The Prince of the Abyss (4,000 Words, Please Recommend, Please Vote, Please Follow)

Liyue was the domain of Morax, the God of War. Even the Abyss Order had to keep its tail tucked between its legs on this land.

But Liyue had been the fiercest battlefield of the Demon God War. The number of Demon Gods who had died or been sealed here was more than ten, even twenty times that of other regions.

Although a thousand years of effort by Morax and the many adepti under his command had eliminated any obvious threat from Remnants of the Demon God on the surface, Liyue's underground was filled with Remnants of the Demon God and the resentment they had left behind at death.

Thus, even knowing they stood no chance against Morax, the Abyss Order had still set up the inverted Statue of the Anemo Archon within Liyue's borders. After all, it was close enough to Mondstadt, and the underground contained every kind of energy they could need.

Then, the base that the Abyss Order had painstakingly excavated right under Morax's nose was occupied by a group of outsiders from who knew where.

The Hydro Abyss Herald in charge of the place was absolutely bursting with curses.

It had merely gone out to capture some Hilichurls as laborers to continue expanding the ruins. How had the base been cleared out by the time it returned, with a whole bunch of clearly coordinated monsters appearing inside?

At first, the Hydro Abyss Herald had not even considered the Fragmentum monsters to be monsters. The first one it encountered was an Imaginary Weaveleaf. In appearance, it bore some resemblance to an Abyss Herald. Seeing the golden creature covered in flowing light, the Hydro Abyss Herald had assumed it was a newly born companion. Not only did it refrain from attacking immediately, it even greeted it from afar.

Then came its tragedy. The Imaginary Weaveleaf was a ranged Fragmentum monster and one of the few beings capable of directly wielding Imaginary Number Energy.

The Hydro Abyss Herald in charge of the base watched as the golden "Abyss Herald" across from it gave a friendly wave. Then it was sent flying straight backward, smashing into the rock wall behind it.

Even an idiot would have realized it was under attack by then. Just as the Hydro Abyss Herald tried to get up and retaliate, four axe-wielding warriors in red and blue emerged from all around it and hacked at it.

From the elemental power clinging to the faces of their axes alone, the Hydro Abyss Herald knew that if its unprotected body took a solid hit, it would be chopped into at least five pieces.

It prepared to activate Abyssal teleportation and flee. Yet nothing happened. To its despair, the Hydro Abyss Herald discovered that its most powerful survival method—Abyssal teleportation—had failed.

Fortunately, it raised its shield in time. But reality did not work like some game, where a shield remained invincible until elemental reactions fully depleted it. This was merely a relatively thick Hydro Element shield.

The shield then went through a series of reactions—Freeze, Melt, Vaporize, and more. It shattered after only a few seconds, though at least it bought the Hydro Abyss Herald enough time to stand up.

By then, the Hydro Abyss Herald had realized something. These red, Pyro-wielding and blue, Cryo-wielding axe warriors were not living beings at all. They were more like humanoid elemental creatures. That golden one in the distance was probably much the same, most likely a mutated Geo Element creature. That strange shockwave which had attacked it earlier had been the manipulation of gravity.

In any case, the Hydro Abyss Herald had already pieced together an explanation. The power of the Abyss and the local Remnants of the Demon God had undergone some unknown mutation, causing the elemental creatures that had always been highly active in the area to evolve.

The lingering dead souls and resentful thoughts within the earth had also joined that mutation. That was why these elemental creatures were all humanoid and had learned certain human techniques. Yet they had not changed their habit of blindly attacking intruders in their territory. Thus, all the Abyss Mages and Hilichurls in the base had been wiped out by these terrifying elemental creatures.

With that in mind, the Hydro Abyss Herald did not report directly to its superiors after escaping. After all, if it reported that a secret base they had prepared for so long had been occupied by a pack of elemental creatures and requested reinforcements, it would become a laughingstock.

So the Hydro Abyss Herald began gathering Abyss Mages and controlling Hilichurls in preparation to retake the base. There were countless Hilichurl tribes along the stretch from Dihua Marsh to Jueyun Karst, Qingyun Peak, and Mt. Aocang. It could capture as many as it wanted.

Then, under the Hydro Abyss Herald's control, these Hilichurls were transported into the ruins from outside the Stellaron's area of influence and began attacking the innermost room, where Wang Lei was located.

Meanwhile, the system behind Wang Lei was absorbing Abyssal energy and converting it into Energy Points, while he had nothing to do in this miserable place. So rather than fight personally, he began practicing control over the movements of the Fragmentum monsters and turned it into a tower defense game.

In terms of numbers, Fragmentum monsters were far inferior to the enormous horde of Hilichurls. But in terms of quality, they were considerably stronger.

Although Wang Lei could currently summon only a little over a hundred Fragmentum monsters at most, and could neither control nor summon advanced Fragmentum monsters such as those from the Outer Universe series, Guardian Shadow, Devourer Shadow, the Stalker series, and Storm Bringer, these ordinary Fragmentum monsters were still more than capable of fighting Hilichurls. Even if a Mitachurl showed up, one-on-one they might lose, but two or three working together could kill it.

Furthermore, the underground ruins had narrow terrain, limiting how many troops either side could deploy in a single area. Whenever one Fragmentum monster died, Wang Lei could summon another. So this number was enough for defense.

Because he had summoned too many, Wang Lei could no longer precisely command a specific Fragmentum monster to attack a specific target. However, he could still direct them toward general locations to meet the enemy.

That was why Wang Lei called it a tower defense game. The Fragmentum monsters were his defensive towers. Oushi Masks and Imaginary Weaveleafs could be placed on elevated ground for ranged attacks.

The ground was mainly defended by Everwinter Shadewalkers and Fireblaze Shadewalkers blocking the paths. Frost Crystals, Flame Blooms, Thunderspawn, and Gale Creations formed aerial assault forces that attacked the ranged positions made up of Hilichurl archers, shamans, and Abyss Mages.

And so, the two sides began slaughtering one another within the underground ruins. Reinforcements continuously arrived for both sides, making it seem as though neither could ever be exhausted.

However, Hilichurls needed sleep. Even the Abyss Heralds apparently had not cast aside that instinct. So Wang Lei simply synchronized his schedule with theirs. When they slept, he slept. The Fragmentum creatures never tired, and they already had an instinct to patrol in place, so he was not afraid of the Abyss Heralds attempting a sneak attack.

This continued for roughly three days. The Abyssal energy from the inverted Statue of the Anemo Archon behind Wang Lei showed no sign of weakening at the source, but the Abyssal power overflowing from it had indeed lessened because the system had absorbed it all. With no replenishment, the Abyssal power in the room gradually thinned over time.

That result finally made the Hydro Abyss Herald outside unable to sit still. Less and less Abyssal power was coming from the deepest room. The Hydro Abyss Herald now had reason to suspect that these "elemental creatures" were exploiting and damaging the absolute core of their plan—the inverted Statue of the Anemo Archon.

Seeing that Hilichurls alone could not break in, it had no choice but to report the matter.

As it turned out, when the upper ranks of the Abyss Order heard that the enemy was a group of elemental creatures, they did not take it too seriously. After all, elemental creatures were not a mainstream threat in Teyvat.

There were powerful monsters such as Oceanids and the Hypostasis Series, but only Oceanids imitated humans. As for the others, even Fontaine's phantasms merely had roughly human-shaped forms.

Yet according to the report, the monsters in the base primarily wielded Pyro, Cryo, and "Geo" Elements. They had little to do with Oceanids.

So they directly dispatched a Pyro Abyss Herald and a Cryo Abyss Herald as reinforcements. The three great Heralds joined forces and led a large number of Hilichurls, intending to flatten the Fragmentum monsters in one sweep.

In fact, they nearly succeeded. The three of them together were far more than one plus one plus one equaling three. Under the destructive power of elemental reactions, the defenses of the Everwinter Shadewalkers and Fireblaze Shadewalkers were rapidly breached. Wang Lei in the final room was finally forced to act.

During those three days of playing tower defense, Wang Lei had not merely been playing around. As the system's Energy Points surpassed one hundred thousand again, he directly exchanged for God's Eyes of all six other elements.

Watching the Hilichurls use elemental reactions had given Wang Lei an idea. Aside from making his mind more flexible and process information faster, the primary effect of the Path of Erudition was multitasking. He could completely control different God's Eyes simultaneously and trigger different elemental reactions.

Wang Lei was bored anyway, so he acted on the idea. The experiments proved that he was right. He could now focus on three tasks at once. In other words, he could directly control two God's Eyes to wield elemental power and trigger reactions, while also controlling Aether Encoding to manipulate the state and form of the elemental power.

Elements that had originally required his direct control could now be freely manipulated by Wang Lei in an instant through Aether Encoding. Of course, the power of those elements naturally depended on his processing capacity. The greater his processing power, the stronger the attack.

So after the three Heralds joined forces to attack, Wang Lei decisively used them as White Mice. He opened a gap, allowing Electro and Pyro Elements to merge. Compressed and controlled through Aether Encoding, the Overloaded energy transformed directly into a blazing laser that shot through the gap in the passageway, then dropped straight onto the heads of the three Abyss Heralds.

Before the three Abyss Heralds could react, the massive energy exploded directly on them. Their position erupted as though it had been hit by a tactical missile, blasting all three Abyss Heralds into the wall.

Fortunately, as manipulators of Abyssal power, the Abyss Heralds were fairly tough. They were not killed outright, though they still suffered serious injuries.

Seeing that the experiment worked, Wang Lei decisively continued. The next wave combined Hydro and Electro. A thunderstorm began falling inside the passageway where the Abyss Heralds were attacking—a literal thunderstorm. Every raindrop contained a large amount of Electro Element, and every drop that hit the ground or a Hilichurl triggered Electro-Charged. However large an area the rain covered was however large the Electro-Charged area became.

Its power was clearly inferior to Overloaded, though it was decent for clearing fodder. But if he was clearing fodder anyway, why use such a wasteful composite elemental attack? Wouldn't it be better to just grab a gun and mow them down? As expected, Electro-Charged was trash, only suitable as a transitional option for beginners. He could save this move for showing off later.

Afterward, Wang Lei tested many different elemental reactions and discovered that in his composite elemental combat style, Overloaded was still the most powerful. Next came Quicken and Dendro Cores. But while Quicken and Dendro Cores worked quite well in Teyvat, would such things still exist in the Super God World? Wang Lei had his doubts.

The rules of each world differed. Wang Lei had tested it long ago: in the Super God Universe, using Pyro Element on something soaked in water provided no bonus at all. Instead, it reduced the damage. Dendro energy in the Super God Universe would most likely become life energy, and adding Electro would more likely produce effects akin to excitement or berserk fury. In any case, it would not increase damage.

Fire and lightning would explode when they collided in the Super God World as well. So Wang Lei decided to specialize in fire and lightning first, saving Dendro as a backup. He could bring out the other elements when needed. For example, ice could be used to chill things, while wind and water together could humidify the air. Geo... well, in the Super God World, it could only be the neglected element. At most, it could probably add some defense and form a shield. Perhaps, with some development, it could even perform the Three Bedrooms, Two Living Rooms Technique.

Wang Lei was happily conducting his elemental reaction experiments, while the Abyss Heralds outside suffered terribly. After Wang Lei activated the second tier of the Stellaron's power in Mondstadt, his own energy intensity had already come infinitely close to that of a divine body. Meanwhile, if the Abyss Heralds' Abyssal power were converted into Dark Energy, they were at most Second Generation Super Soldiers.

Even Wang Lei's experimental attacks were not something the Abyss Heralds could withstand head-on. By the time he finished experimenting, the Fire Abyss Herald was dead, the Cryo Abyss Herald had only its last breath left, and the Hydro Abyss Herald, because water had more reactions while ice had fewer, had merely been seriously injured instead.

Thus, the Hydro Abyss Herald rescued the Cryo Abyss Herald. This time, it even took the Hilichurls away, clearly having been frightened by Wang Lei's beating. It probably understood by now. Those outside were merely minor troops. Deep within, there was a king. A king it could not afford to provoke.

And naturally, a king required another king to deal with him. A day later, the Hydro and Cryo Abyss Heralds, their wounds rapidly healed through Abyssal power, entered the ruins again alongside a blond Traveler. It was none other than Kong, who had become the Abyss Prince.

This time, the Fragmentum monsters could no longer stop them. Kong merely casually swung the longsword in his hand, releasing sword energy filled with Abyssal power, and the Fragmentum monsters were sliced apart like butter.

Watching from the deepest part of the ruins, Wang Lei's eye twitched. In Aether Encoding, Kong was a completely unanalyzable existence. Even Morgana, with her Fourth Generation God Body, and Ei and Venti, who were gods, no longer showed up as nothing but question marks in Wang Lei's current Aether Encoding interface. At the very least, their energy intensity could still be estimated.

But Kong was nothing but question marks in Aether Encoding. It could only be said that Kong, having recovered part of the Primordial One's power, was like an angel encountering the Stellaron inside Wang Lei. The difference in their ranks was simply too great; nothing could be analyzed.

Although Kong most likely had not yet reached the point where he could stand on equal footing with any of The Seven Archons in a one-on-one fight, otherwise he would not have remained active underground all this time. Still, he could probably crush Wang Lei as he was now without effort.

If Ying had been nearby, Wang Lei would have dared to try his luck. After all, Kong probably would not truly kill him for Ying's sake. But Ying was not here, so Wang Lei decided that a wise man did not fight when the odds were against him. There was no benefit in clashing with Kong here.

Looking at the system, Wang Lei saw that over the past four days, it had absorbed more than 1.1 million Energy Points. He had already made a huge profit. Being any greedier would be impolite; the other side had not been very sharp and had already given him four days.

If Kong had come on the first day, Wang Lei would have needed to bring out some superweapon from the Honkai: Star Rail world to intimidate him and ensure sufficient returns. Kong surely recognized a nuclear symbol, right? But four days had already passed. Being too greedy never ended well.

Besides, the inverted Anemo Archon statue was not going anywhere. Ying would only come here after settling matters in Liyue. So he could still come back later and fleece them again.

Thus, without further hesitation, while Kong was still outside slaughtering Fragmentum monsters, Wang Lei first used the gap to collect all the trash he had produced over the past few days and dump it at Mondstadt's garbage station. Then he used Aether Encoding to directly erase all traces of his activities before choosing to return to the Super God Universe.

At this point, leaving behind a room with absolutely nothing changed would make people feel especially suspicious. If things went badly, the Abyss Order would remain paranoid for a long time afterward. The surviving Hydro Abyss Herald definitely would not have an easy time either.

After Kong wiped out all the Fragmentum monsters and entered the secret chamber at the bottom, all he could see was an empty chamber. There was no king of monsters at all. The inverted Anemo Archon statue was also functioning perfectly, so he turned his puzzled gaze toward the Hydro Abyss Herald.

The unlucky Hydro Abyss Herald felt as though it was about to sweat. There was simply no way it could explain itself.