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With every attribute overwhelmingly outclassed, even Starry’s strongest Whirling Blade could do little more than scratch the enemy.

Perhaps it had something to do with the opponent’s staggering Level 45, but level suppression alone shouldn’t have reduced the damage to such a pitiful extent. Could it be that the defensive spell cast on him was the real reason?

Fortunately, Whirling Blade only had a 30-second cooldown. If they could stall until the defensive buff expired…

While Zane contemplated a strategy, Quinn wasn’t idle either. He spread both hands upward as the Book of the Dead flipped through its pages on its own. When it reached a certain page, he thrust his right hand into the book.

He pulled out a hollow magic sword glowing with a crimson-purple hue. It looked exactly the same as the previous one. So this thing was mass-produced?

Taking advantage of the moment his opponent was summoning a weapon, Starry dashed forward with swift steps powered by her Wraithfire Boots.

Buying time was necessary, but they absolutely couldn’t stop attacking. Otherwise, this guy would cast a healing spell that restored 10% of his HP at a time. If they let him keep healing, even fighting for an entire hour wouldn’t be enough to kill him.

The best approach was to save at least two crowd control skills specifically to interrupt his healing. From their earlier exchange, she could already tell that the man didn’t know how to use a sword at all. Since it wasn’t his class weapon, it couldn’t benefit from his full attributes.

I was no wonder her Strength had surpassed his.

“Come!” Quinn shouted as he watched Starry close in, hastily raising the magic sword to block.

The weapons collided once more, producing a harsh metallic screech. This time, however, the normal attack carried Autumn Strike. The instant the blades met, the magic sword was knocked flying.

The slash carved a shallow wound across the undead man’s chest. With Armor Break and the weapon’s special effect working together, she finally dealt four-digit damage, giving Zane a glimmer of hope.

Unfortunately, the Armor Break effect vanished almost immediately.

The middle-aged man stumbled back a step. Starry naturally wasn’t about to let such an opportunity slip away. She immediately followed up with another slash.

Then another.

And another.

Just as she had expected, with her Strength surpassing his, she could attack relentlessly without hesitation.

His magic sword had been knocked aside, leaving that bizarre Book of the Dead as his only remaining weapon.

“Urgh…” After taking another slash, Quinn frowned. “Little rabbit, I’m about to get seri…”

**Slash!**

Another sword came down, striking him squarely on the forehead.

It even triggered weak point damage, sending black blood streaming down his face.

“Damn it!” The middle-aged man’s lips twitched. At this rate, he might actually lose.

On top of that, his enhanced defense was about to expire. He had to widen the distance. His eyes sharpened as he suddenly crouched low. A Miss floated into the air.

Momentarily losing her target, Starry froze in surprise. Quinn seized the opening, lowered his body, and sprang backward, landing over two meters away.

“Book of the Deceased… the blade is about to pierce my body.” The middle-aged man chanted at incredible speed. In less than a second, he had already recited half the incantation. The grimoire floated after him, radiating black light as it prepared to repeat the same spell.

‘It’s a continuously maintained skill!?’ Startled, Starry activated Charge without the slightest hesitation. Her body became a blur as she shot forward.

Quinn’s chanting came to an abrupt stop. A ring of little stars appeared above his head. The stun had landed. This was the perfect damage window.

Pointing the Autumn Moon Sword at the man’s head, Starry’s eyes turned cold.

The explosive three-hit combo nearly blasted Quinn off his feet, black blood gushing endlessly from his wounds. His HP bar also dropped from 100% to 96%.

‘Good. If I can maintain this pace…’

Shaking his head, he wiped the black blood from his face. “Little miss, every one of your sword strikes is aimed to kill…”

Starry didn’t respond. Her eyes remained fixed on Quinn’s hands. Earlier, he had secretly cast a healing spell while pretending to talk. Suddenly, light gathered in his hand.

‘Now!’ The Icy Moon Slash she had been saving for this moment descended without hesitation.

Boundless frost instantly froze him into a block of ice. Her luck was good. Both of her crowd control skills had succeeded one after another. The frozen status icon, however, continued flashing. It probably wouldn’t hold him for long.

She still aimed for his head. A normal attack, followed by Frenzied Blade, then another normal attack!

…

Once a priest was caught in melee range, the battle usually became completely one-sided.

That was exactly the situation now. Even though Quinn’s level was much higher, he was utterly powerless against Starry, who possessed multiple crowd control skills. Every time he tried to cast a skill, Starry answered with another interruption.

Crowd control skills weren’t guaranteed to succeed every time, but overall, nearly two-thirds of Quinn’s casts were interrupted. As one side gained ground while the other lost it, the undead man’s HP steadily declined.

Whenever Whirling Blade came off cooldown, a single combo dealt more damage than the previous three combined.

92%
85%
62%
55%
49%
48%
20%

He might have dreamed of becoming a swordsman, but unfortunately, he simply wasn’t cut out for it. Finally, after twenty minutes of endless punishment, the middle-aged man snapped. “Little girl, you’ve made me angry!”

Starry ignored him and continued her relentless assault.

“Heh… Since that’s the case, don’t blame me for using my trump card!” Quinn snorted, and the aura surrounding him changed dramatically.

A trump card? Did he still have some kind of instant-kill skill hidden away?

Thinking back on it, he hadn’t dealt any damage to her from the very beginning. If he didn’t possess any offensive skills, what gave him the confidence to step onto the stage?

“…” Starry instinctively activated Thousand Flash Steps, instantly widening the distance between them.

The Book of the Dead shook violently as countless black particles gathered together, forming an enormous vortex. The energy surging within it was overwhelming.

An undead priest… no matter what, she couldn’t afford to tank a high-tier magic spell. Unfortunately, both Icy Moon Slash and Charge were still on cooldown.

Blade Dance!

Her luck wasn’t bad. It even landed as a critical hit. Unfortunately, the confusion effect failed to trigger. Was that it for Starry? Judging from the sheer size of the spell, it looked large enough to engulf the entire arena.

At that moment, everyone inside and outside the arena held their breath. The outcome of the match would be decided by this single move.

“Haaah!” Quinn roared as he reached toward the black vortex.

‘Here it comes!’ Starry took a deep breath, activating Iceflow Shield and Unchained Will simultaneously while retreating to the corner of the arena.

As his right hand reached into the mass of black energy, the swirling particles abruptly came to a stop. No one in the audience dared blink, afraid of missing the climactic moment.

Then, under countless watchful eyes, the middle-aged man grinned and slowly pulled… a giant flatbread-like pastry out of the vortex. Then… He took a huge bite.

As though he had just tasted the most delicious food imaginable, he couldn’t stop eating. Four more bites later, the oversized flatbread had completely disappeared.

Five massive green healing numbers appeared in succession, restoring the undead man’s HP to full.

“…”

“So? Not bad, right? That’s my trump card, little rabbit.” Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Want a bite?”

Starry remained silent and walked toward him one step at a time.

“Why do you look so stiff? Come on, let’s keep fighting!”

“…”

“Y-You… what are you trying to do?” Watching Starry draw closer and closer, Quinn inexplicably felt a sense of unease. He hurriedly pulled another magic sword from the grimoire.

**Clang!**

Starry blasted the magic sword away with a single Frenzied Blade.

Quinn suddenly felt his body grow weightless as he was lifted into the air. His center of gravity shifted completely, and from his elevated position, he could even clearly make out the expressions of the spectators below.

“Little rabbit, that’s playing dirty! Bullying a 276-year-old veteran like me! I got careless! I didn’t dodge! Put me down, and let’s decide the winner properly…”

With a frosty expression, Starry grabbed Quinn around the waist, swung him around with all her strength, and hurled him toward the distance. “Get… out of here!”