NOVEL WEB Chapter 334: Expectations of the Masses
Thanks to Ren successfully dragging the Herrscher of Rimestar into the spacetime rift, the extreme cold and abnormal gravity plaguing Coral Island were temporarily alleviated. The temperature rose from nearly -100 degrees Celsius back to -20 to -30 degrees.
Although still extremely cold, at least simple rescue operations could finally begin.
"Give me your hand, hold on tight, don't give up!"
On the broken Cross-Sea Bridge, Bernice, the vice-captain of the Snow Lotus Squad, gripped a protruding piece of rebar with one hand, her body pressed against the bridge's edge. Her other hand tightly held onto the little girl who had fallen from the bridge.
The girl had long been weakened by the frigid temperature, appearing utterly frail. Hearing Bernice's call, she instinctively looked up, but the strength in her hand grip was growing weaker and weaker.
Below them was the sea, frozen solid. Coral Island itself had been dragged up by the Herrscher of Rimestar, dozens of meters above sea level. What was once a safe height was now enough to claim countless lives.
"Don't be afraid, I'll save you," Bernice whispered reassuringly, forcefully pulling the girl upwards.
But the Honkai event had been raging for so long, and the Snow Lotus Squad had carried out countless similar rescues. Even for a Valkyrie, her stamina had long been exhausted. She was purely relying on her willpower to continue the rescue.
The hand gripping the rebar was rubbed raw, oozing crimson blood, which quickly froze in the low temperature. Fortunately, it was effective after all. By constantly inching upwards, the girl's body was finally able to reach the bridge surface. As long as her center of gravity could stabilize, the rescue would essentially be a success.
A smile appeared on Bernice's face, preparing to pull the girl back onto the bridge in one go. However, a crisp cracking sound suddenly came from where she was gripping the rebar.
Under the Herrscher of Rimestar's devastation, the internal structure of the reinforced concrete ground had long been a mess, and with the low temperature covering it, it was barely better than tofu dregs.
Bernice's expression drastically changed upon seeing this scene. In less than half a second of thought, she actually proactively released her grip on the rebar, using both hands to grab the girl completely.
"Quick!" Exploding with all her strength, she violently yanked the girl up from the edge. Then, without hesitation, she used the momentum to throw the girl towards the safe zone.
Of course, the price for doing so was that she herself lost her balance. Coupled with the complete fracture of the bridge, Bernice lost her footing, her entire body falling towards the icy sea surface along with the broken bridge section.
Looking at the girl who was finally safe on the bridge, Bernice only felt her exhausted body suddenly relax. She even felt a sense of relief.
Her vision blurred. The scenes of the past seemed to resurface before her eyes.
"Becoming a Valkyrie is not just an honor, but also a mission, something you must entrust your life to do."
"Captain Anna, is a Valkyrie's mission to carry out Schicksal's combat assignments?"
"No, it's to save civilians, to fight for those who cannot fight."
The scene before her eyes vanished. In Bernice's vision, only the broken bridge surface remained. A smile on her lips, she slowly closed her eyes.
"To think that girl who is still two years younger than me is so good at lecturing people." Bernice muttered to herself, letting her body fall. "But Captain Anna, Snow Lotus Squad's Bernice has done it."
Boom!
Tons of broken bridge sections slammed into the sea surface. The ice instantly cracked with countless fissures, but even this degree of impact couldn't penetrate the ice layer. The extreme cold caused by the Herrscher of Rimestar was far more terrifying than imagined.
Decomposed rubble splashed everywhere. Bernice had no chance of survival. However, when the dust settled, only broken concrete was found at the scene, and no trace of blood was discovered.
Dozens of meters away, Himeko's figure slowly landed, a sigh of relief escaping her. She looked down at Bernice, whom she had rescued. The other woman had fallen into unconsciousness, but fortunately, the rescue was timely and she was unharmed.
"Such recklessness." She subconsciously cursed, then remembered that the other woman wasn't her student. She could only slightly shake her head, saying nothing more.
In Himeko's memory, the only one who liked to act so recklessly was Kiana. Thinking of the girl's past self at St. Freya, a smile couldn't help but spread across her lips.
"But that most mischievous girl has now become a hero capable of standing on her own."
She raised her head to look at the sky. The battlefield once ravaged by the Herrscher of Rimestar was now enveloped by a gray spherical domain.
Within the domain, whether it was the chasm that had torn Coral Island apart, or the giant grappling hooks like a god's grasp, were now frozen in stasis. Even the fluttering snowflakes and the biting, bone-chilling storm were frozen in mid-air.
It was this suddenly appearing domain that had pulled Coral Island back from the brink of destruction, saving countless lives from the edge of death.
Himeko didn't know what this domain was, but she knew that within it, Kiana and Ren were fighting to save this world.
"Hang in there, Kiana, turn this imperfect world into the world you wish for."
On the shattered earth, in the collapsed ruins, by the broken bridges.
Crying children stopped their tears, wounded youths gritted their teeth, trembling middle-aged men reached out to embrace their wives and daughters, and frail old people leaned against broken walls.
They subconsciously raised their heads, watching the gray expanse above the sky with Himeko. They didn't know what this domain meant, but deep down, they had an intuition that someone was fighting for them.
The fate of Coral Island lay in this final decisive battle.
…
Boom.
Blinding firelight swept across the sky, seemingly igniting the entire heavens, followed by a continuous series of explosions. The surging airflow stirred the clouds in the sky, tearing a huge hole in the gray sky.
Broken ice crystals, scorched by the high temperature, were instantly vaporized into pale mist, and in the churning dense fog, Kiana's figure loomed in and out of sight.
The girl stood high in the sky, wielding the Flamescion greatsword in one hand. Her flawless white hair scattered wildly with the airflow generated by the explosions, the cloak behind her flapping loudly.
The authority of Flamescion was almost a qualitative change for Kiana. The Herrscher of Flame's authority itself was the strongest in terms of destruction. Even without fusing with other powers, Kiana's current combat power had already broken through her previous limits.
The ice cone storms that were previously difficult to resist could now be cleaved open with a single sword strike, and the icefalls that she could only barely block before now posed no threat at all.
However, Kiana, wielding this power, didn't feel as relaxed and carefree as she had imagined. Instead, she felt an indescribable sense of discomfort, as if…
This power was somehow flawed.
"..."
Noticing this, Kiana fell silent, subconsciously looking at the burning greatsword in her hand. But at this moment, in the thick fog, a black grappling claw, taking advantage of the fog's cover, silently attacked her.