The wind howling through the canyon abruptly fell silent.
Everyone's gaze was fixed, stunned, on the mountain of flesh that had once been the Stitched Abomination.
And on the young woman holding the staff, her expression serene.
If the overwhelming tide of pink Holy Light that had purified the undead army had violently shaken their worldview...
...then this Cleanse Spell, which had disintegrated the siege beast on the spot, had utterly shattered their reality, ground it to dust, and scattered the ashes.
"It... it just... fell apart?" a young adventurer stammered, his voice laced with disbelief.
He rubbed his eyes fiercely, seriously wondering if he was still hallucinating from blood loss.
"That light just now... that was a Cleanse Spell, right? I'm not seeing things, am I?" another guard jabbed his companion sharply with his elbow, the force nearly knocking the man off his feet.
"I... think so? The Old Priest used it to cure poison before... just... the color was different..." his companion replied stiffly, his eyes vacant, his mind completely shut down.
The Burly Captain's mouth hung open, his fleshy, coarse-featured face a mask of utter astonishment.
He glanced from the pile of gore to Lin Qingyue, then his gaze drifted down to the two pink, heart-shaped marks on his own chest and arm.
A terrifying thought exploded in his mind.
If she used that "Cleanse Spell" on me...
...would it "cleanse" away one of my... parts?
He instinctively clamped his legs together, a chilling sensation spreading through his groin.
"Sis Xiyue... your sister... has she always been this... uh... special?" Xia Lian whispered, sidling up to Lin Xiyue.
She was all too familiar with the spell; they'd relied on it for personal hygiene during their days in the wilderness.
But she couldn't reconcile the practical spell that made them smell fresh and clean with the bloody scene of dismemberment before her.
"Huh? Oh, it makes perfect sense!" Lin Xiyue snapped out of her shock. Gazing at her sister's back, her eyes filled with pride, as if sharing in the glory.
Puffing out her chest, she began her "Xiyue's Explanation" in a tone that said, You're all making a big deal out of nothing.
"The Cleanse Spell, at its core, just removes 'impurities' that don't belong to the original body."
"Think about it—the threads on that Stitched Abomination weren't grown by the creature itself, right? So of course they count as 'foreign objects'! And foreign objects need to be cleansed. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
This twisted logic left Xia Lian utterly dumbfounded.
Does that make sense?
This absurd reasoning... somehow... seems... flawless?
Xia Lian felt her own brain turning to mush.
Meanwhile, Su Wan—the logical, erudite Ice Queen—had one hand pressed to her forehead, the tip of her staff unconsciously tracing circles on the ground.
She, too, recognized the Cleanse Spell; she'd even been on the receiving end of its "services."
And that was precisely why she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
In her ice-blue eyes, the magnificent iceberg named "Common Sense and the Laws of Magic" was riddled with cracks, groaning under the strain, ready to shatter at any moment.
Holy Light used as an AoE attack.
A Healing Spell that heals the undead into oblivion.
And now, she'd even twisted the Cleanse Spell into a "Structural Disintegration Spell" using some absurd "philosophical concept"...
The entire system of professional knowledge Su Wan had spent her life learning felt as fragile as a sheet of paper before Lin Qingyue.
For the first time, Su Wan understood so profoundly that perhaps her mentor, who always used to say, "The limit of magic is imagination," hadn't just been spouting pretty words to encourage his students.
"A miracle... This is truly a miracle!"
Behind them, the old Priest had prostrated himself, bowing frantically toward Lin Qingyue. His eyes blazed with fanaticism as he chanted, "To erase filth from the very root of 'existence'! This is the true meaning of 'cleansing'! I see it! I finally see it! Amen!"
Lin Qingyue felt a headache coming on. It seemed she had accidentally acquired her first fanatic.
In the eerie silence, three black figures suddenly shot out from the other side of the meat mountain's remains, fleeing desperately toward the depths of the canyon!
It was the three Necromancers!
Their elation at capturing their sacrifices had turned to horror at the Stitched Abomination's disintegration in a single second.
A fear as chilling as ice water instantly drowned their greed.
That pink-haired Priest isn't a sacrifice!
She's a monster!
A terrifying existence that defies all logic, a natural counter to the undead!
Run!
We must get this information back!
"Trying to run?" Lin Qingyue's eyes narrowed as she issued a decisive command:
"Xia Lian, detain them! Su Wan, open fire!"
"Roger!"
"Understood!"
Xia Lian's body reacted before her mind could process it. The battle instincts of a top-tier Ranger allowed her to snap into combat mode instantly, regardless of the shock.
She didn't pursue. Instead, she stood her ground, shortbow in hand. Drawing an arrow and pulling the string, her movements were as smooth as flowing water.
"Binding Shot!"
Vwoom!
An arrow wreathed in a faint blue halo shot through the air, tracing a perfect parabola before exploding at the feet of the foremost Necromancer!
An invisible ripple of energy spread out. The Necromancer's legs felt as if they were filled with lead, its speed plummeting. Even the escape aura it had cast on its companions flickered unsteadily.
"Nice shot!"
Su Wan's cool voice rang out, her mind suddenly clear.
If the rules can be overturned, why bother clinging to convention?
"Dark Shield!" another Necromancer shrieked, raising a barrier of swirling black energy to protect its comrade.
Normally, Su Wan would have needed some effort to break through it.
But now, her ice-blue eyes held only pure indifference and impatience.
Analyze? Find weaknesses? Too much trouble!
"Ice Burst Spell!"
Su Wan thrust her staff forward.
No incantation, no finesse—only pure, raw frost magic condensing with insane speed, forming an ice-blue pillar of light so massive it warped the very air around it. It slammed into the Dark Shield with the force to shatter everything!
BOOM—!
Amid the deafening roar, the sturdy shield didn't last even a second before shattering like thin ice.
The Necromancer behind it was frozen, torn apart, and reduced to a cloud of ice shards by the rampaging frost energy.
The remaining two Necromancers were scared out of their wits. They desperately burned their own souls, trying to trade them for greater speed.
"Useless."
Su Wan's voice was colder than the frost she summoned.
With a light tap of her staff, an ice spike shot out like a precision-guided missile, accurately piercing one Necromancer's skull and causing its ethereal blue Soul Fire to explode.
At the same moment, Xia Lian's second arrow left the string.
"Wind-Piercing Arrow!"
The arrow tore through the air with a sharp whistle, overtaking the first projectile. It entered the last Necromancer's head from behind and exited through its eye socket!
The immense force pinned the Soul Fire—the very essence of its life—firmly to the distant stone wall
The battle was over.
Only then did Lin Qingyue finally breathe a sigh of relief. She hurried over to her sister.
Without a word, she raised her staff.
A familiar, absurdly thick pillar of pink light instantly enveloped Lin Xiyue.
Lin Xiyue's face, which had been contorted in pain, immediately relaxed. The jarring shock and acidic numbness from blocking the Abomination's attack were swiftly washed away and healed by a domineering yet warm life force.
"How are you? Feeling better?" Lin Qingyue finally asked, her heart aching as she looked at her sister's still-trembling arm.
Taking on an Abomination's attack head-on was too much for Lin Xiyue at her current level.
"I'm fine, Sis! Piece of cake!" Lin Xiyue grinned, flexing her fully recovered arm and giving her sister a triumphant look. "I'm back at full health! I could take on another one right now!"
"Still talking tough." Lin Qingyue rolled her eyes, but her heart finally settled.
Just then, a soft golden light erupted from within Lin Xiyue, completely enveloping her.
"Huh? I leveled up!" Lin Xiyue exclaimed, clenching her fists in delight as she felt new power surge through her. "Looks like fighting these big guys way above my level gives some seriously fat EXP!"
After clearing out all the minions, the gazes of Lin Qingyue, Su Wan, Xia Lian, and Lin Xiyue turned as one toward the other end of the canyon.
There, atop a Skeletal Warhorse, the heavily armored Death Knight and the Apprentice Knights standing silently behind him had remained as still as cold statues from beginning to end.
They had watched the entire battle with cold indifference.
From the moment the Stitched Abomination appeared to the moment it was torn into a pile of parts.
From the Necromancers' frantic retreat to their instant annihilation.
He had not moved a single step.
Now, only they and this unfathomable Death Knight remained on the battlefield.
Clack.
A soft sound echoed.
The Skeletal Warhorse's iron hoof, wreathed in spectral fire, finally took a step forward.
Everyone's heart leaped into their throats.
The real boss was about to make its move.