As Slad'ran fell, the cheerful yet unsettling BGM finally faded away.
The red glow enveloping Lin Qingyue dissipated.
The tight-fitting, childish red dress that had clung to her stunning figure reverted to her original, simple Priest's robes.
"Phew..."
Lin Qingyue let out a long sigh, a lingering flush of unfulfilled excitement still coloring her fair cheeks.
This feels amazing! This kind of simple, brutal joy is downright addictive!
She raised a hand to rub her temples.
Her mind was still echoing with the "Da-Da-Da" of her self-provided sound effects and the "boom-boom-boom" of chain explosions. The two sounds intertwined into a symphony that made her very soul tremble.
This wasn't exhaustion.
It was the aftereffect of overexcitement, leaving her with a lingering urge to find another mountain and blow it up.
No, no, Lin Qingyue, you need to calm down!
You're an elegant and dignified Priest, the core commander of the team, not a baby who needs to be looked after! Restraint! You must exercise restraint!
Meanwhile, the chaos of the battlefield was also drawing to a close.
Having lost their leader, the Troll Army completely collapsed. Hunted down by the Elven ranged units and Xia Lian, they fell one by one, their bodies turning cold in the snow.
In the center of the mountain pass, the final battle also concluded.
The Blighted Legion had been systematically dismantled and devoured by the Silent Watch.
Mograss knelt on one knee, his once-unrivaled Runed Greataxe clattering to the ground beside him.
A gaping sword wound pierced his chest, continuously leaking black Death Energy.
Aeldara's blade had shattered his Soul Core.
"Why... You were clearly... just like me..."
Mograss used his last ounce of strength to lift his head. The two flickering Soul Fires beneath his helm stared fixedly at Aeldara.
Aeldara sheathed her sword, looking down at him with a voice devoid of any emotion.
"You and I have never been the same."
"I control death to protect life."
"You are merely a slave to death."
"Haha... Hahahaha..." Mograss let out a hoarse, dry, and venomous laugh.
"Foolish... Utterly foolish... Protecting those fragile, short-lived mortals, consumed by their desires?"
"Sooner or later, you will understand... Only death is this world's ultimate fate! Eternal silence will devour everything!"
"Before the Great Will, all your struggles are meaningless..."
His voice grew fainter until, with a final shudder, the two Soul Fires beneath his helm completely extinguished.
[Blighted Legion Commander · Mograss] slain.
Aeldara didn't spare his corpse a glance, turning to her knights.
"Clear the battlefield. Recover the remains of our comrades."
The knights of the Silent Watch moved without a word, their actions efficient and solemn.
Lin Qingyue and her party approached.
"Sis, that move you pulled earlier was so cool!" Lin Xiyue exclaimed, rushing to Lin Qingyue's side and gesturing wildly.
"It was all BOOM BOOM BOOM, and that big guy was just gone! Can you do it again next time? Please, just one more time!"
"No way, no way. That was a limited-edition experience—completely random and uncontrollable."
Lin Qingyue waved her hand dismissively, sternly rejecting her sister's dangerous suggestion.
Stop talking! I'm begging you, stop! The rational part of me is about to get pinned down and curb-stomped by my inner Bomberman!
"It was... truly spectacular."
Su Wan walked over, her eyes still wide with lingering shock as she stared at the massive, scorched crater in the distance.
"That instantaneous destructive power... it's beyond the scope of conventional magic."
"Sister Qingyue, are you alright?"
Xia Lian, more concerned about Lin Qingyue's condition, asked worriedly as she noticed her rubbing her temples.
"I'm fine, just... the aftereffects are a bit strong."
Lin Qingyue forced a smile, trying to appear normal. "I got a little too excited. Now I need some post-nut clarity to cool down."
Just then, a deep, muffled roar echoed from the depths of the Snow Mountains.
The sound made the earth groan in agony, and the entire ground began to tremble violently.
"What's happening? An earthquake?" Lin Xiyue grabbed a nearby rock to steady herself.
Aeldara's expression changed drastically!
She snapped her head up, her gaze fixed on the towering peaks flanking the mountain pass, and roared:
"Avalanche! Retreat!"
Before her words had even faded, the terrifyingly thick snow on both slopes transformed into enraged white beasts, crashing down from the mountaintops with a thunderous roar!
The entire Snow Mountain was collapsing, threatening to crush and devour every tiny, noisy creature in its path!
"Mount up!"
Aeldara barked a sharp command and let out a piercing whistle.
The next second, the snow beside her exploded outward. A Skeletal Warhorse, its frame made of grim white bone and its eye sockets burning with eerie blue Soul Fire, burst from the snow and reared back, letting out a silent, terrifying roar!
Aeldara shot out an arm, her grip like an iron vise, and snatched the still-dazed Lin Qingyue.
Lin Qingyue felt a sudden tightness around her waist as an irresistible force yanked her into the air. With a dull thud, she slammed hard into someone's embrace.
Or rather, into a wall of cold armor.
Aeldara's breastplate, intricately carved with complex patterns, was absurdly hard. The impact made Lin Qingyue see stars.
Holy shit! My face! It's going to be flattened!
Before Lin Qingyue could finish her internal rant, Aeldara had already thrown her onto the horse's back. With a swift, fluid motion, Aeldara vaulted up behind her, landing securely in the saddle.
The knights of the Silent Watch reacted just as quickly, summoning their Skeletal Warhorses one after another.
"Whoa!" Just as Lin Xiyue steadied herself, a knight grabbed her by the back of her collar, lifted her up like a baby chick, and tossed her onto a horse's back.
"Mmph!" Su Wan was about to cast a spell when a large hand suddenly scooped her up by the waist. Her elegant composure shattered instantly, and the cry of surprise was choked back into her throat.
As a silent female knight hoisted the Young Mistress onto a horse in a thoroughly undignified manner, a blush crept across her cheeks.
"Aah—!" Xia Lian had the most dramatic reaction. She saw a dark shadow flash past, and the next second, her feet left the ground, causing her to let out a short, sharp scream.
The remaining knights charged toward the Elven Mages and Rangers on foot, yanking them onto their horses. The entire Knight Order transformed into a desperate "Undead Carpool Brigade," galloping at full speed toward the mountain pass exit.
"Su Wan! Ice Wall! At least try to block it!"
Lin Qingyue glanced back and shouted in panic. The overwhelming white tide had already swallowed the entire mountain pass and was now surging toward them with unstoppable force.
"I'm on it!"
Su Wan's voice was laced with urgency. She and several Elven Mages simultaneously waved their staves, causing thick ice walls to erupt from the ground one after another.
However, before the colossal white wave, the sturdy ice walls were instantly devoured and crushed without even creating a single splash.
They didn't even delay it for a second.
"Don't look back! Keep running!" Aeldara's voice was terrifyingly calm.
The Skeletal Warhorses galloped wildly through the snow, the knights' figures reduced to desperate black dots against the white world.
The roaring behind them grew closer, and the suffocating pressure of something that devoured everything made everyone gasp for breath.
Well, this is just great. Are we about to be buried alive?
Just as Lin Qingyue thought she was about to experience a real-life "Survival in a Sea of Snow," a rapid succession of class information notifications suddenly flooded her mind.
[Your party has slain a [Snowfield Ice-Claw Wolf Lv. 28]! Gained 350 EXP!]
[Your party has slain a [Deep-Sleep Snow Bear Lv. 35]! Gained 800 EXP!]
[Your party has slain an [Ice-Rock Lizard Lv. 31]! Gained 550 EXP!]
[Your party has slain a [Frost-Horned Elk Herd Lv. 33-34]! Gained 2100 EXP!]
[...]
The notifications instantly flooded her screen.
Lin Qingyue was completely stunned.
What the hell? Aren't we running for our lives? Where are all these monsters we're supposedly killing?
She instinctively opened her class panel.
Then, her eyes widened in disbelief.
The blue bar representing her experience points was skyrocketing at a speed visible to the naked eye!
It was rising faster than any BOSS she'd ever fought!
It was like she was riding a rocket!
Holy shit! Is this a bug?
Lin Qingyue's brain crashed for a split second.
Then, an absurd yet perfectly logical thought surfaced in her mind.
She stiffly turned her head and glanced back at the unstoppable white wave that was "clearing the map" for her.
No way... This avalanche... Did I cause it?
So, because I caused it, all the monsters crushed by the avalanche are giving their EXP to us?!
The moment the thought surfaced, even Lin Qingyue herself found it ridiculous.
But watching the experience bar skyrocket, she realized it was probably the only explanation!
My god... Just how many monsters were hidden in this snow mountain?!
She stared at the endless stream of kill notifications, which included everything from common wolves and snow bears to rare elite monsters she'd never even heard of, and even entire herds...
This was more than double the EXP they'd gotten from the last BOSS!
"Sis! Sis! Look at the experience bar!"
Lin Xiyue's shocked scream erupted beside her. Clearly, she had noticed the bizarre phenomenon too!
"Forget about it! Let's just get out of here first!" Lin Qingyue yelled back.
This wasn't the time to investigate. Survival was the top priority!
Finally, thanks to the Skeletal Warhorse's tireless gallop, they burst out of the narrow valley and onto a relatively flat, open snowfield.
Behind them, the avalanche, having lost its devastating momentum due to the open terrain, gradually subsided into rolling waves of snow before finally settling into silence.
They had survived.
Everyone collapsed onto the snow, gasping for breath.
Aeldara released Lin Qingyue, her perpetually icy face showing a rare trace of exhaustion.
But Lin Qingyue didn't even bother catching her breath. The first thing she did was check her experience bar.
A flash of golden light.
[Ding! Congratulations, you have reached Level 24!]
Without hesitation, she allocated her free attribute points to Constitution.
[Lin Qingyue - Priest Lv. 24]
[Strength: 90][Agility: 60][Constitution: 170][Intelligence: 80][Faith: 90]
[Free Attribute Points: 0]
"I'm Level 24!" Xia Lian's voice was filled with surprise.
"I... I'm just a sliver away from Level 25!" Lin Xiyue shouted excitedly, staring at her nearly full experience bar.
Su Wan nodded, indicating her situation was similar to Lin Xiyue's.
A single avalanche had caused almost all four of them to level up!
Lin Qingyue gazed at her new stats, the exhaustion from surviving the disaster completely washed away by a wave of immense joy.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
This... was a massive profit!