The violent impact shook the ground so intensely that it felt like an earthquake.
Billy lost his footing and nearly fell, grabbing onto a nearby truck to steady himself.
As the dust finally settled, he looked ahead and saw Azhdaha, Dragon King's massive body half-buried deep inside the mountain, with only its enormous lower half exposed outside.
He quickly asked the others, "Where's Sam Li? Did he dodge it in time?"
Nicole turned to Nekomata, looking puzzled. "I heard Catfolk have seven times the eyesight of humans. Did you see anything?"
Nekomata shook his head rapidly. "Don't believe those rumors, miau. Our eyesight's just a little better than a human's..."
Anby also stared ahead nervously. "…"
Nearby, Caesar, Lucy, Piper, and the other Sons of Calydon were all anxiously scanning the battlefield for any sign of Sam Li.
On the mountain... in the clearing... on Azhdaha's back...
But the distance was too great. They couldn't make out anything clearly and had no way to locate Sam Li amidst the chaos.
Worry gripped them.
In a collision like that—if Sam Li had really been rammed into the mountain—how could he possibly survive?
They couldn't imagine it.
Getting hit by a truck was painful enough. This was a hundred-meter-tall beast smashing straight into a mountain.
Then...
Anby suddenly started walking toward the front lines.
Billy quickly asked, "Anby, where are you going?"
"I'm going to check on Sam Li," she said calmly.
Nicole quickly pulled her back. "Let's wait and see first. I don't think Sam Li got slammed into the mountain. And even if he did, there's no way he'd die so easily…"
Just like earlier—when he was trapped midair by that barrage of boulders.
He still broke free and even counterattacked.
It's the same now.
The impact looked devastating—and it was—but Nicole firmly believed Sam Li was still alive.
...
On the other side of the battlefield.
Zhu Yuan, Seth, Jane, and Qingyi had also been shocked when they saw Sam Li crash into the mountain.
They couldn't help but worry.
If Sam Li died, that colossal creature—so similar to an Ethereal—would inevitably invade the New Eridu metro area. And when that happened, who would be able to stop it? The entire city could be facing total annihilation.
Seth stared blankly ahead. "Captain Zhu Yuan, Senior Qingyi… where do you think that monster came from?"
He'd been wondering about it ever since Azhdaha first started chasing him.
It looked like an Ethereal… yet it had left the Hollow.
If it wasn't an Ethereal, then what was it?
It couldn't seriously be something out of a movie, right?
Zhu Yuan considered for a moment. "I think it might be a mutated Ethereal…"
She also briefly thought of another possibility—that it was man-made.
But that seemed impossible.
Creating something that massive would require not only unfathomable technology, but also astronomical amounts of Ether energy.
Realistically speaking, humanity had neither the tech nor the resources to make something like that.
So, Zhu Yuan had concluded that Azhdaha was a giant mutant Ethereal.
She didn't know how it had escaped the Hollow—but she suspected it had come from Hollow Zero.
Before she could piece it all together...
The battlefield shifted again.
With the ground quaking beneath them, Azhdaha, Dragon King, made several heaving efforts and finally tore itself free from the collapsed mountain.
At the same time, the already unstable peak crumbled completely under the strain.
In an instant, the mountain lost dozens of meters of height.
When the dust cleared...
Azhdaha reared up and let out a furious roar.
And Sam Li—was still standing on the Dragon King's horn. His clothes weren't even dusty.
Suddenly, Azhdaha bellowed again.
"Morax, you coward! Why won't you come down and face me like a real warrior?!"
From the force and tone of its roar, Sam Li could sense it—Azhdaha's power was weakening.
The Geo energy surrounding its body was already far less intense than when they first met.
After a moment of silence, Sam Li spoke.
"Azhdaha. We are not enemies. I don't want to hurt you."
That only enraged Azhdaha even more.
To it, those words felt like humiliation.
"Spare me your false compassion! You think I'd lose to a hypocrite like you?!"
No sooner had its roar faded...
A barrage of massive, cone-shaped boulders erupted from its back.
They spun through the sky before all turning toward its horns—toward Sam Li.
This time, too—Sam Li didn't dodge.
He simply raised one hand and activated the Jade Barrier Shield, blocking one of the massive incoming rocks.
But there were more—seven, maybe eight more flying in fast.
Sam Li calmly lifted his other hand.
Just as the boulders closed in—
he struck them one by one.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Each strike knocked a boulder out of the air, sending them crashing into the ground.
Some slammed into distant mountains, embedding themselves deep into the rock and becoming new parts of the peaks...
Others plunged into the ground, vanishing deep beneath the earth.
Sam Li let out a sigh.
"Azhdaha… the wear of this world is nothing compared to Teyvat. Have you still not remembered?"
The Azhdaha who once fought to defend Liyue from Archons...
The Azhdaha who once fought alongside Morax and the Adepti...
Now, twisted by erosion...
He had forgotten his old allies.
Forgotten the vows he once swore.
Forgotten his bond with Morax.
And instead—now saw him as an enemy.
But here, in Zenless Zone Zero, the erosion was far weaker than in Teyvat.
Sam Li wanted to take this chance—
to awaken Azhdaha's lost memories.
To bring him back from the hatred that had consumed him for a thousand years.
But...
That kind of awakening wouldn't happen easily.
Before Sam Li could speak again—
Azhdaha roared, cutting him off.
"Silence, Morax! Stop trying to cloud my mind!"
And before the echo had faded—
Azhdaha plunged his head into the earth.
To everyone's shock, his massive body began moving underground—like a fish diving into water.
Then, with a twitch of his neck—
The Dragon King's entire hundred-meter-long body disappeared beneath the ground, leaving only the tip of his golden tail swaying above the surface.
It looked like a giant golden tree—
twitching, writhing, gliding rapidly beneath the soil...