Chapter 47: The Vicious Abyss Mage (Double Chapter)

With their minds cleared and freed from any lingering concerns, the trio resumed their fierce engagement with Dvalin.

Meanwhile, the patrol squad that had arrived slightly after Eula, along with the group selected from the Dawn Winery who came with them, launched an attack from the rear of the monster army.

Up on the cliff edge, utilizing the terrain to her advantage, Eula completely halted the advance of the monsters at the front of her formation.

Although the three leading Abyss Mages were noticeably stronger than standard Abyss Mages, they still fell far short compared to the Cryo Mage manipulating Dvalin. Eula handled the three of them single-handedly with ease.

Though it remained unclear why Charles—who was closer to Starsnatch Cliff—had not yet arrived, the current situation had once again tilted in favor of Chen and his companions.

"Ho-chaga!"

The Cryo Abyss Mage kept uttering bizarre screeches, hurling wave after wave of ice magic. However, its voice lacked its previous triumph, replaced instead by a growing sense of irritation.

Originally, to set the trap for Chen and the others, the preparations they made were far more thorough than the current situation reflected. Yet, a miscalculation had caused their meticulously laid snare to be largely ruined.

As Chen had previously deduced, upon learning that they were collecting dragon tears, the Abyss Order had indeed guessed that their objective was to rescue the Dragon of the East, Dvalin.

However, they assumed Chen and his group intended to use the dragon tears to track and locate Dvalin through some method before launching a rescue.

Had that been the case, the Abyss Order only needed to cast a massive net, waiting idly by the Dragon of the East for Chen's party to walk right into the trap, ensuring none of them would leave alive.

To this end, they had gathered a massive horde of monsters around the Dadaupa Gorge area, more than ten times the number currently present on Starsnatch Cliff.

Unfortunately, plans could never keep up with changes. How could they have anticipated that Chen's true intention was to summon Dvalin directly before them using the Lyre of the Der Himmel?

Consequently, when Dvalin suddenly broke free of their control back in the gorge and beat his wings to fly away beneath their bewildered gazes, all the Abyss Mages were left dumbfounded.

With no other choice, they had to alter their plan on the fly. The leading Cryo Mage followed Dvalin to Starsnatch Cliff to stall Chen's group, while the remaining three Abyss Mages did their utmost to drive the monster horde toward the location to encircle and annihilate Chen and his companions.

Yet because of this, the final number of monsters driven to the scene fell drastically short of their original trap.

"Boom!!"

Seizing an opening, Chen landed another heavy blow on the Stormterror, sending it staggering back a hundred meters.

"Ugh-hu... chaga..."

The intense battle had lasted for over an hour. The Cryo Mage was heavily depleted, with almost no magical energy left within it. Panting heavily, it glanced at the trio opposite it, then looked toward Starsnatch Cliff, where the monster horde was caught in a pincer attack. The situation was looking equally grim for the Abyss Order.

"Hehehehe." Knowing that the battle was utterly lost, the Cryo Mage let out a few strange laughs and said coldly to Chen and the others, "Do you really think you've won?"

With that, it raised its staff high above its head, chanting incantations of the Abyss in a rapid mumble. Dense abyssal energy began to gather atop its staff, emitting a strange, purplish-black glow.

Chen's pupils constricted sharply. A profound sense of foreboding surged into his heart, and he decisively shouted, "Stop it!"

Jean and Diluc also sensed that something was amiss and immediately charged forward alongside Chen.

However...

"Ohohoho—it's already too late!"

The Cryo Abyss Mage let out a cold laugh, plunging its staff downward until it pierced directly into the toxic blood crystal embedded on Dvalin's back.

In an instant, Venti, Chen, Eula, Diluc, and Jean stared with eyes dilated to their absolute limits, watching the scene unfold in sheer disbelief.

"Roar!!!"

A painful, echoing howl tore from Dvalin's throat. His massive dragon body twisted and convulsed endlessly in the air, yet could not stem the relentless torrent of abyssal energy surging into his frame.

Stimulated by the agony, the violent Anemo elemental energy that Dvalin instantly unleashed blew Chen and the other two backward, leaving them with no choice but to watch helplessly as it all happened.

"Damn it!" the three cursed inwardly, but interception was already impossible.

"Dvalin!!" Venti cried out in shock from below, having stopped playing his lyre. He watched the spectacle unfold as a suffocating sense of helplessness instantly flooded his entire heart.

As a deity, watching his familiar suffer such a calamity while remaining utterly powerless—in a fleeting trance, he seemed to see once more the scene from long ago, when the young boy who first played music for him collapsed beneath the Tower. At that time, he had felt precisely this same impotence.

"He-hahaha, it's just about time."

Feeling the toxic blood within the Dragon of the East being ignited and boiling away completely, the Cryo Abyss Mage gave a satisfied, eerie chuckle, pulled out its staff, and addressed Chen and the trio opposite, as well as Venti below: "Stay right here and slowly tear each other apart!"

With that, it waved its staff and vanished instantly, departing from Dvalin's back.

Eula, who was locked in fierce combat with the three Abyss Mages and the monsters they led, paused her movements and rapidly sidestepped to evade a sneak attack from the Cryo Mage.

Seeing that her surprise attack had failed, the Cryo Abyss Mage did not pursue. Joining the other three Abyss Mages, she called out to them, and all four simultaneously cast teleportation magic, vanishing from the battlefield in the blink of an eye.

They no longer cared about the life or death of the monsters they had brought along; in the eyes of the vast majority of the Abyss Order, such creatures were merely cheap, renewable resources.

Chen and the others had no spare attention to give to their escape. Visibly, Dvalin's massive dragon form was now blanketed in abyssal energy. This power pervaded every pore, continuously corrupting and assimilating Dvalin's flesh, elements, and soul.

The cyan scales on Dvalin's body were gradually shifting toward a dark purple. At this rate, it would not be long before Dvalin completely degenerated into an ugly Abyssal dragon.

Venti, Jean, Diluc, and every Mondstadter present who knew the Stormterror's true identity felt their hearts plunge into the abyss.

Had things truly progressed to this point? Was their Mondstadt's Dragon of the East ultimately destined to stand entirely opposed to Mondstadt?

Atop Starsnatch Cliff, the already weakened Venti swayed unsteadily, dropping directly to one knee. His turquoise eyes stared in unaccepting horror as Dvalin was swallowed by the abyssal energy.

"Bar—Venti..."

Paimon called out to him with concern, but Venti could no longer hear anything. Even the light breeze now carried the crushing weight of despair.

"Barba... toth..."

At that moment, a weak yet familiar voice sounded. Venti shuddered all over and hastily looked up at Dvalin in the sky.

"Dvalin?"

Sure enough, the giant dragon in the sky was looking down at him as well. Within those dragon eyes, already suffused with abyssal energy, a final trace of Anemo energy still swirled—representing the very last shreds of Dvalin's consciousness.

"Kill... me..."

Dvalin forced out the words through clenched teeth, causing Venti's pupils to shrink as he cried out in anguish, "Dvalin..."

"Hurry..." the dragon uttered once more.

Venti's expression was a mask of struggle and agony. His fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, yet he remained utterly unable to make up his mind.

"I... do not wish... to die in such an ugly form. Quickly... help... me..."

The dragon's words struck directly at Venti's heart.

Venti knew that Dvalin was the dragon who loved beauty above all else. He adored all beautiful things in the world. In the beginning, he had been drawn to Venti's lyre music, believing it to be the most beautiful sound in the world, which was why he chose to become his familiar.

How could someone who loved beauty so deeply ever accept becoming an ugly abyssal monster?

Gritting his teeth, Venti rose to his feet, tears welling in his eyes. Yet he summoned "Elegy for the End," gathering the entirety of his remaining Anemo Archon power. He intended, in his capacity as a deity, to grant his familiar a final release.

"Sigh..."

Jean and Diluc, who were silently watching the unfolding situation, suddenly heard a sigh from beside them. Turning their heads, they saw the young man next to them leap forward two paces, gaze at his own palms, and then at the giant dragon opposite, letting out a long sigh: "So be it, I'll give it a try!"

Before Jean and Diluc could fully comprehend what his words meant, the boy's figure shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, darting rapidly toward the giant dragon ahead.

Jean and Diluc widened their eyes in shock. Venti, who had already drawn his bowstring below, witnessed the exact same sight. His movements instantly stalled, and his turquoise pupils sharply contracted.

"Ah! Chen?" Little Paimon shrieked in alarm, yet she was powerless to stop the boy's resolute determination.

Chen rushed straight toward Dvalin. Dvalin was unfamiliar with him, and with his consciousness already on the verge of collapse, sensing the approach of an unfamiliar presence, he lashed out with a giant dragon claw.

Agilely dodging Dvalin's attack, Chen did not slow his pace in the slightest. Braving the abyssal energy that surged to assail him upon his approach, he ignored its corrosive touch and dashed toward Dvalin's back, landing with a few agile leaps right where the Cryo Abyss Mage had previously stood.

Without hesitation, Chen grabbed the pierced toxic blood crystal. Following the method he had previously used to absorb and purify abyssal energy, he drove his own power to its absolute limit, beginning to frantically draw out the abyssal energy harbored within Dvalin's body.

At this stage, the abyssal energy had corrupted Dvalin to an extreme depth, penetrating deep into the dragon's marrow and flesh. Chen's action was virtually equivalent to sucking the marrow and draining the bones of the dragon itself.

"Roar!!!"

Dvalin let out an even more agonizing roar toward the heavens. Unable to maintain control, his massive form spiraled and plummeted from the high altitude.

Seeing Dvalin hurtling toward them, Venti, Paimon, and Eula on the cliff edge panicked instinctively, lowering their heads and bracing themselves.

"Boom!!!"

Dvalin's colossal body cleared them and slammed heavily into the monster horde on the slope, instantly crushing a vast swath of them flat. Yet it did not end there. Driven by excruciating agony upon landing, Dvalin roared, struggled, and thrashed relentlessly across the ground, attempting to crush the boy on his back.

Paying it no mind, Chen gathered Anemo energy to form a protective barrier around himself. Ignoring the dragon's frantic counterattacks, he gritted his teeth and gripped the toxic blood crystal for dear life.

The dragon's thrashing failed to harm Chen, but it thoroughly decimated what little remained of the monster horde.

As wave after wave of continuous abyssal energy poured into his body, signs of abyssal corruption gradually began to manifest on Chen himself.

It was true that his power could purify abyssal energy, but much like water extinguishing fire, when the flames vastly outmatched the water source, the water was bound to be evaporated by the flames.

Chen was gambling now—gambling that amidst this brush with death, before he himself was entirely corrupted, he could harness these massive volumes of abyssal energy to perceive his own sealed powers a step early.

Just for an instant. If he could trigger his own power for even a single split second, he would be able to purify all of this abyssal energy completely.

Jean and Diluc landed back on the ground, watching the unfolding scene with uncertainty, unsure of what course of action to take.

"Ba... uh... Lord Venti, what should we do now?"

Watching Dvalin struggle amidst the monsters, Venti felt a knot tighten in his chest, feeling somewhat at a loss. Following his initial shock, and connecting it with Chen's ability to purify abyssal energy, Venti deduced that Chen intended to cleanse Dvalin.

Yet such a method was far too perilous. A single misstep, and both Chen and Dvalin would plunge into the abyss together.

Yet, despite his overwhelming anxiety, after a brief moment of hesitation, Venti's eyes hardened. Knowing there was no other choice left, he made a decisive call: "Suppress Dvalin! Don't let the traveler get distracted!"

Dvalin had blurted out Venti's divine name several times earlier; by this point, even Eula was aware of his true identity.

Hearing the Anemo Archon's direct command, Jean, Eula, and Diluc did not hesitate for a second, instantly charging toward the berserking Dvalin.

Finding their opportunity, Jean and Eula grabbed Dvalin's forelegs from left and right, while Diluc seized his tail.

Channeling their elemental energies to their absolute limits to reinforce their physical might, the three joined forces to pin down Dvalin, who was still attempting to thrash about.

Even so, the disparity in physical strength between mortals and a dragon was simply too vast. Though restricted by the three, Dvalin was still able to drag the four of them as he thrashed wildly in all directions.

Fortunately, the surrounding monsters had mostly been cleared out by this point. Eula and Diluc immediately called over any available hands to assist.

Heeding Venti's warning, those who rushed over refrained from making direct contact with Dvalin. While Vision wielders like Eula and Diluc could somewhat resist the abyssal energy blanketing the dragon's body, ordinary people would spell disaster if they touched it.

Consequently, the crowd gathered a massive quantity of ropes and vines, tossing them from one side across to the other over Dvalin. Over a hundred elite fighters then joined forces, pulling down on the ropes and vines from both flanks of the dragon. Finally, they successfully pinned the utterly exhausted Dvalin flat to the ground, rendering him completely immobile.

Even so, Dvalin continued to writhe incessantly, letting out muffled, agonizing shrieks from his throat.

Hearing the sounds wrung Venti's heart, but for Dvalin's sake, he forced himself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, he put away "Elegy for the End" and once more drew out the "Lyre of the Der Himmel."

Stepping before the giant dragon, infinite tenderness welled up in his eyes as he looked upon the suffering wind dragon. He gently plucked the strings, once again playing the very melody of their first encounter...