MGSFV?! Chapter 439. I'm Dying of Laughter; The Official Guide to Playing Honkai Impact 3rd
[If you tell me HoYoverse didn't do this on purpose, I won't believe you. Of all things for Li Sushang to quote, it had to be that line?]
No matter how you looked at it, there was clearly a deliberate touch.
[If I didn't remember clearly, I'd have missed the fact that HoYoverse was referencing a meme here.]
[Hidden quite deep.]
The official team creating memes and then joining players to enjoy them—that had long since become one of Honkai Impact 3rd's trademarks.
Sometimes, you could really tell from between the lines...
That the writers loved their characters, going out of their way to craft fun stories around them—
Like how Ego would say: "Even the Moon can't make me work overtime."
Or "Are you people seriously okay?"
Or—
Cough cough.
Why are they all about Ego?
Is this affection... or persecution?
Of course... probably not, right?
After all, someone was writing them with a very cheerful smile.
"Dying of laughter.jpg"
...
Back to the story.
Although Li Sushang quoted a very iconic line and sort of demonstrated her growth after traveling who-knows-how-many-miles...
She still messed it up.
Beside her, Durandal, now in her Stellar Vortex battle suit, gently pointed out:
"Sushang... that line doesn't really apply when we don't yet have enough clues."
"Eh? Really?"
Sushang scratched her head, clearly confused.
Well, of course not...
Sherlock Holmes had made that deduction with full confidence and all facts in hand.
Li Sushang, on the other hand, was just blindly guessing. No way it was the same.
Still, the good thing about Sushang was her self-awareness—
She knew when she was wrong and tried to fix it.
Even if... her "fixing it" might get a little...
Never mind. Perhaps we'll revisit that next time.
To keep the conversation from getting too sidetracked, Kiana stepped in:
"Alright, the important thing isn't who trapped us here, but how we're going to break through and keep moving forward."
With her words, a few lines of in-game text appeared.
Explaining the current setting—
The girls were in a maze, eerie and uncanny.
Their objective: find the exit.
[Easy. Just follow the left wall.]
If only it were that simple.
Wall-hugging only works in static, simply connected mazes.
This maze was clearly not one of those.
So, eliminating less viable options,
the best approach was actually—
Split up.
"The more complex the puzzle, the more likely the solution is simple."
In real life, too—
Why run errands and fetch keys for some NPC,
when you could just axe them down and loot the box directly?
Call it simple and unpretentious.
Even though splitting up seemed like the best strategy,
Durandal was still wary.
What if this was Kevin's trap—splitting them up to pick them off?
Hard to say...
Then again, the one overseeing this place wasn't Kevin, but Yutu.
Durandal proposed that for safety and efficiency,
she and Sushang—the more suitable vanguard—would handle the fights ahead.
While Kiana, Mei, and Bronya, as a more synchronized team, would conserve strength to face stronger foes later.
["Synchronized": you mean three totally different damage types? Mixed-damage teams really are optimal huh.]
[The Official Guide to Playing Honkai Impact 3rd.jpg]
[But Durandal's a physical DPS, and 3C Abyss comps are ancient history. Might as well pair Sushang with Bronya.]
[Clearly, I know how to play Honkai better than the devs do. (Dog emoji)]
...
Anyway.
The team split up and set off.
Control returned to the player for open-map navigation.
Seeing Durandal in Stellar Vortex, Elysia instinctively switched to Knight Form.
"For exploration, horse riding is faster—"
But before long, she plummeted into the void.
"..."
"...What kind of map is this?"
The terrain was clearly unsuited for speed-running, so Elysia switched back to Guardian Form and walked normally.
And soon forgot all about her earlier fall—
Happily observing the environment again.
After all, Honkai Impact 3rd had a knack for this:
Each main story update featured brand new world spaces.
"Even though it's a maze, there are no traps, and no enemies leaping from corners... Doesn't feel like your style, Mr. 'Otto.'"
"My style?" Hokuto blinked. "What style?"
"Like hiding gunmen in dark corners—waiting to ambush players as they step onto the platform—"
"..."
Hokuto: You'd dare criticize my methods?
...
And speak of the devil.
As soon as Elysia questioned the lack of enemies,
a group of strange humanoid foes appeared on a nearby platform.
Immediately rushing the team.
Li Sushang moved up front:
"It's fine, Kiana. Piece of cake!"
Durandal followed up:
"These foes aren't strong. Let's wrap this up quickly."
Sure enough, facing two powerful Valkyries,
these strange enemies were quickly eliminated.
But...
Despite the minor resistance,
the team soon noticed something odd.
It felt like... they were walking in place.
Bronya suggested:
This might be like the Infinite Corridor created by Sirin during the Second Eruption.
But Kiana disagreed.
She could feel that this maze wasn't a pre-designed construct—
It was naturally evolving.
Every step forward stretched the path one step further.
Like bait tied to a stick on a pet's back—
forever in sight, never in reach.
So... what to do?
Thankfully—
Kiana was there.
She couldn't warp everyone out,
but she did notice an anomaly in the spatial structure.
It turned out that the five of them—
three Herrschers and two Stigmata Awakened—
had inadvertently created two opposing force fields.
Those fields, in this special environment,
caused the maze to self-perpetuate.
So, theoretically—
Splitting the Herrschers and Stigmata Awakened into two groups
would break the field and force the maze to collapse.
[Wait a sec—there are three Herrschers and two Stigmata. How is that "balanced"?]
[Unless Bronya is the... "non-Herrscher"?]
[She's the duck, isn't she??]
[Hold up—everyone changed suits, but Bronya's still in Yamabuki Armor.]
[A bunch of S-Ranks and one starter A.]
Ahem. Back on track.
After posing the theory,
they needed to test it.
Durandal suggested temporarily splitting up to see if the spatial field changed.
To ensure communication, they'd use Genius as a relay,
aided by the Herrscher of Thunder's powers.
"Lightning really can do everything, huh?"
"So... shall we test it?"
"Alright. Let's give it a try."
...
"Phew~~"
Elysia let out a breath.
She'd focused so hard just now, she hadn't dared say a word.
Almost lost the thread.
Then—
a mission prompt popped up:
"Incredible Feat: Splitting Up"
Prompting immediate sarcasm—
"Splitting up is an incredible feat now?"
"Is it not incredible?" Hokuto quipped back.
"Hmm...?"
Elysia blinked, then realized:
"...Mr. 'Otto,' have you been really into dad jokes lately?"
She sighed, resumed control, and moved ahead.
Only to trigger the next cutscene.
As Durandal and Sushang moved far enough away,
they finally noticed something was wrong.
Kiana's Genius... didn't respond.
"Seems like... another unfortunate accident's occurred."
It was Schrödinger's voice.
Her appearance confirmed:
The space had destabilized again.
She explained the relationship between Herrschers and Stigmata Awakened.
Like magnetic poles.
Or like this: Stigmata — Humanity — Honkai
Stigmata Awakened exist between Stigmata and humans.
Herrschers exist between humans and Honkai.
And when the two were separated,
their balanced force field broke—
causing space-time instability.
Durandal didn't panic.
In fact—she had a bold idea.
She and Sushang returned to the group.
"Hi, quick fight, and we're back."
Durandal greeted them calmly.
Then Li Sushang dropped a bomb:
"Just a heads-up—what we're planning to do next will definitely shock you."
"We plan to run back to Earth—on foot!"
Mei: "..."
Bronya: "...?"
Players: "???"
[Typing a slow question mark.]
Sushang's line made everyone—already fried from the dense plot—sit up straight.
Run back to Earth?!
Miss Li, did you read too many books recently?
You really are walking ten thousand miles?
Is that what "Incredible Feat" meant?
[How far is the Moon from Earth again?]
[About 380,000 km. Roughly 30 times Earth's diameter.]
[That far? You'd break your legs.]
[Maybe not. If Stigmata Awakened boost movement and Herrschers stabilize physics, maybe they can run back.]
A long, well-reasoned comment floated by.
[Wait, you understood that whole monologue earlier??? (Shocked for a century)]
...
Mei and Bronya were dumbfounded.
"Well, to put it simply—"
Durandal calmly explained Schrödinger's theory.
The conclusion:
As long as the two groups are far enough apart,
Kiana's group can leave the maze,
and Durandal + Sushang can hitch a ride on the Stigmata Plan—back to Earth.
But to walk across the 380,000 km gap...?
Elysia couldn't help but murmur:
"Right. That's... so far. How are they supposed to run?"
[Exactly! There's not even a road in space! How do they run?!]
[A road? That's a unique take. Discharged!]
[Discharged? Admitted! You're the new head doctor!]
In the game—
Li Sushang crossed her arms and answered bluntly:
"With Honkai energy, of course!"
As if there was nothing odd about what she just said.
"..." x3
[...] *n
The moment she said that—
Even Kiana and friends in the game went silent.
And outside the screen—
the players fell into stunned silence as well.
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