Boom!
A fiery arrow exploded directly against the Cryo Abyss Mage's shield.
Cracks spread across the white, translucent barrier, as if it might shatter at any moment.
Now's the time!
Jean knew the value of seizing the opportunity. She didn't waste words, darting forward and slashing out with a blade of wind.
Under the swirl of elemental reactions, the seemingly unbreakable Cryo shield crumbled in an instant for the wielder of the Cryo Vision.
And then, Eula's greatsword descended.
With a single mighty blow, she smashed the Abyss Mage straight into the ground.
Everyone knew how fragile Abyss Mages were once their elemental shields fell. Against Eula's overwhelming physical strength, one slash was all it took to send the mage back to the Abyss for good.
"Raargh!"
The Hilichurl Berserker only then realized their leader had been slain. With a furious roar, it lifted its wooden shield and charged at the pair.
Jean nimbly dodged to the side, but Eula, having just expended her momentum, could only barely raise her greatsword to block.
With a resounding thud, Eula was sent flying several meters back, crashing into a towering tree.
"By the oath of my blade!"
Jean swiftly reached Eula's side, raising her sword to summon a healing barrier that pulsed outward in a wide radius.
"Vines, entwine!"
Having rushed over the moment he saw Eula flung away, Gongqu immediately unleashed his Dendro power.
In an instant, the entire forest seemed to come alive.
Countless vines and roots crept over the bodies of the dozens of monsters present, binding them to the ground.
"What a surge of Dendro energy! By the Anemo Archon, could this be a scion of the Dendro Archon passing through?"
Jean turned to look at the newcomer.
She had just been about to thank him when she saw his face clearly, and that heart, kept calm by battle, couldn't help but start to tremble.
"Traveler… is that you?"
Jean placed a hand on her chest, her beautiful eyes gazing unreservedly at Gongqu, as if she wanted to imprint his face in her memory forever.
Gongqu had grown used to such reactions from girls when they first met him. With an easygoing smile, he said, "Indeed it is. But let's save the reunion for later, first, let's finish off these monsters."
"Right! Thank you for coming to our aid once again!"
At that moment, Amber arrived as well.
She first glanced at Jean, then joined the others in turning her attention to Gongqu, ready to follow his lead.
"My Dendro abilities aren't great for offense, so I'll handle support and healing. You all focus on attacking."
With that, Gongqu didn't just manipulate the forest's growth and control the plants, his usual, more basic moves. Instead, he released a particularly potent elemental burst.
This ability, similar to an elemental skill but amplified, was like a large-scale support version of his normal attacks.
The moment the blessing enveloped them, Jean, Eula, and Amber all felt as though they'd been linked to the entire forest, an endless wellspring of vitality coursing through them.
To put it in game terms, their attack, elemental damage, crit rate, and crit damage were all boosted. At the same time, periodic Dendro cooperative attacks launched alongside them, and whenever they were injured, Gongqu's absurd MC level physique allowed for rapid healing based on his health percentage.
"You're all buffed up now, go for it!"
The three girls exchanged a look, then launched a final flurry of attacks at the monsters that had begun to stir.
"You have no way out!"
"Frozen surge!"
"Let's settle this!"
Empowered by the full-force buffs, the girls felt like they were fighting under the blessing of the Dendro Archon. When the last of the monsters fell, they were tired in spirit but physically still brimming with energy.
The way the four of them fought together reminded Gongqu of his days playing Genshin Impact, back then, he loved picking a fully constellated Zhongli, standing off to the side, placing a pillar, popping his ultimate or sipping tea, and watching his teammates go ham on the monster hordes.
Once Mondstadt was sorted, he thought, he'd head to Liyue. After all, Zhongli was the ultimate raid boss carry, he'd definitely get him!
"Thank you for your help, Traveler. Kaeya is fighting on the other side of the forest, we should go and support him."
"Alright, let's move."
Eula led the way, with Gongqu and the others following.
After traveling several kilometers, the two groups finally met up.
At the center of a grove of collapsed trees, Kaeya was fighting a Hydro Abyss Herald as the vanguard. Several other knights, each wielding a Vision, were locked in battle with a Stonehide Lawachurl and other high-level monsters, while the remaining knights had paired off against lesser foes.
"It's Captain Jean! She's come to support us!"
One of the knights cried out.
All eyes turned to their group.
Kaeya was no exception.
When he saw Gongqu, his pupils contracted slightly, but then he smiled and let out a breath of relief.
"You arrived just in time, Traveler."
Gongqu nodded at him.
Then he released another elemental burst.
A flash of green light swept across the field.
Every Knight of Favonius present felt a surge of power coursing through them. In that moment, it was as if they'd all been injected with raw energy, some even raised their fists and charged straight at the monsters.
"Mmgh."
"What's wrong? Are you alright, Traveler?"
Jean supported Gongqu, who had stumbled a little.
His face had gone pale. "I'm fine. Just… overused my elemental energy. Go on, help them!"
Supporting over fifty people at once was stretching the limits of his elemental regeneration. Had he not trained enough?
Jean glanced at Amber.
Amber understood instantly. She readied her bow and began sniping at enemies from afar, covering Gongqu, who looked slightly worn.
It had to be said, her enchanted bow from MC fit perfectly in Genshin Impact.
Even though she'd just gotten used to it, Amber could already feel her power boosted by at least fifty percent.
Seeing Amber's fierce focus, Jean took note of her unique wooden bow, but had no time to dwell on it. She joined Eula and Kaeya at the heart of the battlefield, facing the ringleader of the Abyss's gathering, the Hydro Abyss Herald.
Before long, the tide turned.
With Gongqu's T0-tier support backing them, the Knights of Favonius gradually took the upper hand.
Monsters that had once required two or three knights working together could now be handled by a single, well-trained soldier with nothing but a simple iron sword.
They had never felt so strong.
One by one, they all shot glances of respect and admiration at the young man leaning against a tree, his eyes closed, regaining his strength.
Ten more minutes passed.
The team's dungeon raid finally ended. The Hydro Abyss Herald, outnumbered and overwhelmed by the ice and wind attacks of the three Visions, could no longer fight back.
When the battle was done, the Herald was frozen solid from the neck down.
Gongqu, who had been watching the fight closely, opened his eyes.
"Let's go. I want to see why the Abyss chose to gather here at this time."
Amber hurried to support him.
Though Gongqu insisted he didn't need it, she refused to let go.
And whether by accident or not, a certain firm part of her pressed up against his arm, making it look more like she was clinging to him than simply helping him walk.
"It's been a while, Traveler."
"Mm. It has, Kaeya."
Kaeya, the only character Gongqu had never maxed out friendship with in the early game, but he'd used him enough during downtime that they weren't strangers.
"I picked up some information from Klee earlier," Kaeya said.
Seeing that the Hydro Abyss Herald was unmoved by interrogation, Gongqu shared what Klee had discovered and his own theories.
"Speaking of which, the Abyss Mage I faced earlier also mentioned the Abyss Princess. It sounds like we're blocking her path to fully falling into the Abyss, so they took this chance to ambush us," Jean added.
Gongqu pieced the information together, then suddenly shouted at the Herald, his voice imbued with the spiritual influence of the Dendro element: "Was this all orchestrated by Sora?"
"His Highness would never"
The Abyss Herald blurted out half a sentence before clamping his mouth shut, realizing Gongqu was baiting him. His mask darkened.
"So this was your own idea. Makes sense, Sora wouldn't force her into the Abyss before she'd completed her journey through the Seven Nations. He wouldn't move prematurely."
The Herald said nothing more, but the tense aura around him confirmed Gongqu's guess.
"So your Abyss faction isn't as unified as it seems. Are you trying to crown a new king because Sora doesn't value you enough? Or are you just a bootlicker, thinking this'll win his favor?"
The surrounding knights listened in confusion.
But they could sense this involved another traveler, so they stayed silent and waited to see what would happen.
"Stranger gods… This time, we failed. But next time, the Abyss will descend upon your kingdom, and the world will fall to eternal night! Our mournful wish will one day be fulfilled!"
With those final words, bubbles rose from the Abyss Herald's body. He dissolved into a puddle of dark water.
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