Lin Qingyue executed a precise sweep, her staff tearing through the air with a sharp shriek.
Crack!
The spines of three skeletons shattered simultaneously on impact, their bones clattering and scattering across the ground.
She leaned on her staff, her chest rising and falling slightly. Though her breathing was a little ragged, her gaze remained as sharp as ever as she quickly scanned the chaotic battlefield.
The situation was grim, but far from hopeless.
The Sea of Skeletons seemed endless, and the guards' defensive line wavered under the relentless tide of attacks. Yet, they held their ground like nails hammered into place.
The burly captain with the scarred face was truly ferocious. His Mountain-Cleaving Axe danced in an impenetrable whirlwind, sending bone fragments flying wherever he went. Though he had sustained several new wounds, his momentum only grew stronger.
Two of his men had fallen, but they were quickly dragged back to the carriages by their comrades. The old priest accompanying the convoy was chanting a Purification Spell, dispelling the necrotic poison spreading from their wounds. The injured men were pale, but their lives were not in danger.
"There are too many of them!" Lin Xiyue's voice rang out, tinged with gravity but devoid of panic.
She held the front line steadfastly. Each slam of her heavy shield shattered one or two skeletons into piles of bone fragments.
Arrows from Skeleton Archers struck her shield but failed to leave even a single white mark.
Xia Lian leaped lightly from the carriage roof. To conserve her precious enchanted arrows, she had already put away her shortbow.
The twin blades at her waist flashed from their sheaths, their cold light dancing like butterfly wings. With fluid, effortless grace, she precisely severed a skeleton's neck bone.
Three skeletons instantly closed in, but she evaded their encirclement with a single, subtle sidestep.
The blades flashed again, and two more skeletons collapsed into heaps of bone.
Su Wan stood slightly behind the main line, her staff tapping lightly. She precisely controlled her frost magic within a tiny area, freezing the feet of a charging Ghoul just long enough for Xia Lian to deliver the killing blow.
Fine beads of sweat dotted her brow, but her breathing remained steady, indicating her mana consumption was still manageable. Like Xia Lian, she was conserving her strength, wary of greater threats that might emerge on the battlefield.
"They're wearing us down."
Lin Qingyue calmly made her assessment. "The Undead Army can't be just these cannon fodder. The big ones are coming."
As if to confirm her words, the Sea of Skeletons' assault abruptly halted.
The white tide of bone parted, and a thick, nauseating stench of decay washed over them.
Dozens of hunched [Ghouls Lv. 25] scuttled forward on all fours, moving with ghostly speed. Their dark claws aimed straight for the weakest point in the defensive line!
"Watch out for their poison claws!" an old guard shouted, raising his shield to meet a lunging Ghoul.
The battle's intensity instantly escalated!
A young adventurer reacted a half-second too late, and a claw slashed across his shoulder. Black energy immediately spread from the wound.
But he was a tough one. With only a muffled grunt, he charged forward instead of retreating, ramming his longsword through the Ghoul's eye socket!
At the same time, he roared, "Priest!"
Beside the rear carriage, a gentle white light descended upon him just in time.
With a sizzling sound, the ominous black energy was swiftly purified and dispersed.
The wounded man was immediately dragged back by his comrades. Though shaken, the formation held firm.
What truly sent a chill down everyone's spine were the three figures emerging slowly from behind the Ghouls.
Three [Necromancers Lv. 26], shrouded in tattered black robes.
They raised their bone staves, and an obscure, evil incantation echoed across the battlefield.
A dark green aura spread outward.
Under the green light, the scattered skeleton remains on the ground trembled violently and reassembled. In their hollow eye sockets, extinguished Soul Fires reignited!
"Dammit! They can resurrect them!" the Burly Captain roared, cleaving a Ghoul in two with his axe. But another Ghoul's passing claw left a gash on his arm, deep enough to expose bone.
Black energy surfaced, and his expression darkened.
But a moment later, a white light of Purification enveloped him from behind, and the poison swiftly faded.
He spat a bloody mouthful onto the ground. "Bah! All they know are dirty tricks!"
"This will never end if it keeps up."
Xia Lian sheathed her twin blades, then drew two daggers from her thighs in a reverse grip. Her gaze was locked on the three Necromancers at the rear.
"Should we charge and take out those casters first?"
Su Wan shook her head, her brow furrowed. It was the first time since entering the Dungeon that she had worn such a grim expression.
"No. They're positioned too far back, and... they're guarded by an Abomination."
Abomination.
Everyone's gaze involuntarily shifted to the rearmost part of the Undead Army.
The massive shadow finally revealed its true form—a Stitched Abomination over six meters tall, crudely pieced together from countless severed limbs and skeletal remains.
The grotesque maw on its abdomen constantly opened and closed, drooling viscous, foul liquid.
The beast bone it wielded, as thick as a pillar, dragged along the ground, carving deep furrows in the earth.
With each step it took, a dull tremor shook the ground.
[Stitched Abomination Lv. 32]!
The Undead Legion's siege weapon!
This wasn't some unlucky encounter; it was a premeditated, well-prepared, and fully equipped ambush!
"Prepare for alternating cover fire! Break out toward the southeast corner!" the Guard Captain ordered decisively, issuing the most rational command possible.
"The terrain there is narrower. It'll limit the Abomination and the Sea of Skeletons' deployment."
Just as Su Wan was about to follow the order, she noticed Lin Qingyue hadn't retreated. Instead, she had taken a step forward.
Her eyes burned as she stared at the tide of undead. The curve of her lips held no fear, only the thrill of a hunt.
"Qingyue?" Su Wan frowned, sensing something was wrong.
Lin Qingyue didn't answer. She simply took another half-step forward and raised her staff horizontally before her chest.
"Sis?"
Lin Xiyue glanced back in confusion, then recognized her sister's all-too-familiar starting motion.
The crystal at the staff's tip began to gather a soft pink glow. That posture, that expression...
She instantly recalled the unlucky Necromancer from the College Entrance Exam Dungeon—the one her sister had literally "healed" to oblivion with a single Healing Spell!
"Could it be..." Lin Xiyue's mouth formed a perfect "O."
Her eyes blazed with intense excitement, her voice trembling.
"Sis! Are you going to use that again?!"
Xia Lian and Su Wan froze, bewildered.
Use what?
A Healing Spell?
Lin Qingyue winked at her sister, then closed her eyes, her mental energy condensing to a sharp focus.
This time, she chanted a wide-area divine healing spell—Halo.
She channeled the unique and immense Power of Holy Light within her, and the crystal atop her staff suddenly flared with blinding brilliance!
What erupted wasn't the sacred, majestic golden-white light of divinity.
It was an overwhelming tide of pink light
The light, possessing a bizarre holiness, surged outward from Lin Qingyue, sweeping across the entire battlefield!
"Oh, Holy Light,"
Lin Qingyue's voice was ethereal and solemn, creating a jarring dissonance with the ridiculously pink glow.
"Purify these lost souls and grant them... eternal peace."
"Amen!"
[Ding! Host detected using a proper skill for an utterly improper purpose while attempting to cloak it in sanctity. Elation Value +888!]
Who's being improper?
What part of this is improper?
Holy Light purifying the undead is perfectly natural and righteous! It couldn't be more proper!
The pink tide swept past.
The world seemed to fall silent, as if someone had hit the mute button.
The Ghouls at the forefront froze mid-charge.
Under the pink glow, their ashen skin, black claws, and rotting flesh silently softened and dissolved.
There were no screams, only the faint sizzle of fat and putrid flesh being seared away.
In an instant, they melted into pools of viscous liquid that emitted black smoke.
The Skeleton Army met an even cleaner end.
The moment the pink light touched their bleached bones, they instantly crumbled, disintegrating into primordial bone dust.
A gust of wind scattered the ashes across the battlefield.