“Hahaha, struggling is useless. Just be a good little brat, admit defeat, and accept reality!” Andre’s originally handsome face had twisted into something almost feral from his wild laughter.

“My undead army is invincible!”

Tch. This guy really talks too much. Bai Ming swung the long shuttle in his hand, smashing skeleton after skeleton as they rushed him, while his mind raced for a way out.

There was no way this was unsolvable. Otherwise, this guy would be the student council president, not the vice president.

If he really had a way to summon this many undead skeletons, then he’d be far beyond D-rank. There was no way he’d still be a first-year.

After all, with this many skeletons, the corpses alone would be enough to bury an A-rank Ravager, let alone a mere D-rank...

Wait. Corpses?

Bai Ming suddenly stopped moving and glanced around.

The skeleton soldiers he had just shattered were already completely gone. Not even a scrap of bone remained.

That’s it. Something had felt off this whole time—

We’d taken down so many skeletons, but not a single corpse was left behind!

If these skeletons were real, then where had all the bodies gone?

And more importantly, there was no way a first-year should have an ability this destructive on such a massive scale.

Ah, so that’s how it is. Ning Si’s face suddenly flashed through Bai Ming’s mind, and a trace of understanding passed through his heart.

His Corruption Artifact couldn’t actually summon an undead army. This was just like Ning Si’s Ring of Non-Contention, an effect that influenced the mind!

In other words... this endless-looking skeleton army in front of them was only a projection cast from the mind!

The moment he realized that, Bai Ming immediately turned and shouted to Qiao Weiwei, who was huddled in the corner, trembling and waving her umbrella around, “Qiao Weiwei! Try slowing those skeletons down!”

“Ah... o-okay, I’ll try...” Even though she was shaking all over in fear, Qiao Weiwei still raised the floral parasol in her hand with trembling arms.

“Corruption Artifact—Falling Petals Umbrella!”

With a snap, the floral parasol opened and began spinning faster and faster. Faint flower petals suddenly drifted through the scene, as if a rain of petals had fallen from the sky.

“Oh? Interesting.” Andre raised his hands and looked at them. He found that even lifting his arms seemed to take more effort than usual. His whole body felt sluggish for a moment.

“A group control ability. That’s pretty rare. If this power were paired with my undead legion—” Andre suddenly licked his lips with an eerie look, his gaze toward Qiao Weiwei turning heated.

“Once I’m done cleaning up these people, I have to invite this beautiful little lady to join me!”

Qiao Weiwei looked at the skeleton soldiers in front of her and saw that their movements hadn’t been affected at all. She instantly panicked. “How could this... it’s not working! What do we do now?!”

“It’s fine. I was just testing my guess, that’s all. Don’t worry.” The frown that had been on Bai Ming’s face the whole time finally eased.

After knocking down two skeleton soldiers, Wang Jie also froze for a moment. He seemed to have realized something too.

“Huh? Testing what guess? What are you two talking about?”

Bai Ming had no time to answer Qiao Weiwei’s confusion. He exchanged a look with Wang Jie, and the two nodded at each other. Then they burst forward at the same time, charging straight into the endless undead army.

To anyone else, it looked like suicide. Qiao Weiwei was so shocked her face went pale, while Andre—who should have been happiest to see it—suddenly turned cold.

“So you caught on pretty fast.” He let out a cold snort.

The two rushed into the skeleton horde with swift movements, and in the blink of an eye, they were swallowed by the sea of skeleton soldiers.

As the skeletons’ attacks struck their bodies, both of them felt unbearable pain. But the places where they had been hit showed no wounds at all.

So it really is fake! The pain goes straight to the brain, but it doesn’t cause any actual physical damage!

Both of them instantly steadied themselves. Enduring the agony of being slashed, they forced their way through the skeleton army.

“I’ll admit it, your reactions are fast. You saw through my Corruption Artifact in no time at all.” Andre clapped lightly, then his face turned cold. “But this is as far as you go. You still won’t escape the ending of being hacked senseless by the skeletons until you pass out from pain!”

“Anna, stop them!” Andre ordered the blue-haired girl beside him.

The blue-haired girl stepped forward. A long, narrow crimson rapier floated before her. She gently took the hilt, and the blade slowly lit up with a scarlet glow, like a red rose about to bloom.

“Sword of Roses, dance your body for my lord—”

The girl murmured under her breath. Her eyes sharpened, and she shot straight toward Bai Ming and Wang Jie.

The thin blade let out a clear ring. It was fast as lightning, reaching Bai Ming’s face in an instant.

Bai Ming had no choice but to stop advancing and raise his long shuttle to meet the blade.

They exchanged only two or three moves before the blue-haired girl lightly flipped backward. In the next moment, she was already blocking Wang Jie’s path too, clearly intending to hold both of them off at once.

“Damn it!” After only a brief clash, Bai Ming could already tell that although the thorn-like stinging pain coming from that sword was troublesome, this girl was at most on his level. Under normal circumstances, if he had a little time, he could definitely beat her.

But right now, endless skeleton soldiers were lunging at him with claws and fangs bared. Even if they couldn’t leave real wounds, the sharp pain transmitted directly into his brain made it impossible to focus on fighting.

Wang Jie was clearly in the same situation. Normally, if the two of them teamed up, the girl wouldn’t last long at all. But now, holding both of them back was more than easy for her.

At this moment, under the skeleton horde’s tidal assault, the two of them looked like a lone skiff in a raging sea, on the verge of capsizing at any second.

Bai Ming’s face turned grave. He struggled to keep his footing, looking a little battered, while his mind spun at high speed.

This was basically a dead end.

This time, there was really no room left to hold back.

It was time to flip over the cards they’d been hiding.

Bai Ming took a deep breath and said firmly to Wang Jie, “No choice. Time to show our hand!”

Wang Jie froze, then let out a sigh and nodded.

Revealing their trump cards this early was far beyond what the three of them had expected. Originally, those cards were supposed to be saved for the very end, the kind that could turn the whole situation around.

But they had started badly, and now they were already at the point where they had no choice.

They could only blame themselves for not being skilled enough.

Still, that was something to think about later. Right now, they had to win this fight first!

“Qiao Weiwei, flip the card!”

At his words, a trace of resolve flashed across Qiao Weiwei’s little face. The parasol in her hand suddenly rose into the air and spun there.

“Falling Petals!”

With her sharp cry, the petals that had been drifting through the corridor were suddenly swept up by an invisible wind. They formed a tornado of petals and blew straight toward Andre.

“A control-type Corruption Artifact that can attack too?” Andre was clearly startled as well, and hurriedly had Annie summon a Void Shield.

Annie’s Void Shield slowly expanded, protecting both herself and Andre behind it, and forcefully withstood the impact of the petal tornado.

At the same time, Bai Ming, who was still locked in battle with Anna, suddenly tightened his grip on the Counterflow Shuttle. A deep crimson light, red as blood, flared from it. Even Bai Ming’s eyes seemed to be veiled by a thin layer of dark red haze.

“Counterflow!”

In an instant, the red light blazed. A vast, irresistible force suddenly surged from within the long shuttle. Caught off guard, Anna was slammed backward again and again.

“There’s only one chance. You’d better make it count, Wang Jie!” As he spoke, Bai Ming grabbed the long shuttle and hurled it viciously at the Void Shield.

The shuttle tore out a string of sonic booms and smashed straight into the shield at an unimaginable speed. A deafening blast echoed through the corridor, so loud it felt like it could rip apart their eardrums.

“Hmph, just struggling in vain!” Seeing the shield block the shuttle’s attack, Andre instantly relaxed and kept mocking Bai Ming. “There’s no way you can break—”

But before he could finish, his pupils suddenly shrank.

At the exact moment Bai Ming threw the shuttle, the Measure Without Distance in Wang Jie’s hand had abruptly appeared in front of Annie. Then a flash of red light ran across the long ruler, and Wang Jie’s body passed through the surging skeleton horde in an unbelievable blur, appearing where the ruler was as if he had teleported.

“This is bad!” The red-haired girl Annie was startled, and instinctively summoned the Void Shield to block.

And right then, Wang Jie revealed a faint smile, the smile of a scheme succeeding. Although the long ruler in his hand swung down toward the girl, it suddenly vanished.

When it appeared again, it was already behind Andre’s head.

Sensing danger, Andre only had time to turn his head before a huge force smashed into the back of his skull. He blacked out on the spot.

The next moment, the overwhelming skeleton army vanished without a trace, and the ghostly wails filling the battlefield fell back into silence.