K424 of the Collapse World

Theresa's eyes shrank instantly...

"Be careful!!"

914 Invisible Attack

While issuing a warning, Theresa took a big step forward, knocked down the bewildered red-haired girl in front of her, and used the force to roll behind the next row of seats.

The next moment after she pushed Tesla away, as the red light on the circular mecha's head became extremely intense, a violent explosion immediately swept through the entire closed meeting room!

Boom——! !

The windows on the first floor of the Far East Base building exploded with a bang. As rubble and gravel billowed up in the waves of flames, the rising black smoke instantly covered half of the building. The alarm that followed enveloped the entire base...

“Eh! What’s going on?!”

"Explosion? Is Honkai coming again?"

"Branch

What happened in the building! Wait, isn’t that Mistress Theresa’s office on that floor? "

"Emergency assembly! I repeat, all Valkyries stationed in the branch must assemble urgently!!"

"..."

In the temporary notice issued by the military, the unprepared Far East members began to enter an emergency alert state according to the order. But at this moment, another sudden explosion and tremor struck again, trampling and destroying the already shattered order!

"Ooooh wow!!"

"That's...the armory?!"

"They are invaders! They are attacking with explosives..."

The tall Valkyrie held up an energy shield to block the burning ash and smoke that came towards her. Just as the impact subsided and she tried to catch her breath, a huge black shadow broke through the scattered dust and slowly fell towards the Valkyrie who was stunned for a moment...

boom--

With the heavy muffled sound, the girl who was protected behind her trembled, and then she felt something warm splashed on her face. When she turned her head, her irises, which were still in shock, reflected the bloody and scattered scene, and turned into a touch of unbelievable collapse...

why?

·————————————·

Except for the places directly affected by the explosion, most of the Far East members still didn't know what happened. Seeing the Far East branch's symbolic building engulfed in flames, the Valkyries' uncontrollable panic and confusion continued to ferment amid the alarm...

At the same time, at the initial disaster point, among the wreckage of the meeting hall inside the burning floor, the collapsed concrete ruins were slowly lifted up, and a scarred silver-haired girl struggled to push away the stones piled above her head and dragged out the red-haired girl who was protecting her.

"Huff...Huff...Are you okay? Dr. Tesla..."

"Ugh! Ahem...not good at all!"

The dusty red-haired girl lay on the broken ground, coughing, and took out the terminal with a broken and scratched screen from her arms.

"Damn it! I have no feeling in my right hand."

The terminal fell to the ground with a clatter, and Tesla covered his elbow, clenching his teeth and shaking slightly.

Although she did not have Theresa's quick reaction speed as a warrior, this brief respite was enough for Tesla to realize what was happening.

(How is it possible...)

The only explanation for what happened just now is that someone hacked into the control system network of the mecha unit, manipulated the mecha in standby mode, and launched a precise and targeted attack on the Far East Branch!

But despite this, she just couldn't believe that someone could break through her defense network so easily and even forcibly activate the Poison Spider Mech that should have been offline!

Looking at the mess around him, Tesla was stunned. Thinking of the poisonous spider mecha that was emitting dangerous red light all over its body, his expression couldn't help but become ferocious.

"Fuck, this power... Isn't this the new Z-03 suicide ball? It's obviously an experimental model in the armory..."

The Z-03 Spider King Mech completely abandoned conventional electromagnetic attack equipment and was a super-specialized poisonous spider mech dedicated to strategic blasting. When it self-destructed, it could cause an explosion range of meters in diameter. If it was affected, even a fully armed Valkyrie would be in danger of death!

"Hey, you...?!"

Soon, Tesla noticed the silver-haired girl who was leaning against the side, holding her chest and gasping in pain, and couldn't help but widen his eyes. The girl's body was covered with wounds of all sizes, and the red blood almost soaked the entire nun's uniform! The most shocking thing was that a steel bar pierced her body from the back, penetrated the entire right lung area, and came out from her small chest.

914 Invisible Attack>>

Even though Tesla had seen a lot in the past 100 years, he was still shocked by Theresa's terrible injury. She didn't even bother to check the injury on her right arm, and rushed to the girl's side.

"Shorty, how are you...how are you?"

"Huff... It's okay, cough... I have the ability to regenerate, I won't die from this..."

Looking at the almost panicked Tesla, Theresa gently grabbed her wrist and shook her head, a distressing smile showing on her pale face.

Indeed, the wounds all over her body did not cause continuous bleeding, and the blood stains on her clothes were just the remnants of the recent injuries. But even so, seeing the thick metal bar running through the girl's petite body still made Tesla feel uneasy.

“Please… Dr. Tesla, help me contact Ji Zi at the airport command center and ask her to immediately… cough cough cough –!!”

"Don't talk for now. I know what to do! The military department of your base is very efficient and has entered the highest level of alert. You don't need to command! I just confirmed that the current disaster area is only this building and the ordnance department..."

Tesla raised his left arm covered with red armor, and used his left hand, which was still intact under the protection of the armor, to activate the terminal and access the command network of the Far East Branch.

"As for the airport military headquarters... huh? No signal?! What's going on? Why can't I connect to the military's network?!"

Looking at the light screen showing the network anomaly, Tesla once again showed an unbelievable look. Even if the communication was cut off, her special terminal could directly connect to the surrounding hundreds of kilometers through a special sending device. In such an open environment, there would never be a situation where the signal was blocked...

Could it be that the airport has been destroyed?

What a joke!

"No signal at the airport? Uh... Dr. Tesla, what on earth is going on here?"

"I told you to stop talking! Anyway, wait a minute. I'll diagnose the security status of the base's encrypted communications..."

Tesla responded irritably. A dozen light screens floated around her. Obscure and complex photon data were reflected in her red eyes. She used the auxiliary system installed by the nerves to quickly browse these data streams, looking for the problem.

Beep-!

Suddenly, with a familiar electronic prompt tone, an unknown light screen window popped up automatically, and at the same time forced the other floating windows in front of Tesla to close, leaving only this floodlit communication screen, reflecting the complex face of the red-haired girl.

"...You can even remotely control my special terminal?"

Tesla didn't know what to say when the control of the terminal was taken away in an instant. Rather than being surprised and angry, she felt an indescribable helplessness at the moment. This was clearly her best area, but she had no power to resist the intruder...

This was the first time she suffered such a crushing defeat at her home stadium.

The other party forcibly started his terminal. Is he ready to negotiate?

Calmly looking at the terminal that was building the connection, Tesla glanced at Theresa with a serious expression, and slowly lowered his head.

I'm sorry I failed to live up to your expectations...

"Everyone from the Far East Branch, can you hear me?"

However, the next moment, completely beyond Tesla's expectations, a clear and soft female voice came out from the terminal.

And…Tesla recognized that voice!

......

At this moment, not only Tesla, but all the Valkyries with handheld terminals in the Far East Base received this unknown communication window and heard the familiar voice of the girl.

"Please stay away from all electronic communicators and intelligent machines immediately! Including the personal terminals in your hands, throw them all away... If you don't want to be attacked by the Herrscher, do as I say immediately!"

915 Erosion and Devouring

Ten minutes ago…

After returning from the imaginary space and arriving at the underground area, Iselin followed Walter, walked through the familiar central passage of the headquarters, and went to the sanctuary inside the base, thus entering the secret meeting place created by the Anti-Entropy Alliance using quantum folding technology - the Ark.

In a situation where the surrounding information is in chaos and it is even impossible to determine the truth about the betrayer, it is safest to choose the Ark as the place for conversation. Moreover, the senior members of the Far East Branch can also use the quantum observation system opened by the terminal to enter this space without having to gather together.

"......Wait a moment."

However, before reaching the final elevator, the green-haired girl suddenly stopped.

“Mr. Walter, something seems to be wrong around us.”

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?"

Walter turned around and looked at Iselin with a puzzled look on his face, his eyes quickly becoming serious. Having lost his Herrscher core, Walter could no longer sense energy as before. However, it was precisely because he knew this that he attached so much importance to Iselin's reaction.

The green-haired girl closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment. The small machine in the shape of a hairpin on her head began to flicker slowly, and the surface of the mechanical armor attached to her clothes also began to glow with a blue light, as if some kind of high-speed calculation was being performed.

"That's right... The electromagnetic signal fluctuations around us seem to be a little abnormal, and the direction and operation mode of the current are also completely different from usual. Mr. Walter, is the terminal server at headquarters conducting some kind of high-energy overload experiment?"

"There are no computer-related experiments at headquarters today, and the terminal server is not scheduled for maintenance."

"Is that so... Alliance Leader, we should check the terminal's main server equipment area immediately. This kind of signal fluctuation cannot possibly occur under normal circumstances!"

Before Walter could respond, Iselin had already raised her hand. The next moment, a virtual screen made of photons appeared in front of her. As a few rays of light quickly penetrated the surrounding metal walls, the light screen image of the screen also started, showing the structure diagram of the anti-entropy terminal data runtime library.

Utilizing the constructive power of the Ruler of Reason and her own unique scientific talent, Iselin doesn't even need to log in with her own identity authority. She can just activate her ability to instantly invade the anti-entropy network firewall and directly view the most secretive data repository.

"..."

Regarding the personal opinion of this "apprentice leader",

Walter didn't say much, but took the initiative to come to Iselin's light screen and cast his eyes on the high-speed scrolling data streams.

"Look here, the node of abnormal data should be sent from the server center on the 35th floor underground. There must be something special there! Let me check the camera over there first... As expected, the camera is offline. According to the feedback of the signal current, the circuit board was forcibly melted by high voltage electricity. The enemy is probably not just a hacker."

"Then I will immediately notify the supervisor to block the server signal on the negative 35th floor, and have the defense team seal off the area."

"Well, we also have to...huh?!"

Before Iselin finished her words, her pupils suddenly shrank! The next moment, the partitions of the passage suddenly dropped one after another, separating the entire Anti-Entropy underground base with a series of loud noises. Then, the lighting system in the corridor was completely paralyzed, and a piercing alarm sounded!

"This is......?"

Looking at the alloy isolation plates falling in front and behind, Iselin's horrified eyes instantly flashed blue. Looking at the rapidly flashing data stream on the light screen in front of her, she couldn't help but open her mouth wide.

"The enemy has hacked into the entire base's defense system? This is impossible! Neither the input of the cracked signal nor the subsequent effectiveness will be so fast. It is impossible to reversely hack into the headquarters' main server with just a one-way network point..."

Using the power of the Herrscher to directly connect her thoughts to the data stream, Iselin felt these unimaginable energy signals, and her expression became increasingly ugly.

"Unless, the other party can also accurately control the flow of energy and directly mix the instructions into ordinary matter for transmission! Theoretically, a creature that can do this..."

A drop of cold sweat gently ran down the neck of the green-haired girl. She seemed to have realized what kind of existence her opponent was.

chap——

With a sharp sound of metal tearing, the alloy walls around the two suddenly twisted and squeezed in from all directions! In response, Walter activated the Star of Eden without hesitation, using the repulsive field to push away the metal layers that were crushing them, and the entire closed passage became a spherical space.

"Sure enough, it's not just an electronic invasion of the cyber realm, the other party's ability is to directly manipulate matter itself!"

Iselin murmured to herself, her pupils completely transformed into the gear shape of the Herrscher. At this time, she could already see a layer of ominous black mist slowly flowing between the metal walls around her.

"It's Honkai energy, a law energy that can infect even inorganic matter and metal, the ultimate corrosive force... But why did this guy appear without any warning? And inside our base?!"

915 Erosion and Devourment >>

"There has never been an opening announcement for the Herrscher's Coming, Dr. Iselin."

Sizzle——!!

The teeth-grinding tearing sound was heard again, and the dark red repulsive field light curtain suddenly expanded, tearing apart all the metal isolation walls that had collapsed around it, revealing a corridor that had been completely changed beyond recognition.

It has been confirmed that the true identity of the invader is the twelfth apostle of Honkai - the Herrscher of Corrosion.

"Directly changing the properties of matter, manipulating dead matter corroded by the Honkai as if it were one's own body, this is indeed the specialty of the Herrscher of Corrosion."

Walter maintained the defensive force field of the Star of Eden and glanced at the green-haired girl who still had a look of horror on her face.

"Don't just stand there, Iselin. If you have any countermeasures, use them immediately! I think Shilis should have done a lot of homework with you in this regard, right?"

Hearing Walter's voice, the green-haired girl came back to her senses. Indeed, as early as when Shiris first obtained the memory of the world line, she disclosed the information of several Herrschers who had not yet descended in this world, including the nature of their laws and effective methods of fighting against them, and told them one by one to her allies, including Iselin, the top anti-entropy scientist.

To fight against the Herrscher of Corrosion, we must first prevent it from spreading its "body"! That is, those non-physical mist energies. Any substance corroded by it will become an extension of its body, just like those controllers that issue commands at will, and the metal layer that just deformed and collapsed, which can be manipulated by the Herrscher of Corrosion at will...

During Iselin's brief thought, the broken metal layers around her deformed again, blocking the opened channel like a fluid like mercury. Countless tiny synapse-like dots appeared on the surface of the alloy wall, and dazzling blue arcs quickly rose up!

"Using a specialized structure to enhance the electric current and create a super electromagnetic field, are they trying to roast us here... What a naive idea, but the precision of the control is obviously stronger than before. Is it aware of our threat, so it has allocated more mental power here?"

Iselin snorted coldly, looking at the metal layer that was wriggling like the stomach wall of a giant beast, and slowly raised her arm. The energy of the construction law turned into blue light fragments, which directly penetrated the surrounding metal barriers and infiltrated into the network terminal of the anti-entropy base.

"There is no need to pay attention to this level of attack! The first thing to do is to stop its erosion and spread. We must not repeat the mistakes of the previous civilization era and let it erode the outside world.

The world's network! "

Raising her hand casually to construct a layer of light wall, Iselin blocked the incoming heat energy waves and began to carefully manipulate the long-range energy she released. Although the Corrosion Herrscher was extremely dangerous, most of its attacks could only be launched using the substances it controlled and were affected by its own application capabilities.

With the knowledge level of this Herrscher of Corrosion, and these ordinary alloys and electromagnetic energy, it is obviously not enough to defeat a Herrscher of the same level...

“Damn it, has the Far East branch’s base been eroded through the recent strategic network?! This is really troublesome… but at least we can’t let it spread any further!”

With the ability to control energy at the molecular level and a computing speed comparable to that of a supercomputer, Iselin's energy extended to the Anti-Entropy Base and the Far East Branch of Destiny at a speed far exceeding the infection rate of the Corrosion Herrscher.