Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and chaotic air currents formed towering tornadoes. Trees were uprooted, tiles flew everywhere, and the glass of buildings rattled like drums. The once peaceful and harmonious city of Mondstadt instantly turned into a hellish scene.
However, perhaps because the wind was too loud or because the tornadoes had caused mass panic, no one except Orion and his group heard Dvalin's roar. For instance, Paimon hid fearfully behind Lumine.
Still, as expected of the Knights of Favonius, many knights took the lead, voluntarily guiding the crowd's evacuation. The chaotic Mondstadt gradually became orderly, and under the guidance of the Knights of Favonius, the citizens ran toward the shelters together.
Amber instinctively wanted to rush forward to guide the crowd, but she suddenly remembered Orion and the others were still with her. She grabbed the nearest hand—Orion's hand, which was shielding everyone from the storm—and ran toward the distance.
"Come on, come on! I'll take you to a safe place!"
Orion:???
I think it's safest right next to me.
Lumine and Skirk also followed, while Paimon was held directly in Lumine's arms.
As they were running, lightning suddenly flashed amidst the atmospheric friction. Under the rolling thunder and electric light, a huge dark shadow with multiple pairs of wings could be seen circling over Mondstadt through the dark clouds.
The once noisy city fell silent for a moment; the storm seemed to stop its clamor.
Then, a beautiful dragon over three hundred meters long, with feathers like emerald gems and wings like stained glass from a cathedral, dove out of the clouds in its most terrifying form, plunging toward Mondstadt with the storm in tow.
Orion's eyes widened: "Holy crap, how is it bigger than my original form!"
Lumine, Paimon, Skirk, Amber: "???"
"What do you mean by 'original form'?" Paimon asked, clutching Lumine's scarf.
"Didn't I say I'm not a pure human? My original form is like a Giant Spider carrying a Cornucopia, but I'm only about a hundred and fifty meters long." Orion wasn't afraid of Amber knowing; this was the benefit of transmigrating into a game world. You knew who the good people were—especially someone like Amber. Once she decided you were a good person, she would even help you keep secrets.
But he didn't consider at all that because of his confession now, the reputations of Alice and Klee would also suffer in Amber's mind later. A family of spiders... how terrifying.
During their conversation, Dvalin had already dived from the stratosphere to the skies above Mondstadt. It looked extremely enraged, showing no regard for the buildings below its massive body. A tall spire was actually knocked flying by it, hurtling toward a fleeing woman!
Marjorie was the owner of the Mondstadt souvenir shop, With Wind Comes Glory, but she felt her career as a shopkeeper was probably over.
With the massive spire falling toward her, what could she do? Cry out for Noelle to save her? Of course not; if she was going to die, she couldn't drag that kind child down with her. Thus, she closed her eyes in despair.
However, after a dull thud, the imagined excruciating pain of crushed bones did not come. Marjorie opened her eyes.
Beside her, a tall, sturdy, handsome guy with pointed ears held up one hand, supporting the massive spire single-handedly. It was Orion.
Amber, who was running over, was stunned, as were the passersby and Knights of Favonius who witnessed this scene.
Whose subordinate is this?
After slowly placing the spire on the ground in a spot that wouldn't obstruct traffic, Lumine and Amber hurried over to feel around him and see if he was injured.
It seemed nothing was wrong, but what was the principle behind a physical body producing a sonic boom and then coming to a sudden stop?
Allowing Lumine and Amber to check on him, Orion looked up with a frown at the circling Dvalin.
No wonder it was called Stormterror. In the game, because there was no environmental destruction or death, Orion had completely underestimated the destructive power this three-hundred-meter-long beast could bring.
Taking two steps forward, cyan Anemo element energy gathered in Orion's hand, and then he suddenly raised it!
In an instant, all the tornadoes in the city seemed to be enveloped by something. Two types of energy constantly clashed and ground against each other, finally vanishing into nothingness.
Then, over the entire city of Mondstadt—about five hundred square kilometers (twice the area of the Old City of Bern, rounded up for now)—a massive Anemo shield like a giant bowl clamped down along the edge of Cider Lake.
The massive Stormterror roared as it attacked the wind shield. However, the moment its claws touched the shield, it suddenly slid away as if the air had lost all resistance.
Dvalin:???
Wasn't I just over there?
On the ground, Skirk walked to Orion's side, the Sword Yao Guang already in hand: "I feel the aura of the Abyss from it. It's likely been subjected to corrosion by the Abyss and has gone berserk. Do you need me to kill it?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down." Good grief, one sentence and Orion's cool pose was ruined. Don't just jump to killing it right away.
Orion beckoned Lumine over and, while she looked bewildered, had Amber quickly explain how to use a wind glider. Then he said to Lumine, "Lumine, you understand how to fly now, right?"
"Ah, oh, I understand it, I guess."
"I'm going to make you fly in a moment!"
"Huh?"
"You see those purple things on that dragon's back? As a Descender, you should be able to absorb or smash them."
"Oh? Am I that amazing? This is the first I've heard of it."
"It's fine if you can't break them; just driving it away works too."
"What? I'm driving it away? For real?"
"Don't worry, an expert will help you soon! Off you go!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah——————"
While Lumine looked completely bewildered, Orion sent her flying into the sky with an updraft.
Her timely shouting drew the attention of the entire city. Now her heroic act was being broadcast to everyone.
Orion, Skirk, Marjorie, Amber, and Paimon stood in a row like cellphone signal bars, looking up at Lumine's movements.
Marjorie: "Do you have a grudge against that lady?"
Skirk: "Why do you say she can absorb Abyssal Power? Is it because you're both Descenders?"
Orion: "Pretty much. When you have time, you can teach her how to use Void Realm Power, or let her store some Abyssal Power in her body—you can treat her like a power bank."
Amber: "Hey! Look, look! Lumine has stabilized in the air! Her flying technique is amazing! Isn't this her first time?"
Paimon: "Wow! The Traveler is flying higher and higher!"
At the same time, the chatter of the crowd kept reaching their ears.
"Look! That Damselette is condensing cyan projectiles in the air!"
"She's started firing! She's started firing!"
"So strong! She's chasing Stormterror! Whose subordinate is this one???"
"Go, blonde Damselette!!! Drive away Stormterror!!!"
"Keep it up! Flying big sister!"
Hearing this, Orion knew for sure it was the Anemo Archon—that bard had started to help.
So, using Anemo element wrapped in Ideal Fluid, he scouted Mondstadt. Sure enough, a condensed but not overwhelming Power of the Thousand Winds came from a higher elevation in the city.
Orion looked over; it was the location of the Statue of the Seven.
What is a nation of faith? What is a divine statue?
No matter where you are in Mondstadt, when you want to pray, you only need to look up past the buildings, and you will surely see the Statue of the Seven standing in the cathedral square. That is what faith is.
And right there on the forward-reaching hands of the statue, a figure in green was sitting.
Suddenly, he seemed to feel a gaze. Following that undisguised look, he saw a yellowish-white-haired elf boy staring straight at him.
The boy pointed to the sky, and his lip movements could be read as: Aren't you going to do something?
Venti smiled helplessly and shrugged at him.
He was very surprised. As a wisp of the Thousand Winds, he could naturally see the arrival of the Traveler across time, but this boy had never appeared on the scale of time.
It seems necessary to approach with caution in the future.
Just then, the voice of the dragon in the sky blew over with the breeze.
"Barbatos! This barrier covering Mondstadt, and this human constantly attacking me... I see, are you trying to show off your power to me!!"
"Fine! Since you want to claim you can suppress me without even showing your face, I won't be polite anymore!"
"I never expected that in these thousands of years, the time you look most like a god is when you're out to crusade against me. I'll admit defeat today, but from now on—"
"It's war between us until the end!!!"
The emerald dragon flew away, cursing.
Venti:???
I've become a body double?!
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