42: Gladiator's Finale

While unexpected events continued to unfold in Liyue and Inazuma, Saphir remained in Mondstadt, still leading the "Four Little Ones" in their training.

After some discussion, the group decided to take down the Electro Hypostasis first and deal with everything else later.

On their journey, the girls stumbled through Hilichurl camps, but their combat coordination grew noticeably better. Watching the ever-more capable Barbara, Lin Yi couldn't help but comment,

"Looks like we've raised a combat cleric… Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Immediately, he felt Saphir's murderous glare and wisely shut up.

The Electro Hypostasis wasn't extremely powerful, but still posed a threat. After some deliberation, Lin Yi and Saphir finally agreed to let the three girls handle it on their own—after much begging from them.

While the trio went toe-to-toe with the elemental boss, Lin Yi pulled out a helmet from seemingly nowhere:

Circlet of Logos: Gladiator's Triumphus (5★)

Main Stat: Crit Rate +4.7%

Substats: HP +4.7%, ATK +5.8%, DEF +19, HP +239

Using Analyze & Appraise, Saphir instantly recognized what it was.

Amused, she glanced at the circlet in Lin Yi's hands. "Where'd you dig up a Crit helm?"

Lin Yi gently traced the golden rim. "Dropped from the Ley Line Blossom after we beat the Anemo Hypostasis."

Then, without ceremony, he pulled out a pile of 1★ and 2★ artifacts—mostly Adventurer and Traveling Doctor sets—and began feeding them into the circlet.

Holy light flickered as the artifact leveled up, until it finally showed:

Circlet of Logos: Gladiator's Triumphus (5★)

Main Stat: Crit Rate +31.1%

Substats: HP +8.8%, ATK +10.5%, DEF +35, HP +777

Lin Yi frowned at the result—still not ideal. Saphir noticed too and muttered,

"You could've just not leveled this in the first place. Gladiator set, really?"

The implication was obvious: Only dogs use Gladiator.

Lin Yi shot her a look. "What nonsense are you on about, you spendthrift woman? What else am I supposed to use? We're about to fight Stormterror. I can't afford to be picky. I need a full, upgraded set now."

Saphir wasn't happy about being called a "spendthrift woman," but she said nothing, simply turning her head away.

Lin Yi continued to pull out more artifacts. One by one, he leveled up a full Gladiator set:

Flower of Life: Gladiator's Nostalgia

Main Stat: HP +4780

Substats: ATK +4.7%, DEF +16, Elemental Mastery +74, ATK +30

Plume of Death: Gladiator's Destiny

Main Stat: ATK +311

Substats: HP +4.7%, EM +19, DEF +12.4%, Crit Rate +13.2%

Goblet of Eonothem: Gladiator's Intoxication

Main Stat: Geo DMG Bonus +46.6%

Substats: DEF +44, Crit Rate +3.5%, ATK +73, Crit DMG +7.8%

Saphir clicked her tongue. "Damn, Chief. If things don't work out here, maybe head back to the mines in Africa. These rolls are tragic."

Lin Yi's face darkened. Sure, the stats were average at best—but even so, a fully upgraded Gladiator set was still something people across all of Teyvat would kill for.

Why? Because only he could level up artifacts.

To most, artifacts were supplementary—at best, icing on the cake. But Lin Yi's leveled artifacts blew the competition out of the water. The power boosts were massive—sometimes exceeding the wearer's own stats.

Take Lumine, for example. At level 20, she only had around 2300 HP. But if she equipped this Flower of Life alone, her HP would jump to 7000—tripling her survivability.

And this particular set wasn't for her anyway—it was tailored for Noelle, thanks to the Geo damage bonus on the goblet.

Finally, Lin Yi took out the last piece: the sands.

Saphir gave it a glance—main stat was Energy Recharge. Substats had Crit, Crit DMG, EM, and HP. Not stellar.

In this world, survival stats like HP and DEF often outvalued Crit. But Lin Yi still powered it up.

Sands of Eon: Gladiator's Longing

Main Stat: Energy Recharge +51.8%

Substats: Crit Rate +7.4%, EM +23, Crit DMG +21%, HP +478

"Hey, this one's not bad," Saphir muttered. Lin Yi nodded. Not perfect, but good enough.

He handed the set to Noelle. "Go try these out."

Saphir raised an eyebrow and shifted into her Seraph form, binding the struggling Electro Hypostasis with a Holy Chain.

The trio looked puzzled, unsure what was going on. Lin Yi held up the artifacts and called out, "Noelle, come here!"

Noelle trotted over and, without question, equipped the full Gladiator set.

The moment she did, her stats underwent a complete overhaul. Her HP soared to nearly 8000, ATK rose by 400 points, and her DEF skyrocketed. Her entire profile now read:

Set Bonus Activated: Gladiator's Finale

2-piece: ATK +18%

4-piece: Normal Attack DMG +35%

Lin Yi smiled. "So, how do you feel?"

The maid flushed, eyes wide. "I feel… stronger."

Saphir sighed. "Yep. She's gone."

She looked at Noelle and shrugged. "All yours."

Noelle gripped Lin Yi's hand for a second, then marched back toward the stunned Electro Hypostasis.

"You can leave it to me. I'll take care of everything."

Raising her Favonius Greatsword, she charged forward.

"I shall mind my maidly etiquette!"

Golden Geo light burst from her blade, cleaving into the elemental core with sheer brute force. The core visibly shook.

Saphir's eyelid twitched. "Say, if I ever get turned into a weekly boss, you think I could survive a hit like that?"

Lin Yi snorted. "Doubt it. Pretty sure she's one-shot most of 'em by now. Even Raiden Shogun wasn't spared."

Saphir rubbed her face. "Can I just surrender now and save myself the trouble?"

On the sidelines, Lumine, Paimon, and Barbara stood there, completely stunned by Noelle's overwhelming strength.

The battle raged on. Noelle activated Sweeping Time, her burst ability. No flash, no flair—just raw, methodical normal attacks, again and again.

The Electro Hypostasis retaliated. In a burst of movement, it formed its inert cubes into a giant fist, hurling it toward Noelle. She stepped back just in time.

It morphed again—this time, into a massive scissors, aiming to cut her off. But again, its range fell short.

The final attempt came in the form of a colossal palm, slamming straight down. The girls gasped in alarm—but Lin Yi and Saphir remained unbothered.

Boom! The impact echoed—but Noelle stood unfazed, glowing yellow.

"It's her Breastplate!" Paimon exclaimed.

Indeed. Boosted by the new artifacts, her shield had reached incredible durability. Even without it, that attack wouldn't have incapacitated her.

As her vision on her hip gleamed, the golden light surged again.

"Time to clean up the battlefield!"

The Electro Hypostasis's core reappeared, unable to resist. Noelle's relentless slashes pounded it down until it cried out in desperation and entered its revival phase, summoning three prisms.

Noelle rushed to destroy them, but her Geo attacks triggered Crystallize instead of shattering them. She didn't have the element needed to finish it off in time.

But that didn't matter.

Saphir switched into her Assassin Form, turned into a blur, and shot forward.

"Noelle, excellent work. You've done enough. Let me handle the rest."

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