"It's fine, I can go for another ten minutes."
Li Ke desperately wanted to say those words, but unfortunately, his body refused to cooperate.
He was currently in a completely dazed, lightheaded state. Although he could clearly feel how weak his body was, he didn't feel any discomfort at all. To be precise, he felt a bit floaty and pleasantly dizzy.
That was definitely a sensation that normal "clapping" with a girl could never achieve!
Does the Gremory family also work part-time as succubi on the side?
Li Ke really wanted to ask this out loud. However, there was no doubt that Rias Gremory would dodge the question. Having drained Li Ke's vital essence, she had already recovered a portion of her demonic power. Not only did her complexion look much healthier, but her previous exhaustion had completely vanished.
Li Ke, on the other hand, was completely spent. He didn't even have the strength to stand up right now.
Rias gently scooped Li Ke up in a bridal carry. She then turned her gaze toward Lux, whose face was completely flushed, and asked, "Lux, how much of your magic power has recovered?"
Lux looked at Rias with a blushing face. Taking a deep breath, she carefully sensed the energy inside her body before replying, "My power is about half-restored."
A slightly ruthless smile appeared on Rias's face. "Excellent. It's time to clean up the mess we caused!"
She cast a look at Li Ke, her expression softening into a gentle smile. "Mr. Li Ke, thank you for your power. I won't let it go to waste."
Li Ke wanted to tell her to do whatever she pleased, but he lacked even the strength to speak, so he just let her do as she wished.
What he didn't know was that Rias felt she had completely misjudged him.
Mr. Li Ke is definitely no ordinary human.
Sensing the vital essence constantly converting into magic power within her body, Rias was incredibly shocked. Li Ke's vital essence was far too pure, looking as though it had never been tainted by any external influences. Under normal circumstances, the recovery speed and overall effects of such pure essence were remarkable.
However, this also implied that there had never been any magic power present in the environment Li Ke grew up in—which should have been impossible. Magic power was the fundamental building block of the universe. Whether it was the holy energy of angels or the demonic power of devils, they were all essentially forms of magic power. They had merely undergone different transformations, but their core essence remained the same: a fusion of mental energy and physical energy.
Yet, Li Ke's body was absurdly pure, completely devoid of any naturally converted magic power.
It was almost as if... he were one of the primordial humans.
In their original world, such a person would undoubtedly be considered an absolute treasure. However, pure humans should have gone extinct a long time ago.
Still, now was not the time to dwell on these thoughts. Rias once again activated her flight magic. With a swift wave of her hand, the massive chunks of soil above them violently blasted outward, instantly exposing the dense swarm of zombie vultures overhead.
"Lux!"
"Understood!"
Lux immediately knew what to do. She raised her staff right away, unleashing beams of light that continuously pierced through the sky. She blasted path after path straight through the swirling swarm of zombie birds, allowing Rias and the others to clearly see the reinforced iron cabin below, which was currently surrounded by countless zombie vultures.
"Looks like I'll have to give him a proper apology later!"
Rias deployed a magic shield, enveloping both Li Ke and Lux in its protection. In the next instant, countless magic circles suddenly erupted around her. Indeed, carrying Li Ke in her arms wasn't going to stop her from unleashing total devastation!
A torrent of fireballs and roaring flames began to swirl outside her shield, instantly incinerating every zombie bird that lunged at them. Not only that, but after handing Li Ke over to Lux for support, massive arcs of lightning began crackling around Rias's fingers.
"I might not be as skilled with lightning magic as Akeno, but spending every day with her has taught me a thing or two!"
A ruthless smile crossed Rias's face. The next moment, endless bolts of lightning surged from a cascade of newly manifested magic circles. The electric currents blasted into the massive swarm of zombie vultures overhead, wildly chain-lightning and jumping from one monster to the next.
In a split second, the entire sky flashed with blinding electricity, completely bypassing only the reinforced iron cabin she had intentionally avoided.
The air was instantly filled with the stench of charred flesh and countless falling zombie birds. Every vulture within a several-hundred-meter radius was completely wiped out. Yet, despite the massive clearing, a seemingly endless horde of zombie birds still kept charging inward from the distance.
"This is getting ridiculous..."
Rias gritted her teeth and unleashed another wave of flames. If one of her peerage members were here, these monstrous birds wouldn't pose any threat at all. He could easily use blood magic to detonate the remaining blood inside their bodies, wiping out the entire swarm in an instant.
But she didn't possess that specific ability. For her to eliminate these creatures, it required a massive expenditure of raw effort.
Deciding not to drag out the fight—especially since she had only recovered a portion of her magic power—she quickly dove toward the iron cabin as soon as that section of the sky was cleared, landing right at the entrance.
Kiri spotted them immediately. She threw the door open and quickly pulled the three of them inside. However, the moment she took Li Ke from Lux's arms, her gun was already drawn and pointed directly at Rias's head.
"Care to explain why our man is in this state right now?!"
Kiri glared at Rias with a hostile expression. She was already furious that Rias had drawn these monsters to their position, but she was even more triggered seeing Li Ke completely limp, looking as though his soul had left his body.
"I am deeply sorry. Mr. Li Ke is like this because I absorbed his vital essence, but please rest assured that I did not cause any permanent damage to his body. He just needs some rest, and he will fully recover."
Rias didn't take offense at Kiri's hostility; instead, her expression was filled with genuine remorse.
"I am truly sorry for bringing this trouble upon all of you. Please rest assured that as soon as I catch my breath, I will go out there and resolve this crisis myself."
She gave Kiri—and a trembling Tsunade nearby—a deeply sincere bow, remaining lowered to show her earnest regret. Beside her, Lux bowed deeply in apology as well.
"Hmph. I hope you're as good as your word."
Kiri let out a disdainful snort. She then dragged Li Ke over to the bed, propping him up right next to Tsunade so he could finally lie down and rest.
Li Ke was still completely out of it. He remained dead to the world, entirely unfazed by Kiri occasionally popping open the hatch to fire off shots outside. Within moments, he drifted off to sleep, curled right into the arms of the still-trembling Tsunade.
An oppressive silence fell over the reinforced iron cabin.
Kiri had absolutely zero interest in chatting with these strangers who had brought chaos to their doorstep and left Li Ke in such a state. Meanwhile, Rias and Lux sat in awkward silence, completely at a loss for words.
Fortunately, Li Ke's deep slumber didn't last too long. It wasn't long before his mind cleared from the hazy aftereffects of the vital essence drain. The moment he snapped back to reality, the booming gunfire from Kiri's weapon jolted him awake.
With that, a sense of normalcy finally began to return to the cabin.
Blinking away the last traces of sleep, Li Ke looked around under the flickering light of the torches. He spotted Kiri actively firing through the shooting hatch, while Lux and Rias were sitting on two wood building blocks.
The two of them looked exactly like elementary school students who had just been caught misbehaving, quietly waiting to receive their judgment. Li Ke shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming, finally realizing he was safely back inside the iron cabin.
"Is it still not over?"
Listening to the persistent clanging echoing against the iron walls, he glanced at the shooting hatch where zombie birds were still violently throwing themselves against the opening. He couldn't help but ask.
Rias had practically drained him dry—had she still not taken care of the situation out there? Just how many of those monstrous birds were there?
"Not even close! There are at least tens of thousands more out there!"
Seeing Li Ke wake up, Kiri's expression softened quite a bit, though her face still carried a heavy trace of annoyance.
Realizing this was her cue to speak, Rias finally chimed in.
"I am terribly sorry, Mr. Li Ke. But this world is exactly as you described—it is incredibly bizarre and entirely hostile to outsiders. Furthermore, it seems to absolutely despise the idea of anyone flying. I just ran the numbers; I was only airborne for a few dozen minutes, yet this world spawned hundreds of thousands of those monstrous birds to attack me! It started with just one or two, but the horde kept multiplying exponentially after that, and their spawn rate just kept accelerating!"
Li Ke's mouth twitched. He had actually considered building an aircraft to completely bypass the Blood Moon event in the future. After all, they had Kiri on their side, and the gyrocopter was an unlockable item in their crafting menu. Looking at the situation now, wasn't a gyrocopter just a flying deathtrap?
"This world is seriously..."
He was completely at a loss for words.
However, right in the middle of his exasperation, a notification suddenly popped up from his actual system.
He opened it up, only to be greeted by two prompts that left him completely shell-shocked.
[System Alert: Warning! Your status as the Lord of the 7 Days to Die Dimension is currently being bypassed!][System Alert: Rias Gremory and Lux Crownguard have successfully bypassed your authority as the Lord of the 7 Days to Die Dimension!]
What on earth?!