"Hey, Linaya!" Tang Wang naturally raised a hand and greeted her.
Hearing his voice, Linaya immediately turned her head as fast as she could. Once she confirmed that it really was Tang Wang, she rushed straight at him with a speed Ronava could hardly imagine.
The instant they came into contact, she threw her arms around Tang Wang and held him tight. A moment later, they separated, and Linaya took his hand.
"Tang Wang! You're finally here!" Her voice was full of delight. "Great! Now we can start preparing for the rescue operation."
"A rescue operation?"
"A group of adventurers went missing while exploring a domain." She summarized the situation as quickly as she could. "According to the information we have, that domain is very likely connected to the Abyss Order!"
"Then they're probably already in grave danger, aren't they?"
"But we still need to do our best to rescue them."
"Do you have any information on the monsters' distribution?"
"...That's why I had to wait for you."
Seeing her embarrassed expression, Tang Wang immediately understood how things stood.
"All right, then let's get ready to leave."
"Okay!" With that, she gave the backpack on her back a shake. "Lumi! Come out and say hello to Tang Wang!"
"Yahoo!!!" Hearing Linaya call its name, Lumi flew into Tang Wang's arms at top speed and rubbed its round body hard against him several times.
Ronava, who had watched the whole thing, suddenly showed a hint of... hostility in her eyes.
There was something distinctive about that hostility. Rather than a more nuanced emotion like "jealousy," it was more like the expression an older child wore when a sibling took away the affection that should have belonged to them.
"Huh? And this is..." Just then, Linaya noticed Ronava standing behind Tang Wang.
Studying her appearance, Linaya felt something strange for a moment: some instinct of hers seemed to have been stirred.
"This is Ronava, my current traveling companion." Seeing this, Tang Wang gestured toward the former Ruler of Death and introduced her.
"Oh, and this is Linaya, whom I mentioned before. She's an adviser to the Nod-Krai branch of the Adventurers' Guild, and a very capable veteran adventurer."
"Hello, Linaya." Ronava greeted her expressionlessly.
"Wait, Miss Ronava, are you..." Looking at the red diamond-shaped objects on either side of Ronava's hair, Linaya found her instinct growing harder and harder to suppress. "Are you a p-pure human?"
"...In Liyue, beings like her are called Adepti." Understanding Linaya's question, Tang Wang answered with a touch of schadenfreude.
"Wow!" Her instinct could no longer be restrained. A heart appeared in her beautiful eyes. "Th-then... can I touch you?"
"Huh... huh???" Ronava instinctively backed away a few steps. "What does that mean? Human, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Ah, Ronava, I haven't told you, have I?" Tang Wang explained at the right moment. "Linaya has a strong interest in all kinds of rare and precious creatures."
"So can I touch you?" As she asked again, her hands had already risen of their own accord, half-curled into claws.
"Ahem, Geo Lili, we have important business to attend to." Seeing a hint of alarm creep into Ronava's expression, Tang Wang spoke up to help her out. "Didn't you say we were going to rescue the adventurers?"
"Oh, right!" Her expression and hands immediately returned to normal. "I'm terribly sorry, Miss Ronava. I lost my composure."
She apologized to Ronava with great respect, then grabbed Tang Wang's arm and ran toward Mondstadt City.
"Come on, Ronava. It's time we fulfilled some of our duties as top adventurers."
"But Mondstadt City..." As Ronava hurried after them, she pointed at the damaged buildings and the disaster victims gathered along the streets.
"Don't worry, the Knights of Favonius will take care of this. They're the ones who enforce the law here, so we shouldn't overstep."
With that, the three left Mondstadt City as quickly as possible. Facing the direction of the domain, Tang Wang once again activated Shrinking the Ground to an Inch through his shadow domain authority.
"Wait, why are Rifthounds here?" Before they had gone far, a large pack of Rifthounds blocked their path.
"No time to hesitate. Go, Lumi!" At Linaya's shout, the round, white-and-gold Frost Spirit flew out.
At the same time, Linaya herself took out a Favonius Warbow that had not originally belonged to her.
"Lumi, keep it occupied!" Tang Wang shouted, his body springing forward.
Hearing him, Lumi abruptly changed course from its headlong charge. Holding two enormous hammers, it faced the Rifthound attacking from the front but chose to dodge to the side first.
Then it brought a hammer down, sending Geo crystals flying. The massive Rifthound slowed, and Tang Wang pierced its core from the other side.
"Roar!" Two other, slightly smaller hounds formed claws and fangs wreathed in Abyssal power, then tore through space and attacked from behind.
"Clink! Clink!" From a distance, Linaya drew her bow and loosed arrows imbued with Geo energy, interrupting their attacks.
From their coordination, it was easy to see that they often fought side by side.
"Is this... the understanding between humans?" Just as Ronava was about to gather Pyro Elemental Power and lend them a hand...
The battle against roughly eight Rifthounds was already over. Crushing was the best way to describe it.
"Yahoo, yahoo!" After the battle, Lumi excitedly flew over to Tang Wang.
Frost Spirits of this kind were no smarter than ordinary kittens or puppies. Most of them were also of questionable combat ability. Clearly, Lumi was an exception.
Although Linaya supplied the Elemental Power it fought with, that did not change the fact that it accounted for at least seventy to eighty percent of her combat strength-you couldn't expect an archer whose Elemental Burst was for healing to fight in close quarters without another weapon.
So Lumi was naturally happy to see Tang Wang: with him around, all it needed to do was keep the enemy occupied.
"Mm, good job, Lumi." After giving Lumi a token pat, they once again raced toward the domain.
But elsewhere, an unexpected turn of events had already begun to unfold...