Upon learning that there would still be a weekly boss, the players felt both surprised and delighted.
This was bomb number one.
When they discovered they could only use the Pyro Traveler to battle the formidable Gosoythoth, the players' emotions instantly exploded.
After all, the players' main Pyro was still using the template given by Rios, without the second constellation specialized for Gosoythoth, so fighting Gosoythoth was purely torture and chip damage.
This was bomb number two.
And when the Traveler controlled by the players was about to be slain by Gosoythoth, the Traveler wouldn't actually die—instead, Paimon, who had always been by their side, would proactively step forward to block the attack for them.
"Pai—mon—"
"Traveler, you have to live on..."
This was the first time the players heard Paimon's battle voice lines, but they never imagined they'd hear such a heartbreaking voice.
This was the king bomb.
[Aaaaaah Paimon, don't die!]
[Gosoythoth, I'm going to kill you aaaaaah!]
[Planners, you're done for!]
Seeing Paimon, who had accompanied them for so many years, die while blocking a knife, the players' anger erupted like a volcano, wishing they could personally enter the world of Genshin and kill Gosoythoth.
But the Traveler in their hands was no match for Gosoythoth at all, and not long after, they followed Paimon to the afterlife.
"Uh..."
The Traveler opened her eyes and found the dim space had become bright.
She had returned from the Abyss to Natlan.
She turned her head and saw Paimon right beside her, looking equally surprised.
"I, I didn't die?" Paimon patted her chest, looking like she'd just escaped with her life.
"I said this was just a memory—no one can actually die." Rios's voice rang out.
Hearing his words, the girls finally recalled that what they had just experienced was merely illusory.
"So that's the monster formed from the Abyss fusing with the Pyro Sovereign?" The Traveler furrowed her brows lightly.
That fiend was truly powerful—even she wasn't its match.
"It could also be the Pyro Sovereign mimicked by the Abyss," Rios said, arms crossed. "I didn't look closely at the time, so I'm not entirely sure."
"But it's way too strong, isn't it?" Paimon said. "Even with the Traveler and me teaming up, we didn't cause it much trouble."
Teaming up...
Hearing Paimon's words, the Traveler rolled her cute white eyes.
In that battle just now, she knew full well how much damage she herself had dealt.
All the damage was clearly done by me.
"That fiend is indeed that powerful." Rios said with a smile. "Even you couldn't defeat it, so the rest of Natlan probably couldn't either."
"I'll tweak it a bit and add myself in, so when everyone faces the fiend, they won't feel despair."
Seeing Rios's actions, Paimon touched her chin. "Your Excellency, the Pyro Archon, you're not doing this so that all of Natlan can see how you defeated the Abyss monsters, are you?"
"How could that be?" Rios said. "Am I the type to crave vanity?"
Thus, the Traveler and Paimon once again placed their hands on the monument, entering that past memory.
"Your Excellency, the Pyro Archon really came in with us."
Paimon saw the red-haired youth appear beside her, circled around him to look him up and down, and exclaimed, "The fidelity is so high."
In the players' eyes, the Pyro Archon wasn't just next to the character but directly appeared in the party.
They opened the character menu and could now see the Pyro Archon's mechanics.
[Uncle Mi strikes!]
[No leaks about the Pyro Archon from Hoyo, and now Mihoyo himself leaks the Pyro Archon's mechanics.]
[Nightsoul's Burst adds 1500 ATK to the whole team; with one constellation, it goes up to 2200.]
[The kid's about to cry from fear.]
[Locked roster and unlocked roster characters in ecstasy.]
[Xiangling's overjoyed; the Pyro Archon adds so much ATK, and it's Pyro too—later in Inazuma, we can swap the Electro Archon for the Pyro Archon, Xiangling's damage might be even higher, and her ER too.]
[It's already 5.0 major version, and national team can still run?]
[The gold content of the 6-star chef god and 6-star hydro god.]
[This Pyro Archon at zero constellations can even shred defense—sure, we know you're a god, but this is too godly, right?]
[The craziest part isn't that Burst revives fallen teammates, is it?]
[Full team healing is one thing, but zero constellations reviving the whole party, and without the 15-minute cooldown like other characters—this is absurd!]
[Actually, it's normal... An attack C's HP bar is only half of a life C's; without boosting survivability, you'd get one-shot by hilichurls casually.]
[Boosting survivability? You basically can't die now, okay?]
[Thinking about it carefully, it's acceptable—after all, the Ode of Resurrection in the story really can bring the dead back to life, and if it only revived Natlan characters, there'd be drama, so they just made it revive everyone.]
[No more fear of Furina's seafood blood drain.]
[The Pyro Archon's new artifact set has so much text—any big shots to explain?]
[Let me see... Holy crap, a healing set?]
[The story emphasized the Pyro Archon's combat power countless times, and when he enters the banner, he turns into a support.]
[Turning into support is one thing, but a signature artifact that's a healing set?]
[Pyro Archon: Kids, I'm super strong in fights, but actually a healer.]
[As long as you kill all the enemies, your teammates won't be in danger.]
[I get what the Pyro Archon's artifacts mean now—this looks like a healing set on the surface, but it's actually for boosting the Pyro Archon's damage!]
[Full stacks give 50% Crit Rate and 100% Crit DMG, and the Pyro Archon can definitely eat full, so that's built-in 55% Crit Rate and 150% Crit DMG.]
[Let me check the multipliers... Holy shit, what monster is this—the three charged attacks have the same multipliers as Kinich's Elemental Skill?]
[The off-field Elemental Skill damage is scary too; though single-target isn't as high as the Tuner of Tapestries, this is AoE—as long as there are two enemies, it surpasses her.]
[Not to mention it buffs ATK and shreds defense.]
[Friendly reminder: the Pyro Archon has Super-Nightsoul too.]
[Oh yeah, and Super-Nightsoul—that damage is even more insane.]
[Such strong support, and explosive DPS too—is this the level of a 5-star character?]
[This is straight-up 6-star!]
After the players finished looking at Rios's mechanics, though shocked, what followed was excitement.
They were still fuming, dying to tear Gosoythoth in half.
The stronger Rios was, the more satisfying it'd be when they fought Gosoythoth later.
Plus, when Rios used his Burst, he'd revive teammates—so they basically wouldn't fear dying at all?
Gosoythoth, eat shit!