- 12,945!
- 31,494!
The damage numbers were monstrous, the second far exceeding any previous hit, the sheer force of the two final strikes ripping Vera's remaining health from her bar in an instant. Before she could utter a single word, two blood-red, shimmering words violently materialized above her silver hair: Execute!
Bang!!!
Her last sliver of health vanished in the blink of an eye. Her beautiful pupils instantly dimmed, the arrogant light gone, replaced by an expression of pure disbelief, terror, and ultimate despair. She collapsed to the ground, her mage robe billowing around her.
Vera, dead!
The scene fell into a shocking, absolute silence. Everything, from the six consecutive waves of super-high damage to the final fatal blow, had taken mere seconds. All the Centaur Clan members who had been intercepting the Rank 0 Professionals had their health bars emptied and vanished in flashes of light.
Yuna and the other official Professionals were stunned, their minds struggling to process the impossible. The Rank 0 Professionals were equally dumbfounded.
After a long while, the young students erupted in a chaotic, thrilling clamor.
"Too, too strong!!!" "Who… who were those phantoms?" "That damage… that was a divine skill!"
Their blood rushed to their heads, their faces flushed with a mixture of relief and fervent excitement. Just moments ago, they had been swallowed by despair. The Centaur Clan's shared damage and constant healing had made them seem invincible, and death had never been so near. But in the next instant, six waves of Void Slashes had appeared, and the off-the-charts damage had utterly annihilated their foes. How could they not be excited and thrilled?
While the students were erupting in excited cheers, Yuna and the other official Professionals finally recovered from their shock, a deep sense of reverent awe settling over them.
"She's really... dead," a heavy-armored warrior whispered, stating the impossible truth.
They stared intently at Vera's motionless body in the distance. A member of the Holy Light Canyon Knights, an Excellent Rank 3 Professional of the Centaur Clan, one of the top powerhouses in the region. She had been dispatched like common fodder.
Is this the true power of an Epic Professional?
An auxiliary girl swallowed hard, her eyes wide, and she turned to Chad, the Assassin next to her, who remained frozen in shock. Chad was a skilled warrior; he had silenced a Centaur Mage moments before and had bravely attempted to assassinate Vera, nearly dying for his troubles.
"Chad, you're also an Assassin," the girl asked, her voice laced with a strange mixture of pity and wonder. "Do you have anything to say about that?"
Chad finally blinked, his expression utterly speechless. What could he say? His attempt was a desperate, failed effort that nearly cost him his life. Their attack was a casual, world-shattering obliteration. The difference was not just in rank, but in the fundamental nature of their very existence. He felt a profound, almost crushing inadequacy.
This was the difference between an ordinary Professional and an Epic Professional. The gap was not quantitative; it was existential.
"What kind of Professional is that?" he finally managed, his voice hoarse. "Only Rank 0, yet possessing skills that defy all known professional logic." He had clearly seen the words 'Execute'. The sheer power and speed of the final blow confirmed his chilling deduction: "Those with built-in execution effects... they are what we call divine skills."
Chad was still processing this existential realization when a voice, thick with shock and a murderous fury that tore through the chaos of battle, suddenly reverberated across the plain.
"Vera!!!"
Everyone instinctively turned their heads and saw Lulufu, the bald white Centaur who had been battling the silver-armored Silas. He had sensed Vera's death, and his grief had instantly transformed into a terrifying frenzy. His face was twisted in savage rage as he glared in their direction.
"Who killed Vera?! Who?!!!" Lulufu roared, his voice cracking with pain and indignation.
He instantly erupted with terrifying, boundless power, unleashing an extremely formidable skill that forced Silas back several meters. The Centaur war chief then galloped, hooves flying, straight toward the site of his beloved's death. Silas, seeing Lulufu's blind rage, knew he couldn't let him near the Rank 0 Professionals; his fury would wipe them all out. "Stop him!!!" Silas commanded, charging forward to intercept.
Immediately, the battle intensified to a fever pitch. All the remaining Centaur Clan members, spurred by Lulufu's rage, rushed toward the Rank 0 Professionals. The human Professionals met them head-on, skills roaring in a deafening, incessant barrage.
Yuna recovered her composure and shouted, "Don't just stand there, follow me!"
She subconsciously looked back toward Vincent's faint shadow. Vincent happened to turn back, and their eyes met in a silent exchange. His face was covered by the black mask, but she saw the hint of acknowledgment in his gaze. Yuna showed a faint, resolute smile. She opened her mouth and mouthed the words clearly: "Leave immediately!"
Vincent gazed at her for a long moment, then nodded lightly, pulled Thalia's hand, and the two silhouettes retreated, vanishing into the darkness of the outskirts.
Seeing them disappear, a weight lifted from Yuna's shoulders, and her smile became one of complete relief. Her resolve, and the mission of all the human professionals, was now complete and absolute. They had come here precisely to protect the existence of these two Epic Professionals.
She could die. Her companions could sacrifice themselves. But those two children must be protected. At Rank 0, they had demonstrated the terrifying ability to execute a Rank 3 Professional. If they were to grow and reach Rank 4, or even Rank 5, their power would be strategically world-changing. Two high-rank Epic Assassins would be an unstoppable strategic-level threat, capable of decapitating the enemy's highest command. It was a sacrifice that had to be made for the future of the human race.
Her thoughts raced, then she shouted loudly, "Go!"
She took the lead, guiding her colleagues and escorting the terrified, yet newly inspired, Rank 0 Professionals quickly out of Rabbit Town. The war, now driven by the revelation of Vincent's power and Lulufu's grief, continued to rage.
The war continued, but the cost was becoming gruesome. Even a body that has been transformed into energy will bleed, but only after it becomes a corpse. As more and more Professionals from both sides died, the ground became littered with their fallen forms. These corpses, having lost the protection of their mysterious energy, showed numerous, gruesome wounds. A large amount of fresh blood flowed out, staining the earth red, finally giving the term Corpse Mountain Blood Sea a terrible, physical reality. Light clusters, representing the items dropped from their inventory, glittered tragically amidst the carnage.
Under the fearless protection of Yuna and the other official Professionals, the Rank 0 students managed to break away from Rabbit Town. Once outside, the official escorts immediately took the rear position.
"Students, scatter and escape! Return directly to the Base City!" Yuna ordered, her voice firm.
She and her colleagues turned back, forming a desperate defensive line to buy time. Most of the Rank 0 Professionals were still students, their knowledge of the Professional world drawn only from sanitized textbooks. This was their baptism by fire. The brutal, devastating reality of this war—launched simply because two suspected Epic Professionals appeared among the humans—ignited a burning, fierce hatred in their young hearts. This hatred and resentment were now deeply etched into their very souls.
They truly understood the cruelty of this world. Many of them yearned to fight the alien race to the death, but they were only Rank 0, mostly ordinary Professionals. They lacked the power to do anything but flee.
The Centaur Clan was unwilling to let them go, but outside Rabbit Town, they met the stubborn, tenacious resistance of the human rear guard. Some Centaur members attempted to split up to pursue the students, but fortunately, the main force was intercepted. However, the official professionals were still at a heavy disadvantage. Most Centaur Clan members were elite Professionals; at the same rank, it took four or five human ordinary Professionals to barely contend with one. The humans had more numbers, but the quality disparity was crippling.
The battle continued to churn, a maelstrom of light and death.
At the spot where Vera had fallen, Lulufu broke away from the skirmish, skidding to a halt. He knelt on all fours, his powerful Centaur body trembling violently. He gently scooped up Vera's body, holding her close. His ferocious face was now contorted not just with rage, but with crushing, unadulterated grief. Tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes, mixing with the grime on his face.
"Vera, Vera..." he murmured, his voice a raw, broken sound. His hands trembled as he stroked her silver hair, the hair of his beloved. There was no such thing as resurrection in this world; his beloved would never respond to him again.
"My Lord," a Centaur Professional appeared beside Lulufu, speaking in a low, respectful but urgent tone. "Those Rank 0 Professionals have all escaped, and the human official Professionals are still resisting. Our casualties are also very heavy... Should we continue the pursuit? We've lost dozens of warriors, and the objective is gone."
Lulufu's eyes, bloodshot and wild, snapped up. He looked past the messenger, past the raging battle, toward the dark silhouette of the distant human fortress. His mind was no longer rational; it was consumed by pain and the desperate need for annihilation.
"I want them all to die! All of them!" he shrieked, his voice filled with a terrifying, unhinged quality. "Immediately gather every force in the region! I will destroy Iron Fang City!"
His eyes were utterly mad, the last shred of his strategic mind gone. "I want all humans in Iron Fang City to be buried with Vera!!!"
The war, which had started as a covert operation to eliminate two young talents, had just escalated into a full-scale, catastrophic war of revenge.