The battle ignited instantly. Ryen, Zhongli, Ei, and the others charging in front became the immediate targets of both the Frost Giant and the tide of zombies.
The Frost Giant roared and swung a massive fist downward,
only for Ganyu to shatter the blow mid-arc with a single sniper round.
"I won't let you harm Ryen!"
Her Barrett rifle transformed into a rapid-fire weapon in her hands, mowing down a cluster of zombies.
The rest of the party's combined gunfire swept across the battlefield, slowing the undead surge and pinning down the giant.
With the frontline held open, Ryen slipped through the chaos and delivered a clean, full-force slash to the goblin.
This time he did not restrain himself.
No decorative elemental flourishes, only the pure, devastating power of the Enma Blade.
Yet the goblin's enormous health bar barely dipped.
A sliver of damage, nothing more.
The creature reacted immediately. Its own draw-blade sword flashed from its sheath, cutting toward Ryen.
Ei and Zhongli struck from either side, intercepting the blow and creating the space Ryen needed to retreat.
Ryen frowned in disbelief.
"That reaction speed… this thing's behavior is nothing like a rigid programmed monster."
The others spread out, surrounding the goblin.
Despite its overwhelming strength and massive health, even a titan could fall to relentless pressure,
and these assailants were hardly ants.
Bit by bit, agonizingly slowly, the goblin's HP continued to drop.
Meanwhile, the Frost Giant and the horde of summoned zombies were finally eradicated.
The ranged fighters switched to sniper rifles, taking every opportunity to fire precision shots that shaved additional chunks off the goblin's life.
Momentum was shifting.
If they continued this pace for another thirty minutes, they could grind the creature down.
But no one dared relax.
If there was ever a foe capable of turning the tables, it was this one.
Ryen kept moving through phantom-blade teleports, constantly watching the goblin's staff.
It had already displayed four master-rank spells.
And based on the patterns he knew…
The fifth would almost certainly be a master-rank spell as well.
And among Witchcraft Academy master spells, none were harmless.
Until the final spell was revealed, he refused to commit fully.
He carved in another few strikes and moved to rotate with Diluc,
And that was when the staff erupted with a dangerously brilliant light.
A shiver ran through Ryen's spine.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"Fall back!"
Everyone retreated instantly, but not fast enough.
Diluc failed to escape the radius.
A strange, barely perceptible ripple swept across him.
His movement slowed to a surreal crawl.
Even his thoughts seemed suspended, trapped in treacle.
"…just my luck."
Ryen sighed grimly.
"This is the spell I least wanted to see…"
Zhongli's expression tightened.
"Secret Arcana, Time Stasis."
"Time?!"
Ei stared at Ryen in disbelief.
"Even temporal magic exists here?!"
"No time to explain," he replied sharply.
"What matters now is this: we cannot engage in close combat anymore."
"But Diluc…"
Venti looked anxiously at the immobilized redhead.
Ryen shook his head silently.
The goblin strode forward, draw-blade sword at the ready.
Diluc, though slowed to a halt, still forced his body to move, lifting his greatsword in defiance.
But within the time-stasis zone, he was slower than a slug.
Bullets flew as Ganyu and the others fired instinctively.
Yet as soon as they entered the shimmering boundary, the rounds decelerated to a helpless drift.
Everyone felt their scalp go numb.
Inside that sphere, all time was distorted.
Any who entered would become a stationary target.
The goblin swung once.
Its blade passed cleanly through Diluc.
Then it turned and walked away.
"Is he… alright?"
Jean asked, stunned by the lack of reaction.
Ryen pointed to the totem at Diluc's waist.
"He's dead. Or rather, he will be."
"???"
"Time Stasis freezes everything, including the concept of death," Ryen explained quietly.
"The killing blow lands instantly, but the effects wait for the stasis to end.
Time overrules all."
"The good news is that the goblin itself is also slowed while inside the spell.
And cooldowns for temporal magic are extremely long, even with staff and equipment boosts."
As he finished speaking, Diluc's body twitched.
Time Stasis dissolved.
His Totem of Undying flared to life, then shattered into motes of light.
Rage filled his eyes as he swung reflexively at the goblin,
, and then immediately retreated to the others' side, breath rough.
To be struck down helplessly, to watch the attack coming and be unable to resist…
the despair of that moment still clung to him like frost.
Diluc could still feel the phantom sting along his waist, the distinct sensation of being cleaved clean through.
Cold sweat gathered at his back.
"Master Diluc, are you alright?"
Venti asked anxiously.
Diluc steadied his breath and shook his head.
"The Totem saved me. But… that goblin's draw-blade sword is lethal.
My full enchanted diamond armor, full health, yet it killed me in one strike."
"Everyone, be careful of that sword."
Ryen didn't look surprised.
A top-tier draw-blade weapon delivered that kind of killing power naturally.
"We've been exploring this world for so long. Until now, the Totem of Undying has only ever triggered once, on Tartaglia."
His tone grew heavier.
"And yet, here at the final boss, before we even chipped away much HP… we've already lost two Totems."
Ningguang, pale with concern, watched the goblin ahead.
Its cooldowns had finished,
and the Frost Giant plus the Zombie Apocalypse wave were summoned again.
After a moment's thought, she handed Ei and the others two extra Totems each.
"Time Stasis cost us another, but at least now we know how to handle it."
Despite the tension hanging thick in the air, Ryen unexpectedly loosened his shoulders.
Time Stasis truly had no counter.
But,
now that the trump card was revealed, the rest of the fight felt far more manageable.
Ice Age and Time Stasis, large-area spells, yes… but nothing he couldn't circumvent if he simply stayed at range.
Even a master-tier defensive spell couldn't be looped indefinitely.
Sooner or later, the goblin would have to face the full barrage.
Ryen exhaled and lifted the RPG.
"From here on, full firepower mode."
"Don't hold anything back!
Fire everything you have!
Keep a straight-line distance of at least twenty meters!
And watch for its phantom-blade strike!"
Gunfire erupted instantly.
The night sky above the castle flared with continuous explosions.
The once-smooth stone platform cracked apart under the bombardment, opening crater after crater.
The Zombie Apocalypse was wiped out in seconds;
the Frost Giant resisted longer, but even that enormous frame couldn't endure sustained artillery fire.
It dissolved into smoke.
The goblin conjured an ice wall, master-level, perfectly capable of blocking frontal blasts.
But it couldn't protect against bombardment falling from above.
Soon, overwhelmed, the goblin unleashed Ice Age again.
In an instant, every bullet and rocket froze in mid-air,
glittering like suspended shards of glass.
But Ice Age's freezing surge was strongest at the moment of release;
unlike Time Stasis, its stasis was brief.
The group's ammunition reserves were deep, while the goblin's spell cooldowns were not.
As the minutes passed, the goblin found itself forced to endure direct strikes.
Even with its massive health pool, it couldn't indefinitely withstand this onslaught.
Its HP finally dropped below half.
Furious, it slammed its staff downward,
Time Stasis blossomed again.
This time, bullets and rockets froze both ahead and behind, capturing even the subsequent projectiles.
But the party showed no urgency.
They simply stepped back, calmly reloaded their weapons,
and in Lumine and Hu Tao's case, even began eating steaks.
The goblin, infuriated by their nonchalance, drew its blade and unleashed a towering, colorless sword aura,
a slash that tore a seam through space itself, flying straight toward them.
"Phantom blade, dodge."
Ryen flicked out his own phantom strike in response.
MC logic prevented skill-versus-skill collisions from creating dramatic clashes, but the party evaded with ease.
The sword aura vanished into the sky.
Time Stasis dissolved.
This time, no orders were needed.
Everyone resumed firing immediately.
By now, the goblin's entire combat rhythm lay bare before them.
Compared with the rigid behavior of most MC monsters, this one was surprisingly sophisticated,
it summoned allies, used them as shields, switched between defense and counterattack, and paired spells with blade strikes.
But compared to the seasoned fighters surrounding it, its technique remained crude.
Its real threat lay in the devastating combination of a master-tier staff and a top-tier draw-blade sword…
and above all, its enormous health pool.
But with all its trump cards exhausted, victory was only a matter of time.
Wave after wave of concentrated fire hammered down.
Time Stasis came and went, again and again.
And finally,
as the last RPG screamed downward,
the goblin let out one last unwilling cry, collapsed, and dissolved into smoke.
A long silence followed.
Then Ryen exhaled.
The Twilight Forest,
cleared.
~~----------------------
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