Genshin Impact: This Priest is Cringe, But She’s Also Unbeatable

“Sister, I feel a bit nauseous.”

Selene’s voice, laced with undisguised physical revulsion, drifted over from the side.

“Seriously, the pressure this guy gives off isn’t even as bad as that Necromancer, Farina, from the college entrance exam Domain.”

“Besides, even though Farina was an enemy, at least she was gorgeous. Easy on the eyes, you know?” Selene continued, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “This guy—just looking at him for one more second feels like it’s causing permanent damage to my optic nerves.”

“Indeed,” Su Wan’s voice was cold enough to shatter. She took a half-step back, as if even breathing the same air as the creature before them was a stain upon her very existence. “His existence is a blasphemy against the very concept of beauty.”

Xia Lian went a step further, burying her small face behind Celeste’s back. Only a pair of eyes, burning with righteous fury, remained visible, glaring daggers at the goblin on his throne. She lowered her voice, each word trembling with rage. “How dare he… look at people with that kind of gaze… it’s so disgusting.”

Her sister’s words were like a lightning bolt, cracking open a new line of thought for Celeste.

‘Farina… that’s right!”They’re both Domain cores, but Farina was an undead of impeccable beauty and style. This Girousse character is just a greasy, arrogant clown through and through.”There’s no way the boss of a higher-level Domain should be weaker. It doesn’t make sense.”Unless… elevating him from a basic goblin to a being fused with the world itself came at some terrible price. Like, he burned through all his stored power? Or maybe him becoming the Domain core was an uncontrolled accident, a bug in the system? So much so that he couldn’t even improve his own ugly character model?’

Celeste couldn’t shake the feeling that this clown prancing before them was more complex than he appeared. His absolute, unshakeable confidence, his utter disregard for the entire Elven army—it had to be rooted in something.

At that moment, Queen Elaniel’s patience finally wore thin.

“It seems there is no need for communication.”

Her voice was devoid of warmth, each word carrying a bone-scraping chill.

“All troops—”

Before Elaniel’s command could ring out, it was rudely cut off by Girousse’s even more insolent laughter.

“Communication? My dear Queen, of course we must communicate!”

Girousse laughed so hard he doubled over, his greasy face a mask of self-righteous elegance. He theatrically tidied a bow tie that had no wrinkles to begin with and puffed out his chest.

“But not in such a crude manner, shouting about fighting and killing. Look at you, your beauty is a peerless work of art.”

“And I, Girousse, am the foremost gentleman connoisseur of art in this world!”

“Our union will be the perfect marriage of beauty and taste! You should feel lucky to have met a partner like me, one who truly understands your value!”

‘Good grief, is he seriously trying to neg us?’Celeste complained frantically in her head.’And a gentleman? My dishcloth at home has more class than you!”This dialogue is way too cliché. What’s next? Is he gonna say, “Woman, you have successfully caught my attention”?’

“Attack!” Elaniel spat out the single word, her cold killing intent manifesting as a evident pressure in the cavern.

The next instant, the Elven Rangers in the front rank released their bowstrings in perfect unison.

Dozens of arrows, infused with the power of moonbeams, transformed into silver lines of death. They tore through the air with sharp, whistling shrieks, converging on the “throne” in a deadly torrent. The sheer volume of the volley looked poised to turn the arrogant goblin into a pincushion.

Yet Girousse didn’t even flinch. The greasy smile on his face only widened.

The space directly in front of him suddenly rippled, an invisible distortion in the air.

The dozens of enchanted arrows, each capable of piercing steel plate, slammed into the unseen barrier. Their velocity vanished in an instant, and they froze in mid-air, their momentum utterly negated. The moonlight magic imbued within them was instantly eroded, their brilliant glow dimming to nothing.

A moment later, the arrowheads drooped powerlessly. They clattered to the stone floor, not a single one having so much as grazed the hem of Girousse’s tailcoat.

Baroque, who was commanding the archers, felt his expression shift.

Celeste’s pupils constricted.

‘That’s not a physical defense, and it doesn’t feel like a magic shield… This sensation, it’s more like some kind of interference on a fundamental level! Or maybe… a Domain!’

“Sigh, it is truly regrettable.”

Girousse sighed with theatrical disappointment, wagging a gloved finger. His tone was so greasy it felt like it could drip oil.

“I had thought that a noble existence such as yourself would know how to respond to a gentleman’s courtship in a more elegant fashion.”

“These vulgar arrows only serve to stain the perfect atmosphere of our first meeting. In my ‘Elegant Taste’ Domain, all things that are not beautiful—all things that are crude—are simply not permitted to exist!”

He had barely finished his sentence when a silent, black shadow ignored his “Domain” completely. It pierced straight through the layer of ripples and shot directly for his face.

Girousse’s small, beady eyes widened in shock, his pretentious composure shattering instantly.

He let out an undignified squawk, his body flailing back in an extremely clumsy posture. He barely managed to snatch the shaft of the arrow with his white-gloved hand, stopping it less than a centimeter from the tip of his nose.

The force behind the arrow sent a numbing shock up his wrist, and the impact even ruffled his carefully groomed, greasy hair.

“Who?! Who dares to sneak-attack the great Captain Girousse in such a tasteless manner!”

The roar of a failed power pose echoed throughout the cavern, the oily tone cracking into a shrill, ridiculous screech.

Xia Lian silently lowered her shortbow, a look of utter disdain on her face that clearly said, ‘That’s all you’ve got?’

Just as Girousse was fuming, a new crisis erupted.

“The elements… they’re rejecting me!”

“Damn it! My spell failed!”

A chorus of suppressed groans and shocked exclamations broke out from the mage phalanx at the rear of the Elven army.

The members of the Royal Mage Corps were all pale, cold sweat soaking their gorgeous robes. The light from the staves in their hands flickered erratically. The elemental energy that was normally as docile and obedient as their own limbs was now full of violent repulsion, turning on them like an irreconcilable enemy.

The old mage leading them strained to condense a fireball in his palm. The orange flame struggled and sputtered, but finally gave a reluctant “poof” and dissolved into a wisp of black smoke.

“Your Majesty! The elemental energy in the air has been interfered with!” the old mage’s voice was hoarse, filled with the terror of losing his most fundamental connection. “A powerful and foul mental field has severed our link to the elements! Casting difficulty… has increased at least tenfold!”

Tenfold.

The number struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer.

This meant that the Royal Mage Corps, the Elves’ proudest strategic force, capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, was, at this moment, almost completely useless. They had been forcibly downgraded to magic apprentices who could barely manage the most basic of cantrips.

“Mental field?”

When Celeste heard this term, all the clues in her mind clicked into place.

‘So that’s it! This guy dumped all his stat points into ‘Spirit’! He’s using raw mental power to directly interfere with reality, nerfing all casters at the rule level!’

She immediately turned to her teammates, her words coming out in a rapid-fire burst.

“Selene, how are you feeling?”

“I don’t feel anything,” Selene shook her head, looking confused. “Except for a burning desire to smash his face in with my shield, nothing else.”

“Su Wan?”

Su Wan shook her head firmly. “My magic is circulating smoothly, without any blockage.”

Unseen by the others, thin ice crystals were already forming on the fingertips of her hands, which hung at her sides. A freezing power, invisible to the naked eye, was frantically gathering and compressing in her palm. The temperature of the surrounding air had already dropped by several degrees. She was holding back an ultimate move, ready to freeze this ugly creature and his broken throne into a permanent ice sculpture.

Xia Lian also nodded vigorously, indicating that she was perfectly fine.

Celeste’s heart gave a heavy thump—not from fear, but from an irrepressible excitement. This was going to be fun.

‘Oh-ho? Is this what VIP treatment feels like?”The boss activated a server-wide anti-magic debuff, but it’s completely ineffective against us “visitors from another world”! Our souls don’t belong to this plane, so his anti-magic rules can’t touch us!”He popped his ultimate cheat, but we’ve got invincibility frames! This is gonna be hilarious!’

“Hahahaha! Did you see that? My dear work of art! Oh, no, my future Queen!”

Girousse forcibly suppressed his anger from the sneak attack, resuming his self-important posture. He opened his arms wide, pathologically enjoying the pained expressions of the Elven mages.

His hysterical laughter was harsh and twisted.

“Those mages of yours, who only know how to fiddle with the elements, could never comprehend the nobility and elegance of my mental world!”

“Under the radiance of my thoughts, their magic is like fireflies in a mud puddle—ridiculous and pathetic!”

His gaze locked onto Elaniel again, thick with undisguised greed and desire.

“Give up. Come to my side. Only I, Girousse, can provide you with a kingdom of true style, one worthy of your beauty! As for these tactless members of your dowry…”

He shot a contemptuous glance at the four people standing protectively in front of the queen: Celeste and her party.

“Hmph, they can be responsible for cleaning up the venue for our grand wedding! After all, someone has to take out the trash, hehehe…”

Celeste’s grip tightened on the pink staff that was, for all intents and purposes, a long spear.

‘Oh, you’ve done it now! You’ve really gone and pissed me off! Today, I’m adding some brand-new techniques to the Ten Great Tortures of the Other World, and you’re going to be my test subject!’

A layer of frost seemed to settle over Elaniel’s face, but her wine-red eyes remained as deep and still as an ancient well, without a single ripple. She didn’t even bother to spare the goblin an extra glance.

The next second.

An invisible but substantial aura erupted from within Elaniel.

Visible silver radiance flowed from every inch of her skin, from every strand of her hair. It was not magic, nor was it divine art. It was a manifestation of will, pure to the absolute extreme.

Wherever the silver light passed, the foul air was washed away, distorted light and shadow were corrected, and even the ugly, chaotic patterns on the rock walls began to quietly transform, rearranging themselves into harmonious and beautiful forms.

This was a Domain belonging only to “beauty” and “order,” and it was forcibly overwriting the entire filthy cavern.

‘Holy crap!’Celeste was stunned.’The Queen’s Domain… is fighting with aesthetics?!”What is this? Order-based purification?! A rule-kill based on good taste?! She’s literally saying, “My vibe is better than your vibe,” and the universe is agreeing with her!’

Bathed in this silver Domain, the Royal Mages, who had looked ashen and defeated, suddenly felt the shackles gripping their souls loosen. Under that pure silver light, the filthy mental field made a sizzling sound as it was purified, melting away like snow in the sun.

“Your Majesty!” the old mage shouted in joyous surprise. “The mental interference has weakened! No, it’s being purified by Your Majesty’s Domain! We can now… exert at least fifty percent of our strength!”

Fifty percent.

For these top-tier mages, that was more than enough to turn the tide of battle.

And the Elven knights and rangers, who had been only slightly affected, now felt their minds clear and their fighting spirit surge to its peak, invigorated by the silver light.

On his throne, Girousse’s smile finally vanished.

He stared at Elaniel, bathed in silver light, with a new intensity. In those beady green eyes, the greed was so thick it was about to overflow.

“Worthy of being the Queen I have taken a fancy to. To possess such hidden power… this kind of pure will-based Domain… I like it very much!”

“Excellent! After the wedding, you, along with your Domain, will all be mine! My collection is sorely missing a peerless treasure like you!”

He waved his hand violently, letting out a sharp, bestial roar.

“My warriors! Emerge!”

“Let our Queen see the powerful army of her future husband!”

Amidst the roaring, the few huge, deathly still black shadows behind him finally began to stir.

A heavy, tooth-aching sound of bone grinding against bone echoed through the cavern.

The black shadows writhed and stood up. As they rose, their shadows lengthened, revealing their true forms.

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]