The words of Dark Jixuanyuan echoed in Senti's mind, giving this young Herrscher a slight shock, leaving her mouth half-opened, unable to move for a moment.
"Be careful!"
Helix's shout through the mental link snapped Senti out of her shock. She noticed the fiery rain of arrows rising from the position of the zombies and archers, creating a sensation of a starry sky within the cave.
"Accept this kindness graciously!"
A pink light rose from the ground, forming a semi-transparent canopy in the air. Immediately after, an arrow shot by Helix pierced through the canopy, exploding into pink stardust, like reverse-flying meteors, intercepting the barrage of arrows from the zombies and archers.
In an instant, explosions crackled everywhere, with most of the arrows colliding in mid-air, shattering into pieces. The remaining arrows fell weakly to the ground, easily brushed aside by Senti.
The Herrscher of Sentience gazed ahead, where the shield-bearing Templar Class Honkai beasts continued to advance, resembling a wall pressing down upon them.
Behind the Templar Class beasts were some scythe-wielding zombies, strategically positioned at the edges of the shield formation.
As long as the Templar Class beasts slightly tilted their shields, the zombies could directly thrust their weapons out. If the gaps widened a bit more, they could directly charge out from within.
Dark Jixuanyuan stood at the center of the formation, surrounded by swirling Dark energy that bolstered the nearby zombies and Honkai beasts. Their eyes emitted a faint red glow, making them appear even more menacing.
"Honkai Aura skills? And controlling the Honkai beasts to form a combat formation?"
Helix raised her eyebrows as she observed the scene before her.
This was indeed a fresh sight. At least in the game storyline, there hadn't been much cooperation among the Honkai beasts; they mainly relied on instinctual combat.
Perhaps because Jixuanyuan was still the leader of a large clan, leading her people to survive on the land of Shenzhou, she not only needed to battle the Honkai beasts but also engage in conflicts with humans from other tribes.
In such a situation, in addition to personally engaging in combat, Jixuanyuan also needed to command her clan members to coordinate attacks. The marching Honkai beasts and zombies before them were the best proof of her relatively decent commanding abilities.
Senti clicked her tongue and charged towards the rapidly approaching "white wall."
The reaction of the Honkai beasts and zombies was extremely swift. They formed a V-shaped formation, attempting to flank Senti from both sides. However, even though they received reinforcement from Dark Jixuanyuan's enhancement, Senti's abilities exceeded what they could handle.
The shields of the Templar Class beasts became mere decorations in front of Senti. Her combat style was unpredictable, switching from straightforward fist fights to precise killings with long swords and short blades in the blink of an eye.
Whether it was the Honkai beasts or the zombies, they couldn't withstand more than two moves from Senti. They bore obvious wounds, then collapsed weakly to the ground, turning into purple dust.
Dark Jixuanyuan observed this situation, gesturing for the death archers to launch a covering fire. Meanwhile, she conjured many more powerful arrows behind her, aiming them at Senti for a joint attack.
Senti smiled, letting the arrows pass through her body.
"Huh?!" Dark Jixuanyuan widened her eyes. "Illusion?!"
"Correct!"
Senti's real body appeared not far away. She laughed heartily, kicking away a dual-wielding death soldier, who arched through the air and embedded into the mountain wall.
"Clang!"
On the other side, Helix pulled her longbow into a full moon shape. Standing still, she held her breath and unleashed the weapon skill of "Whispers of the Past: Sonnet" towards Dark Jixuanyuan and the distant formation of death archers.
Two crystal arrows tore through the sky. Dark Jixuanyuan intercepted both attacks with her sword, effortlessly deflecting them. Her interception was forceful, shattering the crystal arrows into pieces with the Honkai energy carried on her Dark Xuanyuan Sword.
But in the next moment, two crystal barriers bloomed in front of Dark Jixuanyuan, much to her surprise. They covered a large area around her, even affecting the formation of the death archers.
In Helix's view, all the death archers had the status of "Crystalline Seed" marked above their heads.
"?!" Dark Jixuanyuan felt something was amiss. She urged her warhorse to leave the barrier, but found herself hindered by the power of the pink domain, unable to move as if trapped in mud.
This was the weapon skill "Whispers of the Past: Sonnet"; "Crystal Seed: Aim at the enemy with the bow and arrow, causing damage upon hit, and leaving a 'Crystal Barrier' on the ground for five seconds, reducing the movement speed of enemies within the barrier."
Helix pulled her bow again and launched a rapid pursuit towards Dark Jixuanyuan.
Dark Jixuanyuan remained unfazed, her long sword creating a whirlwind, enduring the aftermath of the attack. She originally planned to let the death archers continue firing, but when she looked back, she found the archers' formation completely disarrayed.
"I clearly intercepted them..." Dark Jixuanyuan was puzzled.
This was because Helix's attacks had affixed a special status called "Crystalline Seed" to the enemies. When the weapon skill "Whispers of the Past: Sonnet" hit, it would spread the "seed" to nearby enemies. When the "Miss Pink Elf" attacked again, it would chain-react, detonating all enemies with the "seed" status.
The archers with "seeds" hanging above their heads acted as the fuse, resembling firecrackers from afar, blasting the distant death archer squad into chaos.
Helix fired two more rounds, almost obliterating the archer squad. Dark Jixuanyuan finally grasped the situation. She immediately ordered the long-range units to spread out to avoid chain casualties, while continuing their fire suppression on Helix and Senti.
Indeed, while Senti wreaked havoc in the frontlines, reducing the numbers of Templar Class and close combat zombies visibly, in a sense, she was also being held back by these monsters at the cost of their lives... even if it only delayed her for a few seconds.
Seizing this opportunity, Dark Jixuanyuan spurred her horse and charged towards the Miss Pink Elf.
"Not again, targeting the backline, huh?! Senti, help out!"
Helix grabbed her bow and ran, shooting arrows while on the move. The arrows exploded into brilliant pink crystals upon hitting Dark Jixuanyuan, significantly weakening her. Helix was sure that if she had taken this much damage before, she would have been taken down easily.
But now Dark Jixuanyuan only had a thin mist on her, and her armor had absorbed some color from the rocks, appearing even heavier.
"Stop right there!"
A spear flew from a distance, smashing straight into the armored horse's neck, deflecting Dark Jixuanyuan's charge off-course. It was Senti's spear attack, providing strong support despite not being able to reach Helix in time.
Dark Jixuanyuan glanced at Senti, her eyes flashing with strange colors.
Her core chest flashed, and a dangerous aura enveloped the blade of the Dark Xuanyuan Sword. A dark sword energy flew out, aiming straight at Helix.
The Miss Pink Elf twisted her body and flew backward, delivering a powerful counterattack that smashed into the sword energy. The collision emitted a terrifying buzzing sound!
Dark Jixuanyuan didn't pause, attacking around Helix. Dark sword energies crisscrossed, leaving exaggerated marks on the ground, with cracks spreading along these furrows.
In the next moment, the enemies rode horses and leaped out, launching a sword technique descending from the sky. The eerie light on the Dark Xuanyuan Sword shimmered, fiercely smashing into the ground!
The stony ground was engulfed in Dark mist in the blink of an eye, and Dark Jixuanyuan's armor also gained some color from the rocks, becoming even heavier!
Helix was taken aback. This was the devouring transformation ability of "Chiyou"!
"Boom!"
In the next moment, the entire ground trembled and shattered. The Miss Pink Elf staggered, stepping on a stone and falling into the depths of the Nine Hells!
The strong wind tousled Helix's hair and clothes as she launched an attack towards Dark Jixuanyuan, who was also falling!
"Ding!"
Dark Jixuanyuan took the arrow head-on, her attention not on Helix but on moving deeper.
Helix adjusted her posture and pursued downward, but the other party continued to ignore her, only focused on falling deeper.
At this point, Dark Jixuanyuan had been stabbed seven or eight times by Helix's arrows, and her armor was covered with pink crystals, appearing quite battered.
However, she had achieved her goal.
As the depth increased, Dark Jixuanyuan got closer to the core of "Chiyou," and the fluctuation of Honkai energy in her core chest became more pronounced. Finally, when she reached a certain critical point, a qualitative change occurred!
Dark Jixuanyuan's eyes narrowed, slashing forward with her sword. This sword briefly tore through the barrier of reality, opening a tiny hole leading to the imaginary space.
Under normal circumstances, such a hole would be repaired within a few seconds. After all, Dark Jixuanyuan wasn't a Herrscher of the Void and lacked the specialized Herrscher abilities to maintain the hole...
But at this moment, a familiar wave came from the other side of the imaginary space. It quickly supported the position of the hole and slowly, steadily began to expand!
"Holy shit! Its the Tree!"