The suffocating, deathly silence brought on by the Blood Moon morphed into something entirely bizarre the moment the Heaven Fallen Longbow began to sing.
Under the watchful eyes of the assembly, the magnificent cosmic bow hovered directly above Ryen's head.
The energy string drew itself back, easily matching the firing rate of a modern assault rifle.
Azure energy arrows materialized in the void before launching with devastating force.
They struck the ground beside the mutants, triggering violent explosions that hurled the rotting corpses into the sky. Instantly, ten pristine white arrows coalesced in mid-air, curving gracefully to pin the airborne zombies firmly to the earth.
A dense, blinding rain of white light showered the killing fields beyond Redstone Tech City, purging the tainted soil.
This was no longer a siege. The remaining twenty thousand mutants were simply being harvested by the Heaven Fallen Longbow.
Despite boasting seven layers of Blood Moon enhancements and heavy armor, the mutants were as fragile as wet parchment beneath the cosmic arrows.
A mere graze resulted in instant death.
Zhongli watched the spectacle intently. Not a single mutant had survived a direct hit.
It was a guaranteed execution. At the very least, the raw damage output was so astronomically high that ordinary monsters simply could not endure it.
Even with his vast, ancient wisdom and the myriad miracles he had witnessed since arriving in this realm, Zhongli could only offer a silent, profound sigh.
Utterly absurd.
The Heaven Fallen Longbow was undoubtedly the most ridiculous armament he had ever seen, eclipsing even the miraculous Master Staves.
If one excluded the personal magical amplification provided by a Master Staff, no weapon could rival the sheer, unadulterated destruction of this bow.
The Heaven Fallen Longbow offered no elemental enhancements to its wielder, yet it annihilated every enemy on the field with ruthless equality.
It operated on the exact same logic as the Sword of the Cosmos.
The wielder's personal strength was entirely irrelevant; the only question was whether the enemy could survive a single strike.
None of the commanders had personally witnessed the true capabilities of the Sword of the Cosmos. Ryen rarely drew the apocalyptic blade.
The only recorded instance occurred when Ningguang and the others watched Ryen wield the cosmic sword to excise the Forbidden Knowledge corrupting Irminsul, slicing away the very essence of the Imaginary Tree.
According to Ningguang's account, the moment the Sword of the Cosmos swung, the foundational laws of reality perished.
They could not entirely comprehend what the death of a physical law looked like, but they vividly remembered the palpable sensation of the world itself begging for mercy.
Whether that description was entirely accurate remained a mystery to Zhongli and the Archons.
However, judging by the current display, the Heaven Fallen Longbow possessed enough terrifying might to comfortably stand alongside that legendary blade.
They were two sides of the same apocalyptic coin.
At this moment, a single, autonomously firing longbow was completely suppressing an army of twenty thousand elite mutants.
The soldiers upon the wall slowly lowered their weapons, staring in sheer bewilderment.
Their grueling, desperate defense felt entirely overshadowed by this single, radiant artifact.
Venti opened and closed his mouth, his gaze darting between the hovering cosmic bow and the blinding rain of white light decimating the horde.
After a long silence, Venti tossed his own enchanted bow onto the cobblestones in pure exasperation.
"What in the world is that! Do you still dare call that a bow?!"
Venti glared at Ryen, pulling at his own braids.
"How is that bow more absurd than a heavy machine gun?! A single string is unleashing the fury of a landslide! If you have weapons like this, why are we even standing on this wall?!"
Venti's outburst resonated deeply with the surrounding commanders.
While they were genuinely relieved that the apocalyptic siege was being dismantled so effortlessly, standing uselessly while a floating bow did all the work left a bitter taste in their mouths.
Ryen let out a dry chuckle. Truthfully, he had not anticipated the Heaven Fallen Longbow being quite this spectacular.
It was his first time utilizing it in open combat.
Thinking it over, the design made perfect sense. The Sword of the Cosmos was the ultimate single-target executioner, while the Heaven Fallen Longbow was the undisputed king of area-of-effect destruction.
They were truly peerless artifacts.
Ryen spread his hands, offering a smug, easy smile.
"While it is undeniably potent, how can you claim it is not a bow?"
"Look at its chassis. It has a grip, limbs, and a string. It simply possesses a few extra features! Are you truly going to revoke its status as a bow over a little extra firepower?"
Makoto pressed her lips together, staring blankly at the glowing weapon above Ryen's head.
"It ignores durability decay, fires autonomously, tracks targets, inflicts catastrophic explosive damage, and unleashes area-of-effect cluster munitions..."
"While its physical form is indeed a bow, do these traits truly belong to a standard archery weapon?"
Ryen offered a breezy, dismissive laugh.
"The universe is vast and full of wonders. I must confess, this is my first time utilizing it in a massive conflict. I did not anticipate its performance to be this spectacular."
"So please, spare me the complaints about keeping it hidden until now."
The commanders swallowed their lingering grievances, entirely unable to argue with his logic. After a moment, Zhongli shook his head with a faint smile.
"Speaking from the standpoint of universal truth, it feels entirely authentic."
"It is an artifact standing equal to the Sword of the Cosmos; it naturally possesses such overwhelming might."
"Regardless of its absurdity, this is a profound blessing. Our defense against the coming nights will be far less taxing."
Ryen nodded in agreement.
"In truth, the Heaven Fallen Longbow is not completely indestructible. It simply possesses an astronomically high durability threshold, making it exceptionally difficult to break."
"If we deploy it constantly across a battlefield of this magnitude, clearing twenty thousand mutants is fine. But against a horde of a million..."
"We must use it sparingly. No matter how resilient the frame is, continuous, uninterrupted firing will eventually wear it down."
Jean nodded thoughtfully, her tactical instincts taking over.
"It must be preserved as our ultimate trump card. For the opening hours of the nightly sieges, there is no need to deploy it immediately."
Ryen shrugged, offering no objection.
A trump card.
He briefly pictured his inventory, where a massive, pitch-black missile silo rested quietly alongside twelve warheads stamped with glowing hazard symbols.
The Heaven Fallen Longbow was merely his second-best trump card.
However, he deeply preferred keeping those nuclear payloads locked away.
Those weapons were absolute double-edged swords. Used correctly, they erased armies. Used incorrectly, the mutant siege would end prematurely because Redstone Tech City would vaporize itself.
Yet there was no harm in hoarding apocalyptic insurance.
The forty-nine-day cataclysm was lethal, and the final Blood Moon was proving exceptionally vicious. Stockpiling a few extra lifelines was simply prudent planning.
Above his head, the Heaven Fallen Longbow continued its relentless, autonomous barrage.
With their sapient commander dead, the surviving mutants lost all semblance of tactical formation.
While a significant portion of the remaining horde were archers, they lacked the basic intelligence to coordinate suppression fire without their general.
Exactly as everyone predicted, the archer zombies abandoned their ranged advantage, joining the mindless, unified charge toward the obsidian walls.
Watching the crude, chaotic stampede brought genuine smiles to the faces of the garrison.
If the black variant had survived to orchestrate those twenty thousand mutants, the alliance would have inevitably suffered casualties.
But a mindless, straightforward charge?
With the Heaven Fallen Longbow raining death from above and the magma moats burning below...
Coupled with the fact that the defending troops now outnumbered the surviving mutants, tonight's victory was an absolute certainty.
The only remaining question was how long it would take to mop up the stragglers.
Seeing the threat neutralized, Ryen smoothly commanded the Heaven Fallen Longbow back into his inventory.
Venti stared at the empty space with lingering, covetous eyes. He drifted closer to Ryen, offering a bright, hopeful grin.
"Say, Ryen... that bow of yours is remarkably stylish."
"Oh? Have you finally accepted that it is a bow?" Ryen cast an amused, sidelong glance at the bard.
Venti scratched his cheek, looking entirely innocent.
"I never explicitly denied it was a bow, did I? Let me play with it for a while."
Ryen rolled his eyes.
"Do not even dream of it. The cataclysm is far from over. I must preserve its durability for the coming nights."
"We will discuss this once the siege breaks."
While the Heaven Fallen Longbow boasted near-infinite durability, it was not immune to degradation. In order to minimize casualties among the infantry, Ryen would likely be forced to deploy it frequently over the next six days.
He fully intended to utilize his Administrator privileges to duplicate a few extra copies once the cataclysm ended.
"Once the siege is over, you promise I can test it?" Venti pressed, refusing to let the opportunity slip.
Ryen waved a hand dismissively.
"We will discuss it when the time comes. We are in the middle of a war zone. I have no patience for this right now. Do you honestly believe we are entirely safe?"
"Ehe!" Venti offered a cheeky grin and wisely retreated a few steps.
Thanks to the concentrated artillery barrage and the cosmic fury of the Heaven Fallen Longbow, the mutant horde outside the walls had been reduced to barely ten thousand stragglers.
The internal crisis was also resolved. Ei and the Shogun soon emerged from the city streets, ascending the stairs back to the battlements.
Ryen immediately pulled Ei close, inspecting her thoroughly. Confirming she hadn't suffered a single scratch, he let out a long breath of relief.
Tonight's bloodbath was effectively concluding.
The engineers were already mobilizing to repair the damage inflicted upon Residential District Three.
The scattered mutants beyond the walls would be eradicated shortly.
Zhongli surveyed the plains for a quiet moment before speaking.
"Should we deploy a vanguard detachment beyond the gates to mop up the survivors? Barely ten thousand mutants remain, and they are scattered thinly across the four walls."
"Expending our heavy artillery to hunt down stragglers is highly inefficient."
Ryen leaned over the parapet, analyzing the field. The remaining mutants were indeed spread too far apart for efficient explosive coverage.
The heavy machine guns and redstone cannons had already fallen silent, awaiting further orders.
Ryen shook his head.
"Dismiss the idea. This is only the first night of the final week. There is no strategic value in abandoning our fortified advantage to chase down stragglers."
"Losing even a single Totem of Undying to a careless ambush is an unacceptable trade."
"We will maintain our position behind the walls. We do not step outside unless absolutely necessary."
"As for exterminating the remnants..."
"Have the infantry use standard bows. Did the mutants not deliver a surplus of arrows earlier? We can return the favor."
"Furthermore, instruct the troops to equip their Master Staves. They can use these stragglers to farm spell proficiency."
Zhongli nodded, recognizing the wisdom in the cautious approach.
"A prudent decision. We must conserve our heavy munitions for the days ahead."
With the plan finalized, Zhongli immediately turned and began broadcasting the new directives to the sector commanders across the four walls.