Honkai Impact 3rd: My Days as a Captain in Schicksal

Suddenly, Keng Huo felt his foot slip, and a long-weathered tile was crushed under his foot. Losing his balance, Keng Huo almost fell off the roof of a house. Fortunately, he grabbed the edge of the window and escaped unharmed.

But then, like rats whose nests had been disturbed, a large number of roof tiles fell off, immediately attracting the attention of the zombies wandering the streets.

"...Man proposes, God disposes; arrival time delayed by seven seconds."

Keng Huo's eyes narrowed slightly, a glint of light flashing within them that would make any living being uneasy. Without hesitation, he stomped hard on the wall, using the momentum to leap towards the wall surrounding the house.

Since we've been discovered... then kill them! Take care of them before they attract more enemies, then quickly hide! Otherwise, if we just run away, they'll relentlessly chase us. Even if we hide, they'll linger and howl where we disappeared. If we attract that small group of assassins nearby, it'll be troublesome...

The moment Keng Huo's toes touched the top of the wall, the zombie's withered hand reached out and grabbed at Keng Huo's leg with a speed completely inconsistent with its appearance.

Keng Huo's expression was as if he were watching a child's game. His toes barely touched the top of the wall, and with a little effort, he changed his trajectory. He spun around and flew past the zombies' heads as nimbly as a swift. Suddenly, a cross-shaped dart appeared in his left hand, and he threw it at the furthest zombie without even aiming. He then landed almost right next to the zombie that had tried to grab him earlier.

His movements were as precise as a killing machine. He kicked the zombie in the back of the knee, forcing it to kneel on one knee. In the brief moment before the zombie's knee hit the ground, Keng Huo had already grabbed its head with lightning speed and twisted it forcefully.

With a familiar creaking sound, Keng Huo, without even checking his spoils, suddenly sprang up and charged towards the other two zombies that had just turned around.

Moving like a startled swan!

Before they could even make a move, Keng Huo's two arms clamped down on their throats like a pair of pliers, as if embracing two long-lost friends, forcibly silencing their roars. Two blades flashed out from between his fingers like ghosts, plunging into the back of their heads at a cunning angle, like the spitting tongue of a viper.

In the blink of an eye, Keng Huo had already killed the three assassins, and in a short moment, he rushed towards the zombie from which he had thrown the dart.

A beastly roar erupted from the zombie's mouth, its eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty red light, as it dragged its right leg, now nothing but bones, back towards Keng Huo.

A hint of ferocity flashed in Keng Huo's eyes. His original plan was to use the dart to choke the zombie and prevent it from roaring, but the disappearance of the dart and the zombie's roar could only mean one thing.

He threw it off target.

"Tsk..." Keng Huo's expression was extremely impatient. As if he were bullying a child, he casually raised his left hand to push away the zombie's outstretched hands, grabbed its right shoulder, and then his right fist, like a dragon emerging from the water, struck the zombie's face.

However, this punch was not a straight punch, but rather at a slightly angled angle. Therefore, the zombie's head barely made contact with Keng Huo's fist before sliding away and crashing head-on into Keng Huo's right elbow.

This time, it's a real killer move.

Keng Huo's right elbow broke the zombie's nose bone, smashing its entire face into its head. Its head snapped back with the force of the impact, spurting out a kind of almost gelatinous blood.

This backward tilt dissipated most of the impact. Realizing that his attack had not pierced the zombie's sphenoid bone, Keng Huo did not stop attacking. After his right elbow struck the zombie's face, his right hand, like a venomous snake, wrapped around the back of the zombie's neck, hooked its entire neck, and pulled it into his arms. Suddenly, his right knee exerted force, like an iron hammer from below, smashing through the zombie's sphenoid bone.

Before he could even clean the blood off his body, Keng Huo leaped onto the wall and continued running along the same path.

Including the time it took to jump off the roof and climb back up the wall, it was exactly seven seconds.

It's as simple as stopping to tie your shoelaces while walking.

But Keng Huo's heart wasn't as light as it appeared: "It's been in disrepair for years... I'd completely forgotten about that... The buildings here are in terrible condition from the destruction by the Honkai creatures. It's possible to stumble upon a building that wasn't in good condition to begin with, and end up like this..."

After thinking it over carefully, Keng Huo took out his personal data terminal while running, glanced at the high places and rooftops along his route, and silently memorized them: "I'd better stick to the walls... What if I step on a rooftop next time and the building collapses... Oh right, and my accuracy... I haven't practiced in so long that I can't even hit the target at this distance anymore..."

·

Just when Keng Huo thought he could reach the low-activity zone of the collapsed creatures without any trouble, a sudden change occurred.

A sudden, needle-like sense of crisis struck him from behind, as if he were being watched by something dangerous. He almost had the illusion that a blade was pressed against his back. His hair stood on end, almost as if it were a reaction of his own body. He could barely see the movement of his hand, but the composite willow leaf knife was already half-drawn from his waist and held upright in front of him.

"clang--"

A crisp sound of metal clashing reached Keng Huo's ears, and the sharp sound of blades rubbing against each other sent shivers down his spine.

Before Keng Huo could even see what had attacked him, a tremendous force came from the weapon he had been holding, pushing him backward.

Only then did Keng Huo realize what was attacking him.

A gigantic scythe, its blade gleaming with an unsettling orange light!

The instant he saw the scythe clearly, Keng Huo suddenly realized that the force wasn't pushing him backward, but rather...

Pulling them towards the suicide squad!

Keng Huo's upper body suddenly bent backward, like a willow tree broken by a hurricane. At the same time, the willow leaf blade that was blocking the sickle's edge also tilted slightly, allowing the sickle's blade to slide along the tilted blade of the willow leaf blade, bringing up a string of sparks.

The sickle is a rather unusual weapon, with a strange way of attacking compared to ordinary weapons. First, it has two ways of holding it. When the user's hands are on or near the blade, the sickle is just an oddly used melee weapon. However, if the user's hands are gripping the middle and end of the handle...

This is the true way to use a sickle. It's not about slashing, but about taking advantage of the long handle to deliver continuous blows with the back of the blade and the handle while looking for an opportunity to extend the blade behind the opponent and then hook it back. An enemy with no eyes behind them naturally won't know which direction the sickle's blade will come from, and if they turn around to defend, they will be attacked by the person wielding the sickle. This kind of tricky attack and flexible change of tactics is the correct way to use a sickle.

The experienced Keng Huo was not fooled by this attack. He barely dodged the sickle's sneak attack with a Iron Bridge move, then swung his right leg like a whip, kicking the back of the sickle and causing it to pull back faster.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Keng Huo's reflexive counterattack caught the scythe-wielding assassin off guard, causing him to lose his balance due to the force of his own pull and stumble back two steps.

Keng Huo needed those two steps to attack. His willow-leaf knife, which he had only half-drawn, was now fully drawn. A sharp blade of light flashed, and with a heavy clang of metal clashing, the scythe-wielding assassin, who had only managed to raise his scythe handle to defend in his haste, was forced back another step by the powerful strike.

But just as Keng Huo was about to launch a close-quarters attack and enter his advantageous combat range, he suddenly abandoned his advantage, sheathed his sword, rolled to the side, and hid behind cover in one smooth motion. As he rolled, an arrow with a long tail flew out from an unnoticed corner like a venomous snake, trembling and embedding itself in the spot where Keng Huo had just been standing.

Without pausing for a moment, Keng Huo quickly glanced at the arrow pinned to the ground to determine the archer's location, then sprang to his feet and crouched low, moving like a gecko among the ruins. The assassin archer standing on the second floor of the ruins at the street corner couldn't keep up with Keng Huo's speed.

He appears and disappears like a gopher darting in and out of seven or eight holes, teasing you. You don't even know which direction he's in, where he came from, or which direction he's moving!

He was clearly running on flat ground, but after passing a billboard, he disappeared instantly.

He suddenly sprang out of the silent bushes, threw a stone at the scythe-wielding assassin, and then vanished behind the wall.

He seemed to have just appeared from my left, then quickly flashed past to the left.

Then he reappeared on his right, and then flashed to the left.

If that archer assassin were a rational and sane person, she would probably have suffered a mental breakdown by now. She drew the bowstring taut with suspicion, constantly turning the direction she was aiming at. Even the slightest sound of wind would make her think it was Keng Huo's figure, but every time she turned around, it was all in vain.

As she anxiously searched for Keng Huo's whereabouts, she failed to notice a dagger reflecting a cold light behind her.

·

Keng Huo expressionlessly picked up the archer's bow, casually slung her quiver over her shoulder, and with a light leap, used the exposed steel bars in the ruins to climb onto the roof, searching for the scythe-wielding assassin who had attacked her earlier.

"The wind is gentle, the sky is clear, and there is no other noise around..." Keng Huo closed his eyes slightly, as if feeling the flow of the wind.

He drew the bow to its full length at an extremely slow pace, as if gathering his strength.

Just as he drew the bow to its fullest extent, like a full moon, his eyes suddenly snapped open, gleaming with a captivating light. Instantly, the surrounding wind seemed to stir restlessly, withered branches and fallen leaves being swept up by small whirlwinds and swirling around him like guardian warriors.

“Ryugawagataikeyokulaw!”

With a powerful roar, the arrow flew like lightning...

The ground next to the scythe-wielding assassin.

The scythe-wielding assassin stared blankly at the trembling arrow stuck in the ground at least two meters away from him, then looked back at Keng Huo, who was still in a drawing-the-bow posture.

"Ugh, why can't I hit the target with my arrows..." Keng Huo sighed. "I even used the spell I learned from Bronya this time, and I still missed..."

With a lack of interest, Keng Huo tossed his quiver and longbow to the ground, drew his composite willow-leaf dagger with one hand, and with a few nimble leaps, jumped from the third-floor rooftop to the ground, heading towards the scythe-wielding assassin who was rushing towards him.

However, just as the scythe-wielding assassin was halfway there, he suddenly seemed to lose his balance and fell forward on flat ground, the blade of the scythe he was gripping tightly plunging into the ground under the powerful impact.

Almost simultaneously, Keng Huo slowly walked up to the scythe-wielding assassin, stomped down hard, and pinned the assassin's head to the ground as he tried to get up.

Feeling the head struggling desperately beneath his feet, Keng Huo said softly, "Don't move, I'm about to operate on you..."

·

After confirming that the scythe-wielding assassin was no longer moving, Keng Huo pulled the willow-leaf knife from the back of the assassin's head, flicked it forcefully, and splattered the blood flowing down the blade onto the ground.

However, some of the blood droplets did not fall to the ground, but instead congealed in mid-air.

Upon closer inspection, one would notice that a thin, transparent line had been strung up in many places along this small street corner, acting like a tripwire between various obstacles. Now, with the clouds dispersed, the line was gleaming in the sunlight.

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Netherworld Death Warriors

Keng Huo's pupils contracted, and he reflexively swung his knife at a patch of air.

The air cannot be severed; facts have shown Keng Huo this.

But what he was about to cut was not air. Just as his blade sliced ​​through that space, it seemed as if he had broken the surface of water, creating ripples. A figure almost invisible to the naked eye flashed by and disappeared into the air.

"What is this... a new species I've never seen before?" Keng Huo felt uneasy and looked around warily. When he drew his sword, he felt his body become heavier. If it weren't for this heaviness affecting the smoothness of his draw, he was confident that he could have at least left a wound on that transparent figure.

If it weren't for the heavy feeling of being covered by glue, Keng Huo might have thought that what he had just seen was just his own hallucination.

But at this moment, he felt a strange sensation, and he couldn't believe that there were no enemies around him trying to provoke him.

Suddenly, something seemed to flash in Keng Huo's eyes. He turned around alertly and pointed the tip of his knife in that direction, but saw nothing.

Keng Huo felt his body becoming increasingly sticky, as if he were sinking into a quagmire, unable to move, and that he had to exert several times the effort to turn around each time.

"This place is not safe to stay for long..." Keng Huo made a decision in his heart. "I don't know the type of enemy, their abilities, or their location... I should disengage from the battle and observe the enemy..."

Keng Huo charged suddenly toward the complex ruins. Only then did he realize how strong the feeling of being stuck was, as if something was pulling at his body, preventing him from leaving.

Suddenly, Keng Huo turned his blade around and held it horizontally behind him, but the sudden attack still landed on him. It felt as if he had been stabbed by something sharp, and not just in one place.

His entire back was enveloped by the sudden attack.

In a moment of desperation, Keng Huo rolled on the spot, thus avoiding the danger of being pierced by the needle-like attack. But as he rolled, he suddenly saw a figure dressed in a dark red long dress appear behind him and disappear in a flash.

"Instant teleportation? No, considering the transparent figure I saw earlier, it's more like invisibility..." Keng Huo didn't pause at all despite being attacked, but instead rolled and darted into the ruins.

Upon entering the ruins, Keng Huo immediately felt much lighter. The feeling of being pulled away suddenly disappeared, and the change in force almost caused him to lose control and crash into the wall.

"The heaviness is gone... Could it be that this negative effect has a time limit? No, we can't jump to conclusions like that..." Keng Huo casually picked up a piece of gravel and threw it in the direction he had just been.

As the stone flew through the air, it seemed to be filled with a sponge. After passing a certain boundary that was imperceptible to the naked eye, its speed suddenly slowed down, and it accelerated as it fell to the ground.

"Could it be a gravity-related ability? And it seems to have a limited range..." Keng Huo's figure darted among the broken walls and ruins, trying to avoid being detected, while pondering a strategy. "No, that doesn't make sense either. The horizontal speed of the stones has also slowed down. Besides, if it's just a simple superposition of gravity, the speed of the stones should..."

Just as Keng Huo was pondering the other party's abilities, a sense of crisis suddenly struck him again. Like a nimble cat, he grabbed the broken wall behind him, which was as tall as a person, with one hand and flipped over in the blink of an eye.

Almost at the same time he landed, a piercing sound rang out in the air. Keng Huo, who was hiding behind the wall, subconsciously leaned back and dodged the attack that had penetrated the wall.

This time, Keng Huo clearly saw the opponent's attack; it consisted of dozens of red spikes...

No, it wasn't a spike! In that brief moment of confusion and disorientation, the spikes that had pierced the wall like lines twisted and quickly retracted.

"Wire?"

Having seen countless strange Honkai creatures, it's not surprising that a Honkai creature attacking him with thread-like things suddenly appeared.

"This explains the heaviness I felt in my body earlier. If the other party had bound my body with a thread..." Thinking this, Keng Huo quickly drew his sword and swung it around in the air. Sure enough, he felt a slight cutting sensation wherever the blade passed.

"They found me using the threads attached to me?" Keng Huo licked his dry lips. "Invisibility, silence, attacking with highly concealed thread-like objects... This seems like a tough opponent... It must be a new, advanced race? No wonder Dandelion didn't find many signs of Honkai-side creatures in this area during their reconnaissance. It turns out they weren't absent, but rather... they were hiding..."

As the threads twisted and pulled back, the already dilapidated wall finally gave way and collapsed with a crash, allowing Keng Huo to see the appearance of the enemy who had just attacked him.

She wore a long, black and red robe with a front slit, white hair, a black demon mask worn at an angle on her head, and a pair of alluring long legs exposed in the air. Her entire body seemed to float in mid-air.