"Everyone, please retreat behind me~"
The clear, pleasant, boyish voice cut through the roars of the undead, the explosions of spells, and the clash of weapons, reaching everyone's ears with perfect clarity.
Everyone—including Zhao Shihao, who was unleashing his full power, and Wang Lei, who was desperately holding on—froze for a moment, their heads snapping toward the source of the sound.
Their gazes converged on the mysterious girl in the ill-fitting, comical green outfit and matching green hat, who had been protected at the rear the entire time.
She took a step forward, moving out from behind her sister's protection.
Her beautiful face wore an indescribable expression—a mixture of desperate resolve and the dead-inside look of someone who wished they could just drop dead on the spot.
What is she planning? A massive question mark popped into Zhao Shihao's mind.
This eccentric Priest had been acting strangely ever since she'd made them fly. What new trick was she pulling now?
"Do as she says!"
Lin Xiyue was the first to react, retreating without hesitation while shouting with all her might.
"Everyone! Fall back! My sis is about to use her ultimate!"
"Ultimate?"
The word left everyone present momentarily stunned.
It was a gaming term, but its meaning here was crystal clear.
She was about to unleash a game-changing ultimate skill.
Wang Lei was the quickest to react. Almost instinctively, he chose to trust her—after all, someone who could fly them here, no matter how strange, must have real power.
He slammed his shield into the undead before him and roared, "Sunrise Squad, full retreat! Rally around her!"
His teammates didn't hesitate. The Assassin backflipped out of combat, and the Order Mage and Priest immediately followed.
Zhao Shihao's team was a beat slower.
"What the hell is she up to?" he cursed, but seeing Wang Lei's squad already moving, he gritted his teeth and ordered, "We're pulling back too!"
Mo Chen, carrying his door-sized greatsword, and Ice Mage Jiang Xue also silently retreated to Lin Qingyue's side.
In just a few seconds, the eleven people who had been scattered across the plaza regrouped, forming a tight circle with Lin Qingyue at its center.
The space they had just cleared was instantly flooded by a tide of surging undead.
Skeletons, zombies, ghouls...
A dense swarm of undead surrounded them completely. Hollow, black eye sockets and rotting faces were just inches away, the thick stench of death almost suffocating.
"Hey! Are you gonna do something or not?!" Zhao Shihao roared, watching claws get dangerously close. "If you don't use your ultimate, we're gonna get turned into dumplings!"
Lin Qingyue wanted nothing more than to slap his mouth shut.
Forget it.
I've already cosplayed as Venti in front of all these people. What's a little more humiliation?
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for further comprehending the true meaning of Elation: The Joyful Enter the Fray. Elation Value +648]
Shut up! I knew you did this on purpose, you damn System!
She forcefully suppressed her shame, chanting inwardly, As long as I'm not embarrassed, they're the ones who should be. Slowly, she raised her hands.
In that moment, she was no longer the lazy Priest.
She was the Singer of the Wind, the Poet of the Sky.
Emerald-green Wind Element energy erupted from her, blasting outward in a violent surge
This was no longer the gentle current that had lifted them before, but a violent, rampaging torrent of energy brimming with destructive power!
"Thinking of running away~?"
A light, playful whisper, as if from another dimension, echoed directly in everyone's mind.
Then, before their very eyes, an ornate blue longbow materialized in her hands.
"Wait, isn't she a Priest?" the Sunrise Squad's Assassin stared, his eyes wide.
"What new trick is this?" Zhao Shihao's lip twitched.
Lin Qingyue felt her cheeks burn hot enough to fry an egg.
A pink-haired girl in tight green bloomers, holding a bow, striking an archery pose...
The image was too beautiful—she couldn't bear to think about it. She just wanted it to end quickly.
"Wind's Grand Ode (Minimum Yield)!"
A tiny, fist-sized emerald singularity materialized in the center of the undead sea before them.
The next second, the singularity violently expanded!
An irresistible, world-destroying, terrifying suction force erupted from the emerald singularity!
Woooooo—
The world seemed to lose all sound, leaving only the furious roar of the wind.
The dozens of undead closest to the singularity couldn't even struggle as they were instantly torn apart, crushed, and reduced to pure Dark Element and bone fragments, sucked into the storm's center.
Then came more undead.
Whether they were slow-moving Zombies, sword-wielding Skeletons, or circling Gargoyles, all were as insignificant as dust before this power.
They were like puppets seized by an invisible giant hand, helplessly dragged toward the ever-spinning, ever-expanding Emerald Green Eye of the Storm.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones being squeezed, snapped, and pulverized merged into a continuous, ear-splitting shriek that set everyone's teeth on edge.
Within seconds, a terrifying tornado over thirty meters in diameter fully formed in the plaza before the church.
It was like an emerald-green meat grinder, furiously pulling in every nearby undead and shredding them to pieces.
In that moment, everyone forgot to breathe, their minds utterly blank.
Shock.
Pure, soul-deep shock.
This wasn't a Skill—it was Divine Punishment! A mighty force beyond mortal comprehension
Zhao Shihao's jaw dropped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. His prized explosive power seemed like a pathetic joke before this emerald-green cataclysm.
Wang Lei's face was frozen in an expression of pure stupor.
However, just as everyone was struck speechless by this apocalyptic scene, something happened that shattered their sanity.
A massive, translucent, magnificent phantom suddenly materialized above her head!
It was the PV animation from the game when Venti unleashes his Ultimate!
In the phantom image, the green-clad poet elegantly drew his bow across his lyre, backed by a sky as clear and blue as a freshly washed canvas, with Cecilia flowers dancing in the air.
Even more absurdly, as the phantom appeared, a clear, melodious boy's voice echoed across the entire battlefield, even drowning out the storm's roar:
"Let the wind lead!"
Lin Qingyue: "!!!"
Her face flushed crimson in an instant, the blood rushing to her head. She wished she could just drop dead on the spot.
What is this?! The ultimate social death scene, complete with its own BGM and cutscene?!
She thought she'd temporarily thickened her skin enough to be immune to anything, but the System had just pulled a stunt so brutal it made her vision go black.
In that moment, everyone's brains completely shut down.
One second, they were trembling before a world-destroying power.
The next second, a massive, absurdly exquisite and magnificent bard PV was forcibly shoved into their field of view.
Two starkly different, yet equally off-the-charts shocks brutally tore their perception of reality apart.
Zhao Shihao stared, dumbfounded. He glanced up at the ridiculously ornate phantom in the sky, then back at Lin Qingyue, who was wearing the exact same green outfit, her expression completely shattered. He felt his entire worldview being repeatedly crushed.
A bizarre expression twisted his face—a mix of wanting to laugh but being too stunned to do so, causing his facial muscles to twitch violently.
"Hkk..."
The female Assassin behind him let out a strangled, unintelligible gasp, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat. She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
The Sunrise Squad's Priest bit his lower lip so hard it might bleed, his eyes wide and round. Half his expression was awe, the other half was the physiological tears that came from desperately suppressing laughter.
Even the perpetually stoic Swordsman, Mo Chen, turned his head slightly, the corner of his tightly pressed lips twitching upward uncontrollably.
Lin Xiyue stared at the ridiculously flashy phantom above her sister's head, then at her sister's "Just end me now, please" expression, and nearly choked.
She quickly hid her face behind [Immovable Mountain], and muffled, unsteady, strange laughter echoed from behind the shield.
"W-What is this... a post-sale service demonstration for the skill?" Wang Lei stammered. He'd never seen a skill that came with its own animated PV in his entire life.
In the phantom projection, Venti continued to leisurely strum his lyre, the background music ethereal and pleasant.
His carefree demeanor formed a bizarre yet powerfully striking contrast with the brutal scene below, where the undead were being torn apart by the storm.
The phantom bard even winked at them.
Lin Qingyue was now utterly convinced: this damn System took pleasure in watching her suffer social death!
She finally understood why Venti was so fond of saying "Ehe~"—besides playing dumb, she had no idea what other expression she could possibly use to face the world!
Fortunately, the mortifying phantom only lasted for about ten seconds before gradually fading away.
Before disappearing completely, it left behind a lingering farewell:
"Encounters on a journey are always unforgettable, aren't they~?"
"What are you all standing around for?!"
Lin Qingyue's weak but urgent roar snapped everyone out of their "reality-shattered" stupor.
She felt completely drained—half from mana exhaustion, half from overwhelming shame and indignation.
"The storm won't last much longer! Get into the church, now!"
Everyone snapped out of their daze as if waking from a dream.
Only then did they realize that the green-clad girl who had unleashed "Divine Punishment" had, at some unknown point, reverted to her original form as a pink-haired priest.
Her face was as pale as paper, her body swaying precariously, as if she might collapse at any moment.
"Quick! Charge!"
Wang Lei was the first to react. He snatched up his shield and roared, "Protect her! Everyone, into the church!"
No further orders were needed; everyone sprang into action.
As they passed Lin Qingyue, each person struggled to suppress their laughter. Zhao Shihao's shoulders shook so violently he looked like he was sifting chaff.
With their backs to the still-raging green storm, they launched their final charge toward the church doors, now just within reach.
Lin Xiyue quickly supported her teetering sister, draping one of her arms over her own shoulder and practically half-dragging, half-carrying her forward.
"Sis! Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.
"I'm fine... just a little... dizzy..."
Lin Qingyue's vision swam with black spots, and the world spun around her.
"And... I never want to hear the words 'journey,' 'poetry,' or 'wind' ever again in my life..."
Unleashing "Wind's Grand Ode" had drained nearly all her mental and physical energy, forcibly deactivating the Venti Trial Card and dealing a devastating blow to her sense of shame.
Damn, the price of showing off... is so damn high...
The moment they reached the church entrance, Wang Lei and Mo Chen joined forces, using every ounce of their strength to slam open the heavy wooden doors.
Screeeech—
With a piercing shriek of friction, a wave of air—colder, more ancient, and more malevolent than the atmosphere outside—gushed from the opening.
"Get in!"
Without hesitation, the group poured through the doorway one after another.
Lin Xiyue, supporting the semi-conscious Lin Qingyue, was the last to charge into the church.
The instant she crossed the threshold, the massive emerald storm behind her finally exhausted its last wisp of energy and collapsed with a roar.
Thud!
Wang Lei and Mo Chen once again combined their strength to slam the heavy wooden doors shut.
Outside, the howls of the remaining undead were completely cut off.
The world, at last, fell silent.