In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

Although he was in a position of absolute advantage, Rhode decided not to fight in such an unfavorable environment as the black mist. With a stomp of his foot, he left the black mist-covered area at top speed and, despite the attacks of the abyss monsters, returned to the cave above the black mist area.

"trouble."

As soon as he left the black mist area, the corrosion marks on Rhode's arm faded quickly, returning to normal in just a moment.

After the injuries and erosion have healed.

Instead of going down into the Black Mist area to fight those monsters, Rhodes went to the suspended stone wall directly above the Black Mist area.

This area of ​​black mist is located inside a cave.

Those abyssal monsters also have physical forms.

So why waste energy like before, and risk being corrupted by them to fight?

Rhodes raised his hands, unleashing the full power of the Sunfire Divine Art, and then slammed them down onto the ground beneath his feet.

Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, the deafening roar of rocks shattering echoed far and wide. Boulders and rubble tumbled and collapsed, raining down upon Rhodes with even greater intensity than raindrops.

The shouts, curses, and hisses immediately echoed through the black fog area once again.

After Rhodes smashed down all the rocks he could find, the area that was originally shrouded in black mist was temporarily buried under the rocks. The once dense mist was suppressed to just wisps that could seep out from the cracks in the rocks, and it could not be restored to its previous size until it completely eroded the rocks.

Most of the abyssal monsters that had fought with Rhodes were crushed to death on the spot. Even those that were not dead were pressed under the rocks and could not move. Only four abyssal apostles, each over two meters tall, could stand on them, staring at Rhodes with fierce eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

"Without the black mist, let's see how you fight me."

Before the black mist could dissipate again, Rhodes swooped down with lightning speed.

This time.

Without the interference of the black mist, no matter how well the four Abyss Apostles coordinated, their heads were still ripped off by Rhodes in the blink of an eye, and they were dead beyond any doubt.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 224 Black Serpent Knight

Destroying things in underground caves is not a safe thing to do.

Especially actions like Rhodes's, which involved completely dismantling the caves on the upper level of the Black Mist Zone.

If it were an underground environment with a less favorable geological condition...

Such a blow will definitely trigger a chain reaction, destroying the entire cave.

However, that is relative to ordinary underground caves.

The Abyss of Laminaria is different.

In the Legend of Liyue.

In the wasteland west of Liyue, a celestial star once fell. As the star crashed to the ground, the wasteland directly impacted the earth and transformed into a vast and deep abyss. From this abyss grew precious stones and metals, which became inexhaustible resources, thus giving rise to Liyue's mining industry for the next thousand years.

Thanks to this celestial star.

The rock texture of the Abyss of Layered Rocks has become extremely hard and solid. Even though Rhodes' violent demolition just now almost completely destroyed this place, the surrounding rock walls only trembled and shook for a while, without even a crack that could cause a collapse.

After killing all four Abyss Apostles who were entrenched there.

Rhodes flexed his wrists and then began to dig away the stones that had buried the black mist area, releasing the abyssal power that had been temporarily suppressed.

With the suppression of these rubble fragments, he no longer needs to worry about falling into a situation where he has to withstand excessive abyssal power, as he did before.

We can simply absorb the power of the abyss here gradually.

just.

Perhaps the commotion caused by smashing the black fog area earlier was too great.

As soon as he cleared away a small section of the rocks, Rhodes heard footsteps approaching from not far away.

many people.

At the same time, he made no attempt to conceal his footsteps, brazenly and rapidly approaching Rhodes.

Another abyssal monster?

With this question in mind, Rhodes looked in the direction from which the footsteps were coming from.

However, what happened next made him frown.

Because the abyssal ores that could emit light in the Black Mist Zone were all buried, the light here was much dimmer than before. Only with the faint light from the star mushrooms and glowworms growing everywhere, as well as other ores affected by the Frost Nails, could one vaguely make out the traces of what appeared to be buildings where the footsteps came from.

When I saw the general outline of that building complex.

Rod recognized him.

It's that upside-down ruin.

He actually knew that the Inverted Ruins were located near the Black Mist Zone.

But he didn't see this ruin when he first arrived in the Black Mist District.

At the time, Rhodes thought that the ruins were not actually that close, which was why he hadn't seen them.

Now let’s see.

It's likely that the ruins were blocked by protruding rocks, and Rhodes' attention was entirely focused on the black mist area below, so he didn't notice the inverted ruins.

And those sounds, clearly those of metal armor walking on the ground, emerged from the darkness.

What came into Rhodes's view was a group of knights dressed in black armor and wielding various weapons.

A dark, empty shell.

No.

To be precise, they should be called Black Serpent Knights.

After the fall of the ancient kingdom of Kanria, due to the curse of the heavens, the knights of the ancient kingdom gradually lost their intelligence and memory over time, turning into the disobedient killing machines they are today.

Clearly, the commotion had alerted them, who were guarding the inverted ruins.

As the Black Serpent Knight drew ever closer, Rhodes used the power of the wind element to transmit his voice: "I have no intention of stepping into your territory. I will leave now. I do not wish to harm you."

Regarding such warnings.

The black snake knights seemed not to hear them at all, and continued to advance step by step with their weapons, showing no intention of stopping.

"I'm leaving now. I don't want any conflict with you."

Rhodes warned again.

In terms of combat strength, these cursed black serpent knights are not even as strong as the abyssal apostles; they are just more numerous. If Rhode wanted to eliminate them, he wouldn't need to put in any effort at all.

The reason for issuing repeated warnings is that we didn't resort to violence the moment we met.

It was simply because he didn't want to hurt these Black Serpent Knights.

Unlike those abyssal monsters that have lost their minds due to the corruption of abyssal power.

Although the Black Serpent Knight has also lost his intelligence and memories, he still retains his instincts from when he was human: to protect the former citizens of Kanria who are also tormented by the curse and have been transformed into Hilichurls.

A knight who fights to protect his people.

Even if such people turned into monsters, Rhodes didn't want to kill them for no reason.

But no matter how much he warned them, the Black Serpent Knights ignored him.

"Tsk."

No matter how unwilling he was to fight, since the other party was attacking him with such hostility, Rhodes could no longer show mercy.

Just as he gripped the bow in his right hand, preparing to strike first.

A muffled sound, as if something had covered the mouth, suddenly rang out from behind the Black Serpent Knights.

Even the Black Serpent Knights, who had been displaying murderous intent, stopped in their tracks upon hearing this voice.

Through the gaps in the ranks of the black snake knights, Rhode saw the source of the voice.

It was a black serpent knight of exceptionally large size.

His armor was not pure black, but had a hint of blue, and wind elemental energy could be seen swirling around it. In his hand, he held a greatsword that was almost as tall as himself.

Under the command of this special Black Serpent Knight.

The Black Serpent Knights, who were originally hostile to Rhodes, began to retreat and soon returned to the ruins.

"Hafdan?"

If I'm not mistaken, this special black serpent knight is none other than Hafdan, the leader of these black serpent knights and a knight of the Kanria Palace Guard.

He dismissed the Black Serpent Knights under his command.

Hafdan did not return to the ruins with them, but instead gazed at Rhodes from afar.

Having lost the ability to speak, he was unable to express what was on his mind.

Rhodes couldn't guess what he was planning to do, so he could only stare at him while continuing to devour the abyssal power at hand.

This is the current standoff.

This continued until another light footstep was heard, at which point Hafdan voluntarily left.

"Does he want to say something to me?"

Watching Hafdan's figure gradually disappear, Rhodes pondered silently.

Hafdan is an excellent knight.

Among the people Rhodes knew.

Only Jean, the Knight of Favonius who strictly adhered to the code of chivalry, could be compared to him in principle.

"Is it about those Hilichurls?"

Rod muttered something to himself.

Because Hafdan is a qualified knight, if he needs to find Rhodes, it will certainly not be related to him or those Black Serpent Knights, but most likely to be related to those innocent Hilichurls waiting to die.

"But I have no way to remove the curse from them."

Rhodes couldn't figure out what Hafdan wanted to say to him.