Genshin Impact: My roommate and I became funny Hilichurls

Page 114

Countless fragments spun, collided, and merged wildly within the purplish-black pillar of light, emitting teeth-grinding metallic twisting sounds and energy explosions, resembling a giant, out-of-control garbage disposal plant!

“Rumble——!!!”

Another loud bang, more muffled than any of the previous explosions, seemed to originate from the depths of the earth!

The enormous sphere, which was made up of countless fragments, suddenly collapsed inward, then expanded and exploded violently!

"Watch out for the impact!"

Gu Qian roared and instinctively stepped in front of Ying.

Of all of them, Ying's shield is the most vulnerable.

"Puff puff puff puff——"

With a series of soft sounds, everyone except the Wolf King instantly activated a thin, transparent shield that shimmered with various elemental lights.

Countless sharp-edged metal and stone fragments, discarded by the fused energy, rained down in all directions, striking the shields of the group with a crackling sound, creating ripples, but unable to penetrate them.

As the debris storm subsided and the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, everyone nervously looked towards the epicenter of the explosion, preparing to face an even more ferocious and terrifying fused monster...

Then, they all turned to stone.

"Hoohoho!!!"

A sound... less of a roar and more of a cute, angry "plop" came from behind.

At the epicenter of the explosion, a figure was glaring fiercely at them.

It was... round, chubby, entirely purple, barely reaching knee height, with faint sparks of electricity flickering on its surface...

Everyone: "???"

The air seemed to freeze.

The shock of the plasma cannon annihilating the behemoth, and the earth-shattering power of the fragments merging, formed a cosmic contrast with the puffed-up little guy in front of me.

Qingyu rubbed his eyes, then picked at his ears, and finally turned to look at the wolf king beside him, who was like a mountain of steel, his tone full of confusion: "Wolf King...did you use too much force with that shot just now, and evaporate this BOSS's...intelligence and size along with it?"

Zhang Chu's lips twitched as he analyzed, "Could this be the ultimate form of abyssal energy? A return to simplicity? Concentration is the essence?"

Ying looked puzzled. She aimed her HK416 at the Rei Slime, feeling that it was a waste of its potential, and even a little guilty of bullying a child.

The Wolf King's electronic eyes, in butler mode, calmly swept over the Rei Slime, and he explained in a flat, metallic voice, "According to my initial scan analysis, we are in a game. Just now, I used my background privileges to slightly modify some data parameters, slightly increasing the output level of the plasma cannon. Now it seems that... it may have caused some unexpected chain reactions, resulting in the rendering of the final BOSS's form showing... um, 'resource loading error'."

"As expected of you."

Zhang Chu remained silent for a long time before finally giving the wolf king a thumbs-up with a complicated expression.

To be able to turn a BOSS from "world-destroying level" to "cute pet level" is truly an amazing feat.

"Hahahaha!"

Er Kang had completely relaxed by this point. He walked forward laughing, not taking the "fierce" Rei Slime seriously at all.

"Come on! After all this time, the final boss is just a little thing like you? That's hilarious!"

He laughed as he casually reached out with one hand to grab the Rei slime, seemingly wanting to pick it up and make fun of it.

The Rei Slime maintained its fierce gaze, its body slightly swelling as it charged.

"Erkang, wait a minute!"

The wolf king seemed to have detected something and quickly spoke up to stop them, while its huge metal hand reached out.

The moment Er Kang's fingers touched the incredibly elastic skin of the Rei Slime—

"Crackling! Sizzling—!!"

A terrifying current, far exceeding that of an ordinary lightning slime and even comparable to the eruption of the Lightning Hypostasis, suddenly burst forth from the small slime's body!

A dazzling purple lightning bolt instantly engulfed Er Kang!

"Ooo ...

Er Kang's screams echoed through the sky. His whole body trembled violently in the lightning, his hair stood on end and emitted blue smoke. His body seemed to have turned into a human-shaped neon light, and his bones were clearly visible in the lightning!

The air was filled with the smell of burnt barbecue...

The sudden turn of events and the intense lightning caused everyone to squint.

Gu Qian looked at Er Kang, who was "dancing" in the lightning, and then at the grenades wrapped around his body, which were larger than a human head, and remained silent for a second.

Then, he silently took out a high-explosive grenade, skillfully released the safety, and threw it accurately at the feet of Er Kang and Rei Slime, who were still continuously discharging electricity, as if throwing a pebble.

"Gu Qian, what are you doing?!"

"Physical exorcism to prevent future troubles."

Gu Qian answered earnestly and sincerely.

Qingyu reacted the fastest, grabbing Ying beside him and rushing towards the nearest cover again.

Zhang Chu also scrambled away to avoid it.

The wolf king gracefully turned slightly to the side, facing the direction of the explosion with the thickest part of its armor.

"boom!!!!"

Another familiar, small mushroom cloud rose up where Er Kang was standing!

The shockwave from the explosion kicked up dust from the ground once again.

The smoke slowly dissipated.

That exceptionally ferocious Rei Slime had been reduced to ashes by the high-explosive grenade, leaving not even a trace of elemental particles behind.

Where Er Kang originally stood, only a charred, shallow pit remained.

Above the pit, most of Er Kang's combat suit had turned to ashes. His two eyes, wide with shock and bloodshot, stubbornly hovered in mid-air for a full two seconds, as if telling of his unwillingness and bewilderment.

The next moment, gravity finally came into play.

Its body turned to ashes, and its two eyeballs fell into the scorched pit, rolled twice, and then remained still.

There was silence.

"...Did we...go a little too far?"

Ying peeked out from behind the cover, looked at the gruesome "remains," and asked with some reluctance.

Mission accomplished! Victory!

Just then, a giant "Victory" sign appeared in the sky, made up of colorful fireworks, and a cheerful system notification sounded, as if celebrating this... inhumane victory.

With a flash of light, Er Kang's "remains" disappeared from the scorched pit.

The next second, Er Kang, completely unharmed and with his hairstyle restored, appeared beside everyone with a blank expression, as if he wasn't the one who had just been electrocuted and blown to ash.

He blinked, moved his limbs to make sure he was still alive, then scratched his head, watching the word "Victory" gradually fade in the air, and said in a tone of relief:

"This time... we should win, right?"

Ying looked at his bewildered expression and couldn't help but chuckle, nodding in agreement.

"Well, I won."

Although the process was extremely absurd, the BOSS's form was extremely childish, and the casualties (temporarily) of the teammates were extremely heavy, in any case, this farce of "elemental war" performed by Hilichurls, honorary knights, talking sprites and a cunning butler Gundam has finally come to an end amidst a mushroom cloud and flying ashes (?).

Chapter 135 Heading to Nata

"Ha! That was so much fun! Even though I got taught a lesson by a slime in the end!"

Er Kang stretched his limbs, as if he hadn't been the one who had just been electrocuted, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

"What to do next? I can't just lie in Sumeru sunbathing forever, can I? The grass element is practically marinating me up."

Zhang Chu pushed up his non-existent glasses and said with a serious expression, "It's time to set off. According to the map and intelligence, the next stop should be Nata. I heard that it's full of volcanoes, and the people there... well, extremely fierce."

"We should get down to business, like... investigating the abyssal activity there? Or maybe helping the locals solve some problems?"

"Alright! I've heard Nata's barbecue is amazing! Let's go!"

Ying's eyes lit up immediately when she heard about the new map and new food, and she raised her hand in full enthusiasm to agree.

Paimon was nodding frantically beside him, practically drooling.

The two naturally had no objection to this, after all, following these honorary Hilichurls meant there would never be a shortage of fun and... trouble.

"that……"

Paimon flew over at this moment, pointed his little finger in the direction of Sumeru City, and asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Shouldn't we go say goodbye to Nasita and Ainz? Isn't it a bit inappropriate to leave without saying goodbye?"

Qingyu immediately waved his hand, his face showing a "you're too naive" expression: "Don't! Flying Squirrel specifically instructed that it's best to leave quietly, and no shooting!"

"You have no idea, if the Great Tree King found out, she would definitely use the excuse of 'holding the grandest farewell ceremony' to drag everyone in Sumeru into a party, and then naturally dump all the work on Nasita and Elhesen, while she slacks off!"

"At that time, the 'efficient (and exploitative) government system' that the flying squirrel has worked so hard to build will collapse!"

Gu Qian nodded, and added in his deep voice, "Moreover, there have indeed been many internal affairs at Sumeru recently. Flying Squirrel, together with Grand Disciplinary Officer Seno, has cracked down on a lot of black markets and illegal industries with swift and decisive measures. The scale of the crackdown is so great that even we think it's a bit... ruthless."

At this point, the same image simultaneously flashed into everyone's minds:

When Seno led his undead army to raid one of the largest black market strongholds, he was shocked to discover that one of the masterminds behind it all was our old friend, Lord Sangmahabai Dolly!

When Dolly watched as her years of accumulated Mora and goods were carried away in crates, her shrewd face instantly crumbled into a bitter gourd. Heartbroken, she nearly fainted. Clutching her empty purse, she cried out in a heart-wrenching sob: "My Mora—! My life's work—! All gone!!"

However, Dolly is Dolly after all; after her initial breakdown, she quickly came to terms with reality—

It's impossible to reason with the Flying Squirrel, who has an army of six thousand undead, whose strength is unfathomable, and who seems to be completely ignorant of "human relationships" and "business unspoken rules."

She could only curse "that damn skeleton doesn't understand the art of economics" while preparing to honestly switch to doing some "legitimate" business.

However, things soon took a turn for the better.

After reviewing Dolly's intricate ledgers and business networks, Momonga actually felt a hint of... admiration?

He discovered that some of the "illegal businesses" that Dolly ran, while operating on the fringes of the law, did, to some extent, fill gaps in certain areas of Sumeru.

For example, selling some "folk remedies" with strange effects but unknown origins might be developed into special medicines under strict supervision, or they could take on some "debt collection" business that the authorities are not willing to deal with (which is better than letting gilded tour groups settle things privately and violently).

More importantly, Ainz considered those who had just been released from the Church Council prison, who were unskilled and prone to relapse into crime, as well as some suspicious individuals wandering around Sumeru City who needed to be monitored.

Rather than letting them scatter and become hidden dangers, wouldn't it be better to... centralize and manage them?