"Not here either?"
Shenhe followed the map to one of the locations she had previously searched and shook her head.
Ever since Junze disappeared, she had already investigated several places in succession.
There was still no trace of the Ink Shadow Adeptus.
For a moment, Shenhe even began to wonder if her deduction had been wrong.
"No… perhaps it simply isn't these locations."
She quickly denied her own doubt.
Her suspicion toward that Ink Shadow Adeptus was not without reason.
Over the past period of time, she had noticed something.
Every time that child disappeared, the Adeptus appeared.
And both of them vanished in ways she could not grasp.
Of course, that was not the main point.
The key was the Cryo energy she had touched that night…
"Next location."
Shenhe rolled up her canvas and was just about to head elsewhere when she saw members of the Millelith running past her in visible panic.
Nearby passersby were whispering.
"What's going on with the Millelith?"
"I heard something happened at the mine… and at Cuijue Slope too."
"What happened?"
"They say the Ink Shadow Adeptus and someone from Mondstadt were buried in the mine. No one can find them."
"Why panic? The Adeptus must have saved that Mondstadter already."
"That's true."
"But Cuijue Slope is shaking like crazy. Feels like some kind of monster is down there."
…
"The mine… Cuijue Slope?"
Shenhe's eyes flickered.
From what she heard, the Ink Shadow Adeptus had appeared at the mine—but had already vanished.
Even if she went there now, she likely would not find anything.
So she decided to try her luck at Cuijue Slope instead.
The moment that decision was made, Shenhe's figure disappeared from where she stood.
The bystanders were startled.
"W-Was that… an Adeptus?"
"Probably…"
Cuijue Slope
Cuijue Slope
More than ten minutes had passed.
Junze and Eula had already killed an untold number of Geovishaps.
Sweat dampened Eula's body.
Her already form-fitting knight's attire now clung even tighter to her figure.
But that was hardly good news.
She was nearing exhaustion.
Her claymore swings grew slower and slower.
Human strength was ultimately limited.
Meanwhile, more and more Geovishaps burrowed up from underground.
The horde surged toward Junze's side with ferocious momentum.
Junze stepped beside Eula. Though he said nothing, she could feel concern from him.
She forced a smile.
"I'm a knight of the Knights of Favonius. How could something happen to me?"
Junze shook his head helplessly.
She was clearly forcing herself.
"But since you're an Adeptus, you should have a way to take the miners away, right? I can stay behind and cover you."
Eula tightened her grip on her claymore, her gaze resolute.
Junze reached out and patted her shoulder, as if to say—no need.
"???"
Eula looked at him in confusion.
From their earlier battle, she had understood one thing.
This Adeptus was extraordinary.
But against this overwhelming number of Geovishaps, even he seemed powerless.
Junze stepped in front of her and rubbed his small belly.
From earlier, the black aura had devoured many Geovishaps.
But Junze had not absorbed them.
He had been consuming his own stored power instead.
That choice had only intensified his hunger.
His golden pupils gradually shifted into beastly slits.
Driven by the attribute of Greed, Junze looked at the Geovishaps before him and saw only—
Food.
"Then… let's begin."
In the next instant, the inky black aura around him erupted violently, rapidly absorbing all the previously devoured Geovishaps.
A brutal, savage aura burst forth from his body.
The ethereal elegance of an Adeptus vanished.
In its place, an ancient beast was awakening.
The winds howled. Clouds churned.
The sealed evils beneath the earth stirred excitedly, mistakenly believing one of their own had come.
They were wrong.
Junze had not come to free them.
The black aura thickened.
Within it, a pair of golden, glowing beast eyes opened.
Where that gaze fell, all were shaken.
Eula stood frozen in shock.
She did not understand why he had suddenly transformed like this.
The surrounding Geovishaps felt it too.
They began to retreat.
The oppressive aura of an ancient god toward lesser monsters was absolute.
"Roar!"
The Primo Geovishap, its eyes glowing red, noticed its subordinates retreating and let out a furious roar.
A warning to Junze.
A command to its kin.
But that roar only further provoked the ravenous Junze.
"Pathetic food!"
In the next instant, all the defeated Geovishaps were completely absorbed.
Body of Taotie!
It flared into brilliance.
Boom!
The black aura exploded outward.
Junze's body expanded, shifting toward a beastly form.
Heaven and earth changed color to welcome the descent of an ancient demon god.
Moments later, a Taotie nearly the size of the Primo Geovishap stepped slowly out from the shadows.
"Low-grade food is still low-grade food. After eating so much, I've only grown this little."
A more mature voice resonated from within the massive Taotie form.
The Geovishaps' power was too inferior.
Even devouring so many had only enlarged him slightly—and only temporarily.
To truly grow, he would need something purer. Higher-grade.
For example…
Azhdaha.
Azhdaha
"ROAR!"
Junze roared toward the Primo Geovishap.
The roar was like mountains collapsing.
Like tidal waves crashing.
Like thunder bursting through torn clouds.
The smaller Geovishaps nearby were terrified onto their backs.
The roar pierced the heavens.
Sunlight broke through the clouds over Cuijue Slope.
And the echo spread outward,
Across Liyue.
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