Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

Once the giant crab had finally retreated sideways behind the rocks and disappeared into the shadows of the crashing waves, Fanes lay on the branch and counted to a full hundred to make sure the dusty giant wouldn't come back for a comeback. Only then did he slide down the old oak tree on all fours.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, Fanes felt as if he had been given a second chance at life.

"Walk."

Fanes took Little Black off his shoulder and put it on the ground, brushed the bark scraps off his pants, his eyes blazing with anger, "Go back and get more men."

Yakoda jumped down from the tree after him, her starry eyes still showing lingering fear from the ordeal: "Boss, who did you shake?"

"Who else can we shake!"

Fanes had already started running towards Mondstadt with his short legs. "If I don't turn that crab demon into crab roe rice today, I'll have wasted my position as the twelfth seat!"

Fanes was always very efficient, especially when it came to revenge. After returning, he went straight to the underground intelligence station and, in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, assembled a well-equipped advance team of Fools.

Upon hearing that his master had been chased up a tree by a crab, Fatty immediately slammed his half-eaten bread on the table, grabbed his heavy water cannon, and stood at the front of the line, his round face as serious as if he were about to fight a decisive battle.

When the group stormed back to Eagle Beach, the large gray crab was leisurely blowing bubbles in the shallow water, completely unaware that its time was coming to an end.

Fañez stood behind the reef, raised his hand and waved it forward: "Shoot!"

The first member of the Thunder Hammer vanguard rushed out, swinging his warhammer, crackling with purple lightning, high into the air and striking the crab's carapace with pinpoint accuracy, leaving a trail of crackling lightning.

With a muffled thud, lightning exploded, scattering a shower of tiny sparks across the crab's carapace. The crab was struck and its entire body sank down, its eight legs digging deep furrows in the sand. Before it could even turn around, the muskets beside it launched a second wave of attacks.

Water Fat followed closely behind, the high-pressure water jet precisely hitting the crab's eye stalks, making its two protruding little eyes shrink back.

This was a righteous brawl. Four or five people took turns attacking the crab. After Lei Chui finished hitting it with the musket, the musket finished with the water cannon, and after the water cannon finished, Lei Chui continued with a second set of combos.

The crab was beaten until its shell was smoking and its legs were trembling. It spun around three times but couldn't find a way to break through. Finally, its two big claws drooped down weakly, the whole crab tilted to the side, its eight legs stretched out, and it peacefully closed its two little eyes, which were red and swollen from being hit by the water jet.

Fanes emerged from behind the rocks, walked across the wet sand to the giant crab carcass, placed a foot on its dusty shell, put his hands on his hips, and tilted his chin up: "You dare mess with me! I'll braise you when we get back!"

The sea breeze made the hem of his oversized coat flutter loudly. Fanes was posing enthusiastically on the crab shell when he suddenly remembered something—this moment of glory should be captured in a photograph to commemorate it.

Fanes turned to the fat man and shouted, "Is there a camera? Take a picture of me!"

Fatty Shui was squatting next to a crab leg, studying whether it was edible, when he heard the shout and looked up, looking bewildered: "Sir, where did I get a phonograph camera...?"

Just as Fanes was about to say something more, a violent tremor suddenly came from the ground beneath his feet.

The tremor was completely different from the low, rumbling sound that came from the depths of the earth when the seal of Usa broke—this time it was a real, surging tremor from the direction of the beach, like a mountain taking steps toward this side.

Fanes stumbled and nearly fell while standing on the crab shell. Yakoda caught him on the rocks to steady him. Water Fat's heavily armored knees hit the sand with a loud thud.

Everyone turned to look towards the sea without prior arrangement.

Then they saw the crab.

No, it's not the same one as before. Compared to this one, the difference between the previous one is like the difference between a sesame seed and a watermelon.

A giant, bluish-gray crab slowly rose from the sea, its carapace as wide as a mobile fortress, and each of its eight legs thicker than the trunk of the old oak tree at the gates of Mondstadt.

It is at least thirty meters tall. When standing in the shallow water, the water only goes up to the joints of its legs. Its two large pincers are raised in the air, blocking out half of the sky. Sunlight leaks through the gaps in the pincers, casting a huge, slowly moving shadow on the beach.

Fanes stood on the crab shell that they had beaten to death, craning his neck to look at the enormous creature that was slowly approaching on the sea like the final boss of a tokusatsu drama, his mouth agape for a long time.

"Holy shit—"

Fanes finally found his voice, his voice rising at least two 2.5-octaves in shock, "So you're not even going to act anymore! This guy must have jumped right out of that tokusatsu show next door!"

No one answered him, because everyone was running.

When Fanes jumped off the crab shell, he almost twisted his ankle. He grabbed the still-dazed Yakoda and ran away. Little Black’s four short legs moved quickly and followed closely at his feet. Water Fatty and the rest of the advance team also scattered and fled, each carrying their weapons.

The ground trembled with every step the giant crab, which was thirty meters tall, took behind us. It left a series of footprints on the beach that were larger than the mouth of a well. The waves were stirred up by its crab legs, and white foam splashed up to half a person's height.

Fanes was out of breath, his lungs feeling like they were stuffed with burning cotton. He glanced back as he ran—the giant crab was getting closer and closer, and the sand kicked up by the closest of its legs almost hit the back of his head.

Just as the giant crab's second leg was about to step on Fanes's head, a dark shadow suddenly darted out from the woods on the side of the beach.

The shadow moved with the speed of a gust of wind compressed to its limit, shooting out from between the treetops, drawing a long arc in mid-air, and landing precisely in the center of the giant crab's carapace.

As Fanes ran, he kept turning his head to look, only managing to catch a glimpse of a tall figure landing on the crab shell—golden hair billowing in the wind, wearing a black, gold, and blue knight's armor, his cloak fluttering behind him.

The man held a massive two-handed sword, its blade reflecting a blinding white light in the sunlight. Without pausing the instant he landed on the crab shell, he gripped the hilt with both hands, raised the greatsword high above his head, and then, with a force that Phanes could not comprehend at all—a force that seemed capable of splitting mountains—slashed downwards with tremendous force.

The sound of the sword slicing into the crab shell was dull and crisp, like cutting into a huge piece of frozen soil.

The crab froze in mid-air. Its leg, which was suspended in mid-air, paused for a moment. Then the entire behemoth began to split open from the middle, and a straight slit appeared on its shell, extending from the center of the carapace to the base of the leg.

The grayish-blue shell slowly slid down to both sides, the crab's body swayed twice, and finally crashed onto the sea surface with a thud, splashing water more than ten meters high.

Fanes stopped, bending over and supporting himself on his knees, panting heavily. He looked up and watched the figure standing on the crab's remains sheath her greatsword, effortlessly leaping off the shell and landing on the beach as if stepping over a threshold in his own backyard.

The man turned around and took a few steps toward them. His short, golden hair gleamed warmly in the sunlight, and his azure eyes curved slightly as he approached, a carefree and casual smile playing on his lips.

Fanes straightened up, looked at the man in front of him who was clad in armor, had blond hair and blue eyes, and was carrying a greatsword, opened his mouth, and finally only uttered the sentence that was churning in his mind: "Holy shit... he's practically a superman."

Behind the treetops in the southeast corner of the wind-swept land, two figures still stood quietly. Alice pushed up her hat brim, looked at the giant crab carcass slowly sinking into the water on the distant beach, and smiled slightly: "I told you, I'd step in when the time is right."

Nico glanced at her sideways, his expression remaining ethereal and indifferent: "Your way of handling things is to let the Grand Master clean up the mess?"

Alice pushed up her hat brim and said calmly, "This is called resource integration."