Accidental Arriviste || Genshin Impact

XIV: Dvalin Protection Squad Arrives!

Upon arriving at the entrance, you wipe a bead of sweat that trickled down your forehead. You can feel the harsh winds of the barrier.

"It's a storm barrier. It looks so dangerous."

Venti steps forward, his own lyre in hand, "Let me at it. Although this wooden lyre is all I have, I don't need the Lyre to break through this kind of storm barri—What is that?"

You can hear a chorus of hilichurls running towards you. You summon your sword as Jean commands you all, "Enemy attack! Prepare yourselves!"

Venti looks at your group worriedly, "The stage will need to be cleared before I can begin my performance. Generally speaking, such chores are not the concerns of the performer himself."

You can hear cries of fury from the hilichurls approaching as your group hacks and slashes, "What's going on? Something's not right."

Jean nods from ahead of you, taking down a ranged hilichurl after she used her anemo power to blow it off from the tower it was on, "There shouldn't be hilichurl camps in the vicinity of Stormterror's Lair."

After clearing out the camp, you all rush to the bard, "The hilichurls usually do not venture into areas with high elemental concentrations. It puts a heavy burden on their bodies."

Diluc grunts, "The Abyss Order must be manipulating them behind the scenes, yet they shouldn't have been able to determine that we would come. They're presumably spreading their forces to halt our plans."

The bard wriggles his fingers on the lyre, "Without further ado, I suppose I can play faster if my only audience is the wind."

He turns around and faces the barrier, plucking the strings. The Lair finally opens up and you and Paimon celebrate, "It actually opened! You're not entirely useless, Tone-Deaf Bard!"

He sticks a tongue out at Paimon as Jean stares at the newly-opened Lair, "This is it. We are now entering Stormterror's Lair. Watch yourselves. Let's move."

You look at Aether who smiles at you reassuringly after noticing your worried look. You all head in, Paimon filling in the silence that fell on your group, "Looks like this is the front gate to Stormterror's Lair. The gate is enormous compared to us. Still, Paimon wonders how Dvalin gets in there with a body that huge."

You facepalm. Venti chuckles, "He doesn't walk in, he flies in."

Paimon stares at the bard, "Hm. You do have a point."

The lair is deserted, and only hilichurl camps can be seen from where you are, confirming Diluc's suspicion. The place is very run-down, the tower in the middle hinted to be Dvalin's abode. You feel uneasy with the tattered tower.

Upon reaching the entrance of the tower, you halt. Another barrier separates you from the building, "It's stuck."

Venti and Paimon echo your words, "It's stuck."

Your group looks around for another way to enter when the fairy notices something, "Hey check out that roof. Is there a giant hole in it?"

The bard nods and nods at the wind current, "I suppose we could make use of that wind current."

Paimon cheers, "Let's make a detour then. Heading up!"

You and the caped boy echo, "Let's make a detour then. Heading up!"

As you approach the wind current, you summon your gliders and let the wind propel you. The cool wind tickles against your skin, "Do you think there will be Abyss Mages hiding in the ruins?"

Paimon twirls beside you, "Either way, if we do run into one, we will let the victorious Master Diluc do the—"

"Do not underestimate them just because I have beaten one of them before."