When Kaeya emerged from behind the broken wall, Jibril immediately spotted the black sword in his hand—her creation.
The man charged directly into the horde of monsters. His sword thrust forward and the compressed cold air pierced straight through the Hilichurl in the center of the arena, as well as the azure stone behind it.
"Freeze!"
Just as the Flügel expected, the moment the rain began to fall, Cryo crystals started to continuously swirl around Kaeya's body.
"Be careful not to catch a cold!"
The Cryo crystals shot out and instantly pierced through the remaining two Hilichurls. The moment the Frozen effect occurred, Kaeya's sword arrived simultaneously, cleaving them into pieces.
Not long after, the rain gradually subsided and Jibril slowly flew over.
Looking at the automatically opening door, the Flügel glanced at Kaeya, who, in turn, appeared as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Stop trying to be lazy. If there are any ranged enemies later, leave them to me. You're responsible for everything on the ground."
"Alright, alright..."
"If you keep slacking off, I'll go complain to Acting Grand Master Jean!"
The two quickly ascended through the remaining layers of the labyrinth. Although they encountered attacks and seemingly premeditated ones, they were still overwhelmingly defeated.
Deep within the temple, in an underground chamber
"What is this?" The Flügel tilted her head in confusion.
"This should be what Stormterror uses to draw power from these temples. Our mission is to destroy it."
Before his words even finished, Jibril directly threw a black spike, shattering the stone in front of them that was continuously emitting vast Anemo power.
The Flügel clapped her hands with satisfaction: "Work's done~"
"No, not yet... rather..."
Kaeya's expression suddenly turned serious. A few meters away from Jibril and Kaeya, three strangely shaped dwarves appeared out of thin air, all wearing skull-like masks.
Feeling the different element energies entwined around these three, Kaeya's face showed a bitter expression.
"I knew it... How could Hilichurls, with their intelligence, come up with an ambush? It was you guys causing trouble after all."
"Abyss Mages."
[Side Quest Issued: Defeat 20 Abyss Mages (0/20), no less than three different types of elements.]
[Tip: Monsters summoned by Abyss Mages & Abyss Heralds can be counted towards other kill counts.]
So, I'll keep these guys around to strengthen myself...
Just as the Flügel frowned, the Abyss Mage in front of them laughed strangely, their voice distorted and filled with anger.
"...Winged one... you... servant of—... curse..."
"Heavenly Principle...! Abyss...!"
Kaeya subtly glanced at Jibril from the corner of his eye but the Flügel merely shrugged innocently.
Can't understand. What gibberish are they spouting?
One of the Abyss Mages suddenly waved its staff, chanting an ancient and obscure incantation. The next second, a Hydro element shield directly enveloped its body.
Not just it, but the other two also released Pyro and Cryo shields respectively.
"Jibril, you deal with the Cryo one! I'll take care of the other two—"
"Why are you suddenly so active now?"
"I've always been???" Kaeya shook his head. "I won't be able to do anything against Cryo. If you're willing, it would be best for you to take care of all of them."
"Okay~ but how about let's instead each take one."
"What—"
Before Kaeya could finish his question, a flash of fire shot straight through the path the Flügel had cleared for it.
A young man descended from the sky, his great sword shattering the Cryo Mage's shield with a roar. He directly grabbed the head and slammed it fiercely against the stone wall—
"Diluc!?"
Before Kaeya could react, the Hydro Abyss Mage immediately launched its attack.
However, whether it was because the Flügel's creation was too sharp or because the unexpected encounter made Kaeya careless about hiding his true strength, the Abyss Mage didn't even get a chance to be Frozen into an ice sculpture before being directly cut in half, along with its shield.
Kaeya stared blankly at the sword in his hand, as if realizing its sharpness for the first time.
It wasn't until a dull thud came from behind them that the two turned to the angel behind them—
The Flügel, bathed in gentle light. At her feet lay the headless corpse of the Pyro Abyss Mage.
Jibril smiled slightly at Diluc. "Seeing as you left one alive, I just took care of it directly~"
Diluc narrowed his eyes slightly.
Was the sweet girl from the tavern last night really the same person as this one who casually cuts off heads?
...Well, perhaps she couldn't really be called a sweet girl.
Looking at the half-dead Abyss Mage in his hand, Diluc showed a look of disgust and flames immediately erupted from the hand gripping its head.
The fierce flames, as if alive, precisely enveloped its head and the Abyss Mage immediately shrieked miserably.
"Ho—... Hot! I won't tell you anything, ahhhhhhh!"
The Abyss Mage's limbs thrashed wildly as it tried to break free, but it was unfortunately useless. Instead, it was clutched even tighter without mercy and a faint smell of burning began to waft through the air.
"Such a tough mouth?" Kaeya scratched his head in confusion.
"Hmm... or how about a different method?" The Flügel leaned closer to Diluc. "Slowly burn it over a low flame, it won't be able to stand it!"
"Oh? That's a good idea..."
"No! Are you all demons! Don't continue... Hmph... Hngh, ahhhhh! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
After some 'grilling,' no particular information was actually obtained.
Roughly, they had received orders to be stationed in this place, they had helped Stormterror set up these Anemo stones and at the same time, they had also been ordered to intercept members of the Knights of Favonius here.
Ah... if I weren't here... Jibril looked at Kaeya from behind. The man was childishly poking the Abyss Mage playing dead on the ground with the tip of his sword.
Oh, if I hadn't come, Lumine would still be here, so there's seemingly no need to worry about him at all.
"Guh... kill me..."
Diluc pulled out the great sword stuck nearby about to deliver the final blow, but Kaeya reached out to stop him.
"Hey, isn't that a bit of a waste?" The man's single eye flashed with cunning. "If we take it back to the Knights, maybe we can interrogate more out of it."
"You Knights of Favonius are too slow. Your inefficiency is precisely why I dislike you." Diluc retorted coldly, pushing Kaeya away.
The Pyro blade descended from above, instantly cleaving the Abyss Mage in two and its body gradually turned to ash.
Just as Kaeya was feigning a sigh, Diluc fumbled along the wall and actually opened a path leading outside.
Although the dark clouds had not yet dispersed, the violent element energy in the air was clearly subsiding after that stone was shattered.
"They should have finished cleaning up by now. Let's go back and meet up with the rest of the group." Kaeya lazily leaned against the doorframe, then suddenly remembered something and turned his head. "Diluc, do you want to—!?"
Boom—!!
Blazing flames erupted without warning, crushing Kaeya's trailing words in the explosion.
The extinguished flames reignited. The man looked up, gazing at the Flügel suspended in mid-air, as her golden crossed eyes were filled with an almost overflowing battle intent.