Chapter 33: Khaenri'ahn Domain

In order to see, Carman had to light a troch that he carried around with him as he went towards the center of the ruins.

Looking at the puzzle, the solution was quite obvious there was a large circle underneath a controll mechanism that needed to be lit up. After Ryuzu translated the Khaenri'ahn text on the stone slate using a book she had purchased she and Carman learned that one needed to complete the following steps,

1. Light all the Pyro torches in the surrounding area of the cave.

2. Activate 3 elemental pedestals in the surrounding clif face.

3. Once the controll mechanism was unlocked 2/3 of the way, they would have to defeat a field tiller tasked with guarding the structure.

Looking at the partially lit up circle Carman felt a chill run down his spine. Field Tillers more commonly known as Ruin Guards were tough enemies to new genshin players. He briefly had a flashback to the first time he had to face one in the Mondstat Archon Quest. If memory serves they had a minor resistance to all elemental damage but a significant amount of resistance to physical damage. Fighting one with just him and Ryuzu would be foolish, the only element they had at their disposal was Hydro, and Ryuzu was purly physical in her attacks. Even if she used her Mute Screams ability, Carman wasn't sure if she would be able to bypass the machine's heavy armor before she reached her limit.

Tugging on her sleeve Carman said, "Ryuzu, we should leave, as we are now we are not going to be able to defeat that "Field Tiller" they are very resistant to physical damage.

"How resistant? I hope that you are not doubting my combat compenetentsy. While I was not made purely for combat like my younger sister, surely some rusty overgrown machine would not pose a threat to you while I am by your side, Carman I request that you let me prove that these "Ruin Guards" are mere Cannon fodder compared to my capabilities." Said Ryuzu, her usual deadpan showing slight curiousity and a large amount of self confidence.

"Ryuzu, please let's just fall back for now, while I would like nothing more to go digging around those ruins, I know our capabilities are not a good lineup against this opponent." Said Carman.

"Carman, do you not trust me? If there were to be any potential harm that would come to you, I promise that we will retreat immediately." Ryuzu said.

Sighing, Carman agreed to stay for a bit, his elemental skill should be able to help protect him and deal a little bit of damage to the guard. Ryuzu lit another torch and swiftly searched the cave to find and light all of the Pyro torches. The last one was a bit difficult as it was a fixed to the ceiling of the cavern and Ryuzu had to use her sythes as springs to launch herself up there before using them like claws to clamp down and scale to ceiling like a spider to the torch that she then lit before dropping back down to the ground.

As the Pyro torches synched and the second 1/3 of the circle under the control panel lit up, there was a loud blaring noise as red lights flashed from the embossing on the pillars and walls within the cave. A unassuming section of the ceiling split apart revealing a chute and an inactive Ruin Guard fell out of it.

After it hit the ground, the Ruins Guard's "eye" flashed and the pistons on its back started moving. An unpleasant grinding noise filled the cave as the powerfull pistons scraped away the build up of rust, dust and organic matter as the lights of the machine flickered to life and it slowly stood up uttering a loud shout too garbled to understand.

Ryuzu charged forward, her sythes ready to sink into the Guard's stony looking armor.

When she got within range, she didn't hesitate, she slashed with her sythes, however, unlike everything else she had fought so far her sythes failed to cause more than shallow scratches on the material.

Widening her eyes, Ryuzu had to jump back as the guard took a swing at her. As it missed, Ryuzu attacked the same spot again, maybe she hadn't put enough effort in, again it only left a shallow scratch. Having been used to figting enemies with human like physiology, Ryuzu was caught off guard when the Field Tiller used it's tentacle like arm to take a swing at her, she didn't have time to dodge, instead she had to use one of her sythes to block the attack, and she was launched backwards, fortunately she was able to stay rooted to the ground using her other sythe. Looking at the one that had blocked the attack, Carmen's face paled as he saw the large deformation done to it and the way the joint was forced out of alignment.

Activating his elemental skill, Hydro elements gathered and swirled around him forming a ring made up of various mechanical parts. As the Ruin Guard was taking another swing at Ryuzu, a large crossbow formed in front of Carman along with a panel with cross hairs and aiming mechanism. As the Guard started rotating it's upper body while walking towards Ryuzu, a large bolt made of water smashed against bits eye, stunning it for a few seconds.

"RYUZU, MOVE!" screamed Carman as the Ruin guard started to stand back up.

As Ryuzu stood back up she and Carman were both surprised when the Ruin Guard ignored her and started waking slowly in another direction. Towards Carman.

-To be continued