Chapter 199: "Famous Detective" Paimon
At almost the exact same moment, Ling pushed the power of her Shikai, Hyōrinmaru, to its absolute limit. The blade gathered a terrifying, immense current of cold, and she unleashed a full-strength slash forward.
"Roar—!!!"
A massive ice dragon, more solid and lifelike than any she had summoned before, roared and soared into the sky. The very air in its path seemed to crystallize and fall away. With the momentum to crush everything, it instantly engulfed the stiffened form of Nikador.
Boom—!
The extreme cold energy erupted in a blinding flash, turning the entire area into a core of absolute frigidity.
As the swirling ice mist began to dissipate, Nikador could be seen frozen within a colossal, crystal-clear iceberg. It was locked in a posture of struggle, its crazed eyes solidified into a permanent glare of madness.
However, both Wise and Ling had noticed an unusual detail. In the final moment before being swallowed by the ice dragon, Nikador had not attempted to block the attack or launch a dying counterattack with its energy spear. Instead, it had used its last ounce of strength to hurl the spear violently into the sky, where it vanished into the dim horizon.
"Is... is it over?" Ling panted, the effort of maintaining her Shikai and unleashing its ultimate move taking a considerable toll.
Wise stared intently at the iceberg, not daring to relax in the slightest.
Just then—
Without any warning, a huge and complex golden magic circle suddenly unfurled in the sky above the ice field. Its scope was so vast that it covered more than half of the battlefield Ling's Hyōrinmaru had transformed.
The next second, as if signaling a doomsday judgment, a torrential storm of energy spears poured down from the circle. Each one was identical to the weapon Nikador had wielded.
The dense barrage furiously impacted the icy ground, kicking up clouds of ice shards and producing an incessant series of deafening explosions. The ice field that Ling had painstakingly created was instantly riddled with holes, torn apart by the indiscriminate, saturated attack.
Even more alarmingly, several of the energy spears struck the iceberg imprisoning Nikador with pinpoint precision.
Crack! Boom!
The iceberg shattered.
As the fragments broke apart, Nikador, who had been trapped within, once again let out a ferocious battle roar that echoed through the sky. With a grip of its right hand, the Spear of Divine Retribution that had been thrown into the sky reappeared in its grasp. It stood menacingly amidst the ruins, poised to continue the battle until the end of the world.
"How is that possible?!" Ling exclaimed, her face a mask of disbelief. "I was sure I had completely defeated it just now!"
Wise's expression became extremely grave. This development was completely beyond their comprehension.
Even Zhongli, who had been observing silently from a distance, furrowed his brow. A hint of confusion flashed in his golden eyes. He had clearly sensed that under Ling's fatal blow, Nikador's life essence had indeed vanished completely.
However, the very instant the solid ice that froze it was shattered by an external force, that powerful and insane life energy had returned without any warning, as if... it had been resurrected.
"It seems... to possess some kind of resurrection ability," Zhongli's steady voice reached the ears of the surprised and uncertain siblings.
"The only question is what limitations or costs this ability might have," he added, looking at Wise and Ling. "Perhaps you could inquire about the situations on the other battlefields. See if they have made similar discoveries, or if they have already found a way to counter it."
Wise and Ling immediately understood. Ling focused her thoughts and sent a message to the chat group.
[Zenless Zone Zero · Ling]: "@All Members Everyone! We've discovered a huge problem here! Nikador seems to resurrect! It's impossible to kill!"
The message was met with an immediate flurry of responses.
[Honkai Star Rail · Stelle]: "+1! We discovered that too! It's utterly cheap! We thought resurrection would have some cost, but we've killed it four or five times, and it always bounces right back to its feet! It's a real mechanic monster!"
[Honkai Star Rail · March 7th]: "Yeah, yeah! Dan Heng even said it might be like some of those bosses in the Simulated Universe, where resurrection has a limited number of uses or needs energy to recharge. But this guy seems to resurrect infinitely! It's too buggy!"
[Genshin Impact · Paimon]: "It's the same on our side! So annoying! We knock it down and it gets back up, over and over! The Traveler is already trying to trap it with a Starfell Sword, to see if it can be sealed. Who can stand this thing always coming back to life!"
It seemed all four battlefields were facing the same thorny problem. Nikador's almost cheat-like resurrection ability had brought everyone's offensive to a stalemate.
The few who were under relatively less pressure began discussing countermeasures in the group.
[Zenless Zone Zero · Wise]: "Perhaps... we could try to instantly kill all four Nikador at the same time? This might break its resurrection mechanism."
[Honkai Star Rail · March 7th]: "Huh? Kill all four at the same time? That condition is way too harsh, isn't it? It doesn't seem very feasible... We're spread out in four different places, how can we possibly ensure it's simultaneous?"
Paimon watched the complaints and theories about Nikador's infinite resurrection fill the chat. Her little head spun rapidly, and suddenly, a light bulb went off. It reminded her of some common tropes in the light novels and manga she had been reading recently.
She immediately floated up a bit higher, puffing out her chest as she typed with the air of a master sleuth.
[Genshin Impact · Paimon]: "Wait! According to the super~ interesting light novel plots Paimon has read, a BOSS that can't be killed no matter what must have a super-hidden 'backup'or'core' somewhere outside the battlefield!"
[Genshin Impact · Paimon]: "We're fighting tooth and nail here, but maybe we're not even fighting its true body! We could just be fighting a clone or a soul fragment that it's controlling remotely! That's why it can resurrect infinitely!"
Paimon's theory, saturated with the distinct flavor of light novels, was initially just a sudden idea based on entertainment. But for Wise, who was deep in thought, it struck like a bolt of lightning.
Backup... clone... soul fragment...
The words suddenly connected with the keywords he had obtained from the "Golden Nymphs" and the fragmented information he'd gathered during his exploration of the Fate Abyss—[Split Soul], [Error], [Blood Sacrifice].
A more complete, darker, and more logical storyline rapidly became clear in his mind.
[Zenless Zone Zero · Wise]: "Paimon's theory is very likely correct! I think I understand! Our previous speculation might have been wrong!"
[Zenless Zone Zero · Wise]: "Combining the information we found before, a more probable story is this: In Nikador's final moments in Hanging Edge City, in order to achieve some form of 'immortality' or extreme power, it forcibly split its soul into five parts through an erroneous blood sacrifice ritual!"
[Zenless Zone Zero · Wise]: "What we are encountering in these four places are very likely four of those soul fragments! And as long as that crucial fifth soul—the one that carries the origin or 'backup'—remains safely hidden somewhere, it can continuously provide resurrection power to these four fragments!"
Wise posted his complete speculation in the group.
This deduction was far more reasonable than Ling's earlier horror movie-inspired version, and it perfectly explained the desperate, unending cycle of resurrection they were all facing.
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