But Vill-V had absolutely no intention of responding to the thing.
There was no need for communication between them. Between humanity and extraterrestrial invaders, only one side could survive.
The "metal radish" wasn't truly speaking because it wanted to communicate with her either. Its so-called display of willingness to communicate was merely a tactical response it had formulated after understanding humanity!
"Odin, are you confident you can kill this thing?"
Vill-V excitedly asked the strongest combatant currently in their group.
Realizing Vill-V had no intention of communicating with it, the "giant radish" stopped pretending as well and immediately issued an order. "Collective, execute extermination protocol."
As expected of Collective, it acted decisively without the slightest hesitation, unlike other long-winded villains who always gave the protagonist plenty of time to consider surrendering.
The instant the radish spoke, the turf transformed into countless metallic spikes that attacked Vill-V and the others. At the same time, the originally solid ground turned into a swamp.
But Odin attacked even faster than Collective!
"Eternal Permafrost."
Odin revealed a blue rune and slammed it against the ground. The swamp instantly froze solid, while countless ice spikes erupted from beneath the surface, piercing through the turf toward the "giant radish."
"So cool!"
Vill-V sighed in admiration. In her memories, Odin had once used the same move while fighting the turf to protect Vill-V.
Because Odin had indeed diligently protected her across the memories of several worldlines, Vill-V's trust in Odin had increased considerably.
The giant radish was pierced through by the ice spikes in an instant, yet Odin's expression turned extremely grim. "I can't defeat It. Its true body isn't here."
"That's impossible. I'm certain this thing is Collective's true body."
Vill-V was absolutely certain because, in one worldline, Magician had directly nuked this entire region flat. In the end, the only thing left had been this giant radish.
"You're right. In terms of physical reality, It is Collective's true body. But..." Odin spoke in a grave tone. "Collective doesn't exist in reality. It exists in the gap between reality and the Imaginary."
An enemy that didn't exist in reality? It was also in the gap between reality and the Imaginary?
Wonderful. Vill-V could accept being unable to deal with an existence like the Herrscher of Death, who constantly restarted worldlines.
But how had this AI crisis created by Heliopolis Life Sciences also turned into something this ridiculous?
MOTH executives, look at the wonderful mess you've made. As if the threat of Honkai weren't enough, you just had to create an even more troublesome existential crisis for humanity yourselves.
"Wait. You said It? In other words... aliens did this?"
Vill-V frowned tightly and asked uncertainly. That possibility was extremely high. It would also explain why those MOTH executives possessed such advanced black technology.
Odin nodded, confirming Vill-V's guess.
Sure enough, the MOTH executives, Heliopolis Life Sciences, and Extraterrestrial Lifeforms were already working hand in glove, inseparably intertwined.
"Damn it. Then there's nothing we can do."
Once alien technology was involved, what could Vill-V possibly do about it?
If the giant radish had been created using humanity's own technology, then Expert Vill-V might still have had a chance to reverse-engineer and crack it.
But with alien technology, Vill-V didn't even know the principles behind its underlying architecture. How was she supposed to crack it?
Play a lute to a cow?
Not every alien civilization used human language or humanity's core technologies. Comics and novels were lies!
True civilizations built their technologies around their own understanding of reality.
And aliens obviously possessed sensory systems different from humans, meaning their understanding of reality would naturally differ enormously as well!
As for brute-forcing it... Vill-V hadn't even managed to eliminate this giant radish with a nuclear bomb in the previous worldline. That alone showed how absurdly difficult the thing was to deal with.
Since that was the case, Vill-V only had one plan left with the highest probability of success.
"Odin, hold It off. We're getting the hell out of here."
Mm. It was never too late to learn from Pardo's spirit.
As the saying went, as long as the green hills remained, there would always be firewood to burn. As long as they stayed alive, wouldn't the day of victory eventually come?
Silence spoke louder than words.
Mr. Odin, blessed with an outstanding spirit of self-sacrifice, remained silent.
"If you don't say anything, that means you agree. This time next year, I'll burn a few extra sticks of incense for you. Bronya, Hua, we're leaving!"
"Mm~ Okay."
"I'm good at running away! Everyone, follow me. I've already found the best escape route."
"As expected of little Pardo. So reliable..."
"I can't fight, but I'm number one at running away!"
Pardo sounded rather proud of herself.
Listening as Vill-V and the others' voices faded into the distance, Odin pulled his horse out of his trouser pocket.
The horse expanded rapidly in the wind. Odin mounted it, and his entire body transformed into a mass of cold blue soul-fire as he blocked the "giant radish," which had now grown as tall as a towering tree.
The "giant radish" had been stopped by Odin, but could escaping in front of the enemy truly be so easy?
Life · Escape Route Connection.
Bang! Crack! Clatter!
The escape route Pardo had chosen suddenly transformed into a prison whose bars were made of chains.
The chains were formed from a mercury-like flowing liquid. Pardo nearly ran straight into them, but fortunately she stopped herself in time and avoided plunging into the extremely dangerous-looking liquid. Even if it truly were nothing more than mercury, that alone would be enough to kill Pardo.
"Ow! What's going on?! Where's the road? Where'd my huge dog hole go?!"
Having only just bragged in front of Vill-V, Pardo was clearly extremely frustrated that her optimal escape route had been sealed off.
"It's fine. I still have a backup route!"
Unfortunately, those liquids weren't merely a prison.
The chain-shaped mercury suddenly opened tens of millions of black pupils, making even Pardo, who didn't suffer from trypophobia, feel her blood run cold.
"Eek—so disgusting! Sister Vill-V, what is this... Sister Vill-V?"
Pardo turned around and found nothing but pitch-black darkness behind her.
The soccer field was gone. Sister Vill-V, Bronya, and Sister Hua had all disappeared as well.
"Where am I?" A chill ran up Pardo's back. "Hey! Where did everyone go?! Sister Vill-V! Bronya! Hua! Don't ditch me and run off on your own!"
At that moment, Pardo noticed that the darkness wasn't completely empty.
"Huh? There's light over there. It looks like a door."
Pardo carefully approached the light. Then the curtain of radiance enveloped her figure and swallowed her whole.
...
Hua looked around the empty world, where no one remained except Vill-V.
"Where is this?"
Vill-V explained to the bewildered Hua, "It seems we've fallen into the enemy's trap~ Hua, look! There's light over there. Maybe that's the exit!"
"Light?"
Hua followed the girl's hand and looked toward the faintly glowing radiance.
The gentle light was filled with temptation, making Hua instinctively want to immerse herself in it.
But thanks to Magician's previous antics, Hua had developed a habit of analyzing Vill-V's words to prevent Magician from messing with her.
And after analyzing them, Hua realized that something about Vill-V seemed wrong.
If this were the usual Vill-V, she would act much more cautiously. Even if she wanted Hua to do something, she would explain the dangers involved.
Although Vill-V had always been extremely obvious about it, Hua could still tell how important she was to Vill-V.
Right now, the two of them were trapped inside the enemy's snare. No matter how she looked at it, that lone light seemed much more like bait placed by the enemy.
Yet Vill-V was urging her to approach it. That was completely different from how she normally behaved.