"How can this be a dead end?" Jean examined the stone wall at the end of the passage carefully, finding that the rock face was seamless except for some faint chisel marks.
Diluc said, "Looks like the blueprint Lisa found really is a complete map of the ruins' structure. It's possible this ruin was only half-finished before construction was halted for some reason, and it's stayed like this ever since."
Jean frowned. "If all four paths are dead ends, then where did all the Abyss Order go? We advanced down all four passages simultaneously. It doesn't make sense that they could've escaped..."
"Let's head back to the second hall and wait for the other three squads to regroup."
"Mm."
About ten minutes after Jean's team entered the ruins, Amber, dozing off outside, suddenly jolted upright and concealed herself better, because a deep abyssal portal suddenly opened in the clearing near the ruins' entrance!
Dozens of Abyss Mages poured out of the portal, surrounding the entrance while chanting and dancing in perfect sync. A wave of evil energy began to radiate from them.
'This is bad! They're trying to destroy the entrance and trap Jean's team inside!'
Realizing the danger, Amber didn't hesitate. She immediately fired a signal flare into the sky, then raised her Reaper Rifle and unleashed a volley of explosive arrows.
About four or five Abyss Mages were torn apart by the blasts, but the rest reacted quickly, teleporting away while conjuring various elemental shields around themselves.
"Damn it!" Amber swapped her rifle to Zero-Degree Frost Burst Rounds and, at the same time, drew her Hellhound pistol. She loaded it with Inferno Rounds, alternating between elements to counter the enemies' shields.
The other scouts hidden around the area joined in the fight. But despite their ambush, only about a dozen Abyss Mages were eliminated.
Bullets were faster than the Abyss Mages, but humans simply couldn't react fast enough to keep up. And in such open terrain, without sufficient fire coverage, it was still hard to land a hit on teleporting enemies.
Just then, a far larger Abyss creature emerged from the portal.
Amber's face changed: "An Abyss Herald!"
It had sharp blades mounted on its armored forearms, and wore robes inscribed with intricate runes. A powerful abyssal aura radiated from its body, even more intense than that of the mages.
Amber aimed at it, but before she could pull the trigger, it instantly teleported to her flank, anticipating her targeting.
Boom! The Frost Burst and Infernal rounds missed.
The Abyss Herald continued blinking closer and closer to Amber. Her shots never connected.
"Humans... move too slowly..." it sneered.
It teleported one last time and appeared right in front of her, raising its bladed arms. Hydro-element energy surged along the edges of its blades.
Amber infused fire-element energy into her rifle and raised it in defense, blocking the killing blow. But the blade sliced her weapon clean in half.
"Futile... struggle..." The Herald closed in again, swinging its blade at Amber's neck—
Zing —CRACK!
A single-handed sword flew from the distance, striking the Herald's weapon and knocking it aside. The force made its whole body stagger back slightly.
Amber seized the chance, quickly retreating and firing her last three rounds into its chest. Although it summoned a water shield to block the first shot, the Infernal Rounds were fire-elemental and countered it. The first shot broke the shield, and the next two struck it directly.
It extinguished the flames with its water energy, swiped a hand across the wound, and the abyssal energy quickly sealed and began to regenerate the damage.
The Inferno Rounds weren't powerful enough. If they had been Kraken Piercing Rounds, the Herald might have been killed or at least heavily wounded.
The Abyss Herald turned toward the direction the sword had come from, and saw a blonde girl approaching on a flight board, wearing a very familiar outfit...
Ah, so that's it.
It let out a long howl, opened several new portals mid-air, and teleported the remaining mages elsewhere. Then it turned to leave, but not before saying:
"I'll be waiting for you... at Stormterror's Lair."
"Amber! Are you okay?" Lumine arrived beside her, visibly worried.
"I'm fine, thanks to you. If you hadn't shown up, I would've been hurt for sure."
She probably wouldn't have died outright, but she'd definitely have been injured. After all, as a ranged archer, close combat wasn't her strength.
"What happened out here?" Just then, Jean and the others exited the ruins and were shocked by the mess, wounded knights and scorched terrain. They immediately had the medics treat the injured.
"We encountered an Abyss Herald..." Amber explained what happened outside.
"So that's why the Abyss forces inside the ruins disappeared. They used a portal to exit and tried to destroy the entrance to trap us." Albedo stroked his chin. "That does make sense. What they didn't count on was that we left someone strong behind."
Diluc's expression was grim. "Hmph. Are they declaring war on us? Saying they'll wait at Stormterror's Lair?"
Jean nodded. "That concludes our operation at the ruins. The Abyss Order seems to have regrouped at Stormterror's Lair. Our next move is to launch a full-scale assault there."
Eula walked over to Lumine and thanked her on Amber's behalf. "Thank you for saving Amber. I'm Eula Lawrence, Captain of the Knights of Favonius' Guerrilla Squad, also known as the 'Spindrift Knight.'"
"No problem. Amber's a good friend of ours!" Paimon chimed in cheerily. "She's Lumine, and I'm Paimon! We've heard Amber mention you a lot!"
"What a coincidence, Amber's mentioned you both to me too." Eula smiled. "A traveler from another world, and an adorable little sprite. Since we're all Amber's friends, then we're friends too. Let's soak in the hot springs together sometime in the snowy mountains!"
"Eh?!" Lumine and Paimon both took a step back in shock.
Amber gave her a half-exasperated look. "Eula! You can't just invite someone to bathe with you the first time you meet!"
"Huh? But we're all girls, and friends now, right? Why wouldn't we bathe together?"
Amber turned to Lumine and Paimon, who looked a little rattled, and tried to explain: "Don't worry, she's just like this. She really loves hot baths. It's her second-favorite way of showing gratitude to girls."
Paimon tilted her head, curious. "Oh? Then what's her first way?"
Amber and Eula both crossed their arms and turned their heads to the side. "I'll remember this grudge…"
This operation by the Knights of Favonius could be considered half a success. Though they hadn't wiped out the entire Abyss Order within the ruins, they did force them back to Stormterror's Lair and disrupted their plan to empower and control hundreds of hilichurls.
If those empowered hilichurls had spread across Mondstadt, it would've posed a huge threat to adventurers and travelers out in the wild.
Diluc had already placed sentries to keep watch over Stormterror's Lair. Now, the Knights could safely return to Mondstadt City to begin preparing their full-scale assault.