The corpse of a god hidden beneath Cider Lake—what a surprise!
There are only a few Archons associated with Mondstadt, and among those, only the "God of Storms" Decarabian and the God of Time are unaccounted for.
Three thousand years ago, the seat of the Anemo Archon was vacant. Two Gods—"God of Storms" Decarabian and "Great Wolf King of the North" Andrius—waged war for it.
Decarabian built a royal city to shield his subjects from natural disasters. That city, once known as Old Mondstadt, is now the Stormterror's Lair.
Andrius declared war on Decarabian, but could not breach the royal city forged by divine power. Still, that didn't mean Andrius was weaker—the two stalemated for four hundred years without defeating each other.
Decarabian enveloped Old Mondstadt in a never-ending hurricane. Even birds couldn't pass through the high-altitude winds. The soil and stone within the city were ground into dust as fine as water.
Yet those same gales shielded the city from snow and biting cold.
He stood atop the towering spire at the city's center, gazing down upon the bowed citizens, satisfied by their obedience—unaware their submission wasn't from reverence, but because the gale was so fierce they simply couldn't stand upright.
That was how he earned the title "Lord of the Tower."
This tyrannical reign continued until around 2600 years ago, when the people of Old Mondstadt could bear it no longer. They rose up in a war for "freedom." It was during this war that Venti—the Anemo Archon Barbatos—emerged.
The "Lord of the Tower," who once gave his people a city free from cold and hardship, fell. Until the very end, he believed his subjects loved him as he loved them.
After three thousand years, it's impossible to tell if he was innately cruel or simply clueless about the human heart...
This is the version of Mondstadt's history Victor Wang knows. The game and Mondstadt's library record it just like this. It shows that, starting three millennia ago, Mondstadt was only known to have three gods: "God of Storms,""Great Wolf King," and the "Anemo Archon."
Of those, both the "Great Wolf King" and the "Anemo Archon" still exist. The "God of Storms" is confirmed dead—but the whereabouts of the body are unrecorded.
Gods are immortal beings. Even if their consciousness fades, their power and resentment remain, becoming festering filth that continues to plague the world.
That's why Xiao still battles remnants of fallen gods from the Liyue Archon War, his body polluted and burdened with "karmic debt."
Even the self-sacrificing "Serpent God" Orobashi birthed foul gods and crystal marrow after death.
And Durin—who may not even qualify as a true god—has been dead for centuries, yet his heart still beats.
Clearly, a god's corpse is no simple matter. So, when Victor Wang saw the true form of the Consecrated Bass, he already had his suspicions about what lay beneath the lake.
As for the God of Time?
From the name alone, you can tell their rank was high. Victor Wang doubted such a being could truly die.
In a blink, the Consecrated Bass had circled in the dark again, hiding behind a group of suicidal fish, and struck at Victor Wang's flank.
Aware of its might, Victor Wang dared not be careless. Despite the strain, he released Thousand Winds underwater to replace his vision, now clouded by fish flesh and blood, while drawing the Wentian Sword to parry.
He managed to block the strike, but with no foothold, the Consecrated Bass slammed him straight into the fish wall.
The school of bass erupted. They had originally planned to organize and ram into him, but now they simply lunged—biting, uncaring if their bodies were torn to shreds by the underwater vortex. Mouths wide open, they aimed to shred Victor Wang with their needle-like teeth.
This scene... definitely the scariest episode from childhood nightmares.
Victor Wang's scalp tingled. His trypophobia flared. Unable to pierce his elemental barrier, they latched onto whatever they could—his cloak, his face—leaving him covered in largemouth bass, vibrant in all colors and sizes.
Gritting his teeth, he doubled the wind blades around him, spinning faster, cutting a large hole through the fish wall. The cost? He was drenched in thick fish blood.
The stench made him gag, but he held back, unwilling to open his mouth.
The Consecrated Bass hadn't finished. After ramming him into the wall, it turned its head left while swinging its body right, trying to slash his neck with the bony dorsal spine extending from head to tail.
Eyes shut in bloody despair, Victor Wang relied entirely on Thousand Winds and the spinning wind blades to sense. He leaned his head back—the bone blade narrowly grazed his chin.
The attack didn't stop. After the dorsal spine came the scythe-like tail.
Victor Wang brought his sword across in time, stabbing toward the unprotected belly from below. The creature recoiled, flipping belly-up to use its bony armor to block the Wentian Sword. Still spinning, its tail slammed into Victor Wang's face, shattering his fox mask.
That was close! Almost scarred for life!
In a flash, the Consecrated Bass vanished into hiding again.
Victor Wang had stashed away the Day Pearl in his left hand earlier when he closed his eyes—now the surroundings were pitch-black.
That worked to his advantage. The Consecrated Bass couldn't judge how far to retreat. It swam exactly five meters away—unfortunately, right at the edge of Thousand Winds' detection.
For Victor Wang, nothing could hide within that range. What the creature thought was stealth was fully exposed to him.
With a whip of its tail, the creature surged forward—its streamlined body slicing the water like a sword point, even faster than before under that brief exposure to blinding light.
This time it targeted Victor Wang's head. Its earlier probes had revealed that the neck and head were the most vulnerable points on this prey.
Victor Wang was also analyzing its weak points. The creature had powerful bone blades and terrifying speed, but areas not covered in bony armor seemed fragile.
A true assassin-type foe... if only it could be restrained...
The five-meter distance vanished in a blink—but Victor Wang was ready and parried.
Why didn't it work? I was faster this time...
The Consecrated Bass couldn't comprehend. It tried repeatedly, always failing.
Then, on one attack run, Victor Wang let go of his sword and gathered an overload of elemental energy—just before the bone blade could split his head—and grabbed it tightly.
The creature shook its head impatiently, trying to throw him off. This was indeed its weak point: once something clung to its body, it couldn't shake it off alone.
With all its strength, it dashed forward again, ramming Victor Wang into yet another fish wall.
But Victor Wang didn't fear the bass anymore. As long as his elemental power held out, he was invincible to these creatures.
Panicking, the Consecrated Bass rammed him into fish schools over and over, not caring how many allies died. It swam up, down, even considered crashing into the rock wall—but Victor Wang had latched onto the base of its bone blade. Hitting the wall would injure itself first.
Feeling Victor Wang climbing toward its head, it bared its sharp teeth to bite him—but the moment it opened its jaws, Victor Wang was already farther from its mouth.
It grew frantic, vibrating its swim bladder to emit strange sounds. The surrounding bass became restless—their once-orderly tube formation now collapsing.
Victor Wang drew closer to the maw. The creature's upper half was clad in bone armor, but its lower half was exposed. A single thrust into the jaw or mouth would end everything.
The creature curled its body, trying to slap its own face with its tail. Before it had mutated, it could've done that. Now, though its proportions remained, it had grown too thick. It couldn't reach.
It sensed death—its second time.
The first was after devouring the divine elixir. Its companions had all died. It thought it would too, but after enduring certain pains, it survived.
Yes... how did I survive then?
If I can just remember, maybe I'll survive this time too...
Death spurred something inside it—a potential long useless in this lake. It felt itself evolve, becoming more intelligent. Powers it once had now surfaced as instincts.
It drew a water blade from its tail and slashed at its own bone sword.
Now the tables turned. Victor Wang sensed the water blade's approach and scrambled along the bone blade to evade.
The creature was ecstatic. It had turned the tide again. It pulsed joy through its swim bladder. The bass around it calmed, even cheered. It would become invincible.
"Alright, guess it ends here."
"Erosion Blast!"
Water elemental energy surged around the Consecrated Bass. It curled its tail to aim at its armored head, launching blade after blade of water. A pincer attack—there'd be no escape for the one clinging to its head.
But then—it noticed something.
Its head... was drifting away.
When did I get split in two...?
The cut was clean—right through the brain. The bone sword and one eye floated away with the front half; the rear half held the rest of its brain.
But I had such strong armor... how...?
There were so many techniques I just learned...
A stream of water-blue blood poured from the severed head. Its hue was regal compared to common bass, and lacked the stench of gore.
This time, the thousands of bass circling Victor Wang lost their nerve. Like the trash fish he'd seen a hundred meters deep, they scattered.
Victor Wang strapped the one-meter bone sword to his back. It'd be a great way to ward off foolish fish in this lake.
"Can you eat meat from a Consecrated creature?"
After a thought, he carved off a large chunk of its flesh and strapped that to his back too. It looked pretty tasty, after all.