"Hehe… We've been patient at every turn, yet still someone comes knocking at our door. I advise you not to meddle!" the Pyro Abyss Lector cackled.
"What's the point of talking with them? Just kill them all!" The Hydro Abyss Herald rubbed his left arm, where his blade had manifested.
Zhang San glanced left and right at his companions. We've got twelve people, and the enemy not even thirty. If each of us takes on two, and Hall Master Ye handles a few more, we'll win easily.
Confidence swelling, he strode forward and jabbed a finger at the Hydro Herald. "Hahaha! Easy to say—but do you really have that ability?"
"Hmm?!" The Herald's faceless helm swiveled toward Zhang San as if glaring.
"What are you staring at? I'm not afraid of you!"
At the center, the Cryo Abyss Herald gave an order: "Regardless, this place is already exposed. The plan must advance ahead of schedule. You buy us time—I'll conduct the ritual."
"Then I'll toy with these humans for a while."
"Hmph!" The Hydro Herald manifested a second weapon from his right arm and charged straight at Zhang San.
Zhang San yelped, scrambled backward into the ranks, and darted panicked glances around for help.
"What element are you… where's your Vision?"
"I've got white hair—obviously Geo." From his pocket, Zhang San fumbled out a topaz Vision.
"Why keep it hidden like that… I'll take the Hydro Herald. Xingqiu, Tang Guo—together handle the Pyro Lector. Everyone else, with your combat experience, find your best counter matchups. The rest of the Abyss Mages are yours."
With the plan set, Ye Caizhen raised her frost-edged sword and intercepted the Hydro Herald's strike.
The North Wing clashed with the twenty Abyss Mages. The mountaintop blazed with chaotic lights, elements colliding into a swirl of color.
Against tightly packed shielded foes, Anemo was especially effective. So, Victor Wang held back from engaging the Heralds—he would instead diffuse and clear the Mages.
He began charging an Erosion Blast, ninety blades of wind circling into a three-meter vortex with suction rivaling Venti's Wind Grand Ode, aimed for the heart of the Abyss Mage cluster.
"Earth, tremble!"
A shockwave rippled across the ground, knocking allies and enemies alike off balance. Victor Wang's carefully formed vortex shattered.
"Zhang San! What are you doing?!"
"I was… uh, supporting from the rear?"
"Supporting? Look closely! Abyss Mages hover above the ground—your quake only hit us!" the fat man snapped.
Even Zhang San's close acquaintance eyed him with exasperation.
"Uh… I-I got it! Watch me—'Peaks, Rise as One!'"
He stomped, summoning tall stone walls that split the Mages apart—only to shield them from further attacks.
"… …"
Ignoring the disruption, Victor Wang pinpointed three Mages of Hydro, Pyro, and Cryo clustered together. He cast a smaller vortex, intending for elemental diffusion to annihilate all three no matter which it touched first.
But before it landed, Zhang San—berated by allies for messing things up—dismissed his stone walls. The Mages dodged apart, and the vortex only caught two.
"Everyone! I've still got Geo Spikes for support—this time, no mistakes!"
He clenched his teeth and conjured a spear of rock beneath a Mage. It jabbed upward, struck the shield, recoiled, charged again, jabbed again—
"Wahaha!" The Hydro Mage stared down at its still-intact bubble and burst into mocking laughter.
His companions all shook their heads and turned back to face their countered enemies.
Meanwhile, in the rear, the Cryo Herald who had held back shook his head at the battle's chaos, then turned toward the array's core. "Begin."
Three Hydro Mages who hadn't joined the fight stepped into formation around the array's heart, dancing intricate steps and waving staves in rhythm. Violet runes shimmered into the air.
Far away in Guyun's seas, piles of Noctilucous Jade began glowing, their power drawn toward the iron-brown pillar. Runes lit up as a calm ripple spread across the mountaintop, coating it in a shimmering aquamarine veil.
"Osial, lend us your severed remains!"
This array was indeed a teleportation gate. It carried no direct harm, but built so close to the Overlord of the Vortex's seal, it could forcibly wrench fragments of the demon from within.
The Abyss Order's goal was Osial—specifically, the shattered remnants of its body. According to the Abyss Prince's plan, they should have waited for the moonless night when the seal would be weakest. But now, their hand was forced.
The Cryo Herald drove his blade into his own chest, drawing out not blood but liquefied elemental essence. It streamed into the glowing array, feeding its power.
The aquamarine veil raced up the massive stone spear—the "rock lance" once cast down by the Geo Archon—until the whole peak blazed with light.
With a roar, the air above tore open. Gelatinous, crystalline matter poured from the rift, carrying that familiar, suffocating pressure.
Half a severed head of Osial had emerged.
Even detached, it bellowed in rage: "Filthy worms! Once I am free, I shall slaughter you for ten thousand years!"
The Cryo Herald scoffed. "Half a severed head. Weren't you planning to molt and be reborn anyway? Why so petty?"
"RAAAAHHHH!!!"
Fury poured from the head, but cut off from its body and sealed, its consciousness waned. Its leaking energy began dissipating into the air.
Quickly, the Cryo Herald stabbed his blade into it, freezing the colossal remnant into stillness.
"Not much, but enough for the ritual… Hmm?!"
He turned in shock. Ye Caizhen had already slain the Hydro Herald. Walking across midair ice, she swung her sword with full strength at the massive remnant.
"Stop her!"
The three Hydro Mages freed from their ritual shimmered forward to intercept—but a gust of wind swept over them. Victor Wang's Anemo power, amplified by his Portable Elemental Particle Generator, froze them solid.
"!"
The Cryo Herald was still occupied with freezing the remnant. He could only watch as Ye Caizhen's crescent-shaped slash cleaved Osial's head in half. Energy poured from the wound.
Zhang San puffed up his chest. "See? Didn't I say—you can't beat us!"
"… …"
The battle turned sharply. With half their Mages down, the Abyss Order's collapse accelerated. The Hydro Abyss Herald was gone. The Pyro Lector was driven into elementalization, Xingqiu and Tang Guo pressing the attack to finish him off.
"Cover our retreat!"
At the Cryo Abyss Herald's command, the surviving Mages closed ranks into a barrier while the Pyro Abyss Lector stumbled gratefully inside.
The array's core flared again, opening a vast portal of starlight. The Cryo Abyss Herald shoved the frozen remnant inside, then longed for the other half—
Only for a sudden spike of stone to erupt beneath it, toppling it off the mountain and into the sea.
"Zhang San! You finally did something useful!"
"Eh?" Zhang San scratched his head. It hadn't been him—but among the twelve, he was the only Geo wielder. Wisely, he neither confirmed nor denied. "Well, there's still the other half! We'd better chase it down!"
"Heh. Do you dare follow?" the Cryo Abyss Herald growled, then vanished with the Pyro Abyss Lector into the portal.
The gate shrank as the Abyss Mages fell one by one.
"Our mission's only half-done. Those who don't want to risk it, stay here and hold position." With those words, Ye Caizhen leapt into the portal.
Victor Wang and Xingqiu locked eyes, then followed. Tang Guo, the mature woman, and the fat man joined as well.
The rest wavered too long—the portal winked shut.
"Behold my Tianheng Mountainfall!"
A vast mass of Geo power descended from above, crushing the array's core into rubble.
"What are you doing?!" the uncle roared at Zhang San.
"Our primary target was the core. Find it, destroy it, and the mission's complete. Those were Hall Master Ye's words, weren't they? I just wondered why no one else was acting."
"Idiot! If we'd left the core intact, we could've used it to bring them back!" the twin sisters' younger sibling snapped.
"…Was… was that so?" Zhang San shrugged innocently.
"Damn brat, you're infuriating!"
"Forget it. Once that half of Osial's body at sea dissipates, let's just all go home. Hopefully Hall Master Ye and the others weren't teleported too far…"