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[Genshin Impact] Chapter 470: Dainsleif (2-in-1 Chapter)
🕑 Added 2025-05-17 06:37:24 +0000 UTCJust as expected.
The moment the Thunder element swept across the Dendro Seeds, they seemed to be fitted with miniature electric motors, transforming into tiny green missiles that launched themselves at the sword-wielding Black Serpent Knight.
The power of an elemental reaction is proportional to the user’s strength, and this applied to the Dendro Seeds as well.
Nolan was far stronger than the Black Serpent Knight—just one Dendro Seed was enough to cause it serious trouble.
Faced with such a barrage of Dendro Seeds, the Black Serpent Knight dared not take them head-on.
With a strong push of his legs, the tall, burly figure retreated rapidly.
The Hyperbloom-triggered Dendro Seeds could lock onto and track enemies at will, but they weren’t without limitations.
Elemental reactions are fleeting. Except for Freeze, which lasts a bit longer, reactions like Overload, Melt, and Vaporize all resolve quickly.
The same was true for the Dendro-Thunder Hyperbloom reaction.
Once triggered, the seeds would shoot out and remain active only for a few seconds.
If they failed to hit the enemy during that window, the reaction would end, the Dendro Seeds would vanish, and although they were fast, they certainly weren’t teleporting.
According to the formula “distance equals speed times time,” the attack range of the Dendro Seeds was limited.
So if the Black Serpent Knight was fast enough, dodging them was certainly possible.
But Nolan clearly wasn’t going to give it that chance.
Snap!
He raised his right hand, pinching his thumb and middle finger together before sliding them across his index finger. A crisp snapping sound rang out.
A phantom of a purple hourglass appeared above his head.
It flipped upside down, and as a single grain of sand fell, it locked onto the Black Serpent Knight—Time Stop activated!
Lumine, Paimon, and Yelan all saw it happen.
The rapidly retreating Black Serpent Knight suddenly froze mid-air, like a still frame captured by a camera.
“Time Stop? That’s such a cheat move,” Paimon spread her hands, a trace of sympathy surfacing for the knight.
Time had stopped for the Black Serpent Knight—
But not for the Dendro Seeds. They crashed all at once into the humanoid creature’s body.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Soft explosions rippled outward, green Dendro energy blooming in the air.
The armor on the Black Serpent Knight cracked and splintered in no time, reduced to a mess of jagged fragments, as if pieced together by shattered stones.
The armor’s material was excellent—otherwise, it would have turned to dust by now.
Nolan snapped his fingers again, canceling the time stop. The Black Serpent Knight dropped from mid-air, smashing into the ground, motionless.
“Whew, alright, looks like it’s done!”
Paimon cheered, floating upward in joy.
Yelan and Lumine both sheathed their weapons, the high-heeled boots hugging the elegant curves of their legs clicking against the stone floor as they walked over to the young adventurer.
“Nice work,” Yelan said with admiration, arms folded under her chest.
[Yelan Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 200 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.5 (180/500)]
Nolan smiled faintly.
He didn’t lower his guard as he looked at the Black Serpent Knight lying on the ground—the system hadn’t yet notified him of any EXP gain from defeating a powerful foe.
And his spiritual senses told him the knight was still conscious—neither unconscious nor truly defeated.
What a tenacious opponent!
Soon, under everyone's gaze, the Black Serpent Knight struggled to get up, pressing against the ground. But its injuries were too severe—it failed repeatedly.
Hovering above the knight, Nolan summoned a semi-transparent tentacle.
He was ready to deliver the final blow.
Thump thump thump... Footsteps echoed from behind—unlike the crisp sound of Yelan and Lumine’s high heels, these were the heavy steps of flat-soled boots.
Judging by the weight, the newcomer was likely male.
“Wait a moment, please!” A man with short blond hair and a black eyepatch covering his right eye walked toward them.
Hearing the voice, Nolan and the others turned around.
“Huh? Another adventurer? Coming here alone into such a dark and eerie place... hmm, suspicious!”
Paimon rubbed her chin with the curve of her palm, eyeing the stranger warily.
“Who are you?” Lumine’s amber eyes were calm, her thin lips parting as she asked.
Dainsleif. Nolan recognized this man.
In the game’s storyline, he had always been investigating matters related to the Abyss Order.
So his appearance in The Chasm wasn’t surprising—he was likely drawn here by Aether or those two Abyss Lectors.
“Pleased to meet you, legendary adventurers. I am Dainsleif, a survivor of Khaenri’ah.”
The man wore a black cloak, with matching black clothes and pants. He offered a polite greeting before straightforwardly introducing himself, without concealing his identity.
“Huh?! You’re from Khaenri’ah?!”
Paimon had just been about to greet him back, seeing that he didn’t seem hostile, but she froze in surprise at his claim of being from Khaenri’ah.
“A mere exile from a fallen nation,” Dainsleif replied calmly.
“The Kingdom of Khaenri’ah fell five hundred years ago. To have survived until now... I doubt you're just an ordinary Khaenri’ahn, Mr. Dainsleif.
“Are these black-armored soldiers somehow related to you?”
Nolan asked casually.
Dainsleif walked over to the sword-wielding Black Serpent Knight, crouched down, and checked its condition. Finding it to be not seriously harmed, he sighed in relief.
“They are Black Serpent Knights, once members of the Khaenri’ah royal guard.”
“I see. So, you came here to save him? But they give off such an intense aura of corruption... they hardly seem like rational humans anymore.”
Nolan continued, feigning ignorance.
“That’s because of the ‘curse of immortality.’ All who survived the war back then were cursed—twisted into horrifying monsters.”
Dainsleif explained solemnly.
“Wait! Then you’re not—”
Paimon shrank back closer to Lumine, suddenly anxious. After all, they had just taken down two of those Black Serpent Knights.
If what Dainsleif said was true... then was he here for revenge?
“Heh, no need to worry. The once-glorious ‘Black Serpent Knights’ of Khaenri’ah are now nothing more than claws of the Abyss.”
Dainsleif’s tone was laced with irony, but there was an undeniable trace of sorrow in his voice.
“Then... why did you stop us?”
Paimon fiddled with her hair, her small face even more confused.
“He’s a little different,” Dainsleif said, looking at the sword-bearing knight who had now recovered slightly and was struggling to his feet.
“This Black Serpent Knight feels familiar to me. And his fighting style still bears the mark of Khaenri’ah—it’s possible he still retains some sense of self.”
“Oh?”
Nolan was a bit surprised. He remembered that in the game’s plot, there indeed was a Black Serpent Knight who retained his self-awareness despite the curse. Could this be the one?
But if that were the case, why did he attack them?
In the game’s story, that Black Serpent Knight never fought the Traveler and the others...
So what’s different this time?
—Wait!
In the game, Dainsleif had been present from the start. As a fellow Khaenri’ahn and even a friend of that knight, perhaps it was his presence that awakened the knight’s self-awareness and prevented any attack.
Nolan felt that was likely the key. Otherwise, it’d be a stretch to say the knight attacked just because he didn’t like the look of them.
“Well then, we still don’t know why you came here. Don’t tell me you were hoping to catch up with this old comrade in the ruins of a Khaenri’ah city?”
He asked casually.
“Apologies for not clarifying my purpose sooner. That was indeed an oversight.”
Dainsleif assumed they were still wary of him—after all, he was a stranger who had suddenly appeared in such an eerie place.
It was only natural they hadn’t dropped their guard.
“First, a correction: though this inverted city shares stylistic similarities with Khaenri’ah, I know every city of my homeland inside and out.
“I can say with certainty—this place does not belong to Khaenri’ah. It may stem from an even more ancient civilization.
“As for why I came here, truthfully, I don’t know either. While tracking the Abyss Order, I accidentally ended up here through their ‘teleportation network.’”
Dainsleif offered a straightforward explanation.
—So this isn’t Khaenri’ah after all? Then my earlier assumptions were way off...
Nolan thought awkwardly.
But there wasn’t much he could do—after all, the storyline involving The Chasm was from quite some time ago. It was normal to misremember some details.
If that’s the case, then these Black Serpent Knights probably weren’t native to this place either. The Abyss Order must have used their teleportation network to bring them here.
Perhaps they were stationed nearby to prevent adventurers like them—or anyone else who stumbled in—from disrupting the Order’s plans.
Still... why is the city upside down? That mystery remained unsolved.
“You’re tracking the Abyss Order?”
Lumine nodded slightly, arms crossed. The fall of Khaenri’ah was indeed tied to the Abyss—so if this man was a Khaenri’ahn survivor, it made sense he’d pursue the Order.
“Well then, we’ll speak more when the time comes. For now, it seems this Black Serpent Knight wants to lead us somewhere.”
Dainsleif stopped explaining and shifted his focus back to the knight, who was giving him an increasingly familiar feeling.
The Black Serpent Knight who had just stood up silently gazed at Dainsleif, no longer showing any of the aggression from earlier.
Without acknowledging Nolan and the others, he simply turned around, carrying his greatsword, and began walking away.
“He probably wants to take us somewhere. Well? Will you come along?”
Dainsleif looked over at Nolan and the group.
“Well, since we’re already here, might as well go.” Nolan nodded in agreement.
If he remembered correctly, in the game’s storyline, the place where the Black Serpent Knight took Lumine was the spring that could suppress the “curse of immortality.”
And if Aether were to be anywhere, there was a high chance it’d be there.
If they could follow the knight and find him, it would save them a lot of time searching on their own.
As they followed the knight, the atmosphere grew noticeably quiet.
Along the way, they encountered many hilichurls lying in the shadows. Dainsleif explained that although they were cursed with “immortality,” it didn’t mean they truly lived forever.
Under the effects of “erosion,” both their souls and bodies would gradually wear away.
These hilichurls—once Khaenri’ahns twisted by the curse—instinctively sought quiet corners to await the end of their existence, to say farewell to the pain they’d endured for centuries.
And since this place weakened the curse, there was nowhere more fitting to serve as their tomb.
Tormented in life, and only finding rest in death… truly pitiful.
Time passed as they chatted with Dainsleif, and after following the Black Serpent Knight for quite a while, they finally arrived at a large chamber.
This place was also inverted—the original dome now formed the floor, while the floor rose up as the ceiling.
Looking up, Nolan and the others saw a flowing spring suspended above them. Strangely, not a single drop of water fell.
It was as if gravity didn’t apply.
Directly beneath the spring, Nolan spotted three very familiar figures—their dear Prince and his two Abyss Lector subordinates.
They were installing a device designed to amplify the spring’s ability to suppress the curse.
Clearly aware of Nolan and the others’ arrival, Aether let out a soft sigh and turned around to speak:
“Lumine, so you’ve found this place after all. But now is not the time for our ‘reunion.’ Until I finish what I must do, I can’t travel to the next world with you.”
Still dreaming of traveling with Lumine, huh? Keep dreaming, brother-in-law. If anyone’s going with her, it’ll be me.
Nolan stared at Aether, eyes full of defiance.
“Brother, can you tell me why? Why are you with the Abyss Order? What is it that you’re trying to do?”
Meeting Aether again, Lumine was no longer overwhelmed with emotion like before. Her voice was calmer now.
The blond boy, Aether, didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Dainsleif:
“More importantly, why are you with Dainsleif? I told you not to stand in my way. Don’t obstruct the Abyss Order’s plans. He is my enemy!”
“Dainsleif is your brother’s enemy? Uh... what’s going on here?” Paimon exclaimed, startled, and looked at Lumine.
Lumine shook her head. At this point, she wasn’t even sure whether her brother was good or evil anymore. He felt like a complete stranger now.
And whatever his past relationship with Dainsleif was, she couldn’t possibly know.
“Heh, come on, brother-in-law. Lumine finally gets to see you again, and the first thing out of your mouth is ‘don’t stand in my way,’ ‘don’t block the Abyss Order’—don’t you think that’s a bit much?
“You do realize the Abyss Order is a notorious evil force on the continent of Teyvat, right? You must know how much trouble they’ve caused.
“You refuse to explain anything, then tell us not to stop you? Don’t you think that’s just a little hard to accept?”
Nolan sneered.
Just because you’re her brother doesn’t mean you get a free pass—treat Lumine like that, and you’re getting smacked, brother-in-law or not!
“Brother-in-law…” Aether echoed the title with a pause.
He quickly realized what it meant, and an intense, ominous aura began radiating from his body.
If Nolan could see Aether’s affection level toward him, it would probably be in the negatives.
(End of Chapter)
