Inside the cavern, Su Bai felt increasingly uneasy as the fight dragged on. The elemental power he was landing on the Ruin Graders seemed to be doing even less damage than Razor hacking at them with his blade. That made no sense—Ruin Graders possessed extremely durable armor, and under normal circumstances, pure physical attacks should hardly affect them at all.
"Oz, stop electrocuting these Ruin Graders for now. There's something off about them."
When Su Bai noticed the cores on the Ruin Graders' heads gradually turning red, an ominous feeling flared in his chest. Trusting Su Bai completely, Oz immediately ceased his attacks and flew back to perch on Su Bai's shoulder.
"Tch. So this is all Liyue's adepti are worth? You're already done for?"
The Fatui wielding a Geo staff—Geo Staff Guy—shot Su Bai a scornful glance. As he spoke, he deliberately gathered a massive clump of Geo energy and hurled it at one of the Ruin Graders.
After being struck, that Ruin Grader froze in place, standing completely motionless as if it had malfunctioned. Seeing that he had 'stopped' one, the Geo Fatui provocatively raised an eyebrow at Su Bai.
At the front line, Razor—who had been holding the Ruin Graders back—also noticed that one of them had gone still. Leaning against it, he finally took a brief breath. But Su Bai sensed something deeply wrong: the elemental energies inside that Ruin Grader were unusually active, yet none of them were leaking outward.
"Not good—kid, get away from it, now!"
Su Bai's expression changed drastically. He sensed that the Pyro and Electro elements inside the Ruin Grader were about to come into contact. If they did, an Overloaded reaction of that magnitude would be enough to blow the entire Ruin Grader to pieces.
Hearing Su Bai's warning, Razor immediately lifted his foot to retreat—but completely exhausted, he stumbled and collapsed to the ground. By the time he looked up again, the Ruin Grader's surface was already riddled with glowing red cracks.
From the rear, Su Bai had already taken out a defensive talisman. If things did not unfold as he expected, that talisman would be used on the kid.
Boom!
The violent explosion washed Razor's vision in red. Everyone stared in disbelief at what had just happened. Even Fischl—usually overflowing with dramatic flair—stood frozen in place, staring into the distance as she murmured softly,
"N-No… that can't be right. I must be seeing things. I have to be."
"…Tch. That guy really is something."
Su Bai looked at the man who had shielded Razor at the critical moment—the Fatui wielding a massive hammer—and did not hold back his praise. If Hammer Guy were not a member of the Fatui, the two of them might actually have become decent friends. What a shame.
"Hey, brat, what are you still standing there for? Run!"
Hammer Guy exerted himself and yanked out a shard embedded in his shoulder. As long as his wounds did not hinder his movement, he made no attempt to treat them—there were still two Ruin Graders left, and the danger was far from over.
"Hiss—hey, you little bastard, don't go poking at my wounds! This kind of injury isn't enough to make me feel pain."
Hammer Guy glared irritably at the Fatui Debt Collector. The Debt Collector ignored his complaints and continued removing the fragments lodged in Hammer Guy's skin.
"These fragments were heated to extremely high temperatures by the Overloaded reaction. If they aren't dealt with immediately, they'll fuse with the healing flesh, which will make treatment even more troublesome later."
"And you don't need to tough it out. I've studied some medicine before—this level of pain would be enough to knock an ordinary person unconscious."
Blunt and straightforward, the Debt Collector gave Hammer Guy absolutely no face, exposing him in front of everyone. At that moment, Hammer Guy felt like his pride hurt even more than his wounds.
"Haha, you Fatui are actually pretty interesting. In that case, I'll take you all along when we make our escape."
Su Bai's lips curved into a slight smile. It had been a long time since he had met Fatui this interesting. And since they had already passed his first test, bringing them along wasn't out of the question.
"Ready? This Liyue fox adeptus is about to use adeptal arts."
Su Bai flicked his tail lightly. Chains formed of adeptal energy instantly coiled around everyone. Whether intentionally or not, the chain around Hammer Guy wrapped directly over his wounds. The sudden surge of pain contributed a little extra 'warmth' to Dragonspine.
Ignoring Hammer Guy's pained grimacing, Su Bai exerted force. Everyone felt the chains around their bodies get yanked by an immense pull—while the unfortunate Hammer Guy howled in agony the entire way.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Damn it, little fox, are you sure we can actually get out?!"
"Quit whining and look around. Where do you think we are?"
Su Bai collapsed onto the snow, looking completely drained, and snapped back at Hammer Guy. Hammer Guy stared at the endless expanse of white around them in disbelief, grabbed a handful of snow, and watched it melt in his palm. He then gave Su Bai a thumbs-up in admiration.
"As expected of a Liyue fox adeptus. I owe you one this time. But how did you manage to bring all of us here in an instant?"
"Just a minor trick—anchoring consciousness within talismans. Nothing worth mentioning. It just consumes a lot of energy."
Su Bai waved his hand dismissively. Hammer Guy nodded, half-understanding at best. It seemed future missions involving Liyue adepti were best avoided if possible—otherwise, one might die without ever knowing how.
"Wait… it seems like someone's missing."
Just as everyone was savoring their survival, the usually quiet Debt Collector suddenly spoke up. The simple-minded Geo Staff Guy counted them—five Fatui, none missing. Who could be gone?
"Our mission target wasn't brought back."
"What?! That unlucky kid didn't make it back?!"
Fist Guy sprang up from the ground in agitation. He had been planning to rough up that unlucky kid once he recovered a bit—how could he have been left behind?
After all they had been through together, Fist Guy had already decided not to capture Bennett anymore. Of course, there was also a more important reason: La Signora was not his type.
"Uh… I think I really did forget Bennett back there."
Fischl's face went pale. Staying in that place for too long was practically a death sentence. But seeing Su Bai slumped on the ground, clearly exhausted, she simply could not bring herself to ask him to go back and save Bennett.
For a moment, everyone fell into silence.
Then Razor struggled to his feet, trembling as he picked up his Rain Slasher. The bond between him and Bennett was not something death itself could sever.
"Kid, stay here and rest properly. Since all of this started because of me, then I'll be the one to go save that unlucky kid."