Zephyr was stunned. "Six stars!?"
This was the first time he'd ever seen a six-star item!
Paimon was equally shocked, then proudly puffed out her chest. "See that? That's Paimon luck at work."
Hu Tao exclaimed, "Unbelievable! But… what is this thing? A demon?"
Zephyr replied, "This is one of the Egyptian God Cards."
"Egyptian Gods? Then why does it look so much like a demon god?" Hu Tao frowned.
Paimon wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Yeah, it looks super ugly!"
"Give it to me, then."
"Wah! Don't you dare try to take Paimon's stuff!"
"I love stealing things from little kids."
"You—!"
Zephyr took the card and studied it. "This really is a six-star card. I wonder what it actually looks like. Should we summon it just to check? Hmm, is there a description?"
> Due to rule constraints, this card can summon Obelisk the Tormentor up to three times per month. Further summons will come at a great cost.
"Only three times, huh…"
Zephyr frowned. "And what's this about a 'great cost' afterward? What kind of cost?"
The system didn't specify, which made him hesitant to use it carelessly.
Suddenly, from the dark forest behind them came a faint shhhk shhhk...
An Abyss Mage stepped out. "Human. I've finally found you."
Zephyr snorted. "The road to heaven you refuse to walk, yet you barge into the gates of hell yourself."
He had just been thinking about trying out Obelisk, and now a perfect test subject had delivered itself.
"Summon—Obelisk the Tormentor!"
The sky changed instantly. Clouds rolled in, dark and thunderous. Lightning roared across the heavens.
The air thickened with pressure, space itself seeming to twist and distort.
The Abyss Mage's face twisted in fear. "W-What's happening? Human, what have you done?!"
In an instant, a massive, monstrous hand emerged from the sky. It was a terrifying cyan, grotesquely huge, blocking out the sun and sky, exuding a crushing divine pressure that defied description. It came crashing down.
"AAAHHH!!"
The Abyss Mage was instantly pulverized into nothing.
"So strong!" The three of them were stunned.
At that same moment, far away in Mondstadt, a young man in white stockings sitting in a tavern suddenly lifted his head.
And in Liyue, an old man watching a performance also looked up abruptly, his face grave and serious.
…
After obliterating the Abyss Mage, Obelisk's form began to fade away. The sky returned to normal.
Paimon blinked. "W-What just happened?"
Hu Tao gaped. "That was Obelisk the Tormentor? It crushed an Abyss Mage in one hit! That's insane!"
Zephyr was just as shocked. He knew very well—that Abyss Mage wasn't weak.
It was level 20 and had an almost invincible shield. In a head-on fight, even some of the Special Grade Curses in Jujutsu Kaisen wouldn't be able to defeat it.
Even he himself, without a Hydro-element character to counter it, would've had no choice but to flee.
And yet, that same Abyss Mage had just been smacked to death by a single strike.
That alone proved how terrifying the owner of that hand was.
But… why only a hand?
Zephyr asked the system.
> Obelisk the Tormentor, one of the three Egyptian Gods, is restricted by the laws of the Teyvat continent and cannot fully descend.
Zephyr muttered, "So… it can only use one giant hand?"
> According to the player's strength, Obelisk the Tormentor can unleash greater power within a certain range.
"So what you're saying is—the stronger I am, the stronger the summoned Obelisk becomes. And if I'm weaker, it'll be weaker too? Is that it?"
Zephyr pondered. If that was the case, then Obelisk wasn't quite as overpowered as he'd first imagined.
He'd been so excited earlier because Obelisk was one of the Egyptian God Cards. Add to that a six-star card rating, and within all of Teyvat, probably only Grandpa Zhongli from Liyue would be able to put up a fight against it. The rest—gods and mortals alike—wouldn't stand a chance.
In the Jujutsu Kaisen world? Whether it was Sukuna or Gojo Satoru, they'd probably be one-shot.
Zephyr was thrilled by the thought.
The only downside? With his current strength, he couldn't summon Obelisk's full body—only one arm.
"I seriously need to get stronger."
He estimated that once he hit level 90, he'd likely be able to summon the complete form of Obelisk. But who knew when that day would come…
"I'll lend you this card. You hold on to it."
"You're really giving it to Paimon? Thank you, Traveler!"
"I said lend, not give!"
Hu Tao looked puzzled. "That card's so rare, and you're just going to lend it to Paimon?"
Paimon snapped, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean, huh?"
Zephyr said calmly, "It's fine. I trust her. And let's face it, she's really weak right now. I'm afraid that one day in battle she might just drop dead. I want her to have something to protect herself."
"I see…"
Zephyr figured that even just that one arm had to be around level 40 or 50. It probably had armor-breaking or defense-ignoring effects.
In terms of raw power, it wasn't the strongest thing out there—but as a self-defense tool, it was more than enough.
"If it's just the arm… I wonder if it could beat Gojo Satoru."
If Obelisk's full body were summoned, Gojo would get stomped—no question. But just one arm? Zephyr couldn't say for sure.
"Alright, let's head back to Mondstadt."
"How far is it?"
"Just use the teleport waypoint. You're in my party, so even if you haven't unlocked Mondstadt's waypoints, you can still travel with me."
"Oh~ this party system's actually pretty convenient."
In the next moment, the two of them appeared at the fountain plaza in Mondstadt.
Paimon gleefully raised the card. "Obelisk~ Obelisk~"
Then she glanced to the side—and her whole expression collapsed in despair.
"The Mondstadt Grand Hotel… is closed…"
"To be precise, the buffet restaurant inside the Grand Hotel is closed. The hotel itself isn't."
"Now's not the time for nitpicking!"
Hu Tao raised a hand to her forehead, looking around. "Oh wow, so this is Mondstadt? The buildings and faces are totally unfamiliar. Whoa, is that a church over there? It's huge!"
Zephyr turned to Hu Tao. "I'm heading home. Where are you going to rest?"
"I'm following you, of course. I already belong to you now."
"Could you not say things that could be totally misunderstood? Besides, it's not really convenient for you to come with me."
"What's so inconvenient? Hehe… don't tell me there's an old flame waiting at home?"
"It's really not convenient. I'm staying at someone else's place myself—how am I supposed to let you stay there too?"
Just as he finished speaking, a familiar voice chimed in nearby.
"Traveler, you're back. Huh? Who's that next to you?"
Zephyr stiffened and turned around. "Amber? What are you doing here?"
Amber looked worried. "It was getting late and you still hadn't returned. I was worried, so I waited here at the teleport waypoint."
"Thank you, Amber. We're fine. Something unexpected happened earlier, but we've taken care of it. Let's go home."
"Wait a sec—who is this person?"
Hu Tao gave a devilish smile. "Hello there, I'm Hu Tao, the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."
//END
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