Honkai Impact 3rd: Don't Die For Me/ Book 1: Promise

Chapter 60 Only Human

<Tunnels>

"It burns sisters! It burns!"

Blood splattered as the knife was ripped out of the attendant's eye. She still stood but her body spasmed periodically. Her hands clawed at her eye desperate to get rid of the source of her pain. The torch she held was quickly kicked away easing her pain for just a moment.

"Poison!"

They spoke no further, they didn't need to. It was clear that the poison was activated by heat. They had to be wary of the figure's hidden weapons. It was not the first time they had come across a combatant who specialized in the poison arts.

One attendant brought out a giant fan and blasted the space before her. In an instant crazed wind blew out all the torches in the area. She quickly sheathed her tool as another one of her allies threw luminescent stones across the space before them. Causing Otto to retreat.

If he walked over the lit path before him he would be falling into a death trap. His adversaries were crafty. They created a situation where his poison couldn't be activated. They've set up a protective formless wall that he could not pass through. Else he risks ambush. It was a situation where they could see him but he couldn't see them.

They probably assumed that he had a divine mark. The Emperor wouldn't send a normal human to fight against marked individuals. What else did they know? Though Otto had irreconcilable rage burning in his heart he wasn't stupid. Emotions are rarely aligned with reality. Even if one feels strongly about a matter they can't influence the matter without power. This was Otto's most straightforward fight against an enemy that could think.

"Experienced." An attendant whispered.

"Smart." Another nodded in agreement.

They were using this time to assess Otto's strength. They had to be careful, if he had knives laced with poison he might have some other form of poison. The fourth member still cried, leaning against the wall, the pain was unbearable even with her pain tolerance. She was their timer, if she fainted they had to either do one of two things. Take out the masked man or flee. They also had to take into account the possibility of backup. They were on the clock as much as the masked man was.

"Cover."

They tied bandanas around their faces, if the man wore a mask it was possible he had airborne poisons in his arsenal. The leader of the attendants drew out a weapon she acquired from the west. It was a short sword of excellent craftsmanship and glowed a light neon pink.

Otto's heart pounded as he made out the faint glow. Those weapons allowed normal soldiers to fight against Honkai. Sure they couldn't match the weakest Valkyrie but they could face off against a weak chariot-class beast and have a one percent chance of surviving and a 0.01 percent chance of killing it.

In the hands of Valkyries or in this case, marked individuals the effects were amplified. Kallen for example, with glaive Otto, had essentially bought for her, could cleave an Emperor Class beast in two with a single strike. Normal weapons couldn't accomplish such a thing.

The type of beasts the weapon was made from also affected the effects of the weapon. Though the process of forging the weapon didn't guarantee any unique attributes, there were still many weapons that gained them. About one in a thousand weapons could gain a unique set of benefits. Kallen's glaive sadly only had the added benefit of being immensely sharp and durable.

Of the abilities, the most common ones were light strength enhancing abilities or speed enhancing abilities. The rarer ones though arguably more useless gave element attributes to the sword. A flaming sword looked cool but ultimately didn't do much against Honkai beasts. The wearer would also have to be able to handle the heat.