couldn't crawl anymore, finally drawing the curtain on this bloody battle.