"Roar!"
Dvalin glared at Jiang Chen and the other two with fury.
With a roar, it prepared to take flight and leave.
"How dare you roar at me?"
"I've never been wronged like this in my entire life!"
According to the plot, Dvalin should have flown away right after that roar.
But now?
Who the hell cares about the plot?
From the moment Jiang Chen stepped into this world, there was no plot left to follow.
Jiang Chen had come here solely to skip the plot.
He was going to settle things right on the spot.
"Lumine, take Paimon and step back!"
"I'm going to have a round with this guy."
As he spoke, Jiang Chen's voice brimmed with excitement.
He was completely fired up now!
Jiang Chen was dying to find a worthy opponent to fight.
And Dvalin right in front of him fit the bill perfectly.
Hearing this, Lumine's face instantly filled with question marks.
"Huh?"
You're just charging in like that?
Lumine stood there in utter bewilderment.
Before she could say another word, however, Jiang Chen had already grabbed his spear and lunged forward.
Hiding in the shadows, Venti watched this scene with a face full of question marks.
Is this guy out of his mind?
Good grief, is he actually trying to challenge Dvalin?
Under Venti's astonished gaze, Jiang Chen charged straight ahead.
Dvalin, originally intending to depart, grew furious upon seeing the murderous intent radiating from Jiang Chen.
As its anger flared, even the clouds in the sky began to shift.
Gale-force winds whipped about, and the entire Whispering Woods was soon engulfed in a tempest.
"Stormterror!"
Amber and the Knights of Favonius members patrolling the forest were utterly shocked when they felt the brutal Anemo element in the air.
What on earth was happening?
Before the knights could react, a battle erupted in the skies above the forest.
Jiang Chen took flight, his body wreathed in roaring flames.
Having inherited the power of Karna, flight was second nature to Jiang Chen.
Seeing Jiang Chen rush toward it, Dvalin did not hesitate to counterattack.
"Roar!"
By this point, Dvalin had long been corrupted by the Abyss.
As Jiang Chen launched his assault, the dragon lost the last shreds of its sanity.
Right now, all it wanted to do was tear the human before it to shreds.
With an angry roar, a violent gust of wind lashed out at Jiang Chen.
Faced with such an onslaught, Jiang Chen did not flinch in the slightest.
Channelling his magic power into the spear in his hand, he instantly transformed it into a massive greatsword.
Grasping the greatsword with both hands, Jiang Chen swung with all his might!
The scorching flames fiercely cleaved Dvalin's attack right down the middle.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Chen burst forward.
In the blink of an hour, he closed the distance and stood directly before Dvalin.
He spun the greatsword in his grip and brought the flat of the blade down hard against Dvalin's forehead.
Jiang Chen didn't strike with the edge.
Otherwise, he could easily have severed Dvalin's head.
Venti, watching from the shadows, felt his heart leap into his throat.
Is this guy from another world really this terrifying?
He'd better not beat Dvalin to death.
If he hadn't sensed a complete lack of killing intent in Jiang Chen, Venti would have stepped in already.
He had almost intervened the moment Jiang Chen charged in for the kill.
Thank goodness Jiang Chen had changed his tactics at the last second.
Otherwise, Venti really would have had to make a move.
Dvalin was knocked straight out of the sky by Jiang Chen, crashing down with a tremendous explosion.
The force of the impact sent violent shockwaves flattening all the trees in the surrounding forest.
Paimon, watching the spectacle from afar, was nearly blown away by the gale and had to frantically grab onto Lumine's hair to stay grounded.
Having knocked Dvalin down, Jiang Chen did not let up.
The greatsword in his hand shifted and morphed once more, turning back into a spear.
The next moment, Jiang Chen's voice rang out.
"O Brahma, cover the earth!"
The spear in his hand transformed into an arrow, blazing fire wrapping tightly around the shaft.
Jiang Chen gripped the fiery arrow and took aim at the blood-stained crystal embedded in the side of Dvalin's back as the dragon lay flat on the ground.
With a powerful heave, Jiang Chen hurled the blazing arrow forward.
Like a shooting star streaking across the sky, it reached Dvalin's backside in the blink of an eye.
Venti's pupils constricted sharply at the sight.
Was Jiang Chen planning to kill Dvalin?
But the very next second, he understood what Jiang Chen was trying to do.
The arrow instantly shattered the crystal, then drove deep into the ground beneath.
If Dvalin had been lying flat on its belly, that single spear strike likely would have finished it off for good.
Fortunately, it was lying on its side, exposing the crystal to the open air.
Even so, Jiang Chen's blow dealt massive damage to the beast.
"Boom!"
Though the tainted crystal was shattered, the surrounding area detonated violently.
A mushroom cloud rose into the sky over Whispering Woods.
The patrolling knights were left dumbfounded by the sight.
"Who's fighting?"
"Did the Anemo Archon manifest a miracle?"
"Nonsense, this clearly looks like the Pyro Archon is attacking us!"
The members of the Knights of Favonius engaged in a heated debate.
They had originally intended to go investigate.
But now?
Good grief, with such a terrifying scene unfolding before them, they were suddenly having second thoughts.
If they went over there, wouldn't they just get caught up in it?
After a moment of thought, Amber spoke up.
"You guys head back and report this to Acting Grand Master Jean. I'll go check out the scene."
With that, Amber dashed off at full speed.
Seeing this, the knights quickly retreated toward Mondstadt to report the incident to Acting Grand Master Jean.
In reality, even if no one had run back, Jean was already well aware of the situation.
After all, that mushroom cloud was clearly visible even from inside the city of Mondstadt.
"Wow!"
"Is this some kind of new bomb?"
"So cool!"
Inside the confinement room in Mondstadt, Klee stared wide-eyed at the rising mushroom cloud, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
If only she could make an explosion that impressive too.
How could an explosion look that awesome?
She wanted to do that so badly!
Hearing Klee's dangerous remark gave Jean a nasty start.
"Klee!"
Jean's stern voice rang out, causing Klee to shrink her neck back in fear.
"I'm sorry, Acting Grand Master Jean!"
"I was wrong."
She was most afraid of Acting Grand Master Jean.
Seeing the girl's crestfallen expression, Jean let out a sigh.
"Go play by yourself for now, and remember—you are not allowed to leave the city."
"I have business to attend to."
With that, she hurried off to assemble a team for the Whispering Woods.
Beyond her, undercurrents were swirling all through Mondstadt.
The massive explosion in Whispering Woods had instantly drawn everyone's attention.
And of course, Jiang Chen knew nothing of this.
Having knocked Dvalin to the ground and shattered the corrupted crystal, he landed gracefully on the earth.
At that moment, Dvalin was on the brink of death.
However, a clear glint of lucidity had returned to its eyes.
With the blood-clot crystal destroyed, it had recovered quite a bit of its senses.
It was just in terribly poor physical shape.
Standing on the ground, Jiang Chen looked down at the dragon before him.
Then he raised his head and called out into the air.
"Barbatos, if you don't show your face right now, your familiar is going to kick the bucket."
Naturally, Jiang Chen knew Barbatos was lingering nearby.
So he simply shouted it out loud.
Hearing Jiang Chen's words, Barbatos, hiding in the shadows, felt a flicker of surprise.
Even so, he wasted no time in revealing himself.
"Hello there!"
A cyan-robed figure materialized beside Dvalin.
Was this not none other than Barbatos, the tone-deaf bard who had been slacking off and watching from the shadows all along?