Chapter 60: Chapter 58: That’s Supposed to Be an Undead Apprentice?

...

Wait, a low-level Undead apprentice just shot straight to the top of the senior-level overall rankings? What the hell was going on?

It was no wonder the masters were shocked.

Although the overall rankings were theoretically shared between senior and junior students, there had always been exceptionally talented junior geniuses over the years who could crack the top one hundred, or even the top fifty, with their outstanding performance.

But such talents were few and far between, and they usually only managed it in the later stages of the assessment, relying on steady accumulation and a bit of luck.

They had truly never seen anyone like Lynch.

The assessment had only just begun two days ago!

As a junior student, not only had he broken into the top one hundred, but he’d also leaped into the third-place spot, even trampling a group of senior elites—including Master Gwen’s star pupil, Lorenzo, the "Blade of the Swift Wind"—under his heel...

It was simply unheard of!

"Are the statistics wrong? Or is the Magic Light Curtain broken?" Master Lianna finally broke her long silence, her gaze sweeping over the assistants responsible for its maintenance.

The assistants scrambled to check the control Array and the data links behind it.

At that moment, from a corner of the tent, an old Alchemist with messy hair who had been sitting behind a console, Barton, slowly lifted his head.

He pushed the glasses that had slid to the tip of his nose back up and shot Master Lianna an irritated glance. "The Magic Light Curtain is operating normally. The energy circuits are stable, and there are no anomalies in the display rune structure. The data source has been cross-referenced; it’s a real-time merit tally from Supply Point Nine, confirmed without error by the triple-verification Array."

Supply Point Nine?

The masters couldn’t help but look at each other in dismay.

Wasn’t that the supply point located at the border between the yellow alert zone and the red danger zone?

A mere junior apprentice had actually gone to the area around the dangerous Point Nine, a place even many senior apprentices wouldn’t dare approach?

Once they realized this, the masters fell silent once more.

Their earlier mockery of the Undead System and their disdain for Lynch now felt like invisible hands, slapping them across the face.

In stark contrast to them, the three Undead System masters in the corner had a completely different reaction.

Old Harvey’s face was so wrinkled with laughter that his features were scrunched together.

He deliberately cleared his throat and said, "Well, well, it seems the ’nothing special,’ ’talent-starved’ sapling from our Undead System has some pretty good luck, eh? Just by picking up some scraps, he managed to scrounge up a few hundred points."

"I wonder why those ’powerful’ teams from the Holy Light System with their ’flawless teamwork’ didn’t manage to find any?"

"You!" Master Lianna’s face turned pale with anger, her chest heaving. But the facts were undeniable, and the data, personally confirmed by old Master Barton, was irrefutable.

Even the usually silent Master Cole cracked a rare smile.

Master Annabella’s lips curled into a grin. ’I really didn’t expect this. That kid Lynch really gave me one hell of a surprise.’

’If he can hold third place by the end of the assessment—no, even just stay in the top ten—I wouldn’t mind giving that boy some special tutoring.’

***

As his master indulged in her devious thoughts...

「Deep within the Dark Forest」

In the yellow zone, near the edge of the red zone.

Here, the trees grew tall and dense. Their canopies almost completely blotted out the sky, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of humus that gave off a cloying, rotten stench.

Through the woods, an Undead Army was on the march.

A Hellhound Skeleton with a sturdy frame and a faint reddish sheen to its bones led the way, its steps surprisingly light. It was Red Rabbit.

A leather dog saddle was fitted to its bony back.

Lynch, clad in a black robe with his hood pulled low, rode securely on Red Rabbit, his body swaying gently with the rhythm of its gait.

"ACHOO! ACHOO!"

He let out a few sneezes in a row and glanced around, feeling as if someone was cursing his name somewhere.

As he sneezed, Red Rabbit came to a halt.

The entire Undead Army ground to an instant halt, like a single, precise machine.

Lynch rubbed his nose, gave a gentle wave of the skull-topped Magic Staff in his hand, and signaled to continue forward.

CLATTER CLATTER—

With a great rattling of skeletal bones, the entire Undead Army marched forward once more.

At the head of the formation was a loose vanguard of over thirty goblin minion Skeletons. The purpose of this cannon fodder was to scout the path, trigger traps, and absorb the enemy’s initial assault.

Leading this cannon fodder battalion was none other than Lynch’s second-in-command, Bone Valor, the Witch Demon King.

Following them, the main body of the army had a completely different aura.

Lynch himself was surrounded by an elite Personal Guard.

On his left were three Bear Goblin Skeletons, each shouldering a Wolf Fang Club and swaggering as if they owned the place.

On his right were goblin warrior Skeletons and Shaman Skeletons, wielding scimitars of refined steel.

There were also over twenty elite goblin Skeletons and seven goblin wolf-rider Skeletons.

These additions to his Personal Guard had been newly recruited, a fact made obvious by the fresher look of their bones.

For the past two days, Lynch had remained in the yellow alert zone, clearing out a few small goblin camps. The rewards had been mediocre at best.

Half an hour ago, he had passed by Supply Point Nine. After restocking on some supplies, he had also turned in his completed missions.

However, the pickings in the yellow zone were truly too slim. The senior students were ruthlessly efficient, sweeping through the area like a plague of locusts and licking it clean.

Finding it a waste of time to search for monsters, Lynch decided to cautiously probe the edge of the red zone.

The Undead Army marched in silence.

The left flank of the main force was a troop led by the Tier One Skeleton Warrior, Bone Jade. It consisted of a full fifty Humanoid Skeletons, ten of which were Black Skeletons, along with over twenty goblin minions.

Since its promotion to Skeleton Warrior, Bone Jade’s strength had soared, and its Commanding Power had also increased dramatically. If it were commanding only minion Skeletons, it could lead over a hundred of them.

The right flank was commanded by the newly created assassin Skeleton, "Bone Shadow," and comprised about twenty-odd Humanoid Skeletons.

As a new Soul Fire unit, Bone Shadow still needed time to grow; this was the current limit of its Commanding Power.

Bringing up the rear was the rearguard, anchored by the old Black Corpse himself.

The strength of this ancient corpse was undeniable; its Soul Fire, which was close to Tier Two, gave it a considerable Commanding Power.

It currently commanded a full sixty Humanoid Skeletons and over eighty minion Skeletons. This force served as both the rearguard and a powerful reserve that could be thrown into battle at a moment’s notice.

And because his ranks had swelled so much, even the Fish Priest was put to use. It led a dozen or so goblin minion Skeletons, swaggering beside the Bone Mage with a smug look, as if it had finally made a name for itself and escaped its humble, fishy origins.

Combined with the Black Skeleton Personal Guard protecting the Bone Mage, the total number of troops in Lynch’s Undead Army had already surpassed three hundred.

As they marched in formation, they projected a palpable, murderous aura of an army of death.

Wherever they passed, even the chirping of insects and the calls of birds fell silent.

A few moments later, Lynch suddenly raised a hand, halting the army’s advance.

Over two hundred meters away, there was a clearing where the trees thinned out slightly.

A crude fence of rough-hewn stakes and thorny branches enclosed the space, within which were scattered several hovels built from mud, branches, and animal hides.

Small, dark-green figures moved about inside the camp, making a noisy, guttural clamor.

Another small- to medium-sized goblin camp.

According to the preliminary scouting report from the Squirrel Skeleton, there were sixty to seventy goblins in the camp, with a few larger, better-equipped elites mixed in.

With a mere thought from Lynch, the Skeleton army began to disperse like chess pieces moved by an invisible hand, forming a wide circle around the camp.

Then, Lynch swung his skull-topped Magic Staff downward.

The Death Legion immediately charged.

In the face of absolute power, there was no need for tactics. A simple frontal assault would suffice.

...