Due to Kukulkan's earlier collision, the Hyperion's hull was damaged and its power core was compromised. Having lost power, it came to a halt on the railway tracks.
Fortunately, Kukulkan was willing to pull the ship for Ryn. Otherwise, Ryn would have had to tearfully slaughter Kukulkan, skin it to repair the Hyperion, rip out its core to replace the power unit, and the meat couldn't be wasted either—it could be used to nourish Penglaiji Ryn...
The Hyperion was 278.5 meters long, with a deck length of 182 meters, while Kukulkan, including its 200-meter-plus tail, was over 320 meters long, with a wingspan of over 250 meters...
A special mention goes to that other dragon-type Honkai Beast, Benares, which was only a dozen or so meters long.
But Benares was truly unfortunate; its entire life was spent getting owned.
First, it swallowed Welt, but Welt pulled off his classic revival, tearing open Benares's stomach to escape, and was then severely injured by Welt's mimicked Star of Eden.
It was then hit by a blast from Siegfried's Might of An-Utu, and then its core was shattered by Shabu's suicide attack through the wound left by the Divine Key...
Afterward, with Sirin's death, Benares also stopped regenerating and self-froze in the Siberian tundra.
A normal Kukulkan is only twenty to thirty meters long. The one Ryn acquired was purely an anomaly among its kind...
It was born in a distant era, in a civilization that has since vanished, its origins lost to time.
Ryn once thought it was created by the Honkai in the image of the Feathered Serpent God from mythology, but he was wrong. The legend of the Feathered Serpent God was inspired by this sycophantic dragon...
So this Kukulkan was the very same "Feathered Serpent God" that people once worshipped...
Its former civilization was destroyed for unspeakable reasons, and it, the master of life and civilization, became so weak that it degenerated into the form of a reptilian dinosaur.
Just like its easily angered personality in the myths, it was driven into a rage by the beer bottles thrown by Ryn and Himeko.
Using the energy it had stored for thousands of years, it transformed back into its Feathered Serpent God form and charged in for revenge.
And then it submitted...
If the world hadn't been destroyed, if the death spot hadn't blotted out the sun's light, if civilization still flourished, Kukulkan, the master of life, the sun, and civilization, would have definitely picked a fight with Ryn...
But there are no ifs. Not every Honkai Creature is a Janna. And the currently weakened Kukulkan could only bully other Honkai Creatures and Himeko's group. When faced with a Herrscher, it still had to kneel.
Thus, the legendary god, Kukulkan, was now reduced to Ryn's chariot-puller, hauling the Hyperion forward.
Ryn and Penglaiji Ryn now sat on Kukulkan's head, eating barbecue, enjoying the distant scenery, and inquiring about Kukulkan's situation.
"You're so strong, why don't you go pledge allegiance to the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei?" Penglaiji Ryn patted Kukulkan beneath her feet.
"I don't like her. They destroyed this world, destroyed all civilizations. So I'd rather be a little dragon and stay in this empty place.
You have no idea. I was sleeping soundly underground, and just accidentally leaked a bit of my aura.
Suddenly, a white-haired girl appeared, holding a long spear, and she just plucked me out of the ground with one shot, followed by a severe beating.
After the beating, she realized I was also a Honkai Creature and let me go. But years later, that woman came back and beat me up again.
If I hadn't kowtowed and begged for mercy so quickly back then, you wouldn't be seeing me now."
"Kiana subdued you?" Ryn patted Kukulkan's head. He didn't sense God Kiana's aura.
"No, she fed me to a manta ray..."
Kukulkan looked so aggrieved that tears were about to fall. First, it was scared half to death by God Kiana's aura, then scared half to death again by Janna's gaping maw.
"Pfft..." Ryn couldn't help but laugh out loud. So, it turned out this Kukulkan fellow had been swallowed by Janna just like him.
Misery loves company. Ryn decided not to make things difficult for Kukulkan anymore and put down the sword he had been using to carve its meat. Although Kukulkan could regenerate as long as there was Honkai energy and light, he felt a bit bad constantly cutting its flesh.
Seeing Ryn stop carving meat, Penglaiji Ryn knew that today's barbecue was over.
"It's a shame Seele and the others can't eat this, otherwise the base's food problem would be solved..."
"ROAR—" (My life is so miserable!!)
"Stop screaming and pull the ship properly."
Ryn stomped his foot, quieting Kukulkan down. Then he took Penglaiji Ryn back to the Hyperion.
Seeing the two return, Seele came up with a smile to greet them.
"Yo! You're back. How did your chat with the big guy go?"
"It went pretty well. We learned a bit about its situation. Although it's a bit weak right now, just a paper tiger, it's more than enough to deal with ordinary Honkai Creatures. As long as it's around, we don't have to worry about being attacked by Honkai Creatures."
Seele walked a few circles around Ryn, scrutinizing him carefully, then put one hand on her hip and pointed at him with the other, feigning anger as she said:
"I can't believe it, you're a Herrscher! And you've been tricking me for so long!"
Ryn smiled and stuck out his tongue, "That's because Seele is too gullible..."
"Take this!"
——————————————
Acquiring Kukulkan was perhaps the only happy event in the past few days...
Now, one difficult matter after another has arisen.
Bronya has resigned from her position as the leader of the Fire Moth.
Because Bronya felt that it was her avoidance and weakness, her repeated inability to make up her mind to kill Mei, that affected everyone's actions.
That's why she had to watch her family die in front of her time and time again. If she had made up her mind to kill the Herrscher sooner, then the entire world wouldn't have been reduced to just the dozen or so people left on the Hyperion...
But even now, Bronya's heart still couldn't bring itself to strike Mei...
So Bronya resigned as the leader of the Fire Moth. A weak person like her was no longer qualified to lead everyone.
Additionally, due to the strong magnetic field from the previous thunderstorm, Kukulkan's collision, and a series of suicide attacks by Honkai Creatures...
The Hyperion has sustained damage up to nearly 67%, and its power core has also stopped functioning.
Even with Kukulkan pulling the Hyperion along, the ship would soon be unable to maintain even normal operations...
The death spot blocks the sun's light. Once the Hyperion ceases to function and loses its power systems, everyone will become blind, forced to fumble around in the darkness.
Kukulkan's body can carry dozens of people, but humans and Honkai cannot coexist.
In fact, to prevent being contaminated by the Honkai aura from Kukulkan, most people have to stay away from the front of the ship and maintain a distance from Kukulkan...