Initially, Luo Lin had considered summoning the support Valkyrie, Himeko Murata, and letting her control the Vermillion Knight while she herself used Valkyrie - Dark Feathers to coordinate the attack.
However, with the introduction of the poison accumulation mechanism, Luo Lin abandoned this plan. Implementing it would mean both the Vermillion Knight and Dark Feathers being on the field simultaneously, causing the poison accumulation for both characters to increase without any means of reduction.
Uncertain of the consequences of a full poison gauge, aside from the continuous bleeding indicated by the prompt, Luo Lin hesitated.
It could possibly render her unable to recover health, similar to False God Otto's ability, or decrease attack power. Even worse, it might behave like the ground fire generated by Hellmaru, which could drain the Valkyrie's SP when stood upon.
Determined to avoid experiencing the effects of poisoning firsthand, she resolved to strictly control her output and prevent the poison gauge from reaching capacity.
Nevertheless, Himeko's support remained viable, as her Flame Rekindled stigma on the Vermillion Knight offered additional attribute bonuses when she supported her during combat.
"Summon Support Valkyrie: Himeko Murata"
A Valkyrie with fiery red hair emerged from the void, her illusory figure floating mid-air.
Clutching a pen, she lowered her head. She appears to have been grading papers before being summoned— the only anomaly being Himeko's left hand still holding a can of beer, seemingly treating it as a thirst-quenching beverage.
"Huh, what?"
Himeko raised her head, observing the unfamiliar surroundings. Confusion vanished from her face in an instant as she realized she had been summoned for assistance by Luo Lin.
The red-haired Valkyrie promptly dropped her belongings, and the pen and beer can dissipated into dots of light: "Luo Lin, what's happening?"
"I called you here to reinforce the battle!" Luo Lin replied.
"Boom!"
The strengthened pseudo Herrscher's vines lashed out, prompting Luo Lin to raise her sword and intercept, shattering the branches covering the Honkai energy canisters.
The glowing traces left by the Mimicry Judgement of Shamash gleamed brightly, melting the wings of the advancing class of collapsing beasts hidden behind the vines.
"Herrscher? No... " Himeko Murata gazed at the laughing purple-haired girl nearby, alongside the swirling, terrifying vines. Her mouth twitched slightly: "This is a pseudo Herrscher?"
"Senior is amazing!"
Himeko's appearance further bolstered the Vermillion Knight's attributes. Previously, cutting through those vines felt effortless, and now there was no hesitation even as the blade passed through. Luo Lin even felt confident enough to charge straight at the pseudo Herrscher's face and unleash a flurry of attacks, perhaps even slaying her on the spot.
However, the poison gauge was filling up rapidly.
As the poison accumulation increased, Luo Lin felt her reactions slowing down, as if she had suddenly developed high latency.
With the progress bar nearing completion, the sense of crisis intensified.
Glancing at the poison gauge floating in the center of her field of vision, she estimated it would take about twenty seconds to fill up.
Twenty seconds might not seem long, but for some support characters, it was barely enough time to accumulate enough SP to use their ultimate, and if they couldn't avoid enemy attacks on the way, they would be rolling on the ground.
On the other hand, it was also not short, as it provided enough time for the main DPS to unleash a full set of attacks. After all, most of the buffs didn't last that long, and the vulnerability provided by the ultimate only lasted for fifteen seconds.
"Fu Hua, this poison is quite tricky!"
Luo Lin decisively switched forms, and the Valkyrie Dark Feathers appeared with the Mimicry Black Abyss White Flower in hand, poised and elegant.
The faint golden Mimicry Divine Key emitted healing waves, relieving Fu Hua's tension.
This sense of relief put the Immortal Phoenix on alert, as she appeared to have been unconsciously affected by the poison gas. Fu Hua waved her hand, and a layer of flame-covered feathers enveloped her, resembling the Chthonic Feathers, but without the stylish, flight-like wings.
With the support of this layer of flame, Fu Hua finally contained the influence of the poison gas, raised her vigilance, and continued to launch a fierce attack on the pseudo Herrscher.
Yuno stared fixedly at the transformed Luo Lin, her eyes full of confusion. She murmured, "What power is this... I don't care, as long as I strengthen the poison, you will all die!"
As she spoke, she spread out the vines she was manipulating, and the Honkai energy condensed four things that looked like tumors on the vines.
Their surfaces were also covered with the white exoskeleton of Honkai beasts, constantly wriggling as if breathing.
Another system prompt appeared in front of Luo Lin:
[The pseudo Herrscher is condensing buds, and each open bud will increase the rate of poison accumulation. Using techniques with accumulated abnormal values to attack the buds can significantly reduce the unit's defense.]
"Fu Hua! Burn that bud with fire!" Luo Lin held the Mimicry Black Abyss White Flower in one hand, activating the "White Heat Mode" of the Moon Ring for higher damage, while the other hand pulled out an incendiary bomb and threw it at those strange swollen objects.
Without waiting to ask why Luo Lin used this term to refer to the creations of the pseudo Herrscher, Fu Hua leaped over the vines' obstacles and delivered a punch engulfed in flames to the bud.
"Boom!"
The incendiary bomb and the Immortal Phoenix's attacks arrived simultaneously, igniting what seemed like a fuse.
A violent burning reaction erupted from the tops of these tumors, directly blasting away the surface's white exoskeleton, resembling the explosion of a tank with a flying turret.
The pitiful flesh lay exposed before Fu Hua and Luo Lin's eyes, and the two of them attacked without hesitation. Their fists and the pale golden spear instantly turned them into scattered liquid.
The liquid ignited upon contact with the flames, emitting a familiar nauseating odor.
"The raw material for the poison?!"
Luo Lin now understood why the system prompt indicated that the poison gauge would accelerate after the "buds" opened. It turned out that these things were poison gas launchers created by the pseudo Herrscher.
The remaining two poison "buds" were quickly shattered, marking the failure of Yuno's attempt to increase the poison concentration. Luo Lin also used the Dark Feathers's attacks to clear the poison gauge of the Vermillion Knight on the back end, even having the ability to heal Fu Hua next to her.
Now, Jingwei's life energy was exceptionally abundant, and her condition was very good.
Fu Hua glanced at the long spear in Luo Lin's hand with a complex expression, then rushed towards the somewhat frantic pseudo Herrscher.
Supported by a veil of flames and the filled Taixuan Ki, Fu Hua traversed the high-concentration poison area, maintaining her stability.
This time, Yuno decisively wrapped herself in vines into a ball.
With the specialized vines, she could dissipate most of the impact force. With the pseudo Herrscher's formidable recovery speed, the damage caused by Fu Hua's fists and feet was probably minimal.
But Fu Hua's goal was not to inflict damage. Luo Lin realized that the Immortal Phoenix's combo looked very familiar. Amidst her movements, hints of black and white colors seemed to flicker.
"This is—"
Fu Hua lowered her body, and a light like ink suddenly appeared like thunder. The extremely unstable collapse accompanied this move as it struck into the pseudo Herrscher's body. However, this move did not cause significant damage.
Yuno still couldn't understand the purpose of Fu Hua's combo. She drove the Valkyrie, whose momentum had weakened, away with a trace of confusion.
Luo Lin already understood what Fu Hua had done—it was the signature skill of the elemental support, Azure Empyrea, called "Combo: Yin Yang Tempo"!
The enemy hit by this move would receive increased elemental damage for the next fifteen seconds!
Fifteen seconds were enough for the Vermillion Knight to unleash a full set of maximum output attacks!
Therefore, Luo Lin decisively switched to the Vermillion Knight. The "White Heat Mode" buff of the Dark Feathers's "Moon Ring" also smoothly transferred to the Vermillion Knight, providing additional bonuses for the upcoming assault.
She exerted force beneath her feet, charging forward. She even used her shoulder to knock away two floating-class Honkai beasts, rushing straight to the side of the vine-formed ball.
The auxiliary sword of the Eclipse Armor flew into Luo Lin's hand, completing a swift set of slashes in conjunction with the Mimicry Divine Key Greatsword.
The "X"-shaped flames activated the unstable collapse that Fu Hua had injected into the vines, creating an explosion-like effect.
The flames intensified, and the vines exploded into fragments, exposing the pseudo Herrscher's true form.
So, increasing elemental damage was what it was all about?
Excitement spread across Luo Lin's face as she supplied more Honkai energy into the Mimicry Cleaver of Shamsash covering it with the amplification of the Edge of Taixuan.
The heated sword blade slashed towards the pseudo Herrscher!
"You!!"
Yuno sensed the fatal crisis and desperately dodged to the side, but how could she be faster than the flames?
So, the flames ignited half of her body, the blade severed her arm, and opened a long gash on her abdomen.
The pseudo Herrscher couldn't even feel the pain. She suspected that all her internal organs had turned into gas and leaked out through the wound.
She's still not dead?!
Luo Lin gritted her teeth, the Eclipse Armor's heat sink layers opening one after another.
With a hissing sound, the armor entered overload mode. The high temperature was conducted to the Mimicry Divine Key and the auxiliary sword, once again increasing their damage.
The Vermillion Knight's SP value was already full, enough for her to use that extremely powerful ultimate move!
The auxiliary module popped out, covering the surface of the Mimicry Cleaver of Shamash, and a golden-red energy giant sword emerged.
"Flames—Incinerate!"
At that moment, the pseudo Herrscher lowered her head and found that the interior of her wound was filled with green, seemingly plant-like tissue and purple Honkai energy, stubbornly supporting itself in the high temperature, sustaining her life.
It turned out she was no longer human.
A certain string in the pseudo Herrscher's mind snapped, and she no longer cared about the human form. Thick green vines broke through her skin.
In order to survive, the pseudo Herrscher transformed her own life form.
Most of the vine ball fused completely with Yuno, and the vicious branches danced fiercely, heavily striking the Vermillion Knight!
"Swoosh—"
Cataclysmic Flame sliced through the remaining vine ball, and the high temperature around the blade even melted the ceiling and floor of the warehouse, leaving behind terrifying traces.
But the pseudo Herrscher Yuno, split in half, was still alive!
Luo Lin continued to swing the energy greatsword, and the golden-red strike split the ball again!
Four sections, eight pieces, even more pieces...
The Vermillion Knight's two ultimate moves were completed, and the overload state had disappeared. She launched another powerful strike, but it still didn't eliminate the pseudo Herrscher.
Seeing the poison gauge still increasing, Luo Lin had to retreat, with only a quarter of her health bar left, she moved away from the still wildly dancing branches!
The pseudo Herrscher is still alive!
"Roar——!!!!"
Completely devoid of human form, Yuno roared. The scattered vines were connected by purple Honkai energy, and more biomass filled the gaps, like a model haphazardly glued together with a large amount of glue, without any rationality!
Compared to plants, it now looked more like a mutated monster from the next Biohazard scene, bringing a strong shock to Luo Lin and Fu Hua's spirits!
"What the hell is this?!"
[The pseudo Herrscher has transformed its form. Please use accumulated abnormal attack to force out its core. When the pseudo Herrscher is in an ignited state, it will receive additional damage!]
Luo Lin had switched back to the Dark Feathers state, looking at the monster in front of her, feeling a bit nauseous.
The pseudo Herrscher had turned into a huge composite ball that occupied half of the room, with vines as thick as car tires, covered with spikes and stained with bloody poison.
The next moment, the deformed vines raised high and sprayed venom towards Luo Lin and Fu Hua. The two hastily dodged, and the blood-red liquid hit the ground, making a terrifying sizzling sound.
"What should we do next?!"
Fu Hua was also at a loss. She had never seen such a type of pseudo Herrscher, and even the monsters fought by the previous civilization did not look so grotesque.
"Burn, ignite it more!"
Luo Lin hung the Mimicry Black Abyss White Flower on her back, holding a submachine gun in one hand and continuously throwing incendiary bombs with the other, turning half of the warehouse into a sea of flames.
The monster flailed around like an octopus on a grill, shrieking and wildly lashing out at everything around it, spraying venom like a fountain.
Faced with this situation, Luo Lin and Fu Hua could only flee in embarrassment.
Fortunately, Luo Lin could continuously heal the Fu Hua, restoring her condition. Otherwise, the high concentration of poison gas would have completely eroded Fu Hua, causing her to lose control of Honkai energy and lie helpless on the ground, at the mercy of her enemies.
"It's not enough, we need to burn it even more fiercely!"
Luo Lin activated "White Heat Mode" again, and with the enhancement of Honkai energy, the effect of the incendiary bombs was once again strengthened. She even threw various projectiles including but not limited to paralysis grenades and concussion grenades.
Now, the Debuff on the pseudo Herrscher's status bar was flashing like a rainbow, shimmering with colorful light.
The flames gradually engulfed the pseudo Herrscher's body, even burning through the ceiling and melting some of the pipes, which fell onto the spherical monster's body!
"Ah, ah, ah——"
It could no longer hold on. The carapace on the vines shattered, the swings of the branches gradually weakened, and even the venom dried up completely due to the high temperature.
Finally, the vine ball exploded, and a human-shaped figure with a strong collapse energy reaction weakly drooped there. There was a clearly visible green core on her chest, and her body was covered with dried dark red marks.
The Vermillion Knight leaped over the flames, raised the Mimicry Divine Key Greatsword high, and fiercely smashed the core!
In Luo Lin's field of vision, the bright yellow toxin gauge finally disappeared, and she breathed a sigh of relief, planting the sword blade into the ground.
"Congratulations on achieving the achievement: Song of Venom"
"Reward: S-level Valkyrie character card 'Stygian Nymph'"