Chapter 42: The Flawless Feint

The archer, long spear in hand, cut into the fray, instantly shifting the dynamic to a four-on-two.

The pressure of the battle escalated sharply.

“Sister, there are too many of them!” Selene deliberately raised her voice, letting just the right amount of panic lace her tone.

The giant shield in her hands seemed to block each blow with increasing strain.

Her footwork grew chaotic as she was forced back, step by agonizing step.

Celeste understood the unspoken signal perfectly.

Her pink staff danced in a flurry of motion that left no openings, appearing to struggle desperately against the assassin captain and a ranger.

In reality, her offensive was more than fierce enough; it just lacked the final, lethal edge.

“Don’t panic!

Hold the formation!” Celeste called back, her voice tight with feigned tension.

The two sisters fought as they retreated.

To the four members of the Shadow Wind Team, it was a textbook case of being overwhelmed.

The sisters were clearly being driven back by their relentless assault.

A priest and a paladin, even well-equipped ones with a knack for close combat, stood no chance when besieged by four top-tier agility specialists.

Their only possible fate was to die right here.

The attackers could practically taste victory.

They saw how the sisters’ formation had started to show obvious signs of “panic” the moment their archer joined the fight.

Their footsteps had already carried them out from the cover of the giant rock, herding them step by step into the open ground.

Selene’s movements with the shield grew wider and more exaggerated, as if she were pouring every last ounce of her strength into survival.

In truth, she was carefully guiding their retreat, moving ever closer to her sister.

Celeste’s position was still stable, but she too was thoroughly entangled, unable to free her hands for any decisive action.

“Quick!

They can’t hold on any longer!” A cruel glint of pleasure flashed in the assassin captain’s eyes.

With a subtle hand gesture, he issued the order for an all-out assault.

“Focus fire on the priest!” The humiliation of being sent flying by a single staff strike earlier was a distant memory, completely overshadowed by the points and victory now within his grasp.

In his mind, that move had to have been the priest’s last-ditch, life-saving skill, one with an absurdly long cooldown.

Now, with four of them surrounding the pair, not even the gods could save them.

Five meters.

Three meters.

One meter.

The sisters had nowhere left to run.

Their backs were nearly touching—a perfect killing zone.

It’s now!

“Die!” the assassin captain snarled, squeezing every drop of power from his muscles.

The scarlet light of his skill, `Cold-Blooded`, erupted along his poisoned dagger as he aimed it straight for Celeste’s heart.

At his side, the ranger’s short sword sliced through the air on a vicious, tricky angle, completely sealing off any possible escape route.

The other two attackers moved in perfect sync, flanking Selene.

The second ranger’s dual swords converged in a cross slash, while the close-combat archer thrust his spear forward with deadly precision.

Four attacks from four directions, yet their target was brutally consistent—Celeste, the one they had identified as the breakthrough point, the fragile core of the duo.

Vicious grins of triumph were already spreading across their faces.

Back to back, there was no escape.

This arrogant priest was finished.

However, in the split second before their weapons found their mark, the two sisters, who had been passively retreating all this time, finally moved.

It was a synchronization that transcended mere tacit understanding, a movement so ingrained it was almost instinctive.

Pivoting around Celeste as if she were an axis, Selene swung the massive shield horizontally to her left, her entire body sliding into the space directly behind her sister.

Simultaneously, Celeste took a single step back and to her left, appearing exactly where Selene had been standing a moment before, without the slightest error.

It was a cross-swap executed at blinding speed, with a terrifying degree of coordination.

The entire exchange was as smooth as flowing water, as if a single person had simply turned around.

The four members of the Shadow Wind Team, their attacks launched at the same moment, found their fatal blows meeting the sisters’ swap in perfect, pre-rehearsed harmony.

The assassin captain and the ranger, so certain of their kill, saw their target instantly change from a woman in flimsy priest robes to a giant shield glowing with an immense, heavy light.

`Immovable Mountain`!

A platinum holy light flared across the shield’s surface and vanished, condensing into an indestructible barrier.

“CLANG—!” The deafening shriek of metal on metal tore through the air.

The assassin’s poisoned dagger and the ranger’s full-force sword strike slammed solidly against the shield.

Selene’s figure remained as steady as a rock, not even a tremor running through her.

Instead, the two attackers were violently thrown off balance by a tremendous counter-force.

Numbness shot up their arms as they stumbled forward, completely out of control.

“My turn!” Before they could even think of regaining their footing, a sharp glint ignited in Selene’s eyes.

Seizing the fleeting opening, she slammed her shield forward.

`Shield Bash`!

“Bang!

Bang!” Two heavy, muffled thuds echoed, as if a battering ram had just smashed into their chests.

The assassin captain and the ranger felt as though they’d been hit head-on by a charging, armored rhinoceros.

Excruciating pain exploded from their sternums as their bodies were launched backward through the air.

A sweet, coppery taste filled their mouths, and their breathing hitched in ragged gasps.

The vicious grins on their faces froze, cracking into masks of disbelief and horror.

On the other side, the battle ended even faster.

After the swap, Celeste took a single step forward, turned, and reappeared like a ghost behind the charging archer and the other ranger.

The two of them only had time for a flicker of confusion to cross their minds.

How did the target change?

Where did my attack go?

That split second of astonishment was the only distance between life and death.

Celeste’s eyes were indifferent, her expression as placid as a frozen lake.

The cute pink staff in her hand had become the most vicious weapon on the battlefield.

There was no rush of air, no flash of light.

Only a heavy, oppressive aura, condensed to its absolute limit, silently coiled around the weapon.

Spear Intent of Rock.

“Puff!” “Puff!” Two soft sounds, no louder than a pole striking a dusty quilt, were the only indication of impact.

The head of the pink staff had tapped precisely onto the knee joints that supported their bodies.

The force wasn’t overwhelming, but it was viciously, ruthlessly focused.

A condensed shockwave penetrated their leather armor and exploded deep within their joints.

“Click!” The crisp sound of bone dislocating was unnervingly clear amidst the chaos.

Their forward momentum died instantly.

Their bodies lost all balance, and the searing pain made them open their mouths to scream, but no sound came out.

Celeste gave them no chance to recover.

With a flick of her wrist, the staff retracted, only to lash out again like lightning at an even greater speed.

“Bang!” “Bang!” The tip of the staff smashed squarely into the back of their necks.

Their vision went black.

Their bodies went limp.

In the next instant, they dissolved into two rays of white light and were teleported out of the Domain.

[Ding!

The Host and teammate cooperated perfectly, instantly reversing the battle situation.

Two enemies were eliminated with thunderous momentum, causing extreme visual impact and psychological shock.

Elation Coins +588!] Celeste felt not a single ripple of emotion, only the faint urge to make a snarky comment.

‘I knew that one day, the Hunter would also become the prey.’ —by Hunter Amentu.

From the initial siege, to the swap, to the instant kill—less than three seconds had passed.

The noisy battlefield fell dead silent.

The assassin captain and the ranger, who had been sent reeling by the shield bash, barely managed to stabilize themselves.

They looked up just in time to see the lingering afterimages of their teammates vanishing into motes of light.

Four-on-two had become two-on-two.

No… The assassin captain stared at the two empty spots, a deep chill climbing up his spine, making the blood in his veins run cold.

What kind of attack was that?

There was no skill activation, no magical fluctuation, just two simple, unadorned taps, and two top-tier experts had simply… vaporized?

His gaze was nailed to the priest, who stood there holding her pink staff with an utterly indifferent expression.

His battle-honed hunter’s intuition was screaming, a frantic, deathly warning clawing at his mind.

That was not a support who needed protection.

That was not a squishy target to be focused down.

That was a prehistoric beast wearing the skin of a sheep.

“Run… Run!” The assassin captain was utterly terrified.

His fighting spirit, his pride, his dignity—all of it had been crushed into dust in the face of absolute, beyond understanding power.

He didn’t even dare to look at Celeste again.

He spun around, intending to activate `Dash`.

But the skill icon was gray.

He had already used it during his failed sneak attack earlier.

It was still on cooldown.

And his remaining partner, the ranger, was specialized in dexterity, not raw speed.

“Trying to leave now?

It’s too late.” Celeste’s flat, calm voice sounded like a death sentence from behind them.

Blessed by the Wind God’s favor and her `Gale Step` aura, her speed was already far beyond that of a normal priest.

Chasing down two agility-based professionals who had just blown their burst movement skills was like a cheetah hunting rabbits.

The pink staff swung again, a heart-stopping whistle cutting through the air.

The ranger desperately tried to raise his sword to block, but the terrifying power contained in the staff simply knocked the weapon from his grasp.

A moment later, the staff tapped lightly on his chest, and he followed in his teammates’ footsteps.

The assassin captain, his mind blank with terror, threw himself into a desperate roll, trying to hide in the shadows of the nearby rocks.

His path was blocked by a heavy shield.

Selene had, at some point, circled around to cut off his retreat.

The “panic” from moments ago was completely gone from the young paladin’s face.

All that remained was the playful look of a cat toying with a mouse.

“Who was it just now,” she asked sweetly, “who called us ‘little turtles’and’dead weight’?” The assassin captain’s face turned ashen.

He looked at the two sisters surrounding him, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something.

Celeste didn’t give him the chance to waste her time.

The staff tapped precisely on his chest.

“Bang!” The last white light flared and quickly dimmed.

The battlefield was silent once more.

From the moment the archer joined the battle to the complete annihilation of the Shadow Wind Team, the entire engagement had taken less than two minutes.

Celeste gave her staff a little shake, as if flicking off non-existent blood.

Her tone was still perfectly flat.

“All cleaned up.” Selene dismissed her shield and hopped over to her sister’s side, her face flushed with excitement.

“Sister!

Our coordination was amazing!

They really thought we were being pushed into a corner!” Celeste glanced at her.

“Your acting was a bit exaggerated.

The steps you took while retreating were too deliberate.” Selene stuck out her tongue.

“I’ll be more careful next time!” Celeste let out a soft breath, feeling the abundant stamina still coursing through her body.

The corners of her mouth curled up in an almost imperceptible smile.

She checked their points; that team had likely netted them nearly 3,000.

Their total was now 24,110, and their team ranking had climbed to fifth place.

“Let’s pack it up and find a new spot,” she said without looking up.

“The commotion just now might attract some new ‘guests’.” Selene nodded vigorously, her eyes shining as she looked at her sister.

Monsters, plunderer teams… in front of her sister, they all seemed to turn into point-filled gift packages delivered right to their door.

[Elysian’s Note: Having a good time with the story?

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