The most ethereal of voices was heard after a few seconds of silence. “I’m curious. How did you notice it?”
A woman appeared some distance away with a look of surprise on her face. She had short hair, was of moderate build, and looked rather nonchalant as she approached Xiao Lin slowly.
However, Xiao Lin immediately felt a pressure coming down on his face like the tide. It was a feeling that could nearly suffocate a person instantaneously, but Xiao Lin was not unfamiliar with that feeling, having felt it a similar feeling lingering in the past couple of days. The smothering feeling in his heart was actually just a small-scale version of it.
Xiao Lin bit down hard on his lip, to the point where he injured his skin and filled his mouth with blood. He wanted to use the pain to dispel that suffocating feeling. It was an instinctive reaction that surfaced from the depths of his soul, and the severe pain had somewhat relieved him of the pressure that bore down on him. At the very least, he could speak despite needing a great amount of effort to do so.
“This has gotten me thinking ever since Lightning died. I couldn’t make sense of how anyone was able to kill him, but then I realized, we’ve been thinking about this all wrong. All of us thought that the elves must have done something straight from their fleet of warships. I don’t doubt that you have that kind of ability, but it must be extremely hard to execute with such precision and stealth.
“I couldn’t figure it out this entire time, but I had a sudden realization just a few moments ago. If your goal is the resurrection tower, and if you wanted to obtain the complete tower while preventing us from destroying it beforehand, what could be the best way to do so?”
Xiao Lin spoke in slowly and quietly, then curled his lips in a wry smile. “The best way is simple, really. You just have to sneak in!”
The woman cocked her brow. “Is that how you concluded that someone must have sneaked in here?”
“Uh, of course not. After all, I won’t have a way out if I just went ahead and did this. I can’t tell anyone else either, because I don’t know who you are and whether you have some way to keep watch on all of us.” Xiao Lin glanced at the magic scroll in his hands. His nails were already full of blood, and just like before, self-mutilation was his way of ensuring that he would not be subject to the female elf’s aura. Had he not done so, he was worried that he might not be able to activate the magic scrolls.
At that point, the other acting monitors and instructors also rushed over after hearing the news. Han Manman of Class Four had already rushed to the forefront. Being a mage, she had already taken out her wand, asking as she walked, “Xiao Lin! Have you gone absolutely nuts! Even if you decide to give up on yourself, don’t drag us down in the process. If that’s what you’re doing, I might as well just deal with you right now!”
Although Han Manman’s words were filled with anger, there appeared to be excitement on her face as she had been waiting eagerly for that opportunity to come. That was precisely the reason why Xiao Lin could not act on anything unless he was very sure of his guess.
If he did what he just did and his guess ended up wrong, Xiao Lin would have completely lost everyone’s trust. After all, Captain Yu was on their side despite being an NPC. Assaulting one’s allies was no small crime.
Han Manman’s gloating did not last too long. Since she was the first person to walk down the stairs and rushed to the forefront, the huge burst of pressure bore down on her the moment she stepped into the training ground. She reacted much worse than Xiao Lin, falling to the ground right then and there. Trembling from head to toe, her lips quivered as though she wanted to say something but could not do so.
Han Manman stared at Xiao Lin fiercely and resentfully. She still regarded Xiao Lin as the source of all that, and at that point, tried her best to raise the wand in her hand. In that state of hers, gathering the elements was probably impossible to do, let alone casting spells.
The woman in front of Xiao Lin watched Han Manman’s movements, and a look of displeasure flashed between her brows. She therefore raised her left hand ever so gently. A short silver bow that was less than half an arm’s length was held in her palm. Its bowstring was as thin as hair and it shone with an eye-piercing glow.
The bow was raised and the bowstring was drawn.
After the bowstring vibrated slightly, Han Manman had collapsed onto the ground with a stupefied and perplexed expression, despite Xiao Lin Xiao noticing that no arrows had flown past. Blood did not drip down to the ground either.
Xiao Lin’s heart thumped suddenly and he finally understood how Lightning died. It was probably the work of that unusually delicate, small, and exquisite bow, which had been used to shoot directly through Lightning’s heart.
The others who were preparing to come down were also surprised and froze in place. The speed of the woman’s shot was almost as fast as lightning, and there was no wound to be seen on Han Manman’s body. Those who were slightly closer were still puzzled as to what happened. Someone shouted at Xiao Lin in horror and anger, “Xiao Lin! What the hell are you doing!”
By then, Xiao Lin had no time to explain everything to them and did not even bother to turn his head slightly. His eyes remained fixed on that seemingly ordinary woman, and his bloody hands were still clutching tightly on the magic scrolls that could activate the self-destructing device.
Xiao Lin felt like he was walking on a tightrope. The weather might have been very cool at that moment, but dense beads of sweat formed on his forehead and streamed down his cheeks.
The woman’s identity was still unknown, but it had completely exceeded Xiao Lin’s expectations. Based on his initial guess, anyone who could sneak in without being detected must surely be superior to the students in terms of strength. Any attempt to locate them would prove impossible, so all he could do was choose a near life-threatening ruse to flush the enemy out.
Xiao Lin was confident because of his initial guess. The elves and the orcs co-operated solely for the resurrection tower, so for them, the combined weight of everyone in this fortress was never as important as the resurrection tower. Indeed, the enemy could care less about the lives lost in the fortress or who had control over it, but if Xiao Lin wanted to destroy the resurrection tower, then the enemy had no choice but to be flushed out.
While it was clear that Xiao Lin succeeded, the enemy’s strength appeared to be more terrifying than expected. Such spiritual fear and pressure had been felt only at the academy’s opening ceremony when the golden dragon appeared. That could only mean that the woman’s strength was comparable to that of a golden dragon!
Everyone in the entire fortress combined was probably not even enough to stuff between the dragon’s teeth!
Xiao Lin’s heart felt very bitter and he was not at all happy that his guess was proved right, because it meant that their monthly exam journey would end that day.
“Interesting humans.”
The woman’s laughter was very pleasant, like a silver bell. A green halo then suddenly enveloped her and the light bloomed abruptly like a flower, covering the entire fortress in an instant.
The glow was fleeting, and when Xiao Lin opened his eyes again, before him was a pair of long ears, light green skin, and a face with almost no flaws. Like the rumors suggested, the elven race was rich in beautiful females. One might be unaccustomed to their green skin, but in no way did that character hinder their aesthetically-pleasing looks.