"Sis is about to unleash her ultimate?"
Hearing that shout, Lin Xiyue's heart skipped a beat. Without hesitation, she leaped back, creating distance.
Her face was filled with pure anticipation.
To her, "ultimate" from her sister was synonymous with having her worldview shattered and rebuilt.
Whether it was the overwhelming tide of pink light, the alchemical machine gun she'd wielded, or the terrifying tornado from even earlier—each time had been beyond imagination.
The frost lingering on Su Wan's fingertips quietly dissipated as she flickered behind a massive boulder.
A flicker of curiosity ignited in her cool, clear eyes.
Just how much more of a surprise could this completely unrestrained Priest deliver?
Xia Lian, who had just pierced the Troll Shaman's skull with an arrow, aided by the Elven Ranger's long-range support, now turned her gaze toward them from afar.
Meanwhile, at the core of the battlefield...
Aeldara swung her sword, the chilling sword qi forcing Mograss back step by step. Even she spared a glance toward Lin Qingyue.
When she saw the stance the red-robed girl had taken, the muscles on her usually expressionless, icy face twitched almost imperceptibly.
A familiar sense of déjà vu washed over her.
Something beyond reason—something that defied the very rules of this world—was about to happen.
"Damn it... Traitor..."
Mograss seized this brief respite. The Soul Fire in his eye sockets flickered violently, but he couldn't even manage a complete curse.
He clutched the sword wound on his chest—so deep it exposed bone—desperately suppressing the Power of Death and Frost raging within him.
Counterattacking was a pipe dream; even taking another breath felt impossibly difficult.
Aeldara withdrew her gaze, the impatience in her eyes growing more pronounced.
She had made her decision.
End this quickly.
She would dispose of this nuisance as fast as possible, then witness firsthand what kind of storm that otherworldly girl was about to unleash.
At that moment, Lin Qingyue—the center of everyone's attention—halted her wild, carefree steps.
She stood twenty meters in front of Slad'ran, a smile blooming on her face—innocent and childlike, yet utterly dangerous.
"Hehe, watch closely, everyone!"
"Next up is a grand fireworks show!"
Her clear, childish voice echoed through the valley as she raised her hands high.
Instantly, the small brown leather pouch on her back erupted in blinding red light.
Countless beams shot out, rapidly weaving and converging in mid-air to form a massive, ethereal four-leaf clover pattern.
The name of a Skill exploded in her mind.
[Sparks 'n' Splash!]
"Full firepower!"
Lin Qingyue's childish shout became the trigger for annihilation.
The next second, the massive four-leaf clover pattern in the sky blazed with blinding light, like a crimson sun suspended over the valley!
Countless crimson beams, each thicker than an adult's waist, tore through the heavens and descended!
Heavenly Retribution!
This was true Heavenly Retribution!
These beams had only one target—the battered Troll Chieftain, Slad'ran, who had been about to make a desperate last stand!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!
The dense explosions merged into a continuous, deafening thunder.
Slad'ran was completely enveloped by a red thunderstorm.
Each laser strike blasted a horrifying crater into the ground, and the scorching shockwaves instantly vaporized the snow, creating a dense fog that blotted out the sky.
Slad'ran's colossal body was completely covered by this indiscriminate carpet bombing.
It couldn't even let out a single scream before being utterly consumed by the overwhelmingly violent fire elemental energy.
The terrifying energy fluctuations caused the entire snow mountain to tremble violently.
On the slopes, the thick snowpack groaned and cracked, on the verge of collapse.
An avalanche was imminent.
"Sis, I was just kidding... Did you really turn into a Witch who comes with her own Forbidden Spells?"
Lin Xiyue stared at the cataclysmic scene, her jaw nearly dropping into the snow.
Su Wan's body trembled slightly with extreme excitement.
Her knuckles turned white from gripping her staff so tightly as a single thought screamed wildly in her mind: This is the romance of a Mage!
Intricate spell structures? Elegant battlefield control?
In the face of world-shattering, absolute firepower, they were nothing but flashy, heretical nonsense!
Ice Mages have no future!
Fire Mages! Fire Mages are the true path!
Xia Lian was so stunned by the spectacular aesthetics of destruction that she was speechless. She could only pump her fists, her face radiating pride and joy that screamed, "My teammate is freaking awesome!"
So, this is what combat can be like.
No need for precise positioning, no need for complex tactics.
Just... absolute, overwhelming firepower!
[Ding! Host has achieved the accomplishment: Tactics for the Poor, Firepower for the Rich. Elation Value +666!]
The System's notification made the corners of Lin Qingyue's lips curve even higher.
That's right! Now this is what you call DPS!
Positioning? Kiting? In the face of saturation bombing, they're all worthless!
Truth lies only in firepower! Justice exists only within the bomb's blast radius!
She gazed with deep satisfaction at the devastated landscape ahead, shrouded in flames and steam.
A single barrage of "Sparks 'n' Splash" like that... Forget a mere troll; even an Earth Dragon would be blasted into a pile of charred fragments.
The light finally dissipated.
The smoke gradually thinned.
A terrifying, scorched, and molten crater over thirty meters in diameter appeared before everyone's eyes.
At the center of the crater lay Slad'ran's massive, mangled body.
One of its arms had been blown off, half its body was charred to a crisp, and not a single inch of intact skin remained.
It lay at the bottom of the pit, its life force as faint as a candle flickering in the wind. Only the barely perceptible rise and fall of its chest proved it was still alive.
But only just.
It slowly raised its head. Its eyes, once filled with tyrannical fury, now held only endless fear, confusion, and absurdity.
It didn't understand.
How could it—the mighty Chieftain of the Frostjaw Clan, a powerful being who had rampaged across the Northern Territory for over a century—be defeated by a strange little red girl?
And in such a humiliating way—treated like a target and bombed to the brink of death.
This was an utterly pathetic way to die.
"Still not dead? You're tougher than you look."
Lin Qingyue tilted her head cutely as she watched the barely breathing Slad'ran.
She prepared to pull another Jumpy Dumpty from her backpack to send it on its final journey.
Suddenly, Slad'ran mustered its last ounce of strength and unleashed a final, desperate roar.
With its only remaining arm, it snatched the equally battered giant mace beside it. Burning the last of its life force, it hurled the weapon wildly toward the direction of its enemy from memory!
This was its final, aimless strike of pure rage!
The massive mace spun through the air at high speed, shrieking as it tore through the wind like an out-of-control cannonball.
As fate would have it, its trajectory was aimed directly at Lin Xiyue!
"Holy shit! It's coming for me?!"
Lin Xiyue's pupils contracted sharply.
In that split second, Lin Qingyue had already acted. A rapid succession of sacred incantations poured from her lips:
"[Power Word: Shield]!"
"[Divine Aegis]!"
"[Prayer of Mending]!"
Three layers of light—a golden membrane as thin as a cicada's wing, a thick barrier of holy energy, and a golden mote of trigger-based healing—enveloped Lin Xiyue almost instantly.
Lin Xiyue herself didn't hesitate either!
She sank her stance, planting her feet firmly on the ground like the deep roots of an ancient tree, and raised the [Immovable Mountain] heavy shield before her!
[Shield of Divinity]!
[Mountain's Resilience]!
In that moment, she activated every defensive skill she had
CLANG—!!!
A deafening metallic explosion echoed throughout the entire valley.
The giant mace slammed viciously into the golden shield, which was enveloped in three layers of light barriers.
A terrifying impact force erupted instantly.
The ground beneath Lin Xiyue's feet cracked inch by inch, spiderweb-like fissures spreading out for several meters.
She let out a muffled grunt, her arms trembling violently. The immense force pushed her backward seven or eight meters, carving two deep trenches in the snow.
Aside from that, she was unharmed.
The massive mace hung in mid-air for a moment, its kinetic energy completely absorbed, before falling limply to the ground with a dull thud.
In the deep pit, Slad'ran's colossal body finally exhausted its last shred of life, the light in its eyes extinguishing completely.
[Slad'ran Lv. ??? Frost Troll Chieftain] defeated!
Instantly, four soft golden glows flared up from the four party members before quickly fading away.
Lin Qingyue watched as a notification popped up on her class panel:
[Your party has defeated [Slad'ran Lv. ??? Frost Troll Chieftain]! EXP greatly increased!]
[Ding! Congratulations, you have reached Level 23!]
Lin Qingyue casually allocated her free attribute points to Constitution again, and her panel refreshed:
[Lin Qingyue - Priest Lv. 23][Strength: 90][Agility: 60][Constitution: 165][Intelligence: 78][Faith: 87]
"Phew... Awesome!"
Lin Xiyue shook her numb arms, feeling the new power surging through her body. "Sis! I'm Level 24!" she shouted excitedly.
"Me too," Su Wan's voice came from nearby. Her tone was still cool, but the slight upward curve of her lips betrayed her good mood.
Lin Qingyue closed her tome and replied with a smile, "Xia Lian and I are 23. You two are higher level, so you've pulled ahead."
Meanwhile, with their chieftain dead, the remaining Frost Trolls completely lost their will to fight.
They let out terrified, despairing wails, their morale shattered, and began to scatter in all directions.
"Trying to run?"
Su Wan's icy voice rang out.
"Too late."
With a wave of her staff, towering ice walls erupted from the ground, sealing off the trolls' escape routes.
Xia Lian's figure appeared on the hillside. She drew her shortbow, and arrows shimmering with starlight flew like invitations from the Grim Reaper, precisely reaping the lives of the trolls attempting to scale the ice walls.
The Elven Rangers and Mages finally snapped out of their shock from the cataclysmic blast.
They glanced at the scorched crater, then at the girl who had returned to her normal Priest attire, swallowed hard, and joined the pursuit.
A one-sided slaughter had begun.