After sitting in the living room for a while, Aili was still quite curious about the fragrant thing she had sensed.
Just a quick look from afar should be fine, right? Aili thought to herself.
And that pseudo-Herrscher hadn't emerged from the grove. Why was that? She had severely injured Theresa, yet she remained holed up there. There must be something there.
Aili picked up her weapon and keys, cautiously opened the door, and stepped out. After going downstairs, she headed towards the grove.
She didn't intend to go inside. She wanted to find a high vantage point to see if she could spot anything within.
However, Aili underestimated the worth of an S-Rank Valkyrie. The sound of her opening the door still caught Theresa's attention.
After Theresa saw Aili's direction from the window, she quickly pursued her, but due to Aili's previous actions, she decided to follow Aili from a distance to see what Aili intended to do. If Aili tried to enter Chiba Academy, she could immediately stop her.
Aili weaved left and right, bypassing all the Death Soldier that appeared on the road. Aili also noticed that the Death Soldier no longer locked onto her from a great distance. Combining this with her improved Honkai energy perception ability today, it seemed it was the Honkai energy leaking from her body that attracted the attention of these Death Soldier.
These Death Soldier still possessed their most basic instinct: the instinct to absorb Honkai energy. Previously, Aili had always gathered a large area of Honkai energy, and then leaked it in small amounts. This was equivalent to reducing the large-scale Honkai energy concentration, and then increasing the small-scale Honkai energy intensity. To the Death Soldier, she was a delicious treat before.
It was inconvenient to move around with the compound bow, so Aili transformed it into a glove and wore it on her free hand.
Although she didn't understand the principle, if it could transform like that, then it was acceptable.
Theresa, who was following Aili, clearly saw Aili's weapon transform into a glove after a flash of pink light. She was now even more curious about Aili's weapon.
When she reached a certain distance from Chiba Academy, Aili headed directly towards the nearest commercial building to Chiba Academy.
In this unfamiliar building, Aili decided it was better to climb the stairs.
Walking all the way up to the rooftop via the stairs, Aili lay on the roof, looking down at Chiba Academy below.
From above, the current Chiba Academy looked as if it had been abandoned for a long time.
Numerous intertwined large trees occupied most of the ground outside Chiba Academy, and some even grew directly out of the buildings.
On several buildings within Chiba Academy, there were vines everywhere.
If she hadn't known that the Third Honkai Impact hadn't happened too long ago, Aili would have thought that Chiba Academy had been abandoned for decades.
The current Chiba Academy looked completely out of place with its surroundings.
On the building, whose purpose was unknown, there were also large holes of unknown origin.
From Aili's position, she could even see into the interior of the building through one of the large holes. Through that hole, Aili caught a glimpse of gold.
Aili shifted slightly to the side, moving her line of sight to see more of the building's internal structure through that large hole.
Soon, Aili clearly saw the main body of that golden glint: a golden cross.
That was Theresa's weapon, and Aili now knew where the hole in the building came from. It was probably, most likely, smashed open by Theresa. (In reality, it was created when Sakura rescued someone.)
While Aili was still observing, the plants within Chiba Academy seemed to sense something.
Suddenly, a vine shot out from within Chiba Academy, striking a corner of the building beneath Aili's feet.
Aili saw the vine from the rooftop and initially thought she had been discovered.
However, as more and more vines appeared, Aili realized that these vines were not attacking the building she was on.
Aili, having moved to a position where she could see the vine attacks, peered down from the building.
Her excellent eyesight allowed her to clearly see a White-haired dumpling dodging the vine attacks.
As if enraged by the vine attacks, the White-haired dumpling ran along the direction of the attack, to the side of Chiba Academy.
Then, golden chains shot out from within Chiba Academy, blocking the vine attacks for the White-haired dumpling.
At the same time, the White-haired dumpling grabbed a golden chain, and as she pulled hard, a giant golden cross smashed through Chiba Academy's outer wall and was pulled out.
Aili sighed from the rooftop. So Theresa really was disobedient. She had been told to rest well, yet she had secretly run out.
The glove on her hand immediately transformed into a compound bow. Aili then quickly ran to the stairs with the compound bow and flipped down floor by floor using the handrail.
Soon, Aili reached the first floor. At the main entrance, Aili saw Theresa holding Judah and confronting a young girl. Aili hid by the door, not going out directly.
"You little mouse are still alive, huh?" The girl, surrounded by vines, stood inside Chiba Academy and said fiercely to Theresa.
"You seem quite disappointed that I'm not dead." Theresa plunged Judah into the ground, then pulled out a golden spear from within Judah.
"If it weren't for that annoying cross..." the girl said gloomily, then the vines around her suddenly erupted, thrusting towards Theresa.
Theresa dodged to the side, and she also parried the particularly close vines with her spear. Many golden chains also flew out from the cross, wrapping around the charging vines.
But the girl's vines were even more numerous.
In front of where the girl stood, many more vines were bursting from the ground, attempting to reduce the number of chains by entangling Judah.
Seeing this situation, Theresa conjured another spear in her other hand and directly threw it towards the girl.
However, after penetrating the interception net formed by vines, it only grazed the girl's arm and embedded itself in the wall of Chiba Academy.
As the battle progressed, Theresa's movements became smoother and smoother. With one hand, she used the spear to block the vine attacks, while simultaneously finding time to throw spears with her other hand, attacking the girl who was manipulating the vines.
Watching the two fight, Aili wiped away non-existent sweat from her forehead. She felt that neither of them was using their full power yet.
Aili drew her compound bow by the door, and after confirming her position, she aimed at the girl.
It wasn't that Aili was heartless, but she had seen something. After Theresa's attack wounded the girl, Aili saw that the blood flowing from the girl's wound was purple, and the wound healed at an incredibly fast rate.
And during one instance when the girl didn't completely dodge Theresa's attack and her forearm was severed by Theresa's spear, Aili saw the cross-section of the wound.
A pure white body, very similar to the white ash that Death Soldier turn into after death. The severed limb, after its purple blood drained, turned into a cloud of white ash and dispersed like an ordinary Death Soldier. Then, the girl's severed arm would slowly regenerate with purple blood.
In other words, this girl might have been an ordinary Death Soldier before, though she possessed some sentience. But listening to her conversation with Theresa, this girl was beyond saving.
Aili pursed her lips, then released the string she was holding.
A pink arrow shot towards the girl, who was protected by layers of vines.
This arrow would definitely hit. Although she didn't know where the feeling came from, Aili simply followed her intuition.
As a pink light flashed, a tearing wound caused by the arrow appeared on the vines protecting the girl and on the girl's body itself.
The girl instantly turned her head towards the direction of the attack, looking at Aili at the entrance of the building, and said with a distorted expression, "Another annoying mouse! I must, I must, I must tear you all to shreds!"
The girl's wounds healed at a visible speed.
"Oh my, it's not nice to talk to a beautiful young lady like that, you'll be disliked ♪~" Aili said, but in her heart she wondered, 'Can even such wounds heal?'
"Aili, stay away from here! That guy has deadly toxins on her!" Theresa's voice rang out from the side.
"Heh heh I know ♪" Aili said, leaving the building and moving further away from Theresa and the girl's battlefield.
Aili ran while drawing her bowstring, and a special arrow slowly materialized. This arrow wasn't entirely pink; it had some dark red patterns and flickered with a faint red flame.
Taking a deep breath, Aili abruptly stopped in place, turned around, and then aimed the bow and arrow in her hand at the girl.
With that inexplicable feeling of guaranteed hit, Aili released the bowstring in her hand.
This time, the arrow swiftly passed through the vines and plunged fiercely into the girl's body, not directly piercing through.
The girl glared fiercely in Aili's direction, then reached out to pull out the arrow, but when her hand touched the arrow, scarlet flames instantly ignited on her body.
When the flames ignited, the girl instantly screamed in agony.
The girl desperately pulled at the arrow with both hands, but she couldn't pull it out no matter what.
The flames grew larger and larger, and the vines controlled by the girl, as well as the grove within Chiba Academy, began to burn.
Seeing this situation, Theresa grabbed a chain and ran towards Aili. As she passed Aili, she directly pulled Aili away from the area.
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