"Quick! Hurry up and go! We can't stay in Mondstadt for another day!"
Jesse, Elliot, Zane, and Matt, the quartet, were clinging frantically to the shoulders and back armor of the Wolf King's twenty-meter-tall mecha form, like four startled rabbits (this comparison is not meant to provoke Bugs Bunny). Their posture was extremely undignified, as if one second slower would mean being caught by something terrifying.
Lumine and Paimon quickly squeezed into the cockpit located in the Wolf King's chest. Paimon even thoughtfully double-locked the hatchmainly to prevent those four guys from trying to squeeze in.
"Wolf King! Activate! Lift off! Hurry!"
Jesse slapped the Wolf King's cold armor, his voice clearly panicked.
The Wolf King's electronic eyes flashed calmly, and the thrusters on its back emitted a low hum, immediately spitting out streams of searing particle energy.
The massive silver-white mecha steadily ascended, leaving the chaotic Mondstadt City gradually far below them.
"Masters, what is the destination?"
The Wolf King's steady mechanical voice rang out, as if the desperate escape just now had nothing to do with it.
"To Inazuma!"
Zane adjusted the mask that had slipped slightly on his face, his tone resolute.
"That place is far enough! Across the sea! Once this 'evil wind' in Mondstadt passes, we can go visit Liyue Harbor!"
"Just what good deed did you guys do this time!!!"
Inside the cockpit, Lumine finally couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a collapsing roar through the communicator.
"Why has Mondstadt City been shrouded in a persistent low pressure for the past few days! Everyone looks at us like we're the God of Plague! Grandpa Marvin, the vegetable seller, won't even sell us carrots! Even Diona at the Cat's Tail Tavern put up the'Sold Out Today' sign as soon as she saw us! Tell me! Did you guys dig up some noble's ancestral grave again before leaving?!"
"It's a miscarriage of justice, Lumine!"
Jesse, hugging one of the Wolf King's antennas, cried out mournfully.
"This time it really isn't our fault! How could we predict that an existence on the level of Bugs Bunny would cross worlds to visit? Even more ridiculous, Tom and Jerry, those two living terrors, also showed up! Who can handle that!"
Elliot, clinging to the Wolf King's shoulder armor, shouted over the wind to add: "Exactly! Those figures are considered concept-level Rule Benders in the comedy character circle! Our meager, amateur comedic skills are as laughable in front of them as a Slime in the Novice Village trying to solo Stormterror! We can't beat them! We absolutely can't beat them!"
"..."
Lumine was instantly speechless.
Thinking carefully, that did seem to be the case.
Even these four guys, who can make the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles jump in anger, ran away at the first sign of trouble. Just how terrifying must the newcomers be?
She silently withdrew the foot she had been preparing to kick the control panel with.
Paimon flew around the cockpit, her little head filled with big question marks: "But... how did they get here exactly? Are Teyvat's borders full of holes, like the walls of the Temple of the Thousand Winds?"
Zane sighed and explained, "We don't know the specific mechanism. It might be some kind of high-dimensional accident, or maybe... never mind, it's not important. What is important is that, for the short term, we, and Mondstadt, shouldn't have to worry about them coming back."
"Why are you so certain?"
Paimon asked curiously.
"Because we beat up the Dog Author who messed up the script!"
Elliot immediately blurted out the answer, his tone filled with the pride of "eliminating a menace for the people." He even waved a fist, nearly sliding off the Wolf King.
Lumine: "..."
Paimon: "..."
What does you beating up the author have to do with the stability of Teyvat's style?! And why were you even able to hit the author in the first place?!
Matt's simple, honest voice came from below, carrying a hint of worry: "Hope they're okay..."
The Wolf King ignored the noise from its passengers and the cockpit, maintaining a steady cruising speed, flying through the clouds toward the distant Inazuma.
Below was the boundless deep blue ocean. Occasionally, they could spot some archipelagos and massive, cruising Sea Beasts (which the Wolf King preemptively steered clear of).
After a period of flight, the outline of an archipelago shrouded in purple thunderclouds gradually emerged on the distant horizon.
The oppressive atmosphere could be felt even from a great distancethat was the closed-off nation of Inazuma.
"Approaching Inazuman airspace. Detecting high-intensity thunderstorm area and unknown energy barrier."
The Wolf King's alert sounded.
"Just fly straight through! A mere thunderstorm can't strike us dead, can it!"
Elliot shouted with soaring spirit.
The Wolf King paid no attention. A faint energy shield appeared on its surface, and it precisely calculated a relatively safe path, weaving through the dense lightning and roaring thunder like a nimble silver fish, finally breaking through the outer thunderstorm without incident, officially entering Inazuman airspace.
They chose to land on a remote coast, slightly away from Inazuma City and close to Kannazuka.
The Wolf King reverted to its Werewolf Form, and the group stepped onto Inazuma's land, which carried damp moisture and a faint scent of the Electro Element.
"Phew... We finally made it."
Jesse let out a long breath and patted the dust off his clothes.
"I hope Raiden Ei, that venerable old lady, is in a good mood lately, and doesn't give us the Musou no Hitotachi as a welcome gift right away."
"She shouldn't, right."
Zane looked around and analyzed.
"We are, after all, the 'heroes' who solved the Vision Hunt Decree and the isolation problems. Plus, here in Inazuma... there don't seem to be any legends about particularly outrageous comedy characters, right?"
The moment he finished speaking
"Boom!"
A sudden explosion occurred in an open area not far away! As the smoke cleared, they saw a man holding a device that looked like a bazooka, laughing maniacally at the sky.
A cannonball painted with a cartoon skull flew crookedly toward the sky, then, with a "poof" dozens of meters up, exploded into a cloud of black smoke that was harmless but extremely obscuring.
Immediately after, a man in a suit, with spiral eyebrows and blonde hair, appeared in front of him as if teleporting, striking a strange pose.
He delivered a kick, and the resulting wind pressure did manage to disperse some of the smoke, but his movements were so exaggerated they looked like he was dancing ballet.
the quartet, Lumine and Paimon, and the Wolf King, collectively froze in place.
Elliot trembled, pointing at the two figures whose art style was clearly wrong, his voice tearful: "Could... could those be... Vinsmoke Family's... Sanji and... Niji?!"
The sound of chattering teeth came from beneath Zane's mask: "From the... One Piece set... Why are they here too?!"
Jesse desperately clutched his head: "It's over... We can't stay in Inazuma either... Has this Teyvat become a containment facility for comedy characters?!"
Matt inquired, "Is it... too late for us to go back to Mondstadt now?"
Lumine silently turned around and patted the Wolf King's leg: "Wolf King... how about we just go straight to Snezhnaya? I heard it's all ice and snow there, so probably no comedy characters would want to go..."
Paimon was so scared she hid behind Lumine, only peeking out her little head, trembling as she said, "Th-they look... not very normal either..."
The Inazuma adventure (or rather, the start of a new round of survival challenges) kicked off in this atmosphere of chaos and despair.
And our protagonists seem destined never to escape encounters with these "concept-level" troubles.
"I'm going to beat that Dog Author up again right now!!!"
Elliot roared, consumed by rage.