"If there's nothing else, I'll head up."
Kiana, with her toned and beautiful legs clad in 50D black over-the-knee socks for the spring and autumn season, brushed past the woman in front of her, pata-pata running up to the second floor.
She deftly took out her key, unlocked the door to Room 201, and entered.
Closing the door behind her with a backhand swing, she threw herself forcefully onto the soft, fluffy bed.
"Phew! This lady is exhausted!"
Exercising her wrist, which was slightly swollen from recoil, the girl half-opened her magnificent blue eyes and murmured wearily from her small, cherry-like mouth.
Early in the morning, Kiana had sensed abnormal Honkai Energy within the pervading mist. Realizing something was wrong, she immediately grabbed her dual pistols and rushed to the location with the densest energy.
Unsurprisingly, she found the culprit behind it all: a mutant Low-Level Honkai Beast, fully twenty-six meters long.
—Honkai Beasts: Silicon-based lifeforms formed coincidentally from the Honkai Energy pervading the planet's atmosphere; or mutant creatures resulting from animals and plants infected by the Honkai. They can be understood as humanity's primary enemy currently.
Although categorized into various classes like Chariot, Knight, Catapult, Templar, Emperor, etc., a Honkai Beast's strength is mostly determined by its size. A Temple-class isn't necessarily stronger than a Chariot-class.
The larger the Honkai Beast, the stronger it is. Of course, small ones aren't necessarily weak, but big ones are definitely strong.
According to the official guidebooks released by major organizations led by Schicksal, a Low-Level Honkai Beast between 10m and 30m requires a B-rank Valkyrie equipped with 3rd Generation armor to subjugate.
Incidentally, below 10m corresponds to C-rank, and 30m to 100m corresponds to A-rank.
Hundred-meter class is the limit for Low-Level Honkai Beasts. Anything beyond that falls into the category of "High-Level Honkai Beasts," also known as "Avatars of Calamity" or "Mobile Honkai Phenomena."
For Kiana, who was also B-rank in combat power—even if she could be considered an outlier among B-ranks—taking down that mutant Honkai Beast had exhausted all the ammunition she carried.
Therefore, on her way back, she took a detour via tram to the naval base stationed in Yokosuka, swiped quite a bit of munitions from their warehouse, and then rushed back, dusty and travel-worn.
And the moment she returned, she ran into that annoying landlady.
"Pfft!"
Recalling the woman's face, which looked as if she had swallowed a fly, the girl couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Ever since her father, Siegfried Kaslana, disappeared in 2010, Kiana had embarked on a journey of Where Are You, Dad? all by herself.
Four years of searching, struggling through mud and water, crossing the Eurasian continent from Northern Europe to the Far East, with a super-long journey likely still ahead.
These experiences, which sound incredibly heartbreaking, had caused Kiana much suffering but also honed her ability to read people.
Even if she didn't say it, the girl's heart was like a clear mirror regarding people's attitudes toward her.
If she should treat them warmly, she would. If she should be perfunctory, she would fake warmth to brush them off. Kiana was never vague when it came to dealing with people.
Oh, except for a certain someone.
Thinking of this, the girl who had just been delighted by tricking the nasty landlady glared annoyedly at the wall shared with Room 202.
The person living on the other side of that wall was named Fuli, a Shenzhou native who had come to the Far East on the same ship as her.
He was sixteen, same as Kiana. Occupation: High school student. Single.
Kiana could feel his warmth toward her; that heartfelt kindness couldn't be faked.
The girl was used to such things.
Not to brag, but even in the "2D waifu" category that otaku were obsessed with, she was definitely a Super Bishoujo surpassing the average line.
Being such a Kiana, and a lone traveler at that, there were quite a few people who fell in love with her at first sight.
In the girl's eyes, Fuli was one of those motivated by lust, and the most hopeless, pestering type at that.
Not only did he hang around her all day, but he even easily changed his original plans.
That's right. According to what Kiana learned later, Fuli hadn't initially planned to attend high school in the Far East.
He was from Shenzhou. If he wanted to study abroad, he would surely come for university. Why come for high school? To fight for spots with the already insanely competitive locals?
Of course not.
Fuli only changed his mind temporarily after seeing Kiana, insisting on running off to the Far East to study with her.
If it were one of those clever "Little Fairies," they would naturally be smug about Fuli's idiotic behavior of changing his itinerary for them.
In their eyes, this was just a manifestation of their charm.
Kiana was different. She felt guilty.
Guilt made it hard to face him.
Finding it hard to face him meant she couldn't control her emotions well when they met.
And when people can't control their emotions, the traits most easily displayed are irritability and anger.
Not to mention Fuli now lived right next door and was in the same class as her—the type of person she saw every time she turned around.
If Kiana were just a harmless ordinary person, it would be fine. The problem was, as the heir to the Kaslana name, she often needed to hunt down Honkai Beasts that endangered humanity to punish evil and, incidentally, fill her wallet.
And even the most ordinary 10m-class Low-Level Honkai Beast corresponded to C-rank combat power, which far exceeded normal humans!
How did the latest guidebooks from major organizations like Schicksal summarize the combat capabilities of a C-rank Valkyrie?
A casually thrown stone could shatter a meter-thick granite pillar!
A constitution strong enough that taking a high-voltage current head-on only resulted in momentary unconsciousness!
Speed fast enough to create afterimages!
Defense comparable to tempered steel; a submachine gun firing at point-blank range would only break the skin!
With 30% output, a punch could pierce through civil defense fortifications. A full-power burst could throw half a ton of reinforced concrete with enough force to create a sonic boom!
And that was just C-rank—a level that Kiana, a B-rank outlier, could crush effortlessly!
The girl was terrified that one day, while she was fighting, Fuli would suddenly pop out of nowhere. With his ordinary body that didn't even rate a D-rank, the mere shockwaves of the battle would tear him into sashimi slices!
Just thinking about that scene made Kiana's brain tremble!!!
"...Forget it, let's read some novels."
Deciding not to think about those upsetting things for now, the white furball propped her upper body up crookedly, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and plugged in the charging cable while she was at it.
With a few kicks, she shed her pure black over-the-knee socks and sailor uniform, diving naked under the covers without even changing into pajamas.
The blanket was warm, heated by her lying on top of it earlier.
Kiana planned to read today's updates and then sleep like a log. Waking up at the crack of dawn to slay demons, then making a round trip to the US military base—even a Kaslana body couldn't handle such torment.
After waking up, she still had to go back to where she buried the mutant Honkai Beast, dig it up, and sell it on the black market.
Honkai Energy was an extremely corrosive and domineering energy. The parts diluted by oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere were fine, but once exposed to a denser concentration, an ordinary person would instantly turn into a mindless zombie-like Deadwalker. Those with low resistance would even turn to ash and vanish.
If she really brought it back to the apartment, the Far East's official anti-Honkai organization would come with their swords, guns, and halberds to sweep the place clean.
Along with the entire building of residents turned into Deadwalkers, and the culprit behind it all—her, Kiana Kaslana.