Chapter 41: Trial Passed, but not fully passed

When Luo Lin saw the black homu transform into her own appearance, she felt a bit annoyed—although she no longer had that part now, it didn't stop the girl from using this word to describe her mood. ...Or maybe she could describe it as lactic acid? What surprised her even more was that the system also jumped out at this moment to join the fun—

[Character Challenge: Transformational Feathers (B→A)]

[Use Valkyrie - Dark Feathers (Luo Lin) to defeat the Shadow Valkyrie - Dark Feather. Changing characters during the challenge is considered a failure.]

[After successfully completing the challenge, the character will be promoted to A rank and receive corresponding rewards.]

[Challenge Start!]

Seeing those dazzling words, Luo Lin reflexively threw smoke bombs and flash bombs. Instantly raising a thick fog that covered the crimson earth, while the explosion of the flash bombs illuminated the smoke for a few seconds.

The battle started too suddenly, and Luo Lin wasn't sure if these two tricks could disturb the opponent and buy her some time. The next moment, she saw two pineapple-like small objects break through the smoke and fly out—

They were grenades!

Alright, return the favor. Luo Lin's mouth twitched, and she quickly swept her gun horizontally, using bullets to shoot one of the grenades out of the air, while the other was slightly deflected by a bullet.

However, the third projectile suddenly appeared, surpassing the first two grenades at an extremely fast speed. It was angular, with a cavity deliberately carved out on the projectile, and it dropped to a place not far from Luo Lin with a slanted trajectory— "Flash grenade!"

"Boom!" "Buzz—"

Accompanied by a loud noise, shockwaves, and sparks, Luo Lin felt dizzy. Her ears buzzing, and she cursed as she fell onto the red sand, bullets whizzing past her head.

It was the first time for Luo Lin to feel like she was being taken care of by a bunch of projectiles in the enemy's position, and she fully realized how disgusting this set of projectile openings was for humanoid creatures without resistance. It's a pity that most of the battles fought in the Abyss were with Honkai beasts, and when encountering humanoid monsters like the Immortal Blades, they were mostly in the later layers. Moreover, the Immortal Blades, strengthened by the Abyss, were all resilient monsters, and even with flash grenades and fragmentation grenades, it was impossible to interrupt their attacks.

"Krakakak..." Fine sand drifted down from the sky, sprinkling on Luo Lin's head and shoulders. The girl raised her head and found that the grenade she had just shot down had exploded on some suspended architectural debris. Because of the shockwave from the grenade explosion, the surface of the debris was covered with cracks, swaying and on the verge of collapse, with dust and debris falling from the cracks, and within a few seconds, it fell with a dull cracking sound.

The size of the falling fragments varied, deeply embedded in the red desert, creating a jungle of ruins out of nowhere. This area provided excellent cover for Luo Lin and the Shadow Valkyrie, and the two figures rushed into the debris zone like arrows, cautiously observing the battlefield.

The current situation was different from the explosive start; apart from the sound of the wind and sand from an unknown source in the relatively small battlefield, there were no other noises. Luo Lin gripped the handle of her assault rifle tightly, feeling sweat slowly seeping from her forehead, and a tingling pain in her arms and waist.

The girl lowered her head and found a thumb-sized shrapnel embedded in her arm, and a cut several centimeters long on her waist, flesh protruding, soaking her clothes around it. Surprisingly, these wounds didn't hurt much, and they were even healing visibly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"[Power of Creation]... Thank you, Lady Cecilia..."

Luo Lin reached out to pull out the shrapnel and threw it on the ground, taking a deep breath.

Next to her, Durandal, wearing the [Dea Anchora] armor, was engaged in a fierce battle with her own reflection, making clanging noises. This was because Durandal's attack power and defense had developed quite evenly, reaching almost the same level.

Luo Lin herself was the type of character whose attack power far exceeded her defense, with Edge of Taixuan, various types of projectiles, and firearms using simulated soulium bullets...

Just like the development of modern military weapons, the spear is greater than the shield. These things would be satisfying to use against Honkai beasts and monsters, but even more satisfying when used against herself.

Both Luo Lin and the Shadow Valkyrie had the ability to quickly kill enemies, but what needed to be tested now was who could hide better and who could discover the other first. And then, discovery meant destruction.

Luo Lin suddenly felt that the current scene was like a certain movie she had seen before, where two opposing snipers cautiously roamed the city ruins composed of reinforced concrete debris and rubble, and the identities of hunter and prey could be reversed at any moment.

They had to use all their wisdom and the surrounding environment to create advantages for themselves. The girl chuckled silently, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked at the reflective fragments falling at her feet, wondering if she should pick one up to use as a mirror to peek behind the cover.

"Wait a minute..." A flash of inspiration flashed through Luo Lin's mind.

This was a world with almost omnipotent Honkai powers.

Why did she have to pick it up with her hands?

Couldn't she use Honkai power to hold it and see what's behind the cover?

Furthermore, why bother with such a crude and inconvenient method, and even use her eyes to see?

Couldn't she learn from radar and use honkai power to detect the existence of the outside world?

Luo Lin closed her eyes, trying to sense the flow of Honkai power around her. Her mind entered a calm state of [Still Water] in an instant, allowing her to more accurately manipulate and feel this Honkai power. The warmth from the stigmata on her back helped Luo Lin to calculate the data faster and recreate the detected scene, a somewhat blurry but sufficient rough map appeared in her mind.

——Someone was moving in the distance, moving cautiously. The Shadow Valkyrie was setting traps in certain key locations, with Honkai power so subtle that it could almost be ignored, making the traps, which were already delicately installed, disappear, and even invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly, it pounced to one side, and specialized Edge of Taixuan bullets shattered the ruins wall that blocked the position of the Shadow Valkyrie, covering the position it had just been squatting in.

The Shadow Valkyrie threw a smoke bomb, followed by a series of explosives in the direction of the bullets, trying to interfere with Luo Lin's aiming. But Luo Lin was in a strange state now; everything around her was manifested in her mind like the "mini-map," it was as if she had turned on a cheat code, and the bullets chased after the opponent!

Luo Lin exerted force under her feet, galloping on the red sand. Het assault rifle always aimed at the opponent, and bullets imbued with Edge of Taixuan completely suppressed the opponent, leaving no chance for retaliation. Perhaps realizing that evading like this was not the solution, the Shadow Valkyrie turned around, a short sword somehow held in its hand, and actually withstood the bullet rain to launch a counterattack. Bullets penetrated its body, bursting out several blood in its body.

But the Shadow Valkyrie seemed oblivious to pain, its expression indifferent, just like Luo Lin at this moment. The next moment, surprisingly white energy surged from the short sword, and a surging shockwave disrupted the trajectory of the bullets, giving the Shadow Valkyrie a brief window of attack.

In this fraction of a second, sword slashes crisscrossed, covering the sky!

Luo Lin was not panicked, and she met the short sword with her own, but her momentum was far inferior to her opponent's, and she struggled to fend off a few flashes of white light, leaving long and deep wounds on the girl's body.

Luo Lin didn't dare to stay still and dodged sideways to avoid the pistol attacks from who knows where the opponent had drawn, and returning fire with a burst of bullets. The Shadow Valkyrie finally fell.

Luo Lin stood still, breathing heavily, reaching out to pluck a few shards from the new wounds. She looked around cautiously, carefully retreating, and then threw two grenades towards the place where she had been standing slightly forward.

"Crack!!" The cold air exploded violently, along with the dazzling white light and loud noise— it was a combination trap made of flash grenades and freeze grenades. After dealing with the traps, Luo Lin didn't dare to relax. Even if the Shadow Valkyrie lying on the ground hadn't moved for half a day, the girl still chose to throw two explosive packs as a follow-up measure.

"Buzz— Boom!" The strong shockwave made Luo Lin, who had already dodged, retreat two steps, looking at the gradually rising mushroom cloud, the girl even had to use her hand to shield the light to see the scene outside clearly. Obviously, this couldn't be achieved with just two explosive packs, and the Shadow Valkyrie seemed to have added a lot of extra elements.

How should I put it, I really live up to my reputation, even if I die, I have to go out with a bang.

[Character Challenge: Transformational Feathers, challenge successful!]

"...A challenger like you, I'm afraid there won't be another one for thousands of years." The will of the stigmata once again appeared in front of Luo Lin in the form of the black homu, with words full of helplessness and puzzlement.

The black homu looked at the gun in Luo Lin's hand, as well as the rising heat and swirling black smoke around her, and couldn't help but shake its head: "Generally speaking, trials reflect more on physical and mental growth... Your victory seems more like an equipment victory... This kind of shortcut, I'm afraid it won't be able to withstand the traces left by [him] in the Kaslana stigmata..."

The wind and sand swept by, and the figure of Durandal reappeared in Luo Lin's sight, she had already shattered her own reflection and won the trial. The girl breathed a sigh of relief.