Chapter 280: March: "Oh my! Don't go setting up flags!"
Its sheer size was a force of nature, an unmatched oppression that felt like a mountain had decided to walk. Every ponderous step shook the very earth, sending cascades of gravel tumbling down the gorge walls. Just by existing, the shadow cast by the colossal beast seemed to shroud the entire valley in an eternal, suffocating twilight.
Each heavy exhalation stirred a scorching, corrosive hurricane that made it nearly impossible to keep one's footing. Its body was encased in an exoskeleton that resembled cooled lava, and through every crack flowed a dark red light, like a thousand malevolent eyes peering out at the souls of the world. The energy field it naturally radiated was enough to make one's heart hammer against their ribs in a frantic, uncontrolled rhythm.
More, the moment they stepped into the core area where the creature dwelled, the jade pendants hanging at their waists—gifts from Zhongli—began to hum. As if triggered by some intense, unseen stimulus, they automatically flared with a warm yet unyielding light, instantly manifesting a solid Jade Shield that enveloped the group.
Where the shield's golden surface met the dense, almost tangible abyssal energy permeating the air, a faint hissing sound sizzled, like cold water dripping into a pan of searing oil.
This phenomenon caused the hearts of all five to sink in unison.
The automatic activation of the pendants meant the concentration of corrosive power here had reached a terrifying threshold, one sufficient to threaten their very existence.
This battle could not be a war of attrition. It had to be over, and it had to be over fast.
Stelle took the lead. She knew better than anyone that among them, she—empowered by the Path of Preservation and with a body tempered by countless trials—was the most suited to serve as the vanguard, to test the waters and absorb the first devastating impact.
"I'll go first and see how tough this thing is!" she shouted, her voice still laced with her signature, reckless optimism.
Before the words had even faded, she became a crimson meteor. The Flame Lance in her hands erupted with brilliant light as the powers of Destruction and Preservation intertwined in a strange, potent harmony. Like an arrow tearing through the fabric of space itself, she shot forward with unstoppable momentum, aiming a fierce strike at a joint in the beast's armor, right where its dull scales met.
"Boom—!"
A scorching pillar of flame, like a miniature volcanic eruption, blasted upward from the point of impact. The crimson light instantly engulfed the area, and even the viscous abyss energy hanging in the air was briefly dispersed and purified by the extreme heat. The violent shockwaves of the explosion slammed against the narrow walls of the gorge, echoing repeatedly until everyone's eardrums ached.
However, as the dazzling firelight and swirling smoke slowly dissipated to reveal the aftermath, a bucket of ice water seemed to douse their spirits.
Stelle's full-force charge, an attack that could easily tear through starship alloys and shatter mountains, had merely left a large, irregular scorch mark on the creature's night-dark plating. A few thick scales had cracked, revealing the slightly duller but still perfectly intact inner shell beneath.
There was no penetrating wound. No structural damage. It hadn't even caused the monster to lose its balance.
Worse, the scorch marks were already repairing themselves at a visible rate, knitting back together as the dark purple abyss energy flowing around the beast seeped into the cracks.
What was most infuriating, most humbling, was that the creature hadn't even paused its steady, heavy pace. It hadn't flinched at an attack capable of leveling an army. It didn't even glance in Stelle's direction, completely ignoring her existence as it rumbled onward, executing some irresistible doomsday program. Its unyielding path was set toward the distant Holy Fire Arena, the structure that symbolized the last hope of Natlan.
"Tsk, this guy's really tough! What are these scales made of?" Stelle spat, rubbing a wrist that had gone numb from the recoil. Though annoyed at being so thoroughly dismissed, she was no mindless brute. The battlefield wasn't a stage for personal glory; the team's victory was all that mattered.
She immediately used the recoil from the explosion to launch herself backward, returning to her waiting teammates with a few light leaps. "No good. Its hide is way too thick. Conventional physical and elemental hybrid attacks are having almost no effect!"
Lumine's golden eyes scanned the beast's massive body, treating it like a mobile fortress and not missing a single detail. Soon, she caught an unusual fluctuation. "Everyone, look closely! At the joints where its arms connect to its torso, and right in the center of its chest—there seem to be some kind of energy cores embedded there, pulsing with a rhythmic glow! That light is completely different from the abyssal filth flowing across its surface!"
Welt pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his gaze sharp as he analyzed the flow of energy. "Indeed. Three distinct points of light. The energy reaction patterns are stable and strong, clearly separate from the chaotic, corrosive power on its body."
He adjusted his glasses again. "These are likely its energy hubs or drive cores. Perhaps… they are the very weaknesses we were hoping to find."
Dan Heng gave a slight nod, concisely setting their initial strategy. "focus on the cores. Concentrate our firepower and break them one by one."
Just as they locked onto their targets and began to formulate a specific attack sequence, Venti's voice drifted to them again, carried on the omnipresent network of the wind.
"My, it seems everyone's observation skills are quite sharp~" he chirped. "However, I almost forgot to mention something~ Those three shiny things you see on its arms and chest are indeed very important, but they aren't the most critical one."
His voice paused for dramatic effect. "The true heart of this big fellow, the 'Abyss Core' that allowed it to be reshaped by such power, is hidden deep inside the hardest, diamond-shaped armor plate formed by those huge fins on its back."
"If you don't completely destroy that core, that 'heart'… well, even if you exhaust yourselves shattering the three on the outside, it will likely just rely on the power of the abyss to regenerate again and again~"
Upon hearing this, Stelle immediately shot back, "You good-for-nothing bard! You knew all this critical intelligence and you're only telling us now?!"
"Ehe~" Venti chuckled, his tone infuriatingly carefree. "I'm getting old, you know. My memory is bound to decline a bit. It's a good thing I remembered it at all!"
"As compensation," he offered, "how about I compose a heroic poem for you five after this grand war ends successfully? It'll be sung all throughout Teyvat! I guarantee it will be even more rousing and moving than the Lay of Vennessa!"
March 7th let out a panicked shriek, cutting him off. "Stop! Cut it out! Venti, stop talking, I'm begging you! Is that kind of 'after the war ends, I'll do this' talk something you can just say casually?!"
Her voice was laced with genuine alarm. "You're basically sticking a bunch of colorful, obviously ominous flags all over yourself! We still want to come back—every single one of us, completely intact—to have a victory feast with our friends!"
"Oh?" Venti's voice carried a tone of sudden realization and genuine curiosity, as if he had just learned a novel and practical piece of knowledge from his otherworldly visitors. "There's such an interesting saying?"
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