"That's... that's so gross..."
The scene before them shocked everyone. Paimon, speaking her mind quickly, voiced her opinion, but no one responded to her, because what others felt first was a chill running straight down their spine, far surpassing any feeling of disgust.
Venti quickly discerned Dvalin's state. He called for everyone to retreat quickly: "Hurry! Retreat! Go to the other platform!"
Lumine immediately picked up Clara and rushed backward. Everyone else followed suit. Just half a second later, the original platform was completely destroyed by the dragon's impact.
They looked back. The giant dragon, its body covered in crystals, hovered in the high heavens, looking down upon the minuscule people.
With every flap of the giant dragon's wings, fragments of crystal fell downward.
"Those crystals are wrapping him like a cocoon. Even so, can he still fly at this speed?" Lumine said gravely.
Lumine looked at Venti, intending to ask him what to do next, but found Venti's expression was unusually grim.
Jean also noticed this and quickly asked, "Lord Venti, is something wrong?"
Venti nodded slowly: "Extremely bad. Dvalin has been completely corrupted by Abyssal Power.
This kind of Abyssal Power is unreasonable. Once it pokes a hole somewhere, it rushes in like a burst dam. Now, it even wants to forcibly place the 'Crown of the Wind Dragon King' upon Dvalin... The Abyss wants to use the authority of a completely corrupted Dragon King to thoroughly pollute Teyvat's anemo element energy! We must defeat him and resolve the Abyss pollution before Dvalin's coronation is complete!"
Diluc raised his greatsword: "That sounds quite difficult."
The moment he finished speaking, an earth-shattering roar came from the sky. Dvalin was already swooping down.
Jean immediately commanded: "Everyone scatter! Close-range attacks are advantageous for us. Concentrate fire on him the moment he lands!"
The giant dragon's claw missed, followed by a full-power barrage from the entire group.
Jean's Wind Cutter descended from above. The immense wind pressure cut off Dvalin's possibility of a swift retreat. Rosaria leaped into the air, performed a high kick downward, and what fell was several enormous Ice Spears.
Those Ice Spears descended like a prison, firmly pinning Dvalin's foreclaws and neck to the floor of the platform.
Lumine seized the opportunity and unleashed a tornado. Behind it, roaring flames erupted from Diluc's greatsword, letting out a clear cry.
"This is the moment of judgment!"
The heavy sword swung down, and a massive Fire Bird spread its wings. The instant the Fire Bird met the tornado, it formed a gigantic Fire Tornado. That Fire Tornado slammed directly onto Rosaria's Ice Spears and the dragon's head. The Ice Spears instantly vaporized, and the giant dragon cried out in agony amid the flames and steam.
However, this attack also released the giant dragon from its restraints. Dvalin felt his movement was no longer restricted and immediately flapped his wings, intending to take flight. But how could they easily let go of such a good opportunity?
Clara clenched her small fists and shouted: "Mr. Svarog! Don't let him fly away!"
"Attack command confirmed."
Above the spot that was previously empty, a red light suddenly appeared. Starting from that red light, the head, shoulder armor, torso, and limbs were constructed sequentially. Svarog appeared in the air and quickly descended.
Dvalin's head had just barely lifted when a heavy punch landed on the back of his skull, smashing his body back down onto the platform floor.
Diluc took the lead, flames blazing on his greatsword as he charged forward. Using the dragon's horn as a foothold, he leaped to an extremely high altitude.
Mount!
Unfortunately, he wasn't using a longsword, there was no aerial ultimate, nor was there a Felyne cart; the mount wasn't authentic enough.
Venti drew his bow and shot two arrows. One landed next to Dvalin's head, forming a small Wind Field. The other struck a protrusion on Dvalin's neck.
"Use the Wind Field to fly onto his neck and attack that protrusion! That is where the Abyssal Power is concentrated!
Lumine, purify him once Diluc and the others' attacks take effect!"
Everyone quickly complied. Jean, Diluc, and Rosaria were responsible for dealing damage, while Lumine purified. Svarog constructed a massive hand, from which a purple force field surged forth. Dvalin's claws and head were enveloped by the purple force field, making him unable to break free for a time.
Lumine's purification was effective. The Abyssal Power, thick as mist, was drawn out of Dvalin's body and surged wildly into hers.
The Abyssal Power, which was originally capable of corrupting a giant dragon, was thus absorbed into her small body, yet her expression remained unchanged, as if her body... was capable of bearing the weight of the entire world.
In no time, the crystals covering Dvalin's body began to fade from the edges, changing from high-concentration purple to low-concentration dark red.
At this moment, Dvalin's eyes snapped open. His body twisted violently. Lumine and the others couldn't keep their footing on him, and even Svarog's control skill couldn't be maintained.
Finally, amidst a fierce storm, Dvalin completely broke free. Lumine and the others fell from the dragon's body, gently landing on the platform with the aid of a breeze from Venti.
But with this, the situation was completely reversed.
Stormterror would not land again. He flapped his dragon wings, and countless anemo elements wrapped around debris in the air, raining down like meteors. Svarog picked up Clara and began rushing toward another platform, and everyone else followed.
Just after everyone jumped onto the next platform, the previous one was completely destroyed by countless stones.
But Dvalin's attack did not stop. Countless Windfalls and meteors struck one after another. Even under the swing of his giant claw, azure cracks appeared on the ground, which began spewing Wind Blades outward.
Fortunately, with Commander Jean's Elemental Burst active, everyone's wounds quickly healed. But this was still not a long-term solution; constantly taking passive damage would eventually lead to collapse.
Therefore, everyone unleashed as many attacks as they could toward the sky, but the attacks from Rosaria, Lumine, and Jean were not long-range, and quickly failed to reach.
Diluc's Elemental Burst, Venti's Drawn Arrows, and Svarog's cannon fire were able to reach Dvalin's location, but they were all blocked by walls formed of storms.
Paimon clung tightly to Lumine to keep herself from being blown away. She closed her eyes and yelled: "Hey, Bard! Aren't you the Anemo God?! Can't you figure out a way to break Dvalin's defenses?"
Venti tried, but could only shake his head: "It's no good. Even if it's just incomplete authority, Dvalin's current status is equal to mine. I cannot break his defenses.
If we truly need to remove those defenses, we might need to crush them with sheer, overwhelming power!"
But everyone knew how incredibly difficult it would be to overwhelm Dvalin in his current state with sheer power!
Stormterror's offensive grew fiercer, and his power continued to strengthen as the coronation process advanced.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Clara rubbed her little feet and suddenly said, "Does everyone feel like the temperature has suddenly dropped a lot? I almost feel like I'm back in Belobog."
Svarog's voice immediately followed: "Clara is correct. The temperature inside the tower has dropped by more than ten degrees. Although it is still far from Belobog's cold, there is indeed some external factor influencing the temperature change here.
And the source is... over there."
As everyone looked in the direction Svarog pointed, as if to prove his words, an Ice Wall breached the barrier surrounding the tower with absolute violence and rapidly slashed toward Stormterror in the air.
Stormterror tried to use a Wind Wall to resist, but his defense was breached in just two seconds. The thick layer of ice collided with the dragon's body, but instead of knocking him away, it rapidly climbed onto his body, locking him down firmly.
With just one strike, half the body of the three-hundred-meter giant dragon was embedded within the Ice Wall.
From the breach in the seal, a silhouette of ice and snow slowly stepped in.
Skirk's crimson eyes scanned the people present. Only after confirming that no one was missing did he slowly speak.
"I'm not too late, am I?"
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