Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Hello, Three Pretty Sisters-in-law
...
All the masters’ expressions grew complicated.
So, after all that, it wasn’t the Undead System that set an ambush to rob them. It was the Holy Light System who launched a sneak attack first, only to hit a steel plate, get counter-killed, and have their entire group wiped out?
After hearing the story, the burly master from the Warrior Series’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
He strode over to the surrendered Warrior students, lifted his iron-booted foot, and irritably kicked each of them. "You disgraceful lot," he muttered. "Losing a fight is one thing, but you tried to ambush them with superior numbers, failed, and got beaten this badly instead? You’ve completely shamed me."
The Warrior apprentices didn’t dare make a sound as they were kicked, their heads hanging even lower.
Annabella, however, swept her icy gaze over the group of Holy Light System masters. She said nothing, only letting out two cold chuckles.
"A conspiracy! This must be a conspiracy!"
Master Lianna’s face was flushed crimson.
She argued forcefully, "This must have been a trap set by Amadis! She deliberately showed a weakness to bait Catherine and the others. How else could there just happen to be an ambush waiting? She must have colluded with other Undead apprentices ahead of time!"
The more she spoke, the more she convinced herself, her voice growing louder. "Yes, that’s it! Amadis is a deep schemer! She laid a trap and deliberately lured my students into making a mistake. It was all a calculation!"
Master Annabella watched her frantic display, the last trace of mockery on her face fading away, leaving only cold indifference.
She couldn’t be bothered to engage in any more pointless arguments with such a person and simply uttered a single word.
"Idiot."
With that said, she vaulted onto her Skeleton Warhorse, which vanished in a flash of lightning, leaving behind an awkward silence and Master Lianna’s face, twisted with rage.
"Alright, Master Lianna," Master Gwen sighed, rubbing her temples with a headache as she stepped in to smooth things over. "In any case, we should get the students back first."
The others quickly agreed.
The facts were plain to see, and not everyone was as thick-skinned as Master Lianna.
****
At night, a small team of seven or eight people was carefully moving through the dense woods on the border between the green and yellow alert zones of the Dark Forest.
The team was led by Leon Hollis and included two Holy Knight apprentices, two Warrior apprentices, and... Ophelia, Lilith, and Avril, who had been tricked into coming by Leon with the promise of "a high-value target and shared points."
Ophelia, dressed in a Warrior apprentice’s light armor and carrying a sword and shield, frowned slightly. "Leon, how much farther is that small goblin camp you mentioned? If we go any further, we’ll be entering the yellow alert zone."
"Yeah, yeah," said the Magical Maiden, Lilith, clutching her magic staff, her little face tense. "My master warned me over and over not to enter the yellow zone. It’s really dangerous."
"We’re almost there, it’s just ahead," Leon Hollis said evasively, though a strange glint flashed in the depths of his eyes.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but curse inwardly.
’Damn you, Lynch! You’ve really put me in a tough spot~’
The young Priest, Avril, said nothing, but her eyes narrowed slightly and her nose twitched. Suddenly, she whispered, "Something’s not right... I sense the presence of the Undead... and it seems like there are a lot of them."
She had barely finished speaking.
"CLATTER CLATTER~~~CRACK~CRACK!"
A series of dense, bone-grinding sounds echoed from the surrounding woods.
The next moment, before the apprentices’ horrified eyes, all sorts of Skeleton Soldiers poured out from behind tree trunks, from bushes, and from pits in the ground.
They carried chipped blades, rusted iron swords, and crude wooden spears... As far as the eye could see, there were at least one or two hundred Skeletons.
Their positions had clearly been calculated, forming an encirclement that trapped the small team completely.
What made their hearts sink even further was that as the Skeletons appeared, one by one, figures in black apprentice robes also emerged slowly from the shadows.
Most of them were pale, but their eyes held a strange excitement. In concert with the surrounding ghastly white Sea of Skulls, they let out a series of seemingly rehearsed...
"KEKEKE~~"
"HEH HEH HEH~~"
All sorts of signature villainous cackles echoed through the forest.
"Not good, it’s an ambush by the Undead System!" a Holy Knight apprentice’s face fell. With a CLANG, he drew his longsword, and Holy Light began to flow along the blade.
The others’ faces also changed as they hurriedly took up defensive stances, huddling back-to-back and nervously watching the growing number of Skeletons and Undead apprentices around them.
Ophelia, Lilith, and Avril tensed up instantly, but unlike the others’ panic, the three of them moved with practiced coordination into a small, back-to-back triangular formation.
After their time teaming up with their senior, their reactions to a sudden crisis were far calmer than that of an ordinary apprentice.
"KEKEKE~~ I didn’t expect to find a few lovely young maidens~" said an Undead apprentice with shifty eyes, his gaze sweeping over Ophelia and the other two. He couldn’t help but let out a series of what he thought were devilishly charming cackles. "Obediently give up and become my skele—"
"SMACK!"
Before he could finish, a solid slap landed on the back of his head, cutting his villainous laughter short.
"Brother Maurice? What’d you hit me for?" the apprentice asked, looking aggrieved.
"Are you fucking blind?!" Maurice shot him an irritated glare and cursed, "Look closely! That’s Sister-in-law Lynch~"
"Sister-in-law Lynch?" The apprentice was momentarily stunned. He glanced at the three girls again and asked weakly, "Brother Maurice... wh-which one is Sister-in-law Lynch?"
The question stumped Maurice as well.
He scratched his head and thought hard. It seemed Brother Lynch had never specified... ’But,’ he thought, ’with Brother Lynch’s capabilities, isn’t it normal for him to have a few sisters-in-law?’
So he stuck his neck out and said with conviction, "All of them."
"Oh, oh, I get it."
Realization dawned on the apprentice. He immediately adopted a respectful expression, bowed slightly in the direction of the three surrounded girls, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Greetings, Sisters-in-law Lynch~"
His shout was like a signal.
The dozen or so Undead apprentices around them, whether they understood or not, all followed his example. They bowed in unison toward the three girls and shouted as one.
"Greetings, Sisters-in-law Lynch~"
The sound was loud and perfectly synchronized, ringing out with exceptional clarity in the quiet forest.
The surrounded apprentices of the Holy Light Alliance: "???"
The three girls who had been preparing for a life-or-death struggle: "...!!!"
Ophelia’s sword hand froze, and a flash of astonishment crossed her heroic features.
Lilith’s mouth fell slightly open. With a POOF, the flame at the tip of her magic staff went out, and her little face began to turn visibly red.
Avril, for her part, trembled all over. A blush instantly colored her fair cheeks, and she was so mortified and angry she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
She bit her lip and whispered, "Th-these bastards... Wh-what nonsense are they spouting?"
’What do they mean, "Sister-in-law Lynch"?’
’And why is it plural!?’
...
