Chapter 252: Division of Labor
The battle plan for Natlan was set. The teams were assigned, each tailored to the unique challenges of the tribes they were sent to aid.
Stelle, Dan Heng, and March 7th—the Astral Express's core trio, whose battlefield chemistry was second to none—would form the primary assault team. They were tasked with supporting the Yawning Mystery Main Tribe, where intelligence suggested the fighting would be the most complex and ferocious.
Himeko and Welt, the two seasoned "parents" of the group, would form a duo. Their combination of overwhelming firepower and tactical control made them a perfect fit for the Flowing Spring Crowd, a front that demanded a stable defensive line and the ability to deliver devastating precision strikes.
Next were Zhongli and Hu Tao, the director and consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Though Zhongli had complete faith in Hu Tao's growth and capabilities, he couldn't shake the instinct to watch over her. He decided to accompany her personally to reinforce the Woluo State. With the former Geo Archon at her side, Hu Tao's safety was all but guaranteed, freeing her to unleash her full potential without restraint.
Venti, the ever-free Anemo Archon, stepped into Zhongli's usual role as a guardian, teaming up with the proxy siblings from New Eridu. Venti's unmatched mobility and crowd control, paired with Wise's cryo abilities and Belle's pyro arts, made them the ideal unit to support the Suspended Wood People Tribe, whose territory was rumored to be a treacherous, vertically-challenging landscape.
Finally, Lumine and Paimon, as the central witnesses and coordinators of the entire Natlan incident, were assigned to the Feather Society. From there, their complete understanding of the situation would allow them to direct support to any front at a moment's notice.
The Echoing Children, for the time being, required no assistance. The First of the Fatui Harbingers, Capitano, was already on-site.
With the assignments finalized, the countdown to deployment began.
Welt and Himeko instinctively reached for their phones, a shared thought passing between them. They wanted to check the chat group one last time, to leave a message for their companions on the Express, or at least for anyone who might try to contact them and wonder about their sudden "departure."
But the chat group's teleportation mechanism offered no such courtesy.
The very instant the thought crossed their minds—
A powerful, wrenching sensation of spatial displacement enveloped every group member who had accepted the commission. The familiar sights of their surroundings fractured and peeled away like a shattered mirror, their vision flooding with a vortex of distorted light, disorienting shadows, and a deep sense of weightlessness.
A moment later, the feeling vanished as abruptly as it had come. Their feet touched down on solid ground once more.
Dry, scorching air, thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder and a faint, unsettling miasma of abyssal energy, rushed to greet them. The distant but distinct sounds of battle—clarion calls, the roars of monsters, and the percussive blasts of elemental power—assaulted their ears.
Natlan. They had arrived on the shores of the burning land.
As veteran warriors, Himeko and Welt swiftly suppressed the lingering vertigo from the cross-world jump. They steadied themselves, their sharp eyes already scanning the rugged, alien terrain.
But a crisis never grants its victims time to adapt.
Almost in the same breath as their arrival, several figures wreathed in ominous green energy currents emerged silently from behind a cluster of weathered boulders. Hilichurl Rogues.
They had used the terrain for cunning cover, their scimitars already humming with concentrated Anemo power. With a flick of their wrists, several invisible blades of wind tore through the air, their piercing whistle a harbinger of death as they sliced toward Himeko and Welt, who seemed to have barely regained their footing.
An ambush, sprung the very second they set foot on the battlefield.
In response, several "Flowing Fire" drones materialized around Himeko, deploying shimmering energy shields that intercepted the wind blades with a series of sharp cracks. The counterattack was immediate. A moment later, the drones hovered dutifully beside their master, the faint blue light in their muzzles slowly fading.
In the distance, the Hilichurl Rogues who had launched the sneak attack, along with the corner of the stone forest they had used for cover, had been reduced to a pit of charred earth and smoldering rock.
Yet, Himeko's expression showed no relief. Instead, a flicker of doubt and solemnity gathered in her gaze. She stared at the scorched crater, which was only three or four meters in diameter and barely knee-deep. Her finger tapped unconsciously on the drone's control panel.
"Something's not right, Welt," she murmured, her voice low. "The standard output of the Molten Core Ray equipped on the 'Flowing Fire' series should be enough to vaporize a rock mass of that size, leaving a crater over ten meters wide. But this..."
She shook her head. "The power was significantly weakened. The energy utilization rate is abysmal. Is it because the rules of this world are different, or..."
Welt adjusted his glasses, tapping the butt of his cane lightly against the ground. An invisible wave of gravity pulsed outward from him, sweeping through the surrounding environment in careful detail. "It's not rule rejection," he concluded. "I can feel that our own power is operating without any hindrance. It's more like... after an attack leaves the body, most of its energy is being absorbed by some invisible 'medium' permeating the air."
He crouched down, pinching a bit of scorched earth from the edge of the pit. The tiny, corrosive energy residue clinging to his fingertips made him frown deeply.
"Is this the aura of the Abyss? It's strongly corrosive, dense, and unnervingly active. It doesn't just strengthen the monsters; it's forming an 'Attenuation Field' that shrouds the entire battlefield."
While the two strategists were troubled by this abnormal power drain, another team was encountering their own unexpected situation.
They were in a desolate valley near the Yawning Mystery Main Tribe's territory. The azure glow of teleportation had just faded, revealing the solidified figures of Stelle, Dan Heng, and March 7th.
Before they could get a clear look at the environment, which was veiled in a faint mist, an unforeseen arrival made March 7th's eyes go wide.
"Whoa! You—why did you follow us?!" she exclaimed, pointing a disbelieving finger at the translucent, jellyfish-like memory bubble floating beside her. It was Xiao Yue, emitting a soft, cerulean light.
The little creature seemed just as dazed as she was, its luminescent tentacles swaying gently, conveying a sense of pure bewilderment.
"Eh?! Xiao Yue?!" Stelle blinked, looking at the little fellow in surprise before rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Did the chat group judge it as your combat pet? But your 'master-pet relationship' hasn't even been established for two days. Isn't this vetting standard a bit too loose?"
March 7th sputtered, caught between laughter and tears. "We're not in a master-pet relationship! We're just temporary roommates!"
But this was hardly the time to debate the finer points of their living arrangement.
"Roar—!"
A low, guttural roar, saturated with distorted energy, echoed from all sides, cutting their conversation short.
Within the mist, several massive shadows began to rise. They had the silhouettes of Eremites, but their carapaces were scarred with ominous, dark purple patterns, and violet-black flames of the Abyss flickered in their eyes. They were Eremite Phantoms, corrupted and empowered by abyssal energy.
"The enemy won't wait for us to catch up," Dan Heng stated calmly. Cloud-Piercer had already materialized in his hand, its tip glowing with a sharp, verdant light.
"Just in time!" Stelle, however, was far from afraid. A spark of eagerness lit up her eyes.
With a thought, a longsword appeared in her grasp. Its blade was a deep, dark red, as if it had been permanently dyed in blood. This was the new weapon she had obtained during the Amphoreus incident, a fusion of Nikador's power and the properties of the Black Tide. She had named it the Star-Shattering Blade.
Facing a scorpion-like Eremite Phantom that lunged first, Stelle stepped forward and swung. The blade drew a solid, dark-red arc through the air, heavy with an aura of destruction.
Slash!
The sword energy struck true, bisecting the phantom cleanly. The abyssal energy clinging to its remains fluctuated violently, as if it had met its nemesis, before dissipating into nothing.
Stelle couldn't help but admire her handiwork. She really liked this sword and the way its energy manifested. This dark red looked so much more intimidating! It was a little villainous, maybe, but that was a minor flaw. A change of color was a nice way to keep things fresh.
And yet, even in her success, she felt something was off. The strike, she realized, had felt weaker than expected. The resistance she'd encountered as the blade cut through the monster was also greater than it should have been.
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