Lightning Shadow Flash

To the east of Mondstadt stood a temple of Andrius. The Cryo Regisvine was in an enormous cavern beneath it.

By the coast, at the cavern's entrance.

Ellin and Sucrose were hiding behind a large rock, peeking inside.

Sucrose was also holding three bottles of nectar in her arms, harvested from the Cryo Whopperflowers Ellin had killed along the way.

Sucrose said Whopperflower nectar might help her cultivate Sweet Flowers with ten times the sugar content. Ellin didn't really understand any of that, but since Sucrose wanted it, she let her have it.

"So this is the Cryo Regisvine?"

Seeing a Cryo Regisvine in real life for the first time genuinely stunned Ellin.

It looked nearly ten meters tall, its entire body blue and white. Leaves formed from ice covered its flower crown, and its two branches bore sharp ice spikes. It looked incredibly dangerous.

White frost coated the stone walls of the enormous cavern. Just looking at it from a distance sent an instinctive chill through anyone's body, never mind going inside to fight.

"Ellin, are you sure this will be all right? I'm still a little worried..." Sucrose hesitated.

Ellin casually patted her Slimes. "No problem. Don't worry, I'm super brave!"

"Just hide here and watch me work my magic!"

Although Sucrose had a Vision, she mostly used it as a tool for research and experiments, so she didn't have much fighting ability herself.

After telling her to stay hidden, Ellin immediately charged into the cavern.

As if sensing an intruder, the Cryo Regisvine, which had been curled up asleep, instantly straightened. It opened its flower crown and roared at Ellin!

"ROAR!!"

A great blast of freezing air and ice fragments swept toward Ellin with the sound wave, but she showed no fear. Striking a cool pose, she shouted!

"Awaken! Mistress of the refrigerator!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a piercing phoenix cry rang out, and Feng'er spread her wings behind Ellin.

"Go! My familiar, show me your new power!" Ellin pointed at the Cryo Regisvine!

"Yes, Master!"

As Ellin's familiar, Feng'er shared her life and soul.

The stronger Ellin became, the more vitality Feng'er gained as an elemental life-form, allowing her to absorb and contain more Elemental Energy and grow stronger herself.

After Ellin absorbed two more Artifacts, Feng'er's vitality had grown stronger too. She had gone from the size of a basketball to the size of a water vat, and her outstretched wings could now span two meters!

According to Feng'er herself, perhaps one day, after absorbing enough Elemental Energy and growing stronger, she could even take human form.

"Master, maybe someday I'll be able to take human form like Ganyu. Then I'll become a beautiful girl and marry you!"

Feng'er had told Ellin that herself the previous evening, though Ellin hadn't taken it seriously.

It was worth mentioning that after Ellin obtained her Electro Vision, Feng'er had also benefited as her familiar.

The long plume on Feng'er's head now had a streak of lightning-purple alongside its icy blue.

Meanwhile, her tail had originally been nothing more than a billowing mass of freezing air. Now, two long tail feathers had formed within it. One radiated cold and was made of ice.

The other crackled with fine arcs of electricity and was formed from Electro.

At Ellin's command, Feng'er beat her wings and swooped toward the Cryo Regisvine.

"KREE!!!"

Feng'er let out a piercing phoenix cry. Her purple tail feather glowed, and purple light immediately spread over her entire body as a great amount of Electro power gathered in her talons.

Then, empowered by Electro, her speed soared. She became a flickering purple blur, dodging the Cryo Regisvine's relentless attacks!

Screeech!

Feng'er's talons raked the Cryo Regisvine's main stalk, producing a horrible scraping sound like nails dragged across glass.

"Roar!" The Cryo Regisvine let out a cry of pain.

Feng'er's powerful strike tore a chunk straight out of its main stalk, and sap immediately gushed from the wound.

Her first strike had landed, but before Feng'er could celebrate, she suddenly noticed light glowing at the base of the Cryo Regisvine's stalk!

A great amount of Cryo power suddenly converged on the Cryo Regisvine, coating its body and completely healing the wound Feng'er had left in an instant.

"The Cryo Regisvine can use the Hoarfrost Core at its base to quickly draw Cryo power from the Ley Lines to attack and recover. If you want to defeat it, you have to destroy its Hoarfrost Core first!"

Just as Feng'er was struggling to work out what to do, Ellin called out that advice.

"Yes, Master."

Feng'er beat her wings and soared into the air, dodging the Cryo Regisvine's sweeping attack. Then, with another cry, she called down lightning to bombard its Hoarfrost Core.

Boom, boom, boom!

Amid the thunderous explosions, Feng'er and the Cryo Regisvine plunged into a fierce battle!

Freezing mist filled the air, and lightning flashed.

The cracking of ice rang out alongside the explosive blasts of lightning.

Feng'er fought the Cryo Regisvine alone for over ten minutes without losing ground. At times, she even forced it onto the defensive!

Still, Feng'er had only been born recently, and her only battle had been the one in the Whispering Woods. Her combat experience was nowhere near as seasoned as Oz's.

One of the Cryo Regisvine's branches was now firing concentrated jets of freezing air at Feng'er.

Feng'er was a Cryo life-form herself, making her essentially immune to Cryo attacks. However, the freezing jets the Cryo Regisvine released carried large amounts of ice.

Feng'er wasn't immune to the physical damage caused by those high-speed chunks of ice. She could only spread her wings and circle at high speed, doing her best to avoid the Cryo Regisvine's attacks.

What she hadn't expected was that, despite how fierce the Cryo Regisvine's attacks seemed, they were merely bait.

With its attacks, it gradually guided-or rather, herded-Feng'er into dodging where it wanted her to go. Focused solely on avoiding its attacks, Feng'er never realized she had unwittingly entered the Cryo Regisvine's striking range!

The moment Feng'er flew within its striking range!

The Cryo Regisvine's other branch jerked violently, and the sharp spike at its tip slashed furiously toward Feng'er like a razor-sharp sword!

The Cryo Regisvine's branch was extremely long. How much force could that sudden swing unleash?

If that strike hit Feng'er, even if it didn't cleave her in two, it would grievously wound her!

But just as the Cryo Regisvine's spike was about to strike Feng'er!

"Lightning Shadow Flash!"

A streak of lightning crossed a hundred meters at incredible speed, appearing before the Cryo Regisvine in an instant.

The white-haired girl raced forward, holding the blue-glowing Skyward Blade amid countless arcs of electricity, and swung her sword!

In an instant, lightning burst outward. That thunderous sword strike severed the Cryo Regisvine's branch cleanly, sending the entire limb flying before it crashed to the ground more than ten meters away.