...

In a flash, Lynch got a clear look at his attacker’s silhouette.

She was an agile woman, dressed in tight-fitting, dark gray leather armor designed for stealth and covered by a cloak so dark it nearly melted into the night.

Her face was covered with a deep blue mask, revealing only a pair of brown eyes. In her hand, she clutched a jet-black dagger.

The lightning was incredibly fast, but the female assassin’s reaction was just as astonishing.

Almost at the exact moment Lynch raised his hand to activate the ring, she slid sideways at an unbelievable angle, moving so fast she nearly left an afterimage.

"CRACKLE~"

The Palm Thunder didn’t score a direct hit, only grazing her side. The residual arc of electricity swept over her leather armor.

The assassin let out a muffled groan, her movements faltering for a split second.

’Such fast reflexes!’

Lynch’s heart tightened. This was definitely a professional-class rogue or assassin.

Even as he thought this, his actions didn’t pause for a moment.

Using the momentum from his roll, he sprang to his feet and immediately fled in the opposite direction. His speed and reaction time were completely unlike those of a Necromancer apprentice; he looked more like a well-trained Warrior.

At the same time, he issued a series of commands through his mental link.

The goblin warrior Skeletons, Bear Goblin Skeletons, and goblin elite Skeletons that had been clustered around him all swarmed behind him, forming a thick wall of bone.

「At the same time.」

"CRACK!"

"RATTLE!"

From the surrounding grass, thorn bushes, and even piles of dead leaves, one, then ten... then hundreds of densely packed Skeletons rose from their hidden positions.

Gripping ragged swords, shields, and spears, they instantly formed an encirclement around the female assassin.

The female assassin’s brown eyes froze, revealing clear shock and horror.

She had never imagined that so many Skeleton Servants were lying in ambush all around her.

「The next moment.」

She acted decisively. Pushing off hard with her feet, she shot backward as if weightless. At the same time, she flipped the black dagger in her hand and slashed it across the neck of a Skeleton Servant blocking her path.

"CLATTER~"

The Skeleton Servant instantly fell to pieces.

She was clearly trying to break out before the Skeleton Servants’ encirclement could fully tighten...

However, Lynch’s reaction was just as fast. The moment he saw her begin to retreat, he raised his left hand, which wore the [Banshee’s Kiss] ring.

A white ball of cursed light, shaped like a small Ghost, shot out. Though launched second, it arrived first, sinking into the back of the dark figure.

This basic Necromancer spell was incredibly practical—truly a god-tier spell essential for any occasion.

When paired with Magic Items that allowed for instant casting, it became a priceless tool for ambushing people.

「The next moment.」

The female assassin’s breakout attempt faltered. Her speed plummeted by more than thirty percent.

And this thirty percent reduction in speed became her fatal flaw.

Seizing this opening, the hundred-odd ordinary Skeletons, led by Bone Jade and Bone Valor, completely sealed off her escape.

Bone Jade, in particular, led its dozen or so personal Black Skeleton guards to block the female assassin’s line of retreat.

As a Skeleton Warrior, Bone Jade’s frame was exceptionally sturdy, and the eerie green Soul Fire in its eye sockets was particularly striking in the dark night.

"A Tier One Skeleton Warrior? Damn it~"

The female assassin cursed, her voice laced with fear and hoarseness.

Afflicted by the Weakness Curse, she knew that if she got tied down by this Skeleton Warrior, she would be facing certain death.

However, she was still extremely capable.

With her life on the line, her fleeing figure came to an abrupt halt. She flicked her left wrist, and a fist-sized metal ball flew from her hand.

"PFFT~~!!!"

The metal ball exploded in mid-air, unleashing an intensely blinding white light.

The movements of all the Skeletons froze for an instant.

By the time the light from the flashbang dissipated, the female assassin had seemingly vanished, apparently having entered stealth again.

Lynch felt a chill. The assassin clearly couldn’t break through the blockade of the skeleton army using stealth to escape, which meant... her combat objective was obvious.

It was... a decapitation strike!

Everyone knows that when fighting a Necromancer, the biggest taboo is getting bogged down with their Skeleton Servants. The best way to win is to take out the Necromancer themself.

Although Lynch couldn’t see his opponent, his sense of crisis suddenly intensified.

After all, the worst-case scenario for any Magic System class is getting rushed by a melee class.

Once an agile assassin gets in close, a squishy Mage often won’t even have time to cast a spell before being taken down in one combo.

’Just think about how the Bone Mage died in its previous life.’

He had to admit, his opponent’s instincts were sharp, and her choice of tactics was completely correct.

If Lynch were just an ordinary Necromancer apprentice with only a few clumsy Skeleton Servants...

...he would have been a corpse by now.

Unfortunately for her.

He wasn’t...

At this, Lynch stopped running. Instead, he let his Guard Skeletons surround him completely. At the same time, the newly acquired bone bracelet activated again, and a spatial vortex appeared beside him.

ROAR~~

A deafening roar of the dead echoed out.

The Black Corpse was the first to crawl out of the spatial rift, followed by the goblin Skeleton Shaman, the Bone Mage, and Lynch’s Hellhound Skeleton mount—Red Rabbit.

As soon as these four Undead Creatures appeared, Lynch clearly sensed a slight fluctuation in aura more than ten meters to his right. Clearly, his opponent was startled.

"Red Rabbit!"

With a thought from Lynch, Red Rabbit was the first to charge forward. While still in mid-run, it opened its mouth and spewed a stream of eerie green Nether Fire, which looked particularly terrifying in the dark night.

This was one of the fruits of Lynch’s labor over the past two months. He had spent a tremendous amount of energy, credits, and money, and it wasn’t just to cultivate the Skeleton Warrior, Bone Jade.

Although the Bone Mage and Red Rabbit had not yet recovered to Tier One, their strength had also increased immensely.

Red Rabbit’s original talent, Hellfire Breath, had even evolved into Nether Flame Breath.

Although this Nether Flame wasn’t as spectacular as the Hellfire from its peak, it was more than enough for the current situation.

The eerie green Nether Flame swept across the area.

The female assassin could no longer maintain her stealth.

To evade the Nether Flame, she tumbled awkwardly out of the grass, a wisp of the burning flame clinging to her dark cloak.

The moment she was exposed, her luck ran out.

Behind her, the Bone Mage, surrounded by more than a dozen Black Skeletons, was the first to raise its staff. A crimson curse shot out and instantly sank into the female assassin’s body.

Pain Curse!

This was the Bone Mage’s signature curse. It could amplify the target’s sense of pain more than tenfold, making even a pinprick feel like unbearable agony.

「And at the same time.」

The Black Corpse roared again and charged toward the female assassin with a gait that spared no one.

The army of Skeleton Servants quickly closed in as well.

In that instant, a look of despair appeared in the female assassin’s eyes.

...