In the dark sewers beneath St. Freya High School, as if by the turning of the wheels of fate, it became the origin of the impending 'incident'...
At this moment, Li Xuan and the others stared blankly at the hole in front of them, which was clearly dug by hand, feeling somewhat panicked. It's not like someone at St. Freya High School would dig a hole in a place like this for fun... and it was obvious that this wasn't man-made...
"...Everyone, get ready to go in." Li Xuan's golden right eye seemed to burn as he spoke. The vision in his eyes now was as if time had been slowed down. Even though he was still wearing the special St. Freya High School boys' uniform, which was somewhat similar to the suit-style uniforms of Japanese high school boys in his previous life... with his right eye, he could still dodge most attacks.
"Mm, OK." Kiana looked with some resentment as Li Xuan took out a very ordinary pistol from his pocket, the one-star weapon 'USP45', and held it for self-defense.
"Then let's go in..." Mei drew a wooden sword from her waist, which she usually used for practice and sparring. The wooden sword was made of walnut wood, which was brownish-black with a hint of purple. It was highly practical... durable, with high impact toughness and good flexibility.
"......Mm." Li Xuan nodded and, steeling himself, was the first to bend down and walk into the hole... He scanned the surroundings with the flashlight in his hand, his eyes vigilantly watching everything.
"..." Li Xuan moved slowly into the cave with a grave expression, the light from his flashlight the only source of light in this pitch-black hole.
"Potato chip bags... leftover fruit pits... drink bottles..." The further Li Xuan went into the cave, the more trash and junk he found on the ground. The deeper he went, the more Li Xuan felt that the thing inside was not some kind of monster. After all, monsters were known to be creatures that swallowed humans whole and were bloody and terrifying... a monster that ate snacks... Li Xuan felt he couldn't make this story up...
After Li Xuan and the others entered the cave, it only took about half a minute... Li Xuan felt that they had almost reached the end of the cave... The space ahead became narrower the further they went...
Just then... the light from Li Xuan's flashlight finally illuminated the end of the cave... What came into Li Xuan's sight at the end of the cave was a large pile of dirty clothes...
"..." Where's the monster? Li Xuan stared at the empty end of the cave, stunned, how could there be nothing... Was the creature that dug this cave temporarily not here?
"Mei, Kiana... your stolen clothes seem to be those, right..." Li Xuan turned around and pointed to the pile of clothes that appeared before them at the end of the cave.
"...It is." Kiana blinked her eyes and lowered her guard, putting down the 'USP45' pistol in her hand.
At this moment... the flashlight in Li Xuan's hand seemed to have run out of battery. The bright light suddenly dimmed... at the same time... two golden eyes suddenly opened.
"Squeak squeak!" A figure suddenly rushed out from some corner. Li Xuan abruptly turned around and saw the figure only about ten centimeters away from him... Its beast-like, pale golden eyes shone brightly even in the darkness.
'Not good...' Li Xuan thought in alarm. Although he could have dodged it... with Mei and Kiana behind him, and this place being difficult to retreat in... he subconsciously raised his arm to block the opponent's attack as much as possible.
"Li Xuan-kun! Be careful!" Mei shouted anxiously. She had even spotted the suddenly rushing figure earlier than Li Xuan.
"Ha!" Mei violently raised the wooden sword in her hand. Her years of swordsmanship training and the special techniques from the 'Hokushin Itto-ryu' made the katana in her hand unbelievably fast...
"Whoosh!~" The wooden sword shot out from behind Kiana like a feathered arrow, carrying a whirlwind of air. Though it was just a sword, it gave off the feeling of a spear striking like a dragon.
"Bang!" The tip of the wooden sword passed by the side of Kiana's head in front of Mei, carrying a few strands of snow-white hair. The wooden sword, carrying immense force and an indomitable will, collided squarely with the beast-like figure so fast that even Kiana couldn't see it clearly.
"Squeak~...." As if letting out its last breath, the small figure's abdomen was heavily struck by Mei and fell directly from mid-air to the ground. After a few whimpers, it passed out cleanly...
"Thank, thank you.. Mei." Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, and after accepting the fact that the monster was one-shotted by Mei, he hurriedly thanked her.
"You're welcome~ Classmate Li Xuan." Mei let out a light breath, a little sweat beading on her forehead as she spoke gently. The sword technique just now, which required a lot of muscle strength, had also made her feel a little tired.
"...What on earth is it?" While Li Xuan was thanking Mei, the curious Kiana reached out and poked the small figure lying on the ground. Since the cave was pitch black, Kiana couldn't see clearly what was in front of her...
"Li Xuan, quick, point the flashlight at it. This young lady wants to see what this thing is..." Kiana urged Li Xuan.
"Yes~ my lady..." Li Xuan, who still owed Kiana a large sum of money, said very obsequiously, pointing the light from his hand at the thing that had just attacked him.
Under the light, the small figure that Li Xuan had thought was a beastly monster was revealed... It wore a cartoon raccoon head, had a head of fluffy white hair, and was dressed in something of a Japanese style, somewhat like a ninja's attire. And it was only the height of a first-grader. This image made it easy for Kiana to recognize what the thing in front of her was.
"This is... a Familiar?!" Kiana shouted in surprise as she saw the figure in front of her clearly. The small, raccoon-like creature before her, yet not belonging to any Honkai Zombie or Honkai Beast, allowed her to recognize it immediately.
"Familiar?!" Li Xuan and Mei said in surprise at the same time. After two months, they had once again seen the existence of a Familiar.
'By the way, why is this Familiar so small?' Li Xuan silently thought as he looked at the raccoon Familiar lying on the ground. The Familiars at his home were all of normal height, or rather, no different from humans.
In fact, Li Xuan still didn't understand the special nature of his own familiars. And because St. Freya High School had done too little research on familiars, they hadn't paid attention to the special nature of Li Xuan's familiars. After all, they prioritized researching Valkyries.
Accompanying the appearance of the [Honkai], possessing intelligence and learning abilities no less than humans, and also having its own unique thoughts and personality, different from Honkai Zombies and Honkai Beasts which exist only to destroy the world... an alternative existence that would even proactively help humans, a product of the Honkai—[Familiar].
(End of this chapter)