"Eh?"
Hearing Kai suddenly speak,
Paimon clearly hadn't reacted yet.
Seeing the treasure trailing a stream of light suddenly shoot towards her, she was startled on the spot.
Fortunately, Lumine, as the Traveler, was beside her.
Her combat instincts were extremely superior.
Although she didn't know what had happened, she instinctively followed Kai's warning, directly pulling Paimon down.
They dropped to the ground without hesitation.
"Bang!"
A surge of energy erupted, almost immediately causing a small explosion in the sky above.
Accompanied by a surprised squawk like a male duck's voice,
Lumine could clearly feel countless ice shards rapidly falling from above.
The next second... a floating figure, completely enveloped in a shield, suddenly appeared before her eyes.
It wore ice-blue mage robes and a mask on its face, like a Hilichurl's.
This was... "An Abyss Mage!"
Little Paimon exclaimed in extreme surprise.
Equally surprised was this Cryo Abyss Mage.
It seemed it hadn't expected its sneak attack to be detected.
For a moment, even its movements became sluggish.
Then, it quickly waved its staff again, and icy currents immediately wrapped around it, appearing consecutively around its body.
Feeling the sudden condensation of elemental power, Paimon was startled.
She instinctively looked at Lumine, who was still on the ground.
She warned, "Lumine, dodge!"
Paimon didn't even need to remind her; the moment she spotted the Abyss Mage,
Lumine instinctively wanted to put distance between them.
However, what she hadn't expected was that as she struggled to get up, she discovered that her feet had been completely frozen by ice at some point.
While it wasn't too difficult to break free, there clearly wasn't enough time in such a short period.
"Hehe... My attacks aren't that easy to dodge."
"Although I can't kill you because of Her Highness, if I strike a little harder and put you out of commission for a few months, our subsequent plans will be much easier."
"So, just lie down obediently for me!"
The hoarse voice, like a male duck's, suddenly rang out.
Accompanied by the extremely icy sound, it sent shivers down one's soul.
However... almost the instant his voice fell, an even colder, angry growl suddenly sounded from behind him.
"I say, you fellow!"
"Are you... pretending I don't exist?"
"Hm?"
The Abyss Mage was slightly startled and instinctively looked back.
The scene before its eyes made its eyeballs almost pop out.
In its line of sight, it could clearly see a figure shooting over at an incredible speed; that distance was but a mere breath's effort in the other's eyes.
By the time it reacted, Kai's figure had already arrived before it.
His fist was wrapped in an unknown light.
Without any fancy moves, he directly smashed it down with a punch.
"Bang!!!"
The Cryo elemental shield used to protect its body
had no chance to even resist against that punch.
It was instantly shattered to pieces.
The damage caused by the immense power directly impacted its body.
Sending this Cryo Abyss Mage hurtling out like a cannonball.
It crashed heavily into a corner of the ruins.
"Ugh..."
Accompanied by the last hoarse scream,
the familiar ashes appeared, causing this Cryo Abyss Mage to completely vanish from its original spot.
"Ignoring me? That's too arrogant."
Brushing off the ice shards left on the back of his hand from punching the Abyss Mage,
Kai gave a disgruntled glance, then looked down at Lumine.
"I say, Traveler, are you alright?"
"I'm... I'm fine."
Shaking her head, she took advantage of the moment.
The ice around her feet had already been completely shattered.
Lumine awkwardly got up from the ground.
Clearly, being ambushed by the Abyss Mage made her, as the Traveler, feel exceptionally ashamed.
"I thought the danger was over; I was a bit careless."
"Thank you, Mr. Kai, anyway."
"Ah~ It's nothing, nothing. After all, Jean specifically asked me to take good care of you."
Kai waved his hand indifferently, noticing her somewhat stiff walking posture and looking at her recently frozen leg with some confusion.
"Although you say you're fine,"
"But your foot..."
"Seems to be frozen stiff."
Frowning slightly in pain, she hadn't felt it when she first broke free, but after taking a couple of steps, Lumine realized that the Cryo element didn't seem to stay on the surface but had invaded the entire foot area through her blood vessels.
Even her ability to walk was affected for a short time.
Realizing that every step was extremely difficult,
Lumine couldn't help but sigh.
She was forced to stop, bending down to rub her ankle, trying to alleviate the pain.
"This is a bit troublesome. Although those Abyss Mages aren't particularly strong, they do have some skill with elemental power."
"If we leave it alone, it will probably take a long time to remove the influence of the Cryo element."
Looking at Lumine before him, Kai couldn't help but mutter to himself.
It wasn't his first time dealing with these Abyss Mages; Kai knew their strength.
If this continued, not only would the other party be unable to walk, but it seemed he wouldn't be able to return to Mondstadt either. He couldn't just leave her alone and go back, could he?
After all, he had been entrusted by Jean to take good care of her.
Since that's the case...
"Then, I'll think of a way."
"Hmm?"
Hearing Kai's words, before the Traveler could react,
He saw the other party jump forcefully.
His body leaped into the air, and his Wind Glider suddenly unfurled.
"Let's see if there's any…"
"Hey, there is!"
Kai muttered softly.
Standing high up, he looked around, and soon his eyes lit up, flying directly towards a certain direction.
Immediately after, he seemed to hear faint sounds of battle in the distance.
After a moment… Kai returned to the Temple of the Thousand Winds again, then waved his hand.
A thing like a water vat was directly thrown onto the ground.
"Alright, soak your feet in hot water."
"Let's deal with the effects of the Ice element."
"Eh?"
The Traveler couldn't help but freeze on the spot, not expecting Kai to bring back a pot of hot water in such a short time.
Staring at the dark, grimy water vat in front of her, she was a little slow to react.
"This seems to be…"
"Yes, it's exactly as you're thinking. There's a Hilichurl' camp nearby, so I made a quick trip there."
Kai nodded, confirming her guess.
"You know, Hilichurl know how to use the bodies of Pyro Slime to heat cold water. When I went, this pot of hot water had just started boiling."
"So the current temperature should be just right for soaking your feet."
After speaking, seeing the Traveler still so unresponsive, her expression seemingly frozen, Kai couldn't help but sigh.
"Although it is a bit of a waste of time to wait for you to finish soaking your feet before going back."
"But there's no helping it…"
"After all, I never carry other girls on my back."
Kai explained seriously.
"Otherwise, if Acting Grand Master Jean saw it, she would get jealous."