The sun gradually set, and the orange-red sky marked the end of a day's labor.
At the fruit stall by the city gate, Quinn was covering his stall with a dust cloth. He gave it a strong flick, and Beatrice, standing on the other side, took the other end to help him cover it properly.
At the city gate, Swan walked over and patted Lawrence on the shoulder, signaling that he could report to the Knights of Favonius and then go home for dinner, while Swan himself was on night duty.
Such was the scene at the city gate, and such it was within the city as well.
Mondstadt remained as peaceful as ever today.
Inside the Church of Favonius, Amber poured a cup of tea for both Eula and Barbara.
Originally, Amber and Eula, though acquainted with Barbara, didn't have much overlap in their work, so they weren't particularly familiar with each other. However, recently, they had been meeting frequently because of a certain man, and these good-natured young women naturally became friends.
Barbara and Eula both thanked Amber, then leisurely took a sip of their black tea.
"Hehe!" Barbara suddenly covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh. Facing Amber's puzzled gaze, Barbara said, still covering her mouth, "It's nothing, I just think you, our Scout Knight, are getting better and better at pouring tea."
Amber was stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing: "Oh! Barbara, how did you also learn bad habits from him!"
Eula looked at the two telling jokes she didn't understand with a puzzled expression. After Barbara's explanation, Eula also understood the origin of the joke.
"Hahahahaha! How can that guy be so mean!"
"Oh no! How can even you mock me like this!"
Watching Eula laugh so hard that she swayed, and her 'fruits' also swayed, Amber angrily entered Spinosaurus mode.
Barbara smiled gently beside them, but a hint of loneliness still flickered in her eyes.
—I wonder how my sister's battle against Stormterror is going...—And him... what is he doing now?
But in this peaceful and harmonious moment, Sister Angelina suddenly ran up. Her expression was flustered; she didn't even have time to drink the tea Amber offered her.
"Pastor Barbara, the sky harp you brought back, it suddenly, suddenly flew away!"
..."Oh my, it can still fly like that!"
A flash of green light passed, and the huge ball of light gradually shrank, returning to Orion's human form.
He looked down at his body and then gave Andrius a slight bow as a sign of gratitude "Thanks, Wolf King. Letting me analyze you for so long must not have been easy for you, right?"
Andrius, who had transformed back into his blue form, shook "There's no need for all that formality, and certainly no need for you to thank me. After all, you only analyzed a part of my power and took some fragments, not truly seized all of it. I should be thanking you for allowing me to retain my power and continue guarding this land.
"And judging by your scent, you're the lupical of the traveler Lumine, aren't you? You should travel more through the neighboring land; there are many old friends buried beneath that soil who haven't yet closed their eyes."
"I will. Our next stop is Liyue."
Orion casually removed the Anemo barrier as he spoke. But the moment the barrier was removed, countless violent air currents immediately surged into this previously isolated space.
Looking at the raging storm around him and the dark clouds in the sky, Orion frowned and looked around until he saw Stormterrors Lair, engulfed in the towering storm.
There's no reason, right? Has the plot deviated this much? Skirk is here, and she still can't stop Stormterror in the early stages of the plot? Does battle power scaling no longer exist?
The key is, who is strengthening Stormterror? He can't just get stronger by himself, can he?
"Orion!" Just as he was thinking, Fischl and the other two had already rushed over.
Fischl and Bennett immediately checked Orion for injuries after running over, while Razor, after confirming Orion was safe from a distance, ran to the Wolf King's side to talk, as they needed to settle the wolf pack in a safe place amidst the sudden storm.
And amidst Fischl and Bennett's jumbled explanations, and after Oz's translation, Orion finally felt he roughly understood what had happened.
It was probably similar to what he guessed: after Skirk joined the dragon-hunting team, he didn't know if some dynamic balance mechanism was triggered, but in short, Stormterror probably suddenly burst with power halfway through the battle and intended to seal Skirk and the others in place, while he himself launched a lightning attack on Mondstadt!
Truly, everything is a tactical conversion.
And Mondstadt, as expected with its German elements, has blitzkrieg in its blood.
But why would Dvalin want to attack Mondstadt? If it's for revenge, shouldn't he go directly for Venti?
After much thought, Orion could only conclude that perhaps dragons just need to destroy cities.
However, Mondstadt City, after all, has the sky harp, into which he sealed a tiny bit of clearance. Surely, no matter what trouble they encounter, they should be able to hold them off for a short time, right?
..."They can't hold them off anymore!!!"
Some time ago, inside the Church of Favonius, several dutiful Knights of Favonius were trying every possible way to prevent the sky harp from suddenly flaring up and running away. But this harp seemed to have some obsession, determined to fly out of the church, even using a trace of Anemo Authority to clear obstacles along the way.
Finally, when Barbara and the other two arrived, they just happened to see the sky harp floating in the air and rushing out of the main church entrance.
Seeing this, Barbara immediately chased after it without a word. Amber and the others also hurried to follow. When everyone came out of the Church of Favonius, they realized that in the few seconds since they had emerged, the entire sky over Mondstadt had been enveloped in dark clouds.
Not only that, a storm surged upstream from Cider Lake surrounding Mondstadt City, straight into the sky.
In an instant, Mondstadt City was surrounded by a tall wall of water spouts, and rain suddenly began to fall from the sky, not just from the dark clouds, but also carried by the wind from the lake.
And the sky harp hovered in this symphony of wind and rain, about two meters above the ground, then glowed with a brilliant green light.
In the next moment, a rift suddenly tore open in the dark clouds, and a dark-red giant dragon, carrying immense power, swooped down. Its three-hundred-and-fifty-meter body fiercely slammed towards the location of the sky harp.
However, with the soft glow of the sky harp, a green barrier suddenly appeared between the giant dragon and Mondstadt City, blocking the dragon's claw attack in mid-air.
Seeing this perilous scene, the Knights of Favonius, having regained their senses, immediately began organizing evacuation efforts.
And in the sky above, the giant dragon's already unfocused eyes immediately looked at the sky harp floating in the air.
Dvalin's maw curved into an arc; he smiled.
Within Mondstadt City, the sound of claws scraping against the barrier and the giant dragon's eerie laughter echoed among countless houses.
"Found... you!"
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