Chapter 51: The Fierce Battle on the Square

“Clang—!” Selene felt like a cannonball fired from its barrel, smashing violently into the colossal shield of an Elite Skeleton Guard.

The immense impact sent a brutal shockwave up her arms, numbing them to the bone.

For a fleeting moment, the holy light shimmering across the surface of her shield, Immovable Mountain, dimmed under the sheer force of the collision.

‘Damn!

This thing is tough as nails!’ Selene cursed inwardly.

This creature was a world apart from any undead she had faced before.

Its skeletal frame looked as if it were forged from tempered steel, and its strength was utterly terrifying.

Her Sacred Shield Impact would have shattered ordinary monsters into a cloud of bone dust.

Yet, the skeleton guard before her merely stumbled back two steps before planting its feet, the soulfire burning in its hollow eye sockets locking onto her with cold, predatory intent.

On the other side of the line, the shield warrior Wang Lei was facing a similar predicament.

He hadn’t used a reckless charge, opting for a more stable Shield Bash.

Even so, the attack only managed to make the opposing skeleton guard’s shield wobble precariously.

“These are elite mobs!

Frontline, hold them!

Backline, pour on the damage!” Wang Lei’s roar was steady and powerful, instantly bringing a sense of order to the chaotic scene.

Even without his command, the others had already sprung into action.

“Eat this, grandpa’s fireball!” Zhao Shihao bellowed, thrusting his hands high.

A Burst Fireball, larger than a basketball and trailing a tail of orange-red flame, whistled through the air and slammed directly into the center of the skeletal defensive line.

“BOOM!” The light from the explosion bathed the entire square in a searing orange-red glow.

Shards of bone flew in every direction.

The two skeleton guards caught in the epicenter of the blast were blown to smithereens.

Their companions nearby, however, were only staggered by the shockwave before raising their shields once more, their advance barely impeded.

“Tsk, these boneheads are pretty blast-resistant,” Zhao Shihao clicked his tongue in annoyance, but his hands never stopped moving.

A rapid-fire volley of smaller fireballs shot from his staff, each one accurately striking the joints and other weak points of the advancing skeletons.

At the same time, a ray of icy blue light lanced out from the side, precisely freezing the legs of the skeleton guard on the far right.

It was the ice mage, Jiang Xue.

Without a word, she tapped her staff on the ground, and patches of slick frost spread across the flagstones, drastically slowing the skeleton guards’ attempts to encircle the group.

The male mage from the standard team was a rare Order Mage.

With a wave of his staff, faint blue halos enveloped several of the skeletons.

To the naked eye, the speed at which they swung their bone blades slowed to a crawl.

“Whoosh!

Whoosh!” Two dark shadows flickered like ghosts through the gaps their teammates had created.

It was the female assassin from Zhao Shihao’s team and the male assassin from the standard team.

Their daggers glinted with a lethal, cold light as they specifically targeted the skeletons’ necks and the flickering soulfire within their skulls.

Click!

The female assassin was a fraction more agile.

With a swift, sliding step, she circled behind a skeleton.

Both of her daggers lashed out, ruthlessly plunging into its eye sockets before she gave them a vicious twist.

The soulfire shattered.

The tall skeleton guard’s body went rigid for a second before collapsing into a clattering pile of inert bones.

The cooperation was flawless.

These students were truly the top elites from their respective schools.

Despite this being their first time fighting together as a temporary team, their combat instincts were terrifyingly sharp.

Everyone knew their role—when to deal damage, when to apply crowd control, and when to fill a defensive gap—all without needing more than a few clipped words of communication.

Celeste stood at the very back of the battlefield, still clad in the Bard’s performance outfit that made her toes curl with secondhand embarrassment.

She was in no hurry to deactivate the character card.

A deep sense of fatigue was surging up from deep within her limbs and bones.

Flying eleven people at high speed had consumed far more mental and physical energy than she had ever imagined.

That single maneuver had drained nearly half her stamina.

‘Damn, playing taxi for a whole raid party is a serious grind,’Celeste complained internally.’But hey, at least Venti’s abilities are still active.

Looking at this mess, I might have to pop my ultimate to clear the field later.

Let’s just see how they handle it first.’ Her gaze quickly swept across the entire battlefield.

Although the Elite Skeleton Guards at the front were a nuisance, it was only a matter of time before they were dismantled under the focused assault of the ten top-ranked examinees.

The real trouble lay behind them.

“Roar—!” “Gah—!” At the edge of the square, the massive undead army they had left behind with the wind current was already closing in, a dark, shambling cloud of death.

Slow-moving zombies, skeleton soldiers armed with tattered swords, and grotesque gargoyles circling in the sky, diving down to harry them… There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of them, packed so densely that the stench of death and decay alone was enough to suffocate an ordinary person.

“In the air!

Watch out!” the greatsword user named Mo Chen suddenly shouted a warning.

Everyone looked up.

Several gargoyles with wingspans of over three meters were emitting ear-piercing shrieks as they bypassed the frontline tanks and dove straight for the mages and priests in the back.

“You’re asking to die!” Zhao Shihao snorted coldly.

He pivoted his staff, and the fireballs originally aimed at the skeleton guards instantly changed direction, streaking into the sky like lines of fire.

“Bang!

Bang!

Bang!” The fireballs exploded against the gargoyles’ stony hides, sending chips of rock flying.

These flying units were far more fragile than the skeletons on the ground.

Struck in their vital points, they disintegrated in mid-air, crashing down as piles of heavy, lifeless stone.

Jiang Xue acted at the same instant, firing a shard of ice at another gargoyle.

While it didn’t kill the creature outright, it coated its wings in a thick layer of frost, making its movements incredibly sluggish.

“Nice one!” Wang Lei roared.

Seizing the opportunity, he took a sudden step forward and slammed the edge of his shield into the knee of the skeleton in front of him.

Crack!

A crisp sound of splintering bone echoed through the square.

The Elite Skeleton Guard stumbled and fell to one knee, revealing a fatal opening in its defense.

“Now!” Selene’s eyes lit up, and the Dawnbreaker in her hand erupted with brilliant holy light.

“Judgment!” A golden phantom of a greatsword descended from the heavens, accurately piercing through the skeleton’s skull.

The absolute suppression of holy light against the undead was on full display.

Burned by the sacred energy, the stubborn soulfire was completely annihilated before it could even flicker in resistance.

With a heavy thud, another elite skeleton fell apart.

The battle seemed to be progressing in their favor.

But Celeste’s heart was sinking bit by bit.

She could see the bigger picture more clearly than anyone.

The elite guards were dwindling, but the tide of undead on the periphery was closing in, relentless and unending.

Several cracks had already appeared on Jiang Xue’s Ice Wall.

With every zombie that slammed against it, the wall’s frosty light dimmed a little more.

The ice mage’s face was already pale, a clear sign of massive mana consumption.

Zhao Shihao’s fireballs were still fierce, but against the endless sea of undead, his attacks were like tossing pebbles into an ocean.

He could create a few splashes, but he couldn’t stop the advance of the entire tide.

“No!

There are too many!

We can’t hold them back!” the priest in the standard team cried out, his voice laced with panic.

He had just used an Exorcism spell to purify a zombie that had broken through the Ice Wall, but in the next second, three more lunged over their companion’s dissolving corpse.

“Fall back!

Shrink the defensive line toward the church entrance!” Wang Lei made a swift, decisive call.

But the church doors were sealed shut.

They were already cornered in this small square, their backs to the wall.

“Damn it!

These bastards are fighting like they’ve gone berserk!” Zhao Shihao cursed between spells.

“If this keeps up, they’ll wear us down to nothing!” A heavy weight settled in everyone’s stomach.

The brief joy of having escaped the initial encirclement had vanished completely, replaced by an even deeper despair.

They were like survivors trapped on a shrinking island, watching a black tide of death rise bit by bit, about to submerge their last foothold.

Selene retreated to Celeste’s side, her shield held firm to protect her sister.

“Sis, what do we do?” she asked, her voice tight with nerves.

“We’re about to be completely surrounded!” Celeste’s gaze bypassed the frantic crowd, staring intently at the huge wooden church door carved with complex patterns.

Their only way out was behind that door.

But the dozen or so meters between them and salvation were about to be completely swamped by the undead horde.

She had to find a way—a way to instantly clear this area and buy everyone enough time to rush inside.

In her mind, the image of that green-clad, carefree youth reappeared, along with his ultimate skill—the one that could create a miniature eye of the storm and sweep everything away.

Wind’s Grand Ode.

It was the only ace she had left that could break this stalemate.

However, the cost of using that skill would be terrifying.

Once she unleashed it, she would probably lose all her strength in an instant, rendering her completely combat-ineffective.

Was it worth it?

For this group of “temporary teammates” she had known for less than half an hour?

Celeste glanced at her sister beside her.

Selene’s small face was taut with tension, but her gaze was incredibly firm, her body planted before Celeste like an unbreachable wall.

She looked at the others.

Wang Lei’s shield was already covered in claw marks and deep nicks, but he still stood his ground, not retreating an inch.

Zhao Shihao’s forehead was slick with sweat, but the fireballs erupting from his staff never stopped.

Jiang Xue’s lips had lost all their color, yet frost continued to condense at her fingertips.

Every single one of them was fighting for their life.

‘Screw it, let’s do this.’Celeste cursed under her breath.’We’re all in the same boat anyway.

If they go down, Selene and I won’t last five minutes.

And besides…’In a corner of the battlefield no one was watching, the corners of her mouth curled up into an irrepressible, mischievous grin.’Seeing the look of utter shock on everyone’s faces…

that feeling is actually pretty damn satisfying, isn’t it?’ The “fun-seeker” gene buried deep in her bones completely overwhelmed her concerns about stamina and exhaustion.

Her chest heaved slightly as she forcibly pushed down her body’s fatigue and took a single step forward.

A crisp and pleasant voice, clear as the ringing of wind chimes, cut through the chaotic din of the battlefield.

“Everyone, would you please step back behind me~?” [Elysian’s Note: Having a good time with the story?

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