Darknight Hero's Crisis
Last updated 2026-09-10
Darknight Hero's Crisis is the second part of Diluc's Story Quest, Noctua Chapter: Act I - Darknight Hero's Alibi.
Steps
- Talk to Huffman outside the Knights of Favonius headquarters
- You acquire Letter from the Abyss Order
- Go to Dawn Winery
- Tell Diluc about the war declaration
- Go to the Abyss Order stronghold
- Talk to Diluc
- Enter the Abyss Order stronghold
- Enter Temple of the Lion's Quest Domain: Cipher for the Ciphertext
- Arrive at the depths of the Abyss Order stronghold
- Interrogate the Abyss Mage and find out their plan
- Leave the Abyss Order stronghold
- Talk to Huffman about the Knights' situation
Dialogue
Quest DescriptionYour inquiries were slowly bringing the Darknight Hero's identity to light, but just then, you met the man himself. His true identity is Diluc, owner of the Dawn Winery — and his actions have long since attracted the attention of the Knights of Favonius...
- (Talk to Huffman)
- Paimon: Huffman!
- Huffman: Oh, it's you two. Thank you for coming.
- Huffman: So — the Darknight Hero. Do you have anything else you're able to share with me?
Could I first ask what's going on?
- Huffman: Ah yes, of course I should fill you in first... apologies for my appalling lapse of etiquette.
- Sorry, we've got nothing.
- Huffman: Is that so... That is a pity indeed.
- Huffman: The situation is... here. Take a look at this.
Letter from the Abyss Order
- To the "Darknight Hero"
- ??? ????? ????? has endured too long your self-proclaimed ????????????? and hypocrisy. We hereby ????????? you:
- We shall ??? ?? ??????? ??? march full-on onto Mondstadt's front gate at ?? ???. If you wish to cling to your so-called justice, don't sit idly by ?? ??? ???????, step up and accept ??? ?????????. Otherwise, Mondstadt's ?????? ???? shall take the fall in your stead.
- Paimon: Geez... what horrible handwriting!
- Paimon: Hmm, let me take a closer look... Huh, some parts of this seem to be complete gibberish.
- Huffman: Indeed. Although this is written in the common tongue, it appears that a cipher has been used in many places.
- Huffman: Nevertheless, one can grasp the general message from the non-ciphered portions alone...
- Huffman: This is a war declaration from the Abyss Order to the Darknight Hero.
- Paimon: Does that mean... the bad guys want the Darknight Hero to go away forever and ever?
- Huffman: Something like that. Thus, we are hoping to contact him as soon as possible so that we can attempt to coordinate a response.
- Huffman: After all, this matter no longer concerns merely the Darknight Hero himself. It impacts the entire city of Mondstadt.
- Thank you for the information.
- I will keep it in mind.
- Huffman: If you find out anything at all, come and find me.
- Paimon: A war declaration sent by the Abyss Order...
- Paimon: This is not good news at all for Master Diluc! Quick, we should go tell him right away!
- (Talk to Diluc at Dawn Winery)
- Paimon: Master Diluc! Just now we were at the Knights of Favonius and, and—
- Diluc: I take it you're about to inform me of the war declaration from the Abyss Order?
- Diluc: I am aware of it. Though I appreciate you for taking the trouble to come all this way.
- Paimon: What?
- Diluc: The Dawn Winery's intelligence network extends beyond commercial matters.
- Paimon: Great! So, what's the plan, Master Diluc?
- Diluc: I'm open to suggestions...
- You really should join forces with the Knights...
- Diluc: No. That would be playing right into the hands of the Abyss Order.
- Diluc: They know full well that we don't exactly see eye to eye. They're using this as a means to force me into making an appearance.
- Diluc: If my identity were exposed, all my future activities would be subject to some degree of interference from the Knights.
- Diluc: After all, no powerful organization wishes to be outdone by someone from the outside.
- Stay at the winery until this blows over.
- Diluc: That would be tantamount to handing this over to the Knights.
- Diluc: Had they been worthy of this task to begin with, things would never have escalated to this point.
- Diluc: In any case, circumstances are not dire enough to warrant me going into hiding and leaving the Knights to deal with the consequences.
- Paimon: Whew... the Abyss Order has really dealt you a tough hand this time. What a sneaky little bunch those guys are!
- Diluc: There is a way. But for it to work, I need some more information.
- Diluc: Specifically, I need to decipher the obscured portions of the Abyss Order's war declaration.
- Paimon: Obscured portions? You mean the bits Paimon can't read?
- Diluc: It must be a cipher only understood by members of the Abyss Order, used to spread messages within the organization.
- Why would they send you a written message that only they can read?
- If they knew we can't read it, why did they write it in the first place?
- Diluc: It's not simply a war declaration, but also a notification to their own.
- Diluc: When you take a stand that makes you a hero to one party, you also become a villain to the other.
- Diluc: And since I've been the Abyss Order's enemy for so long...
- Diluc: They've made me the target around which they can rally their troops and unite their strength.
- Paimon: Wow... Seems like it takes a lot of brains to be a superhero, huh?
- Diluc: I understand my enemy well is all. As the saying goes, heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin.
- Paimon: So what're we gonna do about the intel that's written in gibberish then? How do we... ungibberishify it?
- Diluc: Simple. When you don't understand something, you ask.
- Diluc: I've already tracked down one of their strongholds... If you're interested, feel free to come along.
- (Talk to Diluc outside the Abyss Order stronghold)
- Diluc: This is the place.
- Diluc: Abandoned ruins like these are precisely the kind of place the Abyss Order likes to camp out.
- Diluc: Come on. There's no time to lose.
- (At the end of the stronghold)
- Abyss Mage: How did you find me here!? Favonian scum!
- Diluc: I am no Knight of Favonius. Now, start talking! Your plan, what is it?
- Abyss Mage: I see you received our letter... But if you think I'm going to let you in on our secrets, I'm afraid you're quite mistaken!
- Diluc: Hmph. You appear to have misunderstood the situation you are in.
- Burn him with Searing Hand!
- Abyss Mage: D—Did you just use a Pyro Vision to shoot f—fire from your hands!? ...Ah! It burns!!
- Diluc: Let's see how long it takes for you to crack...
- Burn him with Searing Hand again!
- Abyss Mage: Stop! Stop! P—Please, the pain— I beg you... make it stop!
- Burn him with Searing Hand again!
- Abyss Mage: Ugh...
- Diluc: Playing dead won't help you — that fire was nowhere near strong enough to— Oh... He seems to have passed out...
- Diluc: Hey! You sleep when I say you can sleep!
- Abyss Mage: Aah! It burns!
- Interrogate him about their plan of attack.
- Abyss Mage: I'll talk, I'll talk! Ow ow ow... P—Please, stop! I'll tell you everything!
- Abyss Mage: Th—The Abyss Order, we've amassed a force bound by a shared hatred for the Darknight Hero...
- Abyss Mage: They... They will march on the Mondstadt city gates at 10 PM tomorrow night.
- Abyss Mage: That's everything I know... Please... Don't make me suffer those flames again...
- Diluc: That's it? Well, I doubt you'd be foolish enough to keep anything else hidden.
- (Outside the stronghold)
- Diluc: Now that I have the information I need, I must prepare.
- Diluc: I would be grateful if you could keep me updated on how the Knights of Favonius respond to this matter.
- Paimon: Yes, Master Diluc sir! Anything you say, Master Diluc sir!
- Diluc: ...Why are you acting so strange all of a sudden?
- Paimon: In... in light of what just went down here a moment ago...
- Paimon: Master Diluc has officially reached No. 1 on Paimon's "people not to tick off under any circumstances" list...
- Diluc: ...
- (Talk to Huffman)
- Huffman: If we do not make contact with the Darknight Hero soon...
- What are we to do about the Abyss Order's challenge?
- Huffman: Ah, it's you two. I must admit, this issue of the Darknight Hero is proving to be something of a headache.
- Huffman: We've just held a meeting to decide on an appropriate course of action. Can you guess what it is?
- Bury our heads firmly in the sand?
- Huffman: Haha... Good one. But no, the Knights cannot afford to simply stand by and watch while there is even the slightest inkling of a threat facing Mondstadt.
- Huffman: If that were the case, more and more people would start to rely on the Darknight Hero instead of the Knights of Favonius.
- Join forces with the Darknight Hero?
- Huffman: No. That would send a signal that the Knights are in favor of the Darknight Hero's continued presence in our city... which we are not.
- Huffman: Encouraging this kind of individual heroism undermines the Knights' authority.
- Paimon: Oh. Well, what's the plan then?
- Huffman: Find out the Darknight Hero's true identity, and offer him our protection.
- Paimon: "Protection"? He seems to be doing just fine without your protection so far, y'know...
- Huffman: Pff...
- Huffman: Well, since you've aided the Knights in the past, I might as well just tell you.
- Huffman: The offer of protection is just a ruse, in order for the Knights of Favonius to take over full — and exclusive — responsibility for this matter.
- Paimon: You aren't gonna let the Darknight Hero be all heroic and stuff? Why not?
- Huffman: Firstly, to show the might of the Knights of Favonius — to prove to the people that without the Darknight Hero, they can still rely on the Knights to maintain peace and harmony.
- Huffman: Secondly, the Abyss Order have no mercy in their hearts. If anything happened to the Darknight Hero...
- Huffman: It would only serve to further their nefarious ambitions.
- Paimon: Gosh... Paimon never knew the life of a knight involved so much untold anguish before.
- Huffman: But none of this will work if we don't establish the Darknight Hero's true identity in time.
- Kaeya: There's no need to despair, Huffman. Just follow my plan and everything will be fine.
- Huffman: Ah, Captain Kaeya.
- Kaeya: Lately, Master Diluc has been working the bar at the Angel's Share every night.
- Kaeya: All I need you to do is keep him in your sight. Think you can manage that for me?
- Huffman: Yes, Captain Kaeya! ...But, does that mean that...
- Huffman: Master Diluc is the Darknight Hero?
- Kaeya: Who knows...? It's just a hunch. I've been known to be wrong on occasion.
- (Afterwards)
- Paimon: Wow, Paimon feels we saw a whole new side of the Knights of Favonius today...
- Paimon: But Paimon doesn't understand, how is Kaeya so sure he knows who the Darknight Hero is?
- Paimon: We need to get to the winery and tell Master Diluc as soon as Paimonly possible!
Other Languages
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | Darknight Hero's Crisis | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 暗夜英雄的危机 Ànyè Yīngxióng de Wēijī | Dark Night Hero's Crisis |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 暗夜英雄的危機 Ànyè Yīngxióng de Wéijī | |
| Japanese | 闇夜の英雄の危機 Yamiyo no Eiyuu no Kiki | Dark Night Hero's Crisis |
| Korean | 다크 히어로의 위기 Dakeu Hi'eoro-ui Wigi | The Crisis of Dark Hero |
| Spanish | La crisis del Héroe Oscuro | The Crisis of the Dark Hero |
| French | Crise du Héros de la Nuit | Crisis of the Hero of the Night |
| Russian | Кризис Полуночного Героя Krizis Polunochnogo Geroya | Midnight Hero's Crisis |
| Thai | ช่วงเวลาวิกฤตของ Darknight Hero | |
| Vietnamese | Nguy Cơ Từ Anh Hùng Bóng Đêm | |
| German | Krise des Helden der Nacht | The Darknight Hero's Crisis |
| Indonesian | Krisis Darknight Hero | Darknight Hero's Crisis |
| Portuguese | Crise do Herói Obscuro | Crisis of the Obscure Hero |
| Turkish | Karagece Kahramanı Krizi | |
| Italian | La crisi dell'Eroe oscuro |
Change History
Released in Version 1.0