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As Sheen swung her pale-green rapier again and again, blue-violet flames burst forth from its tip, exploding enemies into dust. None of her strikes dealt less than sixty thousand damage, and some even reached a terrifying hundred thousand.

The monsters she instantly slew left nothing behind.

According to the official settings regarding NPC kill, if an NPC contributed more than 99% of the total damage to a monster, the mob would drop nothing upon death.

Even so, players still managed to land a few hits here and there. Those who survived this wave all gained considerable rewards, their levels and equipment improved drastically.

This battle came with a temporary ranking board.

Before the third wave of enemies arrived, Duskwraith opened the board. On Wynwater City’s ranking, the entire top ten consisted exclusively of mages, without exception. Every name was familiar: Fairytale Forest ranked first with 97,856 points, followed by GildedDrunk and Specter in second and third place respectively.

Even the tenth place had around eighty thousand points. In this round, the battlefield truly belonged to the mages!

“Sigh…” he exhaled. “If only I had gone mage back then. Being a knight without a mount isn’t cool at all, and all I do is get beaten every day.”

Then, a thought suddenly struck him. ‘Wait… why aren’t the top three players from the level rankings on this list!? Forget Emberveil, he’s just an EXP leech, but what about Stardust and Windblossom? Come to think of it… I hadn’t seen either of them since the battle began.’

“Boss, look at this,” Lulu suddenly called out as she walked over, disbelief written across her face. She placed her hands on both corners of the board and zoomed in before sharing the view with Duskwraith.

The bold heading “World” stood prominently at the very top. There was no doubt, this was the national leaderboard!

Given the massive player base of the national server, seeing a few hidden classes wasn’t surprising. In fact, he had already heard of most of them. What caught his attention, however, were the scores.

The first place had reached 580,000 points!? What kind of joke was that! The highest in Wynwater City barely exceeded ninety thousand! And that ID…Stardust!? Could she have gone all the way to the Dark Fortress to grind?

As he pondered that thought, the next wave of enemies had already arrived. They were figures cloaked in gray robes, their skeletal forms faintly visible beneath the dim light.

Skeleton Mages?

“They’re ranged attackers! Frontline, take turns tanking the hits! If you’re low on HP, retreat to the back immediately and use potions to heal before coming forward again!” he ordered decisively.

Duskwraith’s judgment was correct, these Skeleton Mages packed tremendous offensive power. No one at this stage could withstand a full volley from them.

At about twenty yards away, the Skeleton Mages stopped, their decayed wooden staffs trembling as they gathered an ominous magical force. Three seconds later, the bombardment began! Clusters of dark energy shot silently into the air.

…

Knights with weaker gear were killed instantly after taking just two blasts. Those with better equipment barely survived with slivers of health, forced to retreat. The entire front line collapsed!

At the same time, the monsters’ stats became visible.

“Damn it!” Duskwraith couldn’t help but curse. ‘How the hell are we supposed to fight against that!?’

A Level 28 Epic monster! The level gap alone was crushing, and with over 200 points in magic attack, it was no wonder each hit dealt more than a thousand damage.

Just as he was about to say something, a gray-black chain shot out from the tip of a Skeleton Mage’s wooden staff, striking a low-health knight.

The knight was killed instantly. The damage seemed a bit lower than Mana Missile… But before he could finish the thought, the Chain of Corrosion ricocheted onto a nearby swordsman.

Then it kept bouncing—

The attack chained through five targets before finally dissipating! And of course, there wasn’t just one chain. In the blink of an eye, countless interlinked chains lashed across the battlefield, instantly annihilating over a thousand players!

The guild leaders’ faces turned purple. “We can’t hold this! Fall back to the city walls! Leave the rest to the NPCs!”

The rear-line players retreated in order toward the gates as the Skeleton Mages continued their slaughter.

Sheen swung her rapier, slicing through several chains. Blue flames raced along their lengths, burning the mages at the other end into nothingness. Raising her slender sword high, she focused her energy, the blade slowly descending as power gathered around her. With the strength of a Mentor, this single strike would reap countless lives.

But suddenly, from behind the black tide, a strange gray-feathered arrow took aim at Sheen.

It brimmed with immense magic power yet radiated no detectable aura, and even its sound was barely audible. Looking closely, one could faintly see a thin barrier enveloping the shaft.

Beneath the ground, the earth element went berserk, forming sharp earthen spikes that surged forward. The Skeleton Mages lost interest in the retreating players and all turned their staffs toward Sheen, chanting in eerie silence.

“This is bad! Fall back, now!” Aegis shouted, trying to warn Sheen from afar. He had spotted the arrow!

“Sheen…” Elna tugged gently at her own collar, her small hands trembling as she looked down with worry.

The Mentor raised an eyebrow. ‘So that’s how it is…’ She understood. The Shadow Overlord’s assault wasn’t a moment of rage, it had been meticulously planned. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how the monster army had mobilized this swiftly.

Moreover, she had sensed something off from the start. The monsters advanced on their own, yet she couldn’t feel the presence of their true commander. And by “commander,” of course, she didn’t mean those lowly Epic or Unique-tier bosses. She meant the real mastermind orchestrating this army’s every move.

She hadn’t been able to pinpoint it before, but now she was certain, a Shadow Elder was hidden among them. The purpose of this battle was to lure out the champions of the Light Faction and wipe them out in one ambush!

Without pausing her descending strike, Sheen stepped forward with resolute force.

A pale-blue ripple spread outward from her position, and the earthen spikes shattered into dust the instant they touched the wave.

From upper left to lower right, a concentrated slash of blue sword energy shot forward!

**Slash!**

This attack even carried traces of the Frenzied Blade skill. The sword energy tore through the ranks of Skeleton Mages, dealing hundreds of thousands in damage before colliding with the silent gray arrow.

**BOOM!!!**

Smoke and debris billowed out, leaving behind a massive crater. When Aegis finally regained his senses, Sheen was gone. The adventurers had all retreated into the city.

She must have gone after the enemy. Which meant—“Close the gates, now!!”