"Huu…"
After the toughest battle since arriving in this world, Lin Feng let out a long exhale.
He destroyed the nearby Withering branches and pushed deeper in. While moving, he opened the panels of the three monsters he had just fought:
[Individual Information: Autonomous Construct — Ruin Destroyer (Leyline Projection)]
Level: 38 + 10
(Strengthened by the Withering. Extremely powerful, far beyond ordinary creatures. Cloaked in forbidden energy—bold enough to challenge even the fiercest beasts.)
Attribute: Physical / @#$%
Traits: Forbidden Power, Chaos Core, Construct Tech Lv.5, Reinforced Body Lv.4, Burrow Lv.3, Laser Lv.3
Emotion: @￥#%
Affinity: @#￥%
Staring at the stats—a Withering-boosted Ruin Sentinel at level 48—Lin Feng's understanding of Khaenri'ah's military power was once again rewritten.
If mass-produced constructs are already this strong… then aside from top-tier power against Celestia's forces, Khaenri'ah could completely crush every other nation in mid- and low-tier combat.
He still hadn't found the merchant's daughter, but he decided to clear the entire Withering anyway.
Not just because the zone was too strong to leave alone… but because once the Withering vanished, anyone trapped inside would be safe.
Lin Feng dashed toward the last two Withering branches. As expected, more Ruin constructs manifested—triangular Ruin Cruisers deploying floating turrets and laser fields, and jellyfish-like Ruin Scouts generating energy barriers.
"Alright… this should be the last branch."
The machines were sturdy, but their patterns were predictable. After paralyzing their cores with elemental arrows, Lin Feng wiped them out one by one.
Still no sign of a human anywhere.
Lin Feng finally exhaled in relief.
The girl probably ran somewhere else—
No way a normal packhorse sprinted straight toward the core without being stopped… right?
No horse in Teyvat should be capable of that.
Then he looked toward the Withering core—his expression turned grim.
If a Withering zone was formed around Ruin machines, the core monster was almost always a Ruin Drake or a Ruin Grader.
Both were industrial masterpieces—thick armor, terrain-altering destructive power, cannons that pierced mountains, and absurd physical resistance. Even a random one in the wild would trigger a top-tier commission from the Adventurers' Guild.
And this one is a Withering-powered version…
I really don't want to see it.
But since he already reached this far, he decided to at least observe from afar.
Even minimal intel would help future clearing parties survive.
Steeling himself, Lin Feng patted Little White on his shoulder and crouched low, moving silently toward the core.
Gently parting the final cluster of branches, he peeked into the clearing—
And froze.
There, rising like a titan above the dead forest, floated a colossal mechanical dragon.
Its rust-tinged, dark-red armor plates gleamed like an ancient warbeast forged of gears and bolts—four legs, sweeping wings, an intimidating beauty carved from metal and death.
But what stopped Lin Feng in his tracks was not the dragon—
It was the small emerald barrier beneath it.
Inside were a trembling black-haired girl
and a very stupid horse.
"…"
Lin Feng stared silently.
The exact scene he prayed would NEVER happen… was right in front of him.
And that horse—
That absolute legend—
Had apparently charged straight through an entire Withering zone.
If not for the Aranara shielding them, the Ruin Drake would've shredded both girl and horse long ago.
Lin Feng opened the Drake's panel:
[Individual Information: Autonomous Construct — Ruin Drake: Skywatch (Leyline Projection)]
Level: 61 + 10
(Withering-empowered apex construct. Monstrously powerful. Cloaked in forbidden energy—bold enough to challenge even an envoy of the gods.)
Attribute: Physical / @#$%
Traits: Forbidden Power, Chaos Core, Construct Tech Lv.7, Reinforced Body Lv.6, Element Absorption Lv.5, Energy Surge Lv.4
Emotion: @￥#%
Affinity: @￥#%
A level 71 boss.
Lin Feng really wanted to turn around and leave.
The girl was protected by the Aranara—safe for the moment. With Tighnari away, there was no one else with a Vision nearby who could enter the Withering safely.
If he left now… who knew when he could return?
But if he stayed—
He might die.
Then another memory surfaced.
In the game, there was a girl from Vimara Village who stayed inside the Withering for too long.
Even the powerful Arama could only stabilize her temporarily.
In the end, the Traveler had to fetch a rare golden item—Viparyas Nectar—to save her.
He didn't have such an item.
He didn't have the luxury of time.
Leaving meant breaking his promise to the merchant…
and watching a girl his age die.
Staying meant risking his life.
Lin Feng closed his eyes briefly.
Looked at the girl.
Looked at Little White.
And sighed.
He compressed a huge ball of Dendro energy and hurled it far away, opposite the girl's position.
"BOOM!"
The explosion snapped the Ruin Drake out of standby.
Its eyes flared; its wings unfolded.
It turned toward the green blast.
Lin Feng seized that one instant.
He sprinted toward the green shield, scooped up the trembling green mushroom—
the Aranara—
hugged the terrified girl tightly, shielding them both with his body.
Then, as the Drake's missile streaked toward him—
Lin Feng finally used the power he swore never to touch.
He screamed sharply, voice cracking with forbidden resonance:
"LITTLE—WHITE—!!"
The moment the command was given, the creature that had always lain dormant on Lin Feng's shoulder—
The little, harmless, sleepy white critter—
vanished without a trace.
And then—
the world broke.
A pressure beyond comprehension erupted from the rainforest—
sweeping across entire Gandharva Ville—
across the whole rainforest—
across all of Sumeru—
across the entire continent.
Time stuttered.
Reality peeled.
Colors—teal, gold, violet, green—
collapsed into a single, immaculate white.
A white that erased.
Land, Withering, forest, sky—
everything visible and invisible—
was shattered, devoured, dissolved.
When the light faded,
a perfect spherical crater yawned in the earth.
Inside it, untouched,
was the tiny patch of ground under Lin Feng's embrace.
The mighty Ruin Drake—
along with its Chaos Core, its armor, its very leyline power—
had been erased so completely
that not even dust remained.
Little White had moved.
And the world had trembled.
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