Chapter 6: The Resurrected Head-Eating Ghosts
Li Mo knew that the things that shouldn't appear in St. Freya were dangerous, but they also held the hope of survival.
"Someone else?" Li Mo's vigilance rose. Although the auditorium was a relatively safe area where he could survive, it didn't mean that the auditorium was definitely safe.
"But it shouldn't pose a threat."
Li Mo was confident. If it came down to fighting to the death, a normal aspiring Valkyrie wouldn't last more than three seconds against him.
After all, St. Freya was just a greenhouse, and they were the flowers in the greenhouse.
"Ding-a-ling~! Ding-a-ling~!"
Just as Li Mo led the seventeen survivors into the auditorium, the large clock above the auditorium chimed crisply.
7 PM had arrived.
"Boom!"
A loud sound echoed throughout the entire campus. The ground suddenly heaved before everything returned to calm.
The bizarre tide had surged, and all the vengeful spirits in the school had revived...
Perhaps after tonight, except for the auditorium, no other living people would remain.
Li Mo was extremely certain of this. But at the moment, he waved his hand, signaling for Saori Tsuruyo and the others to stand behind him.
Li Mo expressionlessly looked at the "acquaintance" in the auditorium.
"{Shigure Kira} ... Why are you here?"
In the normal timeline, Shigure Kira shouldn't have appeared. Her role only gradually increased as the Honkai endgame approached.
That meant the story of this world was distorted very early on.
"Who are you? Do we know each other?" Shigure Kira was confused. Had her fame become so widespread that anyone could recognize her?
The students of St. Freya were all future Valkyries. It was normal for them to know her.
But the person in front of her was clearly a man. He couldn't possibly be a student of St. Freya.
"I know you. It's normal for you to not know me. Right now, I want to know why you are here." Li Mo asked calmly. His hand didn't go to his waist.
Because even if he drew his gun for a surprise attack, he wouldn't be able to defeat her.
Li Mo had this much self-awareness.
Anything above a Class A Valkyrie was beyond the scope of a normal person.
Shigure Kira looked at the girls behind Li Mo and slowly lowered her guard.
The other party showed obvious protective behavior. He shouldn't be a bad person.
"Also, your hair is very beautiful," Li Mo said with sincere praise.
Shigure Kira didn't take it to heart. She just thought Li Mo was trying to get close, but she also knew that they should unite at this time.
"I was sent by the Schicksal headquarters. Not long ago, St. Freya completely lost contact with headquarters. Headquarters sent several waves of people, but none of them reported back. So I was assigned to come."
"By the way, you're really lucky! There are a lot of nasty things in this school. The auditorium is the only safe place."
"Trust me. You absolutely don't want to see those scenes... I still feel sick just thinking about them."
At this point, Shigure Kira's face showed obvious disgust. A chill seemed to wrap around her delicate body, and she couldn't help but tremble a few times.
Li Mo seized on the key words and immediately asked, "Did you fight them?"
Shigure Kira took out her remaining tattered weapon, a great sword that was mostly broken, and sighed. "Or else, why do you think we're still alive?"
"I lost my twin pistols, and my sword is broken. While running, I also had to cover my teammates' retreat. It's embarrassing to say this, but I only lasted three minutes against them before I was defeated. If we hadn't entered the auditorium in time, all of us would have died."
"Those nasty things are even more troublesome than I imagined. I, a quasi-Class S Valkyrie, used all my strength to slash them, and I could barely cut off a head, but the severed head could still move! No... that heads can move independently from a human body is already an incredible thing. It's just like..."
"Like ghosts. They can't be killed," Li Mo finished calmly.
"That's right. It seems you've seen them too."
Shigure Kira started to look at Li Mo again. Li Mo did the same to her.
Fortunately, Shigure Kira hadn't died. He might be able to use her combat power later.
Li Mo started calculating in his mind.
He could only survive for one minute in the bizarre tide even with his trump cards. Shigure Kira was able to survive for three minutes while covering her teammates' retreat.
Three minutes was neither too long nor too short.
But in this supernatural event, being able to withstand it for three minutes was indeed pretty good. He just didn't know how many heads they were facing.
While Li Mo and Shigure Kira were exchanging information as leaders of their respective groups, the ground vibrated again. This time, the vibration didn't stop. Instead, it grew stronger.
"What's going on? It can't be that we're just unlucky enough to encounter an earthquake, right!? Hmm? Ugh! I should have known not to accept this mission. Wouldn't it have been better to just go to the sunny beach and enjoy my vacation!"
Shigure Kira rubbed her sky-blue hair and complained incessantly.
Although she was complaining, Li Mo didn't think she genuinely wanted to shirk her responsibilities.
After all, if she didn't have a sense of responsibility, she would have abandoned her teammates and run away when facing an unkillable horde of ghosts.
Li Mo believed that Shigure Kira had the ability to leave this place, but her teammates didn't have that kind of strength.
"The others hide at the back of the auditorium. Shigure Kira, come with me to the entrance to see what's going on," Li Mo commanded.
"Why should I listen to y-" There were dissenting voices from Shigure Kira's team, but when they saw their captain stop her exaggerated complaining and seriously walk to the auditorium entrance, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Li Mo, they shut their mouths.
The students of St. Freya immediately walked to the depths of the auditorium, gathering with the members of Shigure Kira's team.
However, Saori Tsuruyo didn't follow the group. Instead, she hid behind Li Mo, tugging at his sleeve.
"Tsuruyo? Why aren't you going in?" Li Mo asked in confusion.
"Big brother, didn't you say... that I had to watch the thermometer and tell you immediately if there were any changes..." Saori Tsuruyo replied weakly.
"Go in now. I don't need it." Li Mo didn't hesitate to send Saori Tsuruyo away.
Saori Tsuruyo nodded and silently walked to the depths of the auditorium, sitting with the others around the black coffin.
Shigure Kira suddenly became playful and teased Li Mo, "You really don't know how to be gentle with the ladies."
Li Mo didn't answer. What a joke. The bizarre tide had surged. If she was that close, the thermometer would explode!
This thermometer wasn't something he could just buy anywhere. Like that coin, it was also stained with some kind of unknown bizarre rule. Li Mo couldn't bear to damage it.
"They're here."
"Boom! Rumble!"
This scene would be a nightmare for everyone present for the rest of their lives, especially for the immature aspiring Valkyries.
Countless heads were bouncing around like balls, rushing toward the auditorium.
Each time they landed, they would leave a bloodstain, squeeze out an eyeball, or flatten a nose.
They were disfigured, as if they had been run over by a meat grinder. Their faces didn't look human at all. Their hair was torn, pulled off, revealing large patches of bloody scalp. A sky-filling stench of corpses instantly swept across the entire auditorium.
This was how head-eating ghosts without bodies moved. The road they trampled left behind severed tongues, dust of teeth, squeezed-out brains, and broken white skulls.
The strong, pungent smell of rotten flesh spread out, filling the entire auditorium hall.
"How disgusting." Shigure Kira complained with displeasure and looked back at her teammates.
"Blegh!"
"Ugh... Blegh!"
More than half the people in the auditorium, upon seeing this scene, clutched their abdomens, their stomachs churning as they couldn't help but vomit out large amounts of stomach acid.
Shigure Kira's face showed obvious discomfort. She gripped her broken sword and couldn't help but say, "They're really disgusting. I'm a bit nauseous. If we keep waiting, and they enter the auditorium, all of us will die. Prepare to fight them to the death. I'll take the lead."