Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Although she had drawn the attention of eight Undead Centaurs at once in order to protect the NPCs, figuring out how to deal with them was truly a problem.

These Unique monsters were incredibly fast. Even in the state of Lightning Rush, Zane only managed to pull a short distance ahead. Once the acceleration effect ended, they would catch up and surround them.

Moreover, up to this point, the Undead Centaurs had only used one of their skills, no one knew how dangerous the other two might be.

“Rrrroar—!”

While she was lost in thought, Starmew suddenly widened its pupils and let out an alert cry.

‘What’s going on?’ Starry quickly turned her head. One look was all it took to startle her, ‘The Undead Centaurs had already caught up!?’

Their movements were so swift and sharp that faint afterimages trailed behind them. Could this be the Unrivaled state!?

The enemies had no intention of letting such a rare opportunity slip away. Cold mist began to swirl around their blades as they unleashed their skill, Wraith Slash!

‘Damn it, too fast!’

Caught completely off guard, Starry was struck in the back by a sword, the massive force nearly throwing her off. Fortunately, she managed to cling tightly to the white wolf beneath her.

Still, the continuous ticking damage instantly took away over a thousand of her HP.

At that moment, the Lightning Rush effect faded. With one weakening and the other powering up, another Undead Centaur arrived! Empowered by Unrivaled, the centaur charged without hesitation, its sword slicing through the air in another fierce Wraith Slash!

Starry hadn’t even regained her posture; there was no way to dodge that blow.

‘Am I being too reckless…?’ But she had no choice, if Wynwater City fell, it would spell disaster for everyone.

At that critical instant, Starmew swiped its paw across the Undead Centaur’s face. Luck was on their side, chilling frost swirled around and froze the skeleton solid.

Starry leapt off the wolf’s back, and under a burst of blinding light, the white wolf transformed into a golden-haired girl.

“Invoke: Mir—”

Before Zane could finish raising his hand, a third Undead Centaur charged forward and stomped hard against the ground.

The tremendous impact rippled through the earth in all directions.

Damage numbers floated above all three—two people and one pet—and stars spun above their heads as they were thrown into a stunned state!

The monsters showed no mercy. Brandishing their weapons, they lunged straight toward Zane, clearly recognizing the golden-haired girl as the greatest threat!

A surge of intense will shattered the stun effect, and Starry broke free instantly. Without hesitation, she swung the Autumn Moon Sword and launched Triple Frenzy Slash!

Her blade slammed fiercely into the back of the undead. With three buffs active, its 233 defense might as well have been decoration. The overwhelming blow sent the Undead Centaur staggering backward. But it didn’t end there, the sword changed its trajectory, and the second slash came down!

A powerful surge of energy flooded the blade, it was Autumn Strike!

The terrifying damage cleaved straight through the Undead Centaur from top to bottom, splitting it clean in two!

Not only that, the strike seemed to have pierced through its skull and shattered the soul flame within, instantly killing the Unique monster.¹　

Before Starry could retract her weapon, she suddenly felt an explosive surge of force erupting from behind.

Her third slash was forcibly interrupted! This time, it was Starry’s turn to stumble forward in a mess, nearly losing her balance.

Fortunately, the lifesteal effect of Battlelust instantly restored her HP to full. Without it, she would have been in real danger.

**Boom!**

But it wasn’t over yet! The ground shook violently as another Trample thundered across the battlefield!

Starry didn’t dodge. The effect of Unchained Will was still active, so there was no need to evade. Meanwhile, Zane and Starmew’s stun effects refreshed once again, leaving them reeling.

As Starry turned around, the fifth Centaur charged in!

These things… with all of them activating Unrivaled at once, the pressure they exuded was even greater than that of a Diamond Lizard! The relentless chain of attacks left no room to breathe. Without Unchained Will, she would have been stun locked to death already!

Taking a steady breath, Starry pivoted and swung her blade.

Her strikes landed cleanly on three of the Centaurs, halting their advance for a brief moment. Seizing the chance, she hurled all three Magic Landmines from her bag, which detonated almost the instant they hit the ground, setting off a massive chain explosion.

…

The damage from the Magic Landmines seemed to ignore the usual attack and defense calculations, and even the powerful Undead Centaurs lost a large chunk of HP. Three of them were left barely alive.

However, when Starry glanced at her own HP bar, only sixteen points remained. This move was too risky; she had nearly blown herself up along with them.

“Better drain some HP first… Blade Dance!”

In an instant, three heavily injured Centaurs were cut down, one of them even triggering a critical hit, taking out four in total. Three more wounded Centaurs remained.

Trading blow for blow, she used Icy Moon Slash to instantly kill one, but was struck twice in return by simultaneous Wraith Slashes.

At that moment, the golden-haired girl, wearing her Tenacity Bracelet, was the first to recover from the stun.

Starry’s HP instantly recovered by nearly a third, and Zane followed up with *Invoke: Vines*, summoning green tendrils that erupted from the ground to ensnare the Centaur on the left.

At the same time, Starmew recovered from the stun effect and unleashed Frost Breath, freezing the skeleton on the right into solid ice. Moments later, under the searing effect of Blazing Fire, the remaining two Centaurs were reduced to ashes.

After smashing each fallen Soul Flame on the ground, Zane finally exhaled in relief, he had almost gotten himself killed.

Checking their experience bars, Starry was only 3% away from leveling up, while Zane had about 20% to go.

Amid the scattered debris, a gleaming blue longsword on the ground caught their eyes.

What a magnificent sword! Its attack and attributes completely outclassed the Autumn Moon Sword, and with a full mana bar, the Mana Disorder effect might even rival Autumn Strike!

Moreover, Magic Swordsmanship allowed attacks to stack and merge. Combined with the Ring of Mana’s special skill, the total output could even surpass Starry’s. Most importantly, mages could wield it too, it was practically a divine weapon!

Zane hurriedly stored it away before anyone else could see it and grow envious. Besides the sword, there were nearly 200 gold coins scattered about. Quite the generous drop!

There was still no word from Shiu’s side. It would take some time to resolve things over there, but with Seraphine present, it shouldn’t end in disaster.

For now, they needed to check the north gate. Something serious must have happened for Undead Centaurs to rampage into the city like this.

Zane couldn’t help but worry about Elna. He could only hope she was safe.