Chapter 67: Chapter 65: The Collapse of the Holy Light Alliance
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For a moment, the command tent fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Master Lianna’s face alternated between pale and flushed, her expression nearly twisting out of control.
After a long while, she finally managed to compose herself slightly, forcing a pained smile as if trying to console herself.
"Heh... Over eighteen hundred points. That truly is astonishing. However, Catherine and the others haven’t made a move for half a day, so they must be planning something big. When the time comes, it’s not impossible for them to reclaim their ranking."
"Besides, there are still five full days left in this assessment! A temporary lead means nothing. The one with the most points at the very end is the true winner."
Hearing this, the other masters’ expressions softened slightly.
Indeed, the assessment had only been going on for just over two days, leaving plenty of time. Amadis’s recent burst of points was most likely achieved through some unconventional means.
Seeing their reactions, Lianna regained some of her confidence and continued her analysis. "And don’t forget, everyone. As the assessment progresses, the monsters in the yellow and green zones will gradually be cleared out. To get a large number of points, it will be imperative to venture deep into the red danger zones."
"Our Holy Light Alliance teams from various systems have excellent coordination and complementary strengths. We’ll have a greater advantage in the wars of attrition and sieges within the red zones."
"No matter how strong Amadis is, she can’t do it all alone."
Her analysis seemed quite reasonable, earning nods of approval from several of the other masters.
But just then.
Suddenly.
BANG! BANG! BANG!...
A series of loud explosions suddenly echoed from the distant forest, interrupting the masters’ discussion in the tent.
"It’s a distress signal!"
Master Gwen’s expression tightened. He rushed out of the tent and looked up to see a dozen brilliant fireworks glittering in the sky, strikingly visible even in broad daylight.
’Holy shit!’
Master Gwen was stunned.
’How could more than ten distress signals go off at the same time?’
The other masters who had followed him out of the tent also looked horrified.
It was normal during the assessment for one or two students to encounter danger and send a distress signal; a master would simply go and rescue them.
But a commotion this big meant something major had happened.
Master Gwen was the fastest to react. He quickly chanted an incantation, and gusts of a green whirlwind immediately enveloped him. Riding the wind, he shot off like an arrow released from its bow, flying swiftly toward the source of the explosions.
Master Annabella’s gaze sharpened as well.
With a light flick of her slender hand, a summoning vortex lit up, and a Skeleton Warhorse with Soul Fire burning in its eye sockets stepped out of the void.
She swung herself onto its back. The Skeleton Warhorse stomped its four hooves, which instantly ignited with an eerie Nether Flame. It then carried her off like a bolt of white lightning toward the scene.
The other masters also displayed their own abilities. Some cast acceleration Magic, others summoned mounts, and some used their formidable physiques to leap through the forest as if flying. All of them began rushing to the scene at top speed.
Before long, the masters arrived one after another at a devastated clearing in the forest.
The scene that unfolded before them made even these experienced and knowledgeable masters gasp, and they all fell silent.
In the center of the clearing, a dozen or so figures were huddled together, some sitting, some lying on the ground.
Every one of them was in ragged clothes, with broken Armor and stained robes. Their faces were etched with a mixture of lingering shock, humiliation, and fear.
This was especially true for Catherine.
She sat on the dirty ground, hugging her knees. Her icy eyes were hollow and vacant, completely devoid of her usual spirited, elite aura.
It was as if her spirit had been severely crushed, leaving her looking utterly broken.
The distress signals, naturally, had been sent by this group of elite students who now looked like refugees who had just survived a disaster.
Seeing this, Master Lianna swayed, and her vision swam with darkness.
The Holy Knight Tutor, Casper, was relatively calmer. He quickly scanned the ravaged battlefield and asked with a grim face, "Can anyone tell me what happened here?"
The scene remained silent.
The students either hung their heads or stared blankly at the sky. Not a single one spoke up.
Master Lianna couldn’t hold back. She dashed to Catherine’s side, knelt, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Catherine, my child, tell me, who did this to you!? Was it those people from the Undead System?"
At the sound of her voice, Catherine’s vacant gaze focused slightly, but though her lips trembled a few times, she couldn’t utter a single word. Instead, she just buried her head even lower.
"Annabella."
Seeing this, Lianna shot to her feet, her gaze locking onto Annabella, her chest heaving with agitation.
"It was you. You must have instigated this! To win this assessment, to save your damn Undead System, you were so shameless as to incite the Undead apprentices to team up, ambush, and rob the other students."
"This is an academy assessment, not a war! Does your Undead System have any sense of decency at all?"
Master Annabella’s expression remained as cold as ice. "Lianna, you need proof to make accusations."
"Proof?" Lianna pointed frantically at the surrounding battlefield. "Look at all these withered bones on the ground! Look at this deathly aura so thick you could cut it with a knife! If it wasn’t your Undead System, who else could it be?"
"Right, it’s Amadis!" She suddenly remembered something, growing even more agitated. "No wonder her score shot up by eighteen hundred points all at once. I was wondering how she could possibly do that alone. So it wasn’t from hunting—it was from robbery!"
"Annabella, you’re so manipulative! No wonder you specifically recalled Amadis from the front lines a while ago; this was your plan all along. Have you no shame, doing all this just for points, just to win?!"
She grew more and more hysterical as she spoke, nearly spraying spittle in Annabella’s face.
The surrounding masters began to look at Annabella with a hint of suspicion.
After all, with the signs of a battle involving the Undead System right here, and the fact that Amadis’s score had skyrocketed, Lianna’s words... didn’t seem entirely baseless.
The Holy Knight Tutor, Casper, also spoke with a serious tone. "Master Annabella, I know you have deep feelings for the Undead System and don’t wish to see it disbanded. But to exploit the assessment’s rules and orchestrate an ambush against other students... aren’t these methods a bit too extreme? These children are the future of the Empire. In a broader sense, they are your students, too!"
"Methods too extreme? Heh..." A cold smirk touched Annabella’s lips, and her eyes grew even colder.
"I will not let this go. Absolutely not." Master Lianna’s rage was now fully ignited, her voice shrill. "I know the Dean has been secretly favoring your Undead System. But for this incident, he must give us—the Holy Light System, and all the victimized students—an explanation!"
"If the academy can’t handle this fairly, I will take it directly to His Holiness the Pope of the Holy Light Church Court! I will bring it before His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire! I refuse to believe there’s no justice in this world!"
She looked half-crazed, clearly driven to fury by what she perceived as Annabella’s shameless villainy.
The Holy Light System had never suffered such a huge loss before, especially not at the hands of the Undead System!
Annabella finally lifted her head slowly, a chilling, deathly aura beginning to emanate from her. "Lianna, try pinning one more false accusation on me before you know the truth!"
"Are you threatening me!?" Master Lianna’s body also began to ripple with Holy Light Power.
For a moment, the atmosphere between them was like a powder keg, needing only a single spark to explode.
"Masters, both of you, calm down. Please, calm down."
Master Gwen stepped between them with a helpless expression, trying his best to placate them. "I think we should figure out what actually happened first. How about this? Wait a moment, let me try."
With that, he walked over to a High Tier apprentice from the Elemental System who seemed to be in a slightly better state than the others.
Master Gwen crouched down, releasing a gentle wave of Spiritual Power to help soothe the student’s mind and calm his emotions. His voice was warm and comforting, like a spring breeze. "It’s okay, son. Don’t be afraid. Tell me, what happened? Who attacked you?"
Soothed by the master’s presence, the apprentice relaxed a little, and a trace of color returned to his face.
He swallowed hard, his lips trembling, and finally began to speak in a halting voice. "It was... Catherine... She... she discovered Amadis was clearing out the ’Steelfang’ camp by herself, so... so she had us lie in ambush nearby..."
His first words struck the masters like a clap of thunder.
"What!? What did you say?" Lianna’s face contorted with agitation and rage. "Have you been scared witless? Don’t spout nonsense!"
Master Gwen turned and shot her a displeased glare. "Master Lianna, please let him finish. You can ask your questions later."
Lianna looked as if she wanted to say something more, but she held her tongue, her expression turning exceedingly ugly.
The apprentice shrank back again.
Gwen quickly whispered a few more soothing words, and the student finally mustered his courage to continue, his voice still filled with lingering fear. "...We waited until Senior Amadis was almost finished fighting, when she had used up a lot of her energy, and then... then we rushed out and surrounded her."
"At first... at first, we were about to win. Her Undead Legion was suppressed by us... but... but..."
His voice began to tremble, and naked fear showed in his eyes.
"But what?" Gwen pressed, a bad feeling already dawning in his heart.
"But... suddenly, from behind us, tons and tons of Skeletons charged out!" The apprentice’s voice cracked, on the verge of tears. "They were packed so densely, we couldn’t even count them! We were caught in a pincer attack, and our formation fell apart instantly!"
"Senior Catherine tried to use ’Sacred Flamefire’ to break through... but she was also... We... we were all captured..."
As he spoke, the atmosphere became increasingly strange.
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