After sitting in the living room for a while, Elysia was still quite curious about the fragrant thing she had sensed.
Just a quick look from afar should be fine, right? Elysia 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.
Elysia 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, Elysia underestimated the worth of an S-Rank Valkyrie. The sound of her opening the door still caught Theresa's attention.
After Theresa saw Elysia's direction from the window, she quickly pursued her, but due to Elysia's previous actions, she decided to follow Elysia from a distance to see what Elysia intended to do. If Elysia tried to enter Senba Academy, she could immediately stop her.
Elysia weaved left and right, bypassing all the Honkai Zombie that appeared on the road. Elysia also noticed that the Honkai Zombie 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 Honkai Zombie.
These Honkai Zombie still possessed their most basic instinct: the instinct to absorb Honkai Energy. Previously, Elysia 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 Honkai Zombie, she was a delicious treat before.
It was inconvenient to move around with the compound bow, so Elysia 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 Elysia, clearly saw Elysia's weapon transform into a glove after a flash of pink light. She was now even more curious about Elysia's weapon.
When she reached a certain distance from Senba Academy, Elysia headed directly towards the nearest commercial building to Senba Academy.
In this unfamiliar building, Elysia decided it was better to climb the stairs.
Walking all the way up to the rooftop via the stairs, Elysia lay on the roof, looking down at Senba Academy below.
From above, the current Senba Academy looked as if it had been abandoned for a long time.
Numerous intertwined large trees occupied most of the ground outside Senba Academy, and some even grew directly out of the buildings.
On several buildings within Senba Academy, there were vines everywhere.
If she hadn't known that the Third Honkai Eruption hadn't happened too long ago, Elysia would have thought that Senba Academy had been abandoned for decades.
The current Senba 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 Elysia's position, she could even see into the interior of the building through one of the large holes. Through that hole, Elysia caught a glimpse of gold.
Elysia shifted slightly to the side, moving her line of sight to see more of the building's internal structure through that large hole.
Soon, Elysia clearly saw the main body of that golden glint: a golden cross.
That was Theresa's weapon, and Elysia 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 Elysia was still observing, the plants within Senba Academy seemed to sense something.
Suddenly, a vine shot out from within Senba Academy, striking a corner of the building beneath Elysia's feet.
Elysia saw the vine from the rooftop and initially thought she had been discovered.
However, as more and more vines appeared, Elysia realized that these vines were not attacking the building she was on.
Elysia, 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 ball dodging the vine attacks.
As if enraged by the vine attacks, the White-haired ball ran along the direction of the attack, to the side of Senba Academy.
Then, golden chains shot out from within Senba Academy, blocking the vine attacks for the White-haired ball.
At the same time, the White-haired ball grabbed a golden chain, and as she pulled hard, a giant golden cross smashed through Senba Academy's outer wall and was pulled out.
Elysia 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. Elysia then quickly ran to the stairs with the compound bow and flipped down floor by floor using the handrail.
Soon, Elysia reached the first floor. At the main entrance, Elysia saw Theresa holding Judah and confronting a young girl. Elysia hid by the door, not going out directly.
"You little mouse are still alive, huh?" The girl, surrounded by vines, stood inside Senba 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 Senba 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, Elysia wiped away non-existent sweat from her forehead. She felt that neither of them was using their full power yet.
Elysia drew her compound bow by the door, and after confirming her position, she aimed at the girl.
It wasn't that Elysia was heartless, but she had seen something. After Theresa's attack wounded the girl, Elysia 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, Elysia saw the cross-section of the wound.
A pure white body, very similar to the white ash that Honkai Zombie turn into after death. The severed limb, after its purple blood drained, turned into a cloud of white ash and dispersed like an ordinary Honkai Zombie. Then, the girl's severed arm would slowly regenerate with purple blood.
In other words, this girl might have been an ordinary Honkai Zombie before, though she possessed some sentience. But listening to her conversation with Theresa, this girl was beyond saving.
Elysia 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, Elysia 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 Elysia 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 ♪~" Elysia said, but in her heart she wondered, 'Can even such wounds heal?'
"Elysia, stay away from here! That guy has deadly toxins on her!" Theresa's voice rang out from the side.
"Heh heh ~ I know ♪~" Elysia said, leaving the building and moving further away from Theresa and the girl's battlefield.
Elysia 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, Elysia 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, Elysia 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 Elysia'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 Senba Academy, began to burn.
Seeing this situation, Theresa grabbed a chain and ran towards Elysia. As she passed Elysia, she directly pulled Elysia away from the area.