Statue of Jingwei
The six of them explored inside the cave cautiously, especially Himeko, who has been taking everything seriously from the start of the mission.
They encountered several Honkai Beasts and eliminated them on the way, all those Honkai Beast were left for Mei and Ayame to help them gain experience.
Both Mei and Ayame didn't have much experience in dealing with Honkai Beasts, Kouro also didn't help them because the experience he gains were now little to almost nothing at all.
And thus, he doesn't have anything to do and is just staring at his status interface.
___
Name : Hanagami Kouro
Level: 20
Job : None
Title: Wolf Slayer
HP: 22.000/22.000
SP: 1.440/1.440
Fatigue: 0
Strength: 100 --> 110
Agility: 100 --> 110
Vitality: 100 --> 110
Senses: 75 -- > 88
Intelligence: 75
Honkai: 76 -- > 90
Point: 0
__
Kouro already used all of the available points he had saved, just in-case AE(Anti-Entropy) decided to interrupt once more.
..
Not far from Kouro's position, Kiana felt a little strange after seeing Himeko suddenly get very serious, so she turned to Bronya and whispered.
"By the way, Bronya-chan. Do you think Himeko cares about this mission a little too much?"
Bronya only sent a glance to Kiana that says she is looking at a fool, "Subject Kiana is really Idiotka."
Kiana, who is already used to being called like that by Bronya, just stared at Bronya in confusion, "Hey, why did you switch to Russian again? And why are you suddenly scolding me?"
"Perhaps Subject Kiana is the only one who's unaware of this. The Bronya shall provide exhibit A, so Subject Kiana would understand how important this mission is to Subject Himeko-sensei. Take a look at this report."
Bronya answered and showed Kiana a holographic information data from the interface.
Kiana looked at the screen and read it, "Annual Physical Exam : Murata Himeko?"
Bronya then explained, "This is Major Himeko's physical exam. According to this report, it is stated that Subject Himeko-sensei has poor adaptability to Honkai energy."
"Nevertheless, she accepted an artificial stigma transplant that kept corrupting her body. The negative effect has been considerably reducing her lifespan."
"And because Subject Himeko-sensei's Honkai Adaptability is so poor, it causes her to take much more damage than normal Valkyries. If this continues, I'm afraid… Her life might not last long."
After saying that, Bronya looked at Himeko from afar.
Hearing Bronya's explanation, Kiana finally understand, "I didn't know… no wonder Theresa kept complaining about artificial stigmata, how it would kill us despite their benefits."
After saying that, Kiana then looked at Bronya again and asked "Can we do anything to help Himeko?"
Bronya answer Kiana's question spontaneously, "the best means would be to locate a natural stigma to perfect Schicksal's research on artificial stigmata."
Kiana then patted her chest and said confidently, "I've got 'dis! Now that I know how important this mission is, the Kaslana blood within me is boiling once again."
Ayame, who heard their conversation from the side, approached Kouro and whispered, "Nee, Nee~ Kouro. Is this cave really the location of the Xuanyuan Sword and its Stigma?"
Kouro replied instantly without hesitation, "Yes."
Ayame glanced at Kouro and gave an uncertain look, "How can you be so sure?"
Kouro just passed a gaze at Ayame and stated in a mysterious tone, "You'll see later, and you'll know for sure."
Kouro quickened his pace after saying that.
__
A few hours later, Kiana was starting to get bored of the narrow cave when she highlighted a Mecha hidden behind a wall.
Curious about the lone mecha, she approached it and after observing it, she call out to the others and said in surprise, "Hey, why are there Anti-Entropy tactical mechas here?"
Himeko looked at the mecha and said, "Is Anti-Entropy also looking for the Xuanyuan Sword and the stigma as well? Interesting."
Ayame looked at Kouro In surprise, she didn't expect that after only a few hours of talking to him, they would encounter this mecha, which basically confirmed the existence of the Xuanyuan sword and its stigma in the cave.
Mei saw the mecha and became worried, "Didn't expect Anti-Entropy to be here. Major Himeko, perhaps we should retreat for safety?"
Himeko was silent for a while when she heard Mei's suggestion, she stared at the mecha for a moment before saying, "… I guess we have no choice. We should call off the mission."
But Kiana interjected, "No way? Himeko, we can't back off now! This is a great opportunity! We can finally find you a cure!"
"Cure me?"
Kiana realized she slipped and once again used her brain to think up a good excuse, "No, I meant… Well, Himeko, this is the Xuanyuan Stigma! The whole world will be- If Anti-Entropy gets it, the whole world will be destroyed."
(PR: It wouldn't)
"Indeed. We'll continue the mission, but stay vigilant, you kids."
They them walked past the mecha and did not touch it, besides, who knows what would happen if the mecha suddenly activated or exploded.
Looking at the mecha, Kouro's eyes suddenly narrowed and he deliberately slowed down a bit, he then took out something from his pocket(Inventory) and stick it onto the mecha.
After his quick objective, he quickly followed behind the group.
A flashing red light suddenly appeared from within the mecha, revealing 7 dots running past it.
__
15 minutes later, they reached deeper in the cave, but they were blocked by a large rock that stopped them from their track, Kouro stepped up and pushed the big rock aside.
"This massive stone block… it looks like a door. Hmm… What do you think, Fu Hua?"
Himeko asked, staring at the giant door that has some kind of strange carving, she then opened the communication interface to Fu Hua.
"[This door... was made by Humans. The Eastern Dragon has been carved into it.]" Fu Hua replied.
"Hmph! Looks like we found the place. Step back, kids. I'll try slashing through it with my sword."
Kouro stepped aside, but only slightly, letting Himeko raise her large sword aiming at the door.
Just as Himeko was about to swing her sword, Fu Hua interrupted and shouted at Himeko.
"[Wait! Major Himeko, we must use this mechanism properly so as not to trigger a trap.]"
Fu Hua continued, "[I saw an inscription next to the door. The pictograph shows the gate mechanisms that are on both sides."]
Hearing that, Himeko lowered her Greatsword and said, "I see, sorry, that was reckless of me. Let's split into 3 teams and find the mechanisms."
Group 1: Kouro and Himeko. (PR: Development?)
Group 2: Kiana and Bronya.
Group 3: Ayame and Mei.
After forming teams, they proceeded to scatter around the door, looking for the mechanisms.
A few minutes later, Kiana and Bronya found a stele.
Kiana approached the monument while staring at something engraved on it.
"Hey, look! The stele has some funny pictures on them! Let's see, square, equal sign, fish, axe…"
Bronya took a photo of the stele and then sent it to Fu Hua .
Mei and Ayame also found some stele and directly sent them to Fu Hua.
Himeko and Kouro are the last team to find the stele because it turns out that the stele is protected by several Honkai Beasts.
They defeated the honkai beast before approaching the stele, after that, Himeko took a photo of the stele.
Fu Hua looked at all the photos that had been sent, then interpreted them one by one.
"[I managed to reach this place, but I can't find his body... I can't find her Xuanyuan Sword... The only thing I can do for my wife is to erect this stele to tell her story... and make a statue of Jingwei, to prevent her from spending time alone."]
"That's all..?" Himeko asked, confused.
"[Yes, that's all, Major Himeko.]" Fu Hua confirmed.
Hearing Fu Hua affirm her question, Himeko became annoyed and kicked a pebble, "If the body's gone, then the stigma on it will be lost as well. This was a wild goose chase. Dammit!"
[A/N : 'A wild goose chase' is a search that is completely unsuccessful and a waste of time because the person or thing being searched for does not exist or is somewhere else:]
"I've never seen Himeko this upset." Kiana said.
After that, Kiana turned her eyes to Kouro wanting to ask for help, but stopped when she realized that Kouro was looking at a statue of the Jingwei bird.
Kiana looked at the statue as well before recalling Fu Hua's words earlier, she silently thanked Kouro before turning back to Himeko and saying enthusiastically.
"Wait, Himeko. That statue looks like the Jingwei, right? Let's go investigate first, maybe we'll get some clue from there."
They then went to the statue that Kiana mentioned earlier, after approaching they were surprised because the Jingwei statue was actually very large.
"Whoah! This is a huge statue!"
"Even though this statue is so beautifully made, it's just a stone in the end." Himeko remarked, she was still annoyed.
Kiana remembered Fu Hua's words, "Jingwei leads the path forward. Maybe we'll find some hidden secret in the direction this statue is pointing."
"The bird is looking at the stone wall. Perhaps there's something hidden behind it, Like a secret passage?" Himeko wondered.
Himeko touched the stone wall before saying, "Seems like a pretty ordinary stone wall to me."
Suddenly a voice appeared in Himeko's mind, ["Filthy humans. You've found me at last."]
"Hey, who was that?" Himeko shouted.
Mei suddenly shouted, "The stone wall, it's… shinning!"
Ayame raised her weapon in a defensive stance.
"Honkai reading rising. The stone wall is responding to Major Himeko's Honkai Energy." Bronya reported.
Kiana ran over and shouted "Get away from the stone wall, Himeko!"
"What the..." Himeko's body suddenly passed through the stone wall and disappeared.
No one noticed that, Kouro also touched the wall and got into it and disappeared.
"Major Himeko was… sucked into the wall!" Mei said worriedly.
"Kouro-kun?" Ayame asked after looking around.
"Kouro-kun disappeared! He might as well be sucked into that wall!" Ayame shouted to the three of them after not finding Kouro.
Hearing Ayame's words, Kiana then said to them.
"If this wall sucks people with Honkai, it will do the same to us! After them!"
After saying that Kiana fearlessly ran towards the wall, then was magically sucked into the it.
Seeing this, Bronya, Ayame and Mei, looked at each other, and nodded, then quickly also sucked into the wall.
(PR: I'm back. And yes, my initials now is PR(Proofreader) instead of ED.)