Eula let go of my hand more sharply than she had taken it.
"The fact that you enjoyed that... I'll have my vengeance for that too." With a "Hmph," she turned her back on me.
Turning your back on me is really only making things worse... Ahem.
I saw Lumine examining our surroundings. I had been too distracted by Eula to pay attention, so I finally started looking around as well.
"Something is wrong with this place," Lumine said.
Dark stone walls. An open corridor. Ancient pillars. The chamber we stood in led into that corridor, where pale blue flames burned along the walls. I couldn't see what lay at the far end.
"Ridge Watch," Eula said.
Wait. I remembered that name. It was one of the domains in Genshin.
She pulled out her map and looked at Lumine.
"But Ridge Watch isn't here."
Looking at her probably wasn't going to help you much. Then again, from the outside, I probably looked like I didn't know anything about anything either. Fair enough.
Instead of answering Eula, Lumine swung her sword at the wall. The cracks she left behind slowly repaired themselves. A dim red glow seeped from the stone as it regenerated.
"This probably isn't a real domain," Lumine murmured.
"There was a domain to the west on the way to Dragonspine. It looked just like this. But as you said, this place only resembles one. I don't think it's genuine."
The two of them were exchanging ideas while completely leaving me out of it. I didn't like that.
"Then there's a good chance we've walked straight into a trap. We need to stay aler—"
A deafening noise erupted above us.
I turned and saw the entrance sealing shut. Until it closed, I could see the sky through the hole we had jumped into, as though it had never been dark or deep at all.
"Damn it," I heard Eula say.
"Looks like we'll have to follow the corridor," I said.
Honestly, I found that exciting. I could feel how much I liked it. New things, probably new dangers, and the thought that I might come away from this with something new made me feel intensely alive.
Eula gave me a sharp look. "Don't do anything rash, and follow my orders."
I smiled and nodded. Then we started down the corridor. With the passage behind us sealed, it had grown even darker. I took a torch from my dimensional ring and lit it with a match.
Eula glanced back at me as she walked ahead. She looked ready to scold me again, but since we genuinely needed the light, she said nothing.
Mhm.
Lumine turned to me a moment later.
"You're a little too relaxed, Kane. Why?"
"This might sound strange, but I think I enjoy things like this."
"Hmm..."
"Give me patience," I heard Eula mutter.
So she had been listening to us. Paimon flew beside Lumine, careful not to stray too far from her in the darkness.
As we continued through the corridor, my heartbeat began to feel increasingly irregular. The place was becoming more unsettling by the second.
"Stay alert."
Eula moved one hand toward the hilt of her claymore and stopped. She must have sensed something too.
As I searched our surroundings, a sharp pain suddenly stabbed into my stomach as if i sensed something is wrong.
Then—
"Kuuoooghhhh!"
The walls on both sides of us exploded inward with the creature's roar. Two Geovishaps burst through and attacked.
It happened all at once.
Eula blocked the Geovishap attacking from our left with her claymore. The one on our right focused on me. I threw myself forward at the last instant and slipped past its attack.
The corridor was far too narrow for this fight.
"We can't fight them in here! Run!" Eula shouted.
She really did sound like a captain.
Lumine and I looked at one another. After a slight nod, we both started running deeper into the corridor. There might have been even more Geovishaps ahead, but fighting these two in such a confined space would have been outright suicide.
Eula ran ahead of us, probably because she was faster than either of us. Lumine and I were moving at almost the same speed. What I couldn't understand was how Eula could run that fast while carrying such a heavy sword.
I pulled a Geo bomb from my dimensional ring and threw it behind us. It crystallized instantly and sealed the corridor. The ground shook as the pursuing Geovishap slammed into the barrier at full speed.
Then came the sound of cracking crystal.
Those two or three seconds were all we needed. But this feeling—the rush of running with danger at my back, the wind striking my face, the thin layer of sweat forming on my skin—I loved all of it.
We ran a little farther before emerging into a wide-open chamber. It looked like a warrior's arena.
"They're still behind us," I said.
"Then this is where we fight," Eula replied.
The two Geovishaps came charging down the corridor, demolishing it as they ran. Their bodies barely seemed to fit between the walls. A moment later, they burst into the arena and stood before us.
I lit several torches from my dimensional ring and threw them around the chamber. We needed light. In the panic, we hadn't noticed it before, but now everything was clear.
"They have red crowns," Lumine said.
Yes, I could see them.
That probably wasn't a good sign.
One of the Geovishaps charged at me. It must have decided I was the weakest among us.
"Move!" Eula shouted.
She stepped in front of me and stopped the creature's attack. A mass of stone came hurtling toward us from our blind side. Eula spotted it and shattered it with her claymore.
"They can coordinate their attacks!"
She lunged forward and slashed the Geovishap across its side. The strike wounded it, but the cut didn't look particularly deep. The creature twisted and whipped its tail at her. Eula blocked with her sword, but the impact still sent her flying backward.
The other Geovishap was attacking Lumine. She seemed to be avoiding it with ease.
For a moment, I felt useless.
I hated that feeling.
It was almost as though my vision turned red.
When I saw Eula thrown backward, something inside me snapped.
My legs were already moving.
"Kane, wait!" I heard Eula shout.
I didn't wait.
I didn't want to.
The Geovishap that had attacked me first was turning toward Eula. The sweep of its tail had created some distance between them, so I came at it from the side and drove my fist into the wound Eula had opened with all my strength.
A sound like metal striking stone rang across the arena.
The creature staggered slightly.
My arm went numb all the way to the shoulder.
Was that all?
The Geovishap turned its head toward me. Its eyes flared beneath the red crown, and a moment later its skull slammed into my stomach.
The blow lifted me off my feet. My breath vanished as I flew through the air. My back struck the stone floor so hard that it felt as though I had been driven into it.
"Kane!"
Someone called my name, but I was in no condition to tell whether it had been Eula or Lumine.
The creature charged.
With my good arm, I pulled a Geo bomb from my dimensional ring and threw it in front of me. I had barely managed to force myself upright. The Geovishap rammed its horns into the crystal wall created by the bomb and smashed straight through it.
It kept coming.
Just as its claw was about to strike me, a line of ice flashed between us. Eula's claymore knocked the claw aside. The force of the collision cracked the stone beneath her feet.
"Stop trying to do everything by yourself!"
"But I was trying to help—"
"Right now, you're only making more work for me!"
What hurt wasn't the Geovishap's attack.
It was the fact that she was right.
A shadow passed over us.
"Eula, behind you!" Paimon shouted.
The second Geovishap had abandoned Lumine and was heading straight for us. Eula grabbed me by the collar and hurled me aside before leaping in the other direction. The creature crashed into the spot where we had been standing and fractured the wall.
They had attacked at the same time.
No. It wasn't merely timing.
The moment the wounded one's crown had flashed, the second had changed direction and charged us.
I got to my feet and pulled a healing potion from my dimensional ring. I drank it. Since I had suffered some internal bleeding and muscle damage, the healing took effect almost immediately. The numbness in my arm faded.
"The crowns," I said.
Eula held her claymore in front of her without taking her eyes off the creatures. "What about them?"
"They can communicate with each other. This isn't simple coordination."
Lumine landed beside me. Pale green light moved along the edge of her sword.
"I felt it too," she said. "When one of them sees us, so does the other."
While we spoke, both Geovishaps stopped and raised their heads toward the ceiling.
"Kuooghhhh!"
Their cries were revolting.
Colored crystals began to grow from their backs. The wound on the injured one rapidly closed. I could see violet crystals on one and blue crystals on the other.
"This just became much harder," Eula said.
Both Geovishaps charged us. Their attention was on me again. This time, I ran toward their right side. The blue-crystal Geovishap began spraying water across the chamber, while the violet one sent Electro coursing through every patch of wet ground.
"If we touch that water, we're dead!" I shouted as I ran.
I threw several Geo bombs onto the flooded floor. The water crystallized, creating a new surface for us to move across.
The creatures abandoned me and turned toward Lumine and Eula.
The blue-crystal Geovishap went after Eula. Water poured from its mouth and spread across the stone floor, but instead of retreating, Eula swung her claymore forward. The cold radiating from its blade froze the water in front of her in an instant.
The Geovishap's front legs slipped the moment they touched the ice.
Eula didn't waste the opening. She brought her sword down and carved a deep gash into the creature's shoulder. It roared in pain.
The violet-crystal Geovishap circled Lumine. Every time the crystals along its back flashed, electricity crackled across the water. Lumine used the wind to lift herself into the air, landing somewhere else before the current could reach her.
The two of them were handling the creatures perfectly well without me.
Once again, I was only watching.
That worthless feeling rose inside my chest.
I couldn't match them in a fair fight.
Fine, then.
I would be the one who fought dirtiest.
I pulled out the potions that increased my physical strength and swallowed several at once. My heart immediately began hammering against my ribs.
I studied the crowns. An idea came to me.
I drew a throwing knife and hurled it at the blue-crystal Geovishap's crown. The blade bounced away on impact.
I had learned what I needed to know.
I sprinted toward the creature at full speed.
"What are you doing now, Kane!?" Eula shouted when she saw me enter her field of vision while she was fighting the blue-crystal Geovishap.
"Please, trust me. Keep it busy for a little longer!"
I kept running. The moment the Geovishap turned its back to me, I leaped onto it. I locked my legs around its torso and began hammering the crown on its head with all my strength.
Every blow sent an ear-splitting metallic clang through the arena. The creature stumbled and tried to throw me off while still fighting Eula in front of it.
I kept striking the crown.
Thin cracks began to appear across its surface.
"Kane, watch out! It's coming from behind!"
That was Lumine.
I had known the other Geovishap would come to save its companion.
I jumped off and landed beside Eula.
The two creatures slammed into each other.
"Hit the crowns!" I shouted.
Eula and Lumine both nodded. They swung their swords at the crowns of the disoriented Geovishaps, but the creatures realized the danger and raised their claws to protect their crown.
I pulled several Pyro bombs from my dimensional ring and turned toward the violet-crystal Geovishap. I hurled the bombs at its back. The Pyro reacted violently with the Electro surrounding it, erupting in a series of destructive blasts.
The creature was clearly in agony.
It drew back its tail and spun, throwing even the other Geovishap away. Then it roared and charged straight at me.
The pain it felt was probably overwhelming their coordination.
I threw a Geo bomb beneath my feet and stepped onto the crystal that erupted from the ground. As the Geovishap passed below, I launched myself onto its back.
I leaned over its crown, gripped it, and pulled with all my strength.
The creature let out an agonized scream. It sounded as if I were tearing out its brain.
As I kept pulling, crimson roots emerged from around the crown and burrowed deeper into the creature's skull. The crown became even harder to remove. The more I pulled, the more desperately the Geovishap clawed at its own head, trying to throw me off.
I wanted to savor the pain it was in, but I was too furious.
With one final effort, I tore the crown free and hurled it away. My arms felt completely numb.
The creature collapsed as though it had lost consciousness.
My anger didn't fade.
I began driving my fists into its head with all my strength. The potions were probably why I couldn't feel the pain in my hands.
I didn't care.
I kept hitting it.
The sound of metal striking stone was loud enough to deafen me.
The creature's head was no longer moving.
I struck it again.
A piece of my metal gauntlet cracked and fell to the ground. I felt something break inside my fingers, but there was no pain.
The Geovishap was already dead.
I knew that.
My hands knew it too.
I was certain it was dead, but my fists rose once more.
I supposed I wanted more.
"That's enough."
Someone caught my arm.
I turned and saw Eula holding me back. The moment I saw her, I calmed down.
"W-What happened?"
Behind Eula and Lumine, I could see the other Geovishap's corpse. The masses of ice and deep cuts covering its body made it obvious that the danger had passed.
Eula pulled me to my feet.
"...I think I lost control. Sorry."
She let out a breath. "How many potions did you drink?"
"I don't know. Maybe three."
Eula looked at my rings. "Give me the rest."
"But I'm fine."
"The creature on the ground realized it was dead before you did, Kane." Her voice never rose, but the words hurt badly enough. "Give me the potions."
"O-Okay."
I took every remaining strength potion from my ring and handed them over.
"Noticing the crowns saved our lives. That doesn't mean I didn't see what you did afterward."
She removed my gauntlets and poured a healing potion over my injured hands.
"And this is how you use a healing potion. You only drink it for internal injuries."
My hands slowly began to mend.
"Understood..."
She finally released my arm.
Lumine was staring at my bloody hands and the Geovishap's crushed corpse. The fact that she said nothing made me uncomfortable.
The body beneath me began to dissolve into a mass of energy. We all stepped back. The second Geovishap's corpse transformed as well, and the two masses flowed together.
They took the shape of a goblet directly in front of me.
It was a white porcelain cup decorated with blue patterns. Pale blue liquid slowly filled it, though I thought I could see faint traces of red moving within.
"What is that?"
My hand was already reaching for the goblet on its own.
It was as though my body wanted it.
Then I felt my hand being stopped once again.
"No."
Eula held me by the wrist.