Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

"...This...this is not important." The administrator twitched the corner of his mouth. Although this was a holographic image, Noah clearly noticed her embarrassment from her little movements.

"Ms. Administrator... you are really bored here..." Noah couldn't help but complain. Before they actually met, she never thought that Miss Administrator would do such a thing. Not only was she a game geek, but she also made games by herself, and... to be honest, this game itself was quite [routine].

Even in Terra, where entertainment is relatively scarce, this kind of game is already outdated, and this kind of system and world view can be called a "retro game".

"..." The administrator stopped talking and even withdrew the holographic projection. The small drone turned in a circle on the spot, as if gathering energy, and then smashed directly at Noah. Although it didn't hurt at all, Noah still cooperated and protected his head. After a long time, the small drone reopened the Rubik's Cube and released the administrator's projection again.

"——I have to do something..."

Noah smiled and put down her hands that were protecting her head. She certainly didn't think there was anything wrong with this. In fact, she also admired the administrator. The AI ​​he finally created also had his own emotions and will. He was even an independent game maker. Being able to create such an AI and let the AI ​​inherit his own will and emotions was actually a very impressive achievement.

She also fully understood how happy it would be to meet someone to communicate with again after being buried deep underground for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

It looked like a bad game producer was forcing others to experience the game, but in fact, she was just joking with everyone. Noah actually didn't mind this level of coquettishness.

"...Okay, in that case, I'll play with you." Noah came to the administrator and sat on the ground. "Can you take me in too?"

"...No need for that. We've reached the final boss anyway. How about...you control the final boss?" At this time, the administrator used a robotic arm to hand over a handle and placed it in Noah's hand. A holographic handle also appeared in the administrator's projected hand. They were like two ordinary little girls who got together to play games on the weekend, operating the handles in their hands and looking at the screen.

Unfortunately, if Noah gets serious, the brave team facing the final boss will be in trouble.

When Skadi and the others pushed open the door of the final boss, they immediately heard a very dynamic song, and as this song sounded, the monster standing in front of them revealed its true form.

Then, four big words appeared in front of their eyes at the same time.

Nightmare Khan

Chapter 84: Encountering a Dung Monster, Trying My Best, But Unable to Defeat

"...No way...Do we really have to fight Nightmare Khan?" The reputation of Nightmare Khan is known to everyone in the whole Terra. Even the former Kingdom of Casimir was crushed by the iron hoof of Nightmare Khan. He ended the era of the gods and completed an unprecedented great expedition. It can be said that he laid the foundation for the current territory of Terra. If it were not for the fact that Nightmare Khan had no interest in ruling others, but only the desire to conquer others, I am afraid that Terra would have an unprecedentedly large empire.

It is said that Nightmare Khan eventually disappeared into the Burning Wind Land along with the King of Kings, and no one has ever seen Nightmare Khan since then.

I didn't expect to see the Nightmare Khan holding two swords and wearing a mask in a place like this.

Even Margaret felt an unprecedented pressure. However, based on previous experience, as long as the team members didn't get close to the monsters, or actively attacked them from a distance, the monsters wouldn't attack. Margaret and the others should still have time to think about how to deal with the Nightmare Khan. However, just as her thoughts flashed through her mind, she noticed that the Nightmare Khan's eyes seemed to be staring at her from the gaps in his mask.

——No! This boss is different from other monsters!

Margaret's heart trembled, and then her entire body was aglow with golden light, blocking everyone in front of her. The light shone, and behind her, it transformed into a dazzling golden Pegasus. A shield composed of light appeared before her, and it was as if long and narrow wings composed of light appeared behind her. At first, no one knew why Margaret suddenly opened the shield, but the next moment, they saw Nightmare Khan's attack at zero frame. Two blood-red blades slashed directly and fiercely on the light shield. The vibration caused by the collision of the two forces shocked everyone, and they didn't even react.

"What's going on? This guy attacked actively? And even a sneak attack! Wasn't he standing still just now?" Carol on the side was frightened. Like Margaret, she also thought that the boss would not attack actively like other monsters. Because when they entered the boss's room, Nightmare Khan was motionless, as if waiting for others to come forward. But they didn't expect that even the motionlessness was a disguise of Nightmare Khan.

"- Pretending not to attack actively, and then launching a sneak attack... you're quite bad." The administrator on the side was slightly astonished. The Nightmare Khan just now was controlled by Noah. From standing still at the beginning to releasing sword energy at zero frame, everything was within her plan. However, Margaret on the opposite side was smart. She actually noticed that Noah was secretly aiming, so she opened her shield in advance to block it. If it weren't for Margaret's quick reaction, these people would have taken two sword energies without preparation, and they would have lost half their lives if not dead.

"Tsk... Margaret, this guy is really perceptive." Noah gasped. The administrator beside her was stunned. She had thought Noah was a gentle and gentle person, but suddenly, a bit of a dark underbelly was exposed. "Are you the kind of person whose temperament changes drastically when playing games?"

"Actually—I haven't played many games," Noah replied. "When I was little, I was constantly completing complex and arduous knight training, so I had little time for games. So this is my first time playing something like this..."

"First time? But you seem very skilled at starting from zero frame?" The administrator blinked, expressing deep doubt.

"This is one of the military strategies. It's called the first to strike, the last!" Noah said matter-of-factly. "I won't die anyway, so it doesn't matter if I take it seriously, right?"

"...It's true that you won't die, but it will still hurt." For the sake of authenticity, the administrator added pain when making the game. Looking at the serious Noah at this time, I couldn't help but worry for the game players.

"As long as I don't die, it's fine." Noah's lips curled up, revealing a frightening smile. "Besides, if I were defeated by a move of this level, I wouldn't be Margaret anymore."

-

"Are you alright—" Smoke and dust filled the air. Although Margaret had managed to block Nightmare Khan's sword energy, negating most of the damage, the move not only took zero frames to initiate but also had an AoE effect, so the others were still affected to varying degrees. "This boss is a bit strange, we can't take it lightly."

"You don't have to tell me." Because of the impact just now, Precious, who was originally dozing off, fell down on her butt. She immediately felt embarrassed and was already holding her staff and angrily prepared to retaliate. In her eyes, the Nightmare Khan was just a slightly stronger small animal. If she could use the power of Originium, she would have crushed it to death long ago. This so-called Originium skill, oh, it's a spell, it's really not useful at all!

"No...it's okay..." Carol was really scared. Fortunately, the mace grabbed her before she fell, otherwise she would have fallen even worse than Precious. However, not only Margaret realized the boss's problem, but even the mace noticed it. Before the sword energy was released, she had already grabbed Carol in the next step. She also noticed the gaze of Nightmare Khan. This kind of sneak attack method was obviously not something that an ordinary monster could do... Is this Nightmare Khan being controlled by someone?

After comparing with the specific situation of fighting monsters before, Jian made such a guess.

"Margaret, Mace, and Skadi, the three of you go ahead and distract the boss. Precious, cover the two guards. We also need to keep moving. Chloe, come with me. Everyone, follow my instructions." The doctor demonstrated his commanding abilities, immediately assigning everyone their respective positions. "Margaret's light has a certain recovery ability. If you're injured, you can reunite with Margaret and use her light to recover. Everyone, be vigilant. This boss is not a simple one."

"Yes!" Skadi and Margaret, who had worked under the doctor, both executed the doctor's order immediately. Although Mace hesitated for a moment, he also acknowledged that there was no problem with the doctor's command. If it were someone else, it would certainly be impossible for Priss to command her, which meant that the doctor could let her be responsible for the cover unwillingly. As for Carol, she was just a protected person, and you couldn't let her go in and out seven times.

Seeing that everyone started to act according to their positions, Noah almost understood that this was the doctor's order. After all, she still had martial ethics. She did not turn the firepower to kill the commander first, nor did she attack Carol directly. She controlled the Nightmare Khan on the screen and raised the sword in her hand towards Margaret. Margaret reacted quickly and tried to block it at the first moment, but - strangely, the knife did not fall immediately, but paused for a long time after it was raised. Margaret thought it was just a feint, but the next moment, the blade fell suddenly. Margaret had no time to recover the parrying posture and was directly chopped away. If she had not subconsciously resisted the weapon in her hand a little, she would have died on the spot.

As Margaret was chopped away, Mace took the opportunity to transform into a demon, turning into a lightning bolt and inflicting dozens of wounds on Nightmare Khan. Although she was agile, her strength was slightly lacking, and each of her cuts was not deep enough. In addition, Nightmare Khan was a boss unit, five meters tall, and it was like chopping a giant, causing only flesh wounds.

While the mace was restraining Nightmare Khan, Skadi rushed to Margaret's side. Seeing Margaret's miserable state after being smashed into the wall, she quickly reached out and pulled Margaret up. "How is it? Can you move?"

"Ahem... It's okay, just superficial injuries." Margaret coughed violently twice. Actually, it was mainly because she had a stitch in the side when she was smashed into the wall, and she almost couldn't breathe. With a flash of light, her injuries were quickly controlled, and the bleeding stopped. She grabbed her sword and spear, revealing a determined look. "Keep fighting, Mace can't hold out for much longer alone."

As Margaret had said, while the mace's demonic transformation was powerful, it came at the cost of doubling her stamina. She knew this, and Noya understood it even better. She had already calculated the time the mace had taken off. After about ten seconds, Noya charged up and unleashed an AOE skill, [Conquer], centered around her own unit. This AOE was supposed to target a single unit, but trying to target the mace in its demonic state... was a bit too difficult.

Therefore, the target she chose was herself——

A crimson wave descended from the sky, like the gaze of the god of death, and slammed heavily into Nightmare Khan. This attack caused considerable damage to herself, and even made her dizzy, but... the mace that was originally entangled by Nightmare Khan's side did not have the exaggerated health bar on the boss panel. When this attack fell on Nightmare Khan, the mace had no chance to dodge and could only retreat as far as possible. However, she could not avoid the aftermath in such a short time and was directly blown away.

The timing was just when the old power of the mace had just gone and the new power had not yet been generated. Noah knew the mace too well, including the duration of its ghost transformation and the time when it was exhausted. She grasped the opportunity just right and directly blasted a large force of the team out of the battlefield.

Fortunately, Margaret had already stood up at this time, and jumped up from mid-air to catch the mace. Margaret was the only one with healing ability here. Margaret used the Originium skill to heal the mace. The damage the mace received was even more serious than her own injury. Fortunately, the mace's physique was also tempered, and it was not killed instantly. As long as it was not killed instantly, there was still a way to treat it. However, in a short period of time, it was estimated that it would be impossible for it to turn into a demon.

Noah saw that Mace was injured. Although she knew that she would not let Mace really die, she still operated a little slowly - so, in Margaret's eyes, after releasing the AOE, the Boss's movements were a little slow. Of course, she didn't know that this was because Noah was waterproof. She just felt that when the move just now hit Nightmare Khan, it also caused a lot of trouble to Nightmare Khan. She saw it, and the doctor naturally noticed it and immediately issued an order.

"Mace will retreat for now, Margaret and Skadi will continue forward, Precious, keep covering—"

During the period when the mace was just transformed into a ghost, Priss had been bombarding the boss with Originium skills. However, it was obvious that the output frequency of a ranged mage was much lower than that of a melee profession. However, she did not do nothing. It can be said that the most stable output point now is Priss. She stood far away, and most of the skills of Nightmare Khan were melee. As long as she stood in a good position, she would basically not be affected, including the AOE. She also adjusted her position in advance and was not affected.

However, Mace and Margaret were both dealt heavy blows in quick succession. It could be said that this was the most difficult boss they had ever faced. As expected of Nightmare Khan, the stats were there, the mechanics were there, and the controls... well, there were stats too. The administrator had been somewhat considerate, assigning a relatively clueless AI, but once Noya took control herself, things changed completely. On the one hand, Noya knew Mace and Margaret, and was also familiar with Skadi and Precious. She could easily guess the thoughts and actions of her team members, like playing a game with perspective, and this understanding made it difficult for them to move forward.

More importantly, her control was incredibly precise—quick and slow attacks, zero-frame initiations, even unleashing AOE attacks on herself—actions not typically possible with AI. Not only was the team sweating profusely, but even the administrators nearby were sweating profusely. They considered trying to persuade Noah to back off, but seeing her so engrossed in the game, they likely ignored her advice.

Facing a boss like this: powerful armor, a strong desire to attack, fast and slow swords, command reading, zero-frame start, single-target, lock-on, AOE, and a ridiculous amount of health, anyone would find it difficult to defeat. This is beyond description. Even Hidetaka Miyazaki would be no match for this. And more importantly, as a shitty game producer, the administrator has basically set the performance of Khan beyond just numerical description.

And that's it... This boss is still raging with low health...

The administrator suddenly realized that her game production skills might be too poor, and the boss she designed was too supermodel. No... maybe it was not just the supermodel she designed, but more importantly, Noah's operation itself was too flexible.

This boss, who could have been standing still and using skills, turned into a dragon swimming up and down, a terrifying existence full of oppression.

"Ahem, give them some water, or they'll be wiped out..." The administrator said in a low voice, feeling a little guilty. "Look, you've only lost a third of your health. This game is over."

"Numbers are exactly what make me a champion!" Noah coughed twice. "But, it's a bit over the top. Let's add some water to it."

Having said that, Noah still felt that... he was only a little bit serious, but they couldn't handle it. It was because they didn't practice enough.

Hey, it turns out that crushing with violent numbers is such a refreshing thing...

Chapter 85: Metamorphosis

In the past, Noah always felt that she had to rely on cleverness to get things done. Whether it was fighting or planning, she should use her brain and think of a foolproof plan. But this time, she really felt the temptation of violent crushing. Although it was just a game, playing Wushuang and playing Soul Travel were still two different experiences.

But she was happy, but the player team that was killed by her was miserable. After just a few encounters, two powerful units were directly hit hard. Although they did not leave the field, Skadi was under a lot of pressure. Although she was the only full-level unit in the team and her attribute panel was the best in the entire team, as a hero, she was naturally the strongest one in the team, but now, her pressure was terrifyingly great.

On the one hand, his attacks would hardly shake the opponent, whose resilience was far beyond his imagination. Secondly, compared with the previous brainless monsters, this boss's various actions were simply ingenious. Even though it was so huge that it was almost impossible to avoid the attacks, the opponent's various wonderful attack rhythms and moves still suppressed everyone. Yes, suppression, this was almost complete suppression, as if everything on the battlefield was within the opponent's calculations.

This feeling is really too frustrating. Even though Skadi is quite good at dealing with large monsters, she still feels powerless at this moment.

"This is much more difficult than fighting Hai Si..." Skadi couldn't help but complain. Noah could see her complaint and she also found it interesting. After all, Skadi seemed so experienced when dealing with Hai Si. She didn't expect that even she would have such a difficult time. She couldn't help but have some ideas. Speaking of which, Skadi hadn't fought for a long time. It was not a bad thing for her to regain some strength. It would not be a bad thing to let her have more fun.

And what if this battle helps her regain her fighting touch?

Noah had an idea, and according to her habit, she would act immediately after having an idea. Therefore, her operation also changed a little. She controlled the intensity, and became back and forth with Skadi. Noah controlled the strength well, and was slightly stronger than Skadi. She would not defeat her in one breath, but would also give her enough pressure. Skadi only felt that the monster in front of her was not as tricky as before. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't fought for too long. Now Skadi felt that every cell in her body was cheering, and the memory of the battle seemed to awaken from her bones. Her sword-swinging movements became more and more crisp and neat, and more and more like the... deep-sea hunter.

"...Tsk...what are you still fighting for?" Precious looked for a long time, and suddenly put down the staff in her hand. A bystander can see clearly from her angle that this boss is not so much trying to kill Skadi as it is feeding Skadi with moves. Then why should she be so diligent in outputing damage? She probably guessed that this game has RPG elements from the pre-civilization era in every aspect. It is more of a game than a maze - most likely one of her old friends is just playing a little joke on her.

"...What do you mean?" The doctor was stunned for a moment, then asked curiously, "Are you planning to let Skadi fight the boss alone?"

"Do you think this boss's desire to attack is the same as the previous one?" Precious said helplessly, "I'm afraid someone is behind this boss, deliberately giving this little whale some training."

"I thought it was just my imagination, but it turns out to be true." The doctor nodded. "Then... the only one who would do such a thing is probably..."

"Noya, who's not here... this guy must be the boss's operator." Precious had already sat down with the doctor. "It must be that you've lost too much memory, otherwise you would have noticed it earlier than I did."

"Memory..." The doctor shrugged, "I've been wanting to ask you this before... How much do you know about my past?"

"Everything," Precious replied, "but she didn't let me tell you, so... I won't tell you now. If you really want to know this, you need to be prepared."

Looking at Precious's eyes, the doctor nodded solemnly. The reason why she joined this exploration team was actually to explore her own memories. However, it was obvious that Noah and Precious knew a lot of things, but after many considerations, the two chose to hide it from herself. According to his understanding of Noah, the only reason she might have hidden it from herself was that the answer might not be a good thing for her.

Although the doctor wanted to know everything, he also understood that perhaps... now was not the time.

At this time, the battle between Nightmare Khan and Skadi was almost intense. Skadi became more and more adept at fighting, and the sword in her hand seemed to have merged into her body. She had actually been thinking about what she had left since she lost her power and her memory of Noah. She was not good at clerical work, but she still tried hard to learn it, not because she wanted to do it, but because she could only do it.

She still remembers her electrical skills, but can she really go back to being a carefree electrician?

This was impossible. All of Terra was advancing, advancing for a clear purpose. Noa was also on the move. If something terrible wasn't about to happen, why was Noa so anxious? Agor's return to the Terran kingdoms was practically a gift of his technology. Skadi was naive, but not stupid. She knew she couldn't go on like this, but she was a warrior, and her strength was all she had to work with... But at this critical moment, she had lost everything she was proud of.

As a deep-sea hunter, she has been completely tamed by the life of a deep-sea hunter. She can only be a hunter, and paperwork is just a means for her to numb herself.

She is still a warrior, a warrior who bravely moves forward in battle.

She wanted to be that person's right-hand man, wanted to protect that person... She couldn't just become... a burden to him.

She is Skadi, the deep-sea hunter—Noah’s… no, friend.

Skadi's heart had never beaten so fast before. She didn't feel tired. Adrenaline and everything else seemed to make her ignore her fatigue.

Power, endless power, seemed to be pouring out of his body.

Ding--

Both swords pressed down at the same time, and Skadi did not parry this time, as parrying was not her style.

She gripped the sword with both hands and raised it suddenly.

It was the sound of waves, the sound of waves breaking against the rocks thousands of times!

Her eyes were as red as blood.

At this time, Noah also felt something was wrong. Something seemed to be happening to Skadi.

"Evolution," the administrator said. "She's evolving."

"evolution?"

"Actually, from the very beginning, the ancient civilization had countless plans to utilize the Deep Blue Tree. One of them was to combine the Haisi (or Sea Si), as you call it now, the byproduct of the Deep Blue Tree, with humans to create unprecedented warriors. But I had a better plan at the time, so I rejected this idea. Compared to something as unstable as the Haisi, I thought the Star Child Project was more suitable for humans. But now it seems... maybe I really underestimated the potential of the Haisi."

"You mean, the Deep Sea Hunter accidentally found the right way to use Kaiji?"

"There's no right or wrong, only reasonable or unreasonable." The administrator shook his head. "I've made Hai Si's problem very clear. Hai Si's evolution is unstable, and this shortcoming will always exist."

"So Skadi now..."

"...It depends on herself." The administrator was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Her willpower will help her open the passage."

That’s right, will.

At this time, Skadi has fallen into a very dangerous situation. The sea cells in Skadi's body are not ordinary sea cells, but one of the transformed newborn cells. They are the flesh and blood of Isamara. It can even be said that there is a sea god bred in Skadi's body. She can even be called [Isamara's agent]. After killing Isamara, Isamara was preyed upon by her. Naturally, the name of Isamara has belonged to her.

However, her sea cells began to weaken - the fundamental reason for this weakening was that Skadi encountered another task with a higher priority within the Deep Blue Tree project, that is, the real person in charge of the Deep Blue Tree, Luo.

Luo believed that Ishamara in Skadi had begun to become uncontrollable, and used his authority to shut down Ishamara. Theoretically, unless Luo changed his mind, Skadi's sea cells would gradually die in her body, and eventually, Skadi would become an ordinary Agor.

But she probably didn't expect that Skadi could rely on her willpower to reawaken the sea cells in her body... and this time, Isamara had been shut down, so it was Skadi herself who awakened - a power that did not belong to anyone, but was Skadi's own power.

For the first time, in the clash of swords, it was Nightmare Khan who retreated. You know, in terms of apparent numbers, Nightmare Khan absolutely crushed the player units.

Noah subconsciously opened Skadi's status bar. Although this was a game, the values ​​in the game constructed by the administrator were calculated through real-time scanning of her body, so Skadi's body had also undergone some changes in reality.

[Skadi Occupation: Brave Status: Transformation]

The newborn Ishamara had fallen asleep under Luo's order. What was restarted now was the newborn power that Skadi restarted with her own will.

Under Noa's influence, the Sea Si has become the current Pearl Tear Singer. This was the original intention of the Deep Blue Tree and the true direction of the Sea Si's growth. Compared to the indescribable evolutionary method before, the Sea Si is now purified. Therefore, Skadi's body has not changed much. Unlike the changes in Ulpian's body, Skadi is truly completing a spontaneous evolution. Although the changes to her biological form are minimal, after she completed the transformation, her panel attributes are almost on par with Nightmare Khan.

"Now... I can't let the water out." Noah smiled bitterly. She had never expected that it would end up like this. "But is this a good thing?"

"I don't know," the administrator gave a high-scoring answer. "But who knows? This is a new path—the Deep Blue Tree was always going to forge its own path. So, from that perspective, any experimentation isn't a bad thing."

When facing lumberjacks, the more prepared you are, the better. The more paths you have, the higher your chances of winning.

The administrator's meaning was not difficult to understand, but Noah was just a friend and was a little worried about Skadi's current condition.

Good luck to you, Skadi.

But this was Skadi's own choice. Noah understood that if it were not for her will, she would not have become what she is now.

However, as the sea cells awakened, Skadi not only gained strength, but also had a strange feeling... Every time she swung the sword, she seemed to be able to remember something, and those memories that she thought she had lost... were actually slowly recovering.

Those memories of Noya... and the memory of that night...

Including, the memory of her attack on Ulpian...

Also came back together.

No wonder the captain didn't let her think about these things... She smiled bitterly. So that's how it is. She has caused a lot of trouble to many people.