"Domain of Absolute Protection,"

Bang…

The anemo specter slams on top of Sean, creating a crater a few meters breadth.

Sean pours all the remaining elemental energy into his vision to shield himself in an ice cage.

A burst of swirling wind explodes on top of his ice barrier. The wind churns up the surrounding floor, creating a mess of dust, debris, and ice.

The ice barrier blocks the razor-sharp blades of wind, but the physical impact from the weight cracks down the ice.

Keuk…

He spits out some blood. The anemo specter levitates to slam down again.

"Not on my watch!"

Sean shatters his ice barrier and jumps up with his great sword pointed forward.

Stab…

He stabs the great sword through the eye of the specter.

Riiiiiii!

The critical hit instantly shatters the protective layer of the specter's nucleus. The flow of elemental energy inside the specter's body grows turbulent. It instantly swells up to seven times its previous volume.

"Run!"

Sean instantly dashes towards the corner to shield himself from the explosion of a dying specter.

BOOM…

The dying body of the specter detonates like an air cannon. The explosion releases powerful jets of pressurized winds in all directions. Sean hurriedly pulls out the makeshift shield from the wall and curls up his figure behind the shield to protect his body.

BANG…

The powerful wind blast hits the shield and knocks him into the nearby wall. Multiple indentations appear on the walls of the dungeon. The storm of chaotic anemo elemental energy calms down.

Huff… huff…

Sean breathes laboriously. The previous encounter was a close call for him.

'I didn't have a long-range weapon to counter this monster. I need to pick archery until I can launch long-range projectiles. This won't be the last time I will face slippery enemies like this.'

He slowly stands up and walks toward the center of the explosion.

'Each weapon has its advantages and disadvantages. Great swords are good for clearing hordes of enemies since the heavy horizontal sweep is capable of clearing an area around the user. Long swords are useful in close combat. Close combat requires agile reflexes and precise movements. Great swords aren't really the most agile weapons. Bow provides means for long-range attacks, but they suffer greatly in close combat. A halberd or spear is useful in mid-range combat with its reach to keep the enemy at bay, but its attacks aren't as powerful as a great sword and its precision lacks compared to that of a sword. Rather than overshadowing each other qualities, all weapons complement each other's weakness.'

Sean notices a fist-sized core dropped in the center of the crater. The body of the monster has disintegrated, and the dungeon absorbed its remains. Only the core is left behind as a drop.

This is one of the mechanisms of a dungeon. If the ley lines are the blood vessels of Teyvat, then the dungeons are lymph nodes that filter the filth and corruption within the ley lines. Successfully clearing a dungeon cleanses the filth within the ley lines and thus the world award the clearer for his endeavor. The rewards vary from dungeon to dungeon. It can be in the form of powerful ancient artifacts, prototypes of lost weapons, rare forging materials, ancient knowledge, and even the experience of other adventurers in the form of adventure books. These adventure books can be directly recorded in the memory of a person just by reading them once.

The initial prototype for the Favonius Great sword was also excavated from one such dungeon.

Sean picks up the core and inspects it. A glowing mint-green mass of dense anemo elemental energy is encased in a crystalline construct in the shape of a specter.

"This is my first encounter with a specter. Anemo slimes are more widespread in Mondstadt."

He secures the core in a bag provided by the villagers. Monster cores are useful alchemy ingredients. The denser the elemental energy, the more Mora will it cost.

Sean inspects the state of his body.

"Despite lacking in all aspects, the recovery speed of this body is incredible. It will take me an hour to return to my previous state. Still, I have to help the rest of the villagers deal with those cryo specters."

He throws away the tattered remains of the shield and reenters the room.

Whoosh…

As soon as he enters the room, a gust of cold air welcomes him. Being a cryo vision bearer, he is resistant to most frost attacks. Sean narrows his eyes and notices a field of ice shrouding almost half of the room.

Most of the villagers are resting against the walls to recover their stamina. A few of them have some superficial wounds, while the rest are warding off the cold with the flaming flower stamens. Pasha and three other villagers are fighting against the remaining specter.

'Looks like they managed to take one down.' He notices a silvery white specter nucleus lying on top of a cloth bag.

"I will help you out."

"Alright, then I will create a distraction for you!" Pasha channels electro-elemental energy through his bow and releases a lightning arrow toward the specter. The lighting arrow temporarily paralyzes the specter in a place. Sean uses this opportunity to jump over the shoulders of the villagers and stab his great sword through the eye of the specter.

"Get back!"

Pasha immediately reminds the villagers to retreat to a safe distance. Sean also pulls back his sword and rolls on the ground to retreat to a safe distance.

Similar to the anemo specter, the cryo specter also balloons up to seven times its original volume. After reaching its limit, it burst out in a dense cluster of cryo elemental energy. The chaotic elemental energy instantly freezes the surrounding area, creating a field of ice in the remaining half of the room.

"Phew… that was quick!"

Pasha heaves a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for your help, Sir Sean. If not for your help, it would take us another half an hour to deal with this monster. The fatigue and injuries might have piled up on them." Pasha thanks him as he points toward the villagers.

"That long…" Sean mutters but stops midway as he glances at the weapons of the villagers.

Most of the villagers are equipped with dull metal swords. A rare few have a silver sword made of silver alloy. Most of them are using hunting bows made of common wood. Only Pasha has a decent sword and bow. The quality of their equipment is terrible. He glances at his great sword and recalls the words he spoke earlier.

'I should be satisfied by what I have.'

Pasha notices Sean's gaze on their weapons.

"There is no blacksmith in Sadovaya village. The previous blacksmith lost his life in the annual monster tide two years ago." Pasha closes his eyes.

"We have to source our weapons from the town where the cost of weapons is phenomenally high. As for my weapon, the villagers pooled their savings to help me buy this weapon. Since I am one of the guardians of the village, my equipment should not fail me during the moment of crisis." He enviously stares at Sean's Great sword.

Both of them join the remaining villagers to recuperate from injuries and fatigue.

Pasha takes out a potion from his backpack and passes it to the villagers.

"This is a minor healing potion from town. Use it wisely."

The villagers dilute the potion using water and distribute it among themselves.

"Sir Sean, your presence will be crucial to our success." Pasha passes a complete healing potion to him.

"Is this alright?" Sean stares at the dilute liquid in the hands of the rest of the villagers.

"Sir, without you… we might not be able to beat those monsters with such minor injuries." One of the villagers waves his hand.

"Ivan is right!" Another villager chimes in.

Under the persistence of the villagers, Sean sips half of the bottle of the healing bottle in a gulp.

"This much is enough for me." He passes the rest of the potion to the villagers and closes his eyes to recover his stamina.

"This…" Pasha has a hesitant expression on his face.

"Alright!" In the end, he gives up and distributes the remaining portion to the villagers.

Sean feels a slight heat course through his body. His wounds and injuries feel slightly itchy.

'The effect of the potion is kicking in. Compared to the greater healing potion of the Knight of Favonius, the effect of this potion is even below subpar. Then also, the Knight of Favonius has an alchemy prodigy among its rank. It's rumored that the potions he makes are far more effective than other potions of the same rank.'

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A/N:- Hello, Forgotten Life here. I am the author of Reborn In Naruto as Madara's Grandson. This is my latest work. It will be a slow pace story. There will be 3 chapters per week for now.

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