"I have cleared out quite a few hilichurls before too..."
Amber asked in confusion, "So why did I never get this kind of energy?"
"Do you see any powerful hilichurls near Mondstadt?"
Jensen sounded a bit helpless. "You would have to look for the kind that you basically cannot beat."
Amber's face flushed red.
Thinking about it, as an individual opponent she really had never met a hilichurl she could not beat. Compared to the ones in this temple, the ones outside Mondstadt were total weaklings.
Most of the times she had to run for her life were because she accidentally stirred up an entire camp at once.
"Let us move on."
Jensen pressed close to the wall and peeked into the hall ahead. "Three wooden shield hilichurls, two shooters, one hilichurl with a slime."
"Should we lure them out?" Amber asked.
If they set up an ambush near the doorway, they ought to be able to handle it.
"No. I will separate the two hilichurl archers. Lumine, you take the slime hilichurl. Amber, the three wooden shield hilichurls are yours."
"M, me, one versus three?"
Amber was terrified.
"Kiting is an archer's specialty," Jensen said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
If it had been Fischl here, three wooden shield hilichurls would be nothing. Even if there were a shield wielding hilichurl berserker among them, she could still wipe them out without taking a scratch.
"I will do my best..."
Amber did not feel confident at all.
Golden sand like Geo energy began spilling out from Jensen's body.
The sight made both Amber and Lumine jump.
"G, Geo element?" Paimon yelped, flapping back a bit in surprise. "Isn't Jensen an Anemo user?"
"Do you see an Anemo Vision on me anywhere?"
Jensen pointed into the hall and spoke. "Stonewall."
Rumble...
In the direction he had pointed, a stone wall taller than a person shot up from the ground, splitting the hall into several separate sections. The spots where the two hilichurl archers had been standing were completely cut off.
"Haah!"
The hilichurls noticed them at once.
"Lumine."
"Yes."
Lumine did not have time to stay shocked. She answered crisply, then darted forward, sword slanting toward the hilichurl clutching a small Pyro Slime.
Slime hilichurls were a support type enemy.
Their job was to lob Pyro Slimes at anyone entangled with the wooden shield hilichurls, causing explosive area damage.
One on one, a foe like that was actually easier to deal with than a wooden shield hilichurl.
Lumine planned to finish this one off, then slip around the Stonewall and go cause trouble for the hilichurl archers.
"This side is yours, Amber."
Geo still flowed thick around Jensen, but he had no intention of charging in. That energy was there to protect Amber if she ran into real danger.
Amber had no time to marvel at his dual element control.
The three wooden shield hilichurls were already thundering toward her.
Her charged arrow flew, slamming into one of the shields and setting it ablaze.
"...!"
The hilichurl yelped at the sudden heat, stumbling to a stop and flailing its shield around, trying desperately to smother the flames.
Amber rolled across the floor in a quick dodge, pulling away from the other two.
She nocked another arrow.
Pyro gathered fiercely along the shaft.
Thwip.
Another shot struck a second shield, but the hilichurl had raised it in time, blocking the hit.
She risked a quick glance at the first target. The flames on that shield were already half out, and judging from the damage so far, she would need at least two charged shots to burn one wooden shield down.
Amber wanted to groan.
She kept running, feet pounding that tense little rhythm as she searched for a route that would not get her boxed in.
"Is Jensen really not going to help?" Paimon asked curiously.
"If I help, I have to share the energy," Jensen shook his head.
He needed his cultivation targets to break through in order to level up. Ley line and dragon power were only useful if they absorbed it, not him.
On the other side of the hall, in the ring of Pyro left by the exploding slime, Lumine's Favonius Sword traced an elegant arc and settled back behind her.
At her feet lay the burning corpse of the slime hilichurl.
After confirming she had absorbed the released energy, she slipped around the Stonewall to hunt down the hilichurl archers.
She could feel herself becoming stronger.
Her lips curved into a faint, satisfied smile.
As she passed behind the Stonewall, she could not help turning her head to glance at the man standing calmly by the entrance.
"Did you level up?"
Even without looking directly, Jensen could see the information from his system.
Meanwhile, Amber had only just managed to burn through two shields, and now she was being chased in circles by three howling hilichurls.
She barely had time to condense another Pyro arrow.
Jensen sighed and snapped his fingers.
Another thick Stonewall surged up from the floor, neatly separating Amber from the three wooden shield hilichurls.
Amber glanced over, then her eyes lit up.
Listening carefully to the sound of their footsteps, she drew a charged arrow and aimed at the corner where she knew they would appear around the wall.
She loosed in a flash.
A hilichurl stepped out at exactly the wrong moment.
The charged shot exploded right against its head.
The creature, shield and all, was blown back a good distance before it even understood what had hit it.
Amber stepped back twice, gathered another Pyro arrow, and then she and the hilichurls started circling the Stonewall in a deadly little chase, burning through time, stamina, and energy until she finally brought them all down.
"There is this rush, like breaking through a wall you never thought you could," Amber puffed, sticking out her tongue.
She was drenched in sweat, strands of hair sticking to her cheeks as she panted lightly.
Her hands were still trembling faintly.
Even her breathing was uneven as she spoke.
And yet, despite all of that...
She felt amazing.
A bright, triumphant grin bloomed on her cute round face.