Sneak attack!

After two or three more "heavenly shifts," the girl finally brought Kaeya to the Temple of the Wolf.

Although the man beside her looked a little worse for wear, Gabrielina felt no guilt whatsoever. On the contrary, she was proud of herself.

Even setting aside the time they had saved, with the elemental disturbances currently plaguing Mondstadt, they would surely have run into plenty of monsters like slimes along the way.

Shouldn't he be thanking me?

"Miss Gabrielina... whew... why... why couldn't we get here in one go?" Kaeya asked between gasps.

Looking at Kaeya, who could barely stay upright with both hands braced on his knees, Gabrielina helplessly spread her hands.

"I can't. If I could do that, I would've done it already."

"I can only move to places I can see, or places I've been before. It might look convenient, but this ability actually has quite a few restrictions..."

So should I fly around whenever I have nothing to do, just to prepare for emergencies?

That sounds a bit like unlocking the map. Pretty good gaming experience, actually...

While Gabrielina was thinking, Kaeya suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her into a nearby thicket. A group of two or three hilichurls was approaching with wooden clubs in hand, apparently on patrol.

"Hilichurls? Watch me grab them and, in an instant..."

"Wait, wait." Kaeya hurriedly stopped the girl beside him. "Something's strange..."

"What do you mean?"

"Hilichurls generally aren't intelligent creatures. They shouldn't be patrolling in such an orderly fashion. Could those people be directing them-"

"Those people?" Gabrielina looked puzzled.

"Ah... I'm not sure either. We might run into them in a little while. For now, let's keep heading into the temple, but stay cautious and conserve our strength."

"Yep! If anything stupid enough gets in our way, we'll knock it to the ground and humiliate it good and proper!"

"?"

In the end, with Gabrielina pushing him along, Kaeya hurried toward the temple entrance nearby. Yet even here, a small group of hilichurls awaited them.

"They've actually set up camp here. Looks like things won't be so simple inside... What should we do?"

Kaeya seemed to want the angel's opinion. After all, she was powerful. But when he turned around, the girl was staring intently into the distance, apparently not having heard a word he said.

She was looking at... that fire slime soaking in the water? It was just an ordinary monster, and now it couldn't even muster any flames.

"Do you think these things are really edible? They seem like they'd be pretty disgusting..." Despite saying "disgusting," Gabrielina looked curious.

"Uh... I've never eaten one myself, but I've heard from friends that some chefs in Liyue use slime condensate as an ingredient. Maybe it tastes good?"

"I have my doubts." The angel shook her head and slowly raised her right hand. "Let's get down to business first and deal with them!"

As soon as she finished speaking, pitch-black energy began pouring from between her fingers, gradually taking the shape of arrows. At the same time, the air around Kaeya grew cold.

"Need a hand? It'll be more efficient that way."

"That's what you should've been doing anyway-"

Cryo energy erupted. Ice spikes grew like thorns, instantly freezing the nearby hilichurls into crystalline statues.

The arrows tore through the air a moment later, piercing their skulls almost before the whistle of their flight could be heard, then slamming into the rock wall behind them.

A string of explosions blasted the area until not a trace of the hilichurls remained. Only a few drifting ashes were left; even the slime had vanished.

"Wow. Your power really is something to behold." Kaeya praised the girl and gave a whistle.

"Enough chatter. Looks like some more are coming up behind us. Open the door, quick. We..."

[Side quest in progress: kill 100 hilichurls (8/100). Must use Manifestation Art.]

"...We shouldn't... get bogged down fighting them..."

The system helpfully updated her quest progress.

"All right, I'll open it now." Kaeya turned and rushed toward the temple entrance, apparently intending to ram the doors open with brute force.

Yet the instant he turned, a piercing whistle rang out behind him.

"Ya!"

Two intensely compressed black lines-no, blades only as thick as a "line"-formed before the girl, radiating a savage aura that left no room for resistance.

They crossed into a tilted cross and passed silently through the hilichurl horde like a plow blade swung by the Grim Reaper.

The monsters remained frozen in their charging poses. Only when a breeze brushed past did their torsos slide apart along the smooth cuts, dissolving into ashes that filled the air.

Maybe I should add, "The corpses are talking"? Hmm... as an angel, I'd better not quote a demon.

Gabrielina turned around casually and looked at Kaeya, who was still poised to push the doors. "What's wrong? Are those doors heavy?"

"Ah... no. I was just reflecting on how fortunate it is that you bear Mondstadt no ill will. Otherwise, I imagine only the Anemo Archon himself could stop you."

...Just kidding. Even if he came, it wouldn't help.

I practically drank him under the table! He's already lost to me!

"That said..." Kaeya smiled and shoved the doors open with a burst of strength. "Since you're so powerful, shouldn't I just wait outside? It looks like I'm no use at all-"

"That's what you really wanted to say, isn't it! Don't hide in the back and slack off! You'll turn into a useless freeloader, you know!"

In the end, under the girl's contemptuous gaze, Kaeya entered the temple with both hands raised. "Yes, yes~ I'll clear the way for you right now, your esteemed ladyship."

The two advanced along the passage inside the temple.

The cold, gloomy corridor reeked of decay, and the knight's heels struck the stone tiles in a steady rhythm. Gabrielina, meanwhile, studied unfamiliar reliefs in the gentle light of her halo.

The deeper they went, the stronger the sense of obstruction in the elemental flow became. It stood out like discordant notes in a song.

Just as they reached the archway at the end of the passage-

Whoosh! Whoosh-

The sudden whistle of projectiles tore through the silence. Two elemental arrows, one red and one purple, shot out through the doorway!

Kaeya reacted instantly, twisting aside. The arrows skimmed past him and burst into small showers of sparks as they struck the stone wall. Gabrielina vanished before the attack reached her, then reappeared in the same spot once the arrows had passed, idly twirling the ends of her hair around a finger.

"Move."

At Gabrielina's warning, Kaeya hurriedly crouched down with his hands over his head.

The angel flicked a black spike from her hand, instantly piercing a nearby hilichurl that had been preparing to throw a fire slime at them.

Almost a second later, the little slime, forcibly given an "open heart," exploded violently. The shock wave carried raging flames with it, sending the other monsters flying some distance as well.

Meanwhile, the two elemental crossbowmen perched above had already prepared their next attack.

"Come on! Shneak attack!"

Two black spears shot from her hands, hurtling straight toward the two hilichurls. Their elemental arrows exploded the instant they struck the spears, blasting both hilichurls down from their perches.

...Ho ho, you're no match for this eighteen-year-old veteran!

"Nicely done! Leave the rest to me!"