The entire scene was warm and intimate, overflowing with a senior’s concern for his junior.
However, Lynn’s heart was cold as ice.
When his fingers brushed against her skin, he could feel her warmth and delicacy.
But all his mind could conjure was the image of the Crypt Lord exploding into a mess of minced meat.
He kept his head down, focusing intently on bandaging the wound, not daring to look at Su Xiaoxiao’s expression.
He was afraid of seeing even the slightest flaw. He was also afraid of letting any hint of his own fear leak out.
Just as he tied the final knot and prepared to stand up—
*Boom!*
A deafening roar erupted from directly above them. The entire underground cavern shook violently as rocks and dust rained down like a sudden storm.
Lynn reflexively shielded Su Xiaoxiao beneath him and looked up.
A massive hole had been torn through the rock ceiling above them. Two figures, wrapped in holy radiance and sharp Sword Qi, descended from the heavens.
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
Two heavy thuds echoed as they landed. The surging air currents swept away the lingering dust.
Alicia and Vivian stood side by side a short distance away. One was draped in holy white robes, surrounded by visible particles of golden light.
Her expression was one of sorrowful mercy, looking like a goddess descending to the mortal realm.
The other wore pitch-black knight’s armor and held a giant sword the size of a door.
With the tip of her blade thrust into the ground and a piercing gaze, she looked like an asura seeking a soul.
Their clothes were stained with dust and blood, evidence of a fierce battle.
However, the aura radiating from them was far more terrifying than ever before.
Lynn, shielding Su Xiaoxiao while kneeling on the ground, froze completely.
Time seemed to solidify in that instant.
Alicia and Vivian’s gazes pierced through the drifting dust, locking onto Lynn with pinpoint accuracy.
Then, their eyes shifted downward.
They saw Lynn’s hands still cradling a slender, bandaged ankle belonging to another girl.
They saw Su Xiaoxiao held firmly in Lynn’s protective embrace, with only her head peeking out as she watched them with terrified, innocent eyes.
The air went silent.
In the cave, the only sound left was the faint rolling of pebbles.
**[Danger Perception System]**
**[Warning! Detected high concentration of Blackening Energy Source!]**
**[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 99% → 100%!!!]**
**[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 99% → 100%!!!]**
Two lines of blood-red warnings, each ending with three exclamation points, flashed frantically before Lynn’s eyes, accompanied by a piercing, high-pitched ringing.
Lynn felt as though his heart were being squeezed by an invisible hand, and even his breathing stopped.
‘It’s over.’
That was the only thought in his mind.
“Lynn,” Alicia spoke.
Her voice was still so gentle and pleasant, like a spring breeze brushing across a lake.
“It seems you’ve been having a very happy time here on your own.”
The smile on her face was so holy that not a single flaw could be found.
But Lynn felt that behind that smile hid a flame capable of purifying the entire world.
“This… filthy female. Who is she?”
Vivian’s voice, on the other hand, made no attempt to hide anything. It was cold, direct, and saturated with killing intent.
She slowly lifted the giant sword from the ground, the blade reflecting a heart-stopping chill under the glow of the faint blue crystals.
Lynn’s throat felt parched; he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.
How was he supposed to explain this? Should he say she was just a junior he picked up on the road? That they were just innocent schoolmates? That everything just now was an accident?
In front of two crazy women whose Blackening Values had surged past the limit, any explanation would be like throwing gasoline on a fire.
“Senior… who are they? They’re so scary…”
In Lynn’s arms, Su Xiaoxiao’s body began to tremble even more violently.
She clutched his clothes tightly and buried her face in his chest, looking like an extremely frightened little animal.
This action was no different from tossing a lit match into a powder keg.
Lynn clearly heard the sound of teeth grinding—twice.
“Take your hands,” Vivian raised her sword, pointing it at Su Xiaoxiao’s hands which were clutching Lynn’s clothes, “off of him.”
“Little sister, don’t be afraid.”
The smile on Alicia’s face grew even more radiant as she took a step toward them.
“Come to big sister. Let me properly ‘purify’ your wounds and your filth.”
Lynn felt his scalp tingle. One wanted to kill, and the other wanted to “purify.”
‘Is this a literal hellscape?’
He wasn’t just facing two lunatics with 100% Blackening Values. He also had to protect another lunatic who he suspected was at 99% and just acting.
This was no longer a simple Shura Field. This was a Shura Field squared!
Lynn’s mind went blank. He didn’t feel like he was kneeling on the ground; he felt like he was kneeling between two volcanoes about to erupt.
Holy Light to the left, Sword Pressure to the right.
Two completely different energies clashed above his head, creating a sizzling sound.
The rocks on the cavern ceiling were ground into powder by invisible forces, snowing down upon them.
Su Xiaoxiao shook in his arms like a leaf in the wind, burying her face deeper while letting out a whimper.
“Let go of him.”
Vivian’s sword tip rose, pointing straight at the space between Lynn’s eyebrows, her voice devoid of any warmth.
“Or I will cut off your hands along with his body.”
“Sister Vivian, don’t be so crude.”
Alicia smiled and took another step forward. Holy light spread beneath her feet, and everywhere it touched, the filth on the ground vanished.
“You should ask Lynn for his own opinion first. Lynn, tell her—were you bewitched by some evil spell from this lowly female?”
Lynn opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was stuffed with sand.
What could he say? Anything he said would lead to death!
If he admitted to being bewitched, Su Xiaoxiao would be “purified” on the spot.
If he denied being bewitched, then he was voluntarily holding this “filthy female,” and Alicia and Vivian would likely break his legs immediately!
‘This is a goddamn death trap!’
In that moment of life and death, the entire cavern—no, the entire underground region—shook violently.
*Roar!*
A soul-shaking roar echoed from the darkness deep within the cavern. The sound was filled with brutality, hunger, and a boundless rage toward the intrusion into its territory.
A massive creature emerged from the darkness.
It was more than three times Lynn’s height, its body covered in a thick layer of black scales embedded with many glowing, pale blue crystals.
Its head resembled a hideous lizard, its mouth filled with jagged teeth, and saliva dripped down like a waterfall.
It possessed four thick arms, each ending in a bone blade as sharp as a sword.
The true lord of the lower levels of the Howling Wind Cave, a Rank 4 monster—the Abyssal Crystal Husk Lord.
In the game, this thing required a twenty-person elite team coordinating various armor-shredding and Holy Light spells just to stand a chance of grinding it down.
Right now, its lava-like eyes were locked onto the source of the most chaotic energy in the area—Alicia and Vivian.
In its simple mind, these two intruders were threats, but they were also… food.
Lynn’s heart sank to rock bottom. Madwomen in front, a giant monster behind.
Today was truly the date of his death.
However, what happened next completely exceeded his understanding.