Chapter 85: Chapter 85
Lumine originally thought that today had been quite lucky for her.
After waking up, she found Paimon floating above her, and then touched the Statue of The Seven, gaining the Anemo element.
She also met Amber, who brought her to Mondstadt, getting closer to Barbatos, the Anemo Archon.
This way, she would be able to ask about where her brother had gone.
Lumine, now traveling across Teyvat, considered the journey secondary - her main goal was to find her blood relative.
To better aid her travels, Lumine received a gift from Amber.
The Wind Glider.
Although it felt awkward at first, she had a feeling that she could fly before, and thus through trial and error, Lumine gradually mastered the tricks of the Wind Glider, easily passing the gliding exam.
However, before Lumine could feel too proud, the winds of Mondstadt began to stir. Fierce gusts whipped up dark clouds, churning as if the apocalypse had arrived.
Lumine was helplessly swept away by the raging wind.
"Ahhhhh!"
Lumine screamed in terror.
In her panic, she seemed to glimpse a pair of crimson eyes in the clouds.
"Lumine!" Amber's heart clenched with worry.
She even felt somewhat guilty, since she was the one who taught Lumine how to use the Wind Glider.
Amber was extremely flustered, and Paimon wasn't faring any better.
As the traveler's good friend and guide, the concern and urgency in her eyes were genuine.
Venti's braids began to glow, but Jiang Ning said:
"Save your strength for persuading Dvalin later. Leave this to me... Senior Sister, prepare to catch someone on the ground."
Shenhe nodded: "Be careful yourself."
After flying into the air, Jiang Ning had initially wanted to perform a cool princess carry to rescue Lumine and earn some favor points.
However, realizing their height difference made it impractical, he frowned in displeasure and simply grabbed Lumine's wrist, throwing her in Shenhe's direction.
"Senior Sister, catch!"
"Eeeek!!!"
Lumine still kept her eyes tightly shut in fear, not daring to open them.
Jiang Ning floated in mid-air, looking at Lumine before him, feeling that something was different from his memories.
Is this... how a protagonist should act?
Though admittedly, this storm was indeed much more violent than the one in the game.
Looking down at Mondstadt, he saw Jean and others leading the Knights of Favonius onto the streets, beginning to protect the civilians.
Of course, there were also some Knights of Favonius members hiding and trembling in fear...
Quite the mixed bunch.
Jiang Ning took a deep breath, stepped forward to prepare, first casting a shield on himself, then it was time to face Dvalin.
"Just need to drive it away... Huh?!"
As Jiang Ning charged into the storm, he found that the Dvalin before him seemed quite different from what he remembered.
The original scales now had some ominous black markings, and there were even some mechanical parts at the base of its wings.
"What is this?"
Facing this Dvalin, the pressure was incomparable to before.
Compared to their first meeting, it was like comparing a firefly to the bright moon.
"Roaaar!"
Dvalin's wings suddenly spread wide, the fierce winds surrounding it gradually dissipating, revealing Dvalin's true form.
"This is?! Dvalin! You all! How dare you!"
Venti, who had originally planned to happily slack off on the ground, now wore an expression of anger.
Having fought in the Khaenri'ah war five hundred years ago, he clearly knew what was on Dvalin's body now.
The corruption of dragon's blood, the erosion of the Abyss, and... mechanical parts from Khaenri'ah technology.
Though only a little, it was enough to make Venti furious.
How dare they modify Dvalin?
Meanwhile, in the distance, Aether silently watched Mondstadt, thinking to himself.
Barbatos, will you don the crown of divinity again for Dvalin's sake?
Without the previous charging up, Dvalin directly breathed out a blast of Anemo energy mixed with Abyssal power, shooting straight at Jiang Ning.
"Junior Brother!"
Shenhe's expression changed instantly as she stomped the ground, causing it to crack and become a mess.
Using this force, Shenhe frantically rushed toward Jiang Ning.
Though Jiang Ning found it thorny, it was still within his ability to handle.
While he managed to dodge, he inevitably came into contact with the Abyssal power.
Immediately, a sinister, maddening negative energy tried to burrow into Jiang Ning's mind through any gap it could find.
"No wonder the power of the Abyss is so terrifying... this corrupting force."
Jiang Ning muttered.
Due to Dvalin's enhancement, Jiang Ning chose to temporarily avoid direct confrontation.
"Senior Sister, let's go down."
As Jiang Ning passed by the ascending Shenhe, he grabbed her waist and descended toward the ground.
Meanwhile, Lumine, who should have been caught by Shenhe, was now gently lowered to the ground by Venti using Anemo power.
"How are you? That was the power of the Abyss!"
Shenhe was extremely worried.
Jiang Ning said: "It's fine, Senior Sister, the Abyss can't affect me."
As expected of the system's protection - if the initial contact with the Abyss was like discordant, nauseating noise, then his body gradually heated up, and that noise was progressively eliminated.
"You really aren't afraid of the Abyss, huh." Venti also came over.
"...I already said so, what can I do if you don't believe me? Besides, Dvalin's in this state, aren't you going to do something? Your dragon has been modified."
Venti replied: "Hmm, I looked wrong earlier. Those mechanical parts on Dvalin are more like armor placed on top, not actual modifications. It's just that the Abyss's corruption has gotten worse."
Jiang Ning said: "You really can keep your cool..."
While increasingly admiring Venti's determination to slack off, Jiang Ning looked up at Dvalin:
"Now, I need to think of a way to drive it away."
Jiang Ning noticed that Dvalin's resentful eyes seemed to be fixated on Venti's statue.
Jiang Ning said: "How about we blow up your statue? Maybe Dvalin will leave once it's satisfied."
"If it would really work, go ahead and blow it up, but I don't think it'll help much."
Venti said.
"Lumine, Lumine, wake up! Don't scare me!"
Panicked voices rang out, and Amber was anxiously hopping from foot to foot nearby.
Jiang Ning looked back to see Lumine lying "peacefully" there, with Paimon flying anxiously around her.
Amber was also at a loss for what to do.
"Sigh..."
Jiang Ning sighed, but was somewhat confused - did Aether not care about his sister's safety anymore? Sending such a dangerous enhanced version of Dvalin as a tutorial boss?
However, Jiang Ning still thought they should drive Dvalin away first before considering other matters.
When Jiang Ning looked back to the sky, Dvalin breathed another blast, directly shattering the huge Anemo Archon statue in front of the Cathedral into pieces.
Then, with a roar to the sky, it spread its wings and flew high toward the direction of Stormterror's Lair.
Venti: "..."
Jiang Ning: "..."
Shenhe: "..."
"Was it controlled to leave?"
Jiang Ning muttered.
It seemed Aether did care about his sister after all.
As Jiang Ning had guessed, this time Aether had originally intended to have Stormterror destroy Mondstadt, or at least force Barbatos to don his crown again and continue suffering from erosion.
However, by coincidence, Lumine got caught up in it.
Hearing Lumine's scream and seeing her lying unconscious on the ground, Aether's heart ached, and he suddenly felt reluctant to continue.
So he directly recalled Dvalin, planning to make new preparations.
The main reason was that his sister had been hurt.
Aether looked at Mondstadt in the distance and said to the Abyss Mage behind him:
"After we return, increase the Abyssal injection into Stormterror. Don't worry about whether it suffers - if it dies because of this... that's just because it was too weak."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The Abyss Mage silently mourned for Dvalin - hurting the Prince's blood relative was your own misfortune...
The gates of the Abyss opened, and the original group vanished without a trace.
Watching Dvalin leave, Jiang Ning finally turned his attention to Lumine.
He had only glimpsed her from afar before; this was his first time seeing her up close.
Unlike other immediately striking female characters, Lumine's charm lay in her girl-next-door feeling, whether as an older or younger sister type.
The more he looked, the more beautiful she seemed - she was the type whose beauty grew on you... though her actual age was questionable.
But undeniably, Lumine's charm was always present.
"Jiang Ning, please think of something quickly!"
Seeing Jiang Ning, Amber acted as if she'd found her savior.
Jiang Ning crouched beside Lumine, observing her oval face, cherry-like lips, and golden hair...
Hmm, indeed worthy of being the protagonist.
"Everyone step back, give the patient some fresh air, or they might suffocate."
Though not experienced in healing, Jiang Ning still spoke according to what he'd read in novels.
Everyone quickly backed away a bit, but still worriedly watched Lumine.
A snow lotus flower appeared at Jiang Ning's fingertip, then slowly floated to Lumine's brow, melting and being absorbed.
"Qilin immortal technique, for healing. She'll be fine soon."
Jiang Ning said.
"R-really?"
Paimon looked at the handsome young man before her, still somewhat anxious.
"If Jiang Ning says so, then it must be true."
Amber felt slightly relieved.
As if confirming Amber's words, Lumine furrowed her brows, made a small sound, and slowly opened her eyes.
She sat up, holding her forehead: "Where am I..."
Amber finally relaxed completely: "Lumine, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect Dvalin to suddenly appear in Mondstadt, which put you in danger."
"It's okay, no one could have predicted this."
Lumine looked left and right.
"Who saved me... wow, what a handsome boy!"
The moment she saw Jiang Ning's face, Lumine's eyes lit up, and all her discomfort seemed to vanish instantly.
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