3 Pyro Extermination

Before the chapter kicks off, any suggestions for what worlds and missions he should have in the future? Of course, I have a few in mind, but I'd much appreciate some suggestions from you guys! If you can, pop a quick comment on this paragraph about what world and mission you'd be interested in seeing. Of course, let's keep it simple for the first few missions, nothing too outrageous.

Just keep in mind that the missions and worlds don't necessarily need to be action packed, they could be slice of life for whatever I care, just as long as I find it interesting and can make something out of it. For example, No Game No Life could be interesting.

Also, just curious whether or not you want me to have Akira announce his attacks whenever he is fighting, though obviously not while he is trying to be stealthy and all that. I just feel like scripting the battle with no attacks being called out can be a bit awkward sometimes, though that might just be me, I don't mind either way. I'll do so for this chapter, but I'll definitely stop if the majority of you guys don't want the attacks to me announced. So, please do tell!

Finally, for those curious about the timeline in which the story currently takes place, it is some time before the traveller has arrived in Mondstadt.

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With his magic power enhancing his physical abilities, Akira managed to easily traverse his way across the land towards his destination. Any monsters that got in his way while running were easily dealt with a punch or two, though those monsters were obviously pretty weak.

In any case, it didn't take long before Akira found himself now standing on top of a relatively high cliff-side area overlooking the supposed campsite of this Pyre Tribe. Being silent as possible, Akira poked his head over the cliff as the transparent live stream drone floated directly behind him.

'Woah, for a supposedly newly established tribe, they're pretty well off...' Akira commented in his head as he stared at the rather large campsite. 'Let's see here, those hilichurls are all holding torches, and the campsite has a bunch of fire all around... no wonder they're called the Pyre Tribe.'

True to his thoughts, the campsite had all the basic things such as makeshift houses built with wooden logs and what he assumed were probably straws collected from nearby plantation and such. However, the overarching feature was most definitely the pillars of fire.

In multiple locations around the camp, there were basic campfires, but there also larger burning stacks of wood that had flames that easily reached over five meters into the sky. The hilichurls were all dancing around said fires, waving their torches around crazily while doing so.

It was an honest miracle that camp hadn't burnt down yet...

The other things of notice were the archer towers, obviously with hilichurls wielding what he could see were crossbows. He also saw those mitachurls from the mission detail log, all of them were silently sitting down not really doing anything.

Akira had to admit, they were a lot bigger than he thought they'd be, each of them easily were taller than two meters if standing up. Looking around carefully, he also noticed the two samachurls or whatever seemingly shouting towards the hilichurls, as if commanding them.

'What the heck are they saying?' Akira couldn't help but wonder as he heard them all yelling. Ever since he got his Dragon Slayer magic, his senses had greatly improved, so hearing these guys were no issue from his current position. 'Also, I don't see anything resembling that lawachurl thing...'

No matter where or how hard he looked, Akira couldn't see anything that slightly resembled the picture in which the mission detail log had provided him. After looking for a while longer, Akira shook his head before focusing on the enemies that WERE present.

'The environment really isn't suitable for me, all that fire is consuming the oxygen around the area, makes me wonder how the hell these guys are so casually living in such a smoky environment. Man, the smoke really does smell disgusting...'

Akira held a slight look of disgust as he held the tip of his nose.

'No places to effectively issue a sneak attack, so the best I can do really is at least gain the upper hand by taking them by surprise.' Akira nodded to himself as he slowly got up from the ground. He then glanced at the live stream chat.

『Xiangling: Those are a lot of hilichurls!』

『Chongyun: They're called the Pyre Tribe, correct?』

『Xingqiu: That's what the mission says, though I don't believe I've heard of any other tribes other than the ones located within Mondstadt』

『Chongyun: Those ARE a lot of hilichurls though, will this person be okay? He doesn't appear to possess a Vision either』

『Xinyan: Don't go overestimating yourself there, dude! Dying isn't exactly rock 'n' roll!』

『Hu Tao: If you do happen to meet your unfortunate end sooner than anticipated, please do contact us at the funeral parlor first! I'll be right there to collect your remains!』

Looking at the last comment, Akira felt his eyebrow twitch as he saw the nature of the statement. He personally didn't have much experience when it came to funeral services, but he was pretty sure talking about funerals isn't exactly something that's supposed to be so cheery.

Though, the next comment got his interest.

『Keqing: It will be best to deal with those hilichurls first before confronting the mitachurls and samachurls, otherwise you'll be completely overwhelmed by their numbers』

This person was one of the few who had that special icon, which meant the system held this person in high importance, which he still didn't know why. He was interested because this person was one of the few that had not sent a message yet, at least none that he had noticed.

In any case though, he fully agreed with this Keqing person's statement. The hilichurls may not be the biggest of threats for him, their numbers might be enough to give them the advantage they need to overwhelm him, especially if they act as distractions for the bigger and stronger few.

"Thanks for the tip, much appreciated."

Akira answered in a small whisper while speaking English, he might as well speak in a language his viewers could understand than forcing them to read the apparent subtitles the system automatically gave him.

"Let's make an entrance."

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It was just like any other day for the tribe of hilichurls here, dancing around while singing towards the pillars of fire they created. This was what their tribe loved, the thrill and spectacle of setting things ablaze. The fire was just so attractive to them.

In other words, they were pretty much pyromaniacs.

At the current time, all of the hilichurls that weren't currently on the lookout atop the archer towers were all dancing around one of the fire pillars. The mitachurls were on their own space a few meters away, silently sitting together and enjoying the atmosphere.

"..." One of the hilichurls who were up on top of one of the towers boredly sat while swaying slightly side to side. However, before it could even react, a familiar figure jumped up towards it with their fist in a punch-ready position. "Ya...!"

The hilichurl soon felt a powerful fist drill right into the face of its mask, sending it flying off the tower and towards the ground where all the other hilichurls were still singing and dancing around the flames.

As these events occurred, the dancing and singing came to an end as all of the dancing hilichurls, as well as those atop the towers, all quickly heard the body of their companion impact with the ground with incredible force.

"I-Ika! Ya...!"

The hilichurl who had been hit struggled to speak as it reached out towards its brethren for help, though none of the others could respond in time when the very same individual who punched the former had jumped down before speeding towards them with incredible speed.

"Here we go!" Akira gave a battle cry as powerful blue winds suddenly began emerging from both of his hands. Soon enough, Akira seemingly rushed through the group of hilichurls while having simultaneously swung both of his hands with powerful force. "Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!"

As Akira stopped behind the group of hilichurls, none of them could properly react as they only managed to slightly turn to face him before a massive tornado suddenly appeared at the centre of them all, having been formed by the powerful winds that were swung by Akira's hands.

The winds that made up the rapid tornado were strong enough that all of the hilichurls, including the ones that were still on the nearby archer towers, were quickly sucked in. All of the hilichurls flailed around helplessly as their bodies were being cut mercilessly by the force of the winds.

The only ones who weren't amongst the chaos that was the tornado were the mitachurls and the samachurls, the former managing to keep their ground while the samachurls were smart enough to actually grab onto something to prevent themselves from being dragged in.

"Huh, did not mean to do that."

Akira stood up from his crouched position and turned around to see that the tornado he created also seemingly sucked in the flames of the fire pillar the hilichurls were previously dancing around. This in turn caused the tornado to become a twister of flames that not only cut the hilichurls, but also burned them at the same time.

『Chongyun: What an incredible attack!』

『Yun Jin: Amazing...』

『Xingqiu: Oh, Yun Jin is here as well!』

『Yaoyao has gifted 1,000 Mora』

『Xiangling: Eh, how did you do that Yaoyao?!』

『Yaoyao: It's next to the message box, I think you can send him things!』

『Xiangling: Really? Let me try!』

『Xiangling has gifted Chicken-Mushroom Skewer』

『Cloud Retainer: A Visionless mortal with such an affinity for the elements of the world? It's quite the spectacle indeed』

『Ganyu: ...Cloud Retainer?!』

『Xiangling: The adepti are in here as well?!』

『Yaoyao: Aunty Cloud Retainer!』

Akira ignored the comments rolling through the chat room right now in favour of the battle, and he watched silently as the tornado of fire began to disperse as the lifeless scorched bodies of the hilichurls all dropped to the ground one after the other.

That was when Akira heard an aggravated cry, to which he calmly turned around to see the six mitachurls all glaring at him with unrestrained hatred. The two samachurls within the tribe were behind them waving their red staffs, obviously quite furious as well by the sudden change of events.

Quickly assessing the situation, Akira saw that two of the mitachurls had large wooden shields while the other four wielded large battle-axes that seemed to be glowing as if made of molten metal. He'd definitely have to watch out for that, he didn't want to get burned anytime soon.

"...!" Akira widened his eyes before quickly dashing off to the side, avoiding two large balls of fire that were sent flying at him. Looking at the origin of the attack, he saw both the samachurls waving their staffs while voicing out some kind of chant in their native language. 'They're troublesome, I'll deal with them then focus on these mitachurls.'

Akira quickly rushed forwards, dodging any attempt of an attack from the mitachurls as well as the samachurls, and seeing him getting closer, the latter obviously began to panic while chanting. Akira could easily tell, these samachurls didn't seem to be the most physically capable.

"Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Akira shouted as a powerful whirlwind formed at the end of each of his fingertips. He then swiped them towards at one of the samachurls, sending it flying back and crashing into the side of one of the houses. "Sky Dragon's... Vortex Palm!"

Akira had quickly arrived in front of the remaining samachurl, bent low to the ground before smashing his right open palm straight into the stomach of the samachurl. Instead of just sending it flying immediately, a powerful concentrated burst of wind erupted from his open palm, drilling at the samachurl's stomach before sending it flying away while spinning rapidly through the air.

『Xingqiu: A true martial artist who utilises only his fists! Though, I do wonder why all of his attacks start with sky dragon』

『Xiangling: Maybe he just likes dragons?』

『Xingqiu: In any case, it will be quite the addition to my novel!』

『Yanfei: Hold on, we did say he doesn't possess a Vision, right? How is he doing this?』

『Xiangling: Oh yeah, that's true!』

『Hu Tao: Zhongli is really smart and stuff, he probably knows!』

『Zhongli: I'm afraid that I too am also in the dark, Director Hu』

『Hu Tao: Ehhh?!』

『Yun Jin: Perhaps he's a magic user? I have heard that especially talented individuals are capable of utilising the elements without a Vision』

『Xingqiu: A warrior of fists, magic or Vision? Truly, a remarkable story to be told! This has just given me some new ideas for my novel!』

『Chongyun: Calm down, Xingqiu...』

As the comments were rapidly flying through, Akira was in the middle of fighting the six mitachurls all at one. Though, due to their rather bulky physiques, their speed and manoeuvrability were rather crippled in exchange for strength.

Akira found dodging their attacks to be rather easy, they had a very brutish and simple form of attacking. The issue was their defences, not including the shields, their thick hide or whatever you call it were much tougher compared to the hilichurls. However, not near durable enough that Akira was hopeless.

"Sky Dragon's Claw!"

Akira performed a quick backflip as he dropped down onto of the remaining three mitachurls, the other three he had killed were lifeless on the ground with a multiple of injuries on their bodies. Akira's leg had been covered in a powerful whirlwind, which he then struck with a kick that he performed by utilising the momentum of the backflip.

His leg made contact on the top of the mitachurl's head, which on top of the injuries it had already endured, was enough to kill it as the mitachurl soon found itself face-to-face with the ground. Having dropped to the ground with a crash, Akira landed on top of its body while staring the remaining two down.

Without wasting any time, Akira rushed forward towards the last axe-wielding mitachurl, to which he was then greeted with an immediate swing of its burning axe. Akira didn't panic though, he merely pointed an open hand towards it before releasing a wave of violent wind, which was strong enough that the axe was sent back and causing the mitachurl to stumble back.

"Sky Dragon's...!" Like with the samachurl, Akira smacked the mitachurl in the stomach with and open palm, the difference this time was that he placed both palms on the mitachurl's stomach. "...Vortex Palm!"

With what felt like two drills rotating on its stomach, the mitachurl gave a cry of agony before having been sent flying back while flailing with uncontrollable movements. When it crashed to the ground, it struggled for a bit before going limp as the lights of its eyes faded away.

"You're the only one left now." Akira spoke calmly as he turned to face the remaining mitachurl who held its shield up while shaking slightly. It was clear that the mitachurl realised that its chances of victory were very slime. "I'll make this quick for you."

Akira rushed forwards, causing the mitachurl to quickly raise its shield in an attempt to block whatever attack was coming towards it. Akira had expected this though, so when he arrived in front of the shielded mitachurl, he stepped up onto the shield before kicking off of it from the top. The force in which Akira kicked off was enough to cause the shield to flick up and back.

"Sky Dragon's... Roar!"

The twister of an attack erupted from Akira's mouth, directly striking the now exposed stomach region of the mitachurl. This signature move, which was no doubt one of Akira's most powerful attacks as a dragon slayer, immediately dragged the mitachurl up into the air before engulfing it completely in its violent winds.

The shield in its hand was of no use as the powerful winds that made up the attack ate away at it before causing it to completely shatter under all of the merciless attacks. The mitachurl wasn't spared either as it was soon sent crashing into the ground as Akira directed the roar himself to do so.

Soon as the attack began to disperse, the mitachurl was shown to be lying on the slashed up rocky ground with various slash wounds all over its body as its blood dripped onto the ground beneath its body.

"That does it." Akira gave a small sigh as he could feel his mana reserves slowly recovering. While this was definitely one of his hardest fights so far, it wasn't anything truly too difficult. He definitely had a good amount of mana remaining inside him. 'Now, for that lawachurl...'

Turning to face the live stream screens, Akira navigated to the mission details.

『Current Mission』

● Objective: Eliminate all enemies within the newly established Pyre Tribe

● Hidden Objective: ???

● Navigation (Available): On

Current Progress:

● Hilichurls - [30/30]

● Mitachurls - [6/6]

● Samachurls - [2/2]

● Lawachurl - [0/1]

Rewards:

● 300,000 Mora

● Gift Package

● ??? - [Hidden Objective]

'As expected, the mission has yet to be completed since I haven't killed this lawachurl.' Akira frowned slightly as he read over the information. 'The navigation only leads me to the camp, so that's useless right now. Do I have to track this thing down or something?'

As if right on cue, Akira's ears twitched when he heard what sounded like slow yet powerful footsteps sounding in his ears. Due to the sensitivity of his hearing, he quickly realised the direction in which the source of these steps were coming from.

'Sounds like a big guy, maybe just as big as those mitachurls?' Akira frowned slightly with narrowed eyes as he quickly got into a defensive stance. As the seconds went by, Akira noticed the steps getting louder and faster as time went on. 'Here it comes!'

Over one of the overlooking cliffsides, Akira saw a large figure suddenly jump over and down towards his location. Kicking off of the ground, Akira jumped back while performing a backflip, narrowly avoiding whatever it was that crashed down onto his previous position as he soon skidded to a stop.

Amongst the burning tribal campsite, a small dust cloud formed from the sudden impact between the ground and the newcomer. Soon enough, this cloud of dust was blown away when a loud and monstrous roar erupted from within it.

Akira widened his eyes slightly when the figure that crashed down was revealed, appearing to be a figure easily more than double the height of those mitachurls he fought. This one rather similar to the mitachurls, except this one looked to have mutated to support a fire-attributed existence.

Each time this entity stomped its feet or gave out a war cry, bursts of flames would occasionally flare up around it, burning the ground beneath it while also giving off a powerful heatwave from its body. Certainly, this was an enemy far beyond any of the previous ones.

You didn't need a genius to figure that one out.

What he noticed as well, unlike the other enemies, this one had a faint magical signature originating from within. Perhaps it was some mutation caused by mana, or something else. Whatever the case, it seems that mana might have played some kind of major or minor role in this creature's development.

『Chongyun: Be careful, do not underestimate the lawachurls!』

『Yun Jin: Mr Akira, be careful!』

『Xinyan: It's chargin', people!』

Seeing the comments, Akira quickly acted as the lawachurl did indeed stomp on the ground before dashing at him with full force.

Unbefitting of its bulky stature, Akira had to roll to the side to avoid its headfirst charge, its large and pointy horns blazing up while doing so. The trail the lawachurl left behind was a trail of scorched ground that had a multitude of sections burning from small fires.

'So, this is a lawachurl? I didn't expect it to be this freaking big...' Akira chuckled slightly as he kept his eyes trained on the lawachurl as it turned to stare at him with an unreadable expression. 'It's definitely way stronger than the others, but how much stronger?'

『Xingqiu: Lawachurls are far more dangerous compared to those mitachurls, this situation is a rather difficult one...』

『Xiangling: You can do it, Akira!』

『Hu Tao: Should I make a booking for you here at the funeral in advance? I can give you a premium discount!』

『Keqing: Hu Tao, refrain from mentioning your business at this critical time!』

"No need, I'm not looking to die just yet." Akira scoffed with a small smirk before narrowing his eyes at the lawachurl. Rushing forwards, Akira slid under its powerful yet fast punch before placing his hands up and onto its chest. "Sky Dragon's Vortex Palm!"

As usual, the blew the enemy back, but unlike the previous enemies, the lawachurl managed to keep itself stable as it merely skidded backwards across the burning field by a few meters. Seeing this, Akira once again narrowed his eyes as he clicked his tongue.

"Definitely way more durable..." Akira muttered to himself before jumping back as the lawachurl smashed both its fists onto the ground, creating a violent wave of powerful flames. "Sky Dragon's... Roar!"

Throwing his head forward, Akira then shot his attack quickly towards the lawachurl who only just managed to hold both of its arms up to protect itself. While it did cause some commendable damage, the lawachurl still held its ground as it endured the onslaught of violent winds from the attack.

As if due to its natural instincts, the lawachurl looked up to see Akira now up in the air above it. This momentary time of surprise allowed Akira's previous attack to overwhelm the lawachurl for a quick moment, making it stumble a bit back as the attack dissipated. "Sky Dragon's Claw!"

Akira quickly flipped before landing the wind-infused kick directly down onto the lawachurls head, which the force caused a powerful gust of wind to blow through the area. The lawachurl obviously felt the hit, but it didn't fall down, instead it suddenly raised both arms and gave out a powerful war cry.

'Wh-What the...?' Akira blinked in surprise as he was soon sent flying back as the elemental energy circulating around the lawachurl exploded. Landing and skidding to a stop, Akira held one arm up to block his face as flames seemed to continue coming from the lawachurl in small bursts. "What the heck is this?"

『Xinyan: That don't look good...』

『Keqing: The elemental energy surrounding it has increased drastically. Remain vigilant!』

『Zhongli: It would seem that the lawachurl has formed an elemental shield, it would not be astute to confront the enemy head-on. It would be wisest to be patient and wait for the opportune moment to strike once the shield has faded』

Glancing at the chat, Akira made note of the most important comments that could help inform him of the situation. The kick he had just given should have done some considerable damage, not enough to defeat the enemy, but it should have done more than what it had. After that shield popped up, the damage was honestly negligible.

"This has become complicated..." Akira kept his composure firm and steady as the lawachurl now had a veil of fiery-red aura radiating off of its body. On top of that, he noticed that the minor magical signature he felt had also seemingly increased by a good amount. "I wonder..."

Akira didn't know what other tricks this lawachurl had in store, but he honestly wasn't curious enough to risk it just to satiate his curiosity. It would be best to finish the mission as quick as possible and return to safety where he could properly rejuvenate his mana reserves. He did still have those Senzu Beans, but he'd rather not use something so precious here.

"Let's try this out!" Akira jumped back to avoid the barrage of punches that the lawachurl sent at him, each punch infused heavily with pyro energy. After gaining some distance, Akira held one hand up towards the lawachurl. "Raise!"

Immediately after, Akira's hand was surrounding by a dense blue and green glow, and this glow also seemed to extend to the lawachurl. Confused, the lawachurl looked down at its body before noticing that the pyro shield it had around it suddenly faded away as if it was never there to begin with.

『Xiangling: He got rid of the shield!』

『Xingqiu: Now's your chance, my liege!』

"Alright, this is it, motherfucker..."

Akira eyes seemingly turned into slits as he spread both arms outwards, his hands open as his legs too were firmly planted on the ground a good bit of distance apart. Soon enough, a large complicated blue magic circle formed beneath his feet as his hair violently danced in a powerful wind.

Under the eyes of thousands upon thousands of Liyue citizens, and of course the lawachurl, a barrier of wind formed around the both of them. Confused and in a panic, the lawachurl attempted to rush through, only to be smacked back due to how fast the winds were moving around the both of them.

The barrier of wind then seemingly began to contract, forcing the lawachurl into a position where it could no longer properly move around. The panic and fear the lawachurl felt only magnified as this happened, which then further increased as it locked eyes with Akira's slitted pupils.

The lawachurl could feel the immense pressure that radiated off of Akira, the magic rolling off of Akira's body sent a wave of unimaginable oppression onto the lawachurl.

With a small glare, Akira's hands were then covered by a dense blue magic energy that he then began calmly moving. He then waved both of his arms in a counter clockwise direction, causing the energy around his hands to pulse as whirlwinds began to emerge around Akira's body.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Shattering Light - Sky Drill!"

The whirlwinds that formed around Akira came together as one, forming a dense aura around Akira's body before shooting forwards in an instant. The winds that made up the attack were so abundant and rapid that the attack looked more akin to that of a large beam of light than it did wind.

The lawachurl could only watch helplessly as the attack completely engulfed it, soon knocking it off of its feat and drilling the lawachurl into the nearby mountain that surrounded the campsite. The path in which the attack travelled shredded the ground and any nearby wreckage that was unfortunate enough to be in its path.

The attack continued on for a few seconds before finally beginning to disperse.

When it did, all that was left to see was a path of shredded carnage as the ground literally looked as if it had been in the path of a massive drill. Leading all the way towards the mountain that the lawachurl had been shot into, and said mountain now had a rather deep cave dug out with the lawachurl lifelessly sitting at the end of it.

Silence was all that now occupied the live stream, no one seemed to have reacted to the events that had just transpired, more like they couldn't react. They were indeed expecting a big finale, but certainly not one of such power and grandeur.

All they soon heard was sound of a simple ding in the live stream.

『Mission Complete - Live Stream Ending In 3 Minutes』

Akira also heard the notification and slowly relaxed himself as he gazed at the carnage that he created, though his attention was soon grabbed by a second notification as a familiar mission screen appeared in front of him.

『Mission Completed』

● Objective: Eliminate all enemies within the newly established Pyre Tribe

● Hidden Objective: Defeat the lawachurl in under three minutes