Kairo narrowed his eyes at the towering Cryo elemental monster and nodded. "Let's test it. You're going to have to build experience fighting higher-tier elemental creatures anyway. Sooner or later you'll meet nastier ones than this."
Fischl didn't hesitate.
She flipped her wrist, summoned her bow, and drew the string. Thunder gathered at her fingertips, condensing into a violet arrow that crackled with judgment.
"Descend, heavenly punishment!"
"Swish!"
The arrow tore through the air like a shooting star and went straight for the glowing core of the Cryo Regisvine.
But the next instant, a cold-blue sheen rippled across the tree's surface.
The outer ice layer swallowed the lightning clean.
Before Fischl's arrow even touched the real core, the power she'd poured into it was dispersed across the frozen bark, fading into useless sparks.
"...Hm?"
Fischl blinked, the light in her amethyst eyes dimming a little.
Her arrow hadn't even scratched it.
She pursed her lips, then looked at Kairo, suddenly solemn. "As expected… against such a dreadful relic of the frigid throne, even this princess's might cannot yet shake its heart. At this moment, only thy power can reverse the tide."
Klee, who'd been itching to throw something, stared wide-eyed. "Kairo-nii, will my bombs freeze too? This Cryo tree's defense is super scary."
Paimon shivered in midair. What she'd just seen — an arrow getting eaten like it was nothing — made her scalp numb. "Uhhh… this thing kinda looks harder to deal with than Stormterror…"
An Electro arrow didn't even make it flinch.
That meant they weren't even qualifying to fight it.
While Paimon was muttering, Kairo was already moving. He put Clara's Path skill · 'I Want to Help Too' on Klee's bomb, pushing its output up a notch.
"All set."
He handed it back.
Klee's eyes lit up. She raised the bomb happily and lobbed it straight at the Cryo Regisvine.
"Boom!"
The explosion blossomed on the trunk. Ice shards flew everywhere.
When the smoke dispersed — there was actually a blackened pit in the bark.
Everyone's hearts jolted.
"It hit! It hit!" Klee clapped in delight.
But the Cryo Regisvine clearly didn't like being woken up.
"Rumble…!"
The whole ice-covered crown trembled. Violent Cryo power surged up from its roots.
"Crack—crack—crack—!!"
A thick ice-blue laser burst out from the top and started sweeping in a full circle.
Everywhere it passed, the ground froze.
The whole valley became a Cryo damage zone in a second.
"WAAAH! I'm gonna get frozen!" Paimon panicked and hid behind Lumine.
Fischl vaulted up onto a higher rock, eyes sharp. "So, the frostbeast has fully awakened… but fate's judgment still awaits it."
Barbara's little face had gone pale. She could heal, yes — but this was the kind of attack where if you got clipped once, you died and then got healed.
Lumine, however, saw it.
In the gaps of the ice laser's rotation, the flower-crown at the top flashed — a purple core light thrummed there.
"That's… its power core."
Lumine narrowed her eyes. "If we break that, it should lose its combat ability."
Paimon gaped. "You sure? Because, uh… running up there while it's doing that feels VERY dangerous."
Kairo just smiled and flicked his fingers.
Seele's 'Ripple' dropped on Lumine — her body instantly went light, speed shooting up.
"Go test it."
Lumine didn't hesitate.
With the buff + her Anemo, she became a green streak and dashed through the blizzard, skirting the ice beam by centimeters, weaving between jutting ice spikes.
She jumped, sword raised, wind swirling around the blade —
"HYAAAH!"
"Boom!"
Wind burst against the glowing core.
And then—
"CLANG!"
It sounded like slamming a sword into a steel gate.
Not even a crack.
"...What?!"
Lumine's pupils shrank.
Even her full-power strike couldn't put a line on it.
Back at Windrise, when she fought the Storm Eye, she'd forced that thing down through elemental resistance. But this Cryo core? Not even a white mark.
"ROAR!"
Now the Regisvine was mad.
A giant ice branch whipped out like a siege hammer.
"Rrrrumble!"
"Thud—!!"
Lumine managed to block, but the sheer force sent her flying. She slid back across the frozen ground for several meters and only just stopped at the rim of the valley.
She glanced at her sword, brows knitting. "Its defense is insane… I can't cut it at all."
Oz hovered, wings beating. "This is a high-grade elemental lifeform rooted here for quite some time. Such defense is to be expected, especially with Cryo as its core. Fire is the optimal element."
As he said it, he looked at Klee.
Klee could blow it up… but the whole valley was an AoE death zone right now. One wrong step and they were all popsicles.
Which meant — yeah.
They needed Kairo.
Fischl was already staring at him, eyes bright. She knew he had something.
"Use this."
Kairo didn't bother with a speech. He just threw something.
A black shadow arced through the freezing air toward Lumine.
She caught it on reflex.
It was… heavy.
She looked down.
"...A bat?"
Yep. Plain, solid, black, engraved — but still… a bat.
"This is… a bat?"
Kairo wanted her to use this on the thing even her sword couldn't dent?
"Yeah. With that, you should be able to break it," Kairo called back.
Lumine stared at him like he'd just told her to beat up Stormterror with a frying pan.
This thing didn't even look like an elemental weapon.
But Kairo had no reason to mess with her.
"Rrrrumble…!"
The ice laser swept again.
Lumine took a breath, gripped the bat with both hands, and charged again.
With Anemo + Ripple, her speed peaked. She danced between beams, feet barely touching the glazed ice, wind wrapping her movements.
"Whoosh!"
The ice beam missed her by a hair.
Lumine sprang up, straight toward the glowing heart of the Cryo Regisvine.
"Let's see you block this!"
She thought of Kairo's tone — so calm — and swung the bat down with everything she had.
"BOOM—!!"
For a heartbeat, the entire valley went silent.
Then — like glass being stepped on —
CRACK.
The spot that single-handed swords, Anemo slashes, and Fischl's lightning bolts couldn't even scratch…
The bat just pulped it.
Not slowed. Not 'chipped.' It went through.
The core burst like sugar glass. Ice-blue energy scattered in all directions.
"...It… broke?"
Lumine hung in midair, eyes huge, staring at the bat in her hands… then at the collapsing Regisvine.
"C-crack—"
"Craaaack—!!"
From the top down, fissures spider-webbed across the whole ice-tree.
The Regisvine let out a muffled, dying roar. The Cryo it'd been forcing into the valley exploded outward one last time…
Then the whole thing fell.
"THUD—!!"
The frozen body slammed into the ground and shattered into ice chunks.
The killing cold that had been gnawing at everyone?
Gone.
Replaced by silence.
"This… that's it?" Paimon just floated there, mouth open.
Fischl also stared. For once, her tone lost a bit of its usual theater. "To think… a mere bat…?"
"Waaah! So cool!!" Klee was the first to cheer, pumping her little fist. "Big Sis Lumine smashed the super-hard monster in one hit!"
Lumine herself was still stunned.
She looked at the black bat again. "This is… a bat?"
"Yes. A special bat." Kairo nodded, very satisfied.
This was exactly the result he wanted to see.
Lumine swallowed. "How'd you even make this? I… kinda want one."
Before she could ask more—
"Look!"
Paimon suddenly yelled.
Everyone turned.
The fallen Cryo Regisvine was… disintegrating.
"Crack—crack—crack—"
Like someone had undone the 'solid' button, the huge ice trunk fell apart into chunks, then into slivers, then into powder.
The Cryo power it'd gathered shot up into the air as blue light, then got sucked back into the ground — into the leyline glow under the ice.
"It's… it's disappearing by itself?!" Barbara gasped.
Oz explained calmly, beating his wings. "Such monsters are born by clinging to leyline frost. When the core is destroyed, the form collapses and returns to the leyline. This is not death — this is a return."
"Return…?" Paimon blinked.
Then it clicked.
"Wait, you mean — it's gonna respawn?!"
Oz nodded. "The Cryo element here is rich. It won't be long."
"THIS IS TOO CHEATY!!" Paimon grabbed her head. "We finally beat it and it just relogs? That's not fair at all!!"
Lumine frowned, looking at the now-quiet valley.
If even a Cryo Regisvine could come back on its own…
Then Mondstadt wasn't as peaceful as it looked.
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