Genshin Impact: Back From Teyvat - The Archon Follows Me Home!

[Skill Activated]

[Sweep: Condense the power of the rock onto your weapon, strike surrounding enemies, and execute a sweeping blow that deals massive Geo damage.]

The moment the giant sword of light came crashing down, the Primordial Geovishap let out a shrill, agonized wail.

Lu Chen's Debate Club left a deep, terrifying gash on its head, blood splattering through the air.

But even such a full-power blow wasn't enough to kill it.

The giant creature's breathing turned frantic as it shrank back, too afraid to launch another attack.

Then, it turned and bolted, retreating in a panic.

"Don't run!" Lu Chen landed on the ground, only to find that the big guy was surprisingly fast—even crawling on its belly as it fled.

It was trying to burrow underground.

"Where do you think you're going!" Lu Chen chased after it, Debate Club in hand.

While fleeing, the Primordial Geovishap dug furiously and vanished underground at lightning speed.

Lu Chen was baffled by how fast it escaped.

This was trouble. A burrowed Geovishap was the hardest form to deal with.

Normally, only long-range attacks would force it underground. This time, Lu Chen had beaten it so badly it chose to burrow on its own.

The grand underground palace went silent for a long time. Then, Lu Chen heard faint rustling from deep below.

Zhongli and Hu Tao walked over.

"Lu Chen, you might be disfigured now, but you're way stronger than before!"

Hu Tao exclaimed, amazed.

Lu Chen thought, This is only about twenty percent of my full strength... But since Hu Tao had only seen him after he lost his memory, he didn't bother explaining.

Though—what's with the "disfigured" label?

Hu Tao started filling in the blanks on her own.

"I remember hearing that getting stronger makes you go bald. But you? You got stronger and got ugly."

"I really wonder what you went through in Inazuma... Could you have been cursed by demons? I heard there are all kinds of evil monsters lurking there..."

Zhongli's golden eyes carried a faint smile.

"Little friend Lu Chen's appearance wasn't ruined. He altered it temporarily to blend in with the tomb raiders."

"Ahhh—" Hu Tao clapped her hands in sudden realization. "So that's it! I thought you were stuck with that face forever."

"As if..." Lu Chen tugged at the wrinkles on his face with disgust. If I really looked like this, how could I face Ei again...?

Sure, Ei wouldn't care. But he absolutely would.

...

As they chatted, the sounds underground grew louder.

Lu Chen could sense the Primordial Geovishap closing in.

Then—

The ground split open behind them, and the monster burst out once more.

As it emerged, shards of ice-element-infused stone sprayed in all directions. But under the protection of their shields, none of them bothered dodging.

"It's finally back!" Hu Tao was even more hyped than Lu Chen.

Beside her, the ghost Floaty reappeared. Hu Tao grabbed the poor thing and spun around toward the beast.

"Butterfly Fire! Send you to the afterlife!"

With that shout, flames erupted in the air as her calming technique launched the ghost toward the Geovishap.

Lu Chen could almost see the creature's soul being knocked loose.

While facing the barrage of icy stones, Lu Chen activated Anemo, and in a flash, he sent Debate Club straight to the monster's head.

"A cleanup swing to the skull."

Under their joint assault, the already severely wounded Geovishap let out a pitiful howl. Its enormous body began to sway.

Still not dead? Its HP bar was ridiculous.

But Lu Chen wasn't about to give it another chance to burrow.

With his boosted stats, he gripped the heavy Debate Club and unleashed a full set of ancient Inazuman sword techniques onto its head.

If one looked closely, Lu Chen's moves were identical to those of Raiden Ei.

They had trained together since childhood.

Everything Ei learned, Lu Chen had absorbed over time.

His moves were just... less elegant.

His oversized, goofy-looking club didn't help either.

But it got the job done.

Fighting a tanky boss like this, he didn't expect to pierce a vital point in one strike.

Instead, with relentless blows, he drove the Geovishap into a corner.

Its HP finally dropped to zero, and it collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

[Investigation Quest: Explore and resolve the Ley Line anomaly northwest of Mount Shoujun within 5 hours.]

[Quest Complete]

The monster's body gradually disintegrated.

In its place, a brilliant and ornate treasure chest appeared on the rugged ground.

Lu Chen didn't have time to check the loot. He rushed over and dumped everything into the system storage.

Because with the boss defeated, the deep underground Domain had started to collapse.

In his view, the massive palace was crumbling everywhere.

Dust and boulders rained down.

Zhongli instantly expanded the Jade Shield's protective range, encasing all three of them in the center.

The world trembled violently.

"We need to get out, now!" Lu Chen shouted. "Or we're getting buried alive!"

They sprinted toward the exit.

...

In Lu Chen's eyes, the main tomb chamber's image overlapped with the Liyue-style underground palace.

As the Domain closed, the real-world tomb also began shaking violently.

"So thrilling!" Hu Tao didn't look worried at all.

As the three escaped the chamber, Hu Tao waved back into the shadows.

"Bye-bye, Floaty! You little coward~"

The ghost wore a resentful expression—and even looked scared...

Lu Chen glanced at Hu Tao running beside him.

No wonder even ghosts fear her...

...

The tremors worsened, until they could barely stand in the passage.

Dust and rubble gradually swallowed everything.

With a deafening rumble, the world fell into silence.

At the tomb's entrance, Ei stood in a daze, staring at the collapsed earth.

Two captured tomb raiders, bound in rope, cowered before the group.

When they were caught, Ei had urgently asked, "What about the people inside?"

The two of them said in unison,

"Please don't take us back... Everyone in there must be dead."

The first part was ignored.

But the second—

Made Ei freeze, her soul seemingly leaving her body.

Everyone had waited so long.

But the person they were hoping for never came out.

Venti opened his mouth, hesitated, then looked at Ei.

"Lu Chen should be fine… Morax is with him..."

Yae Miko also gazed at the collapsed tomb entrance.

Her face remained calm, but her eyes betrayed deep concern.

She walked over, gently held Ei's cold hand, and forced a smile.

"Don't worry, Ei. Lu Chen always finds a way out.

That reckless fool will be stirring up trouble in this world for a long time. He's not going anywhere..."

But Ei didn't hear her.

She stood at the edge of the collapse, her expression shifting from emptiness...

to madness.

Then she began digging with "Musou Isshin," tearing at the ground with desperation.

Lu Chen was mortal.

No ordinary person could survive a collapse like that.

That was the only thought left in her mind.

She couldn't imagine a world without him.

Dust flew everywhere. Her pristine sleeves turned gray.

The tomb's entrance was dug open, caved in, then dug open again...

No one could stop her.

Like a madwoman, she hacked away at the tomb.

The skies above darkened, and thunder rolled through the mountains.

The two tomb raiders were scared stiff.

Qiqi walked up and stood next to Venti, watching Ei with confusion.

"What's wrong with her?"

Venti sighed.

"It's because she cares."

"Will Lu Chen be alright?"

Venti nodded slowly.

"In my mind, there's no way that guy would die in a place this ordinary."

His sigh drifted away in the mountain wind.

The one in danger was never Lu Chen...

It was someone else entirely.