"Ah? This..." Acting Grand Master Jean had originally only wanted to come over and say hello, but she hadn't expected Jun Bai to open his mouth by ordering all the knights to withdraw back into the city.
Jean suddenly recalled a rumor about this Marshal, and an idea appeared in her heart. She opened her mouth and asked:
"May I ask, Marshal, is this order of yours meant to help Mondstadt resolve the crisis before us?"
Jun Bai nodded. "A monster army of this scale even with the strength of the Knights of Favonius would still require some losses to get through."
"Now that I am here as external reinforcement, let's avoid those losses as much as possible."
Jean took a deep breath and asked, "What does the Marshal mean?"
"The monsters below, I alone am enough." Jun Bai said with a calm expression.
In an instant, Jun Bai felt several gazes focused on him.
Jean's eyes were filled with shock mixed with a trace of "as expected." Kaeya's eyes showed doubt with a hint of deep inquiry. Meanwhile, Eula, who was secretly watching from the shadows, was filled with pure disbelief.
Indeed, facing a monster army large enough to besiege a city alone sounded like pure fantasy.
Unfortunately, Jun Bai was not human—he was a God, a being born at the pinnacle of Teyvat.
[Wake up. You still don't have Archon-level combat power.]
"If you don't speak, no one will think you don't exist." Jun Bai responded in his heart, then unilaterally blocked the system.
...
Jean ultimately decided to trust Jun Bai. She believed that the Millelith Marshal who had once fought side by side with Grand Master Varka must have his reasons for doing this.
The knights who had originally been guarding the city gate, preparing to meet the monsters head-on, thus returned to Mondstadt City in a state of complete confusion.
As all the knights returned, the city gate slowly closed.
Jun Bai jumped down from the city wall, using his flaming wings to buffer the fall, and landed steadily on the bridge. The aura of an god rose along with the ignition of raging flames.
His posture was upright, his pupils transformed into crosshairs, crossing countless monsters and precisely locking onto the Hydro Abyss Mage commanding the army.
"Abyss..." Jun Bai stepped closer to the monsters one step at a time.
"Living beings that slumber in the leylines are not puppets for you to toy with."
"What exactly do you take life for!"
Cold killing intent surged in Jun Bai's eyes. The white-tasseled spear appeared in his hand. The ignited flames, fueled by the god's fury, converged into a sky-reaching crimson phoenix. Blazing Pyro energy surged in from all directions.
His flaming wings fully unfurled. The five-meter-long flaming wings became even hotter and brighter as Pyro energy poured in.
The white-tasseled spear was coated with a layer of Pyro, transforming into a two-meter-long dark-red Fangtian Huaji.
"In the name of the Nirvana God, Phemix, I send you all back to your long slumber."
"And I hereby pronounce the death sentence for the Abyss Mage's desecration of life execute it immediately!"
The phoenix's eyes had already locked onto the sinners. The god's wrathful flames would burn away all disrespect toward life.
At this moment, the monster army that had long been ready to strike launched a full-scale assault under the command of the Hydro Abyss Mage.
The tide of monsters surged toward the sole target on the bridge. The rarely seen Hilichurl Berserkers of the past were now merely the most ordinary members of this tide. The Hilichurls that once troubled adventurers were nothing more than pawns.
The Rock Shieldwall Mitachurl roared in coordination, its power making the earth tremble. The Frostarm Lawachurl erupted with extreme cold, frost spreading toward Mondstadt City.
"Even if you are a god, with your power not yet restored, you cannot possibly withstand such an offensive!"
The Hydro Abyss Mage commanding from behind the monster army stared fixedly at the lone figure standing before Mondstadt City, as if he could already see Jun Bai being blasted into ashes by elemental attacks.
However, the trembling earth could not shake the god's body, and the spreading frost melted away under the majesty of the crimson phoenix.
"There will always be living beings from the mortal world who can face an god's wrathful flames head-on."
Jun Bai met the Hydro Abyss Mage's gaze across countless monsters, the corner of his mouth hooking into a mocking smile.
"But that will never be you."
The Fangtian Huaji drew a crescent arc. The white-tasseled spear within it shattered inch by inch. A blazing blade slashed out, sweeping toward the tidal wave of monsters.
Screech——
The crimson phoenix cried toward the sky, its wings flapping as it too launched an attack toward the monster army.
The blazing blade cleared the path, and the crimson phoenix reaped lives.
Countless monsters turned to ashes, their souls returning to the leylines to continue their long slumber.
Even the overlords among the monsters the Rock Shieldwall Mitachurl and Frostarm Lawachurl only lasted a few seconds under this strike before turning to ashes.
In the end, of the countless monsters, only the Hydro Abyss Mage was left to face this wrathful strike from the god.
The Hydro shield rapidly evaporated under the Pyro attack. The blazing blade sliced through the shield, and the crimson phoenix descended. For the first time in his life, the Hydro Abyss Mage came into close contact with Pyro.
"No——"
This is impossible. You cannot possibly still have such power. The words the Hydro Abyss Mage never got to say would never have the chance to be spoken.
His body turned to ashes, his soul following the rest of the monsters into long slumber.
The flaming wings retracted, the Fangtian Huaji faded into illusion, and the fragments of the white-tasseled spear scattered from Jun Bai's hand and dispersed with the wind. Jun Bai calmly turned around and walked into Mondstadt City under the strange gazes of the crowd on the city wall.
With this, the crisis of the monster siege came to an end after Jun Bai's domineering intervention.
——Reality
"A mere Stormterror dares to show off in front of an expert. Taken down." Silver Wolf controlled Diluc to take away the last bit of Stormterror's health and successfully entered the cutscene.
[This Stormterror's difficulty seems a bit lower than during the closed beta.]
[Could it be because our current levels are lower than during the closed beta? The World Level is only 1, so Stormterror's strength was scaled down accordingly.]
[It really does seem like that. During the closed beta, the main story had level requirements, so everyone completed the Archon Quests for the Three Houses first. By the time they fought Stormterror, everyone's Adventure Rank was over 20.]
[Damn, I knew something felt missing. So the Three Archon Quests were removed.]
"They were probably moved to after the main story. After this segment, the main story should be almost over." Silver Wolf said. Then she used the teleport function to return to Mondstadt City.
As soon as she arrived, she saw Amber cleaning up the battlefield.
Lumine walked over. Paimon took the initiative to ask, "Amber, what are you doing?"
Amber turned around, saw that it was Lumine and Paimon, and immediately relaxed. She smiled and said, "It's you two. Not long ago, a large number of monsters appeared around Mondstadt City. To protect Mondstadt, the Knights of Favonius set up many defensive structures."
"Now that the matter has come to an end, Acting Grand Master Jean asked me to clean up the site and recover the undamaged defensive structures."
"Ah? A large number of monsters!" Paimon exclaimed in shock. She had thought Jun Bai was being overly sensitive, but it turned out he had been right. "Were there any casualties? Was it serious?"
"Don't worry, Paimon. The Knights of Favonius had no casualties, and Mondstadt City is safe and sound." Amber reassured them, then recounted the battle to Lumine and Paimon.
The scene entered a flashback perspective.