"Bang!!"

"Caw!!"

A grievous wound pierced its head.

Energy scattered wildly through the air.

A shrill bird cry echoed across the land and the river's surface.

The massive golden peacock thrashed its enormous body about, devoid of any order or control.

Although Moyuli held the noble rank of an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, this was, after all, the very first battle it had ever experienced. The Honkai had bestowed upon it various powerful skills, but it could not impart experience along with them.

For truly powerful Honkai Beasts.

Beyond possessing mighty or bizarre skills, honing their techniques was equally crucial.

Even if all else failed, they at least needed to learn to endure pain—when Lu Xing had first transmigrated to this world, the very first thing he learned was to tolerate the agony of his shell disintegrating and his energy dissipating.

Moyuli was still far from that point: the "penetrating sensation," like having its bones drilled and flesh gouged, was so painful it couldn't even use its skills. As a Honkai Beast specializing in mental-type abilities, Moyuli's "senses" were already ten, even dozens of times more acute than those of ordinary Honkai Beasts. The experience of having its head split open instantly drove it into a frenzy.

Trace and Destobier had seen all sorts of situations…

Well, this was indeed the first time they had encountered a Honkai Beast driven mad by pain. Lower-tier Honkai Beasts mostly lacked intelligence; they didn't even comprehend what pain was. Higher-tier Honkai Beasts were generally veterans of many battles, having either besieged humans or been besieged by them. Any that were still alive were veritable old-timers.

Therefore…

Opportunity knocks but once!

Yes, regardless of whether this Emperor-class beast was genuinely incompetent or merely trying to lure them into a trap, this was an unmissable chance for the two of them—without external interference, they could extract the Honkai energy within their bodies more efficiently.

To be used for…

Unleashing their ultimate moves!

———

"BOOM!!!" x2

One slash, one stab!

Seizing the opportunity while Moyuli was frenzied.

Trace and Destobier quickly gathered their energy, unleashing the strongest attacks they could muster in a short time, viciously striking Moyuli!

Accompanied by a tremendous explosion.

Moyuli was sent flying violently!

Destobier blasted a large hole under its wing, near where a normal peacock's heart would be. Trace, meanwhile, accelerated in a fierce charge, following the opening Destobier had created, and directly severed two of Moyuli's left wing feathers!

The surprise attack had indeed severely wounded their opponent.

But… Moyuli had not suffered a fatal injury.

If this were an ordinary Emperor-class Honkai Beast, their combined assault would have been enough to grind its bones to dust and scatter its ashes… unfortunately, the great peacock before them was not so simple.

High-tier Honkai Beasts possessed extremely high Honkai energy reserves; engaging them in a battle of attrition was absolutely the worst choice.

In the Flame-Chasers' tactical manual, there was a clear directive for engaging Emperor-class Honkai Beasts: find and attack their Honkai Core.

Unfortunately.

Up to this point in the battle, neither Trace nor Destobier had discovered where this peacock-type Emperor-class Honkai Beast's Honkai Core was located.

To still not have found the Honkai Core, even after blasting holes in its head and heart, was an extremely rare situation.

Other conceivable locations—

"The head plumes."

"Or the tail feathers."

Trace and Destobier exchanged glances.

The most "ostentatious" parts of this distinctive Emperor-class Honkai Beast were likely these two areas:

The dazzling plumes on its head, shining like a crown; and the magnificent long peacock tail feathers behind it.

Having confirmed their target, the duo launched another attack on Moyuli.

And this time.

They had indeed found the right place—Moyuli's Honkai Core was exceptionally special. As the companion Honkai Beast of the Herrscher of Sentience, it possessed the ability to replicate and split its own consciousness (in limited quantities). This ability could also be applied to its Honkai Core.

Moyuli, whose strength was only Emperor-class, could use this method to replicate a characteristic of Judgement-class beasts: possessing multiple Honkai Cores.

Coincidentally.

Moyuli had distributed its Honkai Cores very regularly among its long peacock tail feathers.

Trace and Destobier's attacks aimed here made Moyuli sense an immense crisis—the warning of its life being threatened finally snapped it out of its undignified state of "thrashing about on the ground," and it began its belated battle for survival.

———

"Caw! (Get out here, quick!)"

Moyuli lay half-prone on the ground, looking utterly disheveled.

It had "sliced" its Honkai Core into five equal parts. In the battle just now, two of those parts had already been destroyed along with their corresponding peacock feathers.

But this didn't mean Moyuli still had 60% of its health bar remaining.

The number of its remaining peacock feathers had dwindled from the initial hundreds or even thousands to fewer than fifty now—the battle had only lasted a little over two minutes, yet it was already in such a miserable state. If things continued at this rate, it was afraid that in less than half a minute, it, Moyuli, would be killed by the two humans before it.

Of course.

Moyuli also clearly saw the weakness of Trace and Destobier—the gemstone made from a Honkai Core on the girl's staff had completely shattered, and her delicate face was already caked with mud and bloodstains. Trace's body, moreover, was riddled with several fist-sized wounds; to conserve Honkai energy, these non-lethal injuries had only been hastily staunched.

But!

How could human lives compare to its own!

If they continued fighting, these two little things would definitely die! But it, Lord Moyuli… whether it would die or not was uncertain, but this beautiful plumage would absolutely be burned clean off!

And nearby…

There was no Honkai energy to replenish itself!

For this reason, even the proud Moyuli had to, in this moment of crisis, call for help from the one it despised the most—although it couldn't sense the other's traces, Moyuli was certain that the other party was within this city.

It wasn't that the great peacock's perception was particularly keen.

It was simply because Lu Xing's aura was unique… due to absorbing a small part of the Herrscher of Sentience's authority, he possessed elements that were remarkably similar to Moyuli's in certain aspects.

"Caw!! (Black fellow, hurry up and come help!!)"

Moyuli was calling for reinforcements.

However, Trace and Destobier had no way of understanding what it specifically meant—the piercing bird cries, in their view, were easily misinterpreted as some kind of sonic attack.

Thus.

The two, already exhausted.

Forcefully plunged medicinal bolts into the densely packed needle marks on their arms—as Fusion Soldiers, their supplied medication was quite abundant… the vast majority of which was intended for desperate, life-or-death situations.

Then.

Facing the two who charged forward again, ready to fight to the death—

"Caw! (If you don't come out and help, I'm telling Master afterwards!)"

"Caw!! (I'm gonna die, damn it! You can't just watch me die, can you?!!)"

"…"

"Caw!!! (Emperor, save me!!!)"