Chapter 88: Another Boss Approaches—The Abyss-Eroded Golden Wolflord
Kachina sat completely stunned, her cheeks flushed a deep shade of red from the sudden, wildly chaotic entrance.
For a long moment, the young Natlan warrior was at a total loss for words. She blinked at the roaring machine and the grinning Trailblazer atop it, finally managing to stammer out, "Ah... hello! Th-thank you for coming to save me!"
"Hey! Stelle! What kind of time is this to be showing off?!"
The sharp, exasperated voice cut through the heavy air as March 7th skidded onto the scene. Riding a sleek motorcycle of her own, she pulled up right behind Stelle, blowing a stray lock of pink hair out of her face with a heavy huff.
March planted her boots on the cracked earth and glared at the others. "Lumine! Wise! What is wrong with you two? Why aren't you riding your motorcycles when you literally have them in your pockets?!" She threw her hands up, staring at the group who had clearly been sprinting across the wasteland on foot. Her face was a picture of absolute bewilderment.
Lumine and Wise exchanged a slow, highly expressive glance. In that single second of eye contact, a deep sense of awkwardness and sudden realization washed over both of them.
The previous battle and the desperate rescue operation had been so intensely stressful that their minds had locked into pure survival mode. They had completely forgotten that a fleet of high-speed, perfectly fueled vehicles was sitting untouched inside the chat group's dimensional warehouse!
"Cough..." Lumine cleared her throat, her cheeks dusting with a faint pink as she quickly tried to salvage her dignity. "The situation was incredibly urgent. It slipped my mind."
"Well, it's not too late to ride now!" March scolded playfully.
Lumine didn't waste another second. With a swift swipe of her hand, her own heavy-duty motorcycle materialized from the group warehouse, its engine already humming with dormant power.
Wise reacted just as fast, pushing up his glasses to hide his embarrassment as he summoned his own bike. He swung his leg over the seat, gripping the handlebars tight.
Stelle patted the empty leather seat behind her and flashed a bright, chaotic grin. "Kachina, you're with me! Hop on!"
"Okay!" Kachina knew this was no time to be shy. She scrambled onto the back of the bike, wrapping her small arms tightly around Stelle's waist and holding on for dear life.
Mualani, moving with the fluid grace of a surfer, vaulted smoothly onto the back seat of Lumine's motorcycle, securing her grip.
[Zenless Zone Zero · Wise: @Dan Heng Dan Heng! Ride the motorcycle! It's much faster! Saves stamina! Don't run on foot!]
Wise's fingers flew across his virtual interface, quickly firing off the reminder to the rest of their scattered forces.
[Astral Express · Dan Heng:...Understood. Thanks for the reminder.]
The reply came a moment later, carrying an almost imperceptible pause. Even through text, it was painfully obvious that the usually calm and analytical archivist had made the exact same tactical oversight.
Engines roared to life. In an instant, the three small rescue teams transformed into three unstoppable torrents of steel.
The deafening growl of heavy machinery tore through the suffocating, dead silence of the Night Kingdom. Tires spun, kicking up clouds of dark ash as they accelerated to maximum speed, racing directly toward the brilliant, towering beam of light piercing the distant sky.
Lumine's team merged smoothly with Stelle's, their combined momentum creating a vanguard that charged fearlessly at the very front. Meanwhile, Dan Heng's squad adjusted their trajectory, closing the distance to the exit from the flank at breakneck speed.
But the Abyss was not going to let them leave so easily. Just as the Wayob had predicted, the realm's counterattack descended with terrifying ferocity.
Rumble—!
The earth groaned and violently convulsed, thrashing like a dying behemoth. Gruesome, jagged fissures ripped open across the wasteland, glowing with a sickly, corrupt light.
Above them, the sky warped into a chaotic maelstrom. Countless pitch-black boulders, dripping with abyssal sludge, howled down through the atmosphere like a catastrophic meteor shower!
The dense barrage of falling rock threatened to obliterate every conceivable path leading to the pillar of light.
"Watch out for falling rocks!" Lumine shouted over the roar of her engine, swerving sharply to avoid a massive crater.
"Hmph! Piece of cake!" Stelle yelled from the very front, her eyes practically sparkling with adrenaline.
She twisted the throttle until it couldn't go any further. The motorcycle shrieked like a wild beast. Without slowing down, Stelle summoned the power of Preservation. The blazing Lance of the Architects materialized in her grip, erupting in roaring flames. Swinging the massive weapon with one hand while steering with the other, she smashed through the falling boulders with pure, unadulterated brute force. Shattered rock and molten slag rained down around them as she carved a safe path for her teammates!
"Follow my lead and charge!" Stelle laughed, her chaotic energy burning brighter than her lance.
"Don't get too carried away!" March 7th yelled, following closely in her slipstream. Frost gathered rapidly in her hands. With precise flicks of her wrists, she fired off bursts of Six-Phased Ice, casting thick, crystalline shields over her companions to deflect the shrapnel and debris raining from above.
The passengers weren't idle either. Mualani, Kachina, and Iansan clung to the back seats, unleashing a barrage of elemental attacks to precisely snipe the smaller Abyss monsters that tried to ambush the convoy from the flanks.
The formation moved like a blazing arrow piercing straight through a destructive storm. Their speed barely dropped.
The pillar of light—their sole beacon of hope—was almost within reach. The air around it felt different, radiating a warm, pure aura that stood in stark defiance to the oppressive rot of the Night Kingdom.
Then, the atmosphere shattered.
A roar, far more ancient and terrifying than any beast they had encountered so far, ripped through the fabric of heaven and earth. It sounded as if the deepest, darkest trench of the Abyss itself was screaming.
Space violently warped and tore open. A colossal, suffocating silhouette slithered out from the spatial rift, descending directly in front of the pillar of light, blocking their only exit.
The Abyss-Eroded Golden Wolflord.
It possessed the serpentine outline of a dragon, but its massive body lacked natural scales. Instead, it was armored in twisted, dark golden carapaces condensed entirely from highly concentrated Abyss energy.
On its grotesque, skeletal head, crimson eyes ignited like dying stars. They locked onto the rapidly approaching convoy, radiating an aura of pure, concentrated malice.
Its massive, segmented body floated effortlessly in the air, exuding a gravitational pressure so immense it made breathing difficult.
"Roar—!"
With another deafening bellow, the Wolflord violently shook its massive frame. The air around it fractured. Countless Rifthounds and Rifthound Whelps, their bodies dripping with corrosive black sludge, surged out of the fresh spatial rifts like a tidal wave of nightmares. They snarled, their glowing claws scraping against the earth as they pounced toward the riders!
Even worse, a dark golden energy shield instantly materialized around the Wolflord's floating body. The barrier pulsed with sickening Abyss runes—runes far more complex, dense, and ominous than the ones Lumine had faced back on Tsurumi Island.
The Abyss-Eroded Golden Wolflord circled lazily high above the battlefield. A distinct glint of mockery flashed in its crimson eyes as it looked down at the tiny, frantic ants below. It was a predator playing with its food.
The true, grueling final battle had descended right at the very last step of their escape.
"Golden Wolflord!" Lumine's expression instantly hardened into cold, absolute focus. She slammed the brakes, drifting her motorcycle to a halt, and immediately opened the chat interface.
[Genshin Impact · Lumine: @Dan Heng Strong enemy encountered right before the exit! It looks like an Abyss-enhanced Golden Wolflord!]
[Genshin Impact · Lumine: It's currently summoning a massive swarm of Abyss monsters. Its shield strength is off the charts, and it carries highly corrosive Abyss runes!]
[Genshin Impact · Lumine: @Everyone Be extremely careful of its breath attack. Its attack patterns are going to be far more violent than normal!]
[Genshin Impact · Lumine: Dan Heng, focus on safety when you arrive. The Abyss might try to intercept you on the way!]
[Astral Express · Dan Heng: Understood. We'll be careful. Hold the line, we'll be there soon.]
Closing the interface, Lumine drew her sword, the blade instantly humming with sharp Anemo energy. She shouted to her companions over the snarling of the approaching pack. "This is a Golden Wolflord! I fought one before on Tsurumi Island!"
With a vicious swing, Lumine unleashed a crescent blade of Anemo energy, cleanly slicing a leaping Rifthound Whelp out of the air.
"This one is similar to the one I fought, but the Abyss enhancement makes it significantly stronger! It can likely attack us through its shield! March, you have to be careful—do not let your guard down!"
March 7th gracefully backflipped off her bike, narrowly dodging a sweeping claw attack from a massive Rifthound. "I know, I know! I'm on it!" she yelled, drawing her bow and firing a volley of freezing arrows into the beast's face.
Lumine smoothly transitioned into battlefield commander. "First, we clear out the small fry! Wise, let's sweep the area! Stelle, find an opening to hit it with your ultimate! Mualani, Kachina, Iansan—cooperate and provide heavy cover fire!"
Working with practiced efficiency, the team moved as one. Elements clashed, ice shattered, and flames roared. Under their organized assault, the swarm of Rifthounds rapidly thinned out. Just as they cleared the immediate area, preparing to focus all their firepower on the boss...
The Abyss-Eroded Golden Wolflord simply opened its jaws and tore another massive rift in the sky, casually dumping a fresh pack of snarling Rifthounds onto the battlefield.
The mockery in its glowing red eyes grew painfully obvious. It wasn't trying to kill them quickly. Its main purpose was to stall.
It was buying time for the Abyss to completely corrupt and seal off the exit, ensuring that everyone would be trapped in the Night Kingdom forever.
To make matters infinitely worse, the Golden Wolflord remained floating high in the sky, safely out of melee range. The group currently lacked heavy anti-air artillery. Unless the beast actively decided to lower its altitude to attack, they were practically helpless against its main body.
Frustration began to mount with every passing second.
The Golden Wolflord's delaying tactic was working perfectly. While Lumine, Stelle, and their heavily armed vanguard possessed the raw power to potentially force a breakthrough and escape, Dan Heng's trailing team only consisted of four people. Their overall combat power wasn't as overwhelming as the main force.
If the Wolflord stalled long enough, Dan Heng's squad would be deeply surrounded by the endless black tide, completely cut off, and unable to escape the closing jaws of the Abyss!
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]