<h4>Chapter 158: Viin Simtor, Ch 157</h4>


    "Thank you, Master Diluc, for your hospitality," Jean said with a nod. "We will be leaving now."


    "Good," Diluc replied impassively. "Let''s go."


    "W-What?" Jean eximed, startled. "Are you saying you n to assist the Knights of Favonius in this expedition?"


    Jean was well aware of Diluc''s strength. Even she wasn''t confident in defeating him inbat. If he were to join their operation, the odds of sess would increase significantly.


    "I''m not assisting the Knights of Favonius," Diluc said coldly. "I''m here to assist Lucas. I don''t want my friend to be put in danger."


    "I see." Jean smiled faintly, misinterpreting his motive. She assumed Diluc''s reasoning was just an excuse. Little did she know... he genuinely came only for Lucas.


    To Diluc, Lucas''s position in the Ragnvindr family lineage was nearly as important as his own—perhaps even higher than Kaeya''s.


    Although Diluc often expressed disdain for the Knights of Favonius, he had once been part of their ranks. Combined with his extraordinary strength and the goodwill he demonstrated by hosting them at Dawn Winery, the members of the expedition were more than happy to have him join them.


    After all, no one wouldin about improving their chances of survival.


    Perhaps thanks to the good rest they had the previous night, the expedition team moved much faster today.


    After bypassing Wolvendom, they finally reached their destination: the ruins of Stormterror''s Lair.


    The area was a massive basin and the location of Old Mondstadt.


    Even before they approached, the team felt the oppressive force of strong winds. Upon reaching the entrance, they encountered a massive storm barrier blocking their way.


    "A barrier formed from wind?"


    Jean took a few steps back, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Everyone, step aside. Let me see if I can break through it."


    Besides Venti, who was concealing his true identity, Jean was the only one in the group wielding an Anemo Vision.


    Her strength was already remarkable among the younger generation, and after her trials on the Golden Apple Archipgo, she had grown even stronger.


    "Let''s see how you handle this new move," Jean said, swinging her longsword forcefully. A massive wind de surged toward the storm barrier with a howl. "Wind de Strike!"


    Impressive!


    The team couldn''t help but silently praise her. Even Lucas nodded in approval.


    Though his own strength far surpassed Jean''s, it was the result of many "cheats" along the way. Jean, barely in her twenties, had achieved such prowess through sheer effort.


    However, the fierce wind de struck the storm barrier, leaving only a faint crack before dissipating into elemental particles.


    "It''s not enough," Jean muttered, frowning. "Looks like I''ll need to try a few more times."


    With that, she resumed her attacks, shing her sword repeatedly at the barrier.


    "Hey, Venti," Lucas whispered, standing beside him. "You should have a way to deal with this, right? You <i>are</i> the Anemo Archon, after all."


    "Of course I do," Venti replied confidently. "Cover me while I y the Skyward Harp. With it, I can—oh no! My harp! Ipletely forgot—Jean confiscated it after E arrested me!"


    Barbatos... can''t you take anything seriously?


    Lucas sighed inwardly, frustrated by Venti''s unreliability.


    Meanwhile, Jean had unleashed over a dozen wind des, but the cracks on the storm barrier barely grew.


    "Jean, take a break," Lucas said, stepping forward with a smile. "Let me give it a shot."


    Unlike Jean, he didn''t rely on elemental power. Instead, he stood before the storm barrier, drawing his fists close to his body as he exhaled slowly, seemingly gathering energy.


    "You''ve got to be kidding..." Kaeya rubbed his chin, intrigued. "Does he really n to break the storm barrier with his bare hands?"


    The storm barrier,posed of violent, razor-sharp winds, was like a massive meat grinder. Even approaching it would cause countlesscerations on bare flesh.


    "Heroic Intent..."


    Golden energy began to emanate from Lucas''s fist, growing brighter by the second. Suddenly, he struck the barrier with an explosive force, sending a shockwave rippling through the air. "Charging Fist!"


    With Lucas''s growing strength, his Charging Fist technique was far stronger than before. He no longer needed to endure attacks to umte energy and could charge up on his own.


    His punchnded squarely on the crack Jean had created earlier. The impact triggered a deafening sonic boom, and the resulting shockwave knocked several nearby Knights of Favonius off their feet.


    Even those with stronger footing, like Jean and Diluc, found themselves stumbling. The sheer force of the strike was staggering.


    But what shocked everyone more was Lucas''s sheer strength.


    To destroy a storm barrier without using elemental power was a feat few could aplish. Among the Knights of Favonius, perhaps only Grand Master Varka could match such raw power.


    "Phew, that hurt!" Lucas shook his hand, turning to Jean with a grin. "Your earlier strikes really helped. Without them, I don''t think I could''ve broken the barrier so easily."


    His words were clearly meant to save Jean''s pride. Most could see that her wind des had barely scratched the surface.


    It was Lucas''s punch that had sted arge hole through the barrier, highlighting the disparity in their strength.


    Whispers began spreading among the group as they wondered: between Lucas and the renowned Diluc, who was stronger?


    Suddenly, a massive fireball descended from the sky, hurtling toward the expedition team.


    Diluc stepped forward, a ymore appearing in his hands. With a swift swing, he unleashed a fiery sh that collided with the fireball, creating a mid-air explosion.


    "Enemy attack!"


    The fireball''s caster was revealed to be a floating Pyro Abyss Mage. Behind him were seven or eight more Abyss Mages, along with hordes of Hilichurls and Mitachurls.


    "It seems we''ve walked into an ambush," Kaeya said, still calm. "Jean, leave this to us. You and the others go through the barrier and find Stormterror. Once we''re done here, we''ll join you."


    Jean understood his reasoning. Their mission wasn''t about overwhelming numbers. Taking too many people would be counterproductive. It was better to have them hold the rear and prevent any surprise attacks.


    "We''re counting on you," Jean said with a nod. "Stay safe."


    Diluc nced at Kaeya, who smirked. "What? Nothing you want to say to me?"


    "These enemies aren''t particrly challenging," Diluc replied dismissively. "Just don''t die."


    For someone as reserved as Diluc, those three words carried significant weight.


    "Normally, I detest fighting these creatures," Kaeya murmured once the others had left. His usual smile faded into an uncharacteristic solemnity. "I''ll try to make this as painless as possible... my fellow kin."


    ...


    Ultimately, only five and a half members of the hundred-strong expedition team made it through the storm barrier: Lucas, Jean, E, Diluc, Lumine, and Paimon.


    Venti remained outside, tasked with holding off the Abyss Order''s pursuing forces alongside the rest of the team.


    Of course, knowing Venti''s personality, he''d likely ck off even if his strength was considerable.


    A piercing dragon''s roar suddenly echoed through the ruins. The towering, verdant dragon Dvalin spiraled through the sky before flying toward the distant central spire—a grand tower standing at the heart of Stormterror''s Lair.


    This was once the pce of Decarabian, the Tyrant of the Tower, the cruel ruler of Old Mondstadt.


    From atop this spire, he had once surveyed the people who bowed to his will.


    Now, the old tyrant was long gone, but a new threat lurked within the ruins.


    "Look at those rings around the tower!" Paimon eximed, pointing at the threerge circr barriers encircling the structure.


    "Those are the Rings of Raging Winds," Jean exined. "I''ve read about them in historical texts. Decarabian constructed these barriers to protect his pce from invaders."


    "Then doesn''t Stormterror have a hard time getting home every day?" Paimon frowned.


    "He flies," Lucas chuckled. "He doesn''t need to walk."


    "Oh, I see," Lumine said with a nod, looking serious. "In that case, Paimon, we''ll leave the task of subduing Stormterror to you!"


    "Got it! Leave it to me!" Paimon said confidently, puffing up her tiny chest. Then she folded her arms and pouted. "Wait a second! Are you serious? That big guy could eat me in one bite! And my flight... I definitely can''t get through those rings, no matter how I try!"


    Indeed, while Paimon could "float," she was incapable of true flight. Even if she managed to reach the rings, the violent winds would undoubtedly knock her back.


    "What should we do?" E asked, frowning as she stared at the distant dragon''s silhouette high above. "We can''t just give up here."


    "Actually, these Rings of Raging Winds can only be deactivated with specific elemental powers," Jean said thoughtfully. "The rebels who overthrew Decarabian''s reign seeded by breaking through these barriers with the help of heroes wielding three key elements."


    "Wow, Jean seems to know a lot about this," Paimon said, tilting her head in curiosity. "But wasn''t that over two thousand years ago?"


    "I''m ashamed to admit it, but the ancestors of the Gunnhildr n were among the rebels who fought against Decarabian," Jean sighed. "Many of the secrets from that time have been passed down within my family."


    "What''s there to be ashamed of?" Lumine asked, puzzled. "Wasn''t Decarabian a tyrant? Overthrowing him sounds like an act of justice."


    "True, but as knights, betraying one''s monarch is still a dishonorable act," Jean said with a touch of mncholy. "The three n leaders who destroyed the barriers were Gunnhildr with Anemo, Lawrence with Cryo, and the now-extinct Imuukr n with Pyro..."


    Ironically, Decarabian had designed the barriers to ensure no single n could overthrow him.


    But his oppressive rule was so despised that the three ns united against him, turning his airtight defenses into his undoing.


    "Anemo and Cryo are covered," E remarked with a cold snort. "But how can we be sure Diluc will help us?"


    "Sir Diluc''s involvement was unexpected," Jean admitted, pulling a few round bombs from her pouch. "I had originally nned to use Klee''s elemental bombs to simte Pyro."


    That''s... probably grounds for vandalism charges.


    "Wow! So we''re going to see the three ns unite again to storm the tower?" Paimon said excitedly. "This must be fate''s wheel turning full circle!"


    "Correction: the Ragnvindr n wasn''t one of the original three," Diluc said without looking back, walking toward the tower. "And I''ve never believed in fate."


    Indeed, the Ragnvindr n only rose to prominence after assisting Vennessa in liberating Mondstadt, eventually recing the fallen Imuukr n.


    The mechanisms controlling the Rings of Raging Winds were distributed in a triangr formation around the tower. Lucas and hispanions quickly located the first one. The ancient tform was battered and weathered, but the crimson orb atop it still emitted a faint glow.


    "I''ll handle the first one," Diluc said, summoning a burst of mes that engulfed the orb.


    As soon as the Pyro element made contact, the orb glowed brightly, and one of the rings surrounding the tower dimmed.


    "That was easy," E said, though her tone held doubt. "Doesn''t seem like the defenses were all that impressive after all."


    "It''s not that simple," Diluc said, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. "I have to keep channeling Pyro to maintain the mechanism. If I stop, the ring will reactivate immediately."


    The group finally understood. Decarabian''s design was cunning—activating the barriers required constant energy input, forcing rebellious ns to dedicate their strongest fighters to holding the rings open.


    "No time to waste!" Diluc said, uncharacteristically tense. "I can hold this for half an hour at most. Jean, E, you need to activate the other two mechanisms. As for subduing Stormterror... Lucas, I''m counting on you."


    This wasn''t a matter of shirking responsibility—it was simply the only viable strategy.


    Diluc''s trust in Lucas spoke volumes. In all of Mondstadt, there were likely no more than three people he would entrust with such a task.


    "I''ll do my best," Lucas nodded firmly. "Leave it to me!"


    Lumine clenched her fists. "Paimon and I will help too!"


    "I''ll, uh... do my best not to mess things up!" Paimon added nervously.


    With the situation urgent, Jean and E quickly located the other two mechanisms. However, due to their slightly weaker elemental outputpared to Diluc, their ability to maintain the mechanisms was more limited.


    Lucas and Lumine wasted no time. As soon as the rings were disabled, they rushed into the tower.


    Inside, both were taken aback.


    "This is... way too tall!" Paimon eximed, craning her neck so far she nearly toppled over.


    The interior of the tower was dpidated from centuries of decay. Even if there were stairs, it would take far longer than half an hour to reach the top.


    "Look, there''s an wind current here!" Lumine pointed to a gust of wind swirling upward. "If we use Anemo, we might be able to ride it to the top."


    Lucas hesitated but sighed. "At this point, we don''t have a choice. Let''s give it a shot."


    Climbing the tower floor by floor would be exhausting enough to render them incapable of fighting.


    With that, the two and a halfpanions stepped into the wind current.


    Although Lumine didn''t possess a Vision, she had already unlocked the first element: Anemo.


    This uncanny alignment with the mechanisms and the wind current struck Lucas as strange. It felt as though everything—from the three elemental barriers to the wind current—had been scripted, perfectly tailored to their group.


    Of course, it might just be a coincidence. If there really were a "script," who could possibly be its author?


    "Ready when you are!" Lumine said, gathering Anemo energy in her hands. "Three, two, one—lift off... wait, what?"


    ---


    Author''s Note: oops sorry for dy