At last freed from that 'sea of blood', Victor Wang accelerated his descent, letting the pure lake water wash away the stench of blood and fish from his body.
Having been rammed around by the Consecrated Bass several times earlier, he had no idea how far he'd drifted from his original trajectory. However, once he activated the Day Pearl, the sloping mountainside that supported Mondstadt was still visible.
As his descent continued, around the 220-meter mark, the amount of slime concentrate floating upward began to increase.
At this depth, only bass remained. They hungrily eyed the gel. It was through the long-term consumption of slime concentrate that they enhanced their physical strength and survived the crushing pressure of the depths… which also made them tastier than bass from anywhere else.
But now, they sensed the aura of a 'King'.
Long, long ago, the slime concentrate in this lake had been shared among all the fish. Or rather, "shared" in the sense that, compared to the total monopoly now, back then most of the concentrate had still been seized by the spiny fish overlord of the lake, leaving only scraps for the rest—including the humble, tail-wagging bass.
Later, no one knew what changed at the lakebed, but one among the bass grew a bone sword longer than the spiny fish's snout, and its body outgrew the spiny fish entirely. That bass became their first 'King'.
That King easily drove off the spiny tyrant, rewriting the lake's hierarchy and ushering in the bass's rule.
The King never shared the secret of its strength—until the day it was gravely injured by the spiny fish's sovereign, the Crimson Demon King. To secure the bass's reign, the King revealed the forbidden knowledge:
"Whether deadly poison or divine elixir, it all lies at the lake's bottom. Let the strong take what they will."
That sentence was etched into the bass's very DNA. They devoured slime concentrate tirelessly, all in hopes of one day reaching the lakebed to glimpse that divine elixir.
Their efforts paid off. More Kings were born, and no fish in the lake could match them.
Now, the body of such a King was being carried by a strange being they'd never seen. Though their minds were small, instinct told them not to approach Victor Wang.
Victor Wang, of course, didn't bother with the bass. After learning the truth behind the "bubbles," he'd lost interest in the slime concentrate and continued descending in silence.
He had a hunch—he was close to the bottom.
He started imagining whether the lakebed would be covered in gelatin left behind by drowned slimes.
"Come to think of it, is there a pattern to where elemental creatures are born?"
"Could Pyro Slimes be born at the lake's bottom?"
"If it's Hydro Slimes, wouldn't they not drown?"
As he sank deeper, the once-common bass began to vanish. Around the 240-meter mark, the Day Pearl finally illuminated the lakebed.
There wasn't a blanket of slime concentrate like he'd imagined, but instead a layer of loose flocculent sediment and black mud. Still, slimes were present—and not in small numbers.
"Looks like Hydro Slimes don't drown. Then how did you all die?"
Lazily sprawled in the mud, occasionally bouncing up, the Hydro Slimes blinked their big eyes, curiously watching the stranger approach.
Were they killed by the Consecrated Bass?
But that one had already been slain by him. And yet, the slime concentrate had continued to rise just now… Could it be there was more than one?
Victor Wang frowned. If a dozen of those creatures came out at once, he might not be able to handle it.
Still, he'd come this far. Even if there were that many, it was too late to run now...
His Adventurer's Boots squished into the slimy, slick mud, and he felt slightly more at ease. At least he had footing now—it would make dodging easier.
Only now did his true objective begin. The past ten-odd minutes had just been the journey to get here.
"Which way should we go? Little Wen, want to pick a direction?"
["Eh? Me? But I've never been here before!"]
"Neither have I. But we've got to choose a direction anyway. Trust your intuition—lead me to something we shouldn't be seeing again!"
["Ahem! Then how about… we circle around this mountain wall first?"]
Victor Wang recalled the map of Cider Lake.
He had entered the lake from the north of Mondstadt and was roughly still in that area. The mountain wall behind him formed the foundation of the city. Facing away from it, his left pointed west, and his right, east.
This deepwater zone looped around the southwest of Mondstadt. If he hugged the left wall and walked to the far end, then circled the outer wall back, he could avoid getting lost in the vast darkness and also prevent aimless wandering without landmarks.
"Alright, let's go with that route."
He began walking west. After several hundred meters, he saw a familiar silhouette swimming just outside the Day Pearl's light.
Only one. That was manageable.
It lay directly in his planned path. He didn't intend to detour, so he pressed forward, holding the Day Pearl high, already prepared for battle.
But the creature recoiled from the light, shrinking back into the shadows.
When Victor Wang reached the area it had occupied, he found the shredded remains of numerous Hydro Slimes—bitten and carved.
Slimes drew life from elemental energy. Some had been gnawed into cogwheel shapes, yet still bounced around because enough tissue remained. Others were dead, their bodies dissolving in the water, with leftover fragments slowly floating upward.
Clearly a massacre orchestrated by the Consecrated Bass—but this one was timid. If you're afraid to fight, why didn't you dodge right instead of retreating backward? Now I have to keep chasing you…
Once he passed through its feeding grounds, the creature seemed to understand he wasn't interested in the slimes and finally looped around the upper edge of the Day Pearl's light to continue its meal.
A little farther ahead, it indeed didn't follow him.
Staying alert, Victor Wang continued observing. By the time he had circled the mountain wall entirely, three hours had passed.
He encountered nothing other than Hydro Slimes, black sludge, and Consecrated Bass. Even with elemental sight, all he could see was saturated Hydro energy.
His only takeaway was understanding the behavior of Cider Lake's bass.
Each Consecrated Bass had its own territory. They expelled invaders and devoured slimes. Most slimes ended up in their stomachs; the remaining concentrate floated up and was consumed by normal bass.
So… do normal bass turn into Consecrated ones from eating too many slimes?
Even if slimes aren't "great" lifeforms, quantity does lead to qualitative change... Still hard to accept.
His stomach rumbled. But with limited time left in Mondstadt, if nothing unusual turned up on the outer circuit, he'd have to make another pass through the lake's center—maybe even two. Time was tight.
At the far end of the mountain wall, the terrain tapered to a narrow point. Victor Wang began circling back from the other side.
Because the outer rim was more winding, it took over four hours to return to his starting point—but finally, he'd discovered something.
In the entire canyon lake, slimes only gathered near the side closest to Mondstadt. Move slightly away, and there were none.
"There's only one truth! And that is… what, exactly?"
"There's just one mountain wall over here…"
Anyone could sense that the side near Mondstadt was suspicious. But anyone would also find it insurmountable.
Even though it was just a wall, Victor Wang had dutifully spent three hours circling it. After reviewing everything in his mind twice over in high-definition fast-forward, there was truly nothing abnormal.
"This wall is the foundation of Mondstadt… Could Decarabian have been buried here as a pile?"
"But it's not like I can dig him out myself."
Though the wall had begun sloping inward early in his descent—forming a roughly inverted cone—its base was still enormous.
"Should I just report back now? The area's a bit wide, but at least I've pinned down the location, right? Diluc said the organization had a way to handle it—leave it to them."
Back at his starting point, he decisively began to ascend.
With the local Consecrated Bass slain, and no more slime concentrate available, some elite bass began diving to the bottom to forage on their own—steering clear of Victor Wang. But even in dimmer light, he could still see them clearly.
Klee would love bass this big. Consecrated Bass meat must be delicious… just hope it's safe to eat.
Once I'm out, I'll taste it first. If it's fine, I'll share it with Klee—consider it a farewell gift.
Another giant bass swam past the edge of the Day Pearl's light. Victor Wang felt something was off.
If bass were diving, why hadn't he seen any at the lakebed earlier?
He immediately turned and, keeping just enough distance not to startle it, followed. When he returned to his original descent point, the big bass vanished into the mud.
This spot marked the junction between the mountain wall supporting Mondstadt and the opposite canyon wall. The two appeared seamless—no gap visible. Victor Wang hadn't noticed anything at first.
But on closer inspection, the city's supporting wall slanted, while the opposite wall stood vertical. Could it be...
Clearing away the mud at the base, he found a narrow, elongated crevice—just wide enough for a normal bass to slip through. Neither he nor a Consecrated Bass could fit.
He held the Day Pearl inside. The gap sloped downward and widened within.
"…Erosion Blast!"
With that strike, the crevice expanded into a small cavern—just big enough for a person to squeeze through.
"Oh, Anemo Archon above! I'm claustrophobic—please don't mess with me!"
Following the elite bass into the narrow, winding passage, Victor Wang kept descending. The distance exceeded expectations. After about 100 meters, the path narrowed too much to continue.
"Erosion Blast!"
The exploded debris tumbled downward—no landing sound for a long time.
The path had reached its end. Victor Wang crawled through the hole and laid eyes on what lay beneath Mondstadt.
It was a collapsed mountain of bone.
Under the faint light, he could barely make out a dragon's head, tail, and wings.
Mondstadt, this island city in a lake, resembled an upside-down flat-topped mountain, resting precisely upon the dragon's crossed wings and tail.
In sheer size, this inverted mountain dwarfed even the Skyfrost Nail and the Jade Chamber. One could hardly imagine the awe of its subjugation—or the kind of enemy it had once faced.