Chapter 444 - 140: You Beast, Lynch Blackwood

Chapter 444: Chapter 140: You Beast, Lynch Blackwood

He paused, his tone growing firmer. "Rest assured, Silent Island is only so big. Lynch can’t hide forever! Once Carl and the others find that boy’s trail, more than twenty elites will strike together. It’ll be enough to crush him in an instant. After that, the remaining rabble from Hurst Academy will be nothing more than lambs to the slaughter, hardly a concern."

A burly instructor from the Warrior Series chimed in, "Great Mage Buddy is right. That Lynch doesn’t have a single point yet. He’s most likely scurrying about like a terrified rat, looking pathetic. It won’t be long before Carl and his group manage to smoke him out... Once Lynch is gone, all of Hurst Academy’s current achievements will become like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water—beautiful but illusory, ready to shatter at a touch."

"But..." The Holy Knight instructor started to say something else.

"There are no buts." Great Mage Buddy waved a dismissive hand and closed his eyes again. "Just wait. Good news will be here..."

However, before the words were even out of his mouth, something happened.

VMMMMMM—!

A low, solemn hum suddenly echoed through the tent.

The Magic Screen floating in the center erupted in a blinding golden light.

"What’s going on!?"

Instantly, all conversation in the tent ceased. Every instructor whipped their head around in unison, their eyes fixed on the very top of the Magic Screen.

A cascade of golden light poured down the Magic Screen like a waterfall, its magnificent, dazzling glow bathing the entire tent in resplendent light.

They all recognized this special effect.

It was a special visual effect that only appeared when a major shift occurred among the top three ranks—a flashy notification.

On the first day of the assessment, the point rankings had changed constantly, so they had grown quite familiar with the frequent flashes of light.

But the assessment had been underway for days now, and the top three on the leaderboard hadn’t budged in a long time. For it to suddenly change now... could it mean...?

As every instructor watched, the brilliant golden light finally faded, revealing the updated leaderboard.

The name "Ailendra Moon Language," which had been firmly entrenched in first place, was displaced by an unseen force, shifting down to the second line.

And where it had been, the first line now displayed a new name, glowing with a faint golden light—Lynch Blackwood!

"What!?"

"How is this possible!?"

"Twenty... twenty thousand points!?"

The instructors stared, wide-eyed with shock, the tent erupting in an uproar.

Their shock wasn’t just because Lynch had gone from zero points to first place in a single leap. It was because his name was now followed by a staggering number: "20,000 Points"!

Not one point more, not one point less.

That number struck everyone present like a thunderbolt.

All the instructors instantly realized what this meant.

It meant he had turned in the proof of kill for just one target. A... Tier Four target!

Great Mage Buddy stared at the name, his composure finally shattering. "Tier Four... He killed a Tier Four Magical Beast!? This... How is this possible!?"

"Twenty thousand points... Exactly twenty thousand..." The Elf instructor from Silver Moon Academy couldn’t help but murmur, their amber eyes filled with shock. "That boy... Wasn’t he being hunted? How could he possibly have had time to hunt a Tier Four Magical Beast!?"

Master Harvey was stunned for a moment, then he roared with laughter. He laughed so hard his beard trembled and he nearly dropped the flask in his hand. "Hahahaha! See! I told you so! I told you so! That kid... He wasn’t hiding at all, he was just charging up for a big play! Twenty thousand points... Hahaha! Coming out of the gate with twenty thousand points! That’s so Lynch! That’s exactly his style!"

Master Gwen and Master Lianna exchanged a glance, and then an irrepressible joy exploded in their eyes.

Lianna was so excited her hands were trembling. "That... that boy... He actually... he actually hunted a Tier Four target!?"

More importantly, the score was exactly twenty thousand!

After all, in the process of taking down a Tier Four target, it would be impossible not to eliminate other, lesser prey along the way. And yet, Lynch had pointedly submitted the proof of kill for only the Tier Four creature!

Without a doubt, he was sending a signal!

"Wait..." A realization dawned on Great Mage Buddy, and his face turned ashen. ’If he can hunt a Tier Four Magical Beast... then Carl and his group...’

As if to confirm his ominous premonition.

BANG—BANG, BANG! BANG—!!

A rapid succession of firework-like explosions suddenly erupted in the distance.

The sounds came one after another, like a string of firecrackers going off, a continuous series of pops and bangs.

The expressions of the instructors changed once again.

"Distress signals!?" Master Gwen shot to her feet. "And... so many of them!?"

So many distress signals going off at once could only mean one thing: a major incident was unfolding.

The ominous premonition in Great Mage Buddy’s heart instantly peaked.

He no longer cared about maintaining his composure. Leaping to his feet, his body transformed into a gust of wind and shot out of the tent.

The other instructors forgot all about the Magic Screen, each unleashing their own abilities as they followed.

For a moment, the tent flashed with elemental lights of every color. The radiance of Holy Light, battle aura, and Magic intertwined as the instructors vanished from their spots, racing toward the source of the signals.

Soon, the instructors followed the signals to a dense forest located in the red zone.