Ever since Ryen placed down the final wither skeleton skull, everyone within dozens of kilometers felt as though a heavy boulder had been dropped onto their chests.
The sky had originally been cast in the beautiful glow of dusk.
But in that moment, the heavens suddenly darkened.
Not the kind of darkness that comes with wind and thunder, but rather…
The entire sky turned a bloody red, tinged faintly with black.
Out on the grasslands, Liyue's First Corps, currently constructing a new city, began to panic.
Captain Dashi of the Qianyan Army immediately leapt onto his horse.
"Everyone stay calm! I'm going to report to the lords! Qianyan Army—enter combat mode!"
With that, he galloped full speed toward Ryen's villa estate.
Meanwhile, Nahida, who had been showing Paimon around her garden, suddenly froze in place.
She looked up at the sky, concern growing in her eyes.
"Nahida…"
Paimon tugged at the hem of Nahida's clothes, visibly frightened.
She was even shorter than Nahida—which, to Nahida, was part of the fun of playing with her.
At least she wasn't the shortest anymore.
"It's alright. Ryen will handle it."
Nahida shook her head. Though her heart was filled with worry, she didn't let it show.
After all, she trusted Ryen.
"Lords!"
From afar, Dashi's voice rang out.
Nahida snapped out of her thoughts and turned toward the door.
When Dashi saw her, he paused for a moment but quickly nodded.
"Lady Nahida, this…"
"It's fine. This was summoned by Ryen and the others. It'll be over soon. Just carry on with your tasks."
Nahida didn't elaborate. The Qianyan soldiers wouldn't be of much help in this situation anyway.
Dashi also knew this was far beyond his ability to intervene.
What's more, it looked like Ryen and the others had all gone somewhere.
After hesitating, Dashi asked, a bit worried, "Should I assign Qianyan guards to protect the villa?"
Nahida shook her head.
"No need. Just carry on as normal."
Dashi said no more. He nodded and left.
Nahida turned her gaze toward the direction of Mine Shaft No. 1.
"So it's begun?"
"…Ryen."
She no longer had the mood to continue playing with Paimon. The two returned to the villa, went up to the third floor, and stood on the balcony, gazing into the distance.
…
Underground, beneath Mine Shaft No. 1.
The moment Ryen placed the final wither skull, everyone saw it.
The base used to summon the Wither suddenly emitted a strange, flickering glow.
A sense of impending doom began to press down on everyone's hearts.
Even the usually carefree Venti grew serious.
This thing… gave him a feeling that rivaled the terrifying technology of Khaenri'ah.
"Be careful…" Venti said gravely to Diluc.
Diluc was startled, but he quickly nodded solemnly.
Even Lisa, at that moment, found that the only thing giving her a sense of security was the ugly enchanted diamond armor she was wearing.
They stood in tense silence—each second dragging on like an eternity.
Then suddenly, a thunderous explosion shook the earth.
It was more devastating than a TNT blast.
A bizarre creature emerged out of thin air in that space.
Everyone could see it: above the Wither Storm's head, a health bar appeared—rising rapidly.
The Wither Storm's body emitted an eerie blue glow, flashing rhythmically, strangely enchanting.
Under the combined pressure of the looming danger and intense anxiety, Jean and the others couldn't help but raise their bows.
"Don't attack! The Wither is currently in its invincible state!"
Ryen's voice echoed from a distance.
"Wait until it finishes regenerating!"
Hearing this, everyone took a deep breath, suppressing their fear and each drinking a strengthening potion.
They silently observed as the Wither Storm grew stronger under the flickering blue light.
No one knew how long passed.
Eventually, the blue glow subsided, and the Wither Storm's health reached its peak.
"Ranged attackers—open fire!"
Ryen's pupils narrowed.
As soon as he spoke, Ganyu, already locked in her aim, unleashed a thunderous shot from her Barrett sniper.
The bullet screamed through the air and struck the Wither Storm's body.
A sliver of its massive health bar dropped.
"What the heck was that?!"
Jean flinched in surprise.
Ryen never said the Wither Storm would explode again even if they didn't attack it after the initial blast.
"Relax! That was Ganyu. Keep up the assault—split its aggro!"
Ryen lowered his AK-47.
The Wither Storm's attention had been drawn to Ganyu, and it immediately retaliated—firing a wither skull that blew apart a section of the mine tunnel.
If Ryen kept attacking and drawing aggro, this tunnel wouldn't be deep enough to contain the battle.
Although still puzzled, Jean and the others followed Ryen's orders, unleashing a barrage of arrows.
Under the concentrated fire, the Wither Storm's health dropped rapidly.
It was just a rigid AI—it wouldn't keep bombing the same tunnel over and over.
By splitting its aggro, they were actually managing to hold it at bay.
And with Ganyu occasionally firing powerful rounds…
In less than a minute, the Wither Storm's HP had dropped to nearly half.
By now, everyone had been forced to retreat ten meters further back, and Ryen's shouts were no longer clearly audible.
He immediately activated the long-range communicator.
"Cease ranged fire! Switch to diamond swords! Ningguang, prep your healing potions! We're going in for melee!"
"Retreat immediately after one strike! Wear down the Wither Storm!"
There was no response, but Ryen knew they had all received the signal.
He exchanged a glance with Ganyu, switched to his enchanted diamond sword, and rushed forward.
As they approached the entrance of the mine, even though Ryen was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but be taken aback.
The small area that was once the cave entrance had been bombarded by the Wither Storm. On top of that, it continued absorbing blocks.
It had now become a small open plaza.
That somewhat affected their kiting strategy.
Thankfully, the ground was still relatively flat.
The rain of arrows had slowed significantly, now roughly equal to the Wither Storm's regeneration rate.
Ryen looked to the other side—Zhongli was already in position.
Ryen nodded, tightened his grip on the diamond sword.
At this moment, the Wither Storm was fixated on Ningguang, Jean, and the others inside their mine shaft.
Taking a deep breath, Ryen dashed out from his tunnel and slashed at the Wither Storm from behind.
Its health dropped below half. A faint shimmer flickered over it, and all arrows instantly became ineffective.
The Wither Storm slowly turned, preparing to launch a Wither Skull.
But before it could react—
Zhongli emerged from the opposite side and slashed it twice.
In gaming terms: the aggro shifted.
Enraged, the Wither Storm aimed a skull bomb at Zhongli's shaft.
But Zhongli had already retreated deeper inside.
Not giving it a moment's respite, Diluc emerged and struck it a few more times from behind.
Ryen observed for a moment and saw that everyone was indeed executing the plan as discussed.
He finally relaxed a little.
The Wither Storm was indeed powerful, but as long as they stalled it and prevented further evolution, taking it down wouldn't be too hard.
The mine shafts formed a circular encirclement around the Wither Storm.
Every moment, it was under attack.
The good thing was—it hadn't injured anyone, and its health was visibly dropping.
However, just then—
Perhaps seeing that the Wither Storm was close to being dealt with, Venti let his guard down for just a moment.
In that instant, a Wither Skull exploded near him...
"Venti!"
Diluc was shocked. He immediately pulled him back into the mine.
Venti's face was twisted in pain.
Remembering Ryen's earlier instructions, he opened his personal panel.
From just that one explosion, he had lost three hearts.
And on one side of the screen, the Wither effect icon was flashing—his health was rapidly draining.
But Venti could feel that the lost health wasn't vanishing—it was being transferred to the Wither Storm.
"Drink milk! Get rid of the Wither effect now!"
Ryen's voice came through the communicator in Venti's ear. He quickly took the bucket of milk Diluc handed over.
The Wither effect couldn't be tanked.
Even setting aside the risk of dying from it, as long as it lingered, the Wither Storm would keep regenerating.
Luckily, they were well-prepared for this expedition.
With one bucket of milk and a golden apple, Venti was instantly restored to full health.
Diluc glanced outside. Though Venti's explosion had thrown things into brief chaos, the group quickly stabilized their formation and continued cautiously dragging the Wither Storm.
"You okay?"
Diluc looked at Venti, who was preparing to head back out, asking with concern.
This wasn't a case of Venti playing weak.
Venti's combat strength in this world wasn't much stronger than Diluc's.
"I'm fine. Don't underestimate this world's quirks..."
Venti stared intently at the Wither Storm.
"Besides, that thing blasted me just now. I'm allowed to get pissed too, okay?"
Diluc didn't say more and took out some splash healing potions.
"You go melee—I'll throw potions."
Venti nodded.
Seizing the moment, he darted forward and struck the Wither Storm with a sword slash.
This time, Venti channeled all the power he could muster.
With speed buffs in effect, his movement was lightning fast.
He hit once and instantly retreated.
Diluc followed up with a thrown healing potion.
The damage from the potion was not much lower than a diamond sword hit.
Ningguang and the others suddenly remembered Ryen's earlier reminder about healing potions.
No longer holding back, they began lobbing bottles one after another.
In an instant, the Wither Storm's health plummeted.
Very quickly, only a sliver remained.
"Stop attacking!"
Ryen's voice came through everyone's communicator. Though puzzled, they halted immediately.
Ryen swapped to his Yama Blade, eyes locked on the Wither Storm.
"For the final strike… let's make it a bit flashy."
He gently swung his sword, and several semi-transparent short blades embedded themselves in the air throughout the area.
"That's..."
Zhongli was momentarily stunned, then grew a little sentimental.
"What is it?"
Xiao, standing nearby, looked confused.
In the next second, under everyone's watchful eyes, Ryen's figure seemed to multiply into thousands.
He flickered through the entire space like afterimages.
The Wither Storm's health was rapidly ticking down.
Before anyone could fully comprehend what strange sword technique this was—
Ryen appeared directly in front of the Wither Storm.
Sensing its target, the Wither Storm launched a skull bomb straight at him.
But Ryen simply took a deep breath and gracefully swung his dazzling drawn sword.
"Dimensional Slash!"
The air itself seemed to split open, forming a massive, pitch-black spatial blade.
It zipped past the Wither Skull, dispersing it into green smoke.
Then, without any resistance, it sliced through the Wither Storm and vanished into the earth.
The Wither Storm froze.
Then, before everyone's eyes, it slowly rose into the air, its body bursting with beams of radiant light.
Ryen chuckled softly.
"The Wither Storm… has been taken down!"
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